PowerVR Serie 5 is a DX9 chip?

[ActionNews]

Hmm.... is that realy true? These guys over at www.3dcenter.org realy seem to be convinced of it ! I know if they aren't sure about something, they say it's unsure, but here they say "the PowerVR Series 5 is definetly DX9" !

More infos at www.pvrgenerations.co.uk :

Series 5 Definitely DX9?
8 January 2003_
Not that we like to fuel rumours, but 3Dcenter.org (german) claim to be able to confirm (unofficially [huh.gif] ) that PowerVR Series 5 will be DirectX 9 compliant.

As its in German, Ive translated the relevant part using google, so apologies for the badly broken English:

" Two additions appeared themselves in the meantime for our diagram chip view 2003. On the one hand the SiS Xabre 2 will have an architecture 8 Rendering pipelines (can be inferred from the current SiS Roadmap), on which so far in the rest of each without exception DirectX9-Chip touches down. And furthermore it can be confirmed now - even if only unofficially, but but surely - that the PowerVR Series 5 will become a DirectX9-Design. If this comes out, thus nVidia NV31 could and ATi RV350 in the Mainstream market of the DirectX9-Grafikkarten against in the middle of 2003 quite a hard competitor arise."
(...)

Hmm.. i think Kristof you won't comment it ?

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[Kristof]

Who ? Me ? Comment on unannounced products ? Never...

 

[Tagrineth]

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3126

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2693

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=45300

 

[Kristof]

Tagrineth, just checked the link in your footer and am not sure if I should laugh or cry... <shakes head>

 

[Joe DeFuria]

Tagrineth, just checked the link in your footer...

I just sat here for 5 minutes thinking of an appropriate response to that site....but I'm so dumbfounded that I'll be damned if I'm not speachless...

 

[Reznor007]

Tagrineth, just checked the link in your footer...

I just sat here for 5 minutes thinking of an appropriate response to that site....but I'm so dumbfounded that I'll be damned if I'm not speachless...

I have to wonder if they are serious or if it's a joke site

 

[MrGaribaldi]

I have to wonder if they are serious or if it's a joke site

From what I've seen they are/were actually serious... They had a petition over at petitiononline.com, but it has been taken down...

If you search for "two towers" you'll find several other petitions petitioning for the original petition to be taken down... (confused yet? )

You can check who's registered the domain here...

(Sorry for being totally OT)

 

[Teasy]

I really hope that two towers site is a joke. If not then the people behind it are unbelievable morons.

People are just getting far to sensative.

Soon it'll probably become "in bad taste" to even mention a disaster incase it reminds them of a past disaster.

Plane crash report:

"This is CNN, today a flying thing full of people fell from the sky in an accidental fashion"

After the program:

"Do you think we offended anyone??"

"Nah, hopefully no'one realised we were even talking about a plane crash"

 

[Colourless]

The Two Towers site is a joke. An evil joke (by attempting to fool people into thinking it's real), but a joke none the less.

 

[megadrive0088]

to answer the question, as best as possible, from someone who doesn't have any inside info, it would only make sense that Series 5 is a DX9 part, where as the now canceled(?) Series 4 (4pipe+T&L) was going to be a DX8 part. the real question about Series 5 is not whether or not it's going to be DX9 but if it's going to be a highend 8 pipeline part capable of not only matching/surpassing R300 and NV30, but the forthcoming R350, NV35 and even R400, which will all have been released by the time Series 5 makes it to market, with that being 2H03 (Q3 or Q4) in all likelihood.

 

[mboeller]

to answer the question, as best as possible, from someone who doesn't have any inside info, it would only make sense that Series 5 is a DX9 part, where as the now canceled(?) Series 4 (4pipe+T&L) was going to be a DX8 part.

According to 3DCenter.de the Series5 will be DX9. This rumor is based on inside info from someone. The source will not be disclosed according to Leonidas.

Series4 was an 250MHz DX7 part, not an DX8 part. Ailuros gave this info at 3DCenter.de. The Kyro3 should have been released at the end of 2001 or beginning of 2002. The Kyro3 would have been updated at the end of 2002 toward 300MHz. If you compare the Kyro2 ( 2x175) with the Kyro3 (4x250) the performance would have been very good even today. Especially when you include the rumored FSAA4FREE feature.

