Which path will NV40 use in Doom3?

[Evildeus]

A bit OT, but anyone saw that:

Yesterday I received the newest issue of the German print magazine GameStar. GameStar announces a Doom 3 review for their next issue, which will be delivered on June

http://65.75.129.150/~gengame/ :?

 

[Dave Baumann]

Just in time for the PCIe upgrade cycle.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

Just in time for the PCIe upgrade cycle.

Ahhh...Radeon 880XT and Geforce6800 Ultra-Plus.

 

[DemoCoder]

Only if you want to go Intel PCIE. What if you want to go AMD PCIE and BTX? Seems like you'll have to wait until this Christmas.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Only if you want to go Intel PCIE. What if you want to go AMD PCIE and BTX? Seems like you'll have to wait until this Christmas.

I read something recently about the VIA PCIe chipset just going into sampling for full production in the next month or two. Nvidia is also likely to be working on Nforce 3 for PCIe (which may be called Nforce 4). Nforce3 250 Pro for AGP is supposed to start shipping in motherboards in a month or two, so the PCIe version may not be far behind (though Nforce chipsets always seem to arrive later than everyone else).

 

[DemoCoder]

Really? When I asked some MOBO vendors recently, they told me early access testing in july-august, but actual consumer shipments a few months after that. I hope you're right.

 

[Rys]

NV_fragment_program2 (when it's released) will give Carmack more precise control over coissue/dualissue/complex op scheduling, so he may op to go there rather than leave it up to the driver compiler.

ARB2 will probably run "full speed", but remember, JC is the guy who wrote

float InvSqrt (float x)
{
  float xhalf = 0.5f*x;
  int i= *(int*)&x;
  i = 0x5f3759df - (i >> 1); // This line hides a LOT of math!
  x = *(float*)&i;
  x = x*(1.5f - xhalf*x*x); // repeat this statement for a better approximation
  return x;
}

He didn't. I got curious about this, so I asked him. He doesn't think it's Michael Abrash either and suggests Terje Mathisen as a probable/potential author.

Rys

 

[Rys]

Really? When I asked some MOBO vendors recently, they told me early access testing in july-august, but actual consumer shipments a few months after that. I hope you're right.

Their KT890 chipset taped out a while ago and it's sampling to reviewers as we speak with the reference board. I'd expect retail boards way before your "few months after" july-august, if you're actually talking about VIA's hardware. Can't really tell from the post you replied to.

Not sure about their K8T890 though, or PCI-Express chipsets from other vendors.

Rys

 

[PaulS]

Just in time for the PCIe upgrade cycle.

Ahhh...Radeon 880XT and Geforce6800 Ultra-Plus.

Just had one of those moments

 

[Johnny Watson]

I dunno if anyone bothered emailing him, but this is what John Carmack had to say:

[Doom 3 on the NV40 will use] ARB2. The NV40 is incredibly fast, far and away the fastest thing
you can
get right now.

I have removed the NV30 path, because Nvidia now has the ARB2 path
running
well on the earlier hardware.

John Carmack

 

[BRiT]

I dunno if anyone bothered emailing him, but this is what John Carmack had to say:

[Doom 3 on the NV40 will use] ARB2. The NV40 is incredibly fast, far and away the fastest thing
you can
get right now.

I have removed the NV30 path, because Nvidia now has the ARB2 path
running
well on the earlier hardware.

John Carmack

Anyone else thinking Nvidia is using shader replacement to make the ARB2-path operate as if it was the NV30-path on earlier hardware?

 

[Zod]

What and fooling Carmack?

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

I dunno if anyone bothered emailing him, but this is what John Carmack had to say:

[Doom 3 on the NV40 will use] ARB2. The NV40 is incredibly fast, far and away the fastest thing
you can
get right now.

I have removed the NV30 path, because Nvidia now has the ARB2 path
running
well on the earlier hardware.

John Carmack

So this means anyone with NV3x class hardware is SOL for Doom3, as we know they run the ARB2 path at half the speed of R3x0 class hardware. Looks like NV3x owners are being orphaned...

 

[Zeross]

So this means anyone with NV3x class hardware is SOL for Doom3, as we know they run the ARB2 path at half the speed of R3x0 class hardware. Looks like NV3x owners are being orphaned...

no they ran the ARB2 path at half the speed : things have improved :

I have removed the NV30 path, because Nvidia now has the ARB2 path running well on the earlier hardware.

I understand this sentence like this : the NV30 path is now useless even on NV3x because the ARB2 path is as fast or almost as fast as the NV30 path so there is no need to keep it.

 

[Richard]

I dunno if anyone bothered emailing him, but this is what John Carmack had to say:

[Doom 3 on the NV40 will use] ARB2. The NV40 is incredibly fast, far and away the fastest thing
you can
get right now.

I have removed the NV30 path, because Nvidia now has the ARB2 path
running
well on the earlier hardware.

John Carmack

So this means anyone with NV3x class hardware is SOL for Doom3, as we know they run the ARB2 path at half the speed of R3x0 class hardware. Looks like NV3x owners are being orphaned...

Note that he says the pre-nv40 hardware is running well on the arb2 path.

 

[ChrisRay]

I dunno if anyone bothered emailing him, but this is what John Carmack had to say:

[Doom 3 on the NV40 will use] ARB2. The NV40 is incredibly fast, far and away the fastest thing
you can
get right now.

I have removed the NV30 path, because Nvidia now has the ARB2 path
running
well on the earlier hardware.

John Carmack

Holy Smolies. That surprises me

 

[digitalwanderer]

Ok I'll bite, could someone explain to me why they're running the ARB2 path well now? :|

 

[BRiT]

Ok I'll bite, could someone explain to me why they're running the ARB2 path well now? :|

*cough shader replacements cough*

?

 

[ChrisRay]

Does anyone remember Nvidia promising that NV35 would run the Arb path at same speed as NV30?

I wonder if those original benches were of the NV30 path or Arb, Makes ya wonder. Everyones been arguing about carmacks original plan and he's never given us an update till now.

 

[jimmyjames123]

So this means anyone with NV3x class hardware is SOL for Doom3, as we know they run the ARB2 path at half the speed of R3x0 class hardware. Looks like NV3x owners are being orphaned...

Clearly you don't know what you are talking about. Since day one, there has been no question that the NV3x flagship cards would run Doom 3 well compared to the competition. NVDA also has that Ultrashadow technology that is supposed to help speed up framerates in Doom 3. Heavy PS 2.0 usage is where the NV3x series falls short, but of course that doesn't really apply with Doom 3.