It has been widely rumored that the upcoming RV670 will support DX10.1. This white paper that just found its way to us from someone I'll call a "friend of TeamATI" seems to replace a lot of rumor with some actual substance.
Here's a taste-
The new ATI Radeon HD 3800 series of GPUs are the first to be designed for DirectX 10.1, as well as other cutting edge technologies, including PCI Express 2.0, Unified Video Decoder (UVD), hardware accelerated tessellation, and power efficient 55nm transistor design.
This is definitely a good read with a wealth of information about DX10.1 as well as the impact it will have on games, gamers and game developers.
LINK: so you can read the whole thing yourself.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT - Early Performance pReview
BootDaily.com:
Not even the "forces" at NVIDIA’s Austin Texas Office could prevent us from bringing you early benchmarks on the company’s pending GeForce 8800GT – a card that will quickly alienate those who have recently bought either a 8800GTS or an 8600-series. The reason is simple – it’s a die-shrunk G80-class GPU with performance near the GTX and priced at well under $300 dollars. As you'll see from our performance graphs, this card does define the perfect balance of performance, power consumption and price; so well in fact, that we can see it easily become an industry-defining product in no time at all.
NVIDIA’s naming scheme for its fall line-up is very confusing and in fact is rather stupid. I’m not sure why they’d market a “GT” which is faster than a “GTS”. You can expect to see the GTS models quickly go end-of-life and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see a price move on the GTX down a bit to be more in line with the GT otherwise the sales of it will be hampered as well.
Under the hood of the chip is a 65Nanometer GPU with 128 stream processors, however, 16 of them are disabled to allow NVIDIA and its add-in board partners a much higher yield of chips and also helps to keep the prices at bay.
The board we’re looking at in this early preview is one that’s configured with 512MB of RAM and we fully expect to see 256MB and possible a 1GB version later this year.
With the recent Crysis demo, NVIDIA knows the sheer amount of hype and gaming nirvana it will will bring to the market makes for the perfect timing of a product launch like this and from the looks of it, the 8800GT is primed and pumped, ready to rock.
Conclusion:
In all honesty, we'd really have a hard time recommending any other card than the 8800GT for purchase at this time – not even the GTX. Its price, performance and power use make the GTX look like a relic. Moving to the 65nm process has really paid some nice dividends for both NVIDIA and those whom are seeking the best graphic card out right now.
Some may rag on the 8800GT since it doesn’t have DX10.1 support but until we know of a game that’s worth buying which supports 10.1, We certainly wouldn’t worry to much about it and at this point would far from consider it to be a deal-breaker at all.
There are online merchants who already have product for sale, for example, ZipZoomFly has one right now for $279 – no matter how you stack it, the 8800GT is one great buy. Look for a full review once we get a boxed retail unit from one of the leading add-in board makers.
Not even the "forces" at NVIDIA’s Austin Texas Office could prevent us from bringing you early benchmarks on the company’s pending GeForce 8800GT – a card that will quickly alienate those who have recently bought either a 8800GTS or an 8600-series. The reason is simple – it’s a die-shrunk G80-class GPU with performance near the GTX and priced at well under $300 dollars. As you'll see from our performance graphs, this card does define the perfect balance of performance, power consumption and price; so well in fact, that we can see it easily become an industry-defining product in no time at all.
NVIDIA’s naming scheme for its fall line-up is very confusing and in fact is rather stupid. I’m not sure why they’d market a “GT” which is faster than a “GTS”. You can expect to see the GTS models quickly go end-of-life and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see a price move on the GTX down a bit to be more in line with the GT otherwise the sales of it will be hampered as well.
Under the hood of the chip is a 65Nanometer GPU with 128 stream processors, however, 16 of them are disabled to allow NVIDIA and its add-in board partners a much higher yield of chips and also helps to keep the prices at bay.
The board we’re looking at in this early preview is one that’s configured with 512MB of RAM and we fully expect to see 256MB and possible a 1GB version later this year.
