R420 Hints from people under NDA!

[MontoyaSG]

But when have feature set really added to the longetivity? the NV3X feature set easily beats the R3XX feature set did it help?

Hearing that Unreal 3 for example the NV40 will be well below the recommended spec don´t sound good for the longetivity for either the NV40 or R420. And by then surely you don´t want to runthe NV40 in full Shader model 3 mode anyway.

For me it much depends on how Far Cry and FS 2004 performs versus the R420 IQ and performance wise. Buying a video card for a future like 12 months ahead or so has never worked out for me. I am sure both the 6800 ULTRA and R420 will be good for the next 18 month or something but then it´s time to upgrade it seems.

But one feature surely helps the NV40 a lot in my eyes. Support for stereo3D gaming. That is the kind of future that may do it for me.

but this time round it's totally feature packed
plus it does video encoding on hardware which is good

[oqvist]

but this time round it's totally feature packed
plus it does video encoding on hardware which is good

The only features I care about is really support for stereo3D gaming and perhaps the PS 3.0 support.

I got a Realmagic Xcard and a TV tuner so those mpeg features are quite redundant for me. I can bet my ass it won´t support 10 bit colours like the Xcard and won´t output as good video for DVD:s. So much of the futures isn´t really necessary.

Also isn´t mpeg 4 more compressed and of lower quality than MPEG 2? Also what is the point hardware accelerating mpeg in the first place with todays fast CPU:s? Even my moms old P 2 400 is quite fine without hardware acceleration. I rarely do something else than watch movies when I watch movies.

I think it´s this kind of features which keeps the transistor count sky high and keep the prices up. From what I have heard the X800XT will cost 399 whereas the 6800 ULTRA will sell for 499 but rumours, rumours I know.

I won´