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R420's Specs released!!!

Looks like some there are some answers to a lot of questions that people have had lately about "what" and "when". I have to say though, it feels like one of these two companies (ATi & Nvidia) is going to fall flat on its face this spring. It seems inevitable. Either way, its going to be very interesting, and the competition can only benefit us as end-users.:D

EDIT: I think Anandtech is "uBeR KooL", but their content has been rather dry recently.
 
Originally posted by Iconz1
Looks like some there are some answers to a lot of questions that people have had lately about "what" and "when". I have to say though, it feels like one of these two companies (ATi & Nvidia) is going to fall flat on its face this spring. It seems inevitable. Either way, its going to be very interesting, and the competition can only benefit us as end-users.:D

EDIT: I think Anandtech is "uBeR KooL", but their content has been rather dry recently.
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I agree, just look at there latest PSU article....laugh

Either way will be interesting. Good to see there not just leaving us AGP people behind <well we all are AGP people arent we?>

DASHlT
 
Looks good, but I'm not sure if it's "double" the performance of R350 like some of the speculation going around stated.
 
It's good to know that they'll be offering it in both apg/pcie interfaces. I might have to postpone purchasing my 9800p
 
Now I really wanna see some more official specs on the nv40. All I've seen thus far is stuff on the Inquirer, which is often as close to gossip as you can get. However, going by what I DID see on INQ, I'd have to say that the nv40 looks to be shaping up to be the MUCH better solution.

Since both cards are scheduled for about Q2 we'll really get more of a taste in the next couple months. I've been an ATI guy for awhile but I'm really crossing my fingers for Nvidia here.
 
Looks nice, but these are rumors, not facts. I'm dissapointed that Anandtech would bother with this. If they had any direct knowledge they would be under NDA right now.
 
Originally posted by LabRat
Looks nice, but these are rumors, not facts. I'm dissapointed that Anandtech would bother with this. If they had any direct knowledge they would be under NDA right now.
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It's enough to keep us on the edge of our seats at the very least. ;)
 
Hmmm.. ATi might be sticking with 8 pipes at the high end eh?

That means DX8 and earlier games will only get a speed boost from the core/corespeed and memory improvements. Mind you I don't know how much more speed DX8 and earlier games really need if you were to buy a 420/423.

The addition of two extra vertex pipelines, which probably accounts for the majority of the 50 million extra transistors above the 9800 line, will give an extra boost to DX9 on top of the core/corespeed and memory.
 
I'm just hoping that that 8 pipes is 8x2, or ATi is gonna get blown out of the water...assuming that the NV40 is gonna be 8x2 or higher.
 
We have just stumbled upon week-old ATI roadmaps confirming and putting to rest a number of the rumors that have been floating around. For whatever reason, information on ATI has been difficult to come by whereas we've seen a lot reported on NVIDIA. That all changes today as we uncover ATI's plans for 2004.
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If they really are week old ati roadmaps then they are a lot more than rumors. Things can change, but I think this is pretty close to what the final product will look like.
 
Originally posted by archevilangel
If they really are week old ati roadmaps then they are a lot more than rumors. Things can change, but I think this is pretty close to what the final product will look like.
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Its probably pretty close to what the final product is projected to be... who knows what ATI will change while in design and production. Its better than a rumor certainly, but stuff happens.

The one thing that I noticed on some previews of PCI-E was the AGP to PCI-E bridge. That seems to totally bypass the entire reason for PCI-E. Just like running AGP cards in PCI mode... swapping the line to PCI-E without taking advantage of it. Since ATI is proud of no bridge in these cards, sounds like its going in the right direction.
 
Originally posted by AMDoido
8pp?

Bah... even XgI can do more...
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Yeah, but look what came of it.

Even though it's still FAR to early to be making any serious judgements I think it'd be safe to say that they're going for a 8x2 setup.....to stay back a step on the pipes NOW would be like cuttin' their own throats, especially now that we know (or have heard) what Nvidia's got cookin'. :D

Oh the suspense.....It's killing me. :p
 
keep in mind folks the number of pipelines don't mean everything, there is so much more involved when it comes to shader performance

and also keep in mind there seems to be two definitions of what a pipeline is going around, the traditional definition, and a new definition that is used when talking about nvidia's pipelines, since they can change, some situations 8, some 4 etc....
 
