AMD Three for Free promo: HD 7900 Price drop & free games

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | April 16, 2012 - 12:25 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: southern islands, price cut, amd

AMD, for a limited time and while supplies last, will bundle three games with the purchase of a Radeon HD 7900 Series graphics card. The qualifying cards, the Radeon HD 7950 (now $399) and 7970 (now $479), will be bundled with DiRT Showdown, Nexuiz, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution with The Missing Link DLC.

Getting a game bundled with your GPU is not the most unheard-of practice, but could still be a good deal regardless. Bundling three high-profile games and an expansion DLC for one of them is very likely to be a good deal however you look at it.

AMD will soon launch their “Three for Free” promotion for qualifying Radeon HD 7950 and 7970 video cards from participating resellers. With this program, AMD will throw in DiRT Showdown, Nexuiz, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution with The Missing Link DLC with their video card.

AMD’s throwing DiRT in a Showdown?

The selection of games is quite impressive but they only serve as BBQ sauce for the promotion: the HD 7000 series are receiving price cuts.

AMD is lowering the price of the Radeon HD 7970 to $479 and the HD 7950 to $399 along with the three-and-a-bit free games. Also cut in price, although not qualifying for the free games, is the Radeon HD7770 which loses $20 off of its price tag with an expected price of $139. Check out Ryan’s review for the performance of that card.

You can keep a lookout for these updated prices here on Newegg.com!

Source: PCPer

Price Cuts on AMD Radeon 7900 Series GPUs Coming Soon

Subject: Graphics Cards | April 13, 2012 - 09:31 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: price cut, nvidia gtx 680, gpu, amd, 7970

We reviewed the AMD Radeon 7970 3GB GPU back in december (you can read that here), and then the NVIDIA GTX 680 was released and became king of the single GPU hill. And while I was hoping for price cuts in the 7900 series as a result, there were none to report.

According to LegitReviews, who questioned sources within AMD, consumers may be seeing cheaper 7900 series cards next week. Starting Monday, April 16th 2012, AMD will be cutting prices for the suggested retail prices (MSRP) of the cards. Specifically, the 7970 will be getting a price cut of $50 USD and the 7950 will get a $40 lower MSRP.

AMD Radeon 7970 3GB Graphics Card_PCPERdotCom.jpg

Although AMD has a slower single card on their hands, the scarcity of NVIDIA GTX 680 GPUs and decent performance of the 7970 means that price cuts aren't going to be a much as I was personally hoping for. Even more, retailers may further murk up the situation by not reducing prices as much as the full MSRP reduction due to GTX 680s being sold out. Also, there is no word on whether the 7800 series will also be getting price cuts. In the end though, at least you won't have to spend as much of your tax refund on a new GPU if you've been eyeing the 7900 series (heh) even if it's not as much as you were hoping for.

Source: Legit Reviews

How does Sapphire's overclocked HD7970 fare against the GTX680

Subject: Graphics Cards | April 13, 2012 - 01:17 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: gtx680, hd7970, factory overclocked, sapphire

In one way, the Sapphire HD 7970 OC Edition wins this competition because of the simple fact that you can actually buy it. However, we are also interested in the performance difference as you can occasionally find a GTX 680 for sale, so we need to know how the overclocked HD7970 performs. Sapphire has placed two separate overclocked BIOSes on this card, one with a 950MHz core and 1425MHz memory as well as a more aggressively set one with a cores of 1000MHz and 1450MHz on the memory. As it turned out [H]ard|OCP was never able to get the more aggressive BIOS to work, on the other hand when they manually overclocked it they hit 1150MHz core and 1860MHz for the memory at which speeds the card triumphed over the GTX 680 in every test. Sapphire's card is ~$75 more than a GTX680 but remember, you can actually buy one.

"The Sapphire HD 7970 OC Edition video card has arrived and brings promise of low temperatures with Sapphires Dual-X Cooling System. It also features a Dual BIOS with both a passive and more aggressive profile. Will Sapphires highest end HD 7970 be able to keep up and compete with NVIDIA's flagship GeForce GTX 680?"

Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:

Graphics Cards

Source: [H]ard|OCP

More leaks about NVIDIA's Dual-GPU GTX 690? May be?

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | April 10, 2012 - 07:18 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: nvidia, leak, GTX 690

More information has surfaced about NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 690 video card. While other tidbits came to light, perhaps most interesting is the expected May release.

NVIDIA has suffered from quite a few leaks near their launch of the GeForce GTX 680 GPU and its associated cards. Benchmarks were accidentally published early and product pages were mistakenly posted premature. The hot streak continues.

It may be time to just reset fate and skip to the GTX 700-series. I mean they will eventually be rebranded 700-something anyway.

I kid, I kid.

Not many specifications were leaked, although there is not much left that cannot already be assumed about the card due to the similarities with its sister part.

