Nvidia launches GTX 480 and GTX 470

Nvidia has finally announced the highly anticipated GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 470 graphic cards based on next generation Fermi architecture. These new Fermi architecture cards are based on GF100 GPU chip and will support DirectX 11 and DirectCompute. This is Nvidia's reply to ATI's DirectX 11 compliant Radeon HD 5000 series graphics cards. New Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 would be available in UK for 429 Pounds (Rs. 29,500 approx) while GTX 470 for 299 Pounds (Rs. 20,500).

Geforce GTX 480

Last Oct., Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia CEO, unveiled next generation computational GPU foundation - Fermi architecture. The new GeForce GTX 400 graphics card family promises DirectX 11 tessellation, CUDA based Image Processing and Ray Tracing with Optix Engine Technology. Made from 40nm fabrication process the new GF100 GPU based graphics cards will have more than twice the transistor count compared to GT200 GPU based cards. The GF100 GPU chip will have 512 Shaders or CUDA cores which is more than twice the number of CUDA cores in GT200 GPU (240 cores). Yes, there were some teasers about the details about GF100 GPU architecture was teased in January.

Geforce GTX 470

Also read: Nvidia Fermi: The Good, The Bad and The Scary

Nvidia's top end graphics card Geforce GTX 480 comes with 480 CUDA Cores and 15 Stream multiprocessors. The graphics clock runs at 700MHz while the CUDA Processor clock runs at 1401 MHz frequency. The graphics card holds 1536 MB GDDR5 video memory clocked at 924 MHz and uses 384-bit memory bus interface to offer memory bandwidth of about 177.4 GB/s. For power, this card is equipped with one 6-pin connector and one 8-pin connector.

Nvidia recommends 600 Watts power supply for this GTX 480 card that sports thermal design power (TDP) rating of 250 Watts.



While on the other hand, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 470 comes with 448 CUDA cores and 15 Stream multiprocessors. With graphics clock running at 607 Mhz, the CUDA processor cores are clocked at 1215 MHz. Loaded with 1280 MB GDDR5 video memory clocked at 1215 MHz, GTX 470 uses 320-bit memory bus interface to obtain 133.9 GB/s memory bandwidth. This graphics card has two 6-pin connectors. One will require 550 Watts power supply for GTX 470 that has TDP rating of 215 watts.



Both cards support twin dual-link DVI-I ports and mini-HDMI port that adheres to HDMI 1.4 specifications - basically means better 3D experience. Of course, you can enjoy the multi-monitor gaming with Nvidia 3D Vision Surround setup that allows hooking three 120 Hz displays with graphics cards in SLI configuration.

Nvidia boasts that new GTX 480 is the fastest compared to ATI Radeon HD 5870. We will validate the claim soon when we get the cards in our Tech Labs. Also, we don't know yet if Nvidia is working on a monster graphics card with dual-GPU on single printed circuit board.