All signs suggest that NVIDIA is finally getting close to unleashing a full-fat 512-core GeForce GTX 480.
We've already seen the leaked PCB and supporting GPU-Z screenshots, and we're now seeing something equally as interesting; leaked benchmarks.
The folks who claim to have the unannounced card - Expreview.com - have put it through a few simple tests to illustrate exactly what's on offer from an extra shader cluster.
Running 3DMark Vantage in extreme mode, the 512-core card returns a GPU score of 10,072. That's nearly a 6 per cent increase over the current 480-core model, with 3DMark suggesting a 7 per cent boost in texture fillrate..
And, looking at real-world implications, the upcoming card scores 34.72 frames per second during Crysis at 1,920x1,200 with 8xAA.
That's 5.3 per cent better than a standard GTX 480 according to Expreview's benchmarks, and about in line with what you'd expect from a 6.7 per cent increase in shader count.
Things are generally on the up, and there's a good chance that trend will continue when we get details regarding power consumption, heat and price.
