Official GTX 590 Review Thread (23 reviews at this time)

[MentalIlness]

Yeah, this hasnt happened since the 7900 back in 2005

Well, I do think the 6990 is too loud, but I wouldnt buy reference designs of any of them, so thats kind of a moot point

What I am not liking this generation is that the performance is all over the place depending on games... Usually the 2 top cards are close in every game with an exception here and there, but here half of the games run better in 590, half run better on 6990... It sucks, youre screwed either way

Which reviews are you reading where the 590 is faster in half the games ? Most reviews I have read, even in games like Far Cry 2 / Lost Planet 2 which are Nvidia favored games, the 6990 is still out in front.

Even most of the time, when the 590 is oc'd, it still can't outrun the 6990.

But yea, I do agree that "we" are screwed either way.

 

[Elfear]

Yeah, this hasnt happened since the 7900 back in 2005

Well, I do think the 6990 is too loud, but I wouldnt buy reference designs of any of them, so thats kind of a moot point

What I am not liking this generation is that the performance is all over the place depending on games... Usually the 2 top cards are close in every game with an exception here and there, but here half of the games run better in 590, half run better on 6990... It sucks, youre screwed either way

As others have mentioned (Ryan Smith in particular), where the performance edge matters is in the demanding games. If one cards beats the other and both have awesome frames, who cares? 15% either way at 100fps won't make a difference, while 15% at 30-40fps would be noticeable.

Kudos to Nvidia for the 590 cooling solution. AMD should take a page out of their book when it comes to cooler design.

 

[TerabyteX]

As others have mentioned (Ryan Smith in particular), where the performance edge matters is in the demanding games. If one cards beats the other and both have awesome frames, who cares? 15% either way at 100fps won't make a difference, while 15% at 30-40fps would be noticeable.

Kudos to Nvidia for the 590 cooling solution. AMD should take a page out of their book when it comes to cooler design.

Yeah, a feat considering that AMD was first using vapor chamber technology!

 

[n0x1ous]

I keep reading the comments about the 590 "blowing up" when overclocked and how its happening all over the place.

The only concrete piece of evidence on this is Techpowerup. However this only happens when the card is overvolted to the extreme of 1.2 volts. They had it clocked to 775 mhz without voltage. Then they had it running at 1.000 volt and it was fine.

They also go on to say that "other" reviewers have mentioned the same thing yet do not give names nor does anyone seem to be able to find other reviews of this happening.

As of right now, this appears to be an isolated incident and only at an extreme voltage OC. This "blowing" up is being "blown" way out of proportion at this time.

As far as the 590 performance. Nice to see the smaller size and quieter noise, but its held back by the clocks and the 1.5GB at the high resolution where this product would be primarily used. Its a shame because they have the higher performing chip, it just can't be unleashed in that type of thermal/power envelope.

Kind of ironic that AMD ususally hits the smaller nodes sooner since it would be more beneficial to Nvidia with their larger dies.

 

[MentalIlness]

 

[Gloomy]

I keep reading the comments about the 590 "blowing up" when overclocked and how its happening all over the place.

The only concrete piece of evidence on this is Techpowerup. However this only happens when the card is overvolted to the extreme of 1.2 volts. They had it clocked to 775 mhz without voltage. Then they had it running at 1.000 volt and it was fine.

They also go on to say that "other" reviewers have mentioned the same thing yet do not give names nor does anyone seem to be able to find other reviews of this happening.

As of right now, this appears to be an isolated incident and only at an extreme voltage OC. This "blowing" up is being "blown" way out of proportion at this time.

As far as the 590 performance. Nice to see the smaller size and quieter noise, but its held back by the clocks and the 1.5GB at the high resolution where this product would be primarily used. Its a shame because they have the higher performing chip, it just can't be unleashed in that type of thermal/power envelope.

Kind of ironic that AMD ususally hits the smaller nodes sooner since it would be more beneficial to Nvidia with their larger dies.

obviously you haven't been reading as much as you'd lead us to believe, since in this very thread there's already been posted proof that it isn't an isolated incident:

Sweclockers overclocked GTX590

2 cards (worth roughly 12000sek or $1714) got fried. One might say they went down in flames xD.

http://www.sweclockers.com/nyhet/13...sweclockers-testlabb-drivrutin-boven-i-dramat

Use google translate if you don't speak Swedish =)

Highlight:

Jonas (tester 1): Owww f'ck!
Emil (tester 2): Brinner det, eller? ("is it on fire?")

Tough luck, Nvidia.

edit 3: Review too: http://www.sweclockers.com/recension/13695-nvidia-geforce-gtx-590/1

keep skimming. :thumbsup:

 

[MentalIlness]

A little off-topic here...but..

Maybe AMD went balls to the wall this time to remain the king of GPU's ? But I am only saying that because....

