New NVIDIA GF100 Board Surfaces, Suggests New High-End SKU

[btarunr]

Sources in the hardware industry leaked some interesting pictures of a new, supposedly reference-design NVIDIA GF100 GPU graphics card PCB, watermarked by board partner Little Tiger. The pictures reveal a PCB that's similar to that of the GeForce GTX 480, but with a stronger VRM that makes use of better high-C surface-mount capacitors (completely doing away with cylindrical capacitors), and draws power from two 8-pin PCI-Express power inputs. The design can deliver up to 375W of power (that's not the board power we're talking about).

This also opens up speculation about what NVIDIA would do with this design. The most talked about theory as of now points to a new high-end SKU by NVIDIA based on the GF100, that enables all streaming multiprocessors (SMs) physically present on the GF100, taking the CUDA core count up to 512, and ROP count to 64. The most likely marketing name for this SKU is GeForce GTX 485. Apart from higher CUDA core and ROP count than that of the GTX 480, slightly higher clock-speeds for the GPU are also on the cards. The memory subsystem remains untouched, at 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 924 MHz (effective 3.7 GHz), over a 384-bit wide memory interface. NVIDIA could release this SKU this fall.





View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Selene]

Should be a nice card, but still will not beat the 5890, lets just hope this pushes prices down so NV is more competitive in each price point with ATI.

 

[GSquadron]

Looks sweet!

 

[Arrakis9]

higher end power delivery = win

 

[wiak]

higher end power delivery = win

well dont realy matter when the core cant go higher without bricking your PSU hehe

 

[hat]

375w... I doubt my entire computer uses that much at full load

 

[wahdangun]

wow, nv really set a new standard 375 watt !!!!!

but I hope it will take off because I want price wars right now, this years price is really pathetic

 

[Yukikaze]

375w... I doubt my entire computer uses that much at full load

It doesn't, trust me.

The only way I'd buy a GF100 based card is if it comes with a pre-installed full cover waterblock and still costs the same as an air cooled one (and fat chance of that happening).

I also tend to run dual-GPU setups, and my 880W isn't even close to surviving two of those.

 

[kid41212003]

375w... I doubt my entire computer uses that much at full load

The board can take-in as much as 375watt. It's not the power consume of the GPU.

This will allow higher OC.

 

[human_error]

So this will be going up against the ATi 6k series? Best of luck to them but i really hope they get a good redesign for the next series of chips to better compete in the power/performance ratio (i can't see this doing well against the 6k series if it struggles against the 5k series).

 

[Lionheart]

I might buy 2 of these if the noise isn't to high, having a back plate is a plus for me too, heat & power consumption will be same most likely but not a massive issue for me

 

[mdsx1950]

Its just like an overclocked GTX 480 but that can overclock more. I guess the price too will be about the HD5970.



Still waiting for the GTX 295 of the GTX4xx series.

 

[Taskforce]

Consumers don't care about absolute power any more, the market has changed and consumers are more concerned about energy efficiency performance/watt, if Nvidia can't produce what many including myself are looking for we're just not interested.

 

[KainXS]

if this is going against the HD6870 then I don't think things are looking good for NV, the gap between a 480 and a 5870 is only like 15-20%(and im being generous) on average, and the gap AMD made with the 4870 and 5870 is pretty big, If they manage that again with the 5870 to 6870, nvidia is screwed, but nvidia has time to recoop, they better use it wisely

 

[Selene]

Its just like an overclocked GTX 480 but that can overclock more. I guess the price too will be about the HD5970.



Still waiting for the GTX 295 of the GTX4xx series.

no its only going to be $20.00 more then the 480 so still over $100 less then the 5970.($200 alot of places)

 

[eidairaman1]

if this is going against the HD6870 then I don't think things are looking good for NV, the gap between a 480 and a 5870 is only like 15-20%(and im being generous) on average, and the gap AMD made with the 4870 and 5870 is pretty big, If they manage that again with the 5870 to 6870, nvidia is screwed, but nvidia has time to recoop, they better use it wisely

I suspect a 5890 before a 6870 (if they are even called that by then)


I want to see a direct Board comparison between the 480 and 485, not some disabled garbage to Compare Power draw and performance levels. It is expected the 485 will have higher clock speeds. From the same board maker that W1zzard reviewed the 480 with.

