How will NV30 stack up to R300

[Joe DeFuria]

Yes, I KNOW it's "pointless" to speculate on how the two chips will stack up considering NV30 info isn't available. That's kinda the point.

I'm curious to know what the general "belief" is out there, given only the leaks, rumor etc. that we have heard.

We will have to make one assumption though, for this to be somewhat meaningful: That NV30 ships by December. NV30 may well be delayed later (or it may come out sooner), but we have to assume some time frame so that we can "guess" if that's enough to work out yield issues, have available memory, etc.

If you strongly disagree with that assumption...well, I'll put that option there too!

Lots of options, I know, but I hate polls where "the option I want isn't there!"

 

[antlers]

If you can add an answer, I'd like to see:

NV30 has performance advantages in new DX 9 benchmarks released with the card consistent with clockspeed; in existing <= DX8 games, slower than R9700 in bandwidth-intensive benchmarks.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

Rather than modify the poll, I would put that answer in "About Par". (R300 does some things better, NV30 does other things better.)

Good suggestion though. That covers the "higher core clock, but onlt 128 bit memory" rumor.

 

[GetStuff]

I voted NV30 will have significant advanteges for many reasons...

Obviously this is speculation (for most of us anyway), but since it's sporting DDR2, a 256bit memory interface (I really think it will have one), ~10 million extra transistors, and .13um fabrication I think that will give NVIDIA the power to take things a step or two above R300.


I also have a bug hunch that NV30 will be sporting some really fancy (edge)AA technique. Something we've never seen on a consumer graphic board before.

 

[Hellbinder]

Nv30 will be as far ahead of R300 as R300 is of GeForce4

It amazes me that some will and already are voting for that. Now I am not saying this out of ATI fan stuff..

Here is my reason.

If the R300 is CPU limited all over the place.. and ot only takes in a worst caase sinario.. less that a 50% hit with FSAA+ANISO (maxed) in extreme cases at 1600x1200.

then how on earth is the Nv30 supposed to doubble or tripple the 9700's score the way the 9700 does the GF4?? The Nv30 will be CPU limmited also.. the most they could gain is that 50%.. which is indeed possible.

 

[Natoma]

and so it begins again........

 

[GetStuff]

It amazes me that some will and already are voting for that. Now I am not saying this out of ATI fan stuff..

Is this really needed? The only thing this will do is provoke more stupid arguments.

 

[Hellbinder]

Good grief guys.. nothing is begining again...

I was simply trying to point out that there are CPU limitations. and that My comment was not beign driven by fanism.

Dont train wreak this thread by starting 50 people acusing everyone of wreaking the thread.

err... yeah...

 

[BoddoZerg]

I believe NV30 will be overwhelmingly superior to R300, and this is why! My sources are unimpeachable.

Nv30 is actually based on Alien technology. 5 years ago, 3dfx engineers analyzed crop circle patterns, and realized that they were actually a mathematical code, as seen in the movie "Contact". After decoding thousands of pictures taken of crop circles, they realized that the aliens were actually trying to transmit a videocard design! Unfortunately, 3dfx went out of business too early for their "Rampage" to be produced. (secret alien code : if you convert "rampage" into hexadecimal and enter it backwards into a star chart, you will find the star cluster housing the Grey homeworld)

Nvidia bought the alien "Rampage" technology from 3dfx, and immediately slapped it into the NV30. Because it was so complicated, they knew it could only be produced on 0.13 micron technology. At 0.13, the alien circuitry gave horrible problems to TSMC, problems which could not be solved by human technology. NVidia scientist David Kirk was forced to utilize strange photon-manipulating devices found in the wreckage of UFOs shot down over Area 51. Although superstition held these alien artifacts to be cursed, Nvidia had to use them or they would never finish their NV30. The delays have come from repeated "incidents" involving infection of engineers by biomechanical viruses that seem to come from the cursed alien fabs. Nvidia's work in developing methods to sterilize failed experiments will prove to be useful once ATi starts employing "Rampage" alien tech.

Now obviously, only an alien race thousands of years more advanced than the human race would be smart enough to communicate videocard plans by making patterns in crops. So, it should be obvious to everyone that the NV30 is not only superior to R300, but is totally revolutionary and will herald the coming of the Galactic Empire! Remember - if you see the Xarthoid mothership, burn your current videocard as a sacrifice to appease the extraterrestrial gods.

Again, my sources are unquestionably accurate, so do not question them.

