Final thoughts and rating
Fermi done right
The introduction of the GeForce GTX 570 GPU solidifies NVIDIA's high-end line-up for 2010. Sensible tweaks in the Fermi architecture and a revised cooler makes this second-rung 500-series card a genuinely better bet than the previous champ, GeForce GTX 480. It's just as fast in games but, importantly, is cheaper, quieter and less power-hungry - thereby rectifying all that was wrong with first-generation Fermi.
Knockout potential
Due to be priced at £289 - though we expect partners to come in lower - and therefore over £100 cheaper than the range-topping GeForce GTX 580, the new mainstream performance card from NVIDIA is very good in all respects. Had this GPU been made available in March 2010, rather than the problem-ridden GTX 480, we'd have hugely impressed. As it is, price reductions from the AMD Radeon camp - especially the end-of-life HD 5870, available for £190 - and the emergence of high-quality multi-GPU setups means that GTX 570 isn't quite the five-star knockout it could have been if launched earlier in the year.
Muddy waters
We still don't know just how well AMD's upcoming Radeon HD 6970/6950
'Cayman' cards will compete against the GTX 5x0 duo, but what we can
say is that NVIDIA's Fermi architecture is finally showing its true
worth. Finishing off this review with the oft-used lament; we just wish
there were more triple-A games available to take advantage of the
hardware horsepower delivered by NVIDIA and AMD.
The
Good
This is what GeForce GTX 480 should have been
Very quiet for a truly high-end GPU
Overclocks well
The
Bad
AMD Radeon HD 6970/50 looms large
Not solely NVIDIA's fault, but where are the triple-A games to justify
investment?
HEXUS Rating
