NEWS: X900 Series Specs

I would hardly call the 7800gtx a waste product, as how early it came out and the performance it gives is the best currently available. That being said, I surely wouldn't buy a gfx card right now, let alone a gtx being how close the G71 and R520 seem to be, and the 7800gt/rv530 and 7600gt/rv515 for their respective markets.

I didn't want to start a new new thread, because rumors are rumors...and I didn't know where else to post this. There's now a few different people on three different forums (of course saying they have sources from people such as ASUS) saying some derivative of R520 scores 7000-7500 in 3dmark05. No clue if this is pro, xt, xtpe, specs/pipes or what. One of them is here, and it also has a guy saying he knows Nvidia's gameplan...To phase out the GTX with an ultra this month or next, and that the "7600gt" will be 16 pipes. He also says there's a G7x with 32pp, no clue if it'd be 110nm or 90nm...or why they'd release such a product if G80 is coming so close behind R580. Rumors, rumors, rumors...but the 3dmark score may be reliable, as a few different peeps are posting similar info. Of course if it's ATi's R520 with it that close to a gtx scoring (almost identical), they better overclock well or nvidia may indeed overshadow them with their ultra. They also better get R580 out the door soon or be prepared to be one step behind in the high-end market.

http://forums.firingsquad.com/firing...ssage.id=42089

I don't wanna say it, but nvidia's looking to be in really good shape with their cards, and ATi not so much. Even if crossfire is more efficient, nvidia may win this round by the sheer fact they're getting their products to market earlier, and dropping their older cards price when ATi releases something that can compete or slightly beat it.

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Originally Posted by charlie

I have confidence that WHATEVER ATI releases next will be awesome!

C

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Agreed, my main problem/concern though is whether or not they will do one last hooray for AGP users. If they don't, I guess my xtpe is going to hold it's value :stick:

:D 1) 7800GTX = No waste of money - best card U can buy yet.

2) ATI will have a PCI-E suprise that'll really rock....... ;)

3) AGP is not sure.

:toast:

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Originally Posted by HARDCORECLOCKER

2) ATI will have a PCI-E suprise that'll really rock....... ;)

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ATI can be full of surprises....that is once they release it several months after its competition. In which case it more or less becomes negated. At least for the highend, NVIDIA will probably be getting more market share, as a lot of people will be buying 7800GTXs, and those people probably won't have very much incentive to switch to an R520 from that point.

i'm sure ATI will bring out a really nice card, but i doubt they will be able to do it in enough quanitity, and there is still no sign of it

hopefully one of the offerings has 32 pipes without being a powerhog...that would be sweet. then again, hopefully i'll also :banana::banana::banana::banana: a brick of gold.

but when???????? i got bored from waiting does anybody knows when will ati gonna launch something

Well they're launching something on 26/27th in Australia (link1 link2).

most likely officially launching crossfire

Everyone says that and it may be true, but if there isn't a R520 at that show, I will be surprised beyond belief. There are two Game Developer Conferences scheduled within a couple weeks after that date, one of them specially a ATi GDC, and again, i'd be xtremely surprised if they would hold these shows without a R520 present, or not being about building games around using R520's attributes.

I think it'll launch at that Australian thingy (or slightly before or after on a Tuesday), and at least be shown there, with availability either then or shortly after in September. It seems companies like ASUS are already getting shipped finished referance boards, so obviously a launch is going to be coming fairly soon.

i hope the r520 will suck ass - this way i wont have to sell my 7800 and spend money i dont have on switching vidcards again :D

I dont think that will happen because if ati released something slower then 7800 then they wouldnt sell much :stick:

As far as I see I'm still not beleiving anything. Remmber when they said g70 (7800gtx) was a huge ass power hog. Couldn't run with the heatsink, sucked a ton of power, and we'd all need seperate psu's to really use em and stuff for sli?

Remember things like that?

I've completely given up on the R520 at this point. Now with NVidia already announcing the G80(unified shader/pipes to square off with the R580!) for first quarter of 2006 and G71(which, also, could be a 32 piped monster) when the R520 comes out as well, there's just not much reason to hold out faith. By the time the R520 comes out, The G80 will be so close that it'd be pointless to jump on said product. I hope ATi make a good card, I reallllllly do, as it'll force nvidia to release their G71, which will force ATi to show off the R580(3 months later, might I add), which will make NVidia give us the G80... The card I'M waiting for.

Lets face the facts, both NVidiots and FanATIc's, this IS ATi's copy of the NV30 mistake, plain and simple!

Either way, I'm sitting on my 6800gt until 2k6, and we'll see if the R580 or G80 get my money, as neither the GTX or the r520 have a chance at my money now.

I agree, if G80 comes out Q1 of 06, and R580 is no match for it, ATi is screwed up the bum. Also, buying any of these cards coming out now is pointless unless you need one (sit tight if you have a xl/68gt or better), because as Dilly mentioned, over the next 6 months there are going to be 4-5 more high-end cards released most likely constantly one-upping...which is just crazy. In the end though, we should end up with some awesome deals on high-end cards...well, high-end cards of three months ago.

The way I heard the release plan was like this though:

R520 (late Aug/sept)
G71 (110nm, 24pp, higher clocks) or a 32pp G70-like card, whatever Nvidia feels it needs (Almost simulatious launch to R520)
R580 (32pp, 700+ core speed, other goodies) Jan/Feb 06
G80 (unified architecture, high clocks [800-1ghz], ??pipes, 90nm) Feb/Mar 06 (If release date is true, that's killer)
R600 - (65n, unified arch, high clocks [~800 or more], 64pipes, 32 rops/tmus) Nov/Dec 06

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Originally Posted by DilTech

By the time the R520 comes out, The G80 will be so close that it'd be pointless to jump on said product.

