NV40 Test samples, pics inside

[Joe DeFuria]

Given the flak nVidia has taken recently, I don't think they will be doing any of that.

Do any of what?

nVidia will do what they always do...use "aggressive" marketing tactics.

If anything they will reduce the spec of the final product (and one would assume, tell reviewers this is likely to be the case).

Where does this faith come from? Tell reviewers that the final cards are likely to be slower than what they have in their hands? Why would nVidia (or anyone, for that matter), do that?

If this memory supply issue turns out to be true it will affect ATi every bit as much as it does nVidia,

Yes and no.

There may be enough quantity of the highest spec memory to only supply one vendor. And that'd probably be the vendor who's willing to pay more for it.

and I haven't read of any problems regarding DDr-3 production recently.

I haven't seen anything anywhere about faster than 500 Mhz GDDR-3 at all. (Good or bad.) The only thing we've heard was that 600 Mhz GDDR-3 is "pretty scarce."

 

[Joe DeFuria]

You are implying nVidia was/is stupid enough to not ensure an adequate supply of memory chips???

Um, who said anything about being "stupid?" All one can do with bleeding edge memory is make a best guess as to availability. Memory production is out of nVidia's and ATI's hands.

 

[radar1200gs]

You can't do a product review if you don't have the final product. You can only do a preview. Previews are no guarantee of what you might eventually buy.

I sincerely hope nVidia would not be silly enough to try and fool people this time around.

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

Nvidia can only get there GDDR3 from Samsung but Micron is producing for ATI cards only. The GDDR3 specs came from ATI and partnered up with Micron to produce it. My Micron source (he did most of the IC layout on it) is selling all they can make of GDDR3 up to 833/1666 now and reports high yealds. If this is true and he has nevered lie to me, ATI will have all the GDDR3 they want now and have no shortage. As for Nvidia, they have to get theres from samsung and samsung did very little reserch on GDDR3 and put most of there reserch on GDDR2. From what I here is Samsung is haveing yeald problems with GDDR3 now and can't supply faster then 600 now.

 

[radar1200gs]

You are implying nVidia was/is stupid enough to not ensure an adequate supply of memory chips???

Um, who said anything about being "stupid?" All one can do with bleeding edge memory is make a best guess as to availability. Memory production is out of nVidia's and ATI's hands.

precisely, so why are you trying to stick the blame on nVida then?

 

[Joe DeFuria]

precisely, so why are you trying to stick the blame on nVida then?

What am I blaming nVidia for?

 

[radar1200gs]

Nvidia can only get there GDDR3 from Samsung but Micron is producing for ATI cards only. The GDDR3 specs came from ATI and partnered up with Micron to produce it. My Micron source (he did most of the IC layout on it) is selling all they can make of GDDR3 up to 833/1666 now and reports high yealds. If this is true and he has nevered lie to me, ATI will have all the GDDR3 they want now and have no shortage. As for Nvidia, they have to get theres from samsung and samsung did very little reserch on GDDR3 and put most of there reserch on GDDR2. From what I here is Samsung is haveing yeald problems with GDDR3 now and can't supply faster then 600 now.

Yes. 600 is faster than 550.

 

[radar1200gs]

precisely, so why are you trying to stick the blame on nVida then?

What am I blaming nVidia for?

You (and others in this thread) are trying to paint a picture that says nVidia is going to cheat the consumer by selling them a card purporting to run memory at 550mhz, but overclocking slower memory to do so.

Simply, you haven't seen final cards yet, only an evaluation board (which has had its slower memory clocked up to the final retail speed due to a shortage of the correct memory when it was manufactured).

 

[Joe DeFuria]

You (and others in this thread) are trying to paint a picture that says nVidia is going to cheat the consumer by selling them a card purporting to run memory at 550mhz, but overclocking slower memory to do so.

No, we're saying that's a possibility, given that it appears review boards are in fact overclocked.

Even if nVidia does ship "overclocked" boards, who said they would be "cheating" the consumer? That would be you, not anyone else. As long as nVidia and it's partners guarantee it to work, where's the cheating?

The point is, if you're going to overclock the memory (and guarantee oprtation), you would expect some rather hefty cooling to serve that purpose...so that would rather nicely explain the large cooling solution for memory (GDDR-3) that as far as we know, should run relatively cool.