The reference model GTX 690 will require two 8-pin power connectors and output via three DVI ports as well as a mini DisplayPort. The already released GTX 680, by contrast, requires two 6-pin connectors and outputs by two DVI, an HDMI, and a full size DisplayPort.

The new card will require more power for its dual GK104 GPUs as the larger power connectors would suggest. While the GTX 680 is happy with 550W of total system power, the GTX 690 would like a system power supply of at least 650W. Since the 680 is expected to draw a maximum of 195W, an extra 100W would put estimates for the 690 power draw at somewhere around 295W.

Unfortunately estimates based on rated total system power are very inaccurate as power supply requirements are often raised to the nearest 50W. Really, the 690 could be anywhere between 245W and 295W and even those figures are just estimates.

Still, it looks as though my 750W power supply will survive past May when the leak claims that the GTX 690 is expected to arrive. Yay! May!

Source: EXPreview

Just Delivered: MAINGEAR SHIFT with 3x Radeon HD 7970 Cards!

Subject: Graphics Cards, Systems | April 7, 2012 - 06:16 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: shift, maingear, just delivered, HD 7970, 7970

Just Delivered is a section of PC Perspective where we share some of the goodies that pass through our labs that may or may not see a review, but are pretty cool none the less.

While we get sent complete system builds from time to time, it's pretty rare when they actually impress me. Because we review and work with the best harware in the business on a daily basis, something unique really has to be there for us to really be wowed. Today we were playing with a custom built MAINGEAR SHIFT machine that did just that.

The SHIFT is the company's flagship product line that starts out with an $1800+ price tag, so you know you are getting top of the line components. Our test system includes a Core i7-3960X Sandy Bridge-E processor as well as a trio of Radeon HD 7970 cards from AMD. That's right, three.

The internals are lit by a white LED and the black/red color pattern of the graphics cards is continued with the inclusion of matching Corsair DDR3 memory to the tune of 16GB and the MAINGEAR EPIC 180 self-containted water cooler.

Corsair's AX1200 watt power supply is included in the build and it is necessary! During our testing so far we found the PC could draw as much as 1050 watts from the wall while running 3DMark11.

Another exclusive feature for the MAINGEAR systems is the EPIC Audio system that adds studio quality audio headphone output and microphone input. The licensed Aphex technology is touted by the company as being really impressive and I am looking forward to giving it a try this week.

With our time with the SHIFT so far, the build quality has been impressive, the lack of crapware on the system is a welcome change and the performance is simply astounding as we expected with a SNB-E CPU and triple HD 7970s in CrossFireX.

Expect more very soon!

Source: PC Perspective

Overclocked Gigabyte WindForce GTX 680 GPU Pictured

Subject: Graphics Cards | April 5, 2012 - 11:19 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: windforce, overclock, nvidia, gtx 680, gpu, gigabyte, custom gtx 680

Popular motherboard manufacturer Gigabyte is the latest company to debut a custom version of the NVIDIA GTX 680 reference graphics card. Gigabyte’s unique take on the GTX 680 starts off with a custom dark blue PCB and ripping out the puny two six pin PCI-E power connectors. They are then replaced with one eight pin and one six pin PCI-E power connector. Then, they top it off with a custom three fan cooler. The heatsink uses three copper heatpipes with direct contact with the GPU, and two arrays of aluminum fins.

The cooler and blue PCB via VR-Zone

The extra power provided by the eight pin PCI-E connector allows for potentially higher overclocks (depending on the particular chips), and the custom cooler keeps the overclocked card nice and cool. In fact, Gigabyte is shipping the card with a factory overclock. Although they did not overclock the 2 GB of GDDR5 memory from stock, they have set the base clock frequency and boost frequency at 1071 MHz and 1124 MHz boost respectively. Compared to the reference specs of 1006 MHz base and 1058 MHz boost, that amounts to a respectable 65 MHz base overclock and 66 MHz boost overclock out of the box. Further, depending on the chip, they may be capable of overclocking much higher.

The assembled card showing the video outputs via Guru3D

So long as you can find one in stock, the NVIDIA GTX 680 GPU is shaping up to be an interesting card, especially the custom versions! More photos of the previewed Gigabyte GTX 680 WindForce edition is available here and here.

Source: Guru3D

NVIDIA Introduces Two New Rebranded 600 Series Cards

Subject: Graphics Cards | April 5, 2012 - 08:37 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: rebranded gpu, nvidia, gtx 620, gtx 605, gpu, fermi

NVIDIA is continuing the infuriating practice (though they aren't alone in doing so) of re-branding older graphics cards into the following generation to present “new” cards (or to confuse consumers and tech journalists to no end, though I suspect that’s just a side benefit). Specifically, they are taking two lower tier desktop OEM cards and rebranding them as 600 series "Kepler" cards. The NVIDIA GT 520 and GT 510 will be renamed the NVIDIA GT 620 and GT 605 respectively. Even more confusing is that the “new” cards will have less hardware, and the only addition is the support for the OpenGL 4.2 standard (versus 4.1 on the 520 and 510). Other than that, they are two Fermi based cards in Kepler clothing.

