Ivybridge and GTX 600 series

[a tw player]

Unfortunately I can't think of any better way of compiling this OP but, essentially, does anyone have much information on the above, and when they may be released? I'm looking at upgrading, but it doesn't seem worth doing so when the next gen tech is probably just around the corner...

[Crazyeyesreaper]

Ivy Bridge will launch in April with Z77 chipset and will be priced the same as Sandybridge and Z68

Nvidia 600 or 700 series depending on if they decide to skip a gen to keep up with AMD is expected to be faster then AMD's current 7900 series but its all rumor for the time being and Nvidia's low end to mid range will release first so high end 600 / 700 series wont come till later on most likely during summer to fall nothing is set in stone expect entry to mid range, as always you can expect nvidia to be a bit higher priced vs AMD at each performance bracket but depending on your needs it may be worth it depends on the user.

eitherway everything worth happening is expected in end of march early april

[GasMask]

Ivy Bridge will launch in April with Z77 chipset and will be priced the same as Sandybridge and Z68

Nvidia 600 or 700 series depending on if they decide to skip a gen to keep up with AMD is expected to be faster then AMD's current 7900 series but its all rumor for the time being and Nvidia's low end to mid range will release first so high end 600 / 700 series wont come till later on most likely during summer to fall nothing is set in stone expect entry to mid range, as always you can expect nvidia to be a bit higher priced vs AMD at each performance bracket but depending on your needs it may be worth it depends on the user.

eitherway everything worth happening is expected in end of march early april

Regarding the GTX 600 series chips will their be a chip similar to the GTX 560 ? GTX 660 ?.


Just if i had the information i could start putting some money away fro one of these.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

supposedly GTX 660 is suppose to be around GTX 580 / 7950 performance some say its faster then a 7970 but i find that highly unlikely since overclocked 7970s hit around 40-60% faster then GTX 580s depending on the game, That said currently with info i have available Nvidia's high end is should they encounter no issues like they did with fermi be far faster then AMD this gen,

difference is AMD started with top end units and is working down, Nvidia is starting from the bottom up, so while a GTX 660 might release end of march early april, we might not see Nvidia's high end gpus till Summer or Fall,

the general ruling is that Nvidia will win this round performance wise, but it will come at a cost. namely theyll be 3-7 months behind AMD, granted if you look at it most of this is AMD Nvidia playing a leap frog game, they've positioned there launches to try and get consumers to upgrade every 6 months, via leap frog. examples

AMD time line:
5800 series Sept 2009
6800 series Oct 2010 with December 2010 for 6900 series
7900 series Dec 2011

Nvidia Time Line:
GTX 400 series March 2010
GTX 500 series Dec 2010
GTX 600 / 700 series March 2012

AMD HD 5000 series released 6 months later Nvidia counters with GTX 400 series

AMD HD 6000 series refresh released Nvidia comes out same time with GTX 580 to keep AMD second fiddle performance wise catches them off guard.

HD 7000 series released Nvidia is again expected 6 months later.

whenever gpus switch to an entirely new node aka 55nm -> 40nm --> 28nm etc AMD / Nvidia tend to be 6 months apart. if you look back its been that way regularly

AMD / ATI x1800 vs Nvidia 7800 were about 5 months apart
AMD x1900 and Nvidia 7900 6 months apart

Nvidia 8800 vs Ati 2900 6 months apart

its a common trend, if your fine with performance you have now wait if you need more performance now buy now, its close enough for CPUs releasing to wait simply due to 10% improvement Ivy bridge offers clock for clock, add in better IMC and better clocking and Ivy Bridge pulls ahead making it a no brainer especiall with it supporting new PCIE 3.0 Since its a part that will stay for a couple GPUs before getting replaced it makes more sense to wait and be up to date.

where as for GPUs it is what it is roughly 6 months from now Nvidia will be top dog 6 months after that AMD will respin and be on top again, its never ending. it dosent change, i mean hell look at me between 2009 and 2012, i have had.
4870x2 --> 5850 xfire----> 6970 xfire ---> 6950 xfire ----> 7970 parts release often enough the cycle can get a bit.... ridiculous...

anyway excuse the ramblings of a drunk enthusiast

[Huberto]

To answer OP Ivy Bridge is expected in early April and everything else Crazy said including the fact that the high-end Nvidia next gen GPUs won't be out until summer at earliest.

Personally, I was planning on doing a new Ivy-based build to replace my three year old system [X-58 board, i7 920, 6 GB memory, Corsair HX 1000, 2 x GTX 460 in SLI playing at 1900 x 1200 res.] But the truth is I can run everything on high/highest settings pretty well now and there is no glaring performance reason to upgrade -- at least as far as I can tell.

So I'm basically in wait-and-see mode, and I'm beginning to think about next year and what Haswell will bring to the table.

[a tw player]

Thanks for the responses guys, very informative! (and +rep of course)

Shame about NVIDIA not releasing their high-end cards until the summer though, as I'll likely be in Uganda for around a month when they release them

[a tw player]

Apparently the 600 series is due for launch on the 22nd March...Probably not the high end cards based on what has already been said in this thread, but a bit of info nonetheless

Edit - Interesting link here http://www.inquisitr.com/202725/nvid...hree-gtx-580s/