Nvidia Geforce GTX 660 Ti Specifications and Launch Date Rumored

Nvidia set to release its new Kepler-based GTX 660 Ti, replacing the GTX 560 Ti. originally reported that the GTX 660 Ti would not hit the market until Q3, but now all signs point to an August 16th release. Nvidia could be using the upcoming GamesCom event as the stage to release its new card.

Specification	Geforce GTX 660 Ti	Geforce GTX 670
Architecture	Kepler	Kepler
Technology	28 nm	28 nm
GPU	GK104 (?)	GK104
CUDA cores	1344	1344
Base frequency	915 MHz	915 MHz
Boost Frequency	980 MHz	980 MHz
Memory Bus	192-bit	256-bit
Amount of memory	GB 2 GDDR5	GB 2 GDDR5
Memory Frequency	6008 MHz	6008 MHz
TDP	150 W	170 W

The GTX 660 Ti looks to be basically the same card as the GTX 670, except with 192-bit memory bus and a lower TDP of 150 W. It is based on the Kepler architecture with 1344 CUDA cores (192*7), and equipped with four video outputs (two DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort), and is powered via two 6-pin PCI Express connectors. We got an early glimpse of what a stock Evga GeForce GTX 660 Ti card looks like from a leaked image coming from Expreview. by doug crowthers source sweclockers

 

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EVGA GTX 680 CLASSIFIED HANDS-ON

We have recently received several different GeForce cards covering a range of performance levels, prices, and cooler configurations. Over the next couple of weeks we’ll be taking a look at such GTX 670 and GTX 680 cards from Asus, EVGA, MSI, and Zotac. NVIDIA is going through a period of tight control over their partners’ designs, but this hasn’t stopped their partners from putting their own unique touches on their cards.
Nowhere is this embodied more than with our first card, EVGA’s GeForce GTX 680 Classified. In EVGA’s product hierarchy the Classified is their top of the line product, where they typically go all-out to make customized products to scratch the itch of overclockers and premium buyers alike. The GTX 680 Classified in turn is EVGA’s take on a premium GTX 680,What has EVGA seen fit to do with their fully-custom GTX 680, and does it live up to the hype and the price tag that comes with the Classified name? .

EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Condensed Product Lineup
	EVGA GTX 680 Classified	EVGA GTX 680 FTW+	EVGA GTX 680 SC	EVGA GTX 680
Stream Processors	1536	1536	1536	1536
Texture Units	128	128	128	128
ROPs	32	32	32	32
Core Clock	1111MHz	1084MHz	1058MHz	1006MHz
Boost Clock	1176MHz	1150MHz	1124MHz	1058MHz
Memory Clock	6.008GHz GDDR5	6.008GHz GDDR5	6.208GHz GDDR5	6.008GHz GDDR5
Memory Bus Width	256-bit	256-bit	256-bit	256-bit
Frame Buffer	4GB	4GB	2GB	2GB
Price	$659	$629	$519	$499

NVIDIA usually turns out solid reference card designs. For their high-end single-GPU cards NVIDIA typically uses balanced designs that are reasonably quiet, reasonably cool, and have some degree of overclocking potential. On the other hand NVIDIA also tends to go conservative in some ways, with NVIDIA favoring blowers so that their reference cards work in most cases, and rarely overbuilding their cards in order to keep the manufacturing cost of the card down.
This is where custom cards come in. NVIDIA’s reference which leads to their partners creating custom products not only to differentiate themselves from each other, but to target specific niches that the reference design doesn’t do a good job of covering. Even just replacing the cooler while maintaining the reference board – what we call a semi-custom card – can have a big impact on noise, temperatures, and can improve overclocking. But at the end of the day there’s only so much you can do with NVIDIA’s reference boards, particularly when it comes to form factors and overclocking. This leads us to fully-custom cards.

Crysis, Metro, DiRT 3, Shogun 2, & Batman
Since the GTX 680 Classified doesn’t bring anything new to the table architecturally, we’ll keep our commentary on its stock performance brief. At stock it’s much like any other overclocked GTX 680 (factory or otherwise), with the only real room for differentiation being the greater amount of RAM and the higher power target. In practice the greater amount of RAM doesn’t make much of a difference in our single-GPU tests, as that much RAM is far more beneficial for the ultra-high resolutions of multi-monitor gaming, at which point you’re going to need a second card to provide the necessary horsepower.
The higher default power target on the other hand is quite interesting. The GTX 680 Classified will hit its top boost bin almost all of the time thanks to the generous power target, something the reference GTX 680 can have trouble with even at stock. So although reference cards can be overclocked to this level, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll match the GTX 680 Classified’s boost clocks in that state.