The NVIDIA GT 620 replaces the GT 520 and features half of the graphics memory as the 500 series card, meaning that users will get 512 MB or 1 GB on the 620 instead of the 1 GB / 2 GB options of the GT 520. The card still features VGA, DVI, and HDMI video outputs. The remaining specifications can be seen in the chart below. Despite halving the memory, the new card has a very slightly higher TDP at 30 watts versus the rated 29 watts of the GT 520.

On the other hand, the NVIDIA GT 605 is the new version of the GT 510. The 600 series part also halves the amount of memory of the GT 510 counterpart with 512 MB and 1 GB versions compared to 1 GB and 2 GB versions of the GT 510. The GT 605 also has VGA, DVI, and HDMI ports. It is rated at a TDP of 25 watts like the GT 510.

	GT 510	GT 605	GT 520	GT 620
Graphics Clock	523 MHz	523 MHz	810 MHz	810 MHz
Processor Clock	1046 MHz	1046 MHz	1620 MHz	1620 MHz
Memory Clock (up to)	898 MHz	898 MHz	898 MHz	898 MHz
Memory (DDR3)	1 or 2 GB	512 or 1024 MB	1 or 2 GB	512 or 1024 MB
OpenGL	4.1	4.2	4.1	4.2
Maximum Resolution	2560x1600	2560x1600	2560x1600	2560x1600

Reference GT 500 and GT 600 Series Specifications (changes in bold).

According to Tom’s, the “new” cards are still Fermi based despite the new implied Kepler generation naming scheme. Granted, these are OEM cards but it still is a bit dishonest to rebrand them, especially in the case of the GT 620 where it is the same rank but with the Kepler generation digit at the beginning. There have been some comments around the Internet that the two new rebranded cards were brought into play to allow OEMs to sell PCs with new 600 series discrete graphics. At this level, it really doesn’t matter per se as they will still do HTPC and desktop graphics well enough and are not going to be purchased by customers directly, but it’s still annoying (heh). What do you guys think about the graphics card rebranding in general, whether it’s on the desktop or mobile market?

Source: NVIDIA

Penguins made it to the Southern Islands - Ubuntu and the HD 7950

Subject: Graphics Cards | April 4, 2012 - 06:12 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: hd 7950, ubuntu 12.04, opengl, linux, amd

Phoronix revisited the performance the HD 7950 on the new Catalyst driver for Linux as it is no longer labelled as unsupported hardware. That means that not only are the default clocks correct, you can use aticonfig/amdconfig to overclock the cards if you so desire. The scaling of the card now matches the clock speed nicely and shows an improvement from the HD 6950 in the benchmarks. You might not be able to find a Linux game which will take advantage of the full feature set and power of the HD 7950 but the card is capable of far more than providing you with pixels to slaughter.

"Here are some updated benchmarks of the AMD Radeon HD 7950 "Southern Islands" graphics card under Linux with the proprietary Catalyst driver."

Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:

Graphics Cards

Source: Phoronix

NVIDIA urges you to program better now, not CPU -- later.

Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Graphics Cards, Processors | April 4, 2012 - 04:13 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: nvidia, Intel, Knight's Corner, gpgpu

NVIDIA steals Intel’s lunch… analogy. In the process they claim that optimizing your application for Intel’s upcoming many-core hardware is not free of effort, and that effort is similar to what is required to develop on what NVIDIA already has available.

A few months ago, Intel published an article on their software blog to urge developers to look to the future without relying on the future when they design their applications. The crux of Intel’s argument states that regardless of how efficient Intel makes their processors, there is still responsibility on your part to create efficient code.

There’s always that one, in the back of the class…

NVIDIA, never a company to be afraid to make a statement, used Intel’s analogy to alert developers to optimize for many-core architectures.

The hope that unmodified HPC applications will work well on MIC with just a recompile is not really credible, nor is talking about ease of programming without consideration of performance.

There is no free lunch. Programmers will need to put in some effort to structure their applications for hybrid architectures. But that work will pay off handsomely for today’s, and especially tomorrow’s, HPC systems.

It remains to be seen how Intel MIC will perform when it eventually arrives. But why wait? Better to get ahead of the game by starting down the hybrid multicore path now.

NVIDIA thinks that Intel was correct: there would be no free lunch for developers, why not purchase a plate at NVIDIA’s table? Who knows, after the appetizer you might want to stay around.

You cannot simply allow your program to execute on Many Integrated Core (MIC) hardware and expect it to do so well. The goal is not to simply implement on new hardware -- it is to perform efficiently while utilizing the advantages of everything that is available. It will always be up to the developer to set up their application in the appropriate way.