Simply, you haven't seen final cards yet, only an evaluation board (which has had its slower memory clocked up to the final retail speed due to a shortage of the correct memory when it was manufactured).

Eh? Who's making the assumptions here? (Hint: you.)

 

[digitalwanderer]

You (and others in this thread) are trying to paint a picture that says nVidia is going to cheat the consumer by selling them a card purporting to run memory at 550mhz, but overclocking slower memory to do so.

I don't see that, we're just taking guesses here and I haven't heard anyone accusing nVidia of anything of that sort.

Simply, you haven't seen final cards yet, only an evaluation board (which has had its slower memory clocked up to the final retail speed due to a shortage of the correct memory when it was manufactured).

Do you KNOW that for a fact, or are you just suggesting a hypothesis? :|

 

[Doomtrooper]

I can see major overheating PCs with this setup.

 

[radar1200gs]

You (and others in this thread) are trying to paint a picture that says nVidia is going to cheat the consumer by selling them a card purporting to run memory at 550mhz, but overclocking slower memory to do so.

No, we're saying that's a possibility, given that it appears review boards are in fact overclocked.

Even if nVidia does ship "overclocked" boards, who said they would be "cheating" the consumer? That would be you, not anyone else. As long as nVidia and it's partners guarantee it to work, where's the cheating?

The point is, if you're going to overclock the memory (and guarantee oprtation), you would expect some rather hefty cooling to serve that purpose...so that would rather nicely explain the large cooling solution for memory (GDDR-3) that as far as we know, should run relatively cool.

Simply, you haven't seen final cards yet, only an evaluation board (which has had its slower memory clocked up to the final retail speed due to a shortage of the correct memory when it was manufactured).

Eh? Who's making the assumptions here? (Hint: you.)

Surely you meant preview not review unless the board you are referring to will able available for sale to consumers?

 

[Nick Spolec]

Simply, you haven't seen final cards yet, only an evaluation board (which has had its slower memory clocked up to the final retail speed due to a shortage of the correct memory when it was manufactured).

Well, ok, let's say that is true. But what if the evaluation board was manufactured a couple weeks ago?

If they had problems with a shortage of chips running at the retail speed with an EVALUATION BOARD (not a full production), who's to say that when the board goes into full production that the shortage won't continue?

What if there is chip problems? Will Nvidia paper launch the thing and wait a month or two before it's actually available? And then how long before it's available in mass?

 

[BRiT]

And then how long before it's available in mass?

*cough*July*cough*

 

[Pete]

BTX and HSF orientation

Anandtech's BTX preview seems to indicate the GPU (and, thus, its HSF) will be pointing up (the opposite of current cards). The cards are made the same basic way (as you've seen from the many nV PCX and ATI RV380 PEG samples showing the backplate and GPU in the same places as AGP and PCI), but will be "flipped" in the case so the HSF faces up and is in the air stream meant to pass over the CPU and chipset and then the GPU.

AT[/url]]A final point of discussion is cooling; because of the strict cooling definitions within the BTX spec, graphics vendors may be able to rely more and more on passive cooling designs and simply take advantage of the stream of air running over the CPU and chipset. Granted you won't be able to have passive (fanless) designs on the absolute fastest GPUs, but a transition to more passive designs on mainstream solutions would be plausible.

100+W sure makes HIS' promised redesigned IceQ HSF (Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer) almost imperative for overclockers or those with poor system airflow.

In the coming weeks, HIS will be launching a new high end IceQ model base on the latest ATI chipset. The new IceQ cooling system developed by Artic cooling will provide the coolest and quietest in the graphic card market place for professionals and gamers.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

Surely you meant preview not review unless the board you are referring to will able available for sale to consumers?

Surely, you can call it whatever you want. What's important is if nVidia publishes product specs, and / or if the final specs meet the p/review sample.

 

[digitalwanderer]

And then how long before it's available in mass?

*cough*July*cough*

Hey, that's my line!!!

 

[Doomtrooper]

I hope reviewers use a standard tower with a XP 3200/ P4 3.2 (hot cpu) with multiple drives and see if heat is a issue. I simply can't believe they are venting that much heat into the case.

 

[Fred]

Any word on when the Anandtech et al reviews will be up with this thing? It can't be too far off.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

Any word on when the Anandtech et al reviews will be up with this thing? It can't be too far off.

It's definitely Tuesday, the 13th...but don't know exactly what time the NDA lifts...