Anatomy of a Card Release

G

Geo

Mostly Harmless
Legend
Has anyone ever done a standard time-line for how these things go, showing the typical milestones and associated dates, backing up from actual store availability? Like "D-30 Days --Announcement & Press Previews".

Actually, I'm bored stiff and wondering when we'll start getting some more reliable leaked details on NV40 & R420, trying to figure when samples to the major partners are happening as that would, I would think, exponentially increase the number of people who know enough to leak something good. <g> Other interesting milestones along those lines are preparation and disbursement of press materials under NDA, briefing the major websites, etc. Oh yeah, and actually making a kick-ass card should be in there somewhere too. <g> And you can have some fun too "D-2 Years --XX tells first lie about architecture".
 
I wouldn't even expect a paper launch out of nVidia 'til at least mid February, with the card available within 120 days of their paper launch.

ATi will announce their card about a day before it is available, so probably beginning of March. :)
 
NV40 is being launched at CeBit. They plan to have at least 500 boards immediately available (A2-based, provided it's back in time).

MuFu.
 
MuFu said:
NV40 is being launched at CeBit. They plan to have at least 500 boards immediately available (A2-based, provided it's back in time).

MuFu.
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500?
That's just great. Too bad they had internally promised 10000 (chips) when they decided on their avaibility policy :rolleyes:

Although, to be objective, 500 is pretty good still, and it seems obvious it was already delayed enough and waiting for that 10K would have been complete suicide.


Uttar
 
MuFu said:
NV40 is being launched at CeBit. They plan to have at least 500 boards immediately available (A2-based, provided it's back in time).

MuFu.
Click to expand...

Late March then? Does that mean R420 will be announced prior to that, or at the same time? Or even later?
 
Hanners said:
MuFu said:
NV40 is being launched at CeBit. They plan to have at least 500 boards immediately available (A2-based, provided it's back in time).

MuFu.
Click to expand...

Late March then? Does that mean R420 will be announced prior to that, or at the same time? Or even later?
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From what I've been hearing it'll might not only be announced but available by that time!

This don't sound real good for nVidia. How many of the NV30s did they have when they finally did release them and no one could get one? (I'm just trying to figure out how many 500 actually is for a launch, it seems kind of light to me. )
 
(I'm just trying to figure out how many 500 actually is for a launch, it seems kind of light to me. )
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500 is just about right if the product is of the same quality as the nv30.

A lot more is hinging on this product cycle for Nvidia than for ATI imo. They certainly can't afford to paper launch another inferior product.
 
digitalwanderer said:
From what I've been hearing it'll might not only be announced but available by that time!
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It's the general impression I've been getting, but I'm not going to put too much weight into it just yet.

digitalwanderer said:
This don't sound real good for nVidia. How many of the NV30s did they have when they finally did release them and no one could get one? (I'm just trying to figure out how many 500 actually is for a launch, it seems kind of light to me. )
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I'm pretty sure there were substantially less than 500 units of NV30 available when it was released, but I could be wrong.
 
Well it's likely that they don't expect that many because the stepping they want to use for launch is only due in early March, AFAIK. If they ramp now they'd be falling short of their target clockspeed by a fair margin. Memory availability might be a problem as well - they're probably using ~1.25ns chips.

They've done the rounds with early samples already so we might see some photos soon. :)

MuFu.
 
Well, this is all cool, but what I want to know is what is the over/under on the date that the first genuine pic of an enigineering sample (probably) board appears on some Asian website for us all (okay, me actually just reading in interest) to dissect? Those are the kinds of pre-release milestones I'm looking for here! :LOL:

Edit: Whups, MuFu handled the photo question. . . .
 
MuFu said:
Well it's likely that they don't expect that many because the stepping they want to use for launch is only due in early March, AFAIK. If they ramp now they'd be falling short of their target clockspeed by a fair margin. Memory availability might be a problem as well - they're probably using ~1.25ns chips.

They've done the rounds with early samples already so we might see some photos soon. :)

MuFu.
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Thanks MuFu!!! Very interesting stuff! :D

John Reynolds said:
LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!

:)
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Amen and pass the ammunition! 8)
 
Come to think of it, we did (so far as I know --haven't seen it elsewhere) achieve a pre-release milestone in this thread.

"Usually reliable B3D'er posts announcement date with ring of authority."

So, thanks, MuFu, for making my thread!
 
John Reynolds said:
digitalwanderer said:
Amen and pass the ammunition! 8)
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I meant the two IHVs, not us board trolls. But I'm sure that's inevitable.
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Hey, me too! I don't really care who wins the fight, I just want to make sure it's an honest fight.

I'm REALLY hoping that it's an honest fight between cards this time rather than PR hype, but either way it's bound to be interesting.

I just want the ammo for self-protection, honest...some of these viddy card enthusiasts are nuts! ;)
 
John Reynolds said:
I meant the two IHVs, not us board trolls.
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Oh shut the h3ll up you 3dfx fan boy.


Sorry just practicing so I could get in shape for the next round :) :) :) :) :)
 
jb said:
Oh shut the h3ll up you 3dfx fan boy.


Sorry just practicing so I could get in shape for the next round :) :) :) :) :)
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3dfx ownz j0u!! :oops:

Did I spell that correctly? Or does correctness even factor into l33t speak?
 
its spelt j00 :)

Anyone know if nvidia are planning to have any NV40 chips produced further down the track at TMSC?
 
Okay MuFu, you seem to have more inside information that most about the latest and greatest from both ATI and nV. Would you care to speculate how they will compare in performance :?:
 
Yep, some nice rounds of the NV40. I expect us to have so many details pre-launch it won't even be funny.
But you know what? It seems to me NVIDIA wants that. Making rounds this early, unless you want to hype your products with rumors, is complete suicide. But if that's your goal...

So basically, last time, we had insufficient rumors and too much PR hype. This time, PR might even have decided to let the "rumor mongers" do most of their job :LOL: I'm expecting a sudden increase in reliably leaked NV40 information this weekend.

But guys, either you are FOR rumors, or AGAINST rumors. If you're against them, don't try to use them as your advantage too, because that's just lame. I for one, if I would still be in that "business", certainly couldn't stand to be exploited by PR/Marketing like that.


Uttar

P.S.: I'm expecting to post several times less, if at all, during the next few months. Don't ask where I've been, okay? Cause the response simply is I'm trying to "disintoxicate" myself :p
 
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