Are you planning on getting a gtx4xx

[Frag Maniac]

Maybe if I'll consider it if it comes out and dumps a load on a 5970 for less money. But from what has been said thus far about it, looks like a big pass.

More likely it will come close to the 5970 on some games and be beaten by it on others. IMO the 5970 is overpriced though. They've yet to even get the drivers perfected to the point of consistent performance from title to title.

From what insiders invited to private Nvidia meetings have said, the 480 was performing on par with a 295, but likely better once drivers are tweaked. They've also said Nvidia are promising affordable pricing, so we may see the 480 going for less than a 5970.

I can understand why driver writing would be tough for the 400 series, it's radically new architecture for them and part of the delay from what I've read. ATI really should have had their drivers sorted for the 5970 by now though. They really haven't embarked on anything new except for DX11 support.

[damha]

The really interesting figure is how many won't even consider it. If we take the average, it becomes obvious that the majority of XS won't judge based on rumours. Which can be a good thing.

I can understand why driver writing would be tough for the 400 series, it's radically new architecture for them and part of the delay from what I've read. ATI really should have had their drivers sorted for the 5970 by now though. They really haven't embarked on anything new except for DX11 support.

That's not quite how it works. The purpose of the driver is to expose the GPU to the DirectX/OpenGL/CUDA API. With more and more things done on the hardware itself, all that is really left for the driver is to optimize API code paths on a per architecture basis. And then comes the per game optimizations which are the bulk of drivers these days (on a per architecture basis). One of the reasons why theoretical performance doesn't always directly relate to game performance. Game devs don't always optimize their game engines for a particular architecture, so Nvidia/ATI end up rewriting the inefficient calls. That's where Nvidia saves money and money with the TWIMTBP program.

Depending on how radically Nvidia had to modify the GT200 design to bring us the GF100, the TWIMTBP might end up biting them in the butt. When the first GF100 driver is released we should compare it's size to the prior release.

[Yolanda]

So 2GB GTX 480 is fake, and as expected GTX 480 will have 384 bit bus, which makes 1536MBs of DDR5 here.

[Stealth42o]

Depends on the price/performance ratio.

Never owned an ATI card. However I am waiting for the numbers on this next batch.

[DarthBeavis]

i hope they send me four for my personal rig it the rampage III will take it

[Frag Maniac]

...all that is really left for the driver is to optimize API code paths on a per architecture basis.

I think you're seriously over simplifying the per architecture basis part. This is radically new architecture and Nvidia have already told one of the guys invited to their private meeting in Vegas that the driver writing will take a good bit of work. I mean look at ATI's 5970 I exampled. They can't even get THAT right, and it's nothing radically new. Though certainly ATI appears less skilled on the driver end.

[Rollo]

More likely it will come close to the 5970 on some games and be beaten by it on others. IMO the 5970 is overpriced though. They've yet to even get the drivers perfected to the point of consistent performance from title to title.

From what insiders invited to private Nvidia meetings have said, the 480 was performing on par with a 295, but likely better once drivers are tweaked. They've also said Nvidia are promising affordable pricing, so we may see the 480 going for less than a 5970.

I can understand why driver writing would be tough for the 400 series, it's radically new architecture for them and part of the delay from what I've read. ATI really should have had their drivers sorted for the 5970 by now though. They really haven't embarked on anything new except for DX11 support.

If GTX480s come close to 5970 performance, no other card on the planet will be relevant.

Personally, I think that's way too much to hope for and am expecting more along the lines of 10-20% faster than the 5870, and $100 higher than 5870 at launch because people will pay a premium for the fastest GPU, and the 480s will have features that the ATi parts don't have.

This is my guess, not based on any NDA info, only what I've seen at CES and with past product launches.

[lutjens]

I personally won't be considering Fermi, for a number of reasons:

1) NVidia is too close minded and controlling of a company. Their desire for secrecy and control is second only to Apple's, IMHO, and that misguided mindset is something I can't conscientiously support.

2) The damn thing is incredibly late and when its finally released, decent availability is unlikely to occur until the second half of the year, if at all (considering the rumours regarding very poor yield).

3) The fact that ATI permits multi-card setups on any board with the appropriate slots and doesn't demand a ransom from the board maker for this functionality.

4) Eyefinity

5) The 5970 (in it's current form) is over-engineered for it's current clock speeds and configuration. It's designed to run faster than it does by default and is equipped to do so, but in it's current form the over-engineering in the card gives me a warm fuzzy feeling (as most like products do).

[[AK]Zip]

Depends on the performance and price.

[xann27]

look at the price of the GTX295, nVidia's flagship card, STILL $500+ i bought mine a week after launch for $489. still a decent card, lets see how bad nVidia buries ATI this time.

[Xello]

look at the price of the GTX295, nVidia's flagship card, STILL $500+ i bought mine a week after launch for $489. still a decent card, lets see how bad nVidia buries ATI this time.

I know, i'm psyched that it's still so expensive, i'm gonna make a big profit when i sell them

[insurgent]

I'll wait and see how it performs in CAD apps, but I'm expecting it will outperform ATI cards there so, depends on price/performance in games I play, like most people.

[trn]

If the performance is incredible... then sure why not. Id rather buy a 5970 to tri-fire with my 5870 for $600 though. I've already gone with an Eyefinity setup which is incredible for games, it would be very very hard to go back to a 1 monitor setup. Nvidia cards do have good crunching support w/ GPUgrid and other projects vs ATI which is more limited to MW@h or Collatz so that aspect does appeal to me.

[gergregg]

Probably not, but depends on performance/dollar.

[Musho]

I voted definitely not. I already have a 5870 and another 5870 is RMA at the moment. 2x 5870s should be plenty for any modern game, so I won't really need the performance improvement of Fermi, however big that one may be.

[TJ TRICHEESE]

5) The 5970 (in it's current form) is over-engineered for it's current clock speeds and configuration. It's designed to run faster than it does by default and is equipped to do so, but in it's current form the over-engineering in the card gives me a warm fuzzy feeling (as most like products do).

how in any way is the cooler in the stock 5970 over-engineered , if thats over-engineered the ipad isn't retarded.

[Q56_Monster]

I'll wait a day or two, which by then, K|ngp|n or Andre will have benched it, and we will know the real truth. Yes the real truth, not some game frame rate review crap.

[NaMcO]

Gonna wait and then decide. Only after summer anyway, so i have a lot of time to think =)

[JeeM]

Will wait and see more benchmarks, the price will also be a key point.

[LiquidReactor]

Yes. ATI can't fold and from all the leaks I've seen so far Fermi is shaping up to be cooler, quiter, smaller and faster then what everyone (Charlie) has been predicting.

No surprises there ofcourse.

[iceredwing]

hopefully it is competitive in everyway, the prices do need to come down.

[snoid_zero]

I'm more interested in the refreshed version. B1 revision.
Hope it will be out in Q2.

[SocketMan]

The power requirements are scary: 42amps on a single rail/600w minimum.
I wouldn't consider it it for gaming,but FAH is a different story,plus I could
keep it at work where the electricity is included
Maybe for Christmas....
Wait and see and wait some more.

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

As big of a deal as having 3 to 6 monitors, I'd like to see single monitor performance (if there's a comparision between the two, let me know) between a gtx4xx and 5870/5850 before buying. As well, I want to see drivers mature.

I'll probably start being less extreme and wait till this is not new tech before choosing either one. Entirely undecided.

[dertimaushh]

Yup - cos i like raw single Gpu power.

I am pretty happy with my GTX280 but i need something NEW ;-)