Latest NV30 Info

[alexsok]

O.k guys, from a reliable person, come the latest (and probably a bit dissapointing) info on the NV30:

400+ mhz core clockspeed
0.13 micron
8 pipelines
2 texture blocks per pipe
500mhz DDR2 memory
128 bit memory bus
Physical Bandwidth: 16gb/s
Effective Bandwidth taking into account the various bandwidth saving techniques, according to some rumours, is more than twice higher.
DX9 compatibility on the level of PS/VS3 (note: we all know that nv30 doesn't fully comply to ps/vs3 specifications, but it's somewhere on the same level).
128 & 64bit (calculated twice faster) color over the whole pipeline
Aniso implementation faster than earlier, but the same old alghoritm(?)
FSAA implementation faster than earlier, but the same old alghoritm e.g. MSAA(?)
Family of cards based on the NV30 chipset (>~$400, NV30-high), mid perfomance (~$200, NV31-low), differ only in speed, not in features(?), everything is still foggy here...
Cards based on the NV30 & NV31 chipsets on sale till the end of the year, everywhere else (beginning of next year).

It's too early to judge, but NV30 is looking less impressive than earlier...

 

[Evildeus]

Anything new in that?

BTW, as would say some people over here, links?

 

[alexsok]

Anything new in that?

BTW, as would say some people over here, links?

There is almost nothing new, just a couple more tidbits...

Links? people around here know that I don't need links

 

[LeStoffer]

It's too early to judge, but NV30 is looking less impressive than earlier...

Huh? These specs looks more or less what the rumours have been all along. Anybody could have made this, but lets break it down a bit, shall we?

400+ mhz core clockspeed
0.13 micron
8 pipelines
2 texture blocks per pipe
500mhz DDR2 memory

4 or 8 pipelines is still fuzzy, but I'm inclined to think that NV30 has 8 if nVidias claims about a much faster generation is to be believed.

128 bit memory bus
Physical Bandwidth: 16gb/s
Effective Bandwidth taking into account the various bandwidth saving techniques, according to some rumours, is more than twice higher.

128 or 256 bit memory bus? It really all depends on the third generation LMA-architecture, but since nVidia is talking about a highly efficient rendering I would think that they have some semi-HSR techniques up their sleves. In that case 128 bit with DDR II is A-okay. If we're only going to see a slightly improved LMA II, I will be dissapointed.

DX9 compatibility on the level of PS/VS3 (note: we all know that nv30 doesn't fully comply to ps/vs3 specifications, but it's somewhere on the same level).
128 & 64bit (calculated twice faster) color over the whole pipeline

It should be almost VS/PS 3.0 but not quite there. Anyway this is again this a write-up on the already rumoored specs.

Aniso implementation faster than earlier, but the same old alghoritm(?)
FSAA implementation faster than earlier, but the same old alghoritm e.g. MSAA(?)

MSAA will be just fine, as the R 9700 has shown. I don't think that they will make a performance-AF implementation given the remarks from Kirk to Reverend on ve3d.

Anyway, nothing new. I'm a bit surprised that the Iron del Conference in Japan didn't give us some leaked specs.

 

[Dave Baumann]

I think one of the things that came out of the NV30 / R300 article is that where R300 only colour compresses with FSAA NV30 sounds as though it may use colour compression with or without FSAA.

 

[alexsok]

I think one of the things that came out of the NV30 / R300 article is that where R300 only colour compresses with FSAA NV30 sounds as though it may use colour compression with or without FSAA.

That sounds like a very good possibility...

 

[alexsok]

MSAA will be just fine, as the R 9700 has shown. I don't think that they will make a performance-AF implementation given the remarks from Kirk to Reverend on ve3d.

I think many people expect NV30 to offer something radically new in terms of FSAA & Aniso implementations and from the tidbits provided by this guy, that doesn't sound likely...

MSAA would be fine indeed, but it would be nicer if NV30 would offer something more than that...

I don't think myself they would offer a perfomance AF implementation, but I'd rather get something new from them in this respect too...

Overall, if these tidbits are indeed true, then I will be a bit disappointed, but as long as the quality & perfomance of Aniso & FSAA are up to the par with R9700, I'm a happy man!

 

[Ailuros]

*picks up skull*

To defer or not defer, that is the question!

 

[Ante P]

The latest roadmap I read specified that NV31 will be a mobile DX8 chip...

Could be full of horse dung, I dunno.

 

[Prometheus]

IMHO it would be pointless to release a card with the same aniso tech and performance hit.People expect or moreover ,after radeon 9700, demand from a next gen card to run fsaa and aniso with very high frames.If nv30 doesn't it's radeon 9700 for me.What if nv30 was 20-30% faster default and 30-40% slower than radeon9700 with fsaa&aniso on,which one would you choose? As nvidia has said, time for better pixels!!
P.S All of this stand if rumor above is true.

 

[demonic]

Aniso implementation faster than earlier, but the same old alghoritm(?)

Could this mean, that Aniso is handled by all tmu's this time, instead of one?

 

[Heathen]

NV30

Gotta admit I was expecting a substantially improved FSAA & AF implmentation from the NV30, wern't Nvidia spouting a 'better pixels' line?

How much would colour compression help in normal situations?

 

[Dave Baumann]

How much would colour compression help in normal situations?

Most likely depends on the game. Many / most current titles are CPU limited right now so color comprssion without AA isn't going to make a whole hell of a difference there.

 

[Randell]

and whonplays without AA now?

 

[Prometheus]

It's about what, 2 weeks until nv30s release and no solid info leaked.We knew everything about radeon9700 at least a month before.
They must be locking their people under NDA in dungeons.

 

[alexsok]

It's about what, 2 weeks until nv30s release and no solid info leaked.We knew everything about radeon9700 at least a month before.
They must be locking their people under NDA in dungeons.

The level of secrecy at NVIDIA is damn incredible...
You might be suprised to know that some people that hold a very high position at NVIDIA still haven't seen the chip running!

 

[Reverend]

The level of secrecy at NVIDIA is damn incredible...
You might be suprised to know that some people that hold a very high position at NVIDIA still haven't seen the chip running!

Perhaps they have other important things to worry about than to see the chip running.

I would also assume that regarding the AF algorithm, it should be 16-degree at least while my suspicion re AA isn't "just MSAA". Remember, Kirk/NVIDIA steadfastly asked me remove my question about "What do you think of Z3 technology" in VE's interview. Other than that, everything else you "spec'ed" is rather ho-hum. I would also venture a guess that 415MHz may be a reasonable starting point.

 

[crystalcube]

The level of secrecy at NVIDIA is damn incredible...
You might be suprised to know that some people that hold a very high position at NVIDIA still haven't seen the chip running!

maybe secrecy is not the only reason for that

 

[DemoCoder]

The DX9 remark is bogus. The NV30 isn't even close to VS3.0/PS3.0. It's PS2.0 "Extended" which was a model added to DX9 specifically for the NV30. VS3.0 includes things like texture sampling registers in the vertex shader pipeline and data dependent branching in the pixel shader pipeline.

This "reliable source" looks suspect if he can't even get straight relatively public information (to anyone who is a DX9 beta tester)

 

[alexsok]

This "reliable source" looks suspect if he can't even get straight relatively public information (to anyone who is a DX9 beta tester)

I said "close to VS/PS3". Maybe I shouldn't have said that... You're right, close doesn't suit here... remember that NV30 supports certain features that VS/PS3 don't support and besides the things u mentioned, NV30 is pretty close to VS/PS3 standards, although it doesn't support the most substancial features they have to offer.

Besides, the source if not suspicious, trust me on this one...