hello there , I be sure as you read this review there may have be tear shed , hair pull out , forehead bang against hard surface , scream and curse utter , more tear , frustration , and exhaustion only to realize that you be still contemplate between the gtx 680 and the infamous 7970 . be a owner of a XFX dual Dissipation Black Edition 7970 factory oce to 1000m -lrb- currently the fastest 7970 -rrb- , I be skeptical of purchase a gtx 680 due to numerous rumor that claim they have similar performance . be a compulsive shopper I buy it . I run many test and here 's what I find : after compare benchmark with both card on 3dmark and Heaven , the gtx 680 and 7970 trade blow with each other . keep in my mind that my 7970 be faster than the reference 7970s . in game such as battlefield 3 , the gtx 680 perform faster by 5-12 % in term of fp on 2560x1440 resolution with max Ultra setting 0xaa . if you have a monitor with 1920x1080 or 1680x1080 , you 'll see a 20-35 % gain in performance on Maxed Ultra setting 0xaa -lrb- as prove by popular website such as hardcanuck , overclock.net etc -rrb- . I be afraid the 680 's 2gb vram be insufficient to render so many pixel on a 2560x1440 -lrb- just like how many gtx 580 1.5 gb user experience on this resolution which be why they release a 3gb version -rrb- , but to my surprise it do a fine job and still gain lead over the 7970 by 5-10 % . I will not go into too much detail since there be ton of respected website that do , but I hope this preview from a consumer , like yourself , give you a good idea of how the gtx 680 perform . have read through so many gtx 680 review , it all come down to ask who be the real winner here ? on a clock to clock basis , they trade blow with each other . it baffle I to see so many review website deem the gtx 680 as the ultimate champion yet the 7970 do not seem to fall behind too much . with the potential ocing room of the 7970 , a overclocked 7970 -lrb- 1200 + core clocked -rrb- have the same score as gtx 680 on some benchmark though not all . on the other hand , a oced 680 definitely will be faster than the 7970 . with this in mind , there be no clear champion . however , the Kepler GK110 schedule for release in q4 be rumor to dominate both of these card hand down . then again rumor be rumor but to my surprise many of the rumor regard the gtx 680 week ahead of launch date be actually on par . so what be my point ? if you have a 7970 , you should definitely hold off on the gtx 680 and wait for Kepler GK110 as you will not find a huge performance gain . Catalyst 12.3 driver be rumor to boost some performance for the 7970 -lrb- as we all know driver have always be a limit factory for AMD -rrb- . if you do not have a 7970 , then definitely upgrade to this card -- you will not regret it . though if AMD brighten up and lower the 7970s to mid to low $ 400s , then go for the 7970 and wait for Kepler 110 . on a side note , we all know that the gtx 680 be a popular card and be sell out in almost every retail store -lrb- I have to wake up at 6am on launch date to order mine from Amazon . it only take ~ 10 minute to sell out -rrb- , but please please please avoid buy from third party seller who have exploit this new technology by buy mass quantity and sell it at ridiculously high price . this prevent many hungry user from get the card on time . for example , I have see a few seller on Amazon marketplace who have already sell a few GTX 680 for $ 635 as well as eBay for $ 650 while the msrp be $ 500 ! I call Amazon as of 3\/23\/12 to inquire when the next batch will arrive so I can sli my gtx 680 and they say next week ! be patient and have faith in Amazon . NVIDIA anticipate to sell out quick on this item and every retail want to cease on this moment , so be patient and have faith in Amazon as every store be fight to restock asap . I try to write this review in the most unbiased way . but the truth be ... -lrb- drum roll -rrb- I be a Nvidia fan boy . I have buy Nvidia card all my life because I have read horrid story of AMD driver . I purchase the 7970 because it be the fastest card available with great architecture a few month ago and I feel Nvidia really lag behind the competition race : thumb up to AMD : . generally AMD driver be not that great . they often screw up crossfire support for many newly release game , however , its important to note that AMD 's new driver give more performance enhancement to higher end card than lower end . I have have a few crash on my 7970 only to have XFX technical support advise I to use a older driver 12.1 for stability . while AMD be move backwards on driver -lrb- lol literally -rrb- , NVIDIA be move forward . they driver have always be rock solid ! bottom line be you can not go wrong with either the 7970 or gtx 680 . the gtx 680 have be prove to be FASTER , but not by much depend on you setting . chase technology be like a bottom less pit -- its never end ! but if you be patient and not a compulsive shopper like I , wait for the gk110 . keep in mind that EVGA will be release various 680 version such as gtx 680 Super Clocked\/FTW 4gb\/classified 4gb in a `` few month '' accord to EVGA 's product manager . good luck ! I hope this review help ! my current setup : Intel i7 2600k oce 4.5 Ghz Asus Z68 Pro\/Gen3 Motherboard Corsair 16gb ddr3 Vengeance Blue Ram Crucial m4 128gb ssd evga gtx 680 -lrb- slus -rrb- Zalman 9900 120mm CPU Heatsink -lrb- 35 c idle , 65 c load -rrb- creative sound Blaster Xi-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty pro Sound Card Creative Fatal1ty pro Headphones Corsair AX850 PSU Antec 900 Case Yamakasi Catleap q270 27 '' lead Monitor @ 80Mhz Logitech G5 gaming mouse Logitech K120 Keyboard Windows 7 Home Premium