NVIDIA shows real next-gen GeForce

Robert Hallock (Thrax) Not one to let the official unveiling of the Radeon HD 5970 slip by uncontested, NVIDIA recently updated their Facebook page with a shot of a GF100 actually doing something.

November 18, 2009 11:10 AM ET in News, , , , , , , ,

Not one to let the official unveiling of the Radeon HD 5970 slip by uncontested, NVIDIA recently updated their Facebook page with a shot of a GF100 actually doing something.

Well. There that is.

Coming soon to a paper launch near you.

Let’s see what we can tell about the part by looking at the picture:

  • The ATX spec specifies a motherboard width of 9.6″, therefore GF100 adapters appear to be 10 inches.
  • The card uses 1×8-pin and 1×6-pin PCIe power connectors. If the GF100 uses a similar consumption profile to the 294W Tesla C2000 series, then next-gen GeForces will have about 100W to spare for overclocking.
  • Note also that 294W is identical to the dual-GPU Radeon HD 5970, whereas Tesla C2000 and GF100 use one GPU. Big die is big.

For those of you who are confused by NVIDIA’s codename soup, allow us to clear the air: Fermi is the name of the architecture, NV100 is the name of the physical chip, GF100 is the name of the GeForce implementation, and GT300 is the name of the Tesla implementation.

There.

21 Comments:

  1. lordbean
    18 Nov '09, 4:17 pm

    The codenames, they make my head spin.

    Damn that thing sucks down the juice though. AMD clearly showing that they have a better handle on power management.

  2. Snarkasm
    18 Nov '09, 4:37 pm

    Or a smaller chip.

  3. Thrax
    18 Nov '09, 4:38 pm

    This.

  4. lordbean
    18 Nov '09, 4:40 pm

    It ain't about the size, it's how you use it...

    Essentially, it's all speculation until we get performance numbers from the Fermi geforce line, including my original comment.

  5. Snarkasm
    18 Nov '09, 4:42 pm

    Right now, smaller chip means less power. The measurement you were looking for is performance per watt, and nobody has any information on any of that yet.

  6. lordbean
    18 Nov '09, 4:44 pm

    Which is, I believe, exactly what I just said.

  7. Cliff_Forster
    18 Nov '09, 4:46 pm

    But will it play Crysis? ;0)

  8. lordbean
    18 Nov '09, 4:46 pm

    Yes, I imagine it will play Crysis.

  9. Gattsu
    18 Nov '09, 9:57 pm

    The real question is, will it max out Crysis? Maybe that's just wishful thinking.

  10. Cliff_Forster
    18 Nov '09, 10:32 pm
    Quoting Gattsu

    The real question is, will it max out Crysis? Maybe that's just wishful thinking.

    Well, the current 5870 from AMD will max it all with AA and AF at 1080P, but its a push to hold 30 FPS all the time, there are dips into the 20's, with the blur effect, its not as noticeable in that game, but I still would prefer to hold my monitors refresh rate.

    Maybe by 2012 we will accomplish that mighty feat.

  11. _k_
    18 Nov '09, 10:34 pm

    Actually mas0n with his OC on his 5850 says his doesn't dip below 40 FPS in only a few scenes and the rest is over 60

  12. Cliff_Forster
    18 Nov '09, 10:41 pm

    Everything on very high, max AA, max AF 1920X1080?

  13. _k_
    18 Nov '09, 10:42 pm

    Pretty darn sure, I point him here just to make sure. And he games on higher rez than 1920x1080

  14. Sledgehammer70
    18 Nov '09, 10:46 pm

    When it has come to GPU's over the last 10 years power never seemed to be an issue that companies looked at. This is apparent across the board. but I will agree ATI seems to be focusing on that aspect.

    Overall that is a beast of a card that would fit nicely in my case but other things to notice is that it supports Nvidia's current Quad SLI headers which is more than enough to keep AMD's comments in check that Nvidia is backing out of the high end market... they seem to be very much getting into it still and have a black knight in the image above to prove it.

    It is to bad that we don't see a direct HDMI plug coming out of the back of that thing.

    I should also note the posting on Facebook clearly stated:

    GF100 (the first GeForce GPU based on the Fermi architecture) running the Unigine Heaven DX11 benchmark!

    Why would they be calling out DX11? did something change that we don't know about?

  15. Thrax
    18 Nov '09, 11:29 pm

    Nothing changed.

  16. lordbean
    18 Nov '09, 11:37 pm

    They're simply pointing out that they have a functional Fermi GPU core running DirectX 11, likely with the intent to generate excitement that launch may be close.

  17. mas0n
    19 Nov '09, 12:09 am
    Quoting _k_

    Actually mas0n with his OC on his 5850 says his doesn't dip below 40 FPS in only a few scenes and the rest is over 60

    I haven't collected any hard data, but while most scenes run 50+ FPS, there are still times when I dip into the mid 20s. This is with the Q6600 @ 3.8GHz, the 5850 ~1GHz, and running all settings maxed at 2048x1152. I am also limited to 32-bit because I bought through Steam

    Crysis is still a big mean bitch to tame.

  18. Thrax
    19 Nov '09, 12:12 am

    Even CrossFire 5870s cannot keep the game above 30 FPS at max settings at 1080p.

  19. _k_
    19 Nov '09, 2:43 am

    you told me 40s when i asked you.

  20. mas0n
    19 Nov '09, 3:02 am

    NO U.

    I don't remember our conversation. I'm pretty sure I average in the 40s, maybe that's what I meant then.

  21. Cliff_Forster
    19 Nov '09, 4:51 am
    Quoting Thrax

    Even CrossFire 5870s cannot keep the game above 30 FPS at max settings at 1080p.

    To clarify, I think you mean the low frame rate, where it occasional dips, because I would say thats accurate.

    My single 5870 does an admirable job at playing it, but there are those moments under heavy fire that it still dips below that magic 30 FPS threshold. The motion blur in those scenes disguises it a little, but a discerning gamer knows.

    By time we get a single card that can run it at 60FPS full out nobody will care anymore.

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