NVIDIA X70 Cards

[KRY_]

Are the chips purposefully downgraded or is it just when it's manufactured and some of the parts don't work? Or is the chip specifically manufactured without some of the parts of the X80 chip? If I buy an X70 card, is there part of the chip that works but is just locked off?

So what I mean is, if I buy say a GTX 970, is every part of the chip that works actually functioning?

Thanks for any replies I've often wondered about this.

 

[jafrankl]

They are slightly different chips. Yes, the chip will all work and actually function, as it is designed to do so.

 

[Supernova1138]

X70 cards are typically X80 cards that had parts fail quality assurance and have thus been disabled. If there aren't enough bad chips to make enough X70s, then Nvidia might purposely lock some shaders to make the card the X70 version rather than the X80 version. AMD does something similar, and you could actually unlock the locked shaders with some of their cards by flashing the BIOS eg. flashing the Radeon HD 6950 into a 6970. I don't think that has ever been the case with Nvidia cards though. AMD actually had to start laser cutting the locked shaders off the 6950s because unlocking was hurting the 6970 sales, and I wouldn't be surprised if Nvidia does do something similar.

 

[neon neophyte]

X70 cards are typically X80 cards that had parts fail quality assurance and have thus been disabled. If there aren't enough bad chips to make enough X70s, then Nvidia might purposely lock some shaders to make the card the X70 version rather than the X80 version. AMD does something similar, and you could actually unlock the locked shaders with some of their cards by flashing the BIOS eg. flashing the Radeon HD 6950 into a 6970. I don't think that has ever been the case with Nvidia cards though. AMD actually had to start laser cutting the locked shaders off the 6950s because unlocking was hurting the 6970 sales, and I wouldn't be surprised if Nvidia does do something similar.

*grin*

 

[RobCrezz]

X70 cards are typically X80 cards that had parts fail quality assurance and have thus been disabled. If there aren't enough bad chips to make enough X70s, then Nvidia might purposely lock some shaders to make the card the X70 version rather than the X80 version. AMD does something similar, and you could actually unlock the locked shaders with some of their cards by flashing the BIOS eg. flashing the Radeon HD 6950 into a 6970. I don't think that has ever been the case with Nvidia cards though. AMD actually had to start laser cutting the locked shaders off the 6950s because unlocking was hurting the 6970 sales, and I wouldn't be surprised if Nvidia does do something similar.

+1

Its the same chip as the x80 series with a part disabled, either due to not meeting the binning process for the x80 card or just because they need more x70 cards.

 

[KRY_]

Snip

Thanks for the information. 2 more questions:

1) Does the GTX 780 Ti and GTX 980 both feature fully unlocked versions of their chips?

2) Is it worth picking up a GTX 780 Ti for £300? It's around £150 cheaper than the GTX 980 and I'm sure it's just as if not more powerful, though it's not as efficient. (I have a GTX 670 just now)

Thanks 😀

 

[RobCrezz]

Snip

Thanks for the information. 2 more questions:

1) Does the GTX 780 Ti and GTX 980 both feature fully unlocked versions of their chips?

2) Is it worth picking up a GTX 780 Ti for £300? It's around £150 cheaper than the GTX 980 and I'm sure it's just as if not more powerful, though it's not as efficient. (I have a GTX 670 just now)

Thanks 😀

1) Both are fully unlocked (except the 780 Ti has some compute FP64 parts disabled, so it doesnt compete with the Titan Black).

2) Its not more powerful, but it is good value for money for £300. The main downside is the smaller amount of vram, which many new games are wanting.

 

[KRY_]

Would it be a good idea to wait for the 8GB variant of the 980? I'd like a card that will last me for a long time and an 8GB 980 seems like a good option. Also, any news on the 8GB cards? Haven't heard anything about them for a while now. I know 8GB is overkill but I'd rather have too much than too little.

 

[RobCrezz]

No 8gb versions so far, I heard from a retailer that nvidia were stopping 3rd partys making 8gb versions.

 

[KRY_]

No 8gb versions so far, I heard from a retailer that nvidia were stopping 3rd partys making 8gb versions.

Well that's a shame 🙁 thanks for the information though 😀