Haha, I don't know if what I said was right!
What I am curious about is that some months ago I received NDA material from NVIDIA that expired on April 13th, 2004 and it clearly stated that there was a chip that was comprised of 175 million transistors. In a further discussion with NVIDIA, it was hinted to me that there were 2 chips that they were considering releasing, and the 220 million tran part had the honor of being released first. So what is the 175 million tran part? Is it the NV41? Or is the NV41 a much smaller product aimed at the midrange (eg. around 100 mil tran)?
I guess when NVIDIA releases more about the 6800 non-Ultra, we might have a few things cleared up. If in fact the 6800 nu uses the 175 mil tran part from TSMC, I would be very curious about the thermal properties of that part, as well as the maximum clockspeed it could attain. If it can reach 500 MHz with decent cooling, then it would give the 6800 U a run for its money in many applications. Of course using 700 MHz DDR memory would hold it back some, but I guess the proof will be put before us by this summer. Oh, and notwithstanding the possible clock increase on the 6800 U.
I really am eagerly awaiting next week! I think this summer will be a great time for 3D graphics enthusiasts, as we have only seen the tip of the iceberg in product releases (I personally find the midrange to be very exciting, as those tend to be the cards of choice for most users- and what features they bring to the table can be quite surprising).
What I am curious about is that some months ago I received NDA material from NVIDIA that expired on April 13th, 2004 and it clearly stated that there was a chip that was comprised of 175 million transistors. In a further discussion with NVIDIA, it was hinted to me that there were 2 chips that they were considering releasing, and the 220 million tran part had the honor of being released first. So what is the 175 million tran part? Is it the NV41? Or is the NV41 a much smaller product aimed at the midrange (eg. around 100 mil tran)?
I guess when NVIDIA releases more about the 6800 non-Ultra, we might have a few things cleared up. If in fact the 6800 nu uses the 175 mil tran part from TSMC, I would be very curious about the thermal properties of that part, as well as the maximum clockspeed it could attain. If it can reach 500 MHz with decent cooling, then it would give the 6800 U a run for its money in many applications. Of course using 700 MHz DDR memory would hold it back some, but I guess the proof will be put before us by this summer. Oh, and notwithstanding the possible clock increase on the 6800 U.
I really am eagerly awaiting next week! I think this summer will be a great time for 3D graphics enthusiasts, as we have only seen the tip of the iceberg in product releases (I personally find the midrange to be very exciting, as those tend to be the cards of choice for most users- and what features they bring to the table can be quite surprising).
