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NVIDIA GF106 Die Shots Leaked
Chinese website ZOL have leaked pictures of GF106's die, which will be part of NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce GTS 400 series. As indicated by previously leaked blueprints, it will mark a return to the traditional square shaped die.
GF106 will find its way into three products - GeForce GTS 440, GTS 445 and GTS 450. ZOL suggest that the first two cards to be launched will be GTS 440 and GTS 445, on September 12th, with the fully enabled GTS 450 releasing later.
More details inside.
Chinese website ZOL have leaked pictures of GF106's die, which will be part of NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce GTS 400 series. As indicated by previously leaked blueprints, it will mark a return to the traditional square shaped die. GF106 will find its way into three products - GeForce GTS 440, GTS 445 and GTS 450. ZOL suggest that the first two cards to be launched will be GTS 440 and GTS 445, on September 12th, with the fully enabled GTS 450 releasing later.
As expected, the GTS 400 series will compete with ATI's Radeon HD 5700 series. Prices are expected to be $150-$170 for the top models. ZOL measured the die at 15.3mm and 15.7mm sides, which translates to a die area between 240 mm2. Not surprisingly, this area is a whopping 45% larger than HD 5770's die, as ATI retains a massive leadership on the performance/die-size metric.
While detailed specifications are still a mystery, ZOL suggest performance around that of the GTX 260+. This would make it a close contest between the GTS 450 and HD 5770, then. Judging by this speculation, it would make sense for GF106 to be half-GF104, featuring 192 SP and 128-bit memory bus.
NVIDIA is expected to follow up GF106 with entry level GF108 products. Additional GF104-based cards are rumoured after that. However, it is likely we will see the release of ATI's next generation somewhere in between.
Reference: ZOL, TechReport
