Performance is equal or better than 7970 in games. Compute performance is generally good, better than 7970, with the notable exception of double precision floating point performance ~10% of 7970 performance.
Power consumption is between 7950 and 7970 ~200W.
Price is the same as 7970 499$/€.

Original cooler is not quiet (shocker), someone already mounted a Thermalright Spitfire (and custom PCB for VRM!) The cooler can be separated from the backplate, so using the original backplate for VRM cooling and a custom cooler for the GPU seems possible. The cards seems to use the same mounting hole configuration as GTX 580 (waiting for confirmation).

From Xtremesystems nVidia 'Kepler' GeForce GTX 680 Reviews thread:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...gb-review.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/N...Force_GTX_680/
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/...eo_card_review
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-680-review/
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/462...ew/index1.html
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.ph...=877&Itemid=72
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1881/1/
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/g...tx680_review/1
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphic...-Kepler-Motion
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/review...roduction.html
http://www.techspot.com/news/47898-n...e-gtx-680.html
http://techreport.com/articles.x/22653
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/201...0-2gb-review/1
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5699/n...gtx-680-review
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphi...graphics-card/
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...mark,3161.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/gra...e-gtx-680.html
http://hothardware.com/Reviews/NVIDI...Kepler-Debuts/
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/nvidia_gtx680/
http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-gtx...ome/15322.html


http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/nvidia_gtx680/

Palit is too quick in updating their product page..

Newegg links are back, glad that no price-jacking happened so far. LOL.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...x+680&x=25&y=9

[edit]fixed links[/edit]

Your copy paste screwed up most of the links since xtremesystems modifies long links. Luckily you can head over to the xtremesystems thread to see the originals.

Price is way too much. Year ago I got 6950 for 300 euros, now I would get 50% more performance for 50% more price?
The only thing that really catches my eye is excellent BF3 performance. BF3 being the only game I play (that is somewat limited by videocard). And that with first drivers, could even improve in future.
If it were cheaper i would take the plunge

Anyone know the minimum fan speeds the card can be set to in idle? Is it possible to lower it even further with extra software and how low?

If you want a quieter GTX 680 it might be worth waiting for the Gainward Phantom II model. The Gainward Phantoms were amongst the quietest GTX 560, 570 and 580 models. The Phantom II looks to be even better. There are some details here http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/26573-gainward-officially-announces-gtx-680-phantom.

Gainward no longer sell in North America, but use their alternative brand Palit in the USA and Canada. For North America there is the Palit JetStream GTX 680 which seems to be a three fan version of the Gainward Phantom II http://www.techpowerup.com/163236/Palit-Makes-GeForce-GTX-680-JetStream-Official.html.

There is a review of the Palit JetStream GTX 680 here http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1461/pg19/palit-geforce-gtx-680-jetstream-edition-graphics-card-review-power-temps-noise.html. It does not quote idle fan speeds, but as is normal with Gainward/Palit quiet models minimum fan speed is set to 30% duty cycle rather the more normal 40%. Gainward/Palit also tend to limit upper fan speeds so that load noise is less of an issue. The video on the review page seems to bear that out.

I think tests on load noise are uninteresting, because load noise is easily reduced through fan control and undervolting and most of the time while playing games noise doesnt matter much anyway. But idle noise is always the problem, since often the cards wont allow you to lower the fan speed.
I remember setting my 7900GT fan to 15% with rivatuner, that made it inaudible, you could even set it lower, but then the fan didnt manage to start.
I'm wondering if this is possible with the 680s, too, or if 30% is the absolute minimum. Its too bad no tests ever investigate this, instead they test 50 games on all kinds of resolutions to see if the 680 is 5 or 6 frames faster than the 7970... as if the info isnt already on 20 other sites. (Yep that rant has long been brewing.)

With the newer AMD (6xxx, 7xxx) and Nvidia (5xx, 6xx) cards the only way to reduce the minimum fan speeds is to use a BIOS editor. And having used an editor the card then needs to be flashed with the revised BIOS file. Not a particularly easy process then but those that have done it will testify to the difference it makes.

So it might be easier to find a card with fans already set to a lower idle setting. This is made difficult by the fact that few if any graphics card reviewers ever give this information. Not surprising I guess, as most graphics cards buyers are likely to be gamers who would have little if any interest in fan idle speeds. It isn't helped by the lack of manufacturers information on this aspect.

Nearly everyone that has bought the EVGA GTX 680 reference card says that it is very quiet (e.g. in newegg feedback). I am trying to figure out what they mean by that.
Previously I had a Gigabyte GTX 560 with 2 Windforce coolers. It was the loudest component in my system, but it was acceptable. I suppose there's no reason to hope that the idle noise of this EVGA card could be comparable to that, is it? I don't care much about the load noise.

Any hands-on experience?

I was also considering buying a Accelero Twin Turbo II in case the reference design turns out to be too loud, but that might be a nightmare to install and might turn out not to be silent after all.