EVGA unleashed a lineup of graphics cards based on NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 480 and GeForce GTX 470 graphics processors, complete with overclocked, overclocker-friendly, and water cooling-ready models. While the air-cooled models retain NVIDIA's reference design, the Hydro Copper series models sport a full-coverage, copper-rich water-block made for EVGA by Swiftech. On the air-cooled offer are base-models for the GTX 480 and GTX 470 that use NVIDIA reference clock-speeds, and level-1 overclock (Superclocked / SC) models. The level-3 overclock (For The Win / FTW) only come under the Hydro Copper series, with no air-cooled FTW models. Details follow:

• EVGA GeForce GTX 480 (015-P3-1480-TR): 700/1401/924 MHz, reference air-cooled, US $499.99
• EVGA GeForce GTX 480 SC (015-P3-1482-AR): 725/1450/950 MHz, reference air-cooled, US $529.99
• EVGA GeForce GTX 480 FTW Hydro Copper (015-P3-1489-AR): 750/1500/950 MHz, Hydro Copper water-block pre-fitted, US $649.99
• EVGA GeForce GTX 470 (012-P3-1470-TR): 607/1215/837 MHz, reference air-cooled, US $349.99
• EVGA GeForce GTX 470 SC (012-P3-1472-AR): 625/1250/850 MHz, reference air-cooled, US $369.99
• EVGA GeForce GTX 470 FTW Hydro Copper (012-P3-1479-AR): 650/1300/950 MHz, Hydro Copper water-block pre-fitted, US $499.99

NVIDIA finally released the graphics cards it made many wait for: the DirectX 11 compliant GeForce GTX 480 and GeForce GTX 470. The two were unveiled at the PAX East gaming event, in the United States, as publications were allowed to post reviews right away. The two are based on the NVIDIA GF100 GPU, built on the 40 nm process. The higher-end GeForce GTX 480 packs 480 shader units (now referred to by NVIDIA as "CUDA cores"), branched geometry processing along with multiple tessellation units, and a 384-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface to connect to 1536 MB (1.5 GB) of memory.

The GeForce GTX 470 is the more affordable part, it packs 448 CUDA cores, and a 320-bit GDDR5 memory interface to connect to 1280 MB (1.25 GB) of memory. Both models support new features by NVIDIA, such as CUDA 3.0, faster PhysX acceleration, Stereoscopic 3D, 3D Vision surround multi display technology, as well as support for OpenCL and DirectCompute 5.0. While the GeForce GTX 480 has a suggested retail price of US $499, the GTX 470 is suggested to be priced at $349, although final pricing set by board partners could vary. NVIDIA is initially making tens of thousands of these cards, which should be available worldwide a little after April 12th.

Here's MSI with its GeForce GTX 480 offering, the MSI N480GTX. While it's clear that all GeForce GTX 400 series graphics cards, at least initially, will adhere to NVIDIA's reference designs, each manufacturer is throwing in a little something unique. MSI's offering speaks of "Military-class" components, though it's likely that NVIDIA's own choice of components fit MSI's definition of military-class, and the MSI Afterburner software. The software is advertised to work with the card to provide voltage control, advertising up to 15% of performance gains using it. Usual features include DirectX 11 support, support for PhysX, CUDA, 3D Vision Surround, 480 CUDA cores, 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory across a 384-bit memory interface, and connectivity which includes two DVI-D and a mini HDMI.

Leadteak is one of the many NVIDIA partners ready with its offering of GeForce GTX 470 and GeForce GTX 480 graphics cards, pictured ahead of its launch. As with every other GeForce 400 series SKU in the making, these cards stick to NVIDIA's reference design. The Leadtek GeForce GTX 480 is DirectX 11 compliant, has 480 CUDA cores, and 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory across a 384-bit memory interface, while the GeForce GTX 470 has 448 CUDA cores, and 1280 MB of GDDR5 memory across a 320-bit memory interface. Both are 3-way SLI capable. The two are expected to be launched later this week.

A set of company slides leaked to the press reveals that NVIDIA is claiming the upper hand in tessellation performance. With this achievement, NVIDIA is looking to encourage leaps in geometric detail, probably in future games that make use of tessellation. NVIDIA's confidence comes from the way its GF100 GPU is designed (further explained here). Each GF100 GPU physically has 16 Polymorph Engines, one per streaming multiprocessor (SM) which helps in distributed, parallel geometry processing. Each Polymorph Engine has its own tessellation unit. With 15 SMs enabled on the GeForce GTX 480 and 14 on the GeForce GTX 470, there are that many independent tessellation units.