With the recent Crysis demo, NVIDIA knows the sheer amount of hype and gaming nirvana it will will bring to the market makes for the perfect timing of a product launch like this and from the looks of it, the 8800GT is primed and pumped, ready to rock.
Conclusion:
In all honesty, we'd really have a hard time recommending any other card than the 8800GT for purchase at this time – not even the GTX. Its price, performance and power use make the GTX look like a relic. Moving to the 65nm process has really paid some nice dividends for both NVIDIA and those whom are seeking the best graphic card out right now.
Some may rag on the 8800GT since it doesn’t have DX10.1 support but until we know of a game that’s worth buying which supports 10.1, We certainly wouldn’t worry to much about it and at this point would far from consider it to be a deal-breaker at all.
There are online merchants who already have product for sale, for example, ZipZoomFly has one right now for $279 – no matter how you stack it, the 8800GT is one great buy. Look for a full review once we get a boxed retail unit from one of the leading add-in board makers.
Friday, October 26, 2007
CRYSIS singleplayer demo
News direct from Alex, the community manager for Crytek:
"...The demo is going to be released officially on Friday, October 26th at 1:00PM (GMT+1). It will be exclusively available for those who pre-ordered Crysis for about 24hours via the EA downloader. On Saturday, October 27th at 1:00PM the demo will be put online for download an all public sites, so keep tracking your favourite fan site."
Download CRYSIS singleplayer demo
"...The demo is going to be released officially on Friday, October 26th at 1:00PM (GMT+1). It will be exclusively available for those who pre-ordered Crysis for about 24hours via the EA downloader. On Saturday, October 27th at 1:00PM the demo will be put online for download an all public sites, so keep tracking your favourite fan site."
Download CRYSIS singleplayer demo
Nvidia 9800 Series Coming Soon
In November!! What a lier!! - transcript: link
For some time now, there have been rumors all over the Web about the general technical specifications of the new generation of Nvidia graphics processing units. According to most hardware websites and related forums like Hyped Hardware, the next generation of Nvidia GPUs will hit the market during November which is not unusual as the graphics manufacturing company has a fall and spring product release
cycle.
The GeForce 9800 series of graphics processing units, GPUs for short, are based on the video processing chip codenamed G92 that is built by the Taiwanese contractor TSMC, using the 65 nanometer fabrication process. The complex architecture of the graphics chip and its capabilities are responsible for the fact that the G92 has over one billion transistors within. Going further than the 8800 series, Nvidia implemented in the G92 chips the second Generation Unified Shader Architecture as well as doubled precision support in the form of the FP64 technologies. As graphics processing units are now known for their parallel computing capabilities, the manufacturing company decided to make good use of them and integrate the GPGPU as a native technology.
Talking about parallel computing capabilities, well, the G92 GPU will hit the one teraflop mark with its shader processing units that comes in a MADD+ADD configuration which translates in 2+1 FLOPS=3 FLOPS per ALU (the shorthand for the arithmetic logic unit). The fully scalar design of the G92 series of GPUs is combined with a 512bit wide memory interface and an extended support for as much as 1GB of GDDR4 graphics memory. Graphics APIs supported are represented by the latest (in fact not yet released) DirectX 10.1 and its open source equivalent, OpenGL 3.0. Other new features of the G92 series are the support for "FREE 4xAA", an audio HDMI compliant chip, a tesselation unit built directly into the graphics core and improved performance and quality output of the AA and AF units.
While pricing for the GeForce 9800 series will vary wildly across the different manufacturers, two price ranges are being shuffled: 549-649 USD for the GeForce 9800 GTX and 399-449 USD for the GeForce 9800 GTS.
For some time now, there have been rumors all over the Web about the general technical specifications of the new generation of Nvidia graphics processing units. According to most hardware websites and related forums like Hyped Hardware, the next generation of Nvidia GPUs will hit the market during November which is not unusual as the graphics manufacturing company has a fall and spring product release
cycle.
