NVIDIA GTX580 rumours pin launch in November to tackle the AMD 6970

In an unsurprising attention-grabber, NVIDIA leaks fire back in the midst of excitement about new AMD cards. Can the GTX580 be real?

In the latest wave of graphics leaks from Chinese sites and forums brings new details on a rumoured NVIDIA GTX580 card, supposedly significantly faster than the GTX480 it would replace, and based on a Fermi architecture derivative called GF110.

The front of the GTX580 is remarkably similar to the current GTX480. From PCInLife forums.

Specifications have leaked alongside pictures of the supposed GTX580, and the card is pinned as having the full complement of 512 CUDA Cores - rather than the 480 cores of the predecessor, representing a 7 per cent increase. It remains manufactured on 40nm technology, and boasts the same transistor count at three billion.

The GTX580 specification table, leaked by NordicHardware

GTX580 core frequencies rise by 11 per cent with memory speeds going up 8 per cent, resulting in 15GB/s more memory bandwidth and a higher texture fillrate, though the memory bus and 1536MB of GDDR5 memory remains static.

Another GTX580 specification table, mostly confirming the first one. From gnd-tech.

Specifications have also been leaked from multiple other sources, though they seem to line up with the above - only the core clockspeed appears different, possibly due to a typo.

The GTX580 PCB shot from Coolife, watermarked by tu.6.cn and bit-tech.

If these rumours are indeed true, as they proved to be for the AMD 6870 leaks, this would result in a card that is potentially 10-20 per cent faster than the GTX480, which would theoretically compete with the new AMD 6970. Unfortunately there can be no free performance gain without cost, and this will inevitably come in the form of additional heat - the current GTX480 is not cool at 250W.

A five-heatpiped heatsink with aluminium cooling frame, from PHK (source TweakTown).

Amusingly the leaks are somewhat more comprehensive than usual, showing the internal heatsink design as leaked from what appears to be "PHK" - and then watermarked by both chiphell and gnd-tech.

The same five-heatpiped heatsink with aluminium cooling frame, from Chiphell.

Exactly the same five-heatpiped heatsink yet again, this time from gnd-tech.

One thing is sure about hardware leaks - other publications are only too happy to claim images as their own! We'll keep our ears to the ground for more information on the GTX580, and we've contacted NVIDIA for confirmation of the above. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or over on the Atomic Facebook page!

Also make sure you read our speculative piece on the launch of the GTX580.