 

[CDdude55]

Sounds awesome.

But i'll just get a second GTX 470 and call it a day.

 

[LiveOrDie]

Sources in the hardware industry leaked some interesting pictures of a new, supposedly reference-design NVIDIA GF100 GPU graphics card PCB, watermarked by board partner Little Tiger. The pictures reveal a PCB that's similar to that of the GeForce GTX 480, but with a stronger VRM that makes use of better high-C surface-mount capacitors (completely doing away with cylindrical capacitors), and draws power from two 8-pin PCI-Express power inputs. The design can deliver up to 375W of power (that's not the board power we're talking about).

This also opens up speculation about what NVIDIA would do with this design. The most talked about theory as of now points to a new high-end SKU by NVIDIA based on the GF100, that enables all streaming multiprocessors (SMs) physically present on the GF100, taking the CUDA core count up to 512, and ROP count to 64. The most likely marketing name for this SKU is GeForce GTX 485. Apart from higher CUDA core and ROP count than that of the GTX 480, slightly higher clock-speeds for the GPU are also on the cards. The memory subsystem remains untouched, at 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 924 MHz (effective 3.7 GHz), over a 384-bit wide memory interface. NVIDIA could release this SKU this fall.

[url]http://www.techpowerup.com/img/10-06-22/87a_thm.jpg[/URL] [url]http://www.techpowerup.com/img/10-06-22/87b_thm.jpg[/URL] [url]http://www.techpowerup.com/img/10-06-22/87c_thm.jpg[/URL] [url]http://www.techpowerup.com/img/10-06-22/87d_thm.jpg[/URL]

[url]http://www.techpowerup.com/img/10-06-22/87e_thm.png[/URL]

Sources: Hardware-Infos, Expreview

ROP will change to 64, but the chart shows it at 48 , PS 2x 8 pin plugs no hole for a fan? mite be a watercooled version only.

 

[KainXS]

you got it mixed up a little rop count 48 stays the same tmu's change

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

...the gap AMD made with the 4870 and 5870 is pretty big...

The gap nvidia made with the GTX285 and GTX480 is pretty big as well as far as I remember...

 

[OnBoard]

That's the sexiest PCB I've ever seen. Don't care what GPU they stick there or how much will it cost, like it for looks (well GTX 480 gets price cut/EOL and this goes to that space)

 

[Tartaros]

Maybe this will be the pcb for the first dual core gpu?

 

[derwin75]

Do you mean the ATI HD Radeon 5970?

 

[sneekypeet]

Do you mean the ATI HD Radeon 5970?

I'm pretty sure he meant the first dual GPU of the 4 series cards:shadedshu

 

[newtekie1]

wow, nv really set a new standard 375 watt !!!!!

but I hope it will take off because I want price wars right now, this years price is really pathetic

Also remember that just because the PCB can take two 8-pins, that doesn't mean the final cards will actually use two 8-pins. The PCB is also set up to accept two 6-pins, the PBC is just set up in a way to provide flexibility.

Also, don't forget that, the HD5970 PCB is also configured to accept two 8-pin connectors. So it seems ATi really set a new standard...

Consumers don't care about absolute power any more, the market has changed and consumers are more concerned about energy efficiency performance/watt, if Nvidia can't produce what many including myself are looking for we're just not interested.

Consumers card about Price/Performance, and generally only care about price/performance. And when power consumption to performance is in line with the previous generation cards, consumers don't tend to care.

Enthusiasts might take a look at power consumption, but only when comparing two similar performing cards at similar prices. But I gurantee you that if you take two cards that perform identically, and price one $100 less, the cheaper one will sell more units, even if it consumes double the power.