Why no talk about X850 yet???

[Guden Oden]

HO HUM!

Looks neat, apart from the fact it takes two slots, which SUCKS. And I don't know what's up with that blower either, just like with NV's standard reference design it looks as if it's turned the wrong way. WTF?

Seems to have both a molex power connector and one of them new-fangled 6-pin connectors as well.

 

[tEd]

i not really understand why most people think dual-slot cooling solution suck. Since Nvidia had this the first time i thought blowing the hot air directly out of the case was actually a good idea. When i bought my r9800pro i choose dual-slot cooling because of better cooling and same or less noise. The most people won't use the second slot anyway because it shares an irq with the agp bus on the most manboards. As long it's not loud there is nothing sucki about a dual-slot cooling solution.

 

[pc999]

ATI claims that X850 XT Platinum edition will end up twenty per cent faster than Geforce 6800 Ultra in 3Dmark05, almost forty per cent faster in Far Cry and around 55 per cent faster in Unreal Tournament 2004. Those numbers come from ATI.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19816

 

[hovz]

ATI claims that X850 XT Platinum edition will end up twenty per cent faster than Geforce 6800 Ultra in 3Dmark05, almost forty per cent faster in Far Cry and around 55 per cent faster in Unreal Tournament 2004. Those numbers come from ATI.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19816

bullshit

no ones talking about it because its a stupid pointless release. if this is soley about improving availability why even 'release' them. just put them on store shelves when they are available under the same name as current boards. a 20 mhz core increase isnt even worth a new name.

 

[lopri]

I sincerely hope that news is a bogus. 20 Mhz core increase and 60 Mhz memory increase? Like I couldn't do it myself. It's also unbelievable they have to adopt that design to achieve that kind of overclock.

lop

 

[MasterBaiter]

I don't think there's anything wrong with a dual-slot solution (ATI did @ one time though...). :?

Is this really a big deal? It's just the refresh with some slightly improved number AFAIK. If there's something new to it besides this... I'd be curious though.

 

[Mark]

Alot of motherboards these days don't even have a slot next to the graphics slot so it's certainly not a big deal anymore, you can't block what's not there.

Besides, look at how popular Arctic Cooling's Silencer line is, those are all dual slot and a hell of a lot bigger than what ATI is using (and probably bigger than the 6800U cooler too).

I doubt many people will take issue with the X850s cooler, unless it is ungodly loud (aka NV30).

 

[Khronus]

I'd imagine that there's more to the release than an extra 20Mhz. They probably did some optimizations to the pipelines to make them more efficient and modified the chip layout to increase yields.

 

[mozmo]

I'd imagine that there's more to the release than an extra 20Mhz. They probably did some optimizations to the pipelines to make them more efficient and modified the chip layout to increase yields.

I suspect the same, I think there were some bottlenecks in the R420 that prevented it from reaching it's true theoretical fillrate a lot of the time, ATI is claiming big performance improvements in games so possibly internally the chip is more effecient clock for clock versus the R420.

 

[Luminescent]

Its really too bad for those with AGP motherboards.

 

[hovz]

not rly. what the hell are they missing? a 20 mhz faster part. oh no, they will be getting 100 fps instead of 104 . anyone who supports this joke of a product launch by ati should live the rest of their life in a wheel chair.

 

[lopri]

I woud not put much weight on Inquirer's numbers yet, though.

lop

 

[Ostsol]

not rly. what the hell are they missing? a 20 mhz faster part. oh no, they will be getting 100 fps instead of 104 . anyone who supports this joke of a product launch by ati should live the rest of their life in a wheel chair.

It's only 20 MHz faster if they already have an X800, you know. . . Those that don't might be encouraged to upgrade if the new part is more widely available and/or cheaper.

What would the point of not releasing it be? Obviously there's something different that makes it worth it for ATI to continue to produce this part than the R420. NVidia did the same back with the Geforce 3. The ti500 was only a bit faster, but that wasn't the point for NVidia. It was cheaper to produce and had higher yields.

 

[hovz]

ostol, theres nothing wrong with improving yields with a new process. but when you actually launch a product as if its some great new chip when in reality it will probly be 4 or 5% faster than the previous product, its an insult to customers. funny you mention them being cheaper to purchase. if im remembering correctly atis msrp of 549 is the highest they have ever placed on a video card. i sure as hell would pay a $550+ to have 4 more fps in ut2k4.

 

[CMAN]

For some reason I doubt it will be cheaper or more widely available...

 

[Geo]

ostol, theres nothing wrong with improving yields with a new process. but when you actually launch a product as if its some great new chip when in reality it will probly be 4 or 5% faster than the previous product, its an insult to customers. funny you mention them being cheaper to purchase. if im remembering correctly atis msrp of 549 is the highest they have ever placed on a video card. i sure as hell would pay a $550+ to have 4 more fps in ut2k4.

Yeah, ATI *has* done "silent refresh" in the past. I'm thinking of the original Radeon. . . for awhile they considered an official launch of an SE version that would be somewhat faster, then decided to just slip it in to the current product offering. There are downsides to that as well, however --for one without the official branding you end up with knowledgeable customers trying all sorts of tricks to make sure they get the "refreshed" chip instead of the "old" one. I suspect this leads to many returns as these folks keep playing lotto until they get the one they are after. One can imagine how much the card manufacturers and retailers appreciate that.

So to a degree ATI is damned if they do (official branded launch), and damned if they don't (silent refresh). But if it makes sense to rev it, then they have to do one or the other.

 

[hovz]

ummm ati should just keep clocks as they are. that way there wouldnt be a need to go after a refresh part. im sure as hell not going to put some POS double slot cooling card anywhere near 1 of my pcs. a 2nd slot needed for a 20 mhz increase. i hope ati loses a shitload of money on this release. maybe they will actually put some though tinto the next one.

 

[Geo]

ummm ati should just keep clocks as they are. that way there wouldnt be a need to go after a refresh part. im sure as hell not going to put some POS double slot cooling card anywhere near 1 of my pcs. a 2nd slot needed for a 20 mhz increase. i hope ati loses a shitload of money on this release. maybe they will actually put some though tinto the next one.

This has been referred to repeatedly as an "availability refresh". That means yields will be significantly better. That also means that there will be a significantly higher percentage of stellar overclockers. Which means even if they keep the clocks officially the same on a silent refresh, when the word hits the streets knowledgeable customers out to buy an X8** wll be scrambling/scheming to make sure they get the refreshed chip. Count on it.

 

[dksuiko]

ummm ati should just keep clocks as they are. that way there wouldnt be a need to go after a refresh part. im sure as hell not going to put some POS double slot cooling card anywhere near 1 of my pcs. a 2nd slot needed for a 20 mhz increase. i hope ati loses a shitload of money on this release. maybe they will actually put some though tinto the next one.

What's your problem? They improved their product and re-released under a new name, so what? If you don't like it, don't buy it.. there are lots of other cards there for you to buy. I don't see why you wish such negativity on ATI, they do nothing to hurt consumers by releasing a new product like this. In any case, you really need to calm down.

 

[Bjorn]

This has been referred to repeatedly as an "availability refresh". That means yields will be significantly better. That also means that there will be a significantly higher percentage of stellar overclockers.

The larger cooler is there for a reason though. So i'm not so sure that it will be a better overclocker.