Monday, July 16th 2012
GeForce GTX 660 Arrives Mid-August: Report
NVIDIA's newest product designed to strike the price-performance "sweetspot," the GeForce GTX 660, is set for a mid-August market launch, according to a SweClockers report. The new chip could roll out some time between August 13 and 19. Given that other Kepler-based SKUs have been launched on Tuesdays or Thursdays, it's likely that the launch date could be either the 14th, or the 16th. The GTX 660 will be based on the 28 nm "GK104" GPU. It will feature 1,344 or 1,152 CUDA cores, and a 192-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 1.5 GB of memory, according to the report. The new GPU could capture a crucial sub-$300 price-point.
Sources:
SweClockers, VideoCardz
78 Comments on GeForce GTX 660 Arrives Mid-August: Report
We wait... the Saga of Kepler!
But it's not like my hd6950 need replacement anyway, maybe next generation...
6sm = 1152sp + SFU (6x32) = 1344 Radeons cores...or roughly 5% greater than 7870.
1152 (1344) does not require more than 24 ROPs...a big reason 7800 was rumored to have the same configuration as it is not a bottleneck and should be more efficient in that regard.
When you start factoring in bandwidth though, 7870 needs 4500mhz/256-bit (just like how 7770 is clocked). If you start figuring this is equal to 1344...and that nvidia likes to clock ram at the actual rating...they could do something like 6008mhz (like the other gk104 parts) on a 192-bit bus...which would be equal to 4506mhz on a 256-bit bus...just edging out 7870 ipc if clocked efficiently. The other option is 256-bit at 5000mhz.
192-bit (6 chips) may offset the price of the more expensive ram vs 7870 which uses 8 chips at 5gbps, and it shouldn't really be a bottleneck for it's market. Couple that with ROP efficiency and greater yields because of it, I could see them taking that route.
At 192-bit/6008, it would start being bw limited around the exact average clockspeed of 670 (952mhz...670 is 912 base-980 max boost)...not coincidence and pretty much identical over-all to 7870. OTOH, 5ghz would allow up to 1058ish...the 680 average boost...also not a coincidence. My guess is we see the former now, and the later when gk104 is respun/repackaged as the 700 series after the gk110 launch.
Either is an option, but 192-bit probably makes the most sense, as in the long-run it would be very cheap to produce because they could use more chips...which makes sense given the state of 28nm...and they need any cost/power-trimming tactic they can versus 7870 because it uses such a small native die and low-cost ram. Vicariously, if next year they release the other option, yields/production should not only be higher, but they will be able to use the new 1.35v 5ghz RAM which is coming at the same time as 1.5v 7gbps bins (which I infer will go on the updated '680+'). Lower voltage ram could then off-set some power consumption by the higher core clock/wider bus/more ram/rops.
Decent theory?
And the winner to current gen graphics card is AMD Radeon
@Nvidia Geforce better luck next time
If the reports hold true, There is gonna be a Third GK106
650 & 660 will be based on the new smaller chip GK106 and the 660 Ti will be on GK104 with similar specs to 670 with a 192bit bus, lower ROPs and 1.5gb mem. Much like the 560 Ti 448 was to the 500 line up.
The GK106 from what i've been reading is just above 200mm2 so they probably figured disabling the GK104 that much is not feasable and could put more of the new chip GK106 chips on wafer hence the delay.
Said it on Fudzilla days ago for the hundredth time...and I think people are starting to get it:
AMD can sell 7870 for peanuts because of native die size and ram. It is placed in the perfect spot for 1080p. It has two setup engines which puts it in the higher-echelon for tesselation purposes. It can overclock amazingly and is set up so the max clockspeed of the shaders on the 28nm process mesh with avg overclocks of the memory. It was ingenious. IT SCREWED NVIDIA BIG TIME.
This is the funniest thing ive seen all day.
If you haven't noticed Nvidia GTX670 which is meant to be competitive with the 7950 at launch priced at $399, and what do we see in reviews. It goes out and actually beats AMD's $499 card(HD7970) left and right and comes just about 3-5% slower then Nvidias flagship(GTX680). So no, Nvidia's GTX6xx hasn't gotten their ass handed to them yet.
And now they will sell a $300 GPU (based on that very same performance chip gimped down) which will beat the more expensive 7950 and the same priced 7870. Are they screwed ? I personally don't think so.