ATI's R420 Increases Number of Pipelines

[DivotMaker]

I know something NV40 will have, R420 probably lack:

PS & VS 3.0
Real time rendering
Hardware 3D painting

Link?

[jAkUp]

New news just in, Radeon X800 (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=15246) will have dual molex same as NV40 but ATI will not launch the top end XT with 16 pipelines, it will launch the mid end Pro with 12 pipelines first.

I know something NV40 will have, R420 probably lack:

PS & VS 3.0
Real time rendering
Hardware 3D painting

Supposly the XT is releasing just a few days after the Pro.

[DMA]

Seen this?

The real controversy is over what ATI have to match the huge number of pipelines in NV40. Previous rumours have suggested that R420, the ATI next gen part, had 12 pipelines, and wasn't much more than an extended Radeon 9800 core. Recent rumours have surfaced on the Inq and [H], however, about a 16 pipeline part that can take on Nvidia and stand a chance of coming out on top. We have been fed information that suggests that, in fact, ATI's R420 will, in fact, come in two flavours - a standard, 12 pipeline part, and a 'Nitro' branded, 16 pipeline, 512MB version.
http://www.bit-tech.net/

Sure we've heard the rumors about ATI shipping a 512 MB card this year, but will it really be the X800 XT? :)

[nForceMan]

Yup we'll see. Quietly I was planning on the NV40 (please don't tell this to NforceMan :)).
Got you, my little impostor! :spank:

:rofl

[Geforce4ti4200]

I didnt think thered be a 512mb card this year but I could be wrong. even if there is one, dont they appear in low end first? the first 128mb card was a ti200, the first 256mb a 9600 pro and fx5600 LOL. could ati be overestimating nvidia or do they know for sure the nv40 is 16 pipes and not 8 like many say

[lokeshray]

here is wht i just found at ANANDTECH.


Update April 9, 2004: We just received confirmation that X800 Pro will run on 12 pipelines, Radeon X800 XT will run on 16 pipelines and Radeon X800 SE will run on 8. It is important to note that all three of these chips are based on the same R420/R423 core. ATI could have an overclocker'ss/softmodder s dream with the X800 Pro and SE derivaties! This also comes as somewhat of a surprise since original leaked ATI documents claimed R420 would utilize 8 "Extreme" pipelines.


i have always trusted ANANDTECH the most
RIGHT HERE (http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=2018) is a link to the entire article.

this is just wht i said in my previous posts
so , wht i have been saying so far has always been right. :angel2:..fortunately.
Seems ATI will release 3 variants just like what NVIDIA did with the geforce 4 ti series.

btw, ATI was against softmodding the radeon 9500 non pro, they may make it impossible to softmod the r420 cores.

[Geforce4ti4200]

"btw, ATI was against softmodding the radeon 9500 non pro, they may make it impossible to softmod the r420 cores."


this is what I said, but my friends wouldnt listen, they kept bragging how they will mod the low end card, this is something ati does not want at all! heck they may even clock lock the low end cards like they did with the 9500 pros but for good. no ocing

[volkskrant]

Got you, my little impostor! :spank:

:rofl
:lol2: :) (aaa)

[DivotMaker]

i have always trusted ANANDTECH the most
RIGHT HERE (http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=2018) is a link to the entire article.



Glad you trust AT...I don't. I tend to trust what is posted when NDA's are lifted and I am surely not going to confuse AT as being a non-biased site....

Still, I do not consider their news or anyone's as official until the products are actually launched...

[Nv40]

What seems highly unusual is the scheduled introduction of Radeon X800 XT on May 31st; only a month after Radeon X800 Pro's unveiling. Recall that Radeon 9800 and 9800 XT were launched six months apart. We can speculate ATI has either changed their marketing strategy, or the difference in performance between R420 and NV40 hastens ATI's release schedule. Further inspection of the ATI roadmaps reveals that "Non-Pro" Radeon X800s are absent. Perhaps "XT" has replaced the "Pro" Radeon series, and "Pro" thus replaced the "Non-Pro" Radeon series. Even though the initial launches of Radeon X800 will use 256MB of GDDR3, before the end of the year we also anticipate a 512MB revision



an according to Anands.. the XT version, (the 16pipes cards) will not be launched? or available at retail? until 1/2? month later... since the retail availability of the Nv40/R420 is according to anand ~april26. NEVER a "midrange" card (the X800pro) is released 1 month earlier than the highend one.->the XT. the XT of the radeon9800pro was launched ~6+ months later. in my opinion the XT was not intended to be the "higher one" but the REfresh (similar to what the NV45 is to the NV40). the higher one ,that was planned to compete with the Nv40 is the X800pro. (12pipes).

it will be very interesting this competition.. no doubt about this.. :)

[lokeshray]

...
ATI is disabling pipes on r420 and selling them as mainstream and low end parts..
why?
points to the fact that the 0.11 micron part is either delayed or having problems...

they did the same thing with radeon 9500 non pro, until the radeon 9600 pro arrived.

[Geforce4ti4200]

the disabled pipes are defective, I keep telling you otherwise itll be binned as the x800xt with 16 pipes

[lokeshray]

the disabled pipes are defective, I keep telling you otherwise itll be binned as the x800xt with 16 pipes

ofcourse im aware of the defective pipes.
the only thing is that., it reminds me of the radeon 9500 non pro scenario wherein ATI has to use a defective(to wht degree?) r300 core with 4 pipes working, and sell them as radeon 9500 non pro...
they did this because radeon 9600 pro wasnt available.

why is ati making a radeon x800se and x800 pro ?
2 reasons:-
1]defective pipes/quads
2]low end chip rv370 based on 0.11 micron process is not yet ready or is delayed.

[coldpower27]

I dunno, I don't really like how their placing their products, I mean now if I want a full 16x1 pipe card from ATI I have to get the 499US version.... I mean not risk going for R420 Pro and R420 SE and hopping I can enable the pielines disabled on those versions. I mean if Nvidia, is marketing a 16x1/32x0 architecuture at the 299US price point and 399US price points they have somewhat of an advanatge over ATI.

The ATI R420XT looks like it's gonna beat due to having extreme clocks and memory and 16x1 architecture NV40 Ultra but however it's not competeing with it, since it's priced at 499US anyways

However from a business sense this is a good tactic, it allows less waste from R420 cores, 2 quads working effective core can still be sold as R420 SE.

the 0.11 micron part I believe is designed to be a budgety part, not the mainstream one, the RV380 fills that roll and it's on the 0.13micron process I believe, RV370 is meant to replace the 9000, 9100, 9200 Series of cards.

[Geforce4ti4200]

I havent heard of any .11 micron parts yet, maybe in 6 months?

[rwolf]

...
ATI is disabling pipes on r420 and selling them as mainstream and low end parts..
why?
points to the fact that the 0.11 micron part is either delayed or having problems...

they did the same thing with radeon 9500 non pro, until the radeon 9600 pro arrived.

Probably because the yields are lower when they ramp up production. The 9500 was killed because the yields on the 9700 were too high. So they made a real 4 pipe chip to make lots of money.