3D Vision Blog

After the announcement of the top models from the new Kepler architecture – GeForce GTX 680 and GTX 690, Nvidia has just announced another a bit more affordable, but still high-end GPU in terms of features and performance. Today comes the announcement of the new GeForce GTX 670, definitely an interesting product coming with a $100 USD lower recommended end user price and a just slightly slower than GTX 680. The new GeForce GTX 670 should still be a bit faster, in terms of performance, as compared to a GeForce GTX 580 – the previous generation’s top model single GPU graphics card, as well as being with lower power consumption and thus producing less heat and noise. At $399 USD the GeForce GTX 670 should be very attractive alternative to the $499 USD price of the GeForce GTX 680, and with a performance difference of up to just about 20% between the two. Not to mention that overclocking the GeForce GTX 670 you should be able to achieve similar performance to that of a stock GTX 680 and even surpass it with a bit, so definitely a good deal. Now, what we only need is Nvidia to actually provide enough GPUs on the market, so that there won’t be shortages like with the GTX 680 that will also push the price of the GTX 670 higher than the recommended one…

Specifications of GeForce GTX 670:

Graphics Card – GeForce GTX 670 2GB
CUDA Cores – 1344 ⁺⁸⁶⁴
Texture Units (TMU) – 112 ⁺⁵²
Raster Operator Units (ROP) – 32 ^-8
Graphics Clock (Base) – 915 MHz ⁺¹⁸³
Graphics Clock (Boost) – 950 MHz
Texture Fill Rate (Bilinear) – 102.5 billion/sec ^+58.6
Standard Memory Configuration – 2048 MB GDDR5 ⁺⁷⁶⁸
Memory Interface Width – 256-bit ^-64
Memory Clock – 3004 MHz (6008 effective) ^{+1104 (2208)}
Memory Bandwidth – 192.2 GB/sec ^+40.2
Fabrication Process – 28 nm ^-12
Transistor Count – 3.54 Billion ^+0.54
Connectors – Dual-Link DVI-I, Dual-Link DVI-D, HDMI 1.4 High Speed, DisplayPort 1.2
Form Factor – Dual Slot
Power Connectors – 2x 6-pin PEG
Power Consumption – 170W TDP ^-49
GPU Thermal Threshold – 97 degrees Celsius
Bus Interface – PCI Express 3.0

* The numbers in red and green represent the upgrade or downgrade of the specific parameter in the GTX 670 as compared to the GTX 570!

The GeForce GTX 670 based on the same GK104 GPU that is being used in the GTX 680 with the difference being that the GTX 670 has one SMX block disabled. This means a bit less CUDA cores, fewer texture units, and a GPU clock frequency a bit lower in the GTX 670, although the memory clock frequency and amount available remain identical. This results in 25W of power consumption less in the GTX 670 (under maximum load), while at the same time the performance does not suffer a lot and can be compensated with a bit of overclocking as the new GPU should also be very capable in terms of overclock like the GTX 680. And just like its bigger brother, the new GeForce GTX 670 cards do come will all the new features introduced with the GTX 680 such as GPU Boost, Adaptive Vertical Sync, FXAA and TXAA, Single card driving up to four monitors and capable of running 3D Vision Surround setup and so on. And although a single GeForce GTX 670 supports 3D Vision Surround I’d still recommend to go at least for two such cards if you plan on building a three 3D-capable display gaming setup in order to be able to play comfortable even in more demanding games with high details.

If you plan on playing games in stereoscopic 3D mode with a single card on a single 3D monitor, then the GeForce GTX 670 should be more than enough for most people, performance wise, and although a GTX 680 could be slightly better, you should be Ok even with a GTX 670. But the real question is if you should upgrade your old GPU to a GTX 670 and the answer is it depends. If you have a GTX 570 or GTX 580 already an upgrade to GTX 670 would not bring that much of an improvement, sure you will get some extra performance combined with lower power consumption, but the difference probably won’t be that high and you might get up a bit disappointed in the end. If you have a GTX 470 or GTX 480, going for a GeForce GTX 670 video card would definitely help more, and I’m not talking only about performance improvement, but the more important advantage would be in the fact that you’ll be getting a much cooler and more silent operating video card. Upgrading from a GTX 460 or a GTX 560 / 560 Ti would really bring up a lot of extra performance that would definitely improve the experience when playing games in stereoscopic 3D mode. If you are in the GTX 460 / 560 domain however you might want to wait a bit more and get the GTX 660 that will very likely be the next thing that Nvidia will be announcing sooner than later if they continue to follow the traditional logic in launching new products. And a GTX 660 based on the Kepler architecture might prove to be among the best price/performance options (for stereo 3D gaming as well) on the market if/when launched, because the GTX 670 is still considered a high-end card with a high price. Looking at the simplified design of the reference GTX 670 cards you can expect that the GTX 660 will be with the same PCB and will have another SMX block disabled, couple that with a price of $249 and things might be looking very good. Now, we’ll have to wait and see some benchmarks from the new GTX 670 in stereoscopic 3D mode as well as the new cards should be immediately available on the market starting today…

