[BoddoZerg]

Before its archrival Nvidia introduces its high-end NV30 at the end of this year, ATI will add one 0.15-micron-process R350 chip into its product portfolio, sources said, and later debut its first 0.13-micron, light version of the RV350.

Is ATi really crazy enough to launch R350 within months of R300, or did someone make a typo and forget to put a 'V' into "RV350"?

[Jazz]

yer thats very odd, they are gonna bring out another high end chip on the .15 process WTF that doesn't seem right

But if they do get the r350 out before the nv30 nvidia are gonna look real embarrased esp if the r350 is better than the nv30. But i don't see it happening, im guessing the r350 will be out just before Doom3 and will be on the .13 process but i could be wrong

[Joe DeFuria]

Well, with the "battle of the vapor chips", it's less important when they ship, but when they are launched / announced.

I predicted a while back that nVidia would "paper launch" the NV30 at the time that R-300 boards start to become available in volume. At present time, The R-300 isn't yet available "in volume", but that should occur within the next couple weeks.

In any case, nVidia has already done a, well, "pre-paper" launch of NV30, by combining the Cg specs with NV30 info. So although there is no official NV30 chip info, the architecture info is out there.

But until the NV30 actually starts shipping, there's no real need for ATI to even launch a higher performing chip. If I were ATI, I would wait until the NV30 starts to actually ship....then announce an R-300 follow-up....it's one big game really...

[Pete]

This should probably go in its own thread, but seeing as you posted first:

Originally Posted by [url=http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?datePublish=2002/08/29&pages=04&seq=25

DigiTimes[/url]]The Canadian graphics chip designer is not relying solely on the new marketing strategy to expand its market share. According to sources, to maintain its momentum, ATI plans to introduce the Radeon 9700 chip, a simplified version of the company’s R300-core Radeon 9700 PRO, and the Radeon 9500 chip, also a simplified R300 product with only four pipelines.

Before its archrival Nvidia introduces its high-end NV30 at the end of this year, ATI will add one 0.15-micron-process R350 chip into its product portfolio, sources said, and later debut its first 0.13-micron, light version of the RV350.

Nvidia, after months of market speculation, finally introduced samples of its NV18 chips at the Plugfest validation event held by VIA Technologies on August 28. The company’s new AGP 8x-based chip should be launched by the end of the third quarter.

As for the company’s NV30 chip, industry sources revealed that the postponed launch is due to a design change, not a yield rate problem in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSMC) 0.13-micron process as market rumors suggested. Hoping to enhance the product’s overall performance to compete with ATI’s top-end Radeon 9700 PRO, the sources suggested that Nvidia may alter its original six-pipeline architecture to an eight-pipeline one.

There's a ton of info there! Firstly, they make it sound like NV18 is actually a video card, though I've yet to look up info on the Plugfest event. Secondly, they're saying nV changed NV30 specs from six to eight pipes!

As for ATi info, they mention the R350 (surprisingly, before NV30) and a "simplified" 9700. If the R350 does show up this year, I'd assume it's a (minor?) reworking to match NV30's DX9 features and add DDR-II. I'm not sure how to take "simplified," though--I just thought we're looking at lower clocks.

Edit: Whoops, it seems Dave beat us all to it.

[Nagorak]

Simplified would be the R9500.

And one other thing: Via actually holds an event called "Plugfest"??????? Is that the dumbest name ever, or what?

[Dave Baumann]

Originally Posted by Pete

Edit: Whoops, it seems Dave beat us all to it.

<sigh> Yes, sometimes I do wis people would actually read the rest of the site!