Update 5/15/13

Something new is OtW
. . . hmmm ...



The ABT 660 Ti BOOST evaluation is going to be late.

Here is my conclusion so far
(and i'll put up a chart showing Boost at stock and OC'd vs the GTX 660 with more cards to follow)

Basically - to sum it up, for $169 you get a 2GB card that can be SLI'd and that when overclocked, can match a stock GTX 660


Availability is TODAY - well ahead of the 7790 Paper Launch. And the real match up comes next week when the GTX 650 Ti BOOST 1GB at $149 goes up against the HD 7790 at $149

http://lanoc.org/review/video-cards/634 ... -boost-2gb




The titan arrived yesterday (Monday). The preview is due but mine will be late a few hours. Benchmarks are coming in two days. 30 games and 3 synthetics and tested at 3 resolutions including 5760x1080.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/19/40040 ... single-gpu
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/ge ... nce,1.html
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/ ... -overview/

It's $999


(2-15-2013)


i haven't done one of these in awhile. There is a brand new company (to us) that we will be dealing with, and we will be evaluating their product. It was just confirmed today by the rep. It's really good news for ABT(!) And evidently they move pretty fast.

i just checked tracking. Something is definitely incoming for next week. i'll let you know more when it arrives.
- it's a genuine mystery card .. and i guess i will keep on working here ....


===============================================================











10/25/10

New Mechanical Keyboard arrived from Cooler Master. i'll put up some pics today. This one is also compact but unlike the Thermaltake KB which uses the Red Cherry MX switches, this one is programmable and uses the Blue.

i am **writing** the Cooler Master 1000W PSU evaluation now (i like it; it passed all stability tests)

i finished benching for the (1) HyperX Kingston SSD versus the (2) HyperX 3K SSD vs the (3) Kingston (Consumer) Vnow100+ series versus a (4) Seagate HDD - that evaluation will be up at the weekend

i am benching the GTX 680 vs the HD 7970 (at GE speeds) right now .. expect a driver performance analysis of the battle of the betas - Catalyst 12-11 vs GeForce 310.33


AND expect a SOMETHING NEW (and completely different) on Monday





8-28-12

New Mystery card has arrived.


==================

08/13/12 - i just got word of (yet) another incoming card ... that's two in one week!
. . . incoming! -- duck!!!


======================
08/08/12

incoming .. no idea what is coming .. it's a "mystery' card




=======================


5/10

The mystery is why Sapphire . . .
... well, never mind .. we got one this and the evaluation will be published while i am at the GTC next week!




5-3-2012

i am almost done with the GTX 690 evaluation .. it will be up today. i'd like to actually put it up reasonably "finished"

However, FedEx arrived today with another mystery card


if i wasn't dead tired, i would be doing cartwheels
-- and i got word we will finally get to test 2 vs 4GB of vRAM on the same model








4/23/12
Something new arrived from Nvidia at ABT HQ this morning (also)
It is labeled:



http://n4g.com/news/984364/teaser-nvidi ... nvasion-or

=================


04/13/12

INCOMING!




Something BIG
(not physically, perhaps)

===================



03/13/12 UPDATE

Benching for HD 7770 GHz OC edition complete and charts are up in this thread. Soon to be published
--PowerColor HD 7970 ordered from NewEgg for $600
(thanks, dave!!)
Benching on Mystery card evaluation has also begun


expect a Thermaltake Frio/FrioOCK evaluation also this week and Mario is going to have a Genius Product evaluation also. Busy busy busy .. it's good to have the site back up



3/02/12 update

Sapphire HD 7770 GHz OC edition arrived today.

===============
2/22 update

New mystery card arriving ...

see latest post
========================



i just got notice of FedEx tracking for an incoming AMD package due on Friday




A bomb?



Many delays on the MDT card review. Evidently i had a defective (intermittently so) Dual-link DVI cable that really screwed with my (and Galaxy's) head. 5760x1080 at 50Hz simply wouldn't work. Once i figured out the cable issue, now there are problems running the benches at this resolution. i'll get a review up one way or another in a few days. The 3D Vision 2

THEN ... the mystery card!


=============
12/6

Lots going on here. Just got the new MDT Galaxy GTX 560 Ti for review. Interesting card that attempts to take on Eyefinity's 3 displays at 1080p. Not sure if it provides the full 60Hz resolution. Pricing sets it squarely against the HD 6950, so we will compare the two cards, side-by-side. The advantage the MDT card starts with, is that it has 4 - DVI ports for 4 displays; for a Radeon, you would need a DP adapter to use more than 2 DVI displays.

