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Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 Die Shots Appear Online

By - Source: Tom's Hardware US

See here for a not-yet-grown-up version of the GeForce GTX 480 Fermi stripped naked.

Nvidia may still be hanging on tightly to its GeForce GTX 470 and GTX 480 GPUs, it seems that some overseas have managed to get their hands on some Fermi silicon.

Earlier this month, German publication Heise (translated) featured two photographs of a GeForce GTX 480 that clearly showed an A2 stepping stamp. The publication measured the package to be 42mm × 42mm.

More recently Expreview captured images found on Chinese forum NGA showing more detailed die shots of GeForce GTX 480 silicon with A3 stepping. The die measured 23mm x 23mm, or 529 square millimeters.

Stay tuned for Nvidia's big reveal of final silicon at the end of next week on March 26.

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Top Comments
  • 25
    ohim , March 17, 2010 6:05 AM
    this is getting pathetic seriously ... when the radeon 5xxx series were about to come out it was all about what performance those gpu`s will have, from fermi we have shots with boxes and with rulers over the gpu chip itself ... is getting annoying already.
  • 24
    eklipz330 , March 17, 2010 5:58 AM
    no boxes? what a bummer
Other Comments
  • 1
    mlopinto2k1 , March 17, 2010 5:42 AM
    Neat.
  • -1
    Hellbound , March 17, 2010 5:44 AM
    Price???
  • 4
    LATTEH , March 17, 2010 5:47 AM
    O_O
  • 0
    anonymous@guest , March 17, 2010 5:50 AM
    Whats next?
  • 9
    ds1495 , March 17, 2010 5:58 AM
    Woah...exciting!

    /sarcasm
  • 24
    eklipz330 , March 17, 2010 5:58 AM
    no boxes? what a bummer
  • 25
    ohim , March 17, 2010 6:05 AM
    this is getting pathetic seriously ... when the radeon 5xxx series were about to come out it was all about what performance those gpu`s will have, from fermi we have shots with boxes and with rulers over the gpu chip itself ... is getting annoying already.
  • 3
    4745454b , March 17, 2010 6:12 AM
    At first I was trying to figure out how it went on such a huge diet. 42nm down to 23nm, your talking almost a 50% reduction. Just by spinning to A3? Looking at the pics again I think I got it. 42nm x 42nm INCLUDES the heatspreader. Thats not the chip. I wonder how much they were able to shink by going to A3? Whats the size of the 58xx?
  • 7
    manitoublack , March 17, 2010 6:17 AM
    if you have to ask you can't afford
  • 4
    agnickolov , March 17, 2010 6:18 AM
    The first image is a heat spreader, not a die. It also clearly shows 41mm, not 42.
  • 4
    Cons29 , March 17, 2010 6:19 AM
    wow, first the exciting preview of boxes, now the chip itself? what more can we ask for? because you showed us the die now we wouldn't care if you put an 800 price tag on that!

    this, this is...i dont know what word to use, first the boxes now this? what's next? a picture of the capacitor the board will use? or a shot of the sticker of the stock cooler?

    if this is nvidia's way of creating hype? then i dont know what's wrong with me cause im not buying it(pun intended), getting pissed more than getting excited.
    before you always release benches, showing how good your card is. anyway, go red team, hope you win this round again, for you to recover losses
  • 1
    jrharbort , March 17, 2010 6:22 AM
    4745454bAt first I was trying to figure out how it went on such a huge diet. 42nm down to 23nm, your talking almost a 50% reduction. Just by spinning to A3? Looking at the pics again I think I got it. 42nm x 42nm INCLUDES the heatspreader. Thats not the chip. I wonder how much they were able to shink by going to A3? Whats the size of the 58xx?

    I believe the 5870 die is 334mm². In comparison, the GTX 480 is massive. I think the GTX 285 was only 470mm².
  • 1
    Minus_i7 , March 17, 2010 6:24 AM
    I think it would be really funny if, when we get some price info and some benchmarks completed, you guys reported them in image form. A picture of the sales rack with a price sticker, a picture of a monitor with FRAPS running, a stopwatch next to a progress bar, etc.
  • 1
    Zenthar , March 17, 2010 6:24 AM
    I hope NVidia seriously fears all the hype they created over this GPU. I fear disappointment is innevitable at this point unless it really kicks ATI's ass by an order of magnitude (ex: single GPU performing as a 5890).
  • 1
    idisarmu , March 17, 2010 6:40 AM
    Wasn't G200a 24mm*24mm? It's a real shame that NV is having trouble making a SMALLER gpu than that, (though it has more transistors). I was hoping that they would become really good at making big GPUs, since they have been doing that for quite a while now.

    jrharbort, you can't compare the 285 with the 480 or 5870 since the 285 was a 2nd gen, die-shrunken part. Compare this with the GTX280.
  • 9
    jezzarisky , March 17, 2010 6:42 AM
    Nvidia has created very little hype around fermi, other than announcing the name, when it's coming out, and one comparison benchmark. If anything it's LACKING hype. Nvidia has been too quiet about the fermi release, the only hype we get is from third party news sites giving us inaccurate news(or "semi-accurate" if you will), and pictures of the boxes and die chips just so there is some sort of hype.
  • 1
    the associate , March 17, 2010 6:46 AM
    I've seen a few people annoyed or even slightly pissed that all were getting here are assorted pictures spread through several days of these nvidia cards (and boxes???? wtf??), some also pointed out this bull crap didn't happen with the 58xx series.

    I'm just posting to say I agree with those people, this is odd and annoying :S
    Bench marks pls, comparisons, prices, common mr N, that's not even teasing, it's stupid, if they pulled this off BEFORE Ati released their cards then and only then would this be acceptable. But as it stands, all their doing is wasting the time of these editors since they'd rather at least post it for us than not tell us at all....
  • 3
    jrharbort , March 17, 2010 6:46 AM
    idisarmujrharbort, you can't compare the 285 with the 480 or 5870 since the 285 was a 2nd gen, die-shrunken part. Compare this with the GTX280.

    You're correct, my bad. The GTX 280 was a tad larger than the GTX 480 will be, at 576mm².
  • 0
    XD_dued , March 17, 2010 6:56 AM
    I think it was a really bad idea to make such a large die for a new manufacturing process. I'm guessing poor availability/yields are whats holding it back a week.
  • 0
    Nizodizo , March 17, 2010 6:57 AM
    As of 4/16/2010 I do not care anymore.
    This marketing ploy was fun to watch with all the hearsay about how this is so much better and don't forget the the boxes.
    Come on already, why not just let us throw money at you and decide if it good or not. what do you care Nvidia?
    We will love it or hate it but in the end you have the cash and we will be stuck with a PCI card that will wind up on Ebay or in our home servers anyway.
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