NORMALLY I DO not bother with preliminary numbers, but sometimes you have to go with what you have. This time, the die size of the NVidia GF110/GTX580 is such a hot topic we will sacrifice a little precision to get you the info.
Short story, the die size of the GF110 is about 550mm^2, about 4% larger than the GF100/GTX480. These were hand done caliper measurements, not instrumented, so they will change once the thing is put under the TSA screener set to ‘dark tan’. We are confident enough in them to say that the GF110 is a larger chip.
.1mm is hard to measure by hand, and only made more unpleasant by the coating of underfill that hasn’t managed to glassify yet. Since the chip is around 23mm on a side, each .1mm of inaccuracy puts the die size off by over 2mm, hence our caution.
For all those who say it is a massively reworked GF100, or it can be much cheaper to produce, this die measurement proves otherwise. The GF110 is bug fixed GF100 with some low hanging fruit added on. Nvidia is calling this both a new architecture and a new series, which is a big step up from G92. *LE SIGH* S|A
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Charlie Demerjian is the founder of Stone Arch Networking Services and SemiAccurate.com. SemiAccurate.com is a technology news site; addressing hardware design, software selection, customization, securing and maintenance, with over one million views per month. He is a technologist and analyst specializing in semiconductors, system and network architecture. As head writer of SemiAccurate.com, he regularly advises writers, analysts, and industry executives on technical matters and long lead industry trends. Charlie is also available through
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WHEN YOU DON'T have any product, you spin and spin and spin. Nvidia is doing just that with the upcoming paper 'launch' of the GTX580.

THE DESPERATION AT Nvidia has reached silly proportions, with the paper launch of the GTX580 pulled in from 'Cayman Day' to 'Investor Conference Call Day', both holidays in November. I wonder how many reviewers will overlook the fact that there won't be cards this year?

If you recall, Nvidia is claiming that their 'new' 500 series cards are new GPUs, but anyone testing the parts knows that they are mere bug fixes.