- The GeForce GTX 670 is available in Newegg, while GTX 680 is still out of stock…

You may have noticed that I was a bit absent from the blog the last 10 days and the reason for that was a critical hardware failiure of my work laptop, so I’ve had to get a new one install it and recover all the data and backups to it… and it took me some time, but now everything is back to normal. But more importantly, I was again looking for some portable laptops with 3D-capabilities, something that I’ve talked about not too long ago here on the blog. This time my idea was to actually get a portable 12 or 13 inch 3D-capable laptop with a 3D display, not a gaming solution, but something that can be used to preview 3D photos and 3D videos and of course to do some testing of different stereo 3D software on it as well. Unfortunately I still could not find a good solution that fits my requirements, probably they are too specific, or I’m in need of something that is still considered a way too niche product for anyone to make it. So in the end I’ve ended up getting a good 2D laptop, namely the HP EliteBook 2560p – a great portable, yet very powerful and feature rich system that pretty much offers all that I need, minus the stereoscopic 3D support. So again a pair of anaglyph 3D glasses gets packed in my laptop back for use whenever I need to preview something in stereo 3D or test something and I don’t have my stereoscopic 3D-capable desktop test systems available. Maybe I’ll have more luck the next time I’m replacing my laptop… hopefully by then there will be more 3D-capable portable solutions actually available on the market. For now most 3D-capable laptops are intended for gaming or multimedia use and go with a larger display size and powerful discrete graphics, instead of being designed for stereoscopic 3D use on the go… and we actually need a bit more diversity.

SnapilyPro is an online lenticular 3D digital printing service for professionals that allows you to print all sorts of products showing 3D depth or movement/animation on a print – this includes things like invitations, name cards, big posters, lanyards, business cards, event promotions, displays, entry tickets and much more. I’ve already mentioned Snapily’s 3D application and photo printing service here on the blog, but SnapilyPro is a more advanced service offering much more options.

Lenticular printing is a process where a lenticular lens is used to produce images with an illusion of depth, change of image or movement. When viewed from different angles, different areas under the lens are shown to the viewer, and since these views are specially arranged under the lens – each eye gets to see a different view and the brain then processes these views to a single coherent 3D, Flip or animated images. This is pretty much the easiest way to make 3D prints that don’t require the viewer to use any kind of glasses to get a sense of depth or movement and it doesn’t cost that much at least for smaller size prints.

Lenticular technology actually dates back to the 1690s when Gois-Clair, a French painter, discovered that he could achieve a dimensional effect on canvas by interposing a grid between a viewer and a painting. Modern lenticular began in the 1930′s with the development of the modern lenticular lens and since then lenticular has been used on and off in various applications. Nowadays the technology allows you to get single prints for a very reasonable price, so that everyone can afford use lenticular prints. And with more 3D cameras also becoming available to consumers, printing lenticular 3D photos is something that interests more and more people, but getting depth printed on a photo is not the only way to use this technology. You can also create Flip images where the image switches between two different photos creating an interesting effect as well as to create prints that represent movement by using a sequence of photos, so you can be creative.

SnapilyPro supports prints with a size from 1.9 x 1.9 inches up to 47.2 x 35.2 inches on prints wth either flexible and inflexible lens with the bigger size available only with inflexible lens great for printing posters in 3D. Using flexible lens and smaller size prints of up to 11×17 (17×11) inches is not that expensive, but going for prints with inflexible lens and similar or even bigger size prints costs quite a lot more, but also brings real attention grabbing effect. There is an easy to use calculator available that you can use to find how much will a print of specific size cost you and there is also a PDF guide with more information about the lenticular printing, what are the requirements and supported formats for prints at SnapilyPro.

Currently SnapilyPro runs a promotion allowing you to get 20% off from any order made between May 1st until 7th by using the promo code PRO20, so you you want to test out the service you can take advantage from that and then don’t forget to also share your feedback in the comments below.

- For more information about SnapilyPro’s lenticular printing services…