[Mr.Guvernment]

[Mr.Guvernment]

[Mr.Guvernment]

Not all of these sources may be reliable, - but hey - u never know! - but with a name like "THE INQUIRER" - hard to trust that as a source.


ATI's R350, RV350 taped out already?
Nvidia may have missed the boat


http://www.inquirerinside.com/?article=6661

[list]
By Jansen Ng: Tuesday 10 December 2002, 16:08


THE INQUIRER has received several tips recently regarding ATI's R350 and RV350.
The first reiterates that ATI's R350 is being built on a 0.15 micron process. ATI's RV350 mainstream part is however being built on a 0.13 micron process.

What is new is that both the R350 and the RV350 have already taped out with their production partner TSMC, which did not do quite as good a job with their friend Nvidia.

The Nvidia NV30 super graphics VPU was planned to be launched using TSMC's 130nm copper and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) low k dielectric process using Applied Materials' CVD low k Black Diamond product to wipe the floor with ATI. That would have been the first chip tape out for volume production using the most advanced foundry process currently available.

ATI has been more conservative in its process selection by relying on TSMC's proven 0.15 micron copper process without a low k dielectric.

Nvidia's GeForce FX using the NV30 chipis expected to be available to consumers in February, missing the Christmas boat. Many people have been snapping up Radeon 9700s and Radeon 9500s because they are widely available, and the best performing products to boot.

ATI's taping out means that those people who were waiting until February for NV30 might as well give up and buy Radeons now for little Timmy, or else wait a little bit into February and buy a Radeon 9900 Pro.
[/list:u]

[Mr.Guvernment]

just from toms hardware:



from
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1749&p=3

[Mr.Guvernment]

2 slots for a video card!

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1749&p=6

[DosFreak]

2 slots for a video card doesn't mean much since most of us don't use the PCI slot next to the AGP slot anyway and it's been common practice for how many years?

[Mr.Guvernment]

Quote:

2 slots for a video card doesn't mean much since most of us don't use the PCI slot next to the AGP slot anyway and it's been common practice for how many years?

true, for some people, and alot of mobos come with 6 pci slots. But i do know of people who use all 6, i myself was using all 5 in my old comp

vid in AGP
NIC (smallest so put near gfx)
2nd nic for ICS
sound
scsi card for tape backup drive
firewire card


as for other, some people may have a tv pci card or an add-on mp3 card for their sound blaster.


for most it won't be an issue, but there will be that odd person that will bug them or they will have to make some change, but oh well!

[Mr.Guvernment]

u said it - wait till the product is out and people actually own both the cards above - or at last 2 card worht comparing.

My uncles will most certainly be buying ATi new card or the 9700 PRO AIW if and when they come out with a 256mb version - to which ATI did not deny when i emailed them, they said simply keep an eye out on their site, they also did not deny the rumours of the r350 - they said just keep an eye on the upcoming enws page on their site.


but yeah, each card has their advantages - as i say ATI is an ALL around better card - where as, of course, NVIDIA is more aimed at the gaming market - and matrox @ the 2d world, and also 3d - but they try to sneak in to the gaming world now and then with some of their adverts.

[sapiens74]

After reading the reviews today on TH, and some other sites, the GeforceFX looks as bland as you can get.

I think I'll pass on this one.


The noise of the fan is something to be concerned about as well.

Looks like my rig will continue to get some ATI lovin'

[DosFreak]

Glad I bought my 9700 when it first came out.

NVIDIA blew it this time for me. Booooooooooooooooooooooooooo.!

[BladeRunner]

I'm currently using a 64MB GF4 Ti4200.
Although this is a good card (and it was a free upgrade from my GF3 Ti200) I was keeping my eye on the next generation - true DirectX 9 cards.
I've never actually been that much of an NVidia fan, however I've felt forced to take that route since I left Matrox a while ago.
Even when NVidia rulled the waves I went for a Matrox G400 MAX and I'm pleased I did, I rate it as a much better card than what NVidia had out at the time.
When I purchased my GF3 I also had the option of the Radeon 8500 and went for the NVidia option due to ATI's lack of driver writing ability.
Sure NVidia had some terrible driver releases, but ATI's were even worse.

