Nvidia GeForce GTX 590 3 GB Review: Firing Back With 1024 CUDA Cores

[srgess]

[citation][nom]rockitman[/nom][citation][nom]trandoanhung1991[/nom]I think 2 GTX 580 will beat it. And costs about the same too, if you look hard enough.citationLet's see, 6990 goes for over $700, cheapest 580's go for $500. 2 x $500 = $1000. That's not very close to $700, unless you know where 580's are going for alot cheaper. Please do tell.[/citation]
ive seen gtx 580 at 300 used in god shape

 

[Mark Heath]

With the Raven 2 there I would think the Fortress 2 would also be a "safe" option.

 

[Chetou]

Interesting to see how your results are so different from those of HardOCP, Hardwarecanucks, Anandtech... Especially Metro2033.

 

[legacy-za]

@pelov

The 1680x1050 resolution is still included for various reasons. One of them being, some people have monitors running on 120Hz Refresh matching your FPS with the refresh with VSync Enabled, is just beyond any words. It is the most smoothest gameplay you will ever experience.

If you are going to start with that "The human eye can only see 30FPS" then I suggest you go buy one uber PC that can run 120Hz Refresh with 120FPS and compare it to a PC that can only render 30FPS and you will see a difference that will shock you to the core.

 

[silverblue]

Good review, however you shouldn't continuously pick on the 6990 for that fan. Had AMD toned it down, and I'm sure that they thought about it long and hard, it would've resulted in a much warmer case. The length of the 6990 is hard to swallow, and I can't understand why they didn't use a more innovative cooling solution, but I get the feeling that it's being lumped in the same bracket as the GeForce FX 5900. What a horrible place to be. I'm waiting to see if a 3rd party brings out a new 6990 design which would sort out the fan issues.

I don't see the point running games on either of these cards without AA, and at any resolution lower than 2560. Seems like a waste.

NVIDIA have done a good job here but we kind of knew it would be hungrier and hotter than the 6990. Anandtech pointed out that the OCP is extremely aggressive and may in fact hamper the card when overclocking, which is something to bear in mind.

By the way, I don't think it's wise to throw fanboy accusations in a review. Firstly, the 590 may be quieter than the 6990 by a country mile, but when you overclock it, that fan does get a far bit louder (though still not to 6990 levels, it has to be said). Secondly, the water block fiasco; why do you have to be a fanboy to mention it? It's entirely possible that a good quarter or third of the readership will be considering exotic cooling for exotic cards, and some of those people buying such cards may have already researched it.

 

[xXDracoXx]

[citation][nom]silverblue[/nom]Good review, however you shouldn't continuously pick on the 6990 for that fan. Had AMD toned it down, and I'm sure that they thought about it long and hard, it would've resulted in a much warmer case. The length of the 6990 is hard to swallow, and I can't understand why they didn't use a more innovative cooling solution, but I get the feeling that it's being lumped in the same bracket as the GeForce FX 5900. What a horrible place to be. I'm waiting to see if a 3rd party brings out a new 6990 design which would sort out the fan issues.I don't see the point running games on either of these cards without AA, and at any resolution lower than 2560. Seems like a waste.NVIDIA have done a good job here but we kind of knew it would be hungrier and hotter than the 6990. Anandtech pointed out that the OCP is extremely aggressive and may in fact hamper the card when overclocking, which is something to bear in mind.By the way, I don't think it's wise to throw fanboy accusations in a review. Firstly, the 590 may be quieter than the 6990 by a country mile, but when you overclock it, that fan does get a far bit louder (though still not to 6990 levels, it has to be said). Secondly, the water block fiasco; why do you have to be a fanboy to mention it? It's entirely possible that a good quarter or third of the readership will be considering exotic cooling for exotic cards, and some of those people buying such cards may have already researched it.[/citation]

Hahahahaha!

 

[silverblue]

[citation][nom]kalliman[/nom]Why there are so big difference between your and other results? You claim that 590 is ~~almost~~ better than 6990, but Anandtech, OverclockerClubs and so many others shows the opposite? Did nVidia pay you?[/citation]

Oh dear... don't start this.

Everyone can have their own opinion on something. Anandtech say the 6990 is loud. [H]ard|OCP say it's loud but not annoyingly so. I suppose it depends where you put your machine; on the floor, I would hope.

I think some of the review differences might be down to the fact that not everyone is using an overclocked 2600; Toms used a 990X, [H] used a 920 at 3.6GHz and Guru3D used a 965 at 3.75GHz, for example.

 

[silverblue]

[citation][nom]xXDracoXx[/nom]Hahahahaha![/citation]
Unintentional.

 

[warezme]

I think one major aspect of this whole review was missed. These cards should have been tested in a 3 monitor display setup. After all, isn't that what they are intended for? I have 2 GTX295+'s from EVGA that I have been pushing at stock 280 speeds for several years in Quad-SLI. They do a grand job for what they are, however, when I upgraded to Surround Vision on 3 monitors I started getting some game glitchiness, not in running the games but in how the screens switched. Sometimes one screen would go out and only display on the other two. Having to divide the surround mode between two different cards caused some kind of synchronization problem. That is why I was excited about the 590 as now I could run all three monitors off one card and get better performance to boot. These are the kinds of issues the real enthusiast will run into because quite frankly if you are gaming one of these cards on a single monitor, unless its an uber expensive one, you just wasted your money.

