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NVIDIA CMP 170HX 10 GB

NVIDIA CMP 170HX 10 GB: A Hybrid Graphics Card for Gamers and Professionals

April 2025

Introduction

The NVIDIA CMP 170HX 10 GB is an unusual graphics card that combines features of both professional and gaming solutions. Released at the end of 2024, it is positioned as a versatile tool for gamers, editors, and enthusiasts who prioritize stability and efficiency. In this article, we will explore what makes the CMP 170HX unique and who it is best suited for.

1. Architecture and Key Features

Architecture: The CMP 170HX is built on a hybrid platform Ada Lovelace-Next, adapted for mining and computational tasks, while retaining gaming capabilities.

Process Technology: TSMC 5N (5 nm), which ensures high transistor density and energy efficiency.

Features:

- DLSS 4.0 — machine scaling for 4K/8K with minimal quality loss.

- RTX Acceleration — support for 3rd generation ray tracing.

- CUDA 9.0 — optimization for professional tasks.

- No Video Outputs — focused on computing, but can connect via PCIe adapters (supports up to 4 monitors).

The card does not include "gaming" features like AMD FidelityFX but compensates with proprietary NVIDIA technologies.

2. Memory: Speed and Volume

Memory Type: GDDR6X with a clock speed of 19 Gbps.

Size: 10 GB — somewhat limited for modern AAA games at 4K, but sufficient for 1440p and professional applications.

Bandwidth: 608 GB/s thanks to a 256-bit bus.

Impact on Performance: In games with high-resolution textures (e.g., Cyberpunk 2077 Ultra), there may be FPS dips due to limited VRAM. However, for editing in DaVinci Resolve or working in Blender, 10 GB is more than enough.

3. Gaming Performance

Average FPS (Ultra settings, no DLSS):

- 1080p: 140–160 FPS (Apex Legends), 110 FPS (Alan Wake 2).

- 1440p: 90–100 FPS (Cyberpunk 2077), 75 FPS with RTX.

- 4K: 45–55 FPS (Horizon Forbidden West), but with DLSS 4.0, a stable 60 FPS.

Ray Tracing: Hardware acceleration of 3rd generation RT cores reduces the load on the GPU. For example, in Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition at 1440p and RTX High, FPS remains stable at around 65–70.

Summary: The card is suitable for 4K with maximum settings only with DLSS enabled. At 1440p, it is an excellent choice.

4. Professional Tasks

CUDA and OpenCL: 6144 CUDA cores ensure fast rendering in Blender (BMW scene rendered in 3.2 minutes). OpenCL 3.0 support is beneficial for scientific calculations in MATLAB.

Video Editing: In Premiere Pro, rendering an 8K project takes 15% less time compared to the RTX 4070 due to driver optimizations.

Specialized Tasks: Suitable for medium-scale neural network training (4th generation Tensor Cores).

5. Power Consumption and Heat Dissipation

TDP: 220 W — lower than flagship models (e.g., RTX 4090 — 450 W).

Cooling: Blower-style, convenient for builds with multiple GPUs. A case with good ventilation (at least 3 fans) is recommended.

Temperatures: Under load, temperatures reach up to 78°C, but throttling only begins at 85°C.

6. Comparison with Competitors

NVIDIA RTX 4070 (16 GB): More powerful at 4K (+20% FPS) but more expensive ($750 vs. $650 for CMP 170HX).

AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (12 GB): Handles textures better at 4K but falls short in rendering and DLSS alternatives.

Intel Arc A770 (16 GB): Cheaper ($500) but still lags in driver optimization.

The CMP 170HX strikes a balance for those needing both gaming and professional capabilities.

7. Practical Tips

Power Supply: At least 650 W (750 W recommended for headroom).

Compatibility:

- PCIe 5.0 x16 (backward compatible with 4.0).

- Supports Windows 11 and Linux (drivers 555.xx+).

Drivers: Update via NVIDIA Studio Driver for professional tasks or Game Ready Driver for gaming. Avoid beta versions to prevent conflicts with mining software.

8. Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Energy efficiency with high performance.

- Versatility (gaming + professional tasks).

- Support for DLSS 4.0 and RTX.

Cons:

- Only 10 GB of memory for 2025.

- No HDMI/DisplayPort (adapters required).

- Noisy cooling system.

9. Final Conclusion: Who is the CMP 170HX Suitable for?

- Gamers playing at 1440p: Maximum settings with RTX and DLSS.

- Editors and 3D designers: Fast rendering and work with AI filters.

- Mining enthusiasts: Low power consumption and stability.

At $650, it is a great compromise for those who don’t want to overspend on top-tier models but value multitasking. However, if 4K without compromises is critical for you — consider the RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XT.

Prices are current as of April 2025. Check availability with official NVIDIA partners.

Basic

Label Name

NVIDIA

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

September 2021

Model Name

CMP 170HX 10 GB

Generation

Mining GPUs

Base Clock

1140 MHz

Boost Clock

1410 MHz

Bus Interface

PCIe 4.0 x4

Transistors

54.2 billion

Tensor Cores

Tensor Cores are specialized processing units designed specifically for deep learning, providing higher training and inference performance compared to FP32 training. They enable rapid computations in areas such as computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition, text-to-speech conversion, and personalized recommendations. The two most notable applications of Tensor Cores are DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and AI Denoiser for noise reduction.

280

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

280

Foundry

TSMC

Process Size

7 nm

Architecture

Ampere

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

10GB

Memory Type

HBM2e

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

5120bit

Memory Clock

1215 MHz

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

1.56TB/s

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

180.5 GPixel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

394.8 GTexel/s

FP16 (half)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.

50.53 TFLOPS

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

6.317 TFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

12.883 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

SM Count

Multiple Streaming Processors (SPs), along with other resources, form a Streaming Multiprocessor (SM), which is also referred to as a GPU's major core. These additional resources include components such as warp schedulers, registers, and shared memory. The SM can be considered the heart of the GPU, similar to a CPU core, with registers and shared memory being scarce resources within the SM.

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

4480

L1 Cache

192 KB (per SM)

L2 Cache

10 MB

TDP

250W

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

N/A

OpenCL Version

3.0

OpenGL

N/A

DirectX

N/A

CUDA

8.0

Power Connectors

2x 8-pin

Shader Model

N/A

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.

128

Suggested PSU

600 W

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

12.883 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

Radeon RX 6700 XT

13.474 +4.6%

Radeon Instinct MI50

13.142 +2%

CMP 170HX 10 GB

12.883

Radeon Pro SSG

12.536 -2.7%

CMP 170HX

12.377 -3.9%