One curious thing is how NV decided to codename the 8600 GT/GTS parts as "G84", when the previous mainstream GPU's always ended in "3" (NV43, G73).
64-bit G86 variants reported, plus other scraps:
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38884
Jawed
We learned that the upcoming GeForce 8600 series based on G84 core has 32 stream processors while GeForce 8500/8400/8300 series based on G86 core has 16 stream processors. G84 contains 289M transistors while G86 contains 210M transistors, both on 80nm TSMC process. 8600 GTS is clocked at 675MHz core, 2GHz GDDR3 memories and 1.45GHz for the shaders. 8600 GT is clocked at 540MHz core, 1.4GHz GDDR3 memories and 1.15-1.18GHz for the shaders. 8500 GT is clocked at 450MHz core, 800MHz GDDR2 memories and 900MHz for shaders. G84 and G86 feature BSP engine and a new video processor, a dedicated hardware and circuitry for high definition video decoding while G80 series including the upcoming 8800 Ultra has no BSP engine and features an older video processor. Although there is no separate clocks for 2D/3D but there is an internal thermal throttling circuitry when the core runs too hot.
http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=4899
BSP engine? and a new video engine? This could be nVIDIA counter to ATI's new integrated video processor.
The part about the G80 and even the upcoming 8800 Ultra not having these "BSP" and video processors pretty much seals it about the Ultra being little more than an overclocked 8800 GTX.
I was expecting more for a 1000 dollar card...
I hope you meant that 8800 Ultra will highly unlikely have 1.5GB of high-speed GDDR4. I'm not sure why people think memory size is a strong selling point in the high-end where consumers are more informed. If it's slower than AMD's 1GB offering, raising the BOM without increasing performance is one of the stupider things they could do. They do have to be competitive in performance and price after all.
So... what's a BSP engine?
Explain?
Jawed
Quarter SPs, ~42% transistor count?
why have a disabled cluster on a midrange GPU?
Agreed. But one particular peculiarity in this NDA's Info make me feel it's going to be the last time this'll happen.http://www.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=6584
Nothing like feeling like a sucker for sticking to NDAs when not even the AIBs do.