ED#128 : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 Details Leaked!

NVIDIA sprung a leak again. Actually, it's a multitude of leaks on the upcoming NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 dual-GPU graphics card. One wonders if NVIDIA itself may be the source of some of these leaks in an effort to counter AMD's earlier release of the Radeon HD 6990, which is also a dual-GPU solution.

Of course, this is all just for the bragging rights. No matter which dual-GPU solution wins the benchmark battle ahead, only a handful will actually be sold and even fewer will be used to their full potential. So, if you are actually planning to buy one of these power-hungry behemoths, you are either :

a) crazy (especially if you just mortgaged your house to buy one), or b) have way too much money and you don't know what to do with it (let me give you a hint - donate some to the poor!)

Sure, some folks just "will not" play Crysis 2 at anything less than 2560 x 1600 with 16x AA. It would completely "destroy" the experience for these pixel-peeping connoisseurs. Besides, what better way to bring out the green-eyed monster in your buddies than to casually mention that you just shelled out US$699 for a brand-new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590?

If you are one of these users, you better choose the right card (the one that wins the coming battle) or you will look like a fool who just paid top dollar for second place. For your convenience, we have a quick spec comparison of the two behemoths right here :

Specifications AMD Radeon

HD 6990 NVIDIA GeForce

GTX 590 Launch Date March 8, 2011 March 24, 2011 Launch Price US$ 699 US$ 699 Transistor Count 2.64 Billion x 2 3.0 Billion x 2 Fabrication Process 40 nm 40 nm Stream Processors 1536 1024 Textures Per Clock 192 128 ROPs 64 96 Core Speed 830 MHz (Standard)

880 MHz (AUSUM) 607 MHz Shader Clock Speed NA 1215 MHz Texture Fill Rate 159,360 MTexels/s (Standard)

168,960 MTexels/s (AUSUM) 77,696 MTexels/s Pixel Fill Rate 53,120 MPixels/s (Standard)

56,320 MPixels/s (AUSUM) 58,272 MPixels/s Onboard Memory 4 GB GDDR5 3 GB GDDR5 Memory Bus Width 256-bits x 2 384-bits x 2 Memory Speed 1250 MHz 853.5 MHz Memory Bandwidth 320.0 GB/s 327.7 GB/s Max. Board TDP 375 W (Standard)

450 W (AUSUM) 365 W

So who do you think will win this battle for the crown of the fastest graphics card of 2011? Let us know what you think!

We won't have to wait long to find out though. NVIDIA is said to be releasing the GeForce GTX 590 on March 22, 2011. However, recent rumours have it that NVIDIA may be delaying the launch by two days to March 24, 2011. Either way, it will be out next week.

Unlike the rich SOBs who will be rushing to be the first to own one, we mere mortals can only sit by the sidelines and watch the upcoming confrontation between the AMD Radeon HD 6990 and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590. But that's okay. We all know that no matter who wins this round, it wouldn't affect our buying decision. We may be poorer but we are smarter - we will always get the graphics card that offers the best value for our money!

Update @ March 24, 2011 : As expected, NVIDIA launched the GeForce GTX 590 today. There were some minor changes though. NVIDIA reduced the final core clock from 612 MHz to 607 MHz (-5 MHz) with a corresponding 9 MHz drop in shader clock speed to 1215 MHz. The memory clock was shaved very slightly from 855 MHz to 853.5 MHz (1707 MHz QDR). The good news is that they also shaved the price down from $749 to the same price level as the AMD Radeon HD 6990 - US$699. Everything else was on the dot. We updated the comparison above to reflect the final numbers, so check it out!

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