The GeForce 9800 series of graphics processing units, GPUs for short, are based on the video processing chip codenamed G92 that is built by the Taiwanese contractor TSMC, using the 65 nanometer fabrication process. The complex architecture of the graphics chip and its capabilities are responsible for the fact that the G92 has over one billion transistors within. Going further than the 8800 series, Nvidia implemented in the G92 chips the second Generation Unified Shader Architecture as well as doubled precision support in the form of the FP64 technologies. As graphics processing units are now known for their parallel computing capabilities, the manufacturing company decided to make good use of them and integrate the GPGPU as a native technology.
Talking about parallel computing capabilities, well, the G92 GPU will hit the one teraflop mark with its shader processing units that comes in a MADD+ADD configuration which translates in 2+1 FLOPS=3 FLOPS per ALU (the shorthand for the arithmetic logic unit). The fully scalar design of the G92 series of GPUs is combined with a 512bit wide memory interface and an extended support for as much as 1GB of GDDR4 graphics memory. Graphics APIs supported are represented by the latest (in fact not yet released) DirectX 10.1 and its open source equivalent, OpenGL 3.0. Other new features of the G92 series are the support for "FREE 4xAA", an audio HDMI compliant chip, a tesselation unit built directly into the graphics core and improved performance and quality output of the AA and AF units.
While pricing for the GeForce 9800 series will vary wildly across the different manufacturers, two price ranges are being shuffled: 549-649 USD for the GeForce 9800 GTX and 399-449 USD for the GeForce 9800 GTS.
Assassin´s Creed está terminado
El juego de Ubisoft alcanza el estatus Gold y entra en la fase de duplicación.
Si hay un juego esperado para esta recta final de 2007 ese, desde luego, es Assassin´s Creed. El título de Ubi, del que puedes leer un avance aquí, nos traslada a la época de las cruzadas, llevándonos a diferentes ciudades donde deberemos encarnar a un asesino que debe eliminar a sus diferentes objetivos.
Assassin´s Creed alcanzó ayer el estatus Gold, es decir que está terminado y listo para entrar en la fase de reproducción seriada, y todo parece indicar que cumplirá los plazos previstos en PlayStation 3, Xbox 360. Recordemos que en las dos consolas el juego se lanzará el día 15 de noviembre, mientras que los usuarios de PC deberán esperar hasta el primer trimestre de 2008.
Quad-core is Crysis phwoar
By Wily Ferret from the INQ:
INTEL'S SPINNERS will surely be rubbing their hands in glee at the latest news to come out of the Crytek - ahead of the demo of Crysis, due to land tomorrow, Crytek's man in charge has revealed that a quad-core processor is top of his list of essential upgrades.
Cervat Yerli, who seems to spend more time talking to the press than actually working on finishing the game, revealed that on most systems, Crysis is likely to be CPU bound. "If [your system is] balanced, we are more CPU bound then GPU, " he told Shacknews. http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=639 " Multi-core will be beneficial in the experience, particularly in faster but also smoother framerates... We recommend quad core over higher clock."
It's like a press release that writes itself, isn't it?
The game also supports operating under 64-bit Vista, and we are told that more memory - more than 4 gigs, that is, if you're counting - will "yield quicker loading times." We pretty sure that, for the moment, most people will be content to keep a few extra hundred quid in their pockets and wait a few extra seconds.
As for the ongoing DX9 v DX10 shenanigans, Yerli reckons that DX10 in single player will only provide mere graphical niceties, whereas in multiplayer the more advanced graphics and rendering will allow for a truly next-generation gaming experience that actually affects how you play. The proof of the pudding, then, will be in the playing. µ
Thursday, October 25, 2007
XFX GeForce 8800 GTS 320 MB Fatal1ty edition
This time Hilbert Hagedoorn from Guru3d:
Shortly before the introduction of some new NVIDIA respin of graphics cards XFX decided to go out with a bang. I don't know how they did it but they are now offering a GeForce 8800 GTS armed with 320MB under the Fatl1ty label that is so darn fast you won't believe it, I guess that spoils the surprise what we'll be testing today eh ? today we'll have a look at that fatal line from XFX, with a product which will bring a couple of new features to the existing product line for sure. The Fata1ty Geforce 8800 GTS 320MB graphics card comes with it's GPU core pre-overclocked at 650 MHz and it's 320 MB memory clocked at (2x) 999 MHz. If that isn't rather radical .. the Shader domain inside that graphics processor is clocked at a lovely 1620 MHz. Now if that does mean jack to you .. these are the reference specs a 320 model normally has ... 500 MHz core, 2x 800 MHz memory and a shader domain clock of 1200 MHz, can you already sniff the performance increase ?