 

[rohitbaran]

Bottom line: Single 6990 trumps 590 except for TWIMTBP titles while AMD has yet to rectify its drivers to unleash full power of quad crossfireX. AMD clearly wins as far as fastest card is concerned.

 

[mayne92]

GREAT article as always Chris. Always a great read! However, as frustrated as you may be with the constant "fanboy" hate you get...calling them out several times in your article did make me feel that you lost some professionalism with this one. Just don't drop to their level

 

[rohitbaran]

[citation][nom]scoregie[/nom]MMMM... HD 6990.... OR GTX 590... HMMM I'll go with a HD 5770 CF setup because im cheap.[/citation]
Better go with the Radeon 5870 in that case. Performs similar to crossfire 5770 and costs and sips power less.

 

[striker_gt]

Nvidia Hyping as always. 590 is not a rival for the 6990!

 

[renz496]

[citation][nom]rockitman[/nom][citation][nom]trandoanhung1991[/nom]I think 2 GTX 580 will beat it. And costs about the same too, if you look hard enough.citationLet's see, 6990 goes for over $700, cheapest 580's go for $500. 2 x $500 = $1000. That's not very close to $700, unless you know where 580's are going for alot cheaper. Please do tell.[/citation]

read carefully before posting. the one he cited said he would go for 6990 with water blocks. if you add the water block in to the overall cost it might close to GTX580 in 2 way SLI going to cost

 

[verbalizer]

to me it seems like a push even though the video at the end shows AMD/ATi weakness between the two cards.
so push, draw, even money on which one is indeed better.
I will NEVER be spending that much on a single card when I can get 2 GTX560ti's in SLI and be happy because I'M EASY TO PLEASE... LOL
I'm more a nVidia guy but the HD6990 seems beastly..

 

[WR2]

Glad to see the multi-monitor testing for the GTX 590 and 6990.
A triple monitor (Eyefinity/Surround) setup is the best (and maybe only) reason to consider buying one of these.

 

[verbalizer]

to me it seems like a push even though the video at the end shows AMD/ATi weakness between the two cards.
so push, draw, even money on which one is indeed better.
I will NEVER be spending that much on a single card when I can get 2 GTX560ti's in SLI and be happy because I'M EASY TO PLEASE... LOL
I'm more a nVidia guy but the HD6990 seems beastly..

 

[verbalizer]

I do wish nVidia would make more 3 monitor single cards..

 

[scrumworks]

Where were the audio samples when GTX480 launched? Audio was NOT important factor back then but now its all the sudden deal breaker important because nvidia card produces less noise this time. Noise can be handled better with aftermarket coolers that WILL be available sooner or later if that is a problem for ultra-enthusiast gamers.

Bottom line is that GTX590 slower than HD6990 and consumes more power. Kudos for nvidia for good effort but I think AMD should earn some honest respect for besting market leader nvidia's solution here. Perhaps some non-biased person like Thomas Soderstrom could handle these new card reviews in the future.

 

[t0r012]

Todays real conclusion should be:

Buy a pair of 6950 2GB cards with the dual bios so you can flash the 6970 bios and crossfire them.

 

[bernardv]

6990 is faster but blah blah ... blah blah Nvidia wins???

Sorry, 6990 is faster and it wins. Performance per Watt and overall speed should be deciding factors. They show whos chips are best.

There will be lots of versions of 6990 with various cooling solutions and different noise levels. Anyway, when you compare two such race horses, noise is not a deciding factor. Non of the top end cards will ever be a rational purchase.

 

[SpadeM]

Interesting approach on this review with the witty remarks. While I do understand that ppl can be assholes in the comments, everyone is entitled to their own opinion (no matter how flawed it is)so no need to respond to the fanboy crowd.

Now I do have a question though, regarding Nvidia's OCP system. I did read about it in the anandtech article and was hoping to dig a little deeper here on tom's but .. no such luck. Can you spare your thoughts about this vs. powertune.

On the noise side, as my previous speakers said, there will be choices in both watercooling and aircooling be it from evga, asus, gigabyte or from 3rd party suppliers like arctic cooling, zalman, thermalright. Noise levels now on launch day might be important to some ... but in the coming weeks, it won't be a deal breaker.

 

[jestersage]

[citation][nom]plznote[/nom]Great card. But low clocks.GREAT for overclocking![/citation]

+1
someone will be watering this down and OCing it to bits.

Personally, I'll be waiting for HD6990 non-reference designs and see how those pan out. I prefer the AMD side this time around due to the power consumption numbers - no issues on the electric bill, just don't want to burn out mother earth any faster, that's all...

 

[matt_b]

"Nevertheless, in a comparison between GeForce GTX 590 versus Radeon HD 6990, Nvidia wins. "
Like others, I too feel this is a biased opinion. Clearly, depending on what criteria you're looking at, one card wins here and the other there - this is a draw!

 

[cangelini]

[citation][nom]pelov[/nom]Does anyone else think that the 1680 benchmarks shouldn't be used in cards like this?Paying >$600 for a GPU almost certainly means you have multiple monitor setups and/or high res monitor(s). Otherwise why not buy a better monitor and a lower costing card to use its full potential?[/citation]

It data. Use it or not. Multi-monitor configuration is in there as well.