Fermi spotted in the wild

[straxusii]

http://vr-zone.com/forums/509872/nvidia-fermi-gf100-first-working-desktop-card-spotted.html

A few hours ago, the Nvidia engineers running the company�s Facebook page uploaded a picture of what appears to be the first working sample of a 40nm GF100 high-end card based on Fermi architecture, the first to make its way on the internet.

The image was uploaded at 9:45pm PST and depicts the Geforce desktop card running Uningine�s Heaven DirectX 11 benchmark on a Dell 24-inch monitor, so we can rationally assume that the benchmark resolution is 1920x1200. The core hardware configuration appears to be composed of an ASUS Rampage II Extreme LGA 1366 motherboard coupled with undetermined Core i7 processor and DDR3 memory.

Upon close inspection in Photoshop with the help of others, it appears that the 40nm Fermi-based GF100 monster is using a PCI-Express 8-pin adapter on the left and a 6-pin adapter on the right, so nothing is new in terms of PSU hardware requirements for enthusiast consumers. It is important to note that this particular engineering sample GPU is using the recently taped-out A2 silicon. Our multiple internal sources have previously confirmed that the company will move to A3 silicon for its final retail products.

Two days ago, Nvidia publicly demonstrated its first working GPU samples based on Fermi architecture during SC 2009 (Super Computer Convention). SC is the international conference for high-performance computing, networking, storage and analysis, where the company unveiled the Tesla 20-series lineup priced respectively between $2,499 and $18,995. As previously stated, these Fermi GPUs catered toward the High Performance Computing (HPC) market segment are not expected to launch in Q2 2010, while the high-end Geforce desktop units as depicted in the image above are expected to be announced at CES 2010 (January 7th � 10th) and will launch earlier, sometime in Q1 2010.

 

[ac1d1ty]

:O

 

[NickK]

However spotting the Sasquatch 100 in a controlled environment doesn't really do anything for me..

Give me objective, factual, independent figures!

 

[TaKeN]

Nice keyboard.

This could be Nvidia trying to pull another fast one though

 

[Lightnix]

If nothing else the cooler looks pretty sharp.

 

[RavenXXX2]

So where they hiding the 5870.

 

[Lightnix]

So where they hiding the 5870.

The only thing they're hiding is the FRAPS counter in the top right showing a rather solitary yellow '3'.

 

[HeX]

Lies. Its a plank of wood with a cooler nailed to it and they've just put a screenshot of the Unigine benchmark on the crappy office PC as a screensaver.

 

[NickK]

If nothing else the cooler looks pretty sharp.

That looks like a Tesla-esque cooler. Probably needs it

 

[Mr Paul]

Yeah they have "cunningly" chopped off the FPS counter lol

 

[TAC4U]

Yeah they have "cunningly" chopped off the FPS counter lol

Indeed. Very convenient. Still, the cooler looks pretty nice.

 

[Greebo]

OMG yet another long card. That must be as long as a 5870 or even longer?

 

[D.P.]

All seems legit.

Come on, it is obvious they don't want to release the fps count. Any number of reasons why the performance would be different, this is an engineering sample. Perhaps massivles underclocked, perhaps even overlooked. This is not final silcione so most problebly performance will increase. Who knows what the dirver state is like. Maybe special drivers would be run for debug purposes.

 

[drunkenmaster]

OMG yet another long card. That must be as long as a 5870 or even longer?

Longer, which is what I suspected and makes a mockery of the "fake" they made that was conviniently shown around the 5850/70's launch and showed what appeared to be a significantly smaller card than the 5870.

Not sure what a picture proves though, we all know they have A2 silicon working, if they didn't at this stage, they should literally just close down. But we also know that the final release will be A3 silicon, which is still a minimum of what 4 weeks from taping out and likely another 4-6 weeks from launch at that stage and thats IF A3 silicon is fast enough which it could well not be.

A2 silicon is supposed to be significantly slower than they hoped, which means you could be looking at a card there thats slower than a 5850, bigger, more expensive, uses more power and is hotter.

If we want any real competition we need A3 silicon to get a massive speed bump. Because a Fermi priced at £400 is only going to help increase competition in prices if its at least faster than a 5870, its its slower and more expensive what reason will there be for cheap 5870's.

 

[RavenXXX2]

OMG yet another long card. That must be as long as a 5870 or even longer?

Na nowhere near as big, the 5870 goes past a standard ATX mobo by about 3 inches, this fermi pic shows it to be about the same length as an ATX mobo.

 

[sturmtruppe]

does this mean we'll see a geforce 360?

 

[D.P.]

they should literally just close down.

PMSL, what a fanboy

 

[D.P.]

Na nowhere near as big, the 5870 goes past a standard ATX mobo by about 3 inches, this fermi pic shows it to be about the same length as an ATX mobo.

Indeed

 

[Greebo]

Na nowhere near as big, the 5870 goes past a standard ATX mobo by about 3 inches, this fermi pic shows it to be about the same length as an ATX mobo.

It is? Looks like it goes past to me?

Measuring from the photo the pci-e slot is 25mm long and the card is 95mm long.

A pci-e slot in real life is 11.65cm so the card is 44.27 cm long or 17.4"












there may be flaws in my calculation such as perspective

 

[reflux]

Nice looking card. Just wish it was out sometime in the near future.