Unfortunately, i can't even get to the MDT 560 Ti card until next week. Batman: Arkham City 3D Vision 2 performance evaluation is up next even though i may not finish the game before i publish. It will be a 2D/3D performance review, of course - and it will cover 3D Vision 2 and the new 27" Asus Light Boost display. And it should be published soon after the patch and testing. i will test it with several GeForce cards - GTX 550Ti, 560 Ti, 560 Ti 448 Core, GTX 580 and GTX 590. i'm looking for playable settings and testing with and without a dedicated PhysX card.
---It would make zero sense to test with a Radeon as it is a 3D Vision 2 review


In the meantime, i am working on a Thermaltake full tower Chaser MK II evaluation as i transition into looking at cooling. i am going to attempt a really high overclock on my Intel CPU using my old Noctua cooler and two of their new super-efficient and even quieter NF-F12 PWM fans. For that same evaluation, i will use the new Noctua fans with the Asetek AMD FX watercooler - so you can see, there is plenty coming. . . .

Add to that, Thermaltake's Frio and FrioOCK (best) CPU coolers .. overclocking the FX-8150 with Tri/Quad-Fire ... and there is a lot cooking here. There is still part 3 of SLI vs CF with massively overclocked CPUs (Phenom II, i7 and FX) on the way (no need to heat my house!!)


Of course, the Viewsonic HD3D-ready V3D231 is also going to be tested and it will be part of the "HD3D vs. 3D Vision 2 Mega Face-off". i should be busy with HW reviews right through CES and hopefully an ABT report from there ... and then there will probably be some new mystery cards coming ... and always the emphasis on testing the latest drivers






====================================================
Another day, another update - Happy December 1 and happy holidays. We are going to be busy!

Yet another new card is coming this week. No mystery however

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814162082

i guess it gets compared with the Radeon HD 6950 since they are in a similar price range.

Galaxy surprised the heck out of me with an "it's on the way". i am a little buried now with HW
letsee ...

• Noctua fan (interesting changes in an awesome design),
• Thermaltake Chaser MK II tower review (using HD 6970-X3 Trifire and watercooled FX 8150),
• the Asetek watercooler,
• two Thermaltake CPU coolers (Frio/FrioOCK),
• 3D Vision 2 vs HD3D - featuring Batman AC and Asus VG278 vs. Viewsonic V3D231)

• .. and that is not counting my Part 3 of SLI vs CF nor my reviews of the AM3+ Asus MB vs. the z68 ASRock motherboard.

i better get right back to work !!
-- playing Batman ... DX11 patch coming soon ..














Lots going on. 11/21/11 update

New MYSTERY card arriving next week .... expect a review soon

What has arrived and what is up next.

Next up is a Thermaltake eSports Meka Gaming KB .. hopefully tonight


Then Batman Arkham City preview and later will be a 3D Vision evaluation; it will be my newest benchmark along with BF3 - preview should be up tomorrow .. i am D/Ling tonight and if possible i will get our web master to collaborate on the evaluation since he finished it already (XBox)

Then i have the Thermaktake Chaser MK II Full tower - i am testing it with FX-8150 watercooled and HD 6970-X3 Tri-Fire. If it passes, it will be one heck of a case (no side case fan).


Got a new cooling fan from Noctua


and two CPU coolers from Thermaltake
The Thermaltake Frio Advanced CPU Cooler


their newest and up to date most powerful CPU cooler, the Frio OCK



After that i should be working on my SLI vs CF part 3
















i am still working on the review. Game summary charts are here:




UPDATED 10.03.2011

it's been a long time since we got some hardware under NDA for review.


i am going to be very busy for the next few days ...

===========================




(08/03/11 update)

Hi everyone .. it's been a long time since i did much more than a game review, driver analysis, SSD evaluation or notebook makeover


There is my Mega 80-game 3D Vision review coming up this weekend and then it appears to be Back to Business - *hardware* reviews


First up is the iTwin; cool piece of HW that lets you transmit securely over the 'Net from a remote PC in a simple drag 'n drop
http://www.itwin.com/
- it will be a "mini" review -- i'll use my public library to (hopefully) securely access my home PC

Now ... AMD asked me what i wanted to review and gave me a choice of 6 new partner HD 6770 cards. OBVIOUSLY, i'd love to review them all, but that is unreasonable to do in a short period of time - so i asked for one of the two that interested me the most - here were my first and second choices:

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... id=3861#ov
http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-607.shtml

AMD sent them both; the Gigabyte is a PASSIVE HD 6770! -- a *monster* card!!


Do i have a review planned for you!






=============================
4/21/11

2 cards arriving tomorrow - HD 6450 and GT 520 - no mystery

. . . however there is a new CPU arriving next week


===============
5th new Card spotted and incoming - April 11 is today; it'll probably arrive this Wed or Thurs
- i can guess, can't i? i really don't "know"

In unrelated news, AMD is finally sending me the adapters so i can use my HD 6990 with 3-panel Eyefinity
- i can only use HD 6xx0 CrossFire right now. When i get the adapters, i will even be able to do 5x1 Eyefinity (i think; i DO have the 5 panels to use it)

AND i am going to have a Catalyst 11-3 performance evaluation up this week - it'll be compared to 11-2 and 11-4 beta

AND you can expect the Kingston tour article this week. i am unsure what the other editors have planned


OK, i am back to Eyefinity/Surround "research" - 3 matched panels is the way to go!


