Nvidia GTX 960 and AMD R9 285X, The Specs, Price & Story

Today we're bringing you an update to AMD'southward elusive and nonetheless unreleased R9 285X graphics menu and Nvidia'southward much anticipated GTX 960. It was revealed that the Tonga GPU powering the R9 285 not-X actually has more than just cut downward compute units. In add-on to the disabled 256 GCN cores, the GPU also has one third of it'south retentivity interface locked. The fully unlocked Tonga XT GPU which is rumored to power the R9 285X has been confirmed to have a 384bit interface. Merely like its older sibling Tahiti.

AMD R9 285X is an Elusive Graphics Card

The mystery surrounding the Tonga XT and the possible yet unreleased R9 285X graphics card which it's rumored to power is even more intricate. According to whispers in the web the menu was supposed to evidence up in September correct after Nvidia'due south Maxwell launch. Just the absence of any talk most the card from AMD and the fact that they denied its existence led many to believe that it was cancelled.

Now that nosotros have the official and complete specifications of Tonga XT we can easily deduct the specifications of a possible graphics card based upon information technology.
Tonga XT has 2048 GCN cores, 48 Render Output Units, a 384bit bus interface which means that a graphics menu based on information technology volition characteristic 3GB of GDDR5 memory. The specs should wait like this :
GCN Cores : 2048
Memory Interface : 384bit
Retentivity : 3GB GDDR5 @ 5.5Gbps

We're looking at very similar specifications for the R9 280X.
Save for the myriad architectural improvements and higher number of Render Output Units (48 vs 32 ROPs) both Tahiti and Tonga spec wise look almost identical.

In that location are many plausible reasons every bit to why the R9 285X hasn't been released yet. But the near important one has to be Nvidia's GTX 960. It's very probable that AMD is waiting for its competitor to make the first move. This would let it to appraise the market and do whatsoever is necessary to insure a successful product launch.

It is quite possible that the ambitious pricing position of Nvidia's GTX 970 has caught AMD off guard. Afterward all the R9 285 non-X was released equally a $249 carte and an R9 285X would've naturally been a $299+ card. Far also close to Nvidia's $329-$349 GTX 970 which competes head on with the R9 290 and 290X. AMD needs to rearrange its pricing construction in the enthusiast segment before information technology can introduce a new production. Which is likely why the 285X hasn't shown up notwithstanding.

Nvidia GTX 960 Performance and Specs

Nosotros know very little about the GTX 960 other than that t will be released in October. Nonetheless from the GTX 980 and GTX 970 we can deduct many possible configurations for the card.
At that place are ii possibilities for GTX 960. The outset is that it could feature a new GPU, GM206. The second possibility is that information technology could feature the same GM204 GPU but with even more than disabled SMMs and maybe fifty-fifty a smaller retentivity interface.

Personally I'm non favoring any detail pick of the 2 over the other. There are leaks that support both possibilities. The first possibility is supported by the fact that nosotros know GM206 taped out in Apr along side GM204. Yet Videocardz besides claims that Nvidia volition release 4 SKUs with the GM204 GPU and we've simply seen ii so far. The GTX 980 and GTX 970.
GM204 is a completely new die and thus has an entirely new floorplan. Many GM204 cores will come out the other finish of the manufacturing process with defects. Until all the kinks are worked out that is. The lacking areas of the die are then disabled and the chip is sold.  The GTX 970 has three SMM units disabled due to this reason, the R9 290 has 4 compute units disabled. Everyone in the manufacture does this, including Intel.

Information technology ordinarily takes betwixt three to half-dozen months from the outset of volume production to fix most manufacturing kinks and drive yield considerably up. GPUs unremarkably take 3 months to brand it from the fab to the shop shelves. Nvidia launched Maxwell just two weeks agone so book production couldn't accept began before than April. Which interestingly enough is when both GM204 and GM206 reportedly have been taped out. And then how would a GM204 based GTX 960 wait ?

Whether the GTX 960 volition exist based on GM204 or GM206 one affair is for sure. Nvidia volition position information technology below the GTX 970. So y'all can rest assured that it will cost less and besides be less performant. We know the GTX 970 has 13/16 SMMs enabled. My prediction for the GTX 960 is that it will have a x SMM configuration especially if we're talking about a GM206 based GTX 960 and not a cut downward GM204. The card's likely to have a cutting down memory interface. Downward to 192bit from 256bit. Specs should look similar this :
CUDA Cores : 1280
Memory Interface : 192bit
Memory : 3GB GDDR5 @ 7Gbps

I would expect that the GTX 960 will exist about twenty% behind the GTX 970 and cost nearly $249. Putting it between the GTX 780 and GTX 770 in terms of operation. Which is where I expect the R9 285X should land in terms of performance as well. Combine the improved operation, updated Maxwell and Tonga architectures and suddenly you've got phenomenal performance at the sweet spot $249 price indicate.

Every bit consumers all we have to do is sit down dorsum and picket this cat and mouse competition in action, then reap all the benefits.

Source: https://wccftech.com/nvidia-gtx-960-amd-r9-285x-specs-performance-price/

Posted by: clarkshormilt.blogspot.com

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