Published in Graphics

Full Kepler lineup revealed

by on06 February 2012



Three cores, seven cards


Nvidia Kepler specs are finally out, thanks to a leak dug up by Lenzfire. We already spoke about some upcoming cards, but the leaked chards now paint a more or less full picture of Nvidia’s upcoming architecture.

The Kepler series will consist of three cores, which will be the building blocks for seven cards, including a dual-GPU card.

The GK106 is a mainstream part and it will power the GTX 640 and GTX 650. The GTX 640 packs 192 stream processors, 16 ROPs, 128-bit memory bus and a memory bandwidth of 88GB/s. The GTX 650 promises to deliver quite a bit more performance, as it has 256 cores and a 192-bit memory bus, enough for 132GB/s worth of memory bandwidth. Interestingly, the GTX 640 will feature 2GB of memory, while the GTX 650 will end up with 1.5GB. The clocks are 850MHz and 900MHz respectively. In terms of performance, Nvidia reckons the new cards will be on par with GTX 550Ti and GTX 560 cards. The price points for GK106 series cards are $139 for the 640 and $179 for the GTX 650

The GK104 will probably be the card of choice for most consumers. This mid range part will also come in two flavours, the GTX 560Ti with a 224-bit bus and the GTX 660 with a 256-bit bus. The GTX 560Ti ends up with 448 cores, 850MHz clock and 154GB/s of bandwidth. It will pack a rather awkward 1.75GB of memory and the price stands at $249. The GTX 660 will feature 2GB of memory and a 900MHz clock, but it will also be significantly pricier at $319. However, Nvidia expects the latter to match the GTX 580 in the performance department, so the price looks pretty good. The GTX 560Ti should be neck and neck with the GTX 570, which sounds pretty good for $249.

As for the big guns, the GK110 will end up in four cards, including the dual-GPU GTX 690. It will cost a whopping $999 and it will launch in Q3, so let’s focus on single GPU cards for the time being. The GTX 660Ti is said to feature an 850MHz clock, 768 stream processors, 1.5GB of memory and a 384-bit bus. It should cost €399 when it launches in Q2/Q3 and Nvidia claims it will be about 10 percent faster than the HD 7950. The GTX 670 ends up with 1.75GB of memory, 896 cores and a 448-bit bus, all for $499. Nvidia pits this one against the HD 7970 and it claims it is about 20 percent faster. The flagship GTX 680 packs 2GB of memory, 1024 cores and a 512-bit bus. Nvidia wants $649 for it, but then again it claims the GTX 680 should beat the GTX 7970 by 45 percent.

Too optimistic? Well only time will tell. The GTX 670 and GTX 680, along with the GTX 660 should launch on April 12, giving AMD a comfortable lead in the meantime. Of course, in-house performance projections should always be taken with a grain of salt, but at this point it seems AMD will lose the performance crown come April. However, with some price cuts AMD should be able to compete with Kepler in terms of value for money. Also, bear in mind that AMD will also introduce its dual-GPU card in early Q2.

More here.



Last modified on 06 February 2012
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