No R400 on 2003?

[binmaze]

Link (http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030225/tech_ati_1.html)
Though the GeForce FX has surpassed the Radeon 9700 on some benchmarks, Rolston claimed that with R350, ATI would have the best-performing chip through at least the end of the calendar year.
R400 won't be on this year? (Maybe due to Low-K process problem?)
Or saying R350 will be faster than NV35 and no need to make R400 this year?
Or just miscommenting temporarily forgot about R400 emphasizing R350?
Or believing NV35 will not make this year too?

Anyways, ATi seems quite confident with R350...

[Althornin]

(Maybe due to Low-K process problem?)

this is how internet romour starts, you know.
Blatant speculation.

I can see the headlines tomorrow: "ATI's FLAGSHIP R400 DELAYED TILL 2005 BECAUSE OF PROCESS PROBLEMS"

[binmaze]

this is how internet romour starts, you know.
Blatant speculation.

I can see the headlines tomorrow: "ATI's FLAGSHIP R400 DELAYED TILL 2005 BECAUSE OF PROCESS PROBLEMS"
yeah my comment was purely speculative. but blatant? whoa. then isn't yours on mine blatant either? and aggressive out of nothing?

And one more...we know ATi said TSMC Low-K not ready. Though i forgot where is the exact link to that. So mine was that much blatant?

[Dave Baumann]

Actually, following on from the post I made in the news, I'm now beginning to wonder.

If this is their fall part then they should have either taped out by now, or getting ready to tape out very soon. Its around the tape out time that you begin to get the rumour mill working (which is no coincidence), however so far there has been nothing on R400. Given the comments made at the recent presentation it wouldn't surprise me if that was a veilded hint to suggest that R400 may require low-k, and could be pushed back until its avilable.

Given the repeated chatter over a .13um R350, I'm beginning to wonder if there won't be another refresh of the R300 core just in case R400 is delayed.

Now the talk of the R350 refresh may have provided a little smokescreen for R400 talk, and the .13um chatter could easily be from confusion between R350 and RV350, but I don't know.

[binmaze]

Dumbass i am. The Low-K thing is on B3D news! :oops:

[Althornin]

yeah my comment was purely speculative. but blatant? whoa. then isn't yours on mine blatant either? and aggressive out of nothing?

And one more...we know ATi said TSMC Low-K not ready. Though i forgot where is the exact link to that. So mine was that much blatant?
all i am saying is unfounded comments are where rumors start.
It was not aggressive.
I dont mean to be rude - i just found your comments to be like those that i hear repeated later, based on no evidence.
If i see evidence, i will re-evaluate my stance.

[jjayb]

Maybe you are reading too much into it. If the r350 comes out in march and is better than the nv35 and the r400 comes out in november, doesn't Ati still have the fastest chip until the end of the year? Saying they will have the fastest chip tell the end of the year because of the r350 coming out next month does not mean that the r400 isn't coming out this year.

[Pete]

What does "calendar year" mean to ATi? Is it a financial year, meaning their year turns over differently from the "regular" year?

[MuFu]

Well I think the fact that they said "calendar" indicates that they were specifically implying Jan-Dec and not the fiscal year.

MuFu.

[epicstruggle]

your looking too far into the future. I think Ati will release r350 soon, and then wait to see what nvidia does before they actually decide when to release r400. I think ati is at a point where they really are holding all the cards and just waiting to trump whatever nvidia does. :)

later,

[Joe DeFuria]

Well, as Dave mentioned, I'd be expecting to hear many "leaks" of the R-400 taping out around now if it is planned for a summer/early fall launch. If we don't hear anything by the end of march, then I'd assume the R-400 won't make the anticipated "1 year after R-300" launch.

If it is delayed, I wouldn't care to guess if it's for technial or market reasons at this time. Given ATI's position, it could be either.

If the R-400 is pushed out one cycle to Spring '04, then it will be interesting to see if ATI has a back-up for a "refresh" of R350 for this fall. They could, for example, be stockpiling and speed-binning the fastest R-350 chips, and svaing them for an "Ultra" variant for the summer...paired with faster memory than the fiurst R350 boards will ship with. I do still doubt that ATI would try to shoe-horn in a completely new 0.13 micron R350 chip though. Too costly IMO...UNLESS the R-400 looks to be delayed by a full YEAR.

In any case, I'm expecting the NV35 to be out well in advance of the R400, given the credible rumors of NV35 having taped out. However, knowing what we do now about the NV3x architecture, it's certainly not clear that the NV35 will be a R350 beater.

[Hellbinder]

Now the talk of the R350 refresh may have provided a little smokescreen for R400 talk, and the .13um chatter could easily be from confusion between R350 and RV350, but I don't know.

No confusion here.

The *current* R350 is indeed .15 as you and other well know.

What I am suggesting is that there will be one more refresh based on the R350 before the end of the year. That product *may* more like *likely* based on .13 It will be called the 9900pro and have 256mb ram.

[T2k]

I don't understand something: does everybody forget here last CSFB Annual Technology Conference??? Where Orton (COO) stated: R400 WILL arrive on summer '03, after July? :P

[Lezmaka]

True, but that was also almost 3 months ago. Things could have changed quite a bit since then

[Evildeus]

T2k> Perhaps they have more information since then. For me, the statement is quite clear, R350 will be the best available chip till the end of 2003....

[THe_KELRaTH]

Hang on... didn't that Taiwanese guy shout "TAPED" as he was crossing the main square.... Well.. there you have it.. confirmation that the R400 is taped out! :wink:

[T2k]

T2k> Perhaps they have more information since then. For me, the statement is quite clear, R350 will be the best available chip till the end of 2003....

Evildeus: did you hear that certain part actually?

[Pete]

Well I think the fact that they said "calendar" indicates that they were specifically implying Jan-Dec and not the fiscal year.

MuFu.Pfft, you and your "logical" thinking.

;)

Perhaps those rumors of a .15u 9800 and a .13u 9900 based on the same core weren't too far off....