G71/G73: Summary & Pre-Launch Speculation Frenzy

Arun

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Please use this thread for further discussion & pre-launch speculation.
And even if it might be considered boring at this point, there's plenty to have fun thinking about!

Supposed Facts, 7900GTX (512MB)

- 24 Pixel Pipelines (6 quads), similar pipeline to the G70 (FP32; MAD/TEX + MAD - so same total of 48 ALUs).
- 650Mhz Core Clock (Reference design, some AIBs will go higher)
- 1.6Ghz Memory Clock (Reference design, unclear about AIBs)
- 17800 3DMark03, 7600(?) 3DMark05, 5200 3DMark06
- $499 to $549 MSRP, depending on AIBs (?)
- 196mm² chip, only 31.5% bigger than a RV530.

Supposed Facts, 7900GT (256MB)
- 24 Pixel Pipelines (6 quads), similar pipeline to the G70 (FP32; MAD/TEX + MAD, so same total of 48 ALUs).
- 450Mhz Core Clock (Reference design, some AIBs will go higher)
- 1.25-1.3Ghz Memory Clock (Reference design, unclear about AIBs)
- 13800 3DMark03, 7000(?) 3DMark05, 4550 3DMark06
- $299 to $349 MSRP, depending on AIBs (?)
- 196mm² chip, only 31.5% bigger than a RV530.

Supposed Facts, 7600GT (G73)
- 12 Pixel Pipelines (3 quads), similar pipeline to the G7x (FP32; MAD/TEX + MAD, so same total of 24 ALUs).
- 560Mhz Core Clock, 128-bit (Reference design, some AIBs will go higher)
- 1.26-1.4Ghz Memory Clock (Reference design, some AIBs will go higher)
- Unknown 3DMark scores, but supposedly +80% against RV530 (XT? Pro?) in F.E.A.R.
- Unknown MSRP at this point, probably at RV530 levels & above.
- 125mm² chip, 18% smaller than RV530.

Misc.
- The launch will occur on the 9th of March 2006, with a supposedly hardlaunch.
- "Miracle" Drivers for games such as F.E.A.R. with 20-30% Boosts.
- There will be dual-boards configurations to allow for Quad SLI. Clocks lower than 650Mhz apparently, but no reliable leaked information.
- Lower transistor count for a similar per-clock performance as the G70 (=> denser and more efficient design). Supposedly highly overclockable.
- Hardlaunch well planned, but avaibility is not guaranteed due to quantity constraints initially.
- 3DMark06 ran at 4700 for a 7800GTX-512 with a similar system (5200 for a 7900GTX)
- Reasonable prices in (euro-based, at least) Europe at launch.

Sources
European prices: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=29983
G71 GT/GTX, G73GS Pics: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=65466
Apparent Overclockability: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=29985
7900 (GTX?) Duo Cards: http://theinquirer.net/?article=30025
Tiger Direct Pricing: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1026106
F.E.A.R Driver Boosts: http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26270&page=68
Ebuyer.co.uk Pricing: http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26270&page=67
3DMark Scores: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1121
7900GT Board Closeups: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=907
7600GT Board Closeups: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=908
Diesize: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=65835

ATI Retaliations
Price Cuts: http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20060303052240.html
Price Cuts: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=30078
X1800GTO Preparation: http://theinquirer.net/?article=30077


Uttar
 
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The 7900 is a shrunk G70 running at higher clocks. It'll compete with the X1900, win some lose some depending on the game, but then the X1900 will probably win the majority of future shader intensive games, in addition to having the extra features and better image quality. Seems like a no brainer to me, especially after ATI reduces prices.
 
Great summary thanks Uttar! I can't wait to see how this performs. I am quite interested in the Quad SLI implementation though I think it will be the same as can be seen in the Dell Renegade system. I thought there would be 4 x16 slots so 4 graphics cards could actually be used...but oh well. It will be a barnstormer that is for sure.
 
Looking at the 3DMark03/05 scores and comparing them to 7800 scores, there's something wrong going on here...

