Quote Originally Posted by Bo_Fox View Post
That was an excellent article by the INQ!!!

And that is what I was thinking too! After Nvidia named the dual "8800GTS-512" solution a new number generation, the 9800GX2, there was a leak of the GTX-350. It was rumored to have 2GB of GDDR5 memory at 512-bit bus width. At first, I was wondering "what the heck"?!? Now, it all makes sense, given that the bandwidth is "doubled" on Nvidia's dual-GPU solution, and that Nvidia was always a sucker for making a dual-GPU solution since the 7900GX2 days. I knew that at 55nm, it was Nvidia's only chance of beating the 4870X2, by shrinking the GT200 cores and forcing them into a dual-GPU solution.

The INQ did a good job at pointing out the power consumption and cooling issues. It is unquestionably going to be a huge challenge to cool this sandwiched thing!!

GTX 290: die shrink slightly lower power consumption and/or higher clocks possibly GDDR5 memory

GTX 350 (dual GT200b): ~15-30% more power consumption than 4870X2 probably has to be less than 600MHz per core due to cooling limits still loses to the 4870X2 in some games insane cooling fan noise :down:
I have no idea what kind of crazy inq ish you are smoking, but a gtx 350 would absolutely dominate the 4870x2. Why? The bandwidth of a gtx 280 w/ gddr3 is already more than a 4870/4870x2 with gddr5, due to the 448/512 bit bus. PUT two of those together with some gddr5, and you will have a card that will leave the 4870x2 face down in the mud. (the power consumption at load would be high, but it would be 55nm so i doubt it would be that much more than the 55nm 4870x2, which runs hotter than two 65nm g98's in a 9800gx2.