 

[Mephisto]

According to 3DCenter.de the Series5 will be DX9. This rumor is based on inside info from someone. The source will not be disclosed according to Leonidas.

Acutally, the "source" was his own mind, a guess based on "his own experience". 3D Center has a long track record inventing, extrapolating and guessing specs, just have a look at their older NV30, R300, RV250, ... speculation articles.

Series4 was an 250MHz DX7 part, not an DX8 part. Ailuros gave this info at 3DCenter.de.

No. The only official word about Series4 came from a PR manager in PC Action where he said it has programmable shaders and therefore DX8.

 

[Rodéric]

The source will not be disclosed according to Leonidas.

Leonidas the chocolate brand ?

(okay I'm sorry, but this was so funny to me, I've two box of Leonidas chocolate on my desk, just next to me.)

 

[mboeller]

The source will not be disclosed according to Leonidas.

Leonidas the chocolate brand ?

(okay I'm sorry, but this was so funny to me, I've two box of Leonidas chocolate on my desk, just next to me.)

Didn't know. That's really funny.

 

[Mariner]

Leonidas chocolates? I've not heard of them in this country (UK).

I wonder if the King of the Spartans would be pleased to have a brand of choccies names after him? Surely not Spartan enough for him!

As regards PowerVR - they would be crazy to produce any new 'performance' part which was not DX9 capable - I'd say that ATI have the 'budget' DX8 market all but sown up.

 

[Ailuros]

No. The only official word about Series4 came from a PR manager in PC Action where he said it has programmable shaders and therefore DX8.

Do you mean Harold's supposed statement, that the site had to withdraw because he never actually claimed something similar?

What the heck difference does it make anyway? KYRO III is dead, gone and burried. Neither I or you can proove anything anyhow so where's the point?

edit: for the record the debate was at 3DCenter's Forums and someone said that it would have been a better idea if they'd have an affordable mainstream product out now, where even dx7 compliance would have been enough. My reply was then that K3 did fit within terms that description and I listed a couple of speculated specs based on an old KYRO diagram (STG5000) and Fu's interview at Digitimes where he revealed the clockspeed. One and one makes two.

 

[ActionNews]

Acutally, the "source" was his own mind, a guess based on "his own experience". 3D Center has a long track record inventing, extrapolating and guessing specs, just have a look at their older NV30, R300, RV250, ... speculation articles.

Then 3D Center would have marked as speculation, as they always do, when they are not sure about it.
What surprised me was, that 3D Center seem to be so sure and claim it's a fact that PowerVR Series 5 is a DX9 chip. They normaly only do this if they are really sure about it!

No. The only official word about Series4 came from a PR manager in PC Action where he said it has programmable shaders and therefore DX8.

I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. I think PowerVR Series 4 would have had a Vertex Shader, but probably no Pixel Shader. Why i think so?...You can read it in the EE Times Interview:

Metcalfe said development of the Series-4 architecture of PowerVR was dropped when STMicroelectronics, a licensee of earlier PowerVR architectures, decided to pull out of the PC graphics chip market (see February 8 story).

At that time some technologies were pulled forward into the MBX cores, such as vertex geometry processing, and Series-5 architecture development was accelerated, he said.

( http://www.eet.com/semi/news/OEG20021003S0016 )

And as you can read in PowerVR and ARM documentation about PowerVR MBX, the VGP (Vertex Geometry Processor) is a fully DX8.1 compilant Vertex Shader !

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[Tagrineth]

And as you can read in PowerVR and ARM documentation about PowerVR MBX, the VGP (Vertex Geometry Processor) is a fully DX8.1 compilant Vertex Shader !

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Yeah, but PowerVR MBX is also a Series 3 derived core, which doesn't have pixel shaders and PS aren't jus something trivial to be added in on a whim.

I don't think we'll ever know whether Series 4 had PS... unless Kristof can say anything now that it's a cancelled product?

 

[megadrive0088]

I still had hope, as of least year, that Series 4 would still be finished and at least be used in NAOMI 3. Ahhh well, still a chance for PowerVR to shine with Series 5

 

[ActionNews]

I still had hope, as of least year, that Series 4 would still be finished and at least be used in NAOMI 3. Ahhh well, still a chance for PowerVR to shine with Series 5

I thought SEGA now uses Nvidias NV2x for their Arcarde machines (or was this only a roumor)? As far as i know PowerVR now has a deal with IGT the marketleader in Arcarde sector !

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