Will we see Nv30 benchmarks on November 18th?

[Prometheus]

Well most of us know nv30 is to launch in a week or so but will we see a paper launch or real board tests?Does anyone know if anand or tom plan reviews for the 18th?Dave do you have an Nv30 in your test lab?

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Based on previous reports about the first tape-out, even if Nvidia would have any working hardware at Comdex, it'd be a first version. So it wouldn't likely be able to run at the final clock speed with final drivers so it's performance would most likely be significantly lower then the Radeon 9700.
It might be running technology demos, and perhaps even a current build of Doom3; although that is unlikely, considering the recent leak of the E3 alpha. But benchmarks are unlikely, as any results on the first hardware would be far below the final revision's capabilities and thus would create a bad impression for the product.

 

[Testiculus Giganticus]

Maybe But don`t hold your breath.

 

[T2k]

Based on previous reports about the first tape-out, even if Nvidia would have any working hardware at Comdex, it'd be a first version. So it wouldn't likely be able to run at the final clock speed with final drivers so it's performance would most likely be significantly lower then the Radeon 9700.
It might be running technology demos, and perhaps even a current build of Doom3; although that is unlikely, considering the recent leak of the E3 alpha. But benchmarks are unlikely, as any results on the first hardware would be far below the final revision's capabilities and thus would create a bad impression for the product.

Agreed.

 

[jjayb]

It might be running technology demos, and perhaps even a current build of Doom3; although that is unlikely, considering the recent leak of the E3 alpha.

That would be perfect for Nvidia though. Everyone has seen how poorly the alpha runs. Say Nvidia has a newer build that's more optimized, and has nv30 optimizations. What will the average joe's reaction be? "Wow, look how much better the nv30 runs doom3 than the 9700 does." They won't take into account the fact that the nv30 is running a newer build of doom3 where as any 9700 benches have been done on an older alpha build. I would not be surprised at all to see the nv30 running a doom3 demo at comdex. Actually, i'll be surprised if it's not.

 

[MfA]

They should already know from their simulator the exact performance it will get in a given benchmark at a given clockspeed, the clockspeed should be the only unknown variable. So they might not be able to run benchmarks but they should be able to give some numbers regardless.

Frankly if they only have a 128 bit memory bus then without benchmarks the promises that it doesnt hurt them will sound a little hollow to me.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

That would be perfect for Nvidia though. Everyone has seen how poorly the alpha runs. Say Nvidia has a newer build that's more optimized, and has nv30 optimizations. What will the average joe's reaction be? "Wow, look how much better the nv30 runs doom3 than the 9700 does." They won't take into account the fact that the nv30 is running a newer build of doom3 where as any 9700 benches have been done on an older alpha build. I would not be surprised at all to see the nv30 running a doom3 demo at comdex. Actually, i'll be surprised if it's not.

Don't forget that it's not just Nvidia's decision. I'm not so sure Carmack would allow it, especially if it could create wrong impressions about the engine's performance. So don't be surprised if there's no Doom3...

 

[arjan de lumens]

They should already know from their simulator the exact performance it will get in a given benchmark at a given clockspeed, the clockspeed should be the only unknown variable. So they might not be able to run benchmarks but they should be able to give some numbers regardless.

Depends on whether or not the benchmark is CPU or GPU limited - in the 100% GPU-limited case, then yes, simulation would tell us the exact performance. Otherwise, simulation only gives us a rough ballpark estimate and/or upper bound on performance (unless of course the simulator simulates the system outside the graphics card as well).

 

[Grall]

"That would be perfect for Nvidia though. Everyone has seen how poorly the alpha runs. Say Nvidia has a newer build that's more optimized, and has nv30 optimizations. What will the average joe's reaction be?"

Why do you assume Nvidia will have access to a build ATI won't have? Even if ATI did leak that alpha, I imagine they'd do anything to kiss and make up with id to have the latest build at Comdex to show on their hardware.

If ATI thinks Nvidia might be showing D3 on NV30, what's to stop them from doing the same on a vastly overclocked R300 or something, just to rain on Nvidia's parade?


Not saying ANY of this will happen of course, but I'm still curious as to why people take such one-sided views to these kind of subjects...


*G*

 

[MfA]

There are some pretty accurate processor emulators out there, hell I assume AMD and Intel have cycle accurate simulators which NVIDIA might have access to.

 

[Nagorak]

I don't think either of them will be running Doom3. The point of running Doom3 is to show off id's new game, not hardware capabilities. In the past Doom3 was shown at QuakeCON for id not ATi.