Maybe AMD will go balls to the wall against.....INTEL with Bulldozer.. ?

Would be sweet if they did.

Ok, back on topic.

 

[n0x1ous]

obviously you haven't been reading as much as you'd lead us to believe, since in this very thread there's already been posted proof that it isn't an isolated incident:



keep skimming. :thumbsup:

Ok now we have two. Again after it was over-volted to an unspecified level. Amazing. They go on to find out that they needed a newer driver for the OCP to kick in.

So you mean to tell me that if you Overvolt the **** out of a card it might die! OMG wow that is so bad. I can't believe they would sell something like that

Mountain out of a molehill again. If i stuff another .3 volts into a 6990 similar things would happen (sans power limiting)

Power limiter back in place with new driver. end of problem.

And again many are claiming that OC the card makes it blow up when the two examples we have point to voltage (one super high Over-volt and one unspecified overvolt)

 

[notty22]

TPU, attempted a 30% over volt . The stock volts was .938 and he jumped from 1.00 to 1.200 ? Not sure why, but this all falls under why AMD also puts a yellow sticker on their switch and voids warranty on their dual gpu very expensive monster. Things could happen.
I would not recommend over volting until there is much more data available.

At xbitlabs their 6990 hit 101c in testing at 880mhz, that can't be good for extended life either.

 

[Dudler]

I keep reading the comments about the 590 "blowing up" when overclocked and how its happening all over the place.

The only concrete piece of evidence on this is Techpowerup. Snip..

Also happened to a romanian site:

http://translate.google.ro/translat...force-gtx-590-noul-rege-al-placilor-video/13/

Look at the conclusion, another vrm..

 

[Gloomy]

At xbitlabs their 6990 hit 101c in testing at 880mhz, that can't be good for extended life either.

yeah, and it went up to 1.175 volts without exploding

I bet it could do 1.2 without exploding too-- might be unstable, but finding out wont ruin your card :thumbsup:

 

[n0x1ous]

yeah, and it went up to 1.175 volts without exploding

I bet it could do 1.2 without exploding too-- might be unstable, but finding out wont ruin your card :thumbsup:

No it probably wouldn't, and neither would a 590 if you use the newest driver with OCP in place.

Before all the power limitation of this generation, would take any card from either side and stuff an extra 30% voltage down it and watch it die too

 

[TerabyteX]

TPU, attempted a 30% over volt . The stock volts was .938 and he jumped from 1.00 to 1.200 ? Not sure why, but this all falls under why AMD also puts a yellow sticker on their switch and voids warranty on their dual gpu very expensive monster. Things could happen.
I would not recommend over volting until there is much more data available.

At xbitlabs their 6990 hit 101c in testing at 880mhz, that can't be good for extended life either.

But the your point? This isn't even related to the thread. Typical nVidia GPU's can withstand temperatures up to 105C before crapping out. AMD GPU's usually can withstand even more. If you want a cool GPU, get a Radeon HD 6850 or GeForce GTS 450. This type of cards are designed to run warmer than usual. D:

yeah, and it went up to 1.175 volts without exploding

I bet it could do 1.2 without exploding too-- might be unstable, but finding out wont ruin your card :thumbsup:

Well said. I think that 880MHz is more than enough since the performance gains aren't spectacular.

 

[MentalIlness]

TPU, attempted a 30% over volt . The stock volts was .938 and he jumped from 1.00 to 1.200 ? Not sure why, but this all falls under why AMD also puts a yellow sticker on their switch and voids warranty on their dual gpu very expensive monster. Things could happen.
I would not recommend over volting until there is much more data available.

At xbitlabs their 6990 hit 101c in testing at 880mhz, that can't be good for extended life either.

You post the highlighted part above, but yet you fail to state how XFX now will "warranty" the flip of the switch on the 6990. And if I am not mistaken, in another thread here, I thought I read that Sapphire and a second company "cant remember" may be following suit as well.

Please, this is a launch thread. Just because "one" launch came about and was less than what you thought it would be, doesn't mean every other post from you should be bashing AMD and cherry picking for Nvidia.

Please do not derail this thread.

Ok, and anyway, just above this post, a 3rd 590 has died. Something about "VRM's"

 

[SlowSpyder]

TPU, attempted a 30% over volt . The stock volts was .938 and he jumped from 1.00 to 1.200 ? Not sure why, but this all falls under why AMD also puts a yellow sticker on their switch and voids warranty on their dual gpu very expensive monster. Things could happen.
I would not recommend over volting until there is much more data available.

At xbitlabs their 6990 hit 101c in testing at 880mhz, that can't be good for extended life either.

101C can't be good for extended life of a 6990. But overclocking / overvolting your GTX590 might not be too good for it's immediate future.

 

[MentalIlness]

But overclocking / overvolting your GTX590 might not be too good for it's immediate future.

This is sig worthy.

