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AMD might be in for a dogfight when Nvidia's Kepler architecture leaves the porch. Early reports suggest Nvidia has a real winner on its hands and that Kepler is such a strong performer, even Nvidia's mid-range cards will give AMD's high-end GPUs a run for their money. The information available is vague and scattered, but it all points to Nvidia stealing back the performance crown.
Charlie Demerjian, who has a long history of being critical of all things Nvidia, sang some high praise for Kepler over at SemiAccurate. According to Demerjian, Nvidia is going to "win this round on just about every metric" with its Kepler architecture, which will trump AMD's Tahiti "handily." Those remarks come after spending hands-on time with a pair of Kepler-based graphics cards and collecting "hard information," though he isn't allowed to share specific benchmarks just yet.
Demerjian's reveal jibes with information information leaked by Chinese website Inpai.com.cn, which is claiming Nvidia's mid-range cards will have the moxie to challenge AMD's higher end GPUs. According to Inpai, Kepler's GK104 architecture will sport a 256-bit interface, 2GB of onboard memory, and have a 225W TDP.
Comments are closed on this article
nerbne2
January 27, 2012 at 10:52pm
If it has that level of performance then expect it to cost nearly twice as much as a HD7970 & for them to get hardly any sales for the top end card as the GTX670/HD7970 will be good enough for most people if you need more performance I'd expect you to buy 2 of the cheaper cards instead again like usual.
You guys should be focused on delivering what we need rather then pumping as much into 1 card as you can. Also NVIDIA better have there own version of 0 core technology. That's a big new feature that I'm looking at jumping ship over but we shall see.
Also you better be able to compete with the HD7970 at reasonable overclocks the HD7970 is an overclocking king if where spending that much on cards where going to be overclocking. AMD probably should have set there core clock at 1100Mhz+ instead of 925mhz. It's no good if you've taken more of the head room out to achieve your win if your opponent as tons available. If both cards have stable overclocks & your still winning then it's ok.
h e x e n
January 23, 2012 at 6:02am
Isn't this how it always goes? Radeon hits the streets first and trumps nvidia's last generation offerings. Then nvidia comes out and takes the crown back. Six months later Radeon releases again and it repeats.
I'm going to go on the record and say this is a hype train. Fermi was supposed to be the next best thing since sliced bread and had all sorts of problems at launch.
I mean, lets face it. The card companies have traded the crown like clockwork for the past 3 or 4 years now. All depends what quarter of which year you're looking at.
ddg4005
January 23, 2012 at 4:27am
My GTX 560 Ti is handling all of the games I throw at it so I'm gonna sit this round out. Still, it's good to see Nvidia's next-generation GPU architecture getting positive press.
jaygregz
January 22, 2012 at 10:55pm
2 560Ti's OCed in SLI here. I rarely duel monitor and when I do it's just to watch something on the big screen instead of the tv monitor. At this point none of the games I play nor the monitor configuration require anything more and I don't see anything changing anytime soon.
I think I'll probably be upgrading around the same time the NEXT next generation gpu's come out.
Rift2
January 22, 2012 at 1:22am
I just hope my Quad core Phenom quad isn't bottlenecked it's a BX 555 =) I might settle on a mid range card from Nvidia once Kepler is released.
Keith E. Whisman
January 21, 2012 at 12:35pm
I would be saying the same thing if I had a product that was about to be released to get people to wait and not buy from my competitors. Doesn't AMD, Nvidia, and Intel speak much smack with each product release. Like the so-called leaked slides that always seem to surface a few months before a product release. It's all planned marketing and if you believe anything is leaked then your an idiot.
I'll believe it when I say the numbers and not just because marketing reps say so. I don't care who says something is fast until they prove it.
Nimrod
January 21, 2012 at 5:36am
I was criticized and lambasted for saying that this would happen during the AMD reveal earlier. AMD wins on one front tho, they got their first, they cashed in for a while before nVidia comes around. On the other hand news like this is all it could take to start driving sales down at the high end of people who actually pay attention.
kixofmyg0t
January 20, 2012 at 7:17pm
My 6850 runs StarCraft 2 just fine. That's all the power I need.
Baer
January 20, 2012 at 7:09pm
My pair of GTX 580's have so far handled anything I ask them to do. I have had both brands but is the general lead that NVIDIA seems to maintain in drivers that makes me favor them. For example, I could play SKYRIM across three monitors on day one thanks to a mod on wide screen gaming and because of the beta driver that NVIDIA released to allow SLI with SKYRIM surround on the day SKYRIM was released. It took AMD a few weeks to release their dirver, in the meantime AMD users had to disable anything more than one GPU if they wanted to play.
I am not a fanboi but NV is my choice for that reason at this time.