Starting off as always in Crysis, there’s actually not much to see. Since the reference GTX 680 is already memory bandwidth limited here and since the GTX 680 Classified doesn’t have a memory overclock, the factory core overclock does very little for its performance here.

Batman on the other hand doesn’t do the GTX 680 Classified any favors, which is a bit odd. 3-5% just isn’t what you expect here, since there’s no real evidence that the game is CPU or memory bandwidth bottlenecked.

FINAL THOUGHTS

 out of the box the GTX 680 is a very impressive card. EVGA’s various touches such as 4GB of RAM, a larger cooler, a factory overclock, and of course additional VRM circuitry that leads to a higher stock power target, all serve to make the GTX 680 Classified a clearly better card than the reference GTX 680. Furthermore thanks in large part to EVGA’s binning there’s even more overclocking headroom to play with, leading us to reach a 1211MHz core clock without ever increasing its voltage. It’s a very good – if very expensive – GTX 680.by ryan smith

AMD Radeon 7990 Delayed

AMD’s Radeon 7990, which was supposed to be launched at Computex according to information obtained by Hardware Canucks, has been apparently delayed again and pushed back until August according to a report by VR-Zone.
 the reason for the delay is a shortage of PEX8747 PCI-e bridge chips manufactured by PLX – which are an essential component every dual-GPU card including NVIDIA’s GTX 690.
While the PCI-e bridge shortage is certainly a plausible scenario, the delay could not be caused by part shortages but rather a decision by AMD to strategically keep the card out of channel to better position it against the competition. NVIDIA is likely planning an August launch for its GTX 660TI and the GTS 650.by sam reynolds

XFX Radeon HD7850 2GB Black Edition

 AMD Released Radeon HD7850 and HD7870 of video cards to the market, and now we’re going to be taking a look at XFX’s Radeon HD7850 DD Black Edition. XFX has decided to take the 7850 design, overclock it, and put on a pretty beefy cooler. Instead of your reference clocks of 860Mhz on the core and 1200Mhz memory clocks, the Black Edition card features 975Mhz on the core and 1250Mhz memory clocks.

 

I was very pleased with the performance of the XFX 7850 Black Edition. Their Dual Dissipation cooling system seems to be very effective, as it was able to keep our test card at a very reasonable 69 degrees Celsius at full load. The Ghost Thermal Technology allows the air of the fans to push through the fins of the heatsink down onto the PCB and VRMs to ensure proper cooling all the way around. The 28nm fabrication process also aided in the temperatures being so low, but it's most noticeable difference was found when we did our power draw tests. With the XFX 7850 Black Edition only drawing 260 watts of power at full load, it's safe to say it's very power efficient as well!

The makeup of the XFX 7850 Black Edition was  similar to their previous Black Edition cards.I like the design behind these cards. The brushed aluminum shroud and name plate make for something that is far from the usual design you see on reference cards.

The performance of the XFX 7850 Black Edition isn't too much different from your average run of the mill 7850, but with it's excellent cooling options we were able to overclock our card pretty far. Managing to get the card to 1200MHz on stock cooling, without any voltage control, was rather impressive to me. I'm pretty confident that if we had some sort of voltage control we could have taken the XFX 7850 even further!

With a market that has so many graphics cards to choose from, it's easy to get overwhelmed and not know what is worth the money and what isn't. As I said earlier, the XFX Black Edition 7800 cards are getting a little harder to find, so if run across one it may be your only chance to get one!

SAPPHIRE TOXIC HD 7970 GHz Edition 6GB GDDR5

SAPPHIRE HD 7970 6GB TOXIC Edition is based on the latest HD 7970 GHz Edition GPU from AMD, together with a host of industry first and exclusive features to deliver maximum performance. Its unique 6GB frame buffer is a World first for a consumer graphics card and makes the TOXIC Edition ideally suited to multi-screen gaming as well as providing the extra memory required for demanding professional applications such as content creation, video editing or rendering.