Dont forget the core clock will almost double that of the 9800pro thanks to low-k .13, and PCI-E will finally give the cards all the bandwidth they can handle, along with more features and shaders, should be about 50% faster in current games and probably 75% faster in Dx9.
Plus since it uses low-k .13. no insane stupid loud cooler will be necessary.
I hate to see what Nvidia's next cooler will be? Dry Ice centrifuge or what? :eek:
 
Originally posted by Orbius
Dont forget the core clock will almost double that of the 9800pro thanks to low-k .13, and PCI-E will finally give the cards all the bandwidth they can handle, along with more features and shaders, should be about 50% faster in current games and probably 75% faster in Dx9.
Plus since it uses low-k .13. no insane stupid loud cooler will be necessary.
I hate to see what Nvidia's next cooler will be? Dry Ice centrifuge or what? :eek:
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Again, even though we can't REALLY go by what we've heard, the latest figures on the r420 have been between 500-600 for the core clock at 1GHz ddr on the ram.....I'd hardly call that double but it's a nice gain.

I just wanna see what kind of cooling solutions both sides come out with. It's looking like the r420 is shaping up to be the more esthetic of the two, with the highest chance for near-silent operation.
 
You're right for some reason I had it in my mind that the 9800pro was closer to 275 clock speed.
Still 500-600 is about a 33% increase nothing to sneer at.

Personally I'll be very surprised if the r420 isnt quite a bit faster than what Nvidia delivers, especially on PCI-Express machines.
 
Originally posted by Orbius
You're right for some reason I had it in my mind that the 9800pro was closer to 275 clock speed.
Still 500-600 is about a 33% increase nothing to sneer at.

Personally I'll be very surprised if the r420 isnt quite a bit faster than what Nvidia delivers, especially on PCI-Express machines.
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again, we'll have to wait and see........WAY to early to be making judgement calls like that. :p ;)
 
I'm guessing R420 will be a 8x2 architecture, with a doubling of float units too. Clocked at 500Mhz+, that's a significant jump, and also explains the need for the 1Ghz RAM since fill rate tests showed the 9700/9800s had insufficient bandwidth to meet their theoretical fill. And doubling the texture lookups will require that increased bandwidth to avoid creating a very unbalanced part.
 
Originally posted by John Reynolds
I'm guessing R420 will be a 8x2 architecture, with a doubling of float units too. Clocked at 500Mhz+, that's a significant jump, and also explains the need for the 1Ghz RAM since fill rate tests showed the 9700/9800s had insufficient bandwidth to meet their theoretical fill. And doubling the texture lookups will require that increased bandwidth to avoid creating a very unbalanced part.
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Yay, someone else who knows what they're talking about.....I like runnning into reasonable people every once and awhile on these forums.....it's so refreshing. ;)


JK, good points guys.....and lets hope we don't get let down.
 
again, we'll have to wait and see........WAY to early to be making judgement calls like that.
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Actually its not, Nvidia is still on .13 micron with the Nv40, given the current cards heat problems 8x2 is totally out of the question, no way in heck thats going to happen.
I would expect a true 8x1 architecture this time, that should streamline things somewhat, they'll use fast memory, and possibly squeeze more out of the clock. I expect 25-30% improvement over the current high end Nvidia models.

ATi on the other hand didnt use particuraily exotic ram on the 9800 line, clockspeeds were fairly slow because of .15 micron.
Simply moving to .13 low-k, using faster ram and using PCI-Express will give them a large % gain with the R420.

Right now I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that the R420 will be signifcantly faster than the Nv40. :p
 
Originally posted by Orbius
Actually its not, Nvidia is still on .13 micron with the Nv40, given the current cards heat problems 8x2 is totally out of the question, no way in heck thats going to happen.
I would expect a true 8x1 architecture this time, that should streamline things somewhat, they'll use fast memory, and possibly squeeze more out of the clock. I expect 25-30% improvement over the current high end Nvidia models.

