NVIDIA Preps D10U-30 GPU
Published by Bogdan Alex, on April 5th, 2008, in the categories: Video Cards
At this moment, it’s fair to say that NVIDIA’s G92X2 cards have lost the price war to AMD/ATI’s 3870X2. And now the Canadians prepare the 3850X2, while secretly scheming on the upcoming R700 GPU. But NVIDIA has some plans of its own, plotting for some new cards that could be released this year.
As usual, NVIDIA has some aces up its sleeve, and we see it currently planning to release a new card in Q2 2008. It is going to be powered by none other than the D10U-30 GPU, an improved variant of the rumored G100. The new card is supposed to integrate 1024MB of DDR3 memory. What, still GDDR3? C’mon NVIDIA, we could really use some GDDR4 power! Anyhow, D10U-30 GPU is the chip that comes before GT200, and GT200 should be out in Q3 or early Q4, according to some well informed, yet unconfirmed rumors.
For those of you hoping to end up with a less power-hungry card, know that the new card won’t go below 225 to 250W, and NVIDIA already warned its partners about this issue. It looks like the green guys are designing yet another dual chip card.
Speculating on the possibilities, we can also expect a 55nm G92 shrink behind the D10U-30 GPU.
As usual, NVIDIA has some aces up its sleeve, and we see it currently planning to release a new card in Q2 2008. It is going to be powered by none other than the D10U-30 GPU, an improved variant of the rumored G100. The new card is supposed to integrate 1024MB of DDR3 memory. What, still GDDR3? C’mon NVIDIA, we could really use some GDDR4 power! Anyhow, D10U-30 GPU is the chip that comes before GT200, and GT200 should be out in Q3 or early Q4, according to some well informed, yet unconfirmed rumors.
For those of you hoping to end up with a less power-hungry card, know that the new card won’t go below 225 to 250W, and NVIDIA already warned its partners about this issue. It looks like the green guys are designing yet another dual chip card.
Speculating on the possibilities, we can also expect a 55nm G92 shrink behind the D10U-30 GPU.
ATI’s Revenge
Published by Codrut Nistor, on April 4th, 2008, in the categories: News, Video Cards
With NVIDIA's 9800 GX2 and 9800 GTX video cards available, the landscape in the high end video cards market has become very interesting, but I guess we'll have to wait a few months to see the statistics for the current period, and how did NVIDIA manage to keep or expand its market share with the help of these new monsters. At the same time, AMD/ATI holds the "best bang for the buck" crown, and considering the pricing of NVIDIA's top of the line cards, I don't think they are going to lose that crown anytime soon. Anyway, now we have to look back for a while, and see how AMD/ATI managed to get back on track in the last quarter...
Considering the holiday season, and the fact that ATI's position in the midrange and low-end markets is pretty strong, the market share gain can be easily explained, but the results in the next two quarters will be very interesting to check, as soon as they become available.
For now, it should be noted that Intel's market share went up from 38% to over 41%, NVIDIA fell from 33.9% to 31.8%, VIA simply crashed to 2.3%, down from 6.63%, but ATI/AMD managed to climb from 19.1% to 22.8%!
Since everyone thinks 2007 was an exceptional year, the growth may not keep up, but leaving the market analysis aside, I am sure we'll have an exceptional year when it comes to new products, and I am thinking of AMD's low-cost platforms, as well as the desktop processors market.
Considering the holiday season, and the fact that ATI's position in the midrange and low-end markets is pretty strong, the market share gain can be easily explained, but the results in the next two quarters will be very interesting to check, as soon as they become available.
For now, it should be noted that Intel's market share went up from 38% to over 41%, NVIDIA fell from 33.9% to 31.8%, VIA simply crashed to 2.3%, down from 6.63%, but ATI/AMD managed to climb from 19.1% to 22.8%!
Since everyone thinks 2007 was an exceptional year, the growth may not keep up, but leaving the market analysis aside, I am sure we'll have an exceptional year when it comes to new products, and I am thinking of AMD's low-cost platforms, as well as the desktop processors market.
HD 3870X2 Goes Mobile!
Published by Codrut Nistor, on April 3rd, 2008, in the categories: Video Cards
As we speak, AMD/ATI's HD 3870X2 us the most powerful Radeon card available for desktops, but since the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series has been around for over 2 months now, and this card wasn't available for laptop owners so far...
...I guess you can figure out the outcome by yourselves, but I'll say it: AMD/ATI will release a mobile version of their flagship video card, taking the CrossFire technology into the mobile computing realm!
For now, we're only talking about engineering samples becoming available to notebook manufacturers, and accurate specifications are not available yet. Also, AMD didn't say anything about this product so far, but it seems the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870X2 is more than just a rumor, so I am sure we'll get to hear about this monster pretty soon...
...I guess you can figure out the outcome by yourselves, but I'll say it: AMD/ATI will release a mobile version of their flagship video card, taking the CrossFire technology into the mobile computing realm!
For now, we're only talking about engineering samples becoming available to notebook manufacturers, and accurate specifications are not available yet. Also, AMD didn't say anything about this product so far, but it seems the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870X2 is more than just a rumor, so I am sure we'll get to hear about this monster pretty soon...
