Dave H said:
And btw, that 79$ DX9 card (9520/T) really looks like it has only a 64bit memory bus, though last time I mentioned it nobody seemed to believe it...
Good catch!
Another piece of possible news from that article at Toms:
9200 Pro is 275/275 (at least Tyan's version). It's shaping up that 9200 really is just a 9000 with AGP8x. Needless to say, that will not be very effective competition for the 5200. (Well, maybe a 5200 with a 64-bit bus.) We've already seen tests with the presumed ($99, 128-bit bus) 5200 NU stomping all over the 9000 Pro, and that's without taking DX9 compatibility into account.
Where was this? Unless, you are looking at the AA scores alone? It certainly stomps on it in that circumstance, but not in any other real game benchmark or flexing of its intended forte (pixel shading) that I recall from anywhere else at all. Note, this does not mean I disagree about any implied criticism of the 9200 Pro being clocked at 275/275.
Also, if you have the hardware.fr review in mind, it only mentions receiving a 5200 Ultra and a 5600 Ultra from nvidia (and shows pictures of very similar cards), and they quoted "suggestions from nvidia" saying the 5200 was " -5200: 250/250, GDR 128 bits, 4 pipe, DX9, 99$", which as you've just mentioned does not seem to be an accurate description, if their "5200" results were simply results from the 5200 U down-clocked.
This is something I alluded to in my mentions of bait & switch...sort of like ATI did with the 9500 except 1) they actually shipped 9500's the way they had it previewed (will this be the case with the 5200 non ultra? remains to be seen) 2) they were either very detailed in describing the way it was not representative of the final product or a rash of more-than-simply-competent previewing broke out all over the place since this distinction was highlighted thoroughly (which does not seem to be the case for the 5200).
Here's hoping ATI is really going to bring the 9600 all the way down to the $99 price point. In any case, it just underscores Nvidia's achievement with NV34.
Hmm...well, I agree with the achievement part for the NV34, since quite honestly I think people forget that some people will most certainly be well-served by 800x600 and 1024x768 DX 9 images at 30 fps. I know I remember playing half-life and UT on my now ancient laptop at such performance levels, and I'm pretty sure even the 5200 would be capable of providing that level of performance in many places (and when not pixel shading, much much better performance with eye candy on at such resolution). I just don't think that is "stomping all over" over the 9200.