That's like bacon on your eggs man ... you know it's not healthy .. yet delicious.
Shortly before the introduction of some new NVIDIA respin of graphics cards XFX decided to go out with a bang. I don't know how they did it but they are now offering a GeForce 8800 GTS armed with 320MB under the Fatl1ty label that is so darn fast you won't believe it, I guess that spoils the surprise what we'll be testing today eh ? today we'll have a look at that fatal line from XFX, with a product which will bring a couple of new features to the existing product line for sure. The Fata1ty Geforce 8800 GTS 320MB graphics card comes with it's GPU core pre-overclocked at 650 MHz and it's 320 MB memory clocked at (2x) 999 MHz. If that isn't rather radical .. the Shader domain inside that graphics processor is clocked at a lovely 1620 MHz. Now if that does mean jack to you .. these are the reference specs a 320 model normally has ... 500 MHz core, 2x 800 MHz memory and a shader domain clock of 1200 MHz, can you already sniff the performance increase ?
That's like bacon on your eggs man ... you know it's not healthy .. yet delicious.
Huge Nvidian 8800GT die pictured
This time Theo Valich from the INQ:
WE HAVE TAKEN taken several 8800GT apart and checked for differences between the boards.
There isn't much to be said, other than to note that Nvidia has now marked its chips G92_2x0. This is just like G84 and G86 were marked as different series.
But the shocking thing is the fact that die is massive. This is how 65nm chip looks like when you put some real units inside, not make a chip that 80% is cache, and 20% is logic.
WE HAVE TAKEN taken several 8800GT apart and checked for differences between the boards.
There isn't much to be said, other than to note that Nvidia has now marked its chips G92_2x0. This is just like G84 and G86 were marked as different series.
But the shocking thing is the fact that die is massive. This is how 65nm chip looks like when you put some real units inside, not make a chip that 80% is cache, and 20% is logic.
The this chip is huge, but it is still smaller than a G80, which took most of the FC-BGA packaging, just like R600.
Graphzilla just placed a metal IHS covering complete package, and that is that. The lower-end part (with unexpectedly good performance) comes bare naked, and we can see the difference between die sizes.
When compared to the 8600GTS, this chip is way bigger (and better), and sure will pack the punch for DX10.0 titles.
The PCB itself is *very* similar to GeForce 8800GTS, with only minor modifications made in order to fit the 256-bit memory controller on the board.
The G80 chip comes with 384-bit memory controller, while this cheaper but highly-efficient 256-bit one is more friendly to the amount of video memory. Game devs complained about 768MB quite a lot, and we remember how 1GB XT cards walked all over Ultra in highest resolutions.
This is how the board looks once that single-slot (or dual-slot) cooler is removed:
The board we have is a bare reference design, manufactured by Flextronics (as far as we can guess by the numbers). This was the base for quite a lot of boards, but we'll see who will ship most 8800GT boards in 2007 - Foxconn or Flextronics.
When it comes to rest of the board, this is what you'll be able to buy for $200 something, depending on the size of frame buffer memory. 256 and 1024MB are going to come a little bit later, November-ish. Bear in mind that almost all boards are manufactured by Foxconn and Flextronics.
To translate into plain English: Nvidia will get another record quarter in sales, but this time around - it won't be easy.
Unfortunately, you have a top-performing part, and you're in the lead as far as DX10 user base is considered, analysts love you... and you go and crap on it with presentation containing white elephants.
Graphzilla was talking with white mice, obviously. µ
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