 

[OCGuy]

101C can't be good for extended life of a 6990. But overclocking / overvolting your GTX590 might not be too good for it's immediate future.

I like how you throw OCing in with overvolting, as if they are the same thing. *eyeroll*

People overvolting CPUs/GPUs/RAM etc are gambling, plain and simple.


The first argument was the 580 couldnt happen. Then the 590 couldnt happen. Now it is "lolz if you overvolt it to 1.2v it explodes."


"Grasping for straws" comes to mind...

 

[notty22]

You post the highlighted part above, but yet you fail to state how XFX now will "warranty" the flip of the switch on the 6990. And if I am not mistaken, in another thread here, I thought I read that Sapphire and a second company "cant remember" may be following suit as well.

Please, this is a launch thread. Just because "one" launch came about and was less than what you thought it would be, doesn't mean every other post from you should be bashing AMD and cherry picking for Nvidia.

Please do not derail this thread.

Ok, and anyway, just above this post, a 3rd 590 has died. Something about "VRM's"

This is sig worthy.

I would say your doing a better job of derailing than me, so worry about mentalillness and stop pointing fingers.

Its funny yesterday, anything o/c does not matter, only stock results blah blah blah, now we have to read in a review thread a link to the same part of one review, about 10 times now. During o/c , which yesterday didn't count ?

 

[MentalIlness]

I like how you throw OCing in with overvolting, as if they are the same thing. *eyeroll*

People overvolting CPUs/GPUs/RAM etc are gambling, plain and simple.


The first argument was the 580 couldnt happen. Then the 590 couldnt happen. Now it is "lolz if you overvolt it to 1.2v it explodes."


"Grasping for straws" comes to mind...

Throwing overclocking in with overvolting probably only because every GTX460 card "and there is a hell of a lot of them being used here" is overvolted. The ATI 6xxx series, people here overvolt them. Fermi cards...overvolted.

So why not include it with the 590 ?

 

[Gloomy]

I would say your doing a better job of derailing than me, so worry about mentalillness and stop pointing fingers.

Its funny yesterday, anything o/c does not matter, only stock results blah blah blah, now we have to read in a review thread a link to the same part of one review, about 10 times now. During o/c , which yesterday didn't count ?

What are you talking about? I thought the general opinion concerning dual-GPU cards since the 5970 came out was that the overclocking potential determined the value of the card, since there was never any doubt that they would come with modest clock speeds at best. Spin spin. :|

 

[MentalIlness]

When your grasping, you just better hope you dont get the "short end of the stick" like Nvidia just did.

Just kidding...carry on.

 

[OCGuy]

Throwing overclocking in with overvolting probably only because every GTX460 card "and there is a hell of a lot of them being used here" is overvolted. The ATI 6xxx series, people here overvolt them. Fermi cards...overvolted.

So why not include it with the 590 ?

I am not sure I am following you here. I am not asking for reviewers to not include it, the more information the better. I am saying dont be suprised when you see cards malfunction that far out of specification.

I guess when cards are this close to performance on launch though, you have to look beyond the standard goal-posts?

Trust me, the % of people overvolting GPUs is very small.

 

[n0x1ous]

Throwing overclocking in with overvolting probably only because every GTX460 card "and there is a hell of a lot of them being used here" is overvolted. The ATI 6xxx series, people here overvolt them. Fermi cards...overvolted.

So why not include it with the 590 ?

Overvolting is one thing, overvolting 30% is entirely another thing.

I would be willing to bet that the majority of members here who overclock their GPU's do it on stock voltage. Of those who do overvolt, the majority probably nowhere near 30%

 

[bryanW1995]

Seems to be as expected - unable to overtake the 6990.

Kudos to NVIDIA for pulling a quieter design. Will be interested to see extreme oc head ons between these cards.

6950 CF still seems the best value for the extreme high end, though.

It's funny how nvidia has learned from their past mistakes while AMD is taking over NV's "win at all costs" mentality. AMD went all out for the performance crown, but it's a pyrrhic victory at +1% over gtx 590 but 6 times as loud. Looks like AMD should have spent more time developing a better/quieter cooling system. Overall, both of these sandwiches are a poor substitute for sli/cf imho, however.

 

[MentalIlness]

I like how you throw OCing in with overvolting, as if they are the same thing. *eyeroll*

People overvolting CPUs/GPUs/RAM etc are gambling, plain and simple.


The first argument was the 580 couldnt happen. Then the 590 couldnt happen. Now it is "lolz if you overvolt it to 1.2v it explodes."


"Grasping for straws" comes to mind...

Nah, I totally agree with what you stated. I was just referring to that here on "Anand" that overvolting seems to be normal now for just about anyone here. Just widely used. I do know oc'ing/ov'ing is not the same thing, but I do think that, slowspyder didnt refer to them as the same either. It just seems both are used now at the same time.