It looks like it wasn't enough for Palit Microsystems and Gainward that the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 graphics cards is the best single-GPU graphics card so far.
Sure, the Kepler-based video board did not win all possible tests, but it still showed an edge while being more affordable than the competition.
Even so, however, there are those who feel the video controller is not powerful enough.
As such, Palit and Gainward have released GeForce GTX 680 boards with 4 GB of GDDR5 VRAM instead of 2 GB.
The names of the add-in boards are Palit GeForce GTX 680 JetStream and Gainward GTX 680 Phantom 4GB.
Both of them have special coolers (three fans on Palit's board, two on Gainward's), but their specifications are pretty much the same.
In fact, the GPU and memory clock speeds are identical to those on the 2 GB reference graphics adapter.
In other words, Palit and Gainward just strapped two extra GB on these beasts, claiming that it helps with “rich realistic and explosive HD gaming performance under maximum resolution setting.”
For those who want numbers, the GK104 GPU (graphics processing unit) works at 1,006 MHz (base) and 1,058 MHz (GPU Boost technology). Meanwhile, the VRAM has a frequency of 6,008 MHz.
Basically, the extra memory will make triple or quad-monitor setups work even more smoothly, assuming there was room for noticeable improvement in the first place.
Gainward's GeForce GTX 680 Phantom 4GB is fully detailed on its product page, while Palit has its own section of the website dedicated to the GeForce GTX 680 JetStream.
Of course, prospective buyers should keep in mind that they will have to pay a small fortune for these things. Then again, people who can afford to make top-tier systems probably have no financial constraints. Still, caution is always good.
