GeForce 500 series

Lore & Background

The Nvidia GeForce 500 series graphics cards are significantly modified versions of the GeForce 400 series, in terms of performance and power management. The refreshed Fermi chip includes 512 stream processors, grouped in 16 stream multiprocessors clusters (each with 32 CUDA cores), and is manufactured by TSMC in a 40 nm process. The GeForce GTX 580 is the first in the series to use a fully enabled chip based on the refreshed Fermi architecture, with all 16 stream multiprocessors clusters and all six 64-bit memory controllers active. The new GF110 GPU was enhanced with full speed FP16 filtering (the previous generation GF100 GPU could only do half-speed FP16 filtering) and improved z-culling units.

On January 25, 2011, Nvidia launched the GeForce GTX 560 Ti, targeting the "sweet spot" segment where price/performance ratio is considered important. With its more than 30% improvement over the GTX 460, and performance in between the Radeon HD 6870 and 6950 1GB, the GTX 560 Ti directly replaced the GeForce GTX 470. On March 15, 2011, the GTX 550 Ti launched as a GF116 mainstream chip, with performance at least comparable and up to 12% faster than the Radeon HD 5770. On March 24, 2011, the GTX 590 launched as the flagship dual-GPU card, similar to past releases such as the GTX 295. On April 13, 2011, the GT 520 launched as the bottom-end card, supporting DirectX 11 and being more powerful than the GeForce 210, GeForce 310, and integrated graphics on Intel CPUs.

On May 17, 2011, Nvidia launched a less expensive (non-Ti) version of the GeForce GTX 560 to strengthen price-performance in the $200 range. Standard versions performed comparably to the AMD Radeon HD 6870, and premium factory-overclocked versions approached the performance of basic versions of the Radeon HD 6950 and the GeForce GTX 560 Ti. On November 28, 2011, Nvidia launched the "GTX 560 Ti With 448 Cores", a GF110 chip with two shader blocks disabled, widely known as a limited production card used as a marketing tool for the 2011 Holiday season; its performance resides between the regular 560 Ti and 570.

Reader's Guide

The GeForce 500 series represents a significant refresh of the Fermi architecture, addressing performance and power management shortcomings of the GeForce 400 series. The series introduced the fully enabled GF110 GPU in the GTX 580, with enhancements such as full-speed FP16 filtering and improved z-culling units. The lineup spanned from the dual-GPU flagship GTX 590 down to the entry-level GT 520, covering a wide range of market segments. The GTX 560 Ti notably targeted the price/performance sweet spot, directly replacing the GTX 470 and competing with AMD's Radeon HD 6870 and 6950. The series also saw the GTX 560 (non-Ti) strengthen Nvidia's position around the $200 price point. A notable aspect of this generation is its later use in counterfeit operations, where cards like the GTX 550 Ti were illicitly modified to report as more modern models such as the GTX 1060 and 1050 Ti, sold on platforms like eBay and Aliexpress. Nvidia announced that after Release 390 drivers, it would no longer release 32-bit drivers for 32-bit operating systems, and in April 2018 announced that Fermi would transition to legacy driver support status until January 2019.

Did You Know?

• The GeForce 500 series was first released on November 9, 2010 with the GeForce GTX 580.
• The GTX 560 Ti With 448 Cores uses a GF110 chip with two shader blocks disabled, not the silicon of the GTX 560 series.
• Cards of this generation, particularly the GTX 550 Ti, are common choices for counterfeit resellers who modify firmware to report as GTX 1060 and 1050 Ti models.