Conclusion

Just in time for the holidays Nvidia came out with the GTX 570, a second in line GF110 GPU based card. It is important to note that GF110 offers superior power/performance ratio and most certainly better acoustic properties compared to the GF100, which is used on the GTX 480.

Nvidia kept power consumption and thermals in check, although some key components on the GTX 570 were sacrificed in order to achieve an attractive price point and comfortably fit the card into current product lines. The GTX 570 ships with 480 CUDA cores and 15 PolyMorph Engines, while GTX 580 sports  512 CUDA cores and 16 PolyMorph Engines.

The new card is designed for gamers who want to play their games at maximum graphics settings and screen resolutions but are not quite willing or capable of splashing out a small fortune for a graphics card. The GTX 570 maintains the key features found in the GTX 580, but comes in a more affordable package. Suggested etail price for the Geforce GTX 570 is $329 (without VAT), €349 (including VAT), £289 (including VAT), but we will likely find retail boards from Nvida`s partners at various price points.

Clock speeds for the GTX 570 are 732MHz for the GPU, 1464MHz for shader proseccors (or CUDA cores). The memory is clocked at 3800MHz. The Geforce GTX 570 measures 10.5 inches in length and is powered via two 6-pin power connectors.

Display outputs include two dual-link DVI and one mini-HDMI (mini-HDMI cable might be bundled by partners and if not it will cost you much more than a standard full size HDMI that you use for your HD TV).

In addition to delivering excellent performance, the GTX 570 also offers gamers features like CUDA, PhysX, Nvidia 3D Vision / 3D Vision Surround. As a result of improvements on the thermal/power side, the GTX 570 cooler runs at low sound levels even during intensive gaming.

Up until recently, the GTX 480 was the fastest Nvidia card. Thankfully, the card was dethroned by the GTX 580 as well as the new GTX 570. Even better is the fact that the GTX 570 can be found priced lower than the GTX 480.

All in all, the watt-to-performance ratio is simply great, the card runs quietly even in intensive gaming scenarios and the card packs one mean punch. With that in mind, we would recommend the GTX 570 in a flash.