Any guesses as to when the R9500 will be out?

[Nagorak]

So does anyone have any ideas? Has there been anything more specific posted anywhere other than "later this year"? I only ask because the R9700 is basically way out of the price range I'll consider for a graphics card.

It's basically in the ultra highend category once occupied by the likes of GF2:Ultra, GF3 and GF4:Ti4600. Ironically I've realized that in the past half the reason I've ended up with an ATi card is because they were "second best". Their card wasn't the fastest, but it was still fast enough, and it was a much better deal for the money.

Now on the other hand, the situation is reversed and the Ti4600 is almost looking like a good buy (assuming the R9700 pushes the price down a little bit). Of course the smart move would be to hold out for a mainstream DX9 card like the R9500...

Anyway, I'm rambling on. If anyone has any facts, inside information, intuitive/gut feeling, or just a wild guess when we'll see the R9500, please post below. (Hey it's better than another thread discussing the NV30 and whether its delayed/not delayed). Also any guesses as to the performance of the card considering it will be cut down to 4 pipes and 128 bit bus.

 

[Pete]

Woo, another wild guess thread! YEAH!

All I knows izzat an ATi guy said Q4 of this year, IIRC. It sounds plausible. It'll be 4x1 and 128-bit, though, so don't expect it to (significantly, if at all) outperform a GF4Ti of the same clockspeed, except maybe at HRAA+AF situations in which both'll be so slow it won't matter. You'll get cheap aniso and DX9 compatability, though.

 

[SvP]

I hope 9500 is fast enough to keep/make AA usable for a year - it should have the features that speed up supersampling AA up to 6x (like the 9700 has), right?

DX9 compatibility is also good for trying out the RenderMonkey. Currently there are tons of sites that offer free textures and stuff, maybe there will be some that offer various shaders to play with And of course you can run those cool demos which look 10x better than the Island demos that showed off the 8500.

 

[Pete]

9700 switched to multisampling, and it's a given 9500 will use the same.

 

[MfA]

Its compression should give it a lead over NVIDIA when using multisampling ... or rather I should say it will have less of a hit.

 

[SvP]

9700 switched to multisampling, and it's a given 9500 will use the same.

Not entirely true -
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1656&p=11
The R300 supports both supersampling and multisampling (a change from the R200, which only supports supersampling), but at this point ATI is only going to expose multisampling in the drivers; this may change between now and the first R300 cards’ shipping date.

 

[Guest]

I am thinking ATI is waiting for nvidia to launch its NV28 card. Then ATI will announce the Radeon 9500.. that will surely trounce whatever the nv28 has to offer. ATI is really going to give nvidia a thumping in all ranges here for a while. Low end the Radeon 9000 is a far better choice. In the High End the Radeon 9700 will rein for some time with no competition.. The mid range I believe is where nvidia hopes to hold some ground. But if the Radeon 9500 is merly waiting for an nv28 launch... it will surely be able to pound whatever 8X AGP performance the nv28 will have to offer.

 

[Nagorak]

I am thinking ATI is waiting for nvidia to launch its NV28 card. Then ATI will announce the Radeon 9500.. that will surely trounce whatever the nv28 has to offer. ATI is really going to give nvidia a thumping in all ranges here for a while. Low end the Radeon 9000 is a far better choice. In the High End the Radeon 9700 will rein for some time with no competition.. The mid range I believe is where nvidia hopes to hold some ground. But if the Radeon 9500 is merly waiting for an nv28 launch... it will surely be able to pound whatever 8X AGP performance the nv28 will have to offer.

I really hope what you're speculating is true, because I really need to buy a new graphics card within a month. I am building a machine for someone else and it currently has no graphics card, lol. Basically they'd get my R8500 and I'd buy something new. But at the moment it kind of seems like "upgrading" to a Ti4200 is kind of a waste (not that much faster) and the Ti4600 is kind of expensive still. I guess if the R9500 is not released, I'll just order another R8500 and stick with my current card for a while longer.

 

[Entropy]

I really hope what you're speculating is true, because I really need to buy a new graphics card within a month.

Go to www.digitimes.com, and search for ATI 9500. The article says the 9500 will be introduced mid-August, and that they are holding the part slightly while the 8500 clears the channel. Difficult to say what the price and performance will be, other than that it will fit between the 9000 and 9700...
So there is some hope that you could get one within a months time.
Digitimes is usually an accurate site for early info, since they are fucusing on the activities of the taiwanese manufacturers rather than the consumer angle.

Entropy