When SemiAccurate said that Nvidia’s GK114 was canceled and replaced with a re-fused GK104/GTX680 we were a bit off, it is exactly the same chip. How do we know? You can flash the GK104/GTX680 to a GTX770 yourself, no hardware changes needed.

Yes, Nvidia is one upping themselves, or as the case may be lowering the bar for consumer honesty once again. Currently the low point in GPUs is the 9800+/GTS250 re-branding scam, but the new GK104/GTX770 does manage to get a bit more unethical. How? The GTS250 did change the memory a bit on some models, the GTX770 doesn’t manage to do even that, it is simply a BIOS flash.

If you don’t believe us, take a look at this Reddit thread. The post says it is a mildly improved GK104 die but that gives it more credit than it is due, it is EXACTLY the same part as the GK104/GTX680. More importantly the poster named nvfan104 says, “By flashing the included BIOS (.bin) to your board, then dropping the included .inf file into the 320.00 driver package before installation… you too can have a GTX 770 weeks before it’s released! Please note it has to be a 320.xx driver, as support for the 700 Series was added in the DLLs around this time.” Yes, they include links to the BIOS files and a GPU-Z shot of the result, grab them both before they go poof.

GPU-Z shot of a GTX680 flashed to a GTX770

Update 5-14-13@12:45pm: Replaced watermarked picture above with original. Apologies to nvfan104 for the mix-up that lead to this.

So if you want to save your cash and get more performance from your GTX680, just flash it. SemiAccurate knows at least one person who has done this successfully but caveat emptor. Given the hardware differences though, I wouldn’t worry too much. If you have a GTX680, give it a shot and let us know how it works.. If you don’t, take a look at this slide from a source in the far east, apologies for the low quality phone pic. Enjoy your flashing.S|A

Thanks Anona-mole #793312 for snapping this