Your advantage will be to understand the pros and cons of massive parallelism. NVIDIA, AMD, and now Intel have labored to create a variety of architectures to suit this aspiration; software developers must labor in a similar way on their end.

Source: NVIDIA Blogs

Ever wonder what is in a Reviewers Guide?

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | April 2, 2012 - 12:13 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: NVIDA, gtx 680, reviewer guide

A long held tradition in the hardware reviewing world is to accuse reviewers of biasing their reviews by only running the benchmarks that the manufacturer wants you to run and providing slanted results. It really doesn't matter if every single site comes out with similar results, for some if a review doesn't fit their personal bias it is obviously flawed. As [H]ard|OCP mentions, there was a time when Reviewer's Guides did resemble something along those lines but they have changed over time as suppliers realize the more biased they attempt to make their guidelines, the less likely a review site is to follow them.

These guides are now more of a mix between a white paper and a lengthy PR release, with relatively in depth discussions on the capabilities of the product along with highlights of what the company feels are the key features on the new product. [H] has posted the document which arrived with their GTX 680, discussing features and yes ... suggesting the appropriate games with which to show off their cards features, though what game could you test PhysX with other than Batman?

"Many times we have been asked what exactly CPU and GPU companies "require" of us when working on a review of yet-to-be-released hardware. Published here is the Reviewers Guide from the recent NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 launch in its entirety. Besides it being a great geeked-out read, you will likely learn a few things."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

Source: [H]ard|OCP

The only thing better than an in stock GTX 680 would be two of them

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 29, 2012 - 06:18 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: sli, nvidia, gtx 680

The name of the game in [H]ard|OCP's latest review is scaling at 5760 x 1200, specifically the scaling of two GTX 680s in SLI as well as a pair of HD 7970s in Crossfire. Some games like Mass Effect 3 will not benefit much as the difference between 150fps and 170fps will be hard to do but others such as Battlefield 3 and Arkham City stress these cards somewhat at this resolution, but even 50fps is rather impressive when pushing about 7 million pixels. Read on and be prepared to feel a little jealous, ~~maybe jealous enough to snatch up a Galaxy model which is back in stock~~. (didn't last 2 minutes)

"We've got two GeForce GTX 680 video cards to test SLI performance against Radeon HD 7970 CrossFireX. Will these less expensive GTX 680 video cards offer a better gameplay experience or choke at high resolutions due to a smaller VRAM footprint? We will prove to you which solution offers better efficiency and performance."

Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:

Graphics Cards

Source: [H]ard|OCP

Galaxy Readying 4GB and Hall Of Fame Edition GTX 680 GPUs

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 26, 2012 - 11:36 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: nvidia, gtx680, gpu, galaxy, 4gb gtx 680

A new article over at Chinese site EXP Review suggests that graphics card manufacturer Galaxy is gearing up with three new NVIDIA GTX 680 graphics cards. Among the new GTX 680 GPUs pictured, Galaxy is planning a reference card, a heavily overclocked Hall Of Fame card, and models with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory.

Galaxy is upping the memory ante with a new NVIDIA GTX 680 that has 4 GB of memory - twice that of the reference cards. The card will use Hynix memory chips (8 on the front, 8 on the rear of the card), an improved 5+2 phase power supply with DirectFET replacements for the usual MOSFET design. In addition, the card features 6+8 pin PCI-E power connectors and an aftermarket Galaxy Gemini cooler. The Gemini HSF uses heatpipes and an aluminum fin array cooled by two 90mm fans to cool the card. The extra cooling enabled Galaxy to offer the new card with a 10% factory overclock, for a base clockspeed of 1.1 GHz.

The other interesting card is the upcoming Galaxy GTX 680 Hall of Fame edition. This card is based on a white PCB with two 8 pin PCI-E power connectors (like those of the Asus DirectCU II and MSI Lightning). Further, it is cooled with three 90mm fans and five heatpipes leading to an aluminum fin array. The card will come equipped with dual BIOS support and overclocking software. It is not directly stated, but the Hall of Fame edition should be more overclockable thanks to the expanded cooling solution. Also, it may come with 4 GB of memory like the card above.

In our PCPer Live Review, it was stated that while NVIDIA could do reference cards with 4 GB of memory, they chose not to in order to hit certain price points and profit margins. Instead, they left it up to the Add In Board partners to offer cards with extra RAM and factory overclocks. Galaxy is prepping their 4 GB cards, but theya re not likely to be the only vendor offering cards with increased memory. More photos are available over at EXPReview.

