CCW
02-18-2004, 06:10 AM
NVIDIA has decided to jump into the PCI Express game right away with a series of products based o_n its current GPUs plus an AGP-to-PCI bridge chip. NVIDIA's custom-developed AGP-to-PCI bridge will sit between the GPU and the PCI Express bus, translating the GPU's AGP talk into PCI-E language. According to NVIDIA, the GeForce PCX product line based o_n this arrangement will look like so:
NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5950- based o_n the award-winning GeForce architecture, this new GPU delivers extreme graphics power and performance for extreme gamers.
NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5750 - designed for high-performance gaming with NVIDIA's full suite of cinematic effects and an unmatched feature set.
NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5300 -delivers state-of-the-art, best-in-class features and the reliability users have come to expect from NVIDIA, at an affordable price.
NVIDIA GeForce PCX 4300 - provides entry-level pricing coupled with strong performance, unbeatable visual quality, and DVD playback.
Since these products are based o_n existing GPUs, sorting out what's what shouldn't be too hard. The GeForce PCX 5300, for instance, is based o_n the GeForce FX 5200. In some cases, core and memory clock speeds have been tweaked a little bit, just to give the new products a little more juice, as happened during the transition to AGP 8X. The tricky o_ne is GeForce PCX 4300, which is actually based o_n a GPU called the GeForce MX 4000, which seems to be a rebadged GeForce4 MX. You can see an image of the GeForce FX 5300, with its PCI Express interface, here. NVIDIA has pledged to ship its PCI Express solutions "in lock-step with Intel," and claims to have shipped "more than 1000 PCI Express boards to customers and partners." I expect that means we'll see some GeForce PCX performance numbers somewhere o_n the web today; we'll keep our eyes peeled for them. Don't expect much in the way of performance gains over the AGP versions of these products, though; bridging to PCI-E alone isn't likely to achieve that. Of course, the bridged approach to talking PCI Express is o_nly a temporary, less-than-perfect measure. NVIDIA's NV40-series GPUs should come with native PCI Express interfaces built in. For now, though, NVIDIA has a family of PCI Express-compatible products ready to roll.
Source - Tech-Report (http://www.tech-report.com/)
NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5950- based o_n the award-winning GeForce architecture, this new GPU delivers extreme graphics power and performance for extreme gamers.
NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5750 - designed for high-performance gaming with NVIDIA's full suite of cinematic effects and an unmatched feature set.
NVIDIA GeForce PCX 5300 -delivers state-of-the-art, best-in-class features and the reliability users have come to expect from NVIDIA, at an affordable price.
NVIDIA GeForce PCX 4300 - provides entry-level pricing coupled with strong performance, unbeatable visual quality, and DVD playback.
Since these products are based o_n existing GPUs, sorting out what's what shouldn't be too hard. The GeForce PCX 5300, for instance, is based o_n the GeForce FX 5200. In some cases, core and memory clock speeds have been tweaked a little bit, just to give the new products a little more juice, as happened during the transition to AGP 8X. The tricky o_ne is GeForce PCX 4300, which is actually based o_n a GPU called the GeForce MX 4000, which seems to be a rebadged GeForce4 MX. You can see an image of the GeForce FX 5300, with its PCI Express interface, here. NVIDIA has pledged to ship its PCI Express solutions "in lock-step with Intel," and claims to have shipped "more than 1000 PCI Express boards to customers and partners." I expect that means we'll see some GeForce PCX performance numbers somewhere o_n the web today; we'll keep our eyes peeled for them. Don't expect much in the way of performance gains over the AGP versions of these products, though; bridging to PCI-E alone isn't likely to achieve that. Of course, the bridged approach to talking PCI Express is o_nly a temporary, less-than-perfect measure. NVIDIA's NV40-series GPUs should come with native PCI Express interfaces built in. For now, though, NVIDIA has a family of PCI Express-compatible products ready to roll.
Source - Tech-Report (http://www.tech-report.com/)