CJ is probably running outa slides
Or fingers, if one of the IHVs found his secret hideout...
CJ is probably running outa slides
Would you like to connect the dots, or should I?
to build on this, let's remember that humanity has to cut CO2 emissions by at least 80% (some people say at least 90%) and that almost every country uses coal and/or oil on a massive scale to generate electric power.
Heh, HawkeyeGnu, I didn't want to force another car analogy onto the internet, but I did have one comparing the GTX280 to a Ferrari that I passed on. No one's going to complain that they suck power at the limit, but idle power use in a GPU is more akin to leaving the Ferrari idling in the garage even when you're not driving (see Colbert's El Camino). Then I was going to point out that people pay to hear a Ferrari rumble, while it's the opposite in PCs. Probably better that I skipped it.
Sure, sure, power draw isn't the only variable in HSF noise, but it's one less excuse for a noisy fan, especially when your speakers aren't drowning out your PC's fans. Yeah, enthusiast-class GPUs usually come with large fans which are naturally quieter b/c they don't have to spin as fast to push air, but any extra heat you're not dumping into your case helps.
The 1950P might not be the best analog b/c it's not in the same price bracket as an enthusiast-class GPU like the GTX 280, so card builders may not care to spend as much on a nice fan solution. If you look at the load dB, too, you see they're unchanged for the 1950P, so it looks like fan speed doesn't even vary with heat or load--that looks more like scrimping on the HSF than the effect of idle draw. Not to mention that a range of 0.9dB for 12 different cards doesn't promise a very exacting comparison, "real-world" as it may be. SPCR shows slightly more of a difference b/w a 3850 and a 3870 than TR does, but that may be down to the s/w each site used to stress the card than anything.
I'm not sure how 1dB translates into perceived sound, though. 3dB is a doubling of sound power level, but what's 1dB? 50%? Is it even noticeable at 50dB?
As for any real or perceived ad-homs, I think it's reasonable to expect you'd get as well as you gave. I mean, "tree-hugger?" Come on. But, as always, feel free to report any post you think crosses the line by clicking on that tiny ! triangle icon.
Anyway, it wasn't a bad rant, so don't let a little opposition stop you from posting more. And we can all stop nit-picking minutia once the cards are released and we have more meaningful points to arg--er, discuss.
Check again. 10db corresponds to a perceived doubling of loudness. It's actually 10 times the sound pressure. (10db = 10 decibels = 1 bel = 10 times the sound pressure since it's a log base 10) See Wiki.I thought it was every 10db that sound doubled, maybe I'm wrong.
http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html
Thought I was right, every 10db is a doubling of teh power of sound
Of course not. i had AGP Sapphire x1950p [yes, i was an ATi fan; i've been "converted"] and it is a nasty annoying irritating whine at load; like my old 7800GS and my x850xt@PE. However, tmy HD2900xt is a Nasty Power Hogg - a bit worse than my 8800GTX @ ultra at full bore; BUT the fan is not annoying!Ah, sarcasm - I recognise that! So idle power is somehow proportional to idle fan noise, then?
http://techreport.com/articles.x/13772/6
An x1950pro has the 5th lowest idle power, but the highest idle noise level. Sheesh, who would have thought?
Check again. 10db corresponds to a perceived doubling of loudness. It's actually 10 times the sound pressure. (10db = 10 decibels = 1 bel = 10 times the sound pressure since it's a log base 10) See Wiki.
As for any real or perceived ad-homs, I think it's reasonable to expect you'd get as well as you gave. I mean, "tree-hugger?" Come on.
I'm all for efficiency and cutting power when idle, as long as it doesn't compromise absolute performance. I don't believe in yielding performance when *I need it*. As an example if "being green" meant using 10% more transistors on a desktop part or losing 10% more performance, I'd say forget it. Give me all the trannies for perf, I'll pay extra for carbon offsets f you want. For other people, they might not make that choice, but that's why it's the "high end".
1. You don't need 10.1 for a deferred shader + MSAA to work. You can access the color subsamples with 10.0. Only if you need the Z subsamples you need 10.1. In a classic deferred renderer you only need to deal with color.KillZone2 (a PS3 title) is based on a classic deferred renderer + MSAA and runs on NVIDIA hardware. This should tell us that NVDIA got at least DX10.1 features working way before AMD/ATI and way before DX10 was even finalized, it's not like they don't know how to do it.
I guess some of these are controlled leaks ..Well if NV is letting people under NDA talk about the chip, I guess that means the game is well and truly up in terms of information being kept under hats. I'll post everything I've got tomorrow while there are still a few surprises left.