i see there are a lot of impatience expressed on tech forums with Nvidia because AMD's launched the top and bottom HD 7000 cards. This thread is meant for your best guess at to exactly when you think the first part of the Kepler desktop lineup launches. Maybe we could even make it into a contest to reward whose guess is closest. Also, if you like, perhaps you could express what you think the reasons are for the "delay" ... if there is even a delay. . . .

EDIT: i'm looking for best guess on the NDA expiration and the moment the reviews hit.

So what IS Nvidia waiting for? What do you think is the "hold up"?

How long before Kepler is launched? Remember, it can be 8 weeks from first silicon to launch. And from what we are reading, first silicon was (many) weeks ago . . . . samples have been shown ... 28nm yields are said to be "much better" than the original Fermi on 40nm.

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Editorial/ ... 8nm-Kepler

... the only thing we are not hearing are the leaks from the AiB partners. Why would that be?
hmmm.... questions, questions, questions

What's the prize? And can I play? Muhwaahahahaaaa.........

It will be here when it gets here. Likely early to mid April.

Ramping up hard and not having the problems of the first Fermi's -- probably mid-march to mid-april time-line. Curious what the product sku's are, how they decide to price them since AMD priced differently.

Of course, and if you do play, also please state if you are under-NDA with Nvidia on Kepler, or not.


As to the prize ... i am asking if we should make it a formal ABT contest.
- i can always find something nice



i am actually asking for a very specific date. "Closest" guess wins
--remember that Nvidia appears to like certain days of the week and certain times of the day to launch
(Are they superstitious or is this based on research?)

Pick a date from your general '4-8 weeks'. Let's see who guesses closest in this thread.

Now i don't know which product SKUs are to be launched first, but i would guess (based on Nvidia's history), their flagship card and the No2 card together. i might be really surprised to see midrange launch first. Price? i see the GTX 580 heading downward to $400-450 as the channel is cleared.

If Nvidia has a good supply, i see them wanting to get marketshare at AMD's HD 79x0's expense *and* to maintain margins and good profitability for their partners. So (again i have no clue but based on the current situation; and final pricing isn't even usually set until a few days before the launch), i'd guess the new cards will be priced slightly above the current AMD high end offerings. To differentiate themselves with a superior product and force AMD to discount or come up with some Super-Overclocked versions as they did when the GTX 580 was released.

i would speculate that Nvidia's strategy in the midrange - with a really fast and inexpensive (for them to produce) replacement for the GTX 560 Ti - is what will prove most dangerous for AMD. A flexible GPU that they can price however they need to counter AMD's coming midrange (now probably scheduled for early March). i would think that Nvidia would wait for AMD to show their cards first before introducing their own midrange.

Of course, i can't win anything. And whatever i learn under NDA i won't be able to share.

I really have no idea because nVidia has me so confused.

Guess.

i did ..


Maybe you'll win something ... besides acclaim ..

I think nVidia could of launched earlier but wants enough product to try to meet demand. Also think nVidia desires more share, specifically with mobile. The key though will nVidia redefine price/performance with 28nm or will they price according to more what the 40nm price/performance market is? I think based on the pricing has changed from AMD -- nVidia may raise prices a bit -- for example, I do believe that the GK-104 was going to be 299. Also believe that the performance may be around GTX-580 to HD 7970 performance in many cases -- but may raise the price of the product to 349.

nVidia isn't just competing with AMD but themselves and need to offer compelling reasons for gamers to upgrade.

6.5 weeks cards show up for review. so sometime in the first week of April. Cards available to purchase? very limited supplies a couple weeks later.

What is taking nvidia so long? most of their initial 28nm chips are going to their many obligations. Orders from Apple and other oems are very large and its taking all their resources to fill them. nvidia has so many orders they dont know how they are gonna get them filled. They demand is outrageous and their biggest hold up is how to divide up the pie when there is no possible way to fill the demand. Nvidia is stocking up what they can and trying to get a plan of action that will be fair as possible. So the chips they are binning are just sitting until they have a solution. They are in dilemma. they dont want to piss off anyone, but these huge orders pose a massive issue. they are working on a suitable plan to action before they send chips anywhere.