Radeon 9700 "PRO" version already!??? 325Mhz core.

[Guest]

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020807/72030_1.html

ATI Introduces RADEON(TM) 9700 PRO Graphics Board Based On Newly Introduced VPU Architecture
RADEON(TM) 9700 PRO Delivers Double the Performance of Any Graphics Card Available
MARKHAM, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 7, 2002--ATI Technologies, Inc., (NASDAQ:ATYT - News; TSX:ATY) today announced the addition of the RADEON(TM) 9700 PRO graphics board, featuring the RADEON(TM) 9700 PRO visual processing unit (VPU), to its successful retail lineup. Based on the RADEON 9700 series VPUs introduced in July, the RADEON 9700 PRO board will deliver breakneck performance to the gaming and enthusiast market.

"In this fast paced industry, customers demand that products ship soon after announcement," said Rick Bergman, Senior Vice President, Marketing and General Manager, Desktop, ATI Technologies Inc. "We are on target for our mid-August shipping date, when customers will be able to experience first hand the major innovations that the RADEON 9700 VPUs deliver to gaming and the computer graphics industry."

Featuring eight parallel rendering pipelines, complete Microsoft® DirectX® 9 support, AGP 8X support and a fully programmable floating point architecture, the RADEON 9700 PRO leads the industry into a new era of cinematic-quality real time graphics.

ATI's feature-rich RADEON 9700 PRO retail offering includes:

128MB of DDR memory;
Dual-display configuration including VGA, DVI-I and s-video connectors with independent resolutions and refresh rates for any two connected displays;
Fast engine (325MHz) and memory (620MHz) clock speeds;
CATALYST(TM) software support including WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Labs) certified driver and HYDRAVISION(TM) desktop management software;
RADEON 9700 PRO visual processing unit featuring SMARTSHADER(TM) 2.0, SMOOTHVISION(TM) 2.0, HYPER Z(TM) III, and VIDEOSHADER(TM) technologies; and
Suggested retail price of US$399.
The RADEON 9700 PRO has been selected as the official graphics card of QuakeCon 2002. Competitors in ATI's Quake and Return to Castle Wolfenstein Tournaments will compete on systems powered by the RADEON 9700 PRO, the fastest, most feature-rich graphics solution available.

ATI will begin shipping the RADEON 9700 PRO board to retail customers and distributors beginning August 19, where it will join the recently introduced RADEON 9000 PRO, and ATI's other strong retail products in stores and online. RADEON 9700 PRO boards will be available from ATI's board partners later this month.

Other retail products based on the RADEON 9700 and RADEON 9000 architectures will be introduced later this year.

 

[alexsok]

I think it's really not fair of ATI to promise 325mhz and everything on Radeon 9700 and then disappointing the potential buyers by getting a PRO version out that costs more money and offers everything Radeon 9700 should have offered in the first place...

P.S
By the way, I see nothing special in this annoucement considering that the 325mhz speed was thoroughly discussed already in previous threads and the card was tested against the GF4TI4600 on the exact same clock speeds.
Now if it would be 350mhz - that's another deal!

 

[PVR_Extremist]

They were aiming for 325 and they got it.

They have delivered this time. Fair play to em.

Sadly I have no cash following a Kitchen Upgrade....

 

[alexsok]

They were aiming for 325 and they got it.

They have delivered this time. Fair play to em.

Sadly I have no cash following a Kitchen Upgrade....

I agree, they have delievered! But why not make the 325mhz core on the R9700 in the first place? After all, that's exactly what they promised!

 

[John Reynolds]

I think it's really not fair of ATI to promise 325mhz and everything on Radeon 9700 and then disappointing the potential buyers by getting a PRO version out that costs more money and offers everything Radeon 9700 should have offered in the first place...

P.S
By the way, I see nothing special in this annoucement considering that the 325mhz speed was thoroughly discussed already in previous threads and the card was tested against the GF4TI4600 on the exact same clock speeds.
Now if it would be 350mhz - that's another deal!

ATi never promised 325. Several previews clearly stated that while the previewed/tested boards were running at 325, ATi specifically said that the final clock speed should be 300+.

 

[Guest]

I think it's really not fair of ATI to promise 325mhz and everything on Radeon 9700 and then disappointing the potential buyers by getting a PRO version out that costs more money and offers everything Radeon 9700 should have offered in the first place...

Hrm I guess ATIs execution has improved. Reminds me of the original geforce launch in a way. It looks as though the PRO version is shipping right around the same time the regular version is. Also if the Radeon 9700 PRO is selling for $399 then the regular lower clocked version of the Radeon 9700 will be selling for less. Interesting.

 

[Dave Baumann]

I think it's really not fair of ATI to promise 325mhz and everything on Radeon 9700 and then disappointing the potential buyers by getting a PRO version out that costs more money and offers everything Radeon 9700 should have offered in the first place...

That a fairly negative view for no reason - AFAIK they said Radeon 9700's would be $399. Now it appears the 9700 Pro will be this price at 325MHZ, whic presumably means that a slightly lower clocked (275-300?) 9700 will be available for a lower price. How is this bad?

 

[alexsok]

I think it's really not fair of ATI to promise 325mhz and everything on Radeon 9700 and then disappointing the potential buyers by getting a PRO version out that costs more money and offers everything Radeon 9700 should have offered in the first place...