NVidia appeared to be the de facto card to go for, like the word "Soundblaster" was once the standard all other sound cards attempted to be compatible with I felt that all graphics cards were attempting to be NVidia compatible.

The GF FX has been delayed and then delayed again and even now you cannot actually go and buy one.
They 6 month product cycle went to pot and the best they could do for Christmas was hit us with some AGP 8X versions of their existing cards, we all know the AGP 8X is really a waste of time and not that many people even had the motehrboards to support this extra bandwidth.

So now the covers are off, we can see what we've all been waiting for all these months from the wonderful people over at NVidia and disapointment is really the best word here.
I was considering an ATI 9700 however I think I'll wait to see what ATI have got up their sleeves for their next release.
Word on the street is that ATI will paper release their next card on the GF FX release date to spoil their party (as NVidia has attempted to do to ATI numerous times in the past).

If NVidia don't watch out we could well be looking at another 3DFX fiasco here.
There was a time when 3DFX rules everything, nobody wanted anything by any other manufacturer and their future looked very rosey indeed.
Up until a little while ago NVidia held that crown with 3 stunning releases, GF2, GF3 & GF4.
The next leader of the pack will be ATI and NVidia are very much going to find themselves in second place for a while - let's hope the ATI driver writers don't ruin the good work the designers have done and release lackluster drivers.

[Bursar]

I wouldn't be surprised to see nVidia pull some more performance out of the bag with updated drivers. Remember how they kept doing that with the GF3 cards?

Personally I'm going to use the FX release to lower the price of GF4 cards, and then get one of those to replace my aging original GF3.

[Champion_R]

I think performence takes a back seat when it comes to that noise. Sounds like a vacum cleaner. Too loud.

[Champion_R]

Quote:

P.S.=> Champion, you'd HATE my system... I can hear it across the house! Fans galore... had to go that route, 8000rpm ones on my CPU's alone! Last summer was a record shattering one, So many days that broke 100 degrees F in a row that broke heat records that stood 100++ years here, I had to cool my rig, & noise WAS the price! apk

I only have 2 case fans (unknown speed but pretty slow) and a 4500rpm CPU fan. I thought that was pretty loud seeing as I had a Celeron 633 with just the stock cooler before.

P.S. If I needed 2 8000rpm fans I'd start looking towards water cooling or some other form of quieter cooling. I find hearing TV programs over my fans annoying enough.

[Mr.Guvernment]

Well

from ati - they should have the 9700 PRO 256mb cards coming out soon, and they would not give me much detial on the

R350 Chip - which is supposed to be their next project - but with ATi driver support far better now - their next release would not suprise me - word was that it was tobe released with the FX - but that was very doubtful.


Anyways - Nvidia better get their act together - drivers can give an improvement, but right now NVIDIA needs the numbers - so the drivers they have now better be good! as people who are likely to buy this card want it NOW and not have to wait 4, 5 months for drivers to come out that will give %25 boost! in perfromace.

[Marktait]

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?threadid=33662506

HAHA..!! Very funny pics, just look through!

[Mr.Guvernment]

hehehe


u could get a hurricane going in there!! i think it is time for like a super duper giant server case, heck just get a server closet and put in an A/C unit

[sapiens74]

Since it is hot year round here, I had to buy a windows unit, or it gets quite toasty in my room.

[Mr.Guvernment]

Well

"rumour" has it that Nvidia is only making a limited number of the cards, 100,000, and are leaving this card and concentrating ona better one.

frankly, i think it is too late and ATi will now be king for a while, if nividia screws up like this again.

[CUViper]

Quote:

Since it is hot year round here, I had to buy a windows unit, or it gets quite toasty in my room.

Would that be MS Windows AC?