AMD confirms R680 is two chips on one board

[L233]

meh, not exactly a concern, this isn't a mid-range card afterall.

It is a concern, unless you really think that everyone who buys high-end video cards also likes big, bulky cases. There are a lot of smaller cases that are quite popular amongst enthusiast and that won't have enough room for such a card. Antec Sonata and P160, Coolermaster Mystique adn some Centurion (5 is ok, 534 not), Thermaltake Tsunami and Soprano spring to mind. And even with some of the bigger cases you'll still lose 2 hard drive slots.

Edit:
Won't even fit in an Antec P180...

 

[AlexV]

It is a concern, unless you really think that everyone who buys high-end video cards also likes big, bulky cases. There are a lot of smaller cases that are quite popular amongst enthusiast and that won't have enough room for such a card. Antec Sonata and P160, Coolermaster Mystique adn some Centurion (5 is ok, 534 not), Thermaltake Tsunami and Soprano spring to mind. And even with some of the bigger cases you'll still lose 2 hard drive slots.

Edit:
Won't even fit in an Antec P180...

Hmmah, I've hated my P182B for quite a while...at least now I'll have a reason for switching it. Aplus Blackpearl should do nicely for this....or that new TJ10 from Silverstone. But you're right, it's size will most likely be a concern. Think about it in another key:a lot of enthusiasts use watercooling, and a number of them use waterblocks for everything on their board...that includes the southbridge-most current cards tend to cause problems there(reason why I'm leery of fully "blocking" a Maximus Formula), that behemoth will probably wreak havoc on that front.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

It is a concern, unless you really think that everyone who buys high-end video cards also likes big, bulky cases. There are a lot of smaller cases that are quite popular amongst enthusiast and that won't have enough room for such a card. Antec Sonata and P160, Coolermaster Mystique adn some Centurion (5 is ok, 534 not), Thermaltake Tsunami and Soprano spring to mind. And even with some of the bigger cases you'll still lose 2 hard drive slots.

Edit:
Won't even fit in an Antec P180...

You're not an enthusiast if you buy mid towers. Just my opinion.

 

[L233]

You're not an enthusiast if you buy mid towers. Just my opinion.

The fact remains that the size of the card alone will make it even more of a niche product than it already is.

 

[pjbliverpool]

You're not an enthusiast if you buy mid towers. Just my opinion.

Personally I like the smallest case I can get away with but at the same time, the most expensive GPU I can afford. If I bought today i would be torn between a GT or a GTS 512 which are both fairly high end and in terms of actual enthusiasm for PC gaming I definatly consider myself an enthusiast

On the other hand though I wouldn't consider SLI (unless it was insanely cheap) and i'm not at all into custom cases with neon lights

 

[swaaye]

Well, considering RV670 is what it is, R680 must be more beefy. So if they release a single-chip version, it should be neat still.

I believe the dual board is supposed to be around $800. Heh.

Oh, remember how MAXX didn't work with Windows 2K because of the bridge chip issues? And how it would sometimes stutter like mad? Yeah what a wonderful last ditch attempt that card was.

 

[Kowan]

Unless it's longer then my GTXs, I could fit two in my P182SE.

 

[wishiknew]

Is ATI going to do a r420 type of cut and paste for another r6x0 chip? Surely dual rv670s can't be last going into 2009.

 

[ChronoReverse]

The probably of memory still exists for this right? So a dual gpu card with 1024MB of RAM effectively only has 512MB?

 

[AlexV]

Well, considering RV670 is what it is, R680 must be more beefy. So if they release a single-chip version, it should be neat still.

I believe the dual board is supposed to be around $800. Heh.

Oh, remember how MAXX didn't work with Windows 2K because of the bridge chip issues? And how it would sometimes stutter like mad? Yeah what a wonderful last ditch attempt that card was.

800-1000 for two of them....which means 400-500 for one 3870X2. I'd think they'll at least try to price it lower due to a couple of things:regaining some top-end market share(if the thing actually is top-end) and because ATM I feel it has a snowball's chance in Hell to compete with the D9E, considering it's aimed to be about on par with the Ultra 8800+-15%.

