When will Kepler Launch? What's the "hold up"?

tviceman · **Joined:** Sat Jan 16, 2010 5:02 pm **Posts:** 1147

apoppin wrote:

Untrue. And nowhere does it say that they had an ES.

According to the link, the KeplerGPUs have been stockpiled since last year for a launch. The cards have been made by Foxconn so the partners have not seen them (until now) And this is the first time we hear their date of the NDA ending - March 20

Quote:

1. On the week starting March 20th, NVIDIA will unveil GeForce products based on the Kepler GPU architecture
2. For starters, the thing that you need to know about Kepler is that NVIDIA is using Foxconn to manufacture the high-end board.

3.The board in question was manufactured in the third quarter of 2011, meaning that NVIDIA has had Kepler for quite some time. Given that the original plan called for Kepler debut in 2011 and Maxwell in 2013, it's obvious that the yields were too low to initiate launch production.

and ...
4. It's not a midrange product - 6+8-pin PCIe.

What we have been saying. And that is quite a lot for someone not in the know until until now to digest
:hello:

If the board was manufactured in the third quarter of last year, it's an engineering sample. Sitting on a finished product for 5 months? I think not.

apoppin · Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:53 pm

How long ago did we hear that Kepler was taped out? And we just heard confirmed that yields were poor.

Even if you fixate on an ES, you are still neglecting points 1,2, and 4

BoFox · Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 6:50 pm

apoppin wrote:

Untrue. And nowhere does it say that they had an ES.

According to the link, the KeplerGPUs have been stockpiled since last year for a launch. The cards have been made by Foxconn so the partners have not seen them (until now) And this is the first time we hear their date of the NDA ending - March 20

Quote:

1. On the week starting March 20th, NVIDIA will unveil GeForce products based on the Kepler GPU architecture
2. For starters, the thing that you need to know about Kepler is that NVIDIA is using Foxconn to manufacture the high-end board.

3.The board in question was manufactured in the third quarter of 2011, meaning that NVIDIA has had Kepler for quite some time. Given that the original plan called for Kepler debut in 2011 and Maxwell in 2013, it's obvious that the yields were too low to initiate launch production.

and ...
4. It's not a midrange product - 6+8-pin PCIe.

What we have been saying. And that is quite a lot for someone not in the know until until now to digest
:hello:

Yay, my prediction of March 23 is in that week!

A 6+8-pin PCIe card merely means that it will need more than 225W. VR-Z actually hinted that a 500W PSU could be enough, and that it could run off just 2 6-pin connectors. Maybe NV just wants there to be an 8-pin option for an "unlocking" feature of the card (like with HD 2900XT that needed 8-pin for overclocking). Plus it allows AiB's to offer greatly overclocked variants without having to do a custom design. Then it has a good chance of beating HD 7970. Perhaps NV plans to release a dual GK104 card very soon anyways. It's like the 7900GTX round all over again. The 7900 was a bit slower than X1900XTX, but overclocked better. And NV had a dual-GPU 7900/7950GX2 card to grab the spotlight. Yet the 7900GTX sold for just as much as X1900XTX, yet was much smaller and cheaper to produce (and also less power-hungry). Perhaps NV is anticipating that AMD will not do a dual-GPU card for a while (at least 3-5 months or so).

The max TDP of HD 6970 and HD 7970 are both 250W.

If a GK104 needs only 230W max (as a slightly pre-overclocked option by the AIB) in order to beat HD 7970, NV is certainly going to leave a 6-pin and an 8-pin connector on the reference PCB rather than restrict us from this. Perhaps it would allow GK104 to be overclocked high enough to still compete well against AMD's next Tahiti GPU.

Also, the GK104 is pretty high-end for now. People were spending over $550 on those 7900GTX'es that barely beat the 7800GTX-512, and that lost to X1900XTX released nearly 3 months earlier. It was a pretty small chip!!! I think NV would love to repeat this strategy this round and see if it's at least 75% as successful.

Plus they're much better prepared with the full Kepler.. just waiting to see the best from AMD first, and then capitalize on the dual GK104 for a while before releasing full Kepler. That's how most of the rumors are making it sound so far...

Oh well, I dunno!!!!!!!!!

Maybe Apoppin is right all along about there being full Kepler (which he guessed before signing the NDA) by April. Remember the preview that I gave him of what was to come? A LOT more would come if he's right! :grin:

Apoppin, do you really know anything yet? Did anything come with the NDA? Do you know the answer about there being full Kepler by April or not? By saying "yes" or "no", it does not mean that you're admitting if you're right or not - just that you know the truth now.

LifePincher · **Joined:** Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:54 pm **Posts:** 2162

I'm just wondering what I'll be able to purchase for around $350. that is a few notches above my 470sc.
I have a feeling it's going to be more like $400.

tviceman · **Joined:** Sat Jan 16, 2010 5:02 pm **Posts:** 1147

BoFox wrote:

A 6+8-pin PCIe card merely means that it will need more than 225W. VR-Z actually hinted that a 500W PSU could be enough, and that it could run off just 2 6-pin connectors. Maybe NV just wants there to be an 8-pin option for an "unlocking" feature of the card (like with HD 2900XT that needed 8-pin for overclocking). Plus it allows AiB's to offer greatly overclocked variants without having to do a custom design. Then it has a good chance of beating HD 7970. Perhaps NV plans to release a dual GK104 card very soon anyways. It's like the 7900GTX round all over again. The 7900 was a bit slower than X1900XTX, but overclocked better. And NV had a dual-GPU 7900/7950GX2 card to grab the spotlight. Yet the 7900GTX sold for just as much as X1900XTX, yet was much smaller and cheaper to produce (and also less power-hungry). Perhaps NV is anticipating that AMD will not do a dual-GPU card for a while (at least 3-5 months or so).

