GeForce GTX 880 ES Intercepted En Route Testing Lab, Features 8 GB Memory?

[btarunr]

An engineering sample (ES) of the GeForce GTX 880 was intercepted on its way from a factory in China, to NVIDIA's development center in India, where it will probably undergo testing and further development. The shipping manifest of the courier ferrying NVIDIA's precious package was sniffed out by the Chinese press. NVIDIA was rather descriptive about the ES, in its shipping declaration. Buzzwords include "GM204" and "8 GB GDDR5," hinting at what could two of the most important items on its specs sheet. GM204 is a successor of GK104, and is rumored to feature 3,200 CUDA cores, among other things, including a 256-bit wide memory bus. If NVIDIA is cramming 8 GB onto the card, it must be using some very high density memory chips. The manifest also declares its market value at around 47,000 Indian Rupees. It may convert to US $780, but adding all taxes and local markups, 47,000 INR is usually where $500-ish graphics cards end up in the Indian market. The R9 290X, for example, is going for that much.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[NationsAnarchy]

256-bit memory interface only ? Can someone convince me why not 512 ?

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

I figure it's likely retail cards would be 4 GB only for the first few months. Unless Nvidia is specifically deciding to market for 4k.

 

[renz496]

256-bit memory interface only ? Can someone convince me why not 512 ?

...to reduce cost...

 

[NationsAnarchy]

...to reduce cost...

Yeah ok that's a good reason.

 

[newtekie1]

256-bit memory interface only ? Can someone convince me why not 512 ?

Obviously nVidia didn't think it was worth the extra cost. GM204 is a mid-range GPU after all, so 512-Bit memory bus would be kind of ridiculous.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

...to reduce cost...

That and the GPU die would be huge for what should be mid range.

 

[NationsAnarchy]

Obviously nVidia didn't think it was worth the extra cost. GM204 is a mid-range GPU after all, so 512-Bit memory bus would be kind of ridiculous.

That and the GPU die would be huge for what should be mid range.

Gotcha. Thanks for that, didn't quite realize that GM204 is just mid-range.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

Gotcha. Thanks for that, didn't quite realize that GM204 is just mid-range.

Its the GPU that should be for the successor to the gtx660ti/gtx760, but like first gen kepker the gtx680 was on gk104 and beat AMD high end then with the 700 series they used the actual high end gpu gk110 for 780 and higher. I exoect that to be the same for 800 and 900 series.

 

[Sasqui]

Gotcha. Thanks for that, didn't quite realize that GM204 is just mid-range.

What boggles is 8gb on a "mid range" card.

 

[librin.so.1]

"FUNTIONAL"? As in... made to produce fun?

(lel 'DAT TYPO in the shipping manifest)

 

[NationsAnarchy]

What boggles is 8gb on a "mid range" card.

Dude it's just an ES, really. Because of the GPU codename GM204

 

[NationsAnarchy]

Its the GPU that should be for the successor to the gtx660ti/gtx760, but like first gen kepker the gtx680 was on gk104 and beat AMD high end then with the 700 series they used the actual high end gpu gk110 for 780 and higher. I exoect that to be the same for 800 and 900 series.

Yeah yeah you're right. Memory just doesn't function correctly for me. It's late at night now at my home anyway

 

[GhostRyder]

Cool, I like the idea of that much ram on a gaming card reference because it will keep it much more stable in the coming years!

 

[jabbadap]

8GB, probably quadro or tesla then. Kind of doubt there will be 8GB geforce card, same pcb maybe and 4GB gddr5 for geforce and 8GB for quadro.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

8GB, probably quadro or tesla then. Kind of doubt there will be 8GB geforce card, same pcb maybe and 4GB gddr5 for geforce and 8GB for quadro.

I do not think the Quadro and Tesla cards will be running on the GM204 die. They save those cards for the big die GM210.

 

[jabbadap]

I do not think the Quadro and Tesla cards will be running on the GM204 die. They save those cards for the big die GM210.

Quadro k5000 is gk104 with 4GB vram, while geforce gtx680 has gk104 with 2GB vram.

It's true that there's no tesla with single gk104 but tesla k10 has 2 of them.

 

[Selene]

680 and 770 where mid range cards on GK104, AMD was weak and Nvidia took full advantage of the market charging $500 a pop for what used to be the $250-$300 range card.

Then you have the 680's and 770's with double the memory 4gb on the 256bit bus, it simply does not work by the time the rez gets high enough to use that extra memory the GPU is not strong enough to matter.
The only time is even remotely worth while is if your going two and three way SLI at very high resolution.

 

[Assimilator]

There is zero reason to put 8GB of memory on a mid-range product, especially a 28nm mid-range product. I call BS on this, anyone can fake up a table in MS Word.

 

[jabbadap]

There is zero reason to put 8GB of memory on a mid-range product, especially a 28nm mid-range product. I call BS on this, anyone can fake up a table in MS Word.

Table is not random excel spreadsheet. It's from https://www.zauba.com/

Welcome to Zauba
Home to India's import and export data. Zauba helps businesses reach new heights. Gain unparalleled insight into trade, access daily import and export shipment records, discover new markets and opportunities.

You can search it yourself:
https://www.zauba.com/import-gm204-hs-code.html

 

[erocker]

...to reduce cost...

...or to make more profit. Considering Nvidia's pricing strategy as of late, I'd go with profit.

 

[Hilux SSRG]

3,200 cuda cores seems high for the midrange.

 

[cadaveca]

two words:


Dual GPU.



Everything in that list hints at it.


I dunno WTF I am talking about.

 

[Fluffmeister]

680 and 770 where mid range cards on GK104, AMD was weak and Nvidia took full advantage of the market charging $500 a pop for what used to be the $250-$300 range card.

Just because GK104 was mid-range in the Kepler hierarchy it hardly warranted mid range prices.

People seem to be quick to forget it launched being both cheaper and faster than the competition:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_680/1.html

 

[Hilux SSRG]

Just because GK104 was mid-range in the Kepler hierarchy it hardly warranted mid range prices.

People seem to be quick to forget it launched being both cheaper and faster than the competition:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_680/1.html

7970 launched 12/2011 at $550
680 launched 03/2012 at $500

Nvidia saw the gk104 was enough to battle the 7970 and decided to overcharge for mid range. Then came the 780, 780ti, 780 Black, arguably the high range/flagships.