NVIDIA to Launch GeForce GTX 580 Next Week?

After we posted our in-depth look at AMD’s Radeon HD 6800 graphics cards a couple of weeks ago, we took a look at what NVIDIA’s radar may look like, to see what the company might do to steal back some of AMD’s thunder. It’s not that AMD released the best single-GPU card on the market, but from a price, performance and features standpoint, it delivered an appealing overall package.

A couple of days before AMD’s launch, a rumor started to spread like wildfire that NVIDIA would be releasing a follow-up to its current highest-end offering, the GeForce GTX 480. Called the GeForce GTX 580, the card would be an evolution of what the GTX 480 brought to the table. It’d be faster, more power efficient, run cooler, and in NVIDIA’s hope, put AMD in its place.

The rumor as it stands is that the GTX 580 will be launched next week, and given the number of leaks around, including one on NVIDIA’s own website, it does seem likely. Also according to rumors, the card is looking to be about 20% faster than the GTX 480, and because of some small architecture revisions, the GPU is more power efficient. Some proof of this is that the GTX 580 leak shots show a card sans heatpipes, which the GTX 480 of course features.

A rather notable potential problem, though, is that rumor has it that the GTX 580 is going to retail at $600, which is quite literally 20% higher than the GTX 480. At least that increase matches the performance, I guess? If pricing is true, then NVIDIA is going to have a hard sell, because it’s been quite a while since we’ve seen a single-GPU card retail for so high.

Adding to the confusion, an AMD Radeon HD 5970 should theoretically out-perform a GTX 580, and those are selling for $600 or less. Then of course there are the rumored HD 6900 cards due from AMD soon, which will come in both dual and single-GPU configurations.

The next couple of weeks are sure to be mighty interesting!

At present, there has been much speculation that NVIDIA is announcing the GeForce GTX 580 on the 8th of November in a bid to make enthusiasts and gamers ‘think twice’ about buying Radeon HD 6900 Series cards, which are slated for a late November release. The general consensus is that, the GeForce GTX 580, despite being unveiled on the 8th, will be no more than just a paper launch.