Final thoughts and rating
The GeForce GTX 680 remains our first choice for a truly high-end, single-GPU graphics card. Despite being relatively quiet and power efficient, NVIDIA's reference design manages to power through the latest DX11 games with consummate ease. It's all you need for high-quality gaming today, and if you are planning ahead there's always the option to add a second card further down the line.
Such is the card's prowess that it's difficult for NVIDIA's partners to produce a custom GTX 680 that's fundamentally better in every way. ASUS has made a bold attempt with the DirectCU II TOP, but the card isn't perfect. It's quicker than reference - and by that rationale the quickest single-GPU solution we've tested - but there's no getting around the fact that it's monstrously large. It's also admirably cooler and quieter than reference, but those improvements are offset by a lofty £90 premium.
And, despite the high asking price, there's no increase in the amount of on-board memory, which suggests that ASUS's DirectCU II TOP may still run into framebuffer limitations at ultra-high resolutions. We'd challenge anyone not to be impressed by a card as striking as this, but there is room for improvement and we'd really like to have seen ASUS go with less cooling and more memory, preferably overclocked.
Bottom line: The GeForce GTX 680 DirectCU II TOP is an imposing card that packs a serious punch. It's a front-runner for extreme users who exclude the word budget from their vocabulary, but we can't help but feel as though a 4GB model is lurking just around the corner.
The Good
Outstanding single-GPU performance
Excellent thermal characteristics
Keeps relatively quiet under load
Good overclocking potential
The Bad
Expensive at
£500
Big and bulky
Only 2GB of memory
HEXUS Rating
ASUS GeForce GTX 680 DirectCU II TOP
HEXUS Awards
ASUS GeForce GTX 680 DirectCU II TOP
HEXUS Where2Buy
TBC.
HEXUS Right2Reply
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