NVIDIA GK106 GPU Detailed

[btarunr]

Following the launch of a couple of more GK104-based SKUs, namely GeForce GTX 670 Ti, and GeForce GTX 670, some time in May; NVIDIA will launch its third (after GK104 and GK107) Kepler architecture-based silicon, codenamed GK106. GK106 will make up sub-$200 SKUs, and succeeds the GF116, on which SKUs such as the GeForce GTX 550 Ti, are based. The GK106 will make up at least one known desktop SKU, called GeForce GTX 660.



Its specifications are listed below.

• 28 nm, around 210 mm² die-area, Kepler architecture
• Two Graphics Processing Clusters (GPCs), four Streaming Multiprocessors (SMXs)
• 768 CUDA cores
• 64 TMUs, 24 ROPs
• 192-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 1.5 GB or 2 GB memory
• PCI-Express 3.0 bus interface
• Around 130W TDP
• Speculated performance comparable to GTX 560 Ti and HD 6950, competitive to Radeon HD 7800 series

Source: 3DCenter.org

[xenocide]

Why does that graph show the HD7970 as cheaper than the GTX680?

[Vulpesveritas]

Originally Posted by xenocide

Why does that graph show the HD7970 as cheaper than the GTX680?

Maybe there is a huge anticipated price drop?

[Protagonist]

I think ill have to get a GTX680 if the prices ever drop or not anything lower than a GTX670, i personally don't like 24ROPs, 192bit. i only want 32ROPs or more a 256bit or higher in a GFX

[xenocide]

Originally Posted by Vulpesveritas

Maybe there is a huge anticipated price drop?

There was a news post recently stating AMD had no plans of dropping prices on their current offerings, probably hoping to lure people in and make some extra money on people who don't want to wait for GTX680 Availability to improve.

It shows the 7970 as being around 450 with the GTX680 being about 500.

[Vulpesveritas]

Originally Posted by xenocide

There was a news post recently stating AMD had no plans of dropping prices on their current offerings, probably hoping to lure people in and make some extra money on people who don't want to wait for GTX680 Availability to improve.

It shows the 7970 as being around 450 with the GTX680 being about 500.

Right but that's for while the availability isn't there, maybe they think prices will drop by then? Lol.

[EpicShweetness]

Wait a min here the projections of the performance being 560ti/6950 makes a hole. A BIG hole that is between the 680 and the "670 ti" were the 7870 and the 7950 hell even the 7970 fill that gap. That's a bit strange, don't ya think?

[Isenstaedt]

Isn't the 7970 more expensive because of the extra GB of vRAM? Maybe AMD is planning to release a cheaper than the 680 1.5 GB version of the 7970.

[Crap Daddy]

Spekulationen. Anyway, this will find some hard time to compete with the 7850.

[Prima.Vera]

Originally Posted by xenocide

Why does that graph show the HD7970 as cheaper than the GTX680?

In Asia, and mainly Japan, IT IS. And quite significantly it seems...

[Lionheart]

HD7970's are cheaper in Aus as well

[H82LUZ73]

you guys also missed the 7990 out in April,Also the huge ass hole between the 7970-7990?Maybe the price drop is for some refreshed 7970- 7980?Either way we all benefit from it.On both sides.

[zomg]

according to picture 660 is lower than 7800, according to text - they are competing

if 660 is ~130w it means single 6-pin power, which is nice

let's wait and see

[xBruce88x]

looking forward to the 660, mostly since it'll probably lower the prices of GTX560Ti. Though at 130w a 660 would be doable with my current power supply (barely... probably too close to chance it really)

[alwayssts]

Originally Posted by Crap Daddy

his will find some hard time to compete with the 7850.

It depends on if you're a geek or someone whom gets their info from stock reviews. nVIDIA is ingeniously counting on the later with kepler.

Like I said in a previous post, I expect this to be paired against the 7850 and beat it at stock. While 7850 may be more architecturally sound with 15-33% more resources on paper, we're again talking a part that will be clocked in the neighborhood of 25% higher on average. When the equivalent of 896 shaders takes on 1024 at 25% higher clock and the limiting factor is most-often shader performance on these configurations, that makes a difference. When 64 texture units take on 80 at 25% higher clock, that's pretty much a tie. When 24 ROPs (with better raster performance) take on 32 ROPs when neither needs that many...it doesnt particularly matter.

