Nvidia: Yields are Fine plus 512 Core on the Way

A lot of PC hardware enthusiasts are still wondering what is the deal with the new generation of video cards from nvidia. Is the new series a bad investment? What happened to the 512 core version? Fortunately, in a recent interview with Digitimes some of this has been slightly cleared up.

Q: What are your comments on the rumors that Nvidia has blocked some graphics cores with problems on their GeForce 480/470 chips causing these chips to have less than 512 cores due to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSMC’s) low yields?

A: Nvidia does not comment on unannounced products; however, we have a chance to launch a graphics chip with 512 cores in the future.

TSMC’s yields for its 40nm process has met our expectations and market rumors about the yields being lower than 20% are completely untrue. We currently have everything under control.

Q: Can you tell us about Nvidia’s plans for improving the GeForce GTX 480/470’s power consumption and heat, and your schedule for the rest of the GTX 400 series?

A: Our new Fermi-based GeForce GTX 480/470 chips are a significant improvement over performance compared to our previous-generation GTX 285 despite that the GTX 480/470’s power consumption is about 15-20W higher. However, we believe consumers that choose to purchase GTX 480/470 are more focused on performance instead of how much extra watts they consume. To pay a little higher electricity bill in exchange for 10% more in performance, I believe consumers will think this is a worthwhile trade.

For the full interview head on over to the source.

Source: digitimes.com