=======================
March 24.
Yet another incoming!










expect the GTX 550 Ti review this weekend; i need to run HD 5750 tests and write it up ... then a new launch


====


March 17
Tracking Notice of INCOMING


one is likely to be a 3D vision Kit with an ASUS 1080 120hz display

==============================

March 02 Update:

2nd Mystery Card just arrived.

No pics

=====================================

If HardOCP can do it, so can we - two attachments are at the bottom for your viewing pleasure!


It's a big muther .. in a metal case .. and see the latest post for a couple of more pics
-Mar1 update

================





update. 450W!!!

see latest post
============================



i really don't know what is coming but i do have some clues that i can (probably) share with you:

1. It's not from Nvidia
   
2. "a few new cards", is probably not breaking any NDA
   
3. i expect it/they will go up against a card we reviewed recently

So, i really don't expect any West Indies sandwich this week
--Speaking of ... will there be a HD 6990 and a Lesser Antilles


BtW, i have shortened my CF vs SLI eval to Part 1; i'm just using Core i7-920 at 3.8 GHz as we examine GPU and multi-GPU scaling. Subsequent evaluations will look at CPU architecture and speed. And i am *still* writing my SSD vs. HDD eval; it is in the writing stage and it is taking (much) longer than i thought.


So what do you think we will get?

Well, the most recent review was about the GTX 560, then it should be something like:

A) HD 6930

B) HD 6870 Black Edition

C) HD 6950 1GB

D) None of above

Well, they mentioned "cardS"

And how about ... ?

E. All of the above


How about a HD 6970-1GB ? 6830? ...
... Matrox 4D? SiS or BitBoysTech?

LARRABEE!!!!!!! Is alive?

Aww come on, man, you're giving us a hard time, are you not?? If it were true--two different versions of 6990, then you'd indeed be breaking the NDA!! (Well, I guess not, since you do not know what you're receiving).
Ok, fine, a 4GB 6990 and a 2GB 6990 at slightly (5-10%) lower clocks?

But I'd guess more on a 4GB 6990 and a 6930.

Something like a 1280sp 6930 is what AMD desperately needs right now in order to better protect the 6950 against the 560 Ti if NV decides to aggressively lower their prices.

But a 6830 (not 6930) is what AMD needs the most for the biggest selling HOTCAKE batch that brings in the most profit. AMD does not want to price their 6850 anywhere close to the 5770, and there's a considerable gap in between (with the 5830 being EOL'ed). As long as it's *clearly* faster than GTX 460-768, carries 1GB, and is priced at what the 5770 is going for right now, AMD would no longer be bleeding marketshare to NV's flashy GTX 460 bait. I do not think AMD can regain the marketshare back from NV to the same levels when AMD's cards were the only DX11 cards around for several months, but it's better to at least stop the bleeding rather than to let it continue.

If it can be within 2% of the 6850's performance (like the 460 SE being 2% slower than 460-768), then it'd be basically tied with NV's own 460 1GB!
That means it would have to be a Barts XT with ROP's cut down in half, but without anything being castrated or slowed down (except for the clocks being lowered by just a tad bit).

Otherwise, if a 6850 (Barts Pro) loses half of its ROP's, it'd have to maintain the same clock speeds in order to still be faster than the 5830, and also the 460-768 which is the key target here. However, it'd be so lackluster, not being such a CLEAR winner over the 460-768 by more than 1% or so.

OTOH, a Cayman with half the ROP's, and 1280sp, would most likely end up being slower than the 6870. There's no room in between the 6850 and 6870, really (even slightly less room than in between 6870 and 6950). If AMD did this, it would probably be a "quietly" released card, only to get rid of bad batches, and not a big seller by any means. Anandtech did state AMD saying that they chose to go for 32 ROP's with 1120sp for Barts XT instead of 16 ROP's and 1280sp, since the former is 2% faster.

The wisest move, IMHO, is a Barts XT with 16 ROP's, at 850+ MHz, for $135... a bandage to stop the bleeding from a huge 460-768 hotcake bite!

Remember how much ATI and Nvidia confused us with zillions of different X1900GT/1950GTrev1/rev2 and 7800GS/GTO/etc.. brands? I hope not again as the 40nm round starts to get long in the tooth..

