Does the R500 get to save transitors compared to the R520?
- Thread starter Brimstone
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XxStratoMasterXx
Regular
I thought that there was no R500 and there was only an R520?
Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.
Legend
R500 is the XBox2 graphics chip that ATI designed for Microsoft. R520 will be the PC desktop version of that technology.
Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.
Legend
karlotta said:
Interesting - it's not usual for ATI to mix up the naming like that. Historically 3xx, 4xx have been of the same family.
Re: Does the R500 get to save transitors compared to the R52
I dont think there are entire blocks on the GPU that exist for legacy PC reasons only. For example, the bus interface (PCIE), 3d (obviously), mpeg/IDCT, micro controller, mem controller are all common factors between the PC part and the console part.
Within a block, you might be able to cut transistors but this would depend on the feature set of the XBOX 2 (which I am not sure of). For example, if only one display output is supported you could cut the 2nd instance of the display logic (assuming the PC part supported dual display). This is the only type of example I can think of.
Brimstone said:
I dont think there are entire blocks on the GPU that exist for legacy PC reasons only. For example, the bus interface (PCIE), 3d (obviously), mpeg/IDCT, micro controller, mem controller are all common factors between the PC part and the console part.
Within a block, you might be able to cut transistors but this would depend on the feature set of the XBOX 2 (which I am not sure of). For example, if only one display output is supported you could cut the 2nd instance of the display logic (assuming the PC part supported dual display). This is the only type of example I can think of.
Textmode graphics and VGA core, if there's still a hardware implementation of such things in today's chips (though they're probably quite insignificant from a transistor-count standpoint).
Also, GDI accelerator perhaps, though maybe a blitter and such could be useful even in a 3D-based game console.
Also, GDI accelerator perhaps, though maybe a blitter and such could be useful even in a 3D-based game console.
No savings because the R500's shader capabilities are flexible enough to perform all legacy functionality through shader programs. Not only will this save die space, it will be better. For instance video overlay will no longer be limited to a single surface (a restriction of the dedicated hardware in all video asics today). Using the 3D core would allow arbitrary number of overlay surfaces.
Megadrive1988
Veteran
R520 is yet another derivative of the R3xx family, as was the R420.
the R500 (if it indeed is still coming) is part of the R400 family, a different line than R3xx, R420 and R520.
since R400 has become the R500 for Xbox2, the first PC graphics processor in this line will probably be R600 released in 2006.
Xbox2(R500) and R600 should probably be somewhat similar. maybe as similar as NV2A and NV25/GeForce4ti. but then again, it could be that R500/Xbox2 and R600 won't be as similar as NV2A and NV25.
I am only saying these things based on what Ive read here, and on Rage3D.
the R500 (if it indeed is still coming) is part of the R400 family, a different line than R3xx, R420 and R520.
since R400 has become the R500 for Xbox2, the first PC graphics processor in this line will probably be R600 released in 2006.
Xbox2(R500) and R600 should probably be somewhat similar. maybe as similar as NV2A and NV25/GeForce4ti. but then again, it could be that R500/Xbox2 and R600 won't be as similar as NV2A and NV25.
I am only saying these things based on what Ive read here, and on Rage3D.
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