Uttar
 
Uttar said:
Looking at the 3DMark03/05 scores and comparing them to 7800 scores, there's something wrong going on here...

Uttar

The 7900 is being tested at 1280x1024 where as the defaul res. in 3dmark03/05 is 1024x768 or something beyond that???
 
RobertR1 said:
The 7900 is being tested at 1280x1024 where as the defaul res. in 3dmark03/05 is 1024x768 or something beyond that???
People in the dailytech comments apparently tested at 1280x1024 too. Those scores feel POTENTIALLY bogus to me, unless the system used to benchmark is nicely fucked up.

Uttar
 
I don't like those 3dmark scores either ......

Also

Supposed Facts, 7600GT (G73)
- 12 Pixel Pipelines (3 quads), similar pipeline to the G70 (FP32; MAD/TEX + MAD, so same total of 48 ALUs).


48 ALU's on 3 quads = 4 ALUu's per pipe ?! Maybe 24 ?
 
dizietsma said:
Supposed Facts, 7600GT (G73)
- 12 Pixel Pipelines (3 quads), similar pipeline to the G70 (FP32; MAD/TEX + MAD, so same total of 48 ALUs).


48 ALU's on 3 quads = 4 ALUu's per pipe ?! Maybe 24 ?
Typo on Uttar's part. G73 has 24 ALUs according to that source.
 
I'd say that G71 will be pretty on par with R580 in today's benchmarks which makes a nobrainer to decide what you should buy (hints: R580 is more future-proof; R580 has MSAA+FP16 ability; so why buy G71 which has the same performance but less features?).

With that out of the way i should mention that NV has a really big cost advantage this time. So it comes down to street prices: if G71 will cost less than R580 then the above logic isn't working anymore.

Another thing to consider -- looking at G71 i have a strong feeling that G80 will come out sooner than later (June? Computex?)...
 
no they are not, the original g70 it too was capable off working on 48 pixels on different instructions at the same time, just could only output 24 of them. ATi's x1900 and x1600 can work on 48 pixels on different instructions and only output 16 of them.

The thing is nV started off with 24 pipelines in the marketing and since then its been stuck like that.
 
The G70 only has 16 ROP's, and if you were counting ADD's, the R580 can do 96 4-vector ADD ops per clock, or 48 MAD's per clock. The G70 can do 48 MAD's per clock, but gains nothing from doing either ADD's or MUL's.
 
DegustatoR said:
I'd say that G71 will be pretty on par with R580 in today's benchmarks which makes a nobrainer to decide what you should buy (hints: R580 is more future-proof; R580 has MSAA+FP16 ability; so why buy G71 which has the same performance but less features?).
Or if you're like me and care a lot about OpenGL and Linux, then nVidia's currently the way to go. Or if you have a fast upgrade cycle, then whatever performs best right now is the way to go, regardless of what things may look like in a year.
 
Chalnoth said:
The G70 only has 16 ROP's, and if you were counting ADD's, the R580 can do 96 4-vector ADD ops per clock, or 48 MAD's per clock. The G70 can do 48 MAD's per clock, but gains nothing from doing either ADD's or MUL's.

Opps my mistake on the output :oops: . Yes that is true about the ADD ops.
 
Chalnoth said:
Or if you're like me and care a lot about OpenGL and Linux, then nVidia's currently the way to go. Or if you have a fast upgrade cycle, then whatever performs best right now is the way to go, regardless of what things may look like in a year.

I've been thinking this, that it might look quite different to the "Ebay is my friend, I just pay the marginal on upgrade every 6 mos" types than the "two years or I don't even want to bother" types. The ironic thing, of course, is this is the exact opposite shoes-on-feet to X800 vs 6800. Tho X800, I think pretty universally (even ATI) is admitted to have stayed at the party as the flagship too long by at least 5 mos.
 
So is what I'm looking at, because of the different way Nvidia handles the texture alus, they are counting them against ATI's shader cores?

'Cause that seems kinda dirty.
 
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