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the G80 won't come out til summer of 2006 (the typical graphics card cycle). The R520 comes out early October at the very latest. I wouldn't call that close.

Yeah. Its the brand new achitecture thats killin ati's progress. So once they get out the r520 whats to stop them from quickly getting the r580 and waiting for nvidia's response? Maybe there working on 580 right now to get it a bit started before they release 520?

Huh? What?

I suspected G80 to come out much later (summer 06) as well and just get a minor jump on R600, and for the ultra (G71) to be released with R520, and 32pp G7x to compete against R580...that makes the most sense to me, but the rumor mill seems to be working against that theory, and that G80 will come much sooner than expected.

http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=2492

NoL, ATi has been working on R580 for a long time, and it, unlike R520, actually seems to be on-time, and probably will tape out soon. It's most likely not done, especially since it's supposed to have actual real improvements over R520 (TMU's,much higher clocks, higher % 32pp products working, etc) unlike refresh products of yore, that were basically a clock bump. What's to stop them from releasing it right after R520? Well, it's not done yet, and obviously they need to fix the problems that seemed to have plagued R520 (seemingly low clocks at 90nm, getting quads to work, multi-threading) all the way up even to now. That, and unless R520 really gets killed by nvidia's counterpunch (G71 or whatever) it would hurt R520's sales, as obviously they'd have to lower the price on it right away.

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Originally Posted by turtle

I suspected G80 to come out much later (summer 06) as well and just get a minor jump on R600, and for the ultra (G71) to be released with R520, and 32pp G7x to compete against R580...that makes the most sense to me, but the rumor mill seems to be working against that theory, and that G80 will come much sooner than expected.

http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=2492

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I honestly don't see NVIDIA launching THREE flagship graphics cards in one year. I just can't picture that happening. At most, they typically release a flagship, then a fall refresh (clock bump). And I'm not going to bank on a 32-pipe G7x series card either. I'll believe it when I see it from NVIDIA's own mouth. ATI may not even have a fall refresh since they're releasing their card so late. They may wait until winter, maybe even early next year for that. They might, however, release a version of the R520 with more pipes unlocked, who knows.

my 2 cents

They should wait to winter for a refresh so we can all go they clock so amazing when we are out with our computers putting snow in our w/c resevoirs.

It's not really three flagships, more like 2, gtx/u/maybe 32pp G7x (<--same card, minor variations in either pixel pipes and/or clockspeed) and G80. I imagine that if (and that's a big if) the 32pipe nvidia card is released, it will be their refresh part (like R580, but sooner), and just like a gtx or ultra, but with 32pp (5% greater performance per clock over G70/71?), and then G80 from there after R580. I agree though whole-heartedly, launching G80 that quick would seem completely abnormal, and it seems weird if they'd release both the ultra (high-clocked G70) and G7x (32pipe G70). Doesn't make sense to me, and odds are we'll see one or the other, if we see G80 so soon. I wouldn't rule out both though, if G80 is pushed back farther (Which to you and I both would seem like the more logical thing to do.) or the ultra fighting R520, the G7x preemptively striking Ir....R580, and G80 mopping up if need-be.

Yeah, like you said, it's anyone's guess on what the hell nvidia is going to do...But they look pretty set. I guess the big question mark around it all is R580's performance, and how quick nvidia is willing to churn out G80 and how well it in turn could battle against it compared to a 32pipe G70.

A 32-pipe G7x would definitely not be a minor step up, equating to 5% more performance per clock. More like 30%.

Say it's on the 110nm process, and clocks relatively similar to a g70 or g70 ultra. If it has the same amount of vertex shaders, presumbabley 8 extra pipes wouldn't do that much, especially as the % extra pipes added becomes less. (16-->24 is greater than 24-->32)

30%? I don't know about that. If you look at 7800gt's performance (again, yes, in 03 at stock rez which may or may not be a fair representative bench) against a gtx, it performs at 95% of a gtx at the same clock, that's with one less quad and one less vertex shader...and we all know vertex shaders are important. Also, didn't we try tests in another thread about disabling a quad on a nvidia card, with all vertex shaders intact, and it was only like 3% differance?

Granted, you probably know more about this than me, but from what i've seen, the quads themselves arn't making a huge differance, it's the tweaking nvidia did to the core on the gf7 that makes it shine over gf6, and the higher clock speeds themselves on the 110nm process coming from 130nm. Presubabley a 32pipe card would still be 110nm if it was g70-based. If it's 90nm, then crap, that's a completely different story. The clock speeds would surely make it 30% faster. I'm just assuming the G7x with 32 pipes would be a G70 with two extra quads, which in and of themselves wouldn't make a huge differance, but it may be enough (with added clockspeed over gtx) to fight against R520 and R580.

Apologies if i'm missing some glaring point. I hope you don't mind the discussion, and skooling by you to me if need-be. That's just what i've found.

I don't think we're going to see R580 or G80 sooner than 8-10 months from now, the market doesn't require that and ATI/Nvidia won't release even if they already have them prepared, just for the competition's sake. The G70's already look like they can clock 500Mhz+ and have great yelds, so i would only expect a 24pipe 7800Ultra clocked at about 500/1400 or so as a response for the R520.