NVIDIA Kepler(GK1XX) Discussion Thread

**muzux2** · 20-02-12, 08:12 PM

NVIDIA is set to intoduce its first Kepler GTX 670 Ti GPU based on GK104 Core in March.

In March, it may start to happen. Sources at Taiwanese manufacturers provide to Sweclockers that Nvidia is launching the new graphics processor GK104 sometime "after Cebit, but before April" - that in the period March 11 to 31. This circuit will be used for the graphics card GeForce GTX 670 Ti, which is the spiritual successor to the GeForce GTX 560 Ti.

The same sources state that Geforce GTX 670 Ti will perform "better than Geforce GTX 580 and Radeon HD 7950." However, it is coming GK100 is the real presents tooth circuit and also the model that will face the challenges of peak performance.

While rumors circulating online that talks about GK104 contains the entire 1536 CUDA cores, 128 texture units and 32 ROP: p There should be 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on 256-bit memory bus and clock frequencies are said to amount to 950 MHz GPU and 5.0 GHz memory.

http://translate.goo...x-670-ti-i-mars

All Nvidia Kepler related discussion/random thoughts go here!

**NinByChoice** · 20-02-12, 08:21 PM

Kepler.

**GameR1120** · 22-02-12, 07:52 AM

Guys !

Kepler production rate lower than expected !

MORE DELAYS

http://www.overclock.net/t/1216636/x...cutive-officer

**YoGi-Sama** · 22-02-12, 03:44 PM

I wanted to see how Kepler fares against ATi 7-Series and if it offered even neck-to-neck power/performance at same cost, I was planning to go for Kepler. ATi's lackluster support in applications (other than games) and 2D performance has made me shifting back to nVidia for my next graphic card. But ATi 7-series mid-range cards are expensive... Kepler is delayed and going to be expensive, looks like I'm going to be stuck with my 6950 for quite some time... at least till supply is improved and prices are in more acceptable range.

**viralbug** · 22-02-12, 05:49 PM

^ You really were thinking to upgrade from a 6950?

**Infected** · 22-02-12, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by YoGi-Sama

I wanted to see how Kepler fares against ATi 7-Series and if it offered even neck-to-neck power/performance at same cost, I was planning to go for Kepler. ATi's lackluster support in applications (other than games) and 2D performance has made me shifting back to nVidia for my next graphic card. But ATi 7-series mid-range cards are expensive... Kepler is delayed and going to be expensive, looks like I'm going to be stuck with my 6950 for quite some time... at least till supply is improved and prices are in more acceptable range.

Kepler IS gonna perform neck to neck with 7Series, if you look at the 7 series and compare it to what nVidia had on offer more than a year and some ago as their flagship with the 580.

Just imagine what the 6/780GTX will bring to the table with a Die shrink and faster clocks. I am not sure nVidia will get all that efficient compared to the AMD's 7 Series, but performance wise it will be ahead of ATi's flagship

unless there is something I have missed out in my estimates. And comparing the performance jump nVidia has had before whenever they have gone to a smaller die.

Expense wise, I believe AMD is trying to milk every penny of the high end market before nVidia dethrones them at the top. They will reduce that 500$+ pricing soon enough when Kepler is out.

**muzux2** · 22-02-12, 08:30 PM

Originally Posted by Infected

Kepler IS gonna perform neck to neck with 7Series, if you look at the 7 series and compare it to what nVidia had on offer more than a year and some ago as their flagship with the 580.

Just imagine what the 6/780GTX will bring to the table with a Die shrink and faster clocks. I am not sure nVidia will get all that efficient compared to the AMD's 7 Series, but performance wise it will be ahead of ATi's flagship

unless there is something I have missed out in my estimates. And comparing the performance jump nVidia has had before whenever they have gone to a smaller die.

Expense wise, I believe AMD is trying to milk every penny of the high end market before nVidia dethrones them at the top. They will reduce that 500$+ pricing soon enough when Kepler is out.

This time round i believe Nvidia kepler offering will be as efficient as HD7XXX in terms of perf/mm^2 because Nvidia has moved away from Hot Clocks and both are now converging on the same architecture since G80/R600.

**Infected** · 22-02-12, 09:42 PM

Originally Posted by muzux2

This time round i believe Nvidia kepler offering will be as efficient as HD7XXX in terms of perf/mm^2 because Nvidia has moved away from Hot Clocks and both are now converging on the same architecture since G80/R600.

I hope so too,

...but m more keen on the performance front, so looked up those rumors more...with some skepticism of course.

**hellgate** · 22-02-12, 11:01 PM

Will be waiting for the high end 6xx series cards before I decide to upgrade from my GTX 480.

**YoGi-Sama** · 23-02-12, 08:08 AM

Two things matters to me more than just performance...

1) Better driver support in productivity softwares (obviously games too).

2) Performance per Watt

... in that order.

And then there is obvious stuff like, performance in games, price, price-to-performance-to-watt ratio balance and so on. So it's going to take lot of patience, research and wait for the price wars before one could, or at least I could, reach a decision. To jump the green side or stay with red camp, that is the question.