NVIDIA demonstrated its claims in the presentation using the Unigine Heaven, where the GeForce GTX 480 was pitted against a Radeon HD 5870. In many scenes where tessellation is lower, the GPUs performed neck-and-neck, with the GTX 480 performing better more often. But in scenes with heavy tessellation (particularly the "dragon" scene, where a highly detailed model of a dragon needs to be rendered with densely tessellated meshes, the GTX 480 clocks nearly a 100% performance increment over the HD 5870. NVIDIA has been confident about the tessellation performance back since January, when it detailed the GF100 architecture. The GeForce GTX 400 series graphics cards will be unveiled on the 26th of March.Images Courtesy: Techno-Labs

Here they are folks, pictures of the GeForce GTX 480 and GeForce GTX 470 complete with partner branding. These come from XFX, both sticking to NVIDIA's reference design. The XFX GeForce GTX 480 comes with the usual feature set of 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory, 480 CUDA cores, and a broad feature set that includes support for DirectX 11, CUDA, PhysX, 3D Vision Surround, and 3-way SLI. The GeForce GTX 470 retains this feature set, albeit with 448 CUDA cores, and 1280 MB of GDDR5 memory. The two will be released on the 26th of March.

Exactly a week ahead of releasing its GeForce GTX 400 series accelerators, NVIDIA held meetings with the press discussing the company's newest technologies, including GeForce GTX 400 series. Some lesser known details about the GeForce GTX 480 and GeForce GTX 470 surfaced, among more known and established ones. To begin with, the GeForce GTX 480 is confirmed to have a CUDA core (shader core) count of 480. The GF100 core operates at 700 MHz, its shader domain at 1401 MHz, and the memory operates at 924 MHz (actual, 1848 MHz DDR, 3700 MHz effective). With a GDDR5 memory bus width of 384-bit, the effective memory bandwidth would be 173.4 GB/s.

The GeForce GTX 470, on the other hand, has 448 CUDA cores, clock speeds of 607 MHz core, 1215 MHz shader domain, and 837 MHz memory (actual, 1674 MHz DDR, 3348 MHz effective). With a GDDR5 memory bus width of 320-bit, the effective memory bandwidth would be 130.7 GB/s. While the GTX 480 has a board power of 295W, the GTX 470 has a board power of 225W. Another piece of information the source reveals is that internal testing by NVIDIA showed that the performance level to expect from the GeForce GTX 470 should be 5-10% higher than that of the ATI Radeon HD 5850. The GeForce GTX 480 should be expected to be just that much faster than the ATI Radeon HD 5870. It is also expected that the target price of the GeForce GTX 480 should be typically US $499, while the GTX 470 should go typically for US $349. Detailed reviews of the two should be up by this time, next week.

Many would be familiar with these pictures of a generic graphics card based on NVIDIA's GF100 GPU which was spotted at this year's CES. A company slide sourced by DonanimHaber reveals the final iteration of NVIDIA's reference design GeForce GTX 480 graphics accelerator, and what it looks like from the outside. A set of slightly more recent pictures showed its cooling assembly from inside. The protruding heat pipes intrigued us as they were inconsistent with the cooling assembly on the card NVIDIA showed off at CES, which we then believed to be the top-end GTX 480 part. The company slide confirms what the cooling assembly looks like when it's all put together.

The cooler is highly ventilated, with vents all over the cooler's shroud. There are vents on the top, on the sides, apart from the usual obverse fan air intake. To increase its intake, the PCB is further cut to help draw air from the reverse-side of the PCB. The cooler's four large (we reckon 8 mm thick) heat pipes protrude about a centimeter out of the card's periphery, increasing its height by that much. The cooler itself respects the 2-slot thickness limit which is most conventional. A table in the slide also confirms some details we already know: the card has 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory across a 384-bit wide interface. It has a TDP of under 300W, which a recent report reveals to be a hairbreadth under 300W, at 296W. Power is drawn in from an 8-pin and a 6-pin PCI-E power connector. The card is 10.5 inches long, the same length as its reference-design GeForce GTX 280. The card supports 3-way SLI. It will be unveiled on the 26th of March.

In several of its communications about Fermi as a GPGPU product (Next-Gen Tesla series) and GF100 GPU, NVIDIA mentioned the GF100 GPU to have 512 physical CUDA cores (shader units) on die. In the run up to the launch of GeForce 400 series however, it appears as if GeForce GTX 480, the higher-end part in the series will have only 480 of its 512 physical CUDA cores enabled, sources at Add-in Card manufacturers confirmed to Bright Side of News. This means that 15 out of 16 SMs will be enabled. It has a 384-bit GDDR5 memory interface holding 1536 MB of memory.

