RD600 x8/x8 or x16/x16?

[jbizzler]

I assumed the RD600 was going to be full x16/x16 when the slideshow said Xpress 3200. But looking around, I found this powerpoint presentation apparently showing DFI's roadmap. On page 8, it lists the RD600-T2R/G as being x8/x8. I was wondering if this is a know truth, a new piece of info, or a typo.

[Funky]

Its gona be 8X/8X, well known truth for a while.

[hookid]

does it really matter? is 16/16 that much better? someone please explain it to me

[Ad1tya]

Doesnt really matter...

The present Gfx cards, except the GX2's dont manage to use the 16x PCI-e lanes anyways..

Performance hit will be barely noticable..

[burningrave101]

Doesnt really matter...

The present Gfx cards, except the GX2's dont manage to use the 16x PCI-e lanes anyways..

Performance hit will be barely noticable..

It may make more of a difference with the new G80/R600 cards as well as i'm sure there is a difference when running a 7950 GX2 in a x8 PCI-E slot. Its true that you can run it in the first slot for x16 mode but that limits you to not being able to move the video card to the second slot if you want to.

[jbizzler]

It's well-known that this board will do this, or this chipset? Becasue I've read that it will have 48PCIe lanes. That shoudl be plenty to have 2x16+whatever. I know performance-wise, it doesn't really matter, but now it doesn't feel so flagship anymore. Maybe there will be an RD680 later on? How does ATI do their northbridge numbering sequence anyway?

[MnM]

We need more information about this board, or I should say the chipset.
An interesting concept and I wonder how it compares to Intel x975 solutions.

Fugger had such a motherboard for ages - any chance of a comparison Fugger of your ATI motherboard with a Conroe 975 one?

[G H Z]

8X/8X is not as fast as 16X/16X. There is speculation that RD600 is just a re-worked RD480 but the one feature that may make up for it is independant PCIe overclocking.

[sora3]

Doesnt really matter...

The present Gfx cards, except the GX2's dont manage to use the 16x PCI-e lanes anyways..

Performance hit will be barely noticable..

Actually, there is. Despite what everyone has said, there is only one thing that will depend on the PCI-e lanes. And it's not the next generation cores. It's pretty much Crossfire and SLI.

The reason is this little bit of thing called "dongleless" SLI or Crossfire as you would call it. The software drives the multi-GPU for this. Of course, you would want more data lanes in order to process more info so yeah.

[vapb400]

8X/8X is not as fast as 16X/16X. There is speculation that RD600 is just a re-worked RD480 but the one feature that may make up for it is independant PCIe overclocking.

I highly doubt that:

Furthermore, it has 48 PCI-E Lanes and supports for 3 PCI-E slots, 2 for CrossFire and 1 for Physics Acceleration. More details for ATi Physics Acceleration will be announced during Computex 2006. For the south bridge, SB600 will be used and it may eventually be coupled with SB650. Now we have no more news for SB650 and RD600 is expected to be launched in the summer.

source:http://www.hkepc.com/bbs/itnews.php?tid=608109

16x + 16x + 4x still leaves 12 lanes for SATA USB sound ethernet and all that stuff. I highly doubt it is 8x.

I read an article claiming that it was pretty much just an RD480 but it seemed like the only basis for that claim was the fact that DFI said it to be 8x/8x. Do you have any other info that says otherwise?

not an attack at all, just curious

[Amey]

Since it is yet to be released i dont see a reason why ATI would deliberately make it 8x+8x instead of 16x+16x when they have a similar chipset for AMD already.Just my 2 cents.

[AlbanianOC]

I think it is an error since there is more than enough space since there are 48 PCIe lines total thus: 16+16= 32 GPU, 8 PPU, equals 40 PCIe line and there is another 8 for miscelaneus uses. The nvidia Nforce4 SLI x16 on the other hand has 40 PCIe lines for the Intel Edition and only 38 in the regular one which gives ATI the upper hand and us an amazing board

The emergence of the north bridge has made it possible to increase the number of PCI Express lines to 40 for the Intel platform, and up to 38 for the AMD platform. That allows developers to place two full-featured PCI-E x16 slots onboard, as well as distribute the remaining 8 lines (6 - for AMD) over the other slots and consumers. Consumers here are understood to be various controllers imposing increased requirements for the bus bandwidth, e.g. Gigabit LAN controllers. SOURCE

According to the report, RD600 will support three x16 PCI Express connectors - two for graphics and the third for a graphics card doubling up as a physics processor. Boards based on the part will retail for around $150, the report adds. SOURCE

.

[taemun]

...on the other hand has 40 PCIe lines for the Intel Edition and only 38 in the regular one which gives ATI the upper hand and us an amazing board.

I'm thinking that all of this PCIe lanes is more or less posturing. How many people are going to get 2 x 16x cards, another 16x card for ppu (running physics @ 8x electrical), AND need another 8 lanes !?

Especially given that the first gen Aegia cards are content enough with PCI (whats that, PCIe 0.25x?). I wouldn't have thought that Aegia are stupid enough to release it on PCI if it really required PCIe ?x to work properly. But hey, they are relatively new :P

[vapb400]

I thought ATI physics only required 4 lanes?

[Ad1tya]

Well be seeing Aegia's PhsyX's Cards on the Pci-e x4 Platform soon....

So, even theyve had some sense put in em :P.

[taemun]

I thought ATI physics only required 4 lanes?

Thats a nice spare 12 lanes then lol (spec wars ftw)

[jbizzler]

A physical PCIe x16 can support all PCIe cards, right? Like, can a PCIe x16 use a PCIe x4 PhysX card? Can a PCIe x16 run a little PCIe x1 card? If so, then you could choose between ATI physics and PhysX in the same slot, right? I hope DFI has a typo. If not, then I'll be hoping that ASUS offers a P5R32-MVP, as I imagine their RD600+SB650 will be called.

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

a 16x PCIe lane can run any PCIe device with a physical connector up to the size of a 16x connector. indeed, any PCIe device can be run in any size slot, provided the connector can be worked into fitting correctly.

[The Stilt]

It is tweaked x8 + x8.

Intel 975X has x8 + x8 too, but untweaked

[vapb400]

woah, thanks stilt. That is very suprising

[jkresh]

when is rd600 going to be released?

[zert]

when is rd600 going to be released?

i think we'll have to wait till late august maybe septembre to see some board on the shelves

[jbizzler]

Fugger thinks they'll be out by July 23rd, I think. I hope t's not insanely pricey. If it's less expensive than the P5B-Deluxe, then I'll get it. If not, I'll just have to read some reviews first.

[The Stilt]

DFI RD600-T2R/G should be one of the first "Zeus" motherboards available.
Just in time when the Core 2 Duo & Extreme processors are actually available.

[taemun]

DFI RD600-T2R/G should be one of the first "Zeus" motherboards available.
Just in time when the Core 2 Duo & Extreme processors are actually available.

Zeus? Have I missed something?