4870x4

[POPEGOLD]

They'll probably be the same people gloating about how awesome the GTX280 GX2 is when it comes out for $999 and causes brownouts in your neighborhood.

I agree with everyone who says "who cares" about the number of chips. If the 4870x2 can consistently provide better performance than the GTX280 for a lower sticker price, why would I care how many chips it uses?

BUT dont forget about the evil boogeyman called MICRO STUTTERING... it ruins my gaming experience everyday...even though i dont notice it at all...whateva it is

 

[Red Falcon]

Well it is possible to make multiple chips be fast by working together.

It might reduce the cost for the company for making all the chips the same.



Just wait till gfx card becomes like

entry level 1 gpu chip
mid level 2 gpu chip
highend level 3 gpu chip
ultra 4 gpu chip



This way the cost wont be the different chips set amount but just the board that connect the chips and mem and stuff.

I really doubt this will happen. The scaling technology would have to be pretty damn good to make the 4x card 4 times as powerful as the single chip card. Scaling isn't that good yet. It would take MANY 8400GS cards to equal the performance of on 8800GT, and by the time everything was all said and done, the CPU would be working overtime trying to scale the cards to work together and the heat/power would be trumendous.

ATI may be on to something with there new inter-connect chip on the 4870X2, making the scaling be 1.8 times with two GPU's instead of traditional Crossfire/X or SLI at only 1.5 times performance.

 

[Megalomaniac]

Well it is possible to make multiple chips be fast by working together.

It might reduce the cost for the company for making all the chips the same.



Just wait till gfx card becomes like

entry level 1 gpu chip
mid level 2 gpu chip
highend level 3 gpu chip
ultra 4 gpu chip



This way the cost wont be the different chips set amount but just the board that connect the chips and mem and stuff.

Been saying this for months and this looks like a much better strategy.

look. for every expensive chip, you cannot afford a high failure rate, and you cannot adapt to market conditions. you need to switch fabrications also between cheap and more expensive.

With a single chip scalable design, you can :
1) afford to have failures, and they costs you very little.
2) Scale as the market demands.. need a 4 chip card, no problem! need more 1 chip designs, sure! now imagine that chip being integrated into the mobo as an integrated solution, you can just plug in a card, and have a 3 chip graphical solution! easy as pie
3) drivers become truely unified, because they all support one chip, and function based on capability, like cisco switches. Cisco switches all run the same OS, all of them, regardless of the size, thats one of reason that they are so good.

the benefits of one really complicated chip start to fade pretty fast, especially as the costs go up.

 

[Valset]

They'll probably be the same people gloating about how awesome the GTX280 GX2 is when it comes out for $999 and causes brownouts in your neighborhood.

I agree with everyone who says "who cares" about the number of chips. If the 4870x2 can consistently provide better performance than the GTX280 for a lower sticker price, why would I care how many chips it uses?

I laughed but then thought better of it, Nvidia is not going to give the performance crown. I am expecting something to take it back even if it is ridiculous.

 

[Gorankar]

I laughed but then thought better of it, Nvidia is not going to give the performance crown. I am expecting something to take it back even if it is ridiculous.

I honestly do not think it will be a GX2 on the current fab process. My guess is that NV will come out with a 280 Ultra. They will cherry pick some chips, over volt the hell out of them and crank the clocks up. Availability will be very poor, and AIB's will charge an extra $100 for them, give or take. Ala 7800 ultra.
For marketing reasons, having the fastest card is important. Theoretically ATI could prolly make a dual pcb 4870 X4 or something equally ridiculous to compete with that. Competition is good for the consumer but sometimes it gets out of hand. At least it is somewhat amusing when companies I don't own stock in, engage in virtually pointless oneupmanship.

 

[tazzmissionx]

The cost to manufacture the GT200 chip is expensive, over $100, so you can imagine just how pricey it is for these companies to buy it and make their cards.

 

[Valset]

I honestly do not think it will be a GX2 on the current fab process. My guess is that NV will come out with a 280 Ultra. They will cherry pick some chips, over volt the hell out of them and crank the clocks up. Availability will be very poor, and AIB's will charge an extra $100 for them, give or take. Ala 7800 ultra.
For marketing reasons, having the fastest card is important. Theoretically ATI could prolly make a dual pcb 4870 X4 or something equally ridiculous to compete with that. Competition is good for the consumer but sometimes it gets out of hand. At least it is somewhat amusing when companies I don't own stock in, engage in virtually pointless oneupmanship.

agreed. if nothing else there just isn't room to do it with 2gb memory. I am expecting them to hurry with the die shrink. that will help them a great deal.