Palit GTX 680 2GB Released: Overclocked, Great Cooling and Noise Performance

Palit has released a premium non-reference GTX 680 graphics card for enthusiasts looking for that something extra in their cards. Called Jetstream, the cooler features three LED-lit PWM fans, with the middle one being 90mm and the other two 80mm and a 4 heatpipe aluminium heatsink that spans across the whole card.

The card is factory overclocked too, with the GPU running at 1085MHz (1006MHz stock) and GPU Boost coming in at 1150MHz (1058MHz stock). The 2GB GDDR5 memory however, has received a modest overclock from 6.0GHz effective, to 6.3GHz effective. This will most likely be because maintaining signal integrity through the PCB traces at such high frequencies is difficult. The PCB uses a 6-phase VRM which uses high grade chokes and DrMOS (driver-MOSFET) components for clean and stable power. The power connectors are still the stacked kind found on a reference GTX 680, but this time use a 6+8 pin arrangement instead of 6+6 pin, presumably for more headroom.

TweakTown reviewed the card and found it to be excellent. Cooling and noise performance were also very good, achieving a load temp of 71C, 4C lower than the reference card. Importantly, it could manage this without compromising noise performance, which came in at around 1dB quieter than the reference card. All this while running overclocked. The card won their Editor’s Choice award, with the minimum rating in the five categories assessed being an excellent 90%. Pricing is around $20-$30 more than a reference card and it looks well worth it for what you get.