Next NV Infomania

512-bit memory interface, hmmm. probably not until 2006 or 2007.

lets see, when was 256-bit memory bus interface introduced? it was in 2002, and most of the industry introduced it almost all at once. minus Nvidia.

Matrox and 3DLabs introduced 256-bit bus first, followed closely by ATI with R300 ~ Radeon 9700


Nvidia stayed with 128-bit in late 2002 through most or all of spring 2003 with NV30 GeForce FX, and did not make the move to 256-bit until late spring or summer 2003 with NV35 GeForce FX 5900, about a whole year behind the industry.

based on history, I don't expect Nvidia to be the first to make the move to 512-bit bus, then.

 

Well it's worth remembering that both X700Pro/XT and 6600GT with their 128-bit busses outperform 9800Pro with its 256-bit bus pretty much all the time.

I'm sure there are exceptions (HL-2 with 4xAA/8xAF was an exception with 6600GT - I expect that's no longer the case though) but it's funny how a "backwards step" like this turns out "neutral".

Jawed

 

yeah.

when you take that 'backwards step' - going from 256-bit bus to 128-bit bus, but have increased specification in other areas, you can be at "neutral" or better. 8)

 

With only six posts, you must have the highest BS/post ratio on any forum, ever.

Quoted for halarity:

Apr 18, 2004

 

Well those specs are pretty close considering the source.

 

Uhm, how can you say that when we don't know what the R520s real stats are yet?

 

Close to what?

 

i think that he is refering to the r420 part of lukars post quoted by siconik.

epic
ps i could be mistaken

 

Bingo!

 

I don't want to go through that tripe line-by-line, but how was it close to R420 (unless I am missing a joke of some sort)?

 

No I said it was pretty close considering the source which is some random guy on a forum. I'm comparing it to similar postings about G70 and R520 by random guys on forums now. If their postulations are as close to the real deal as this fella was to R420 then we'd be in better shape then we are now considering we know practically nothing about what new capabilities we'll see in next generation parts. Anyhow it was just an offhand comment - nothing to get riled up about.

 

Check your PM then

 

How reasonable is a 512-bit memory interface with ever decreasing manufacturing processes?

 

The main problem is that you risk getting pad-limited: each bit of the memory bus requires one pad on the chip, and that pad cannot be shrunk with the rest of the chip's features. So a 512-bit bus basically forces you to stay above a certain physical chip size. I'm not sure about how small you can make a chip with such a wide bus, though - I wouldn't expect any problems with the huge 300+ mm2 chips that NV/ATI keep doing for their high-end cards, but I don't think it scales very far downwards.

 

Off topic, but: you can't base ANYTHING on history. Stuff changes too fast and it's all full of surprises...

 

I'm pretty sure we'll go serial before anyone will use 512-bit bus. Just think of serial ATA and IDE, kind of as a comparison where it should be going with memory.

Just a blind guess, of course.

 

I will concead you that.

 

Does the R500 have a 512bit bus? I don't remember reading anything lik eit.

If the R500 doesn't have a 512bit bus then I don't expect the R520 to have one either.

US

 

http://www.beyond3d.com/articles/xenos/