The max TDP of HD 6970 and HD 7970 are both 250W.

If a GK104 needs only 230W max (as a slightly pre-overclocked option by the AIB) in order to beat HD 7970, NV is certainly going to leave a 6-pin and an 8-pin connector on the reference PCB rather than restrict us from this. Perhaps it would allow GK104 to be overclocked high enough to still compete well against AMD's next Tahiti GPU.

Again, it sounds like vrzone is basing their information off an engineering sample made in the third quarter of last year. More than likely, the card they saw is going to have more power connecters than the final product will need because, as an engineering sample, they will run it through a gauntlet of tests and want to be sure the chip has ample power being fed to it to complete their tests/analysis.

grstanford · **Joined:** Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:19 am **Posts:** 4983

apoppin wrote:

Why are you bringing AMD into this?
:scratch:

Intel is launching Ivy Bridge
:hello:

I mentioned custom cards because that is about the time that launch prices normalize and the "early adopter premium" ends.
:think:

First off, you might have mentioned custom cards (I most certainly didn't), but you did so in a way that clearly implied I HAD mentioned them:

Appopin wrote:

Not mass availability with custom cards as you are now suggesting.

Next, what about Ivy Bridge? It launches in April, not March and I'm quite sure nvidia has been supplying mobile Kepler to laptop makers for some time now, if the laptop version of Ivy bridge should happen to launch ahead of the desktop chip.

Just to be even clearer, except where I talked about GK107 in tviceman's thread I've only ever talked about Kepler as GK104 or possibly GK110. The last few posts I made, and the ones you are trying to twist on me are talking about GK104, and AMD is the "competition" :lol:

there, not intel.

Just in case you edit the post
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=24350&start=60#p59502

apoppin wrote:

You're moving the goal post. We were talking about the end of Kepler NDA with the reviews going up. Not mass availability with custom cards as you are now suggesting.
:hello:

Quote:

You can always rush the shipping if you are willing to deal with the extra cost.

If you were in Nvidia's position right now, wouldn't you speed things up?
(hamster)

apoppin · Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 10:15 pm

grstanford wrote:

Next, what about Ivy Bridge? It launches in April, not March and I'm quite sure nvidia has been supplying mobile Kepler to laptop makers for some time now, if the laptop version of Ivy bridge should happen to launch ahead of the desktop chip.

Just to be even clearer, except where I talked about GK107 in tviceman's thread I've only ever talked about Kepler as GK104 or possibly GK110. The last few posts I made, and the ones you are trying to twist on me are talking about GK104, and AMD is the "competition" :lol:

there, not intel.

What are you babbling about now? And what are you attempting to prove?
**I** mentioned Ivy Bridge as a reason Nvidia should get Kepler to market first. And i am referring to the desktop version as evidently the mobile version of IB is delayed.

**I** also mentioned CUSTOM CARDs in my parallel timeline to yours - custom cards tend to hit the market the same time the "early adopter" penalty (you mentioned) disappears.

Quote:

Apoppin, do you really know anything yet? Did anything come with the NDA? Do you know the answer about there being full Kepler by April or not? By saying "yes" or "no", it does not mean that you're admitting if you're right or not - just that you know the truth now.

What NDA?

Everything that i have posted is from my own interpretation of the situation.
:hello:

BoFox · Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 10:25 pm

apoppin wrote:

Quote:

Apoppin, do you really know anything yet? Did anything come with the NDA? Do you know the answer about there being full Kepler by April or not? By saying "yes" or "no", it does not mean that you're admitting if you're right or not - just that you know the truth now.

What NDA?

Everything that i have posted is from my own interpretation of the situation.
:hello:

Oh, you are too careful!

The NDA lets you know when it will expire, right? And it's usually right at the time of the product launch, correct? (L)

apoppin · Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 10:58 pm

Quote:

The NDA lets you know when it will expire, right? And it's usually right at the time of the product launch, correct?

Generally, yes. Although there were two stages of NDA for the GF100 - we had an architectural preview months before the NDA for the actual product launch of the GTX 480.

grstanford · **Joined:** Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:19 am **Posts:** 4983

You know precisely what I'm "jabbering" about! Quit trying to quit my posts, and show where I mentioned an NDA (good luck with that! -- you'll be needing it!)

apoppin wrote:

grstanford wrote:

Next, what about Ivy Bridge? It launches in April, not March and I'm quite sure nvidia has been supplying mobile Kepler to laptop makers for some time now, if the laptop version of Ivy bridge should happen to launch ahead of the desktop chip.

Just to be even clearer, except where I talked about GK107 in tviceman's thread I've only ever talked about Kepler as GK104 or possibly GK110. The last few posts I made, and the ones you are trying to twist on me are talking about GK104, and AMD is the "competition" :lol:

there, not intel.

What are you babbling about now? And what are you attempting to prove?
**I** mentioned Ivy Bridge as a reason Nvidia should get Kepler to market first. And i am referring to the desktop version as evidently the mobile version of IB is delayed.

**I** also mentioned CUSTOM CARDs in my parallel timeline to yours - custom cards tend to hit the market the same time the "early adopter" penalty (you mentioned) disappears.

Quote:

Apoppin, do you really know anything yet? Did anything come with the NDA? Do you know the answer about there being full Kepler by April or not? By saying "yes" or "no", it does not mean that you're admitting if you're right or not - just that you know the truth now.

What NDA?

Everything that i have posted is from my own interpretation of the situation.
:hello:

When will Kepler Launch? What's the "hold up"?

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