AMD Preps Bomb to Drop on Nvidia

[Ravenas]

AMD preps graphics bomb for Nvidia
New Radeon 4800 series will be the fastest GPU ever

Rumours involving the next 3D chip from AMD's graphics division ATI are reaching critical mass. The new GPU, codenamed RV770 and expected to be marketed as the Radeon 4800 series, promises to be the fastest GPU ever.

It could be unveiled in a matter of weeks

If true, it will be a long overdue victory for ATI and a timely blow for its increasingly smug rival, Nvidia. The weight of opinion on RV770 now points to a chip with 480 stream processors, 32 texture samplers and 16 render output units. All told, RV770 is expected to weigh in at over 800 million transistors.

The most complex GPU currently offered by ATI, the Radeon 3870, squeezes 320 stream processors, 16 textures and 16 render output units into a 666 million transistor budget. It most other regards, RV770 is expected to carry over the DirectX 10.1-compliant architecture of the existing Radeon 3800 series.

AMD's mean 55nm machine

It will likewise be bashed out on the same 55nm silicon node by production partner TSMC in Taiwan. What's more, the rumours suggest it will still use the 3800's 256-bit memory bus. However, it's expected to up the effective data rate to nearly 4GHz courtesy of some fancy new GDDR5 memory chips.

It's a bigger, beefier version of the Radeon 3800 series rather than an all-new chip, in other words. Based purely on the raw architectural layout, RV770 ought to be around 50 per cent quicker than the best single-chip Radeon 3870 boards available today. However, the 4800 will also bring a boost in GPU core clockspeeds.

It's thought the headline frequency will increase from 775MHz to around 850MHz. It's also just possible ATI will copy Nvidia's split-frequency-domain approach and clock the RV770's stream processors even higher. If so, look out for stream processor clocks somewhere north of 1GHz.

Teraflop chip

All in all, it's predicted RV770 will just breach the magical 1TFlop barrier for raw compute performance. It should also be easily a big enough bomb to flatten Nvidia's best single-chip graphics card, the GeForce 9800 GTX.

And that in itself will be awfully big news. ATI hasn't led the market since the introduction of the Radeon X1950 series way back in August 2006. Nearly two years is an awfully long time to be second best.

What's less clear is whether single-chip RV770 boards will have enough fire power to beat the best existing dual-GPU boards from both ATI itself and Nvidia. However, that's a somewhat moot point. For starters, ATI is also prepping a dual-chip variant of the 4800 series, codenamed R700.

Moreover, dual-chip graphics cards tend to be rather unreliable beasts. We've little doubt enthusiasts will welcome a new single-chip card that lifts the bar for performance.

What about the green team?

All of which just leaves the question of how long it takes Nvidia to respond. The configuration of Nvidia's next heavyweight GPU, codenamed GT200, is still the subject of some debate.

However, a German language website recently claimed that Nvidia has confirmed the chip will pack one billion transistors. If so, it will clearly be more complex than ATI's RV770.

But when will GT200 appear? Given the recent roll out of the 9800 GTX, it's hard to see Nvidia releasing another new high end graphics chipset before late summer.

For now, AMD will only say that RV770 is out soon. We'd put good money on a late May launch date for RV770. But even a few months at the top would do wonders for both the image of the ATI brand and morale at AMD and ATI in general.

By Jeremy Laird

http://www.techradar.com/news/compu...rds/amd-preps-graphics-bomb-for-nvidia-331268

 

[Duffman]

yawn...the 2900 was supposed to be an Nvidia killer too.

While I still bought two of those, it was not the be all end all.

We shall see in time i suppose

 

[ShadowFold]

I really hope these destroy nvidia's current cards. I really like how they are relatively cheap too.

 

[theonetruewill]

I would like them to destroy the NVidia cards too - but solely because it would help AMD/ATi get back on its feet again so we can get really competitive Gfx cards from both contenders. I have felt the recent 9800GX2 for example to be a bit disappointing compared to the 8800GTX's dominance of last year.

 

[farlex85]

It should be the best card made to this point. If its not its a disappointment.

 

[Duffman]

It should be the best card made to this point. If its not its a disappointment.

like the 2900 was supposed to be and was

I hope it is as well. I would like to replace the crossfire setup i have with a monster card from them

 

[ShadowFold]

The 2900XT is a beast of a card its just drivers are holding it back and the fact like no game can use a 512bit bus.

 

[btarunr]

The issue is not about it being 'the fastest GPU ever', but for how long it could hold that title. For example, the G80 held that title for quite long. 8800 GTX was launched before the HD2000 series, the 8800 Ultra held the title of 'fastest GPU ever' for quite long...even today, some biased reviews show the G92 based 9800 GTX outperforming the 8800 Ultra, some show it not being able to convincingly outperform the 8800 GTX. So yes, if ATI is working on a monster GPU, its credibility lies in how long it's able to hold to that title.

 

[tkpenalty]

Correct the 256bit to a 512 bit: http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6994&Itemid=1.

More transistors dont always equal a better GPU...

 

[eidairaman1]

with ATi on Schedule for the R4 line it should be a good set of cards, 4400, 4600, 4800, makes perfect sense.

 

[ShadowFold]

with ATi on Schedule for the R4 line it should be a good set of cards, 4400, 4600, 4800, makes perfect sense.

I hope the 4600's dont suck like the 2600/3600's did I also hope the 4400's are bombin' for HD!!

 

[eidairaman1]

You gotta Realize every series the Lowest Number is Entry Level, the next is Mid and the Highest is Top- with their respectable end numbers like 50 and 70.

 

[WarEagleAU]

Looks pretty hot to me.

 

[philbrown23]

oh the rv770 will kill nvidia it will killem dead!

 

[magibeg]

I'll just have to wait and see the benchmarks. The sooner this card is released the better though.

 

[hat]

I just bought my 8600gts. It's not that great to begin with. With these new cards coming out, I feel worse than when my 8500gt was current. =(

 

[erocker]

That's because we all recommended you get something better then a 8600GTS.

 

[ShadowFold]

I just bought my 8600gts. It's not that great to begin with. With these new cards coming out, I feel worse than when my 8500gt was current. =(

Told you so

 

[candle_86]

lol 480 steam processors, that means it will work like a 96 stream processor card, remember kids most of those are still simple shaders that cant do most ingame stuff, and each group has an FPU unit. They need to rethink the approach not add more shaders.

 

[hat]

That's because we all recommended you get something better then a 8600GTS.

I would have if I had the money.

 

[erocker]

Yeah, I suppose that goes for everything... Get a job and reap the rewards! If you can of course. The 8600GTS is a decent upgrade over the 8500 for sure! Did you get the card hooked up yet? Just think once these 4K series cards are released all those 3k series cards are going to be very cheap.

 

[craigo]

800 million transistors,
they should just make a pcie card with dimm and lga sockets the ati chipset can handle the translations for the bus...that would be cool.

oh the new card..IT WILL BE MINE,OH YES IT WILL BE MINE

 

[Blacklash]

I'd love to see ATi get a solid win. It's been a while.

 

[Azazel]

This will be sweet.
it will still take a few years if ATI making awesome cards before it can become bigger that Nvedia , kinda like coke and pepsi

 

[Rapid]

Im really looking forward to be benches, Ive always been a ATI fan back to the days of my rage 128. THing is AMD/ATI are up and down more than a hookers pants. It would be nice to see them stay at the top for a while. GO UNDERDOG GOOOO!!!!