Nvidia launches GeForce GTX 580, new community site

Matthew DeCarlo

Posts: 5,271   +104

Nvidia has rolled out the red carpet for its latest flagship graphics card: the GeForce GTX 580. Touted as the world's fastest DirectX 11 GPU, the company has tweaked its GTX 480 to achieve a 20-30% performance-per-watt increase with a ~10 dbA reduction in noise. Its latest offering is reportedly a hair quieter than the GTX 280 and 285, largely thanks to a redesigned cover, a custom vapor chamber, and a more intelligent fan control algorithm.

The new GeForce GTX 580 packs 512 CUDA cores with a graphics/processor clock of 772/1544MHz, 1.5GB of GDDR5 memory with a 384-bit interface and a data rate of 4.0Gbps. The 10.5-inch, dual-slot card draws a maximum of 244W over one 6-pin and one 8-pin PCIe connector and carries two DL-DVI outputs with one mini-HDMI port. Nvidia has also added real-time current and voltage monitoring to throttle performance and keep the card within its rated power spec.

Nvidia has worked closely with the developers of Call of Duty: Black Ops (released just today) and H.A.W.X 2, so you can expect those titles to take full advantage of specialized features such as 3D Vision. The GTX 580 should be available immediately from $499, which is about $40 above the GTX 480's current e-tail rate. Nvidia recently lowered prices to combat the Radeon HD 6850 and 6870 and doesn't plan to make any further cuts, but you know how that eventually goes.

We should receive a sample of the GeForce GTX 580 this week, so watch for our full review soon. In the meantime, here are Nvidia's own numbers taken directly from their marketing/press deck, in other words, don't completely rely on these measurements but use them as reference to better understand where this new offering stands. You can also check some reviews hitting the wires today courtesy of Tech Report, Legit Reviews and PC Perspective.

Gaming GPU Performance
Multi-GPU Performance

In addition to shipping its first GTX 500 series graphics card, Nvidia has launched a new community site. GeForce.com is still in beta, but the company hopes it will eventually serve as a centralized resource for Nvidia customers, instead of separate sites like nZone and SLI Zone. Along with relevant hardware and game news, a community forum, and GPU driver downloads, the site will offer a tool to help GeForce owners find optimal graphics settings for video games.

Nvidia believes many people have a difficult time understanding video game performance settings, meaning that they may not be getting the most out of their new graphics card. To make your life a bit easier, the company has individually tested 10 cards and 17 games in 3 different resolutions to find the most optimal settings. Inexperienced users will also be able to have the site scan their GPU, but the OS, CPU and other system specifications aren't detected.

Nvidia shows off how architectural improvements have an impact on performance
The new GeForce GTX 580 should be quieter than previous Nvidia high-end releases

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i hope the custom vapor chamber works great. specs look great, i just feel bad for the people of have bought an GTX 480 within the last month
 
These images are rather off; they start at 0.80 or something else. That's no problem for noise, sine that is logarithmic, but otherwise they give the wrong impression.
Also, why compare to 5870cf? They should know that GTX480SLI/GTX460SLI/5970CF/6870CF performs better, so the graph gives no proof at all.
The funny thing is that if this is going to continue, NVIDIA/AMD will have their roles switched. AMD will have a good medium level GPU(6870/6850) and NVIDIA will have a good high level GPU(GTX580).
 
I'm glad that nVidia is finally taking the heat and noise into consideration. This looks to be a very nice card... I just picked up a 460 GTX.... maybe I will have to use my 90-day upgrade to get one of these cards for Christmas! :)
 
Cooling solution looks to have come directly from ATI 58XX series, externally of course. I suppose when your previous high end cards were doubling as breakfast griddles it forces you to look elsewhere. I love to see the Nvidia/Ati competition but at this price point it's not going to matter much to me. The real action for many of us is in the midrange. Luckily it looks like the GTX460 vs the new 68XX seems to be going well and prices are reflecting that.
 
I was soo close to getting a GTX460 but I might just save a little more and get this, unless the TS review says otherwise :)

Can it play Crysis?

I hope TS add it to the review :)
 
The MSRP is $499, but the average retail price, like it is for every new product, is hiked up. That's the price of early adoption.
 
burty117 said:
Can it play Crysis?
Yes, definitely. Although "play" is a disputable term...
It probably can't pull 60 fps in Crysis Warhead @ 2560 x 1600.
I am quite excited to see the true benchmarks from TSF.
 
Can someone please explain the #'s on the left? What am I looking at here? I'm use to framerate.
 
And another problem, the charts they're using are comparing to AMD's upper mid range, not their comparable top of the line card. I'd like to see this compared to a 5970 for a real comparison. And that said, even if it's beating that now, AMD is just around the corner with it's new high end release in the 69xx series cards. I'll wait to see real benchmarks from an independent source before I would consider this the new fastest card. Of course, practically speaking most of the money being spent will be in the mid range, which AMD has solidly locked up.
 
@Jibberish18 Those numbers represent the percentage that the new cards can reach. Basically the GTX480s are all at 1.00(control). So the other bars show how much more powerful the new features make the new cards with various benchmarks and games. According to this, the max looks to be 30%. Looks like most graphs here use that format.

Sounds like Nvidia is making progress. I still prefer AMD/ATI but at this rate, I may switch back.
 
I'll wait for the reviews. Of course you're going to get the best propaganda from either manufacturer upon the release of a new card. Especially when they're claiming to be at the top of the heap again.
 
Lol, very sneaky Y axis usage from Nvidia there. At first glance I just figured the data was bogus, but upon further examination I realized that they are just sly like that.
Sooo.... when are we expecting the GTX560 then?
 
This thing looks insane. Once again I'll wait for the 3rd party reviewers to get their hands on this. Besides it's one thing to show a bunch of impressive numbers and a totally different thing to actually use one. I'd really like some outside impressions on this card before I get reallyc razy about it.
 
Well now lets wait till TS post a review... now in these days one ofe the few places where you can trust a review is TS, i dont belive any other causethey differr in some way pulling for some company side...

I know the reviw is on the way.. is´nt?
 
Good for nVidia that at last they've been able to produce what they initially set out to, now that out of the way, I think people who want the best and fastest in their rigs, probably be better served once comparative reviews of newer offerings from both players come out.
 
there's always one (or three)

These images are rather off; they start at 0.80 or something else. That's no problem for noise, sine that is logarithmic, but otherwise they give the wrong impression.
Wow! How disgusting…...
Those graphs are made to look realllly good for Nvidia, haha.
…I'm sure that AMD...
Lol, very sneaky Y axis usage from Nvidia there. At first glance I just figured the data was bogus, but upon further examination I realized that they are just sly like that.
...would never do something so sly

Now we’ve finished serving the chow at the childrens table…

i hope the custom vapor chamber works great.
Bit-tech say 55°C under gaming load

I'll wait for the reviews. Of course you're going to get the best propaganda from either manufacturer upon the release of a new card. Especially when they're claiming to be at the top of the heap again.
[H]OCP - I don't think you can put Kyle Bennett into the "propaganda" subset
Tom's Hardware - used to be quite pro-nvidia, these days treads a more balanced line.
Hardware.fr (Googlish)- one of the most impartial and thorough review sites on the net.
also...
Hilbert's (Guru3D) GTX 580 and SLI reviews for maximum enthusiasm for any hardware release.
Ryan Shrout's PC Perspective review - another reviewer of the respected variety....and of course Anand.
There's also the bIt-tech review I linked to earlier in the post, as well as the TPU review (and SLI ) that I linked to in a previous thread.

I don't think you can say you're starved of information.
See you back here for comments and cake afterwards...
 
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