GTX 680 Release Date?

[boxleitnerb]

I also don't think they cancelled/delayed GK110. I believe they only intended to compete with Pitcairn though, at least in the beginning.
I've heard that the GK110 tapeout was not in December and not in January but later. So they would not have had it ready no matter what. Based on this new info I would expect GK110 in September at the earliest, more likely October/November to give GK104 and GK104x2 some breathing room.

 

[3DVagabond]

So people are thinking they didn't make BigGK because they didn't have to? Come on! They haven't made BigGK because they can't. Not profitably, at least. I've seen nowhere that BigGK (GK100/110) was ever planned for any time other than Q3 2012. It just looks like nobody can make a bigger chip on the 28nm process right now.

I'm very impressed that Kepler can compete/beat AMD perf/mm^2. A huge improvement over their prior designs. We'll have to see how the overall performance turns out. It might be a better overall chip? Or, it might just be a better gaming design? More like a bigger Pitcairn. This is assuming the leaks we are seeing are valid, of course.

 

[AtenRa]

We could still see the GK100/110 until the end of April, we dont know yet if it will be delayed to Q2 or Q3.

 

[Arzachel]

We could still see the GK100/110 until the end of April, we dont know yet if it will be delayed to Q2 or Q3.

Iirc, GK104 was taped out in September and it still hasn't been launched. Seeing as GK110 is rumored to have been taped out in January, July is the fastest we could expect. That's if they can fix everything with a base layer respin.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Because they can sell the big die for even more. If people will pay $550 for the smaller die, they pay more for a bigger die with better performance.

The rumors were that the big die had sme complications, so it was canceled. Fortunately nVidia's big die is much bigger than AMDs biggest die, so their next biggest die is fairly similar to AMDs high end, biggest die GPU. If you think nVidia didn't want to have a bigger die ready for to launch in this time frame you're just deluding yourself.

I could of sworn that I read an article at Semiaccurate (I know, I know, this hardly makes it truth) that the GK110 was just two GK104's on a single board, Nvidia's dual GPU card. We'll see if that turns out to be the case, but normally Nvidia does make a big GPU part. So, who knows what'll happen.

I think AMD and Nvidia are both going to milk 28nm for a while, it's going to be some time before we see the next node. So if they can sell a small die part for $500+ and then come out with a big die part of the next generation, it make sense.

 

[Arzachel]

I could of sworn that I read an article at Semiaccurate (I know, I know, this hardly makes it truth) that the GK110 was just two GK104's on a single board, Nvidia's dual GPU card. We'll see if that turns out to be the case, but normally Nvidia does make a big GPU part. So, who knows what'll happen.

I think AMD and Nvidia are both going to milk 28nm for a while, it's going to be some time before we see the next node. So if they can sell a small die part for $500+ and then come out with a big die part of the next generation, it make sense.

That's not quite true. While there is some confusion whether GK110 or GK112 is the dual chip part, it hasn't taken the place of the ~500mm^2 part.

You can draw parallels to Fermi, drop GF100 from the lineup, put GF104 in it's place use two GF104's instead of GF110's in the dual chip card to get it out faster. The refresh coming later this year should mirror the GTX5XX series, except you'll likely see a 30-40% performance increase going from GTX680 to GTX780, because a GK100 part simply doesn't exist.

 

[Mopetar]

I could of sworn that I read an article at Semiaccurate (I know, I know, this hardly makes it truth) that the GK110 was just two GK104's on a single board, Nvidia's dual GPU card. We'll see if that turns out to be the case, but normally Nvidia does make a big GPU part. So, who knows what'll happen.

That seems really unlikely. It's possible that the 690 will be 2x GK104 dies, but GK100/110 would be a bigger die. Fundamentally it's similar to GK104, but it's not as simple as dumping two GK104 dies next to each other. Otherwise you might as well say Pitcairn is just two Cape Verde's on a single board simply because it has twice as many GCN cores, bus width, and memory.

 

[gplnpsb]

Iirc, GK104 was taped out in September and it still hasn't been launched. Seeing as GK110 is rumored to have been taped out in January, July is the fastest we could expect. That's if they can fix everything with a base layer respin.

Do you mean metal layer respin? That would be less complicated than a full base layer respin.

Metal layer respin = A0 -> A1
Base layer respin = A0 -> B0

 

[SHAQ]

It appears the 680 is a A2 revision so there was a respin at some point.

 

[Imouto]

Prices in a spanish retailer:

http://www.pccomponentes.com/msi_geforce_gtx_680_2gb_gddr5.html
http://www.pccomponentes.com/gigabyte_geforce_gtx_680_2gb_gddr5.html

Changed several times in the last few hours.

 

[blackened23]

So when does the NDA lift? Is it midnight tonight or midnight tomorrow night? And will availability be immediate?

Right now 680x2 looks like a definite purchase for me unless other reviews show radically different results at 1600p, some other websites hinted at different results (compared to 7970) at 1600p / surround. But I don't use surround so whatever. I just need confirmation of availability, anyone?

 

[Grooveriding]

So when does the NDA lift? Is it midnight tonight or midnight tomorrow night? And will availability be immediate?

Right now 680x2 looks like a definite purchase for me unless other reviews show radically different results at 1600p, some other websites hinted at different results (compared to 7970) at 1600p / surround. But I don't use surround so whatever. I just need confirmation of availability, anyone?

It's tonight I believe.. I got an email from a sales rep at ncix about them with some price estimates ($529-$579), not saying tonight, but in the past when I have gotten those emails, it's that night.

Do some benches before you switch, didn't know you were @ 1600P. Would like to see the difference for a 30" monitor.

 

[zod96]

I have a feeling that they will come out tomorrow. But it will be like each retailer gets 1 card so they will sell out in a few seconds. I bet it will be at least a month before they are sold in good qty..

 

[SHAQ]

Yeah, It looks like at midnight the NDA lifts and availability tomorrow.

 

[BoFox]

support for the next version of DX has never been a legitimate advantage, the GPUs end up being simply too slow by the time the respective technologies are viable

we're still slowing growing into DX11, and I certainly wouldn't want to run any serious DX11 title with my now relatively archaic 5850 even though it does officially support DX11.

whats more is that these .1 versions also never really pan out to be a true advantage - it never amounted to anything for ATI/AMD with their 3000/4000 series, to this day there's simply no way I'd take a 4890 (DX10.1) over a GTX285 (DX10.0) if I was forced to use one or the other.

Same goes for DX8.1 with the Radeon 8500 vs. the DX8 GeForce 3

For the sake of information for forum readers that isn't misleading, DX8.1 was a "legitimate advantage" in over 50 games (or more, depending on how many are Unreal 2-based, and NOLF 2, etc..). With DX11.1, it will be somehow "legitimate" for Radeon cards, supporting quad-buffered Stereo3D, with Windows 8 shipping with DX11.1.

I did want Nvidia to support DX10.1, though, but after seeing Geforce cards perform so well in Far Cry 2 with AA enabled, it seemed like as if DX10.1 was of no practical benefit for Radeon cards. Here's a list of games supporting DX10.1 (see the last column for notes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_DirectX_10_support )