NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 Coming February 2008

[zerazax]

Isn't it weird we are getting news on the 9800GX2 before there's any news on the 9800?

That's why I think that unless Nvidia is back in the business of confusing the crap out of everyone (then again G92 and the 8800 refreshes already did that) this might be the rumored 8800GX2 w/ 2 G92's while the G100 new architecture 9 series comes out a month or two later...

[YukonTrooper]

Why not gaming? Consoles are known for just that..?

I'm not much into consoles at all but my brother is so he tells me we are not seeing not even half of what ps3 can do. He says GT3 will change everything among other exclusive games. I kind a believe him since consoles have much advanced programming tools for games. Dont ya think?

Yah they'll get better for sure. Look at the original Xbox and how far it came towards the end. Chaos Theory had insane graphics compared to earlier games released on Xbox..

[hecktic]

it better be dual 384bit memory bus... or better yet 512bit!!

[v_rr]

Nvidia to launch mid-range G94 in February

The sources previously had said Nvidia would roll out the D9P in June 2008.

http://www.digitimes.com/bits_chips/a20071224PD212.html

[alexio]

I have a feeling this card might just be a dual G92 (with added SM4.1 and DX10.1 support ?). It's not unlikely seeing the name of the core is G92.

I hope this is not the case as I know Nvidia has better stuff cooked up by now.

[Syn.]

Why not gaming? Consoles are known for just that..?

I'm not much into consoles at all but my brother is so he tells me we are not seeing not even half of what ps3 can do. He says GT3 will change everything among other exclusive games. I kind a believe him since consoles have much advanced programming tools for games. Don't ya think?

Tell your brother to stop hoping that the money he spent on the PS3 will be worth it.

You want to see how far PS3 graphics will go then check out Drake's Fortune game.

Currently X360 has bigger install base which means people will make games for X360 and port it to PS3, the PS3 has handful of exclusives left any most of them are about a year away from release.

Now when it comes to PS3 graphics let me simplify it for you. Consoles (PS3 and X360) will always be DX9ex generation graphics, the PC has been on DX10 level graphics soon after the PS3 launched and will progress much faster forwards before the consoles would get any chance to catch up.

The PS3 it self is sales tool. Today company's realise that gamers will pay big money to get the latest and greatest so what companies are doing now is launching new untested technology on to gamers so that we end up paying for the initial R&D cost and testing. There is no reason for Blu-Ray drive in the PS3 but to push the format on to the public, and there is no reason for as complex chip as the CellBE in the PS3 but to test out what the chip can do and to get people programing for the chip so that they can sell it to more software developers.


Just look at the news about what PS3 has achieved. It is the #1 sold Blu-Ray player and it is the 1# Folding@Home crunching platform due to the fact that there arent any games out for the console. So most people use it to crunch proteins in between watching the free movies they get with it, which come bundled with the PS3 more often then games.

Its all clever marketing to sell you stuff. If a salesman is trying to show you some part of a product you should think about the parts he aint showing because those are the ones they will cheat you on. Always read the small print.

[chad]

this is a email from nvidia regarding the new card.

NVIDIA will debut it's Geforce 9 series on valentine’s day, 2008. The first product of Geforce 9 series will be GeForce 9600 GT.

2. 9600GT’s GPU is a 65nm processing chip. We have already seen this fabrication process used on on G92/D8P (8800 GT / GTS 512MB) .

3. The next-gen mid-range product GPU should have core clocks at 500MHz with it's memory at 2000MHz. The GPU will have 64 Shader Processors (a 8800GS will be 96SP 192bit 384MB). It is a main-stream product and only have one SLI connector so it can not support 3-Way SLI.

4. GeForce 9600 GT uses a P545 PCB design and the memory will be 256-bit 512MB.

5. The products performance will be slightly lower than the 8800GT, and likely even its rival Radeon HD 3850/3870, but will likely be priced and a mere $149.00 - $199 USD

6. Information on our new and highly awaited "D9E" enthusiast "GTX" replacement will be available soon and will likely be available to consumers in mid-march.

so this card is going to be crap, got to wait till mid-march

[Nicksterr]

Regardless of hardware advances, nvidia will always be ahead of Ati if they keep churning out drivers. (People complain about all the releases, but most of them are betas, the official whql stuff they release is the good stuff).

[realsmasher]

You talk about prices like 600 to 1000$, but keep in mind that it not really matters.

nobody (but we) will buy those cards.

Average Joe thinks : "Nvidia has the fastest card, so i'll spend my 100 bucks on a nvidia card"

So it wont matter if they cost 800 or 900$. The one who would buy for 800 will also buy for 900.

[Syn.]

Regardless of hardware advances, nvidia will always be ahead of Ati if they keep churning out drivers. (People complain about all the releases, but most of them are betas, the official whql stuff they release is the good stuff).

sure m8 you stick to your weekly beta drivers while we stick to ATi WHQL certified monthly drivers.

[NH|Delph1]

Sounds like Expreview can't keep the stories apart. Last I heard, there's one GX2 coming (two G92) chips) in February, and later in March a single-core D9E card. The date they are talking about should be for the G92 GX2, not the new D9E.

This just sounds like a mix of the two. Why would NVIDIA launch a dual-PCB-dual-chip card of the next generation before even launch a single-chip card? Doens't make any sense, when they even now are faster than anything ATI has to offer. The R680 will of course change that, but the GX2 should be measure up quite nice.
There's no reason for a 9800 GX2 (assuming 9800 means D9E and not G92).

And it actually seems like NVIDIA is speeding up the launch of the 9600 series from summer/fall to Q1.

//Andreas

[zerazax]

I actually do think the 9600 originally was intended to face off against the 3850's/3870's but ATI had good yields and they came out earlier.

