This is the reference graphics card with a different sticker on the cooler

May 15, 2012 17:11 GMT  ·  By

Back when NVIDIA launched the GeForce GTX 680, pretty much every OEM also released versions that were little more than the exact same product, only bearing a different brand and sticker.

Sure, there were a bunch of custom boards, with special coolers and, more often than not, factory overclocking to the GPU and memory.

One company always tends to let some time pass before getting around to introducing its own board: Sparkle.

Sparkle has finally revealed its GeForce GTX 680 iteration, dubbed Sparkle GTX 680 Inferno for some reason.

We say “for some reason” because there is no custom cooler and no alterations to the performance. Of any kind.

The 28nm GK104 Kepler graphics processing unit sticks to its base speed of 1,006 MHz and the GPU Boost frequency of 1058 MHz.

Likewise, the 2 GB of GDDR5 VRAM have a clock speed of 6,008 MHz and a memory interface of 256 bits.

Needless to say, FXAA (60% faster than 4xMSAA) and TXAA are part of the feature set, along with single-board 3D Vision Surround. Pre-Kepler, NVIDIA video controllers could not handle more than 2 monitors at once on their own, requiring SLI for triple-panel setups. Furthermore, Adaptive VSync technology eliminates stuttering and screen tearing.

Finally, two dual-link DVI, one HDMI 1.4a and one DisplayPort controller are present.

We don't expect Sparkle's GTX 680 Inferno to cost much more than $499 / 499 Euro. On that note, we also don't really expect people to lunge at any GTX 680 now that GTX 670 has appeared. With a performance close to 680, but a price $200 / 200 Euro lower, it's the sort of winning combination that will make even hardcore gamers think twice about buying the top-end adapter.

For those wanting to see a wider list of GeForce GTX 680 video cards, go here and read all about them.

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Sparkle GeForce GTX 680
Sparkle GeForce GTX 680
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