Also, according to how I calculate average bandwidth requirements (by bottlenecks on past products) 5ghz on a 192-bit bus fits 680 clocks perfectly...in theory it should be more efficient in that regard than 680 at stock. Memory bandwidth for Pitcairn OTOH is obviously built around the clocks/configuration of 7870 (which is also perfectly matched). It may help 7850 on some occasions, but not to any large degree.

Then you have overclocking...which on 7850 is a complete PITA. The vbios limits it to 1050mhz on pretty much every model (granted ASUS has a work-around), most lack voltage control, and even beyond that there is powertune limiting it to 150w.

I don't think it will be a stretch to say, theoretically, a 1200mhz 660 will compete with a 1050mhz 7850. Sure, 7850 can probably do better if you get the right model and/or want to spend the time figuring it out, but I think nvidia will make the process easier. Given what we've seen on 680 and 28nm as a whole, 1200mhz is also a realistic speed to attain (especially on the fully-working chips). So, more-or-less a wash...but it's important to remember reviews are at stock, and what most people use to compare.

[DarkOCean]

Originally Posted by st.bone

I think ill have to get a GTX680 if the prices ever drop or not anything lower than a GTX670, i personally don't like 24ROPs, 192bit. i only want 32ROPs or more a 256bit or higher in a GFX

since gtx 680 has 256bit/32rops, 192bits/24rops for half the cores is more than enough.

[N3M3515]

What a load of BS, damn it the GTX660 should be taking on the 7870 ffs.....
$350 is too much for a 7870, at $100 less it would be a bit better buy, and now that gtx 660 will compete with 7850, the 7870 won't budge from that price.....

[Vulpesveritas]

Look at the bright side, after there is availability for the gtx 680,670ti, and 670, the 7970,7950, and 7870 should drop in price at least a bit. Lol

[Benetanegia]

Originally Posted by N3M3515

What a load of BS, damn it the GTX660 should be taking on the 7870 ffs.....

Yeah, but it can't. I said it on a GTX680 thread, the GTX660 does not stand a chance to compete directly in that segment. That's what happens when the performance part becomes the high-end card. The one that was going to be the lower mainstream has to take the performance spot and since it is 1/2 of the performance part instead of 3/4 or 2/3 (like Pitcairn), it's going to be nearly imposible, unless the GTX680 is held back by a "bottleneck" somewhere limiting the scaling, similar to HD79xx vs HD78xx, in which case it might land closer to HD7870 (never ever faster in my mind). But chances are slim for GTX660.

Nvidia will probably use some pressure from the top with the GTX670 (i.e loosely beating HD7870 for $300) and hopefully price the GTX660 well below $250 while being cosmetically faster than HD7850. In the end this GTX550 replacement card was probably meant to be sold at $150.

PS: IMO like in the GF106 the 192 bit memory interface is a dumb idea. 128 bit would suffice for what is otherwise half the chip and the extra 64 bit channel will probably do nothing but make it much larger.

[MxPhenom 216]

Originally Posted by N3M3515

What a load of BS, damn it the GTX660 should be taking on the 7870 ffs.....
$350 is too much for a 7870, at $100 less it would be a bit better buy, and now that gtx 660 will compete with 7850, the 7870 won't budge from that price.....

yeah Nvidia is going to force AMD to drop prices on the 7870 if the GTX670ti comes out to be about as fast as the 7950 for the rumored 350-399 price tag.

[N3M3515]

Originally Posted by nvidiaintelftw

yeah Nvidia is going to force AMD to drop prices on the 7870 if the GTX670ti comes out to be about as fast as the 7950 for the rumored 350-399 price tag.

I'm hoping 670ti to be a little faster than 7950 for $370 . . . . . . bear with my optimism.

[DarkOCean]

i doubt 670ti will cost less than $399.99.

[xenocide]

Originally Posted by DarkOCean

i doubt 670ti will cost less than $399.99.

I was thinking 670Ti @ $400, 670 @ $350, 660Ti @ $300, 660 @ $250, 650 @ $200.

[N3M3515]

Originally Posted by xenocide

I was thinking 670Ti @ $400, 670 @ $350, 660Ti @ $300, 660 @ $250, 650 @ $200.

660Ti as in 7850 competitor? sure about those $300?

[DarkOCean]

$300 for 660ti is way to expensive.