R420 = R300

[Evanescence]

This R420 ad on ATI Webpage is really FUNNY !

Reminds me for something like that:

 

[Illissius]

Doesn't nVidia have their Personal Cinema line? As far as I can gather, that's pretty much the counterpart to ATi's AIW cards (although admittedly less widespread / marketed).

 

[epicstruggle]

(Almost literally, I'm seriously considering getting about 5K worth of ATi stock...my wife has been bugging me. )

You just missed a great time to buy ati stock, for that matter even nv was a steal. Id wait a while before putting money into either company. But thats just me, what do i know.

later,
epic

 

[ANova]

In fact the only thing going for the NV40 over the R420 is the PS3.0 support and supposed 16 pipelines.

Er, sounds like a pretty good start to me - Twice the architecture of R3xx. What, exactly, would you suggest as a superior alternative? Assuming all rumours true, NV40 also has a fully programmable 2d video engine. As an all round product NV40, if this is what it turns out to be and lets not get into an argument about that we've only a week or so to go, is stunning, that much should be pretty obvious.

From all indications it does seem as though the NV40 will be faster then the R420, but it is mere speculation. Nothing is set in stone just yet. And even if the rumours are true you also have to factor in the other details. I know I would rather have a somewhat slower card if that means alot less power consumption. There is also the price to take into account.

 

[3dcgi]

LEAKED BENCHMARKS
Based on all of the above information and high memory clock speeds I am beginning to feel that the r420 may not be a very efficient chip and indeed have a hard time cracking 10000 3dMark 2003 Points. I am not a video card expert so I do not know how NVIDIA attained their scores (some of you say it is in the game one test, where the nv40 actually acts like a true 16 pipeline card), but from what I have seen in the past from cpu manufacturers, the higher the clock speed the less efficient the architecture. I am pretty sure that You guys are going to Roast me on that one.

I won't roast you, but I will say you're wrong about the clock speeds. This might change more in the future if GPUs/VPUs rely more on branching. Besides the fact that VPUs and CPUs can't be directly compared here increasing the clock speed doesn't make a CPU more efficient. Increasing the pipeline does.

 

[digitalwanderer]

(Almost literally, I'm seriously considering getting about 5K worth of ATi stock...my wife has been bugging me. )

You just missed a great time to buy ati stock, for that matter even nv was a steal. Id wait a while before putting money into either company. But thats just me, what do i know.

later,
epic

Thanks, I'm just thinking out loud...I'd do a LOT more homework before investing, I suck with money so I tend to over research.

Can I still find it hilarious that people are already giving the next gen title to nVidia based on leaked nVidia PR? Does no one remember the period just before the nV30 was supposed to originally be released back in the fall of '02?

This isn't a case of "it isn't over until it's over", it's a case of "it's over before it's even begun"!

 

[Nick Spolec]

I agree. I think too many people want to give Nvidia the benefit of the doubt with the next cycle.

Not me.

After 2003, Nvidia dosen't deserve it. ATI deserves it, for putting out one hell of a product.

Nvidia should have to PROVE itself first before getting a vote of support from everyone.

I personally will wait and see what Nvidia comes out with before I kiss their feet again, and under what context (read: cheating drivers) their hardware gets it's performance numbers from.

 

[Rugor]

I'm waiting for both benchmarks and analysis thereof before I award the crown. However in Nvidia's favor I will say that I expect NV40 to be faster than an R9800XT.

 

[ChrisRay]

I want versatile, powerful, futureproof solutions. Like R300 is.

Second that. My 9700 Pro was perfect for all the games before Far Cry or Deus Ex 2 - the time has come: I need to upgrade.

But those are the first true shader intensive games.., I'm sure your r300 is up to it.

 

[Pete]

Can I still find it hilarious that people are already giving the next gen title to nVidia based on leaked nVidia PR? Does no one remember the period just before the nV30 was supposed to originally be released back in the fall of '02?

Well, if nV starts comparing the number of transistors to people in city XYZ on April 13th, then we'll know to duck and cover.

 

[anaqer]

But those are the first true shader intensive games.., I'm sure your r300 is up to it.

Umma... FarCry being shader-intensive might not be the core problem here... I'll go out on a limb and say that T2k has been accustomed to cranking up AF/AA based on performance in previous titles and FarCry is a bitch with AF/AA. ( That's just a hunch though, don't shoot me if I'm off the mark. )


As for DX:IW ... forget it man, that engine is sooo fucked up with the hacked-in dynamic shadow system, it's beyond pathetic.
If only they left that out and concentrated on gameplay mechanics... but that's OT.

| EDIT : stupid typo |

 

[digitalwanderer]

Umma... FarCry being shader-intensive might not be the core problem here... I'll go out on a limb and say that T2k has been accostumed to cranking up AF/AA based on performance in previous titles and FarCry is a bitch with AF/AA. ( That's just a hunch though, don't shoot me if I'm off the mark. )

I think you're on the mark, FarCry runs pretty well on my 9700 Pro as long as I keep it at 4xAA 4xAF and no v-sync.

 

[Quitch]

(Almost literally, I'm seriously considering getting about 5K worth of ATi stock...my wife has been bugging me. )

You just missed a great time to buy ati stock, for that matter even nv was a steal. Id wait a while before putting money into either company. But thats just me, what do i know.

later,
epic

Thanks, I'm just thinking out loud...I'd do a LOT more homework before investing, I suck with money so I tend to over research.

Can I still find it hilarious that people are already giving the next gen title to nVidia based on leaked nVidia PR? Does no one remember the period just before the nV30 was supposed to originally be released back in the fall of '02?

This isn't a case of "it isn't over until it's over", it's a case of "it's over before it's even begun"!

Ah, but don't you see the logic, dig. Last time nVidia couldn't lose because they were the best. This time they can't lose because they lost last time, and nVidia don't like not being the best.

Talk about advance purchasing through faith. It's amazing how much weight the nVidia brand still carries in the geek arena.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Talk about advance purchasing through faith. It's amazing how much weight the nVidia brand still carries in the geek arena.

Sad, ain't it? I'm still working on spreading the word, people will learn better than to trust in brand names one day and actually buy based on the hardware....


....when pigs fly.