PowerVR Series5

[Ailuros]

After the countless threads about R420/NV40, here's one mythos that might deserve a bit of a revivement too in terms of speculations.

I personally don't have a single doubt that SEGA can have licensed Series5 and nothing else:

SEGA, the leader in the arcade market, will use a new high-performance PowerVR graphics processor as the basis of its future arcade systems.

http://www.imgtec.com/News/Release/index.asp?ID=194

Question would be what people would more or less expect in terms of feature-set, performance, image quality etc etc. Speculate your heart out with fancy math, "pipeline" amounts (arrghhhh....), X*Y, arithmetic/texture OPs, or whatever else pops into your mind, as long as we can manage to keep this highly speculative debate civil.

Oh and Joe you can file for a divorce..... 8)

 

[Geeforcer]

I think the best question at this point is who is going to license S5 for use in consumer PC space. Right now, we have 4 active participants in this market: The Big Two plus XGI, S3, in addition to off-and-on players like Matrox and 3D Labs. I don't think any of these is likely to license S5, which lives is with somewhat sobering prospect of an outsider deciding to enter the ultra- competitive market with S5-based design. In addition, if the licensing deal was to be consummated right now, it might take quite some time for completed product to actually reach the market.

I hope and pray that PVR learned from their previous experience and finally decided to adopt "fabless" model in PC space as opposed to IP licensing approach.

 

[BRiT]

I'd expect it to have nothing less than full Shader Mark 3.0 functionality, given the papers written by PowerVR folk. I'd hope it would have 3 times the performance of the Nvidia 6800 Ultra. And also offer nice 8x AA and 16x AF modes.

 

[Geeforcer]

I'd expect it to have nothing less than full Shader Mark 3.0 functionality, given the papers written by PowerVR folk. I'd hope it would have 3 times the performance of the Nvidia 6800 Ultra. And also offer nice 8x AA and 16x AF modes.

3 times faster across the board then NV40? I think you should keep your expectations in check and consider the PVR designs from the historical perspective. I would expect the performance without FSAA to be somewhere between High and Mid-rage of NV and ATI parts, with much less bandwidth and better price. With MSAA, I expect then rival, if not surpass the competition's high-end part.

 

[Ailuros]

I think you should keep your expectations in check and consider the PVR designs from the historical perspective.

That would lead him to conclude that it's a mainstream if not value oriented design after all. I just think that the historical perspective might in the given case be more than just misleading.

 

[BRiT]

If I took into account historical perspectives, then ATI and Nvidia would be doomed to produce nothing but mediocre cards and drivers (ala Radeon 7000s and GeForce 5800s). I am hoping this time around PowerVR uses the same technology the other guys are using, 256bit GDR3 memory.

 

[Geeforcer]

That would lead him to conclude that it's a mainstream if not value oriented design after all. I just think that the historical perspective might in the given case be more than just misleading.

Granted, but expecting 3x NV40 performance might be equally so

 

[Tim Murray]

Why would they need to use 256-bit buses and GDDR3? They're a TBDR--they've got bandwidth efficiency that NV and ATI can only dream of.

 

[BRiT]

Why would they need to use 256-bit buses and GDDR3? They're a TBDR--they've got bandwidth efficiency that NV and ATI can only dream of.

Alright, so maybe I was dreaming that once, just once, PowerVR would take the opportunity to kick the snot out of the competition.

 

[Tim Murray]

Why would they need to use 256-bit buses and GDDR3? They're a TBDR--they've got bandwidth efficiency that NV and ATI can only dream of.

Alright, so maybe I was dreaming that once, just once, PowerVR would take the opportunity to kick the snot out of the competition.

Unless they had something like the ability to process 6 or 8 quads at once, they'd never use that much memory bandwidth. Plus, multisampling at a much reduced bandwidth cost. And I can promise you they won't have a 24x1 or 32x1 pipeline config.

 

[Ailuros]

Granted, but expecting 3x NV40 performance might be equally so

Definitely. In fact I don't recall even since the early days of 3D a case where competing sollutions aiming for the same market segments had such a gap between them in terms of performance, unless it was some serious flop. NV40 doesn't seem like a flop to me, au contraire.

 

[Tim Murray]

Granted, but expecting 3x NV40 performance might be equally so

Definitely. In fact I don't recall even since the early days of 3D a case where competing sollutions aiming for the same market segments had such a gap between them in terms of performance, unless it was some serious flop. NV40 doesn't seem like a flop to me, au contraire.

*cough Volari cough*

 

[Ailuros]

And I can promise you they won't have a 24x1 or 32x1 pipeline config.

What's a "pipeline" again? *snicker*

*cough Volari cough*

I said unless it's a flop and that NV40 doesn't look under any circumstance as a flop.

 

[Farid]

I personally don't have a single doubt that SEGA can have licensed Series5 and nothing else:

Question would be what people would more or less expect in terms of feature-set, performance, image quality etc etc.

The only question that comes to my mind is , who will actually produce this chip?
Ok, we know the ip, yes, we know who's the licensed, but i don't remember anyone talking about wich foundry will produce the silicon.
Tsmc, Nec??

 

[Nick Spolec]

I pray for the day that next-generation TBDR (and TBDS) comes to the masses!

 

[thop]

If it comes i buy it.

 

[Tim Murray]

If it comes i buy it.

I don't think the question is if anymore... I got a Dig-like feeling.

 

[Megadrive1988]

I'll buy 2 of the highest-end PowerVR Series 5 boards if and when it releases.

this is around the time Dreamcast 2 was due out. would have probably used the cancelled Series 4, if not Series 5.

Series 5 should be either 8x1 or 16x1. just my uninformed guess.

even with 8x1 they'd still at least rival NV40/6800 Ultra and R420/X800 XT
in all likelihood.

PowerVR has VS/PS 3.0 and ATI does not, is a somewhat major deal too, imo.

 

[BRiT]

I don't think the question is if anymore... I got a Dig-like feeling.

The only question is when?. Hopefully they'll be released when they're still competative in the high-end.

 

[Tim Murray]

I don't think the question is if anymore... I got a Dig-like feeling.

The only question is <i>when?</i>. Hopefully they'll be released when they're still competative in the high-end.

Late May, early June for launch, probably. Availability, I have no idea.