NVIDIA’s GeForce GF100 Under the Microscope

GeForce GF100: Initial Impressions

After looking back on the pages and pages of text and images we have in this article, it is very easy to feel totally overwhelmed. The GF100 architecture is a complicated beast but we sincerely hope all of the information put to rest some of the questions many of you have been asking for the better part of a year now. However, there should be little doubt in your minds that the next few months will still be filled with speculation about GF100 and its derivatives.

Before we go on, it is important to mention that while NVIDIA was extremely open about the architecture and potential capabilities of the GF100, there’s a paper as long as my arm listing items they couldn’t talk about. On things like memory allotments, power consumption, availability, name (no, it won’t be the GF100), clock speeds, core count on retail cards and even die size, NVIDIA’s reps pled the fifth. While this may give rise to some off-color comments, eye rolling and snide jokes from the usual people in the peanut gallery, we actually understand why they chose not to show their hand just yet. In this high-stakes game of GPU Poker, the less the competition knows about your hand the better and like any good poker player, NVIDIA isn’t giving anything away. It should also be mentioned that we aren’t providing you with any pictures of the card simply because the final heatsink and PCB layout aren’t finalized yet.

One of the major mysteries was and still is what the specifications of the GPUs used in the tests systems were. When asked, NVIDIA simply grinned and stated the performance showcased what consumers can expect come release day. Based on what we hear about yields and TSMC’s manufacturing issues, we highly doubt a 512 core GF100 will be available when the architecture sees the light of day in the retail market. That’s not to say there will never be a 512 core GF100 available, since we know there will be one at some point. However, if that was truly not the highest-end GF100 in the test system we benchmarked, gamers will be in for a real treat in the near future.

When it comes to architecture, it is refreshing to see a chip that has been built from the ground up to cater to next-generation APIs. Whether they like to admit it or not, ATI basically took DX11 features and popped them onto a more powerful version of their HD 4000 series and called it a day. However, they were the first to market and made ridiculous profits while NVIDIA sat back and designed a whole new architecture around the thought of offering the best possible DX11 performance. Who will have the last laugh? Only time will tell but ATI does have a strong lead.


The increased rendering efficiency does seem to go a long way in making the GF100 a viable solution for the future but let’s put this into context for a minute. This is one complicated GPU and as such has proven to be extremely hard to produce in sufficient quantities as is evidenced from it being MIA in the current marketplace. Meanwhile, the overall complexity and integrated cache contribute to that massive 3 billion transistor count which leads to a cause for concern on the power consumption front as well. So, while we do know more than we did last month about the GF100, there will still be some fine tuning needed on NVIDIA’s part before its ready for primetime. What we can say is that we are confident the 512 core GF100 should consume under 300W under load.

On the plus side, the GF100’s architecture really does seem to be a departure from the GT200 in terms of scalability. As was discussed in the Modular Architecture section, NVIDIA is aiming to have a chip that can efficiently scale down for appropriate markets. This will eventually lead to a long line of GF100 derivatives and finally replace the endlessly renamed G92-based cards of yesteryear. To make matters even better, this new class of cards will fall under the umbrella of NVIDIA’s Unified Driver Architecture program so they will be able to continue releasing one driver for all of their products.

Price is of course a concern for many people and considering the size, complexity and development overhead on a chip such as the one that graces the GF100, it won’t be cheap. However, NVIDIA has said numerous times that this will be cost competitive with similarly-performing ATI solutions but that isn’t too helpful considering the huge grey area between the $400 HD 5870 and the near-$700 HD 5970.

What we showed you today is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the GeForce GF100. Actual performance with the final clock speeds and proper drivers remains the million dollar question but from what we have seen, there's a lot to be excited about. While it may be what we call “late”, the GF100 sure looks ready to take on everything the competition has to offer when it is released in a few months time.