EVGA Unveils Nvidia GeForce Graphics Card Based On Dual Fermi Cores

EVGA's 2Win GPU includes 672 cumulative CUDA parallel processing cores and 2 GB of GDDR5 memory. EVGA's GeForce GTX 460 card runs at a core clock speed of 700 MHz, memory clock speed of 3600 MHz, and shader clock speed of 1400 MHz. The 11.5-inch 2Win card offers 230.4 Gbps of memory bandwidth, Direct X 11 graphics, a PCI-E 2.0 bus, DVI and mini-HDMI interfaces.

According to EVGA, the 2Win card supports graphics-intensive gaming on up to three HD displays simultaneously -- or up to four displays if users disable Surround. However, Nvidia's GF 104 Fermi architecture is second to the GF 114 core architecture among Nvidia's highest-performing gaming GPU reference architectures.

EVGA says the card achieves higher 3D Marks than Nvidia's GeForce GTX 580, currently Nvidia's most powerful and most expensive cards -- while the graphics specialist prepares to release its Nvidia GeForce GTX 590 to compete with AMD's Radeon 6990 in the enthusiast market.

Nvidia's CEO Jen-Hsun Huang earlier this week at Nvidia Analyst Day said the company's foundry business, through which it licenses designs including its GeForce reference architecture to other chip manufacturers, allows Nvidia to distinguish itself from other semiconductor firms.

EVGA says its GTX 460 card will be available at a lower price compared to Nvidia's current GTX 580 enthusiast offering. Furthermore, customers will be able to purchase the card with a limited lifetime warranty upon registration.

In October, Nvidia began selling its own GeForce GTX 460 branded GPUs through Best Buy, despite being known for designing reference architectures rather than manufacturing semiconductors.

While Nvidia previously partnered with retailers including Best Buy, until last fall Nvidia typically left the task of building and packaging the actual chips to partnering manufacturers, including Asus and PNY, as well as EVGA. In addition, Nvidia partners with a number of system builders who deploy the end product for customers -- which won't happen if the cards are sold at Best Buy.

Nvidia released its GeForce GTX 460 graphics card in July. The GTX 460 is Nvidia's first sub-$200 video card based on the Fermi architecture.