As for the extra beefiness...most of those who've actually seen em and the drivers think those two chips are straight RV670. Heck, even clockrates are carbon-copied, whilst the ram was clocked significantly lower(about 900MHZ IIRC)...which means that if CF breaks down you'll be stuck with a pricey slower than average HD 3870, due to lower mem speed. OTOH, if this thing completely flops I'll be monsterously pissed off as dual 3870X2's are the best I can hope to get in terms of graphics OOMPH unless nVidia performs a chipset hara-kiri and actually licenses SLi to Intel...which is even less likely than the R680 beating/equaling the D9E.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

The fact remains that the size of the card alone will make it even more of a niche product than it already is.

Roll your eyes all you want, but its true. Case-in-point: a friend of mine just built an 8800 Ultra SLI Q6600 rig in a mid-tower. Guess what he's in the process of doing right now? Moving to a full tower, because the damn thing overheats in a mid-tower, and his cards bump his hard drives, and his case's side fan hits the cards.

 

[Shtal]

I'm still not 100% convinced that 2X-RV670 = makes R680.

Sure dual RV670, that's fine, but I never seeing in the past that two code names makes new single code name.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

I'm still not 100% convinced that 2X-RV670 = makes R680.

Sure dual RV670, that's fine, but I never seeing in the past that two code names makes new single code name.

What do you mean you're still not convinced? They've said as much! Check the link in the first post.

 

[Voltron]

Is ATI going to do a r420 type of cut and paste for another r6x0 chip? Surely dual rv670s can't be last going into 2009.

This is a good question. Could they be cutting their losses in order to focus on next-gen. Because at the high end surely whatever they would come out with would be trumped by an NVIDIA part barring some major architecural efficiency improvements.

But on the other hand there are some signs that the FireGL products are making some headway, although I would think that NVIDIA has some pretty strong potential improvemnts in the pipeline.

 

[AlexV]

I'm still not 100% convinced that 2X-RV670 = makes R680.

Sure dual RV670, that's fine, but I never seeing in the past that two code names makes new single code name.

What would it take to convince you, considering that you don't quite believe AMD and most noises from those in the know?

 

[L233]

Roll your eyes all you want, but its true. Case-in-point: a friend of mine just built an 8800 Ultra SLI Q6600 rig in a mid-tower. Guess what he's in the process of doing right now? Moving to a full tower, because the damn thing overheats in a mid-tower, and his cards bump his hard drives, and his case's side fan hits the cards.

Again, what does your definition of the world "enthusiast" have to do with the basic argument that the this card not fitting into prolly half of the tower cases out there will even further limit the card's already small target demographic?

Let's just hope that the multichip insanity AMD has planned for the R700 does not require obscenely oversized cards that make them not viable for a lot of people who might be interested.

 

[AlexV]

Again, what does your definition of the world "enthusiast" have to do with the basic argument that the this card not fitting into prolly half of the tower cases out there will even further limit the card's already small target demographic?

Let's just hope that the multichip insanity AMD has planned for the R700 does not require obscenely oversized cards that make them not viable for a lot of people who might be interested.

I don't think we really know ATM what the R700 will end up being...it's current retargetting for 09 leads me to believe that some serious internal shuffling is going on, and many things we regarded as fact may change.

 

[Shtal]

What do you mean you're still not convinced? They've said as much! Check the link in the first post.

Representatives from AMD would not confirm that the R680 is essentially two RV670 GPU cores on the same board, though the company did confirm that each core has the same specifications of an RV670 processor.
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10033

 

[Megadrive1988]

since when did R700 / R7xx get moved to 2009 ?

edit: nevermind, i saw the new roadmap. that sucks.

 

[Twinkie]

So based on reviews, the HD3870 ala RV670 clocked at 775Mhz on the core is quite hot even with the dual slot HSF combo.

Judging from the leaked pics, the HSF on the R680 doesnt have any heatpipes. So im assuming that inorder to keep heat under control (not to mention that the HS seems to be linked for both cores), each core is going to be clocked lower than the RV670.

I guess performance can be roughly matched by a pair of HD3870s which also means it suffers from crossfire limitations.

But, whats better. Dual GPU on one long PCB OR One GPU each on two short PCB ala GX2?

Finally.. Things are getting exciting in the high end. Its been long overdue.