GeForce GTX 590
$788 ❘ Nvidia
Add to Cart
Specs: GPU: Dual GF110s; Core clock:
607MHz; Memory: 384-bit bus, 3GB GDDR5
(854MHz); 1,024 CUDA cores; 128 texture
units; 96 ROPs
Test system specs: CPU: 3.33GHz Intel Core
i7-980X; Motherboard: Gigabyte G1.Sniper
(Intel X58); RAM: 4GB OCZ DDR3-2000;
Storage: 256GB Plextor PX-256M2S-02 SSD
The difference between Nvidia’s original
Fermi GF100 and the
revamped GF110 is night
and day. For Nvidia and AMD,
faster, cooler, and quieter are the
primary design goals when making
a new GPU, and the latest evidence of
Big Green’s success is the GeForce GTX
590, the first dual-GPU card from Nvidia
since the GTX 295.
The GTX 590 features two GF110
GPUs, the same engines that power the
fastest single-GPU graphics card on the
planet, the GTX 580. Though it sounds
like an unbeatable recipe, the GTX 580
is a 244-watt card, and Nvidia needed to
make some adjustments in order to run
two of these on the same PCB. The core
and memory clocks were dropped from
772MHz to 607MHz and 1,002MHz
to 854MHz, respectively. The memory
subsystem saw little change: The 384-bit
bus for each GPU still links it to 1.5GB
of GDDR5 memory for 3GB total.
Two GPUs, One Cool Customer
The GeForce GTX 590 has a 365-
watt TDP, and although Nvidia defines
TDP as the maximum amount of power
the cooler needs to dissipate when running
3D applications, that number requires a
powerful PSU and a pair of 8-pin PCI-E
power adapters. Like AMD did with the
Radeon HD 6990, Nvidia chose to locate
the two GPUs at opposite ends of the PCB,
slap a vapor chamber on top of each, and
use a centrally located 90mm fan to
blow air over the vapor chambers.
Nvidia’s design also features a 12-layer
PCB, with the power and ground layers
consisting of 2 ounces of copper. There’s
also a 10-phase digital power controller
feeding juice to the GPUs and a pair
of dual-phase controllers distributing
power to the memory.
Aural & Visual
According to Nvidia, the GTX
590 is quieter than its previous
dual-GPU cards, and only slightly
noisier than the GTX 580. In our
tests, we did notice some extra noise
under load, but it was not much. It
is noticeably quieter than the Radeon
HD 6990, though, which should be
music to gamers’ ears.
If two GPUs still aren’t enough,
this card is your ideal route to Quad
SLI. Although two GTX 590s will
display across six monitors, three
is the max if you want to keep SLI
enabled. Dual-GPU cards are wasted
on a single monitor, so it’s nice to
see Nvidia ponied up on three
Dual-Link DVI ports and a single
mini DisplayPort on the GTX 590’s
backplane. You can connect three
3D-capable 120Hz monitors to this
card and enjoy Nvidia 3D Vision
Surround right out of the box. To
make this package even sweeter,
Nvidia just announced that its 3D
Vision kit is now $149 and the active
shutter glasses now have better battery life.
Niche Unleashed
Stacked against AMD’s new Radeon
HD 6990, the GTX 590 falls just short
performance-wise. With both cards priced
at a bank-breaking $699, Nvidia appears to
be betting that 3D Vision Surround, PhysX,
CUDA, and less noise offset the measly
performance difference. If you agree, you
might consider par-ticipating in some of the
riskier clinical trials to fund this indulgence.
Do it for the science . . . and the games.
Radeon Nvidia
Specs & Scores HD 6990 GTX 590
Price $699 $788
Core Clock 830MHz 608MHz
Memory Clock 1,250MHz 854MHz
Memory Interface 256-bit 384-bit
Memory 2GB GDDR5 3GB GDDR5
3DMark 11
3DMark Overall X3289 X2992
Graphics Score 3045 2838
Physics Score 8061 8076
Combined Score 3461 2505
Graphics Test 1* 14.39 14.26
Graphics Test 2* 17.61 14.61
Graphics Test 3* 15.4 14.31
Graphics Test 4* 9.02 8.65
Physics Test* 25.59 25.64
Combined Test* 16.1 11.66
Unigine Heaven
FPS 50.3 54.2
Score 1266 1366
Games 1,920 x 1,200
Left 4 Dead 2 170.64 166.77
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: 63.5 64.9
Aliens vs. Predator 77.3 66.4
2,650 x 1,600
Left 4 Dead 2 140.5 130.88
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: 40.5 40.6
Aliens vs. Predator 48.4 42.2
Article From Computer Power User Magazine
0 comments:
Post a Comment