Source: EXPReview

PC Perspective Live Review Recap: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 24, 2012 - 05:51 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: video, tom petersen, nvidia, live review, gtx 680, geforce

On the day of the GeForce GTX 680 launch, we hosted a "Live Review" to discuss the new product features and performance while also taking questions from a live chat room and via Twitter. NVIDIA's own Tom Petersen stopped by the offices to talk with us and to show off the hardware features with some live demos of GPU Boost, overclocking and quite a bit more.

If you haven't seen the video yet, you should definitely do so; Tom does a great job explaining the new technology involved with the Kepler GPU. One caveat: the recording process was a bit off and the recording actually starts just a few minutes AFTER we actually began the live stream. Sorry!

For more information on other upcoming events you can follow PC Perspective on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ or just check http://pcper.com/live for the latest schedule!

Source: PC Perspective

GTX 680 insanity! SLI, Triple SLI, and Quad SLI

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 23, 2012 - 01:45 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: sli, quad sli, gtx 680

With an Intel Core i7 3960X, 16GB of DDR3, an ASUS Rampage IV Formula motherboard and an Enermax Platimax 1500W PSU, Hardware.Info took four GTX 680s and started benchmarking. Of course, that means more than one monitor so these benchmarks are at 5760x1080 and due to the new architecture some games were not quite sure what to do with the extra graphics cards. Some games like Metro 2033 were not able to provide significant scaling at high resolutions but then again Crysis 2 had no idea what to do with three HD 7970s which makes it hard to determine a clear winner between three HD 7970s and four GTX 680s. The benchmark results offer results we've never seen, with over 80fps from the NVIDIA cards on Crysis 2 and 130fps on Skyrim. The end result is that apart from games which seem to need updating, the scaling of the GTX 680 is impressive and it pulls less power than the HD 7970s.

"We just published a comprehensive GeForce GTX 680 4-way SLI review on Hardware.Info. Since we are the first to extensively test a Quad-SLI configuration of nVidia's brand new GeForce GTX 680, we wanted to make these exciting results available to a wider audience and created an English version of the article."

Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:

Graphics Cards

Source: Hardware.Info

Want to stop the GTX 680 leaks? Release the card and they will go away!

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 22, 2012 - 02:15 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: nvidia, kepler, gtx 680, 28nm

After a fun filled week of speculation, accidental launches and more leaks than a cruise ship, we can finally talk about the GTX 680 and how it performs. Start out at [H]ard|OCP who put four monitors on a GTX 680 and started benchmarking. The card is made with TSMC's 28nm process, sports 3.54 billion transistors and both its GPU and 1536 CUDA cores run at the same 1.006GHz and the 2GB of memory is running at 6GHz on a 256-bit bus. That is enough power to surpass the performance of AMD's HD 7970 and surprisingly it often draws less power than the Radeon making the card more efficient than AMD's offering and ruining NVIDIA's reputation for power hungry, hot running cards.

You can catch not only the print version of Ryan's GTX 680 review but if your timing is good you can catch a recording of the live stream he did earlier today!

The Inquirer is also worth checking out as they offer a dissenting opinon which places the performance of the GTX 680 as lower than an HD 7870, let alone the 7970!

"The silicon we have all been waiting for is here. NVIDIA is launching its next generation GeForce GTX 680 video card, poised with the new flagship GPU from NVIDIA. Can it compete with AMD's Radeon HD 7970? We were somewhat amazed at how this NVIDIA GPU does when it comes to gaming, pricing, efficiency, and features."

Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:

Graphics Cards

Source: [H]ard|OCP

Rumored NVIDIA GK110 Chip Coming This Summer

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 22, 2012 - 02:19 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: nvidia, gpu, gk110, GK104

Update: The GK104 GeForce GTX 680 has now been released and we have our review published.

There have been some rumors going around the web about an alleged NVIDIA GK110 chip that is to be the successor to the upcoming GK104, or GTX 600 series, graphics cards. Videocardz is the latest site to pick up on the rumors, and they were able to translate the German blog from which the GK110 chip rumors originated. The NVIDIA GTX 600 series is not yet out, but rumored specs put the top end GTX 680 at 1536 CUDA cores, 2 GB GDDR5 memory, 3.54 billion transistors and a die size of 294mm^2. Clockspeed wise, the GTX 680 will run at a 1.006 GHz core clock, 2.012 GHz shader clock, and effective memory clock of 6.008 GHz.

The rumored GK110 chip, on the other hand, will have 6 billion transistors, 2,304 CUDA cores, and a die size of 550mm^2. That die size figure is where many of the doubts about the rumors come from. Many people have expressed their doubts that NVIDIA would ever create a GPU using such a large die as it would be very cost prohibitive to manufacture. Further, at 550mm^2, that would mean a 87% jump versus the GTX 680, which to many seems too large to consider realistic. Even AMD's 7970 Tahiti XT part only has a die size of 365mm^2. While the other reported figures seem to match up to what's realistically possible, the jump in die size is taken by many to indicate the rumors are false.