CaptainFabulous
January 20, 2012 at 7:04pm
And the last time we heard about something like this it was an utter failure from Nvidia, so sorry, I wont' believe it till I see it.
JohnP
January 20, 2012 at 7:03pm
One thing that is rarely mentioned about NVidia's Fermi chip is how many of them are sold not as graphics chips but parallel GPU processors in high end supercomputers. NVidia has made a ton of money off of these, a hell'a'lot more profit than the enthusiastic graphics cards has given them. AMD's latest offering is also being touted as a GPU superstar and, like Bulldozer, supposed to compete in a different market (Bulldozer for servers).
It would be much in NVidia's best interest to come out with another clear winner in the GPU battle, as it will continue to feed this cash cow. AMD really did not raise the bar much with their next gen GPU architecture so it should be easy to beat. Of course, if that means we graphics card enthusiasts get a great graphics card out of it is just gravy on the table for NVidia.
imagonex
January 20, 2012 at 6:07pm
I think either brand is good. Buy what you want and what you can afford. Besides, some games are optimized best for certain drivers from either company. Either way, I think these cards have come to a point where they're's enough silicon horsepower to run the majority of games out there. My personal preference is Nvidia. I prefer the length of 10.5 inches and the fan design on the GTX580. And, it goes gorillaz on everything I throw at it! It's provocative! Gets the people going!
JohnP
January 20, 2012 at 7:14pm
Too right. As long as my graphics needs are met on my 27" Dell IPS 2560x1440 monitor, I am good. My GTX 580 is playing Skyrim on pretty much high end settings so no need to upgrade for a year or so. AMD's 7970's 10% or so bump is not enough for me to bother with upgrading. If NVidida can bump it up to 20%, then they have a sale and my kids get the leftovers...
Arclite
January 20, 2012 at 5:45pm
PhysX: Nvidia has it, AMD doesn't. I dig the stuff that it does in game.
On the other hand, I find AMD's fusion an intriguing platform form my secondary computer. The wife monopolizes the game PC too much for surfing the web or watching youtube, so I need to build a 2nd PC.
QuadraQ
January 20, 2012 at 3:59pm
I don't hate AMD, in fact I wish they would get their act together, but frankly Nvidia cards have been superior for several years now and there doesn't seem to be any reason that's going to change. Hopefully AMD can do better soon.
avenger48
January 20, 2012 at 4:32pm
I'm a nvidia fanboy, but I have to admit that AMD's cards coming out sooner helps them sell units and makes them look more advanced.
JohnP
January 20, 2012 at 6:46pm
Yeah, but that only got me ONE high end AMD/ATI video card in the past 5 years while waiting for the 2nd generation Fermi to come out. Not falling for that Jedi mind trick this go round. "This 7970 isn't the graphics card you are looking for".
Mind you, I have bought 2 AMD mid-end graphics cards for HTPCs as they work great in that capacity.
nsvander
January 20, 2012 at 2:42pm
Much like AMD toting that its Bulldozer platform would be on par with Intel's Sandy Bridge platform, its all hype until there are cards and benchmarks!
loozer
January 20, 2012 at 3:16pm
Same here. There are really not enough games that have the graphics to push this config.
SPreston2001
January 21, 2012 at 1:30am
Lol im sorry I have alot of respect for the legendary 9800gt but those things are waaay past their prime. I had a GTX295 before I got my GTX580 and my 295 struggled to play the latest games on high settings. The 295 smokes two 9800gt's in sli so I know there are PLENTY of games out that will crush them! Not trying to be rude but come'on those 9800gts should be used as dedicated Physx cards now lol.
dgrmouse
January 21, 2012 at 3:49am
At lower resolutions, like the 1440x900 typical of many 19" LCDs, it's pretty hard to tell a difference between a single 8800gt and a 460 or 6850.
silence
January 20, 2012 at 11:51am
And here I just bought myself a 7970. I liked the reports I read about the 7970 being the sandy bridge of GPU's with the high overclocking potential. The higher performance and lower power draw etc made it an easy decision to pick one up, but now this article has me second guessing my purchase.
biggiebob12345
January 20, 2012 at 4:34pm
Stupid decision to be the first in line to buy a gpu that just came out with no games that need the power. And now even worse decision if this article turns out to be real.
aferrara50
January 22, 2012 at 5:07pm
ur obviously not running a surround setup or a very high resolution. At 2560x1440 or 1600 even 3x gtx580s/ 6970s can't completely max bf3.
avenger48
January 20, 2012 at 4:33pm
It's like the people who bought a 5870 before gtx 400 came out. Get a second and you'll have amazing graphics performance, regardless of what anyone else says.
