NordicHardware has a good article clearing some of the mystery behind the GTX 580 rumors. Utilizing all of its CUDA cores, higher clock frequencies, and the sacrificing of High Performance Computing functionality for increased retail-presence is shaping up to make this card a monster. The launch date for both the GTX 580 and AMD’s HD 6900 series are expected around November 20th
We have had a hard time seeing how NVIDIA would be able to activate its sixteenth SM unit without severe problems with the power consumption. But with GF110 NVIDIA made an active choice and sacrificed the HPC functionality (High Performance Computing) that it talked so boldly about for Fermi, not only to make it smaller but also more efficient.