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First Fermi card pictured

Published on 30th September 2009 by Tim Smalley

Nvidia's Jen-Hsun Huang showed off the first Fermi card - it's a Tesla card, but expect the GeForce card to look pretty similar.

After revealing the new Fermi architecture, Nvidia's CEO Jen-Hsun Huang showed off the first Fermi-based graphics card to the audience at his opening keynote at GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, California.

There's very little we can say about the card at the moment, other than it appears to use a single 8-pin power connector - we'll let the pictures do the talking...

Update: There's also a six pin connector on the board as well.

Discuss in the forums.

First Fermi card pictured

37 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

capnPedro 30th September 2009, 23:04

I like the physicist naming scheme :).

Threefiguremini 30th September 2009, 23:04

If the 5870 is the bat-mobile then this is definitely KITT

Ryun 30th September 2009, 23:31

You're not supposed to touch the PCI-E pins, Huang!

bowman 30th September 2009, 23:33

Does anyone know if the cards are functional in NVIDIA's tests yet or are they just mockups?

kenco_uk 30th September 2009, 23:42

Oh great, so the power socket's on the end of the card, rather than the side. We'll be buying cases resembling sideboards next.

Goty 30th September 2009, 23:45

Raise your hand if you think it's entirely possible that this is a blank PCB with a cooler bolted to it!

=P

On the bright side, do I only see one PCI-E power connector there? THAT would be pretty impressive if this card turned out to be GT300.

Tim S 30th September 2009, 23:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by bowman
Does anyone know if the cards are functional in NVIDIA's tests yet or are they just mockups?

They've shown some particle simulation demos on the GPUs... silicon is early, but working.

GoodBytes 1st October 2009, 01:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryun
You're not supposed to touch the PCI-E pins, Huang!

He has an uncountable number of these at home.. do you think he remotely cares about holding it properly.

Dave Lister 1st October 2009, 01:51

Look's and sound's impressive, i wonder if it will play crysis smoothly with everything maxed out.

Aracos 1st October 2009, 03:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryun
You're not supposed to touch the PCI-E pins, Huang!

Damn, you beat me too say that >.<

Elton 1st October 2009, 03:28

Interestingly that looks like the 8800GT or the 9600GT equivalent of the GT300..

No way it has 1 power plug.

GoodBytes 1st October 2009, 03:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elton

No way it has 1 power plug.

You right, it needs a motherboard plug to make it work, which is on top of the card ;)

Elton 1st October 2009, 04:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoodBytes
You right, it needs a motherboard plug to make it work, which is on top of the card ;)

Ah! I never would've guessed.

salesman 1st October 2009, 04:16

Looks like Huang has been hitting the gym.

Elton 1st October 2009, 04:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by salesman
Looks like Huang has been hitting the gym.

For some reason the other way around seems more fitting.

DiegoAAC 1st October 2009, 04:21

I'm guessing the card is a 1.5 GB Tesla c2000 mockup

Elton 1st October 2009, 04:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiegoAAC
I'm guessing the card is a 1.5 GB Tesla c2000 mockup

Doubt it, the C2000 needed more than a single PCI-E power pin.

docodine 1st October 2009, 04:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goty
Raise your hand if you think it's entirely possible that this is a blank PCB with a cooler bolted to it!

Hand raised, I can't see anything under the cooler, and the 'pci-e' pins look like a single stripe of gold (though it's probably the photo).

Elton 1st October 2009, 04:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by docodine
Hand raised, I can't see anything under the cooler, and the 'pci-e' pins look like a single stripe of gold (though it's probably the photo).

Actually this is most likely the case. Although we do not know..

500mph 1st October 2009, 05:40

If you look closely you can see stuff on the back of the board in the first picture(The profile isn't straight), and you can see stuff on the pcb in the 2nd and third picture.

docodine 1st October 2009, 06:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by 500mph
If you look closely you can see stuff on the back of the board in the first picture(The profile isn't straight), and you can see stuff on the pcb in the 2nd and third picture.

All I can see is the cooler and the PCI-E power socket. :o

Dave Lister 1st October 2009, 07:50

Does anyone, apart from me bother reading the full articles on this site before posting ?

It clearly says after the main text:

"Update: There's also a six pin connector on the board as well"

So that makes two ! a SIX PIN + an EIGHT PIN.

Jack_Pepsi 1st October 2009, 08:58

I wouldn't be surprised if that was a non-working prototype.

mclean007 1st October 2009, 09:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Lister
Does anyone, apart from me bother reading the full articles on this site before posting ?

It clearly says after the main text:

"Update: There's also a six pin connector on the board as well"

So that makes two ! a SIX PIN + an EIGHT PIN.

The clue is in the word "update" - I'm guessing at least some of the comments came before the article was updated.

impar 1st October 2009, 09:50

Greetings!

Well, nVidia had to show something, considering how good the HD5000 behave.
Everyone thinking on upgrade is now thinking twice.

[PUNK] crompers 1st October 2009, 10:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Lister
Look's and sound's impressive, i wonder if it will play crysis smoothly with everything maxed out.

ah the age old question

Hustler 1st October 2009, 11:17

Given the almost zero ethical standards of the company known as Nvidia, i dont believe for one second that he is holding a working version of the card in his hand...

Nothing more than a stunt to stop people jumping in for a 5800 card in the christmas period....

If they had a working card they would have shown it working.........

shaffaaf27 1st October 2009, 23:09

wheres the 6pin?

Elton 2nd October 2009, 00:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by shaffaaf27
wheres the 6pin?

There's an 8-Pin.

Which honestly explains nothing.

shaffaaf27 2nd October 2009, 00:29

i know, i see that, but the updates says there is a 6 pin, why the hell aint it with the 8 pin?

Krotenpol 2nd October 2009, 09:55

Fake or no fake, there is a rather interesting article on SemiAccurate on that matter. Partially speculative, but it plausibly covers some inconsitencies of that PCB and components [maybe not] soldered onto it. I think it's worth a read, so if anyone's interested:
http://www.semiaccurate.com/2009/10/01/nvidia-fakes-fermi-boards-gtc/
Personally I believe it's a fake board indeed.

Hustler 2nd October 2009, 12:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by shaffaaf27
i know, i see that, but the updates says there is a 6 pin, why the hell aint it with the 8 pin?

The 6pin is located on the side of the card not visible in the pics.....TechPowerUp site has more pictures which show it.....

Elton 2nd October 2009, 12:18

The sole reason you could tell was a fake was just the inconsistient placement of the PCI-E power sockets.

Goty 2nd October 2009, 17:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krotenpol
Fake or no fake, there is a rather interesting article on SemiAccurate on that matter. Partially speculative, but it plausibly covers some inconsitencies of that PCB and components [maybe not] soldered onto it. I think it's worth a read, so if anyone's interested:
http://www.semiaccurate.com/2009/10/01/nvidia-fakes-fermi-boards-gtc/
Personally I believe it's a fake board indeed.

Oh, that's just too rich, I was right! HAHA!

Jack_Pepsi 2nd October 2009, 21:25

nVIDIA have admitted to it not being real.

SMIFFYDUDE 2nd October 2009, 23:54

Huang looks like he'll be taking part of next years PGA Tour.

thehippoz 3rd October 2009, 00:54

lol they are all so crazy.. now he says end of the year- with a fake card in his hands