That a fairly negative view for no reason - AFAIK they said Radeon 9700's would be $399. Now it appears the 9700 Pro will be this price at 325MHZ, whic presumably means that a slightly lower clocked (275-300?) 9700 will be available for a lower price. How is this bad?

You have a point there...

Still, it kinda remains me of the situation with the GF4TI, where there is the TI200, TI4400 & TI 4600, all based on the same core, just with different core & memory clock speeds.

I suppose ATI knows better...

 

[Dave Baumann]

Still, it kinda remains me of the situation with the GF4TI, where there is the TI200, TI4400 & TI 4600, all based on the same core, just with different core & memory clock speeds.

Yes. It just seems that ATi is using the number to denote the chip type and then have a PRO tag for the high end (I wonder if they will make lower end ones and go with the LE's for them),

 

[Dravern]

Why 620mhz mem clock? Why not 650mhz?
ATI has traditionally produced same core/mem clock products.
And gf4 ti4600 already has 650mhz memory.
What is the reason for 620mhz???

 

[alexsok]

Why 620mhz mem clock? Why not 650mhz?
ATI has traditionally produced same core/mem clock products.
And gf4 ti4600 already has 650mhz memory.
What is the reason for 620mhz???

Maybe the 650mhz would be too much for the R300 core at this point...

P.S
It's intresting that ATI are not planning to move the R300 core to 0.13, but are going to do so for R350!

 

[John Reynolds]

Why 620mhz mem clock? Why not 650mhz?
ATI has traditionally produced same core/mem clock products.
And gf4 ti4600 already has 650mhz memory.
What is the reason for 620mhz???

That's obviously based on a pricing decision.

 

[Mulciber]

Still, it kinda remains me of the situation with the GF4TI, where there is the TI200, TI4400 & TI 4600, all based on the same core, just with different core & memory clock speeds.

Yes. It just seems that ATi is using the number to denote the chip type and then have a PRO tag for the high end (I wonder if they will make lower end ones and go with the LE's for them),

*raises hand*
sign me up for the LE version

 

[Bambers]

They were aiming for 325 and they got it.

They have delivered this time. Fair play to em.

Sadly I have no cash following a Kitchen Upgrade....

They delivered the last time as well didn't they? 8500 was supposed to be 250Mhz and arrived at 250 for OEM/LEs and 275MHz for retail.

 

[Dravern]

ATI updated their site.
Now radeon9700 is radeon9700 "PRO".
And indeed with 325mhz core clock.

http://www.ati.com/technology/hardware/radeon9700pro/index.html

 

[nggalai]

Geek, alex et al,

please read the blurb carefully, and read the previews and earlier ATi press releases again, if you're at it.

This is the first built-by-ATi graphics BOARD based on the Radeon9700 chipset. It's called the Radeon9700 PRO. This is the only R300 board yet announced by ATi, no Radeon9700 (without PRO) graphics adapter was ever announced by ATi. Please don't confuse this with other boards announced by the likes of Hercules and Powercolor.

It's not an "extended" version of a hypothetical "ATi Radeon9700 VGA", as no such thing exists. This is the actual first board. No other board was announced nor previewed. The previews were of pre-release boards to introduce the CHIPSET now to be released on graphics boards called "Radeon9700 PRO."

Why do you think ATi was so strict at websites publishing previews NOT to mention FPS or clocks?

ta,
-Sascha.rb

 

[Dave Baumann]

It's not an "extended" version of a hypothetical "ATi Radeon9700 VGA", this is the actual first board. No other board was announced nor previewed. The previews were of pre-release boards of what is now to be released as the Radeon9700 PRO.

I think it is as they say that:

Other retail products based on the RADEON 9700 and RADEON 9000 architectures will be introduced later this year.

I would assume those to be ATi retail products (as they are mentioned in the ATi PR) and not board vendors products.

 

[alexsok]

Geek, alex et al,

please read the blurb carefully, and read the previews and earlier ATi press releases again, if you're at it.

This is the first built-by-ATi graphics BOARD based on the Radeon9700 chipset. It's called the Radeon9700 PRO. This is the only R300 board yet announced by ATi, no Radeon9700 (without PRO) graphics adapter was ever announced by ATi. Please don't confuse this with other boards announced by the likes of Hercules and Powercolor.

It's not an "extended" version of a hypothetical "ATi Radeon9700 VGA", as no such thing exists. This is the actual first board. No other board was announced nor previewed. The previews were of pre-release boards to introduce the CHIPSET now to be released on graphics boards called "Radeon9700 PRO."

Why do you think ATi was so strict at websites publishing previews NOT to mention FPS or clocks?

ta,
-Sascha.rb

Oh... then it's my mistake, sorry!

 

[RussSchultz]

I guess ATI products will be the 9700 PRO(@325), and the OEM products will be the 9700(@300).

Still, too expensive for me

 

[nggalai]

Woah. Many "boards" in my last post. My apologies for this highly incomprehensible post.

In short:

The "problem" is that ATi calls the chipset family Radeon9700 (not R300) and now introduces the Radeon9700 PRO VPU (i.e. Radeon9700 at the specified clock rate of 325MHz), and the video boards have a very similar name.

Other VGA versions are very likely to be introduced later on by ATi, but for now there's "just" the Radeon9700 PRO graphics board.

ta,
-Sascha.rb