Number Six
January 20, 2012 at 4:14pm
Do not fret. The 7970 is a wonderful beast of a card. Wish Newegg wasn't sold out of them. :D
SPreston2001
January 21, 2012 at 10:30am
Exactly how is it stupid to have the latest and greatest card?? Something "better" is ALWAYS going to be around the corner so to call it stupid because somebody wants to own the best single GPU card on the market is just plain STUPID lol. I dont see a problem with it. Enjoy your card man...
silence
January 20, 2012 at 5:07pm
I just picked up the last one from newegg 2 days ago, just received it tonight from UPS. I've not opened up the box yet, and honestly.. i'm not *really* fretting my purchase especially since i got it for 300.00. I know it's a beast at stock settings, and more so overclocked - just hate when tid-bits of info comes out like that with no hard numbers.
And to the guy who said it was stupid of me to be 1st in line to buy... You call it stupid, I call it being a pc enthusiast. *shrugs*
dgrmouse
January 20, 2012 at 8:38pm
Anyone who uses the "enthusiast" phrase to justify spending crazy money is indeed stupid. Sorry, but it's true.
I read books on Edlin, ran home with the latest magazine to type in the included program (printed as machine-code), and learned how to build a modern computer from basic logic gates in college Comp. Org. If anything, my wealth of experience has taught me to shun overpriced parts. Most "enthusiast" branded items are automatically disqualified. And yet, you're the enthusiast because you're the first in line to buy the next overpriced product? I'm sorry, but the term has merely come to replace "Xtreme" as a marketing segment, and I am offended.
That said, paying $300 for a card that everyone else is paying $550-600 on is very impressive. Please tell us what you bought and how you bought it.
warptek2010
January 21, 2012 at 12:26am
I'm not offended and here's why... I understand how the free market works and you don't. Early adopters or pioneers are the ones who basically set the pricing stage and fire the first volley in a comepetive war, and thats good for everyone else that is to follow. When you consider the fact that VCR's cost over $1000 when they first came out, it was the pioneers that drove the price down to something EVERYONE could afford later on. Unlike, say... SOLAR power, which nobody wants because it is too costly, the technology is still unrefined and does not have a proven track record like oil and natural gas does. You should be thanking him instead of excoriating him.
tekknyne
January 22, 2012 at 9:10am
lol warptek ... what free market, where? point me to this mystical place! I don't really understand your logic- if everyone simply ponied up $1,000 for a VCR and didn't hold out, the price would never come down. If anything, self-proclaimed "enthusiasts" are the reason why prices are so high to begin with. If you didn't have people so openly willing to get nailed, economics suggests that price point will fall to meet the lack of demand.
dgrmouse
January 21, 2012 at 1:44am
@Warptek2010: I understand that there are people like you out there. People who will fight for a chance to hand over their money. You are the reason that people like Preston Tucker can sell car dealerships and occupy huge factories without producing cars. I don't see why you believe that means I should thank you, but whatever.
silence
January 20, 2012 at 9:26pm
To be clear, I would not have purchased this card had I not gotten it nearly half off. I simply sold my 6970 on craigslist for 300.00, and picked up an MSI 7970 from newegg.
biggiebob12345
January 20, 2012 at 10:37pm
That's not half off. That's you spending full price and using cash from something else to offset part of it. I get everything for free...I just use money from my employer. And you're a moron for spending that much cash to only move up 1 generation for no reason.
warptek2010
January 21, 2012 at 12:19am
How's the guy a moron if he basically traded his old card for a new??? Who is the moron here?
I'm sorry, but are any of you affected in any way whatsoever by his buying decisions? What's that you say, no? Then back off.
siramic
January 21, 2012 at 5:20am
Agreed, free market, freedom of choice, what a wonderful thing. So silence traded in to trade up, it's his money, it's his PC, so what?!
mbreslin
January 22, 2012 at 10:48pm
I thought everyone knew that it's the early adopters, who pay the high prices, that get the volumes up so the prices can drop. If no one was willing to pay high prices for the latest high-performance parts, the latest high-end video cards or processors would sell so few that they would be discontinued, rather than volume ramping up and price coming down. It's always been that way with computer gear.
Having said that, I myself prefer to let others be the first buyers. In general, I think it's a waste of money to buy the fastest of anything. Why pay 50% in price for 10 or 20% more performance? Unless for business reasons you have to have the extra speed and the extra income will pay for it.
yardGNOME
January 20, 2012 at 11:16am
Here's to hoping. Been holding off on buying anything new from Nvidia for a few years. Still running 8800GTX's.
Biceps
January 20, 2012 at 2:57pm
I have 2 8800GT's just sitting in my closet, since I got my 570GTX :)