First Overclocked GeForce 9800 GX2s!
Published by Codrut Nistor, on April 2nd, 2008, in the categories: Video Cards
The fact that NVIDIA's GeForce 9800 GX2 seems to be the most powerful video card available for gamers at this time doesn't mean it's going to make everyone happy. I know people who consider benchmark results more important than gaming experience, and exactly those may be the first customers for the first factory overclocked 9800 GX2, coming from the notorious EVGA!
In fact, there is more than just one GeForce 9800 GX2 model that comes pre-overclocked from EVGA, and the pricing is extremely intresting. Just keep in mind that the standard 9800 GX2 has a GPU clocked at 600MHz, unified shader processors running at 1500MHz, and memory with a frequency of 2000MHz, and is priced at $599. Now, let's see what can you get for only a few dollars more...
- EVGA e-GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB SC (SuperClocked): GPU : 625MHz, unified shader processors : 1562MHz, memory : 2000MHz, model: 01G-P3-E892-AR, price: $599.
- EVGA e-GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB KO (Knock-Out): GPU : 650MHz, unified shader processors : 1620MHz, memory : 2050MHz, model: 01G-P3-E895-AR, price: $609.
- EVGA e-GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB SSC (SuperSuperClocked): GPU : 675MHz, unified shader processors : 1674MHz, memory : 2100MHz, model: 01G-P3-E897-AR, price: $619.
- EVGA e-GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB BlackPearl: GPU : 675MHz, unified shader processors : 1674MHz, memory : 2100MHz, model: 01G-P3-E897-WR, price: unknown.
Only $20 extra for a solid overclock and same generous warranty? Now, that's what I call "serious hardware manufacturer!" Congratulations, EVGA, and I hardly wait to see first benchmarks of these new monsters!
In fact, there is more than just one GeForce 9800 GX2 model that comes pre-overclocked from EVGA, and the pricing is extremely intresting. Just keep in mind that the standard 9800 GX2 has a GPU clocked at 600MHz, unified shader processors running at 1500MHz, and memory with a frequency of 2000MHz, and is priced at $599. Now, let's see what can you get for only a few dollars more...
- EVGA e-GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB SC (SuperClocked): GPU : 625MHz, unified shader processors : 1562MHz, memory : 2000MHz, model: 01G-P3-E892-AR, price: $599.
- EVGA e-GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB KO (Knock-Out): GPU : 650MHz, unified shader processors : 1620MHz, memory : 2050MHz, model: 01G-P3-E895-AR, price: $609.
- EVGA e-GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB SSC (SuperSuperClocked): GPU : 675MHz, unified shader processors : 1674MHz, memory : 2100MHz, model: 01G-P3-E897-AR, price: $619.
- EVGA e-GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB BlackPearl: GPU : 675MHz, unified shader processors : 1674MHz, memory : 2100MHz, model: 01G-P3-E897-WR, price: unknown.
Only $20 extra for a solid overclock and same generous warranty? Now, that's what I call "serious hardware manufacturer!" Congratulations, EVGA, and I hardly wait to see first benchmarks of these new monsters!
Jetway Pumps 8800GT and 9600GT with 2GB VRAM
Published by Bogdan Alex, on March 27th, 2008, in the categories: Video Cards
Present day graphics cards are slowly moving from 512 MB towards a more generous 1GB total of video RAM. It’s the way things evolve, but not everyone thinks the say way. We see a bunch of GPU integrators that already offer 1GB graphics cards at a decent price. Take EVGA’s 8800GT 1GB edition, for example; it’s got one of the best price/performance ratios on the market. However, if you somehow feel that 1GB is not enough and you need more to match your system RAM, you'll be glad to know that Jetway is preparing 2GB versions of its 8800GT and 9600GT models. In order to accommodate the increased RAM capacity, both cards use a dual slot cooler that adds a series of minor design modifications to Nvidia's reference coolers.
Unfortunately, no GPU integrator, not even Jetway, is able to provide GDDR4 memories for the latest G9X GPUs. They might be following some strict directions from NVIDIA, presumably. Thus, Jetway’s new cards are using GDDR3 memory clocked at 1,800MHz and the 8800GT has its GPU clocked at 600MHz, while the 9600GT is clocked at 650MHz. If you compare the specs with a=other cards you’ll notice that there’s nothing special about clocks and features, save for those 2GB of RAM, which in 99 percent of the cases will be useless if you’re using these cards for games solely.
If you’re looking to buy one of these, you might want to wait a bit more as there is no info on price and availability for now.
Unfortunately, no GPU integrator, not even Jetway, is able to provide GDDR4 memories for the latest G9X GPUs. They might be following some strict directions from NVIDIA, presumably. Thus, Jetway’s new cards are using GDDR3 memory clocked at 1,800MHz and the 8800GT has its GPU clocked at 600MHz, while the 9600GT is clocked at 650MHz. If you compare the specs with a=other cards you’ll notice that there’s nothing special about clocks and features, save for those 2GB of RAM, which in 99 percent of the cases will be useless if you’re using these cards for games solely.
If you’re looking to buy one of these, you might want to wait a bit more as there is no info on price and availability for now.
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