 By default, the HD 7970 6GB TOXIC Edition runs at 1050 MHz and dynamic boosts to 1100 MHz on the engine with the memory clock at 6000 MHz effective. By pressing the new SAPPHIRE exclusive Lethal Boost Button,boosting the core clock speed to 1100 MHz with dynamic boost to an industry first of 1200 MHz on the engine while the memory is further overclocked to 6400 MHz Effective. The fan profile and PowerTune limit is also changed to performance settings. In addition, users will be able to individually tune the card with SAPPHIRE TriXX, the company’s free to download software tool that allows key parameters to be adjusted for maximum performance.by sapphiretech.com

AMD Radeon HD 7990 to have 6GB GDDR5 Ram?

AMD's Radeon HD 7990 dual-GPU card is expected to arrive in  Q3 2012. This model will feature a total of 4096 stream processors and a whopping 6GB of GDDR5 memory. according to a slide published by Donanim Haber, and will most probably be built using two Tahiti XT graphics cores which will be linked together via CrossFireX.

If AMD will indeed go for the Tahiti XT, this could mean that the card will include 62 Compute Units for a total of 4096 stream processors, 256 texture units and 64 ROP units.

Each one of the two GPUs will also feature a 384-bit wide memory bus that will be connected to 3GB of GDDR5 video buffer, delivering a whopping 6GB of VRAM on a single graphics card.

The clocks that the memory chips or the two GPUs will run at are unknown, but most probably AMD will have to go lower than the 925MHz/1.375GHz (5.5GHz effective) frequencies used for the HD 7970 in order to decrease the power consumption and the heat output of this dual-GPU monster.

AMD Radeon HD 7990 Coming In Late July??

AMD is getting ready to release its dual-chip flagship graphics card code-named New Zealand sometime in late July. The device will not only be late to market as its main competitor, the GeForce GTX 690, has been available for over two months now, but will also be launched in limited quantities. Still, for the fans of the Radeon, AMD is rumoured to prepare a 12GB version of the graphics card.
AMD Radeon HD 7990 graphics card is expected to carry two Tahiti XT Radeon HD 7970 graphics processing units GPUs and 6GB of GDDR5 memory onboard. Thanks to two AMD Tahiti XT graphics chips, the dual-chip graphics solution will have 4096 stream processors, 256 texture units, 64 render back ends and so on. The novelty will have some kind of Turbo mode that will clock the chips higher when thermal design power allows as well as will probably support certain exclusive features in order to clearly distinguish itself from Nvidia Corp's GeForce GTX 690. What is surprising is that AMD is working on a special version of the graphics card with 12GB of high-speed GDDR5 memory onboard, reports VR-Zone web-site.

now rumoured that the code-named New Zealand dual-GPU flagship from AMD will be available only in limited quantities in July. Given the fact that the price of the graphics card is unknown, just like exact specification, it is unclear how exactly limited the availability will be. For example, the demand for GeForce GTX 690 for $999 is clearly not as high as it was on the Radeon HD 6990 for $699 a year ago, hence, there is no need to make them in huge quantities.
Based on unofficial information, AMD intended to launch its Radeon HD 7990 sometimes in the second quarter of this year, just in time to compete face-to-face against GeForce GTX 690. But AMD preferred to change its plans, delay the dual-chip flagship product and re-launch Radeon HD 7970 with 1GHz GPU clock-speed in June instead.

HD 7970 GHz Edition Cards Price Reductions

HD 7970 GHz Edition on June 21 has  price cuts of the regular non-GHz cards. The HD 7970 GHz Edition will sell for $499, the HD 7970 is reduced from $449 to $429, the HD 7950 down from $399 to $349 and the HD 7870 GHz Edition is down from $349 to $299.


The prices should be effective starting July 16, when the HD 7970 GHz Edition is expected to be  available. AMD claim that their upcoming 12.7 Catalyst graphics driver will give the entire 7000 series a "significant performance bump" too, which will be interesting to see. The HD 7970 GHz Edition is faster than NVIDIA's flagship GTX 680, but not in all benchmarks.We await NVIDIA's response to this enhanced HD 7970.

Finally, it appears that when AMD initially released the HD 7970 six months ago, they kept some performance in reserve, to allow for such an increased performance card in order to compete better with NVIDIA in the tit-for-tat performance game that they're locked into. It looks like the only difference between a regular card and the GHz Edition is a modified video BIOS.

Best Gaming Graphics Cards: 1920x1200 & 2560x1600

A powerful graphics card is likely the most expensive component in your PC if you're a gamer, but with all current and past-gen GPUs available in the range of $100 to $500, it can be tough to pick the right solution for your needs.
In an effort to narrow things down, we're about to compare today's most relevant gaming cards that sell for $200 or more, testing them in a slew of games to see how it breaks down as we look for the best graphics cards for gaming at resolutions of 1920x1200 and 2560x1600.
Most GPU releases go through our testbench, however when we review these graphics cards, the GPUs are fairly new or barely making it to market, drivers are not entirely optimized, and most importantly, true market pricing has not settled down to its long-term value.

