NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 Video Card Review

Replacing the GeForce GTX 480 is NVIDIA's Fermi GF110-based GeForce GTX 570, offering the same number of CUDA cores for $350.

Fierce competition between GPU manufacturers has allowed PC gamers to enjoy the best graphics hardware ever developed for computers. NVIDIA continues to update their desktop video card product family, and now offers the 480-core GeForce GTX 570 video card. Build from the same GF110 GPU that powers the industry-leading GTX 580 series, 15 Streaming Multiprocessors clocked to 732 MHz is comprised of 60 Texture Units and 40 ROP Units while 1280MB of GDDR5 video frame buffer promises 152 GB/s bandwidth over a 320-bit memory bus. NVIDIA replaces their aging GeForce GTX 480 with freshly updated and refined technology, saving consumers money in the process. Priced at $350 for launch, Benchmark Reviews tests the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 performance against other graphics options using some of the latest DirectX 11 games available to see how well it compares against the competition.

Using the most demanding PC video game titles and benchmark software available, graphical frame rate performance is tested against a large collection of competing desktop products. Older DirectX-10 favorites such as Crysis Warhead and PCMark Vantage are included, as well as newer DirectX-11 titles such as: Aliens vs Predator, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, BattleForge, Lost Planet 2, Mafia II, Metro 2033, Tom Clancy's HAWX2, and the Unigine Heaven 2.1 benchmark. Built to deliver the best possible graphical experience at its price point, NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 570 video card delivers top-end frame rates with outstanding efficiency.

Everyone who waited for NVIDIA to launch their Fermi graphics architecture felt like they had held back once it was finally released. The GF100 graphics processor that was packaged into the GTX 480 used less than its full potential, and it didn't create the wide performance margin everyone expected between competitors. Eight months later, NVIDIA has returned with their updated Fermi GF110 GPU to deliver 480 CUDA cores in the GeForce GTX 570. Featuring a tweaked graphics processor that runs much cooler and uses less power than the GTX 480, we'll test performance to determine if the GeForce GTX 570 is a worthy replacement.

Something happened to the Fermi architecture between the time it premiered as GF100 to when it began to really turn heads as GF104: the ratio of shaders and texture units was perfected. The original GF100 GPU placed too much emphasis on tessellation, and not enough on overall graphical performance. As a result of finding the right balance, the GF104 graphics processor on the GeForce GTX 460 became an overnight sensation for gamers. Now evolved into the GF110 GPU, all of the CUDA cores understand their purpose and propel the GeForce GTX 570 to a level rivaled by much more expensive graphics cards. Trimmed down to a modest 219 watts of power consumption under load, the GTX 570 outperforms its predecessor in both power efficiency graphical performance.

Manufacturer: NVIDIA Corporation
Product Name: GeForce GTX 570
Suggested Retail Price: $349.99 MSRP

Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by NVIDIA.

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