R700

[OEGUSAndy]

Source here

 

[Jansku07]

Source: CNET

For ATI, the execution of this chip-ganging strategy is the key. And this is where ATI appears to have been successful. "The inter-processor communications. Getting that to work has been the trick. This is what ATI has done. They've come up with this stellar way of doing inter-processor communications so they can in fact get the scaling," according to Peddie.

AMD-ATI's upcoming R700 (rumored to be called the 4870 X2) two-chip graphics board will be the ultimate test of this strategy.

"It's a new proprietary inter-processor communication technology. If they put these two chips on one board and it does scale properly, then they have pulled off a coup," he said.

"When you gang up graphics chips (using the traditional Scalable Link Interface or CrossFire technologies) they roll off pretty fast. ("Roll off" implies that performance doesn't scale up well.) "So when you put two boards in, you don't get twice the performance but you (only) get one and a half. You put four boards in and you (only) get about 1.7, 1.8. What ATI is saying is that with two chips using (their) proprietary inter-bus, they will get 1.8 (the performance) with two chips. If that's true, you can expect to see four of them giving you something around 2.5."

Getting 2.5 times the performance from four boards would be a masterstroke for ATI.

The previous ATI dual-chip solution was very different, Peddie said. "The HD 3870 X2 was not a proprietary bus but a CrossFire connection. The CrossFire connection and the SLI connection are at the very, very end of the pipeline. Not the most efficient place to do an inter-processor communication. That's one of the reasons ATI has abandoned it.

 

[mandelore]

sexy black (err.. as sexy as a pcb colour can be?) lol

really nicely laid out, for a dual gpu pcb there is a pleasant lack of clutter

and very interesting about the enhanced scalability of the dual gpu interconnect

this is gonna be my card, hurrah!

All i need is an appropriate waterblock for it and it will slide nicely into my system

 

[mandelore]

This makes it very interesting as we can therefore not compare two 4870's crossfired against this, as the 4870x2 would beat it by a decent margin methinks. Nvidia should be more than a bit worried, perhaps...

 

[KainXS]

The previous ATI dual-chip solution was very different, Peddie said. "The HD 3870 X2 was not a proprietary bus but a CrossFire connection. The CrossFire connection and the SLI connection are at the very, very end of the pipeline. Not the most efficient place to do an inter-processor communication. That's one of the reasons ATI has abandoned it.

does that mean ATI is going to abandon CrossfireX altogether

 

[kenkickr]

does that mean ATI is going to abandon CrossfireX altogether

I would assume this is about the onboard crossfire connection that was on the 3870 X2?

 

[OEGUSAndy]

I would assume this is about the onboard crossfire connection that was on the 3870 X2?

I think that 3870x2 is a copy and 4870x2 is a response!

 

[Jansku07]

I think that 3870x2 is a copy and 4870x2 is a response!

Agreed. R700 is an optimized version of r770 CF, IMO. It isn't so rushed compared to HD3870X2. But as far as the performance goes I really don't know. We'll see..

 

[AsRock]

sexy black (err.. as sexy as a pcb colour can be?) lol

really nicely laid out, for a dual gpu pcb there is a pleasant lack of clutter

and very interesting about the enhanced scalability of the dual gpu interconnect

this is gonna be my card, hurrah!

All i need is an appropriate waterblock for it and it will slide nicely into my system

Was thinking the same, if i get chance it be mine too .. Maybe get it on release day too.

 

[tkpenalty]

I'd expect the new form of onboard crossfire to be far more efficient in contrast to dual card CF...

 

[OEGUSAndy]

I'd expect the new form of onboard crossfire to be far more efficient in contrast to dual card CF...

Thats what they say. Im just so curios to se the results. If that R700 will get 1.8 of the power of 2 4870 like they say it will be worthet.

 

[panchoman]

hopefully the plx chip on this one is the new that, that allows pci 2 connections between each core and to the mobo itself, which should greatly increase the scaling and hopefully performance.

 

[Megasty]

hopefully the plx chip on this one is the new that, that allows pci 2 connections between each core and to the mobo itself, which should greatly increase the scaling and hopefully performance.

We can only hope so. That single connection of the first plx chip was the only major drawback on the 3870x2. Even with the plx problems the x2 was still faster than the CF but if they eliminated that problem then this thing is gonna fly.

 

[OEGUSAndy]

Source

 

[tkpenalty]

Source

Wow. That looks amazing. Finally AMD makes something black eh? OEM sample though.

 

[Megasty]

Its black, all black I never thought I would see the day (single tear starts to form)...I've got to get me one of those!!!

 

[OEGUSAndy]

Its black, all black I never thought I would see the day (single tear starts to form)...I've got to get me one of those!!!

OOO yeah

 

[InnocentCriminal]

ATi partners better not be bastards and use red or blue PCBs. I'll have to kick some dicks in if they do.

 

[Megasty]

ATi partners better not be bastards and use red or blue PCBs. I'll have to kick some dicks in if they do.

You mean something like this fugly shit: http://en.hardspell.com/doc/showcont.asp?news_id=3676

If Sapphire does that to the 4870x2 they'll be getting more than just some angry letters

 

[AsRock]

ATi partners better not be bastards and use red or blue PCBs. I'll have to kick some dicks in if they do.

Well i don't mind red or black my self and like red more. BUT i'd like to see is a none painted cooler. which is some thing i been thinking of doing to my 2900XT.

 

[InnocentCriminal]

You mean something like this fugly shit: http://en.hardspell.com/doc/showcont.asp?news_id=3676

If Sapphire does that to the 4870x2 they'll be getting more than just some angry letters

Well i don't mind red or black my self and like red more. BUT i'd like to see is a none painted cooler. which is some thing i been thinking of doing to my 2900XT.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind red, it's just too generic now, along with blue. I've got nothing against the colours, I just want a black PCB to match the black PCB of my next motherboard and my Audigy card.

 

[Jansku07]

That's a sweet looking GPU. I hope it'll kick GTX280's ass. We'll see soon.

 

[oli_ramsay]

That's a sweet looking GPU. I hope it'll kick GTX280's ass. We'll see soon.

Should easily piss all over GTX 280, the GTX 280 has only 113% the performance of one 4870 so the x2 should castrate the 280