**dovakhiin** · 23-02-12, 09:22 AM

Originally Posted by muzux2

This time round i believe Nvidia kepler offering will be as efficient as HD7XXX in terms of perf/mm^2 because Nvidia has moved away from Hot Clocks and both are now converging on the same architecture since G80/R600.

uhm..What are hot clocks?

A google search proved futile,would appreciate it if someone would enlighten us.

If Nvidia comes out with power efficient upper-mid-range card in the same range as the GTX 560Ti then I will finally join the green camp this summer.

**mrcool63** · 23-02-12, 09:48 AM

all these speculations are merely rumours.. first of all nvidia is having yield problems.. secondly this yield problem is related apparently to defective chip design.. because amd also on the same node have no such issues.. apparently the temps are the major problem once again..

**Infected** · 23-02-12, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by mrcool63

all these speculations are merely rumours.. first of all nvidia is having yield problems.. secondly this yield problem is related apparently to defective chip design.. because amd also on the same node have no such issues.. apparently the temps are the major problem once again..

The low yield is for their marketing, IMHO. AMD did this too before they sent out the 7xxx cards, didn't they. Which is true to a certain extent, but not to the point that we won't see the chips. They might not be as readily available then, but will be available.

**ubergeek** · 23-02-12, 02:02 PM

So much for mid range offerings uh?

i wonder if there will be any kepler based gcards like 550ti ?

Nvidia is kinda week in the mid end market arent they?

**The Knight** · 23-02-12, 09:45 PM

NVIDIA Kepler CUDA make-over - Graphics - News - HEXUS.net

Strongest NVIDIA GK104 Kepler Card Named GeForce GTX 670 Ti - Softpedia

**ALPHA17** · 24-02-12, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by Infected

The low yield is for their marketing, IMHO. AMD did this too before they sent out the 7xxx cards, didn't they. Which is true to a certain extent, but not to the point that we won't see the chips. They might not be as readily available then, but will be available.

No not really AMD HD 79** series got delayed to -- January launch because they decided to have enough silicon reserves to make sure that their won't be a supply - demand deficit and associated price fluctuation. The GCN core structure has equalized the playing field as far as productivity applications are concerned, now we can only hope AMD exploits this properly and releases appropriate patches to compete in this sphere.

nVidia generally has more serious issues when undergoing a die-shrink OR package change -- http://www.techpowerup.com/160665/NV...Expected..html.

Secondly no matter what nVidia does now, consumers still remember the WOODGATE that nVidia carried out GTX 4** series release -- http://semiaccurate.com/2009/10/01/n...mi-boards-gtc/.

Efficiency wise I cannot comment as nVidia Kepler architecture has not been as widely discussed as AMD's GCN, if it is the shrinking of Fermi itself I do not expect a great uptake in efficiency but there will be a definite jump in performance.

Two interesting reads on ATi / AMD re-establishment in the graphics industry, from being second fiddle to calling the shots on nVidia's product cycle --> http://www.anandtech.com/show/2679 / http://www.anandtech.com/show/2937. Sadly the guys behind this have been fired from AMD in the recent lay-offs.

These are strictly my views, counterpoints debates welcome.

**YoGi-Sama** · 24-02-12, 05:48 PM

Originally Posted by ALPHA17

The GCN core structure has equalized the playing field as far as productivity applications are concerned, now we can only hope AMD exploits this properly and releases appropriate patches to compete in this sphere.

The GCN core hasn't equalized anything, yet. The real line is... The GCN core has promised to equalized the playing field with better GPGPU support. But AMD drivers being what they are, seems to be focusing more on fixing game issues more than anything (at least going by their last year track record). To give you a simple example, my HD3870 scored 2D score (WDM and general 2D drawing) of 1800+ points. My HD5770 and 6950 both keep jumping up & down between the range of 1500-1700 with every driver release. And this was after the AMD fixed their 2D capabilities in driver release, before they fixed it, my HD5770 couldn't go past 1100 on sunny day.

In fact, even HD6950 has horrible screen corruption issue under Photoshop when OpenGL drawing is enabled and set to advanced level. I love my Radeons when I'm gaming, but I'm not 24x7 gaming and I spend better time of my day working on stuff that allows me buy games and hardwares. So AMD has about 5 months to show what GCN can actually do in practical situations (and not on paper) and nVidia has that much time to get Kepler out and supply stabilized (thus getting stable and acceptable prices), so I can decide which one to go for my next IVB based build. And despite using AMD for 3 generations and nVidia messing up Fermi's launch, I'm inclined towards going back to green camp this time (obviously depending on how things turn out in next few months).

**rite** · 08-03-12, 11:17 PM

Don't expect pricing to go down. If nvidia gtx 680 is even 5% faster than 7970 it will be priced at at least $600. And if it is even faster then sky is the limit. Pricing for and won't come down

**dovakhiin** · 08-03-12, 11:25 PM

Originally Posted by rite

Don't expect pricing to go down. If nvidia gtx 680 is even 5% faster than 7970 it will be priced at at least $600. And if it is even faster then sky is the limit. Pricing for and won't come down

How are you so sure about this?It's entirely possible that AMD will reduce their prices to make the cards more competetive.

**rite** · 08-03-12, 11:54 PM

Nope. Nvidia is known to price stuff higher if it performs equal or even slightly slower, they never try to haggle amd pricing, they will just price stuff even higher to make the most of the situation