 

[Hellbinder]

BoddoZerg,



I had noidea!!! that settles it. You guys are right!!! WOW!!

will it help me find Bigfoot out here in the pacific norhtwest??? or figure out where elvis has been hiddiing for the last 30 years??

gosh.. I sure hope so...

As Long as buying one is not some secret *sign* to the aliens that i'm ready to be abducted and get plastic tubes shoved up my ***

 

[David G.]

]

Nv30 will be as far ahead of R300 as R300 is of GeForce4

It amazes me that some will and already are voting for that. Now I am not saying this out of ATI fan stuff..

Here is my reason.

If the R300 is CPU limited all over the place.. and ot only takes in a worst caase sinario.. less that a 50% hit with FSAA+ANISO (maxed) in extreme cases at 1600x1200.

then how on earth is the Nv30 supposed to doubble or tripple the 9700's score the way the 9700 does the GF4??

Bleah ... that's just nVIDIA fans voting there ... and I don't blaim them .. who knows .

 

[antlers]

It amazes me that some will and already are voting for that.

There is one vote in that category now, which indicates to me that this board is not dominated by an army of brainwashed nVidia cultists.

In fact, even with the small current sample (21 votes), it looks like a nice normal distribution with the peak at NV30 being late/having a small advantage.

This will be a real test of how accurate rumor-informed guesswork can be! In other arenas, the concensus of guesses has proved to be amazingly accurate.

 

[Nite_Hawk]

I voted that NV30 will be on par with the R300.

After having read various posts/articles/etc/etc this is my own conspiracy theory:

nVidia was planning on releasing the NV30 this aug/fall originally with a 128bit DDR bus running at around 400MHz. This would give them a fairly incremental speed increase (atleast in terms of bandwidth) over the ti4600, and would allow them to issue a refresh in 6mo to either DDR-II, a 256bit bus or both, similar to what they did with the original geforce SDR -> DDR. By starting out with a card that is bandwidth limited but has a really fast core, all they would need to do is give a faster path to memory for it to start ramping in speed. This way, they could make 3 new high end products out of one core. The original new core launch, the "enhanced" new core launch with a wider/faster memory bus, and finally an "ultra" version that eventually will just be the wider bus version with faster core/memory. This worked well for them in the past with the geforce cards, and probably would have worked well for them in this case if it wasn't for ATI.

My thought is that they've probably known about the 9700 for quite some time, but only recently (in the last 6mo) were able to speculate wether or not ATI would be able to produce it on schedule. This is pretty similar to the situation they were in with 3dfx with the voodoo5, except that ATI delivered on time where 3dfx didn't. Rather than releasing a card that likely would get beaten by the competition (a regular DDR version of the NV30), nvidia decided a while back to skip the initial release of the NV30, and instead go directly to the next refresh. On one hand, this gives ATI a long time to sit on the market, but it also means that nvidia doesn't have to loose any image by selling a part that can't compete, and the 9700 won't sit on the market as long without proper competition. (instead of a fall and spring part, we see a single winter part).

Granted this is all based on hearsay, rumors, and probably incorrect reasoning, but it's how I figure things kinda went down. I'm sure nVidia knew about the 9700 well before any of us did. What I think probably suprised them is that ATI managed to actually pull it off on schedule.

Nite_Hawk

 

[AzBat]

I voted for "NV30 will be at a significant disadvantage for many reasons" for no other reason that nobody else had. I don't have a clue as to how it will compare to the R300, but if by dumb luck I'm right I'll laugh my ass off.

Joe, you should had an option that said, "I don't make comparisons to release products without official information".

Tommy McClain

 

[dominikbehr]

NVidia scientist David Kirk was forced to utilize strange photon-manipulating devices found in the wreckage of UFOs shot down over Area 51.

Well, but Alienware Area51 ships with Radeon 9700. That clearly proves who has alien technology and who hasnt ;-)

 

[Nagorak]

It will be on par, especially considering the newly discovered overclockability of R9700.

 

[MikeC]

Based on my contact with NVIDIA, who is aware of the performance of the Radeon 9700 and also knows what the NV30 will be capable of, I voted for...

 

[GetStuff]

Based on my contact with NVIDIA, who is aware of the performance of the Radeon 9700 and also knows what the NV30 will be capable of, I voted for...

Would that contact be in PR or R&D?

 

[Ailuros]

I'd love to say that I don't care, but simply replying to this thread could show the exact opposite.

 

[MikeC]

Heh, you just had to ask, but it was a PR contact. I haven't voted since I'm as clueless as to what the NV30 will offer performance wise as the guy next door.

FWIW, the PR contact did mention that the R300 was a "fine part".