ATi on the other hand didnt use particuraily exotic ram on the 9800 line, clockspeeds were fairly slow because of .15 micron.
Simply moving to .13 low-k, using faster ram and using PCI-Express will give them a large % gain with the R420.

Right now I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that the R420 will be signifcantly faster than the Nv40. :p
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And there are others going out "on limbs" and saying the complete opposite..........you get my point???
 
So..someone dumb this down.

Once PCI-express is on the market, will ALL PCI slots become PCIe?

Will AGP slots be worthless if the PCIe R420/R423 is better?

Will current motherboards support PCIe?
 
Originally posted by cornelious0_0
And there are others going out "on limbs" and saying the complete opposite..........you get my point???
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Yeah but my post is based on factual information, theirs is at best based on things saying stuff like. I bet that the Nv40 will be 8x2, sorry I may not know everything, but I will bet anyone here $1000 that the Nv40 is NOT 8x2.
 
Originally posted by Noctaurus
So..someone dumb this down.

Once PCI-express is on the market, will ALL PCI slots become PCIe?

Will AGP slots be worthless if the PCIe R420/R423 is better?

Will current motherboards support PCIe?
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1: Eventually I can see AGP being phased out 'cus once PCI-Express is the market standard, we'll have a large selection of low end/budget cards to fit the profile. The early boards popping out this year will have support for both (at least some will) but I wouldn't expect it to stay that way for long.

2: AGP slots won't be worthless, just like PCI still isnt worthless now. There are always different solutions for different people in different situations so even though there WILL be better versions out there, not everyone will have PCIE yet. I know I'd much rather have the opportunity to buy a card that's ALMOST as fast if it meant being able to keep my existing mobo/cpu.

3: I don't see how current motherboards would ever be able to support PCI-Express.....seeing as it's a complete makeover of the technology and a physically different slot.

Again, just my .02
 
Originally posted by Noctaurus
So..someone dumb this down.

Once PCI-express is on the market, will ALL PCI slots become PCIe?
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Some boards will be totally PCI-E and some will have PCI-E and old style PCI slots for backwards compatibility.

Will AGP slots be worthless if the PCIe R420/R423 is better?
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The R420 will be faster on a PCIe board theres no doubt, now if its going to be 10% faster or 20% faster, thats up in the air. Certainly doesnt make your AGP worthless as the R420 will be available in AGP flavors as well.

Will current motherboards support PCIe?
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No
 
It's interesting to me that technology is always so far in the leading edge of gaming...eg., take AGP 8x. Are we even close to having a game saturate this bandwidtH? I don't think so, maybe soon, however.

PCI Express will create an entirely new paradigm that means to system builders: "start over". That along with the new DDR2 memory and so on will mean incompatibility with the current box you own.

However, it seems to me that the AGP versions of the next gen cards will do just fine running the games for the next year or (three) based on the technology lead time compared to what games and/or software are actually taking advantage (actually using) now.

Since I just built my system last year and expect it to last at least another year, I'll ride out the AGP bus as long as possible.
 
Yeah but my post is based on factual information, theirs is at best based on things saying stuff like. I bet that the Nv40 will be 8x2, sorry I may not know everything, but I will bet anyone here $1000 that the Nv40 is NOT 8x2.
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I think you need to get of your high horse, pronto.

There's no way you're ahead of any of the rest of us in terms of info and NOTHING that has been released is even close to being fact.....so hush up. Not a single post in this thread is based on fact, and it isn't possible at this point in time. All we can make are assumptions. I'd really like to know why you feel so damn confident in the fact that you're the ONLY one here who knows what he's talking about, and why to YOU.....everyone else is wrong.

You're just being ignorant.....you need to sit down and listen to what you're saying, and actually READ what you're reading.

Give the media and the hype a couple more months and the information we're being fed will start getting closer and closer to actual fact but right now you cannot take anything out there with more then a grain of salt..........PERIOD.

Sorry to burst your little bubble but that's just the way it is. I'm not basing what I'm saying on what I THINK is fact or what I truely believe, I'm basing it on common sense and reasoning.....because that's all we have to work with right now. Until Nvidia and ATI THEMSELVES release either their cards.....OR official specs from their own labs the Inquirer doesn't count for shit, just give 'em time.
 
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