	AMD HD 7970 Tahiti XT	NVIDIA GTX 680 GK104	NVIDIA GK110
Die Size	365mm^2	294mm^2	550mm^2
Transistors	4.3 billion	3.54 billion	6 billion
GCN/CUDA Cores	2048	1536	2304
Single Precision Computing Power	3.79 TFlops	3.09 TFlops	4.5 TFlops
Gaming Performance (relative)	85%	100%	150%
Power Consumption	211 Watts	185 Watts	250-300 Watts
Launch Price	$549	$549	$650
Release Date	12-22-2011 (paper)	3-22-2012	August 2012

Rumored GK110 Specs

The GK104 is likely going to be released today (be sure to stay tuned to PC Per Live for more information on the NVIDIA event today), and rumors suggest that the GK110 will be released sometime between August 2012 and January 2012. Performance is said to be 1.41 Teraflops more than the GTX 680 based on the GK104 chip.

It could be possible but it would be questionable for NVIDIA to release another big chip within five months of GK104's release. Videocardz suggests that it may in face be a "GTX 685" type of card, but it is bigger and uses more power than the GTX 680 so I honestly don't see NVIDIA doing such a thing. If anything, a refresh should use less power or provide the same performance at a lower price thanks to manufacturing advances. Should the 550mm^2 die hold true, it's not looking likely even for a GTX 700 series card but who knows what NVIDIA has up their sleeves. For now, I am going to focus on the GTX 680 release (heh).

Source: Videocardz

... and here's Newegg with a GTX 680 leak

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | March 21, 2012 - 09:51 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: pelly wants revenge, nvidia, leak, gtx 680, fermi, 28nm

Not to be outdone by NCIX, NewEgg also managed to jump the gun on the GTX 680 earlier today. The screengrab that was sent tp Bright Side of News shows their pricing of the soon to be released GTX 680 with models ranging from $500 to $535. The specs are there for all to see, a GPU running at 1.006GHz, Shader clock of 2.012GHz, effective memory of 6.008GHz and 1536 Stream Processors. Contrast that with the last GTX 580 that Josh reviewed which had a 782 MHz core, 1.564GHz shader, memory at 4.008GHz and 512 SPs and you can see it is a big step up!

If you visit NewEgg now you will be greeted with a different result, a page describing the GTX 680's various features and a Buy Now button which unfortunately doesn't work at this moment. That is a situtation which obviously cannot last as NewEgg would not have put it up. Of course the realization that you can pick up a pair of GTX 570's for the same price might just mean some recalculations will be in order once we see the performance of the actual card.

Source: Bright Side of News

Anyone want a GTX580 for $360? (Counting MIR)

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 21, 2012 - 05:12 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged:

You can get a Galaxy GeForce GTX 580 from NewEgg at this very moment for the measly sum of $390, $360 after the MIR and get it shipped to you for free! If you prefer an overclocked card the the EVGA SuperClocked GTX580 will run you a bit more at $440, with a variety of other models available between those two benchmarks.

That reduction of over $100 makes the price to performance ratio change significantly as now AMD's HD 7970 costs $150 more than the GTX 580; however the performance difference between the two cards is only about 10%. While a difference of $50 did represent about a 10% price difference, after these cuts that is no longer true. NVIDIA has changed the high end graphics card market already, without having released the GTX 680 yet. Once that hits the market in the not too distant future, AMD is going to have to rethink their pricing in order to stay competitive. The mid-ranged HD 7870 is within $40 of the current price of the GTX 580 which makes those two cards direct competitors, which was probably not AMD's intention, though the performance numbers are close enough to make it a contest.

Source:

MSI's Lightning series strikes as many times as it likes

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 20, 2012 - 06:53 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged:

MSI's Lightning Series of graphics cards are among Josh's favourites and once he manages to claw enough time together to wrap up his testing you shall see his impressions of the latest member of that laudable series. In the meantime, [H]ard|OCP have put up their review of the MSI R7970 Lightning, clocked at an impressive 1070MHz which ensures you will not see a GHz Edition label on the card, though from [H]'s testing you might not get much more out of the card. This card is also the first chance we have to see the Twin Frozr IV cooling system in action and it kept the GPU cooler than the stock model even when the fully overclocked card was set to full load and did it quietly as well. You will pay a bit of a premium over stock models but you also get a card with a lot more to offer.

"MSI is launching its new flagship Radeon HD 7970 based Lightning series video card this week. This highly customized video card takes the Radeon HD 7970 and adds all sorts of features. Will the extra customizations like "GPU Reactor" add up to a stellar overclock? We'll put this video card to the test and find out."

Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:

Graphics Cards

Source: [H]ard|OCP

Announcing the MSI R7970 Lightning Graphics Card with Unlocked Digital Power Architecture

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 16, 2012 - 02:29 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: MSI R7970 Lightning, msi, factory overclocked

MSI is taking full advantage of AMD's permission to wander away from the reference design with their brand new 7970 Lightning Edition. Instead of putting a stable overclock on it and selling it at a mark up, they've completely redesigned the power architecture as well as replacing the cooler with one that is quieter and more effective. From the proprietary "GPU Reactor" which increases the amount of current available for your GPU to a significantly higher maximum setting on Power Tune, this card is for the serious overclocker who is experienced with over-volting.

Leading international graphics card and mainboard maker MSI today announced the release of the MSI R7970 Lightning, the new heir to the throne of Lightning graphics cards. Equipped with AMD's 28 nm Radeon HD 7970 GPU, the MSI R7970 Lightning features an all-new Unlocked Digital Power Architecture that incorporates an Unlocked BIOS, Digital PWM Controller, and Enhanced Power Design to boost overclocking potential to new heights and make overclocking easier than ever. In an industry first, the proprietary "GPU Reactor" power supply module reduces power supply noise and also boosts overclocking stability as well. To keep this beast cool, the MSI R7970 Lightning utilizes the latest Twin Frozr IV Thermal Design equipped with Dust Removal Technology. The dual 10 cm fans with Propeller Blade Technology generate massive airflow for fast heat dissipation while remaining whisper silent. The two form-in-one heat sinks improve cooling for memory and the power supply module as well ensure structural integrity. The R7970 Lightning uses Military Class III components which have passed rigorous third-party testing to meet MIL-STD-810G standards, guaranteeing the card's stability and reliability under actual use conditions. Moreover, the "3X3 OC Kits" are designed to simplify overclocking, which makes it easier than ever for enthusiasts to fine-tune the performance of their graphics cards. For both professional users and gaming enthusiasts alike, the R7970 Lightning's ability to simultaneously run 6 displays makes it the natural choice!

Unlocked Digital Power Provides Record-Breaking Potential
The R7970 Lightning boasts an all-new Unlocked Digital Power architecture that provides record breaking potential. The key components involved include the Unlocked BIOS, digital PWM chipset, and an improved power supply design. Unlocked BIOS removes CCC overclocking limits, Power Tune limit is increased by 180%, and OCP limits are relaxed to completely unleash the graphics card's overclocking potential. The digital power supply signal provides voltage signals that are more stable and accurate than conventional analog designs, meaning the voltage can be adjusted more quickly and precisely during overclocking. The improved power supply design provides double the power of the reference board and consists of 17 power supply parameters, dual 8-pin power supply connectors, and the Lightning Power Layer (LPL) design. For true overclocking enthusiasts, the R7970 Lightning with Unlocked Digital Power is simply a dream come true!

GPU Reactor for the Ultimate Power Core
The MSI R7970 Lightning implements the innovative "GPU Reactor" power supply module which, when installed on the back of the GPU, increases current volume by 88%, reduces power supply noise by 13%, and improves overall overclocking stability. MSI GPU Reactor is easy to install and has built in safety features that make it easy even for ordinary users to install and remove.

Extreme Cooling Design for Better Cooling and Structural Strength
The MSI R7970 Lightning incorporates the next-generation Twin Frozr IV Thermal Design. The striking design of the new Twin Frozr IV comes from the two large 10cm PWM fans with Propeller Blade Technology that cool the advanced cooling body of the Twin Frozr IV. Under the aluminum Twin Frozr IV body, you can find a high density fin grid array that provides heat dissipating area that is fed by heat-pipes featuring MSI's SuperPipe technology. MSI has also incorporated its exclusive Dust Removal Technology. Fans are running in reverse for 30 seconds after booting to remove dust from the heat sinks and keep the graphics card's cooling performance running at optimum levels. The R7970 Lightning also boasts two form-in-one heat sinks. One heat sink is located on the front of the graphics card to cool the memory and power supply modules, while the second heat sink on the back of the card helps to protect and reinforce the card structure. This extreme cooling design provides the R7970 Lightning with the best cooling performance and the most reliable structure.

Premium Materials and User-friendly Overclocking Design
MSI has always led the industry thanks to its unyielding commitment to product stability and quality and made sure that the R7970 Lightning was equipped with Military Class III components certified to MIL-STD-810G military standards in seven different categories by a third-party laboratory. Be it tantalum core Hi-c CAP around the graphics card, the CopperMOS cooling design, the form-in-one Golden SSC, or as the card's moisture/rust-proof Dark Solid CAP, all work together to provide the MSI R7970 Lightning with the best possible stability.

For overclocking enthusiasts, MSI has developed the 3X3 OC Kits: V-Check Points enable GPU, Memory and VDDCI voltage to be monitored while Triple Overvoltage and Triple Temperature Sensor enable overclockers to quickly fine-tune and track the performance of their graphics card using enthusiasts favorite Afterburner overclocking software. The 4 Mini DisplayPorts and 2 DVI ports on the R7970 Lightning enable AMD Eyefinity technology to drive 6 screen output with just one card, providing just the kind of performance industry professionals and gaming enthusiasts need.