Is the 460-768 really a threat? I find the card an enigma. It has to be hurting Nvidia (GTS 450) as much as ATI. I'm not sure what to make of it. It doesn't make sense for it to be selling so cheap, unless people just don't want it at any higher prices. I think people look at it as an ugly duckling, which is why you find it so cheap. I'm not so sure it's really that big of a threat. At least it's probably not a threat worth responding to, for the long term. If it was a long term threat I think AMD would drop prices on the 5700 cards; they would pretty much have to.

The GTS 550 is what AMD will need to focus on, as it will probably muscle out the 5770. Even then, maybe they would be content with the staggered product lineup until the next gen.

^^ It was NV's choice to lower the prices, and the 3rd party partners to offer tons of rebates.

The GTS 450 is still selling better than HD 5770's even though it's a slower card. The cheapest price on Newegg is $115 ($95 AR), most averaging at $130 ($110 AR). The 5770 is found as low as $120 ($100 AR), averaging at $135 ($115 AR).

GTX 460-768 retails as low as $150 ($120 after rebate), averaging at $160 ($130 after rebate). The SE version is actually more expensive (most likely due to 1GB buffer and lower supply).

Looking at how GTS 450 is almost a low-end card, the pricing makes sense. Heck, it is not really hurting Nvidia.. the GF106 is made for the third tier segment (after GF100, GF104) and not expected to sell at $150+. NV is making $$ off it otherwise they would have rushed to release a full GF106.

About the 460-768's, see how many people are buying them. Someday it might be EOL'ed soon, replaced by a castrated 560, but the point here is that Nvidia is gaining quite a bit of marketshare with GTX 460-768's. Maybe NV isn't making a killing on those chips, but what is happening is the marketshare shift back from AMD to NV after AMD reigned the early DX11 era.

Although HD 5770's continue to sell in satisfactory quantities, especially as AMD does not have as much priority with 40nm fabbing capacity at TSMC (lower supply), most choose to buy the 460-768 over the 5770 because it's only like $10-20 more and is considerably FASTER, with more features. A LOT of people are comfortable with spending $120-140 on video cards, and by now AMD did not have anything nearly as attractive as Nvidia in that segment for as long as NV did not have DX11 cards.

I guess I need to remind myself about AMD's less bountiful portion of TSMC production after NV gained greater priority with 40nm process (once Fermi was finally being fabbed). It must be that AMD realizes that their supply is somewhat more limited, so they just rather keep the prices a bit inflexible for maximum profit with whatever quantities they have in stock. With GlobalFoundries being able to fab GPU's too (hopefully 28nm as promised), supplies should hardly be a factor any more. And the business guys at AMD will sell for maximum profit with plentiful supply, meaning lower prices and better competition!

Speaking of the GTX 450 .. it is a pretty low end card - but once it is in SLI, it's performance is pretty respectable. And now i see why sometimes CF or SLI produces over 100% results. The card is SO weak at a stressful resolution it's minimums and averages are a slideshow - with hitching and painful chugging; adding the second card simply makes it playable.

The other thing that messes with averages is the way Fraps rounds them off.

I just think the 5770 and 6850 must be selling as much as AMD expects (maybe better), else they would be dropping prices in correlation with the 460.

And you also can't ignore the 5770 is just in a different class from the 460. It's in a different performance class. It uses much less power (good for OEMs and people with crappy units). It's great for an HTPC and video playback. And well, Nvidia doesn't have all the features because the 5770 has DisplayPort and Eyefinity. So the 5770 is somewhat targeted at a different crowd, while the 460 is more gaming oriented.

What's the MSRP on the various 460 cards now? 5770 and 6850? And aren't rebates the responsibility of board partners and not Nvidia?

"Looking at how GTS 450 is almost a low-end card, the pricing makes sense. Heck, it is not really hurting Nvidia.. the GF106 is made for the third tier segment (after GF100, GF104) and not expected to sell at $150+. NV is making $$ off it otherwise they would have rushed to release a full GF106."

What? You lost me. How does the pricing make sense if the 460s are cheaper than 450s?

Also are 460s as prevalent in OEM machines as 5770s? I don't know if they are, at least concerning the 768MB.

Yo, if you read my last post above, the 460's are retailing for more than 450's, not less. There were a couple of amazing discounts/rebates that made the 768MB version $~90, but it must've been too good to last, and there's nothing like it now.

On Newegg:
460 1GB as low as: $180 (145 AR)
HD 6850 as low as: $180 (160 AR)

I guess the current "MSRP" for the 460 1GB is $199.99, since anything cheaper has its price hidden and has to be added to the cart to be viewed.

The 460 1GB is still a better buy overall, due to more features (other than Eyefinity), plus massively better overclockability that makes it ~10% faster than the oc'ed 6850. The 6850, let alone 5770, is pretty much low-end for Eyefinity (unless one uses 3 1280x1024 monitors which is still as demanding as 2560x1600).

Good point there about HTPC and the 5770 being the best choice for a majority of them..