That said though, itll be strange to see a mid-range 9 series come out before any high end.

And I do agree that I think they have their story's mixed up *unless* Nvidia has fundamentally changed how they'll do cards and are now going R700 route a'la multi-GPU cards...

[BulldogPO]

When this GX2 is supposed to be ready and NDA lifted?

[ripken204]

why is nvidia being so gay about all of this. just release the real video cards, the 9800gts/gtx. instead they are just going to tease us with little toy cards..

[DilTech]

sure m8 you stick to your weekly beta drivers while we stick to ATi WHQL certified monthly drivers.

I'd rather have weekly beta drivers then wait a month for a fix/performance increase. Plain and simple.

WHQL means nothing more than a company paying microsoft money to digitally sign the driver, that's it.

[adamsleath]

http://r800.blogspot.com/2007/12/amd...n-cebit08.html

[Philip_J_Fry]

why is this called 9800 GX2?? shouldnt it still be in the 8000 series?? like 8950GX2 ??

if this is caleld 9800GX2, then what will their next gen G100 GPU be called??

[Paxi]

isn´t it the next gen GPU ???? I´m confused.

[Philip_J_Fry]

lol since its called GX2 , i thought its 2 x G92 in GX2 style ...

nv usually have new architecture as their next gen... so i really doubt this is 9800GTX or something like that

Sounds like Expreview can't keep the stories apart. Last I heard, there's one GX2 coming (two G92) chips) in February, and later in March a single-core D9E card. The date they are talking about should be for the G92 GX2, not the new D9E.

This just sounds like a mix of the two. Why would NVIDIA launch a dual-PCB-dual-chip card of the next generation before even launch a single-chip card? Doens't make any sense, when they even now are faster than anything ATI has to offer. The R680 will of course change that, but the GX2 should be measure up quite nice.
There's no reason for a 9800 GX2 (assuming 9800 means D9E and not G92).

And it actually seems like NVIDIA is speeding up the launch of the 9600 series from summer/fall to Q1.

//Andreas

yeah exactly, i call expreview got the wrong info / old info

[WRC]

why is nvidia being so gay about all of this. just release the real video cards, the 9800gts/gtx. instead they are just going to tease us with little toy cards..

we were supposed to get the 9800gtx this fall but all those early rumors were BS, nvidia can afford to slack since they are so far ahead

[Syn.]

I'd rather have weekly beta drivers then wait a month for a fix/performance increase. Plain and simple.

WHQL means nothing more than a company paying microsoft money to digitally sign the driver, that's it.

Still how many threads have i read where people are going back and forth between these beta drivers that fix one thing but brake the other. And then decide to stick with the drivers released more then a month earlier which are usually the WHQL releases.

EDIT: Just have a look here...

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=170276


Just so i aint competly off topic has anyone noticed how ATi and nVidia are both preparing for the MCM age of graphic cards. Sounds like nvidia is planning Fusion sort of chip of thier own except its all GPU cores.

[turtle]

http://r800.blogspot.com/2007/12/amd...n-cebit08.html

Hmm. That's interesting...Thanks for posting.

There has been quite a bit of "talk" in the back rooms about R700 being redesigned...one more rumor tilting that towards the truth.

I wonder if AMD freaked and said something along the lines of "No way in hell you're jumping to 45nm with all the problems you (and us) have had with new processes". Examples obviously being R520 and R600, and the long wait between generations. It could also be a blessing being how well RV670 went.

This would make sense, and could also possibly allow a quicker roll out of products to compete with nvidia's next-gen, expected on 65nm. Perhaps AMD is making ATi embrace the "Tick/Tock" idealism of Intel and Nvidia, rather than just jumping to the "tock" of yore, as it's been so much of a consistent problem, they probably could have put out "tick" products out (say R600 on 90nm) and gotten them out the door long before we actually saw the 80nm version...and perhaps even used the 80nm version as a refresh. Yes, I know a bigger, more power-hungry R600 is a scary thought, but it's just an example. I don't think R700 on 45nm, if it ever existed as a launch part,was planned with this in mind, rather <150W (so an X2 could exist under 300W), so 55nm might only make it jump to 225W or so all things being equal. In my mind, this is a very real and possible scenario, considering a single D9E single chip part on 65nm with my train of thought would also use 225W (of connectors, meaning 150-225W). They might actually be a fair match, and keep steady with each other as they transition to smaller processes for their refreshes (say a D10P/E and R780/X2 or something on 45nm).

Hmm.

Question being...Can all of what R700 was planned to be fit on 55nm if it was originally planned for 45nm, and if so, without dramatic increases in the planned TDP? If not, I wonder what concessions were made. That could be good news (released earlier; competition for nVIDIA) or bad news (it's going to be another 225W+ part and/or with less performance than earlier planned), but alas it is news.

All in all, it's probably a good decision for AMD if it's true. They need to keep ATi in the hunt, continuously fighting...Rather than taking them on every-other 6-month cycle.

[systemviper]

I actually saw bigfoot running thru the woods last night and i think he had a 9800gts 1Gb, but the funny thing is he was still using the Striker Extreme and trying to overclock a Q6600. Man that Bigfoot, he'll just never learn. Then I threw a Rampage at him and got some jerky in return, think i made out don't you....

[THEHAWKs]

and to think how fast they put out there Video cards.you would think they are milking it for sure, G80, G84, G86, G92, G98.come out with a new GPU every couple of months.like they just pick when they will come out

[ripken204]

we were supposed to get the 9800gtx this fall but all those early rumors were BS, nvidia can afford to slack since they are so far ahead

they can't afford to slack tho. all they are doing is giving ATI a chance to come back while pissing off people like me who want to play games without lag.