NVIDIA's Trump Card

[overclocked]

I did not check the Sparkle website or anything but a store that had this product as preorder, so the info is probably wrong then. :?

 

[WaltC]

When I saw the title of this thread I began smoking something hallucinogenic, and saw...

Donald Trump, sitting imperiously behind a massive $40,000 hand-carved teak & mahogany desk, facing two chairs in which were seated a 6800U and an x800xt. Trump, eyes alight with pleasure in his upcoming pronouncement, his blonde "hair-club for men" tresses falling in a comma over the bridge of his nose, sneers at the 6800U and says loudly, "You're fired!" After which a long shephard hook extends from stage left, snags the 6800U and retracts it out of the scene, to a dramatic soundtrack of wailing violins and booming kettle drums.

Thus the nV40 "card" is well and truly "Trumped."

(Sorry.)

 

[digitalwanderer]

When I saw the title of this thread I began smoking something hallucinogenic, and saw...

Donald Trump, sitting imperiously behind a massive $40,000 hand-carved teak & mahogany desk, facing two chairs in which were seated a 6800U and an x800xt. Trump, eyes alight with pleasure in his upcoming pronouncement, his blonde "hair-club for men" tresses falling in a coma over the bridge of his nose, sneers at the 6800U and says loudly, "You're fired!" After which a long shephard hook extends from stage left, snags the 6800U and retracts it out of the scene, to a dramatic soundtrack of wailing violins and booming kettle drums.

Thus the nV40 "card" is well and truly "Trumped."

(Sorry.)

I want some of that smoke! Share the wealth...

 

[Tim Murray]

Actually, Walt, that would be the 6800U, the X800XT, and the Series 5.

(Some people think I work for PowerVR. They are crazy. I just love me some TBDR.)

 

[WaltC]

I want some of that smoke! Share the wealth...

It's right here...uh, I could have sworn it was right over...uh, nevermind, I didn't need to smoke anything at all, apparently....

(BTW, I have never once actually watched that "Apprentice" tv show with Trump, as I can't conceive of its entertainment value. But that is actually what the title of this thread reminded me of.)

 

[digitalwanderer]

(BTW, I have never once actually watched that "Apprentice" tv show with Trump, as I can't conceive of its entertainment value. But that is actually what the title of this thread reminded me of.)

I'm actually relieved to hear that Walt, the thought that you actually got into that show was kind of worrying me.

Baron, you ain't no PowerVR rep...you're just a TBDR whore.

I really don't think nVidia has the leeway in their margins right now to push for anything over 450Mhz for a top-o-the-line GPU. I thought they might be able to hit 500Mhz for a while, but after reading the post about how the voltage increases with the Mhz and thinking about how hot that would get I just keep coming up with, "no".

 

[Ailuros]

The preview boards used stepping A0. Stepping A1 already exists (and has done so since before the NDA lifted).

They were A1.

No they were not. There was one A1 card out there (the one that sparked a huge thread here).

PaulS is correct I'm afraid. A0 silicon is passe since last year last time I checked.

digitalwanderer,

If Baron should ever need a promoter (ok the other p-word doesn't sound as elegant), keep me in mind

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

I really don't think nVidia has the leeway in their margins right now to push for anything over 450Mhz for a top-o-the-line GPU. I thought they might be able to hit 500Mhz for a while, but after reading the post about how the voltage increases with the Mhz and thinking about how hot that would get I just keep coming up with, "no".

The only reason I can think of for Nvidia underclocking their review cards (and getting a performance penalty on their reviews) is because it prevents reviewers complaining in print about NV40's high temperature, lound fan, absolute need for a 480 watt powersupply, instablitly and artifacts, etc. Nvidia haven't forgotten the drubbing they got over their dustbuster.

This way Nvidia gets a review with none of the negatives associated with clocking their cards to the maximum, but can still do a PR spin about how they are shipping their cards faster than review.

We always see hand picked review cards clocked higher than retail, but this time we saw cards clocked lower than retail, and lower than the demo cards at GDC. There's a reason for that, which at some point comes down to the fact they couldn't do it and still get good reviews.

 

[Fodder]

PaulS is correct I'm afraid. A0 silicon is passe since last year last time I checked.

Not that it matters. Either way he's correct that there's a newer stepping than the review samples doing the rounds, he just stuck the wrong numbers on it.

 

[martrox]

Not that it matters. Either way he's correct that there's a newer stepping than the review samples doing the rounds, he just stuck the wrong numbers on it.

Jeez....that means, if you give him the benefit of the doubt, he's 1 for 100!

 

[Ailuros]

PaulS is correct I'm afraid. A0 silicon is passe since last year last time I checked.

Not that it matters. Either way he's correct that there's a newer stepping than the review samples doing the rounds, he just stuck the wrong numbers on it.

I guess you are aware of the tragical irony involved when there's a need for a correction of a correction? A0 silicon rarely (if ever) gets sent out to reviewers and that for obvious reasons. A1 exists since December 2003.

 

[Fodder]

I guess you are aware of the tragical irony involved when there's a need for a correction of a correction? A0 silicon rarely (if ever) gets sent out to reviewers and that for obvious reasons. A1 exists since December 2003.

Tragical irony? All I'm saying is that this time radar1200gs has a valid point. A newer stepping obviously exists, so there could well be an A2 NV40 incarnation that's clocked significantly higher than the review samples. And on the topic of the A2 cards artifacting, I assume that would be caused by the memory. An overclocked/overheating core generally just locks up, or does something spectacular like R3x0 checkerboarding.

 

[Ailuros]

It's bleedingly obvious that there should be a new revision after 5 months don't you think?

A0 silicon doesn't make a valid point and you still haven't understood or simply refuse to understand what I'm trying to say. A0 silicon isn't production ready in my book, hello?

 

[Fodder]

It's bleedingly obvious that there should be a new revision after 5 months don't you think?

Of course, but obviously not to the posters who raise the A1 samples' stock speeds and poor overclocking as evidence of Nvidia being unable to release a higher clocked retail card. That is my point, and I believe his (though he said A0 and A1, instead of A1 and A2). As you and PaulS pointed out, he got the numbers wrong (perhaps naively assuming review samples would be A0? I don't know), but the point still stands.

 

[Ailuros]

Then kindly reply and/or quote them. I was refering to something entirely different.

 

[Dave Baumann]

I think this discussion of what version of silicon is used is a little pointless, not just for the obvious reasons.

However, as has been stated the Ultra configuration does not change speeds at all - its still 400/550. The information that we have so far indicates there will be a limited run of 6800 Ultra "Extreme" that will run at 450/550.

 

[digitalwanderer]

The information that we have so far indicates there will be a limited run of 6800 Ultra "Extreme" that will run at 450/550.

I don't think that digitlesswanker running around screaming about some imaginary product is exactly "information".

 

[webmedic]

I'm not sure that the official spec is actually changing.

what they ar only changing the review cards to 450?

:? :?