Models	Launch	Codename	Fab	Bandwidth	Release Price	Current Price
GeForce GTX 670	10-May-12	GK104	28nm	192.2 GB/s	$400	$400
GeForce GTX 680	22-Mar-12	GK104	28nm	192.2 GB/s	$500	$500
Radeon HD 7870	19-Mar-12	Pitcairn XT	28nm	153.6 GB/s	$350	$310
Radeon HD 7850	19-Mar-12	Pitcairn Pro	28nm	153.6 GB/s	$250	$250
Radeon HD 7950	31-Jan-12	Tahiti Pro	28nm	240.0 GB/s	$450	$350
Radeon HD 7970	9-Jan-12	Tahiti XT	28nm	264.0 GB/s	$550	$450
GeForce GTX 560 Ti	25-Jan-11	GF114	40nm	128.2 GB/s	$250	$230
Radeon HD 6870	22-Oct-10	Barts XT	40nm	134.4 GB/s	$240	$180

1920x1200 Performance

Performance: Radeon HD 7950
Value: Radeon HD 7870
For an average of at least 60fps or better when playing Metro 2033 at 1920x1200, the Radeon HD 7950 is your best choice with 68fps. That said, the HD 7870 offers a better value and delivers totally playable performance at 56fps. The GTX 670 also performed well, but because it costs more and performs slightly worse than the HD 7950, it's not the best option here.



Performance: GeForce GTX 670
Value: Radeon HD 7950 or 7870
The GTX 670 managed to outpace the HD 7950 and HD 7970 by 11fps and 2fps, making it an easy pick for the best overall pick. However, HD 7950 remains a viable value-minded solution with 56fps, as does the HD 7870, which was only 9fps below the 60fps threshold.



Performance: Radeon HD 7850
Value: Radeon HD 6870
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 -- as you likely know -- isn't particularly demanding, making the GTX 670 and HD 7000 series overkill. At 1920x1200, the HD 6870 is more than capable of delivering a smooth experience at 71fps, as is the GTX 560 Ti at 73fps.



Performance: GeForce GTX 680
Value: GeForce GTX 670
Crysis 2 is extremely demanding with the high-resolution texture pack and the DX11 patch, so you'll want to hit it with all the force your wallet can muster, making the GTX 680 and 670 the best performance and value-oriented picks.


 

1920x1200 Performance, Part 2

Performance: Radeon HD 7950
Value: Radeon HD 7850
Despite looking great, Deus Ex: Human Revolution isn't all that demanding on current-gen cards -- in fact, even the older HD 6870 and GX 560 Ti perform well. The best value at 1920x1200 is the HD 7850, while the best performance-oriented card is the HD 7950 at 87fps.



Performance: GeForce GTX 670
Value: Radeon HD 7950
Max Payne 3 plays exceptionally well on the new GTX 600 series cards and we believe that the GTX 670 is the best choice if you're looking for high performance, while the HD 7950 is the best value at 61fps, or only 6fps behind the pricier HD 7970.



Performance: GeForce GTX 670
Value: Radeon HD 7950
Although it doesn't look (or perform) like it, The Witcher 2 uses DX9, which we found hard to believe when first testing this game. The game is pretty demanding at 1920x1200, though the GTX 670 managed to deliver 72fps, securing our performance-oriented pick, while the HD 7950 was only 5fps slower at 67fps, making it our value pick.



Performance: GeForce GTX 670
Value: Radeon HD 7870
While it is also a DX9 title, Skyrim isn't as demanding as The Witcher 2, so the GTX 670 can be considered somewhat overkill at 86fps, but it's still our top pick for a performance solution, while the HD 7870 is our value choice as it was on par with the more expensive HD 7950 at 63fps.



Performance: GeForce GTX 670
Value: Radeon HD 7950
The GTX 670 is a clear winner when testing Alan Wake at 1920x1200, averaging 61fps, slightly faster than the HD 7970 and just a fraction slower than the GTX 680. The best value option here is the HD 7950, which was just 10% slower than the GTX 670 while costing around 15% less.

2560x1600 Performance

Performance: Radeon HD 7950
Value: Radeon HD 7950
The HD 7950 comfortably secured our performance slot, pumping only 2fps less than the HD 7970 and GTX 680 while costing substantially less. It also happens to be the best value solution.