Source: MSI

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | April 16, 2012 - 12:25 AM | Scott Michaud Tagged: southern islands, price cut, amd

Subject: Graphics Cards | April 13, 2012 - 09:31 PM | Tim Verry Tagged: price cut, nvidia gtx 680, gpu, amd, 7970

Subject: Graphics Cards | April 13, 2012 - 01:17 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom Tagged: gtx680, hd7970, factory overclocked, sapphire

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | April 10, 2012 - 07:18 PM | Scott Michaud Tagged: nvidia, leak, GTX 690

Subject: Graphics Cards, Systems | April 7, 2012 - 06:16 PM | Ryan Shrout Tagged: shift, maingear, just delivered, HD 7970, 7970

Subject: Graphics Cards | April 5, 2012 - 11:19 PM | Tim Verry Tagged: windforce, overclock, nvidia, gtx 680, gpu, gigabyte, custom gtx 680

Subject: Graphics Cards | April 5, 2012 - 08:37 PM | Tim Verry Tagged: rebranded gpu, nvidia, gtx 620, gtx 605, gpu, fermi

Subject: Graphics Cards | April 4, 2012 - 06:12 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom Tagged: hd 7950, ubuntu 12.04, opengl, linux, amd

Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Graphics Cards, Processors | April 4, 2012 - 04:13 AM | Scott Michaud Tagged: nvidia, Intel, Knight's Corner, gpgpu

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | April 2, 2012 - 12:13 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom Tagged: NVIDA, gtx 680, reviewer guide

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 29, 2012 - 06:18 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom Tagged: sli, nvidia, gtx 680

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 26, 2012 - 11:36 AM | Tim Verry Tagged: nvidia, gtx680, gpu, galaxy, 4gb gtx 680

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 24, 2012 - 05:51 PM | Ryan Shrout Tagged: video, tom petersen, nvidia, live review, gtx 680, geforce

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 23, 2012 - 01:45 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom Tagged: sli, quad sli, gtx 680

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 22, 2012 - 02:15 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom Tagged: nvidia, kepler, gtx 680, 28nm

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 22, 2012 - 02:19 AM | Tim Verry Tagged: nvidia, gpu, gk110, GK104

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | March 21, 2012 - 09:51 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom Tagged: pelly wants revenge, nvidia, leak, gtx 680, fermi, 28nm

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 21, 2012 - 05:12 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom Tagged:

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 20, 2012 - 06:53 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom Tagged:

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 16, 2012 - 02:29 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom Tagged: MSI R7970 Lightning, msi, factory overclocked

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | April 16, 2012 - 12:25 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: southern islands, price cut, amd

Subject: Graphics Cards | April 13, 2012 - 09:31 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: price cut, nvidia gtx 680, gpu, amd, 7970

Subject: Graphics Cards | April 13, 2012 - 01:17 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: gtx680, hd7970, factory overclocked, sapphire

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | April 10, 2012 - 07:18 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: nvidia, leak, GTX 690

Subject: Graphics Cards, Systems | April 7, 2012 - 06:16 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: shift, maingear, just delivered, HD 7970, 7970

Subject: Graphics Cards | April 5, 2012 - 11:19 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: windforce, overclock, nvidia, gtx 680, gpu, gigabyte, custom gtx 680

Subject: Graphics Cards | April 5, 2012 - 08:37 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: rebranded gpu, nvidia, gtx 620, gtx 605, gpu, fermi

Subject: Graphics Cards | April 4, 2012 - 06:12 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: hd 7950, ubuntu 12.04, opengl, linux, amd

Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Graphics Cards, Processors | April 4, 2012 - 04:13 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: nvidia, Intel, Knight's Corner, gpgpu

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | April 2, 2012 - 12:13 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: NVIDA, gtx 680, reviewer guide

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 29, 2012 - 06:18 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: sli, nvidia, gtx 680

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 26, 2012 - 11:36 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: nvidia, gtx680, gpu, galaxy, 4gb gtx 680

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 24, 2012 - 05:51 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: video, tom petersen, nvidia, live review, gtx 680, geforce

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 23, 2012 - 01:45 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: sli, quad sli, gtx 680

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 22, 2012 - 02:15 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: nvidia, kepler, gtx 680, 28nm

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 22, 2012 - 02:19 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: nvidia, gpu, gk110, GK104

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | March 21, 2012 - 09:51 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: pelly wants revenge, nvidia, leak, gtx 680, fermi, 28nm

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 21, 2012 - 05:12 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged:

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 20, 2012 - 06:53 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged:

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 16, 2012 - 02:29 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: MSI R7970 Lightning, msi, factory overclocked