R520: 32 PS pipelines? Any truth to this?

The closer the Inq gets to the release date, the more accurate they become. They were pretty spot on with CrossFire in the last days and they also were pretty accurate with the Catalyst 5.6 scores (but you'll see that tomorrow).

 

See, you start off being reasonable and then go off on a complete tangent. Yes, in intensive games it'll be irrelevant. As I said, I give you that. However, how the hell do you get from there to "the DX9 performance of both is irrelevant"? We have DX9 lite games out right now that look noticably better in DX9 than than in DX8 and run faster in DX9 mode on R300 chips than they do on NV30 chips. If you've played HL2 (and let's face it, if you're a PC gamer you should have done) then it's very relevant.

 

On my 9700 @ 385/345 I ran Half Life 2 at 1600x1200 2X AA 4X AF a lot of the time. Only a few times did I drop to a lower res. I think I'm ok with a lower framerate than most people. But, I was pretty impressed that my "little" R300 was running the latest FPS at that level.

IMO R300 was the best overall graphics ever to be released. Never before have I had a video card for over 2 years. Thanks to NV and their NV3x junk, ATI really was sitting pretty. I'd say there are two reasons games haven't hit DX9 harder: 1) Developmental demands. It's too much work & money to work these technologies in quickly and effectively. 2) NV30 caused a lot of developers to not push the tech when it was too much work to get it to run well on 50% of the hardware out there.

 

Mmm. That just looks to me like he was reading that thread about Macci and his dark arts being at ATI for the Crossfire launch, and having a little fun hiding a 3dm score from an unnamed single card [kaff!] in his sig.

 

If this is true, it certainly explains why ATI launched Crossfire now. If R520 is cranking out this kind of performance, nobody's going to care (or be listening out) for Crossfire - we're all going to be too busy picking our jaws off the floor the same way we did with R300 for months to come.

Mind you this is the Inq - they do have a habit of claiming *every* variation as fact, so it could still be anything.

 

WOW! MY GOD! R520 WILL beat g70!

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=23752

 

I'm sure Nvidia has a two slot ultra version waiting just in case the r520 actually is that fast.

 

Maybe ATI has a XTPE R520 version waiting just in case the G70 Ultra actually is that fast?

 

Thanks, I missed the other link to this right above your post. And on the previous page.

 

FWIW, The G70 also scores more than 2x the 6800 Ultra SLI in 3dMark05.

 

Given the known specs, on shader limited workloads, the G70 should be more like 2.5x-3x a single 6800 Ultra, which will be significantly faster than a SLI Ultra in non-bandwidth limited scenarios.

 

It does? Why would they waste their time and go through all the hassle of allowing Crossfire to work with older cards when their upcoming cars are faster than 2x the fastest of the previous generation? It would have been much cheaper and easier to just focus on R520. I really don't follow how an extremely fast R520 explains the early launch of X850 Crossfire, considering Crossfire won't be out long before R520 hits the shelves.

 

Sadly, that's like asking "why did ATI release the X700XT?"

ATI has done quite a few strange things this last year and the share price is certainly showing it now.

Jawed

 

Kind of a "we're faster now and will be in 3 months as well" thing. Point is this will keep ATi in the lead for the near future until there is enough of a supply of the 520 to permeate the market. That and it gives some people out there the option of not having to spend $1200 plus to upgrade. Someone like me could get the mobo, an x800XL and the x800 Crossfire for little more than $700 and still have quite the system.

Sure it wont have SM3 but nor do many games now or coming this year.

 

Because it gets the word out that ATI has SLI in the form of Crossfire. That word will be very hard to get across when everyone is talking about next gen cards. It's got nothing to do with the technical abilities of Crossfire or R520, it's purely a marketing decision. They are making noise when it can be most heard.

 

I agree. This is simply to stop some people rushing out to buy G70 SLI systems, when R520 CrossFire is "coming real soon now". Well, obviously not everyone's gonna care what ATI might have.

But like X700XT and Rialto, CrossFire is "late" and prolly R520 is too.

Though it has to be said ATI's done sterling work to get CrossFire ready in well under a year. Though the ATI guys might argue that it was relatively easy due to the multi-R300 rigs. Hmm...

Ah well, at least Longhorn has been pushed back, eh?

Jawed

 

I was thinking that ATI might have delberatly pushed things back for Longhorn.

They only just put out the X850s a few months back. If R520 ships this autumn, that gives the 850s six months of life. Then the R520 refresh comes out six months later in Spring, then six months after that R600 arrives for late 2006 and Longhorn.

 

I agree with the timetable, but X700XT and Rialto are indicative that all's not been well.

ATI's big mistake this autumn would be to have R520, but no RV5xx parts. We haven't heard much about RV stuff since that roadmap leak, which implied that the RV parts would come in two phases after R520.

Perhaps ATI wants to do a simultaneous release of the whole lot.

If NVidia plans to leave 6200/6600 in place for the next 6 months, then ATI's RV parts could take some limelight, if they hit early enough and ride the coattails of R520's illustrious (albeit "late") arrival.

Jawed

 

So what was the lifespan of the 9800pro and the 9800xt then or the x800xt?
It's a pretty safe bet to expect that Microsoft doesn't deliver in time either but a choice has to be made.
Slip some products on your current lineup, or put your future at risk.
I think they worked feverishly on their next-gen lineup (and especially the r500 since it seems to be introduced pretty early) and chose to let slip things like the 7xt.

Their future is with M$. You know how nV profited of the games built on the "common" platform xbox/pc-nv and ati wants THAT profit starting next year.