Performance: GeForce GTX 670
Value: GeForce GTX 670
Battlefield 3 is quite intensive when running on maximum quality at 2560x1600, with the GTX 680 being the fastest card at only 45fps. Considering the savings involved, the GTX 670 3fps detriment seems like a worthwhile trade, and the GTX 670 is easily the best overall value in this title.



Performance: GeForce GTX 670
Value: Radeon HD 7950
Modern Warfare 3 failed to utilize the power of current-gen AMD and Nvidia GPUs, but the GTX 670 still gets our vote as the best performance card as it was just a fraction slower than the GTX 680 at 78fps. The HD 7950 shared a similar price versus performance ratio, and it's the best value option with a perfectly playable 66fps.



Performance: Radeon HD 7970
Value: Radeon HD 7970
The HD 7970 matches the pricier GTX 680 in Crysis 2 at 2560x1600, securing both performance and value slots, since we don't consider anything slower than 30fps to be playable.



Performance: GeForce GTX 670
Value: GeForce GTX 670
The GTX 670 presented itself as the best performance card for playing Dragon Age II at 2560x1600 with an average of 37fps, and since everything under the GTX 670 was either too slow or presented a weaker value proposition, it also occupies the second slot.

 

2560x1600 Performance, Part 2

Performance: Radeon HD 7970
Value: Radeon HD 7950
The HD 7970 performed exceptionally well in Deus Ex: Human Revolution at 2560x1600, averaging 64fps, while the HD 7950 was only slightly slower than the GeForce GTX 670 with 55fps, but much faster than anything else.



Performance: GeForce GTX 670
Value: GeForce GTX 670
Those wanting to play Max Payne 3 at 2560x1600 will find the GTX 670 to be the best all-around pick, whether you're focused on performance or savings.



Performance: Radeon HD 7970
Value: Radeon HD 7970
The HD 7970 performed very well in The Witcher 2 with an average of 51fps, and although the HD 7950 was technically a better value option when comparing price versus performance, we felt that 44fps was less than desirable and opted for the HD 7970 for both picks.



Performance: GeForce GTX 670
Value: GeForce GTX 670
Skyrim was clearly won by the GTX 670 as it averaged 61fps, just a fraction slower than the GTX 680 and much faster than the HD 7970.



Performance: GeForce GTX 670
Value: GeForce GTX 670
As we found at 1920x1200, the GTX 670 is the winner when testing Alan Wake at 2560x1600.

  

Winners and Losers

Ever since we tested the GeForce GTX 670, we knew this had to be the best value high-end graphics card in the market. However, this impression was mostly based on 2560x1600 performance since the GPU could easily maneuver the workload. This time we are also looking at lower resolutions where other more affordable contenders can perform admirably (60fps or higher), so we were interested to see how it compared at 1920x1200.
We still feel the GTX 670 is the best performance option available at 1920x1200, but with an average of 71fps across the games tested, some might argue it's more than you need for the money. Therefore, staying true to our original parameters, the best value card for 60fps gameplay is the Radeon HD 7950.
Our data tables below will help you digest how today's graphics cards stack up. These findings are based on maximum visual settings for each title and the numbers will change drastically if you tweak visuals. By reducing or disabling certain features such as shadows, it is entirely possible to squeeze playable performance out of lesser cards at the tested resolutions. Given the endless possibilities, we're sticking with maximum settings for ease of making comparisons.


The GTX 670 is an incredible value for a high-end graphics card, costing $5.61 per frame with solid performance across the board. By comparison, you would pay $6.56 per frame with the GTX 680 or $6.49 per frame with the HD 7970. A strong case could also be made for the HD 7950, which runs $5.64 per frame but costs about $60 less than the GTX 670 and delivers an average performance of 60fps.
Similarly, it'd also be possible to get away with the HD 7870 at this resolution as it offered the same cost per frame value as the GTX 670, albeit with an average frame rate of 55fps and a total cost of $310.


At 2560x1600, we picked the GTX 670 as both the best performance and value option, costing $8.63 per frame versus $10.13 for the GTX 680 and $9.46 for the HD 7970, while averaging only a few frames per second less.
The HD 7950 is technically a slightly better value than the GTX 670, but at extreme resolutions such as this, every frame counts and it's easy to justify a slight premium for Nvidia's card.
To recap, the GTX 670 is hands down the best value for gaming card currently available.by stephen walton