Quote Originally Posted by highoctane View Post
I'm not totally sold that there is some super secret big gk110 around the corner waiting to pounce, there might be I don't know, but when I think of Nvidia gk104 I get the feeling it is so not Nvidia for a high end product.

Nvidia has always been the go big or go home type brand, gk104 specs seem so much more mainstream palatable across the board than their normal over the top feeling high end offerings.

If they do have a big gk core waiting I would imagine they'll be holding off until AMD's refresh and push gross margin with the gk104 in the mean time.

If gk104 can deliver the needed performance to command a ~$500 price tag, whether it was intended or not, it doesn't make allot of sense to sell a higher cost product at the same price point if not absolutely necessary to be competitive.

As far as I'm concerned if Nvidia is releasing gk104 as a high end product then it is in fact their high end product and named as such. Anything else is going to have to be next gen next release hardware since they've already allocated their high end 680 labeling for the gk104 and will likely be offering a dual card based on gk104. That in my mind leaves little chance or logic of offering a separate gk110 big die uber performance part until 7xx series is up to bat.

We'll see...
People figure there's another part sitting and waiting for multiple reasons.

1.) It's strange for NVidia to release a new architecture's high end part under a code-name ending in any number but 0. Refreshes are a different story, but this is clearly not just a refresh.

2.) NVidia haven't made a small chip high-end in quite some time, not counting refreshes.

3.) NVidia's statement that they were actually disappointed and surprised by the lack of performance in AMD's 7970. That kind of statement makes you figure that NVidia had a much faster chip ready to go, saw they didn't need it, and set it aside.

Seriously, all signs clearly point to NVidia having something else but see the opportunity to make bank off what would have been their mid-range part.