This could be seen as a move to keep the chip's TDP down and help with yields. It's unclear if this is a late change, because if it is, benchmark scores of the product could be different when it's finally reviewed upon launch. The publication believes that while the GeForce GTX 480 targets a price point around $449-499, while the GeForce GTX 470 is expected to be priced $299-$349. The GeForce GTX 470 has 448 CUDA cores and a 320-bit GDDR5 memory interface holding 1280 MB of memory. In another report by Donanim Haber, the TDP of the GeForce GTX 480 is expected to be 298W, with GeForce GTX 470 at 225W. NVIDIA will unveil the two on the 26th of March.

Arctic Cooling has a long history of making excellent aftermarket coolers for AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards. Their latest innovation is the triple slot Accelero Xtreme 5970 which supports AMD's dual-GPU HD 5970 cards. Sapphire has chosen to use this very cooling solution for their HD 5970 OC 4 GB flagship, of course the cooler will be available in retail as well.

Sources wanting anonymity sent these pictures of PCB and cooling assembly to sections of the media. The PCB is that of the GeForce GTX 480, and is NVIDIA's reference design. It gives away a fair amount of information about the card that has created quite some hype over the months, which is slated for release on March 26. To begin with, the GF100 GPU on which GTX 480 is based, uses essentially the same type of package as the GT200 and G80. To help cool the large die (with a 3 billion-strong transistor count), an integrated heatspreader (IHS) is used. However, unlike with the G80 and GT200 (past two generations of extreme performance GPUs from NVIDIA), the display logic is integrated into the GPU package, instead of being spun off into NVIO processors.

With 12 memory chips on board, the GPU connects to them over a 384-bit wide memory interface. The reference design board is expected to have 1536 MB (1.5 GB) of memory on it. There's also an unusual amount of simplicity to the board design and choice of components. The GPU is powered by a 6-phase vGPU circuit using more standard DPAK MOSFETs. There is a 2-phase vMem circuit. With wide open spaces in the PCB, NVIDIA actually made two cutouts to help the blower's air intake.

A little earlier this month, NVIDIA tweeted that it would formally unveil the GeForce GTX 400 series graphics cards, NVIDIA's DirectX 11 generation GPUs, at the PAX East gaming event in Boston (MA), United States, on the 26th of March. That's a little under a month's time from now. In its run up, sources that have access to samples of the graphics cards seem to be drawing their "performance expectations" among other details tricking in.

Both the GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 470 graphics cards are based on NVIDIA's GF100 silicon, which physically packs 512 CUDA cores, 16 geometry units, 64 TMUs, 48 ROPs, and a 384-bit GDDR5 memory interface. While the GTX 480 is a full-featured part, the GTX 470 is slightly watered-down, with probably 448 or 480 CUDA cores enabled, and a slightly narrower memory interface, probably 320-bit GDDR5. Sources tell DonanimHaber that the GeForce GTX 470 performs somewhere between the ATI Radeon HD 5850 and Radeon HD 5870. This part is said to have a power draw of 300W. The GeForce GTX 480, on the other hand, is expected to perform on-par with the GeForce GTX 295 - at least in existing (present-generation) applications. A recent listing by an online store for a pre-order, put the GTX 480 at US $699.

NVIDIA built a fair bit of hype over the weekend on Twitter, when it said that come Monday, it would make a "major announcement". It turns out that the company will unveil its GeForce GTX 400 series graphics card at the PAX East gaming event to be held in late March, on the 26th, 31 days away at the time of preparing this report. The PAX East event will be held in Boston, United States.

NVIDIA will unveil two of its high-end, next-generation graphics cards based on the GeForce GTX 480 and GeForce GTX 470. Being DirectX 11 compliant marks that generation shift. An American online retailer listed the GeForce GTX 480 for US $699 on pre-order.

An online PC hardware store, SabrePC.com, has listed a graphics card based on NVIDIA's upcoming DirectX 11 compliant GeForce GTX 480 GPU. And the price: $699 before a $20 rebate. The listing is of a graphics card by NVIDIA partner XFX.

The specifications known at this point in time are that the GeForce GTX 480 is based on NVIDIA's GF100 graphics processor. It is DirectX 11 compliant, and has 512 shader units (dubbed CUDA cores), a 384-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, and multiple tessellation units. NVIDIA is expected to announce the card along with a cheaper variant, the GeForce GTX 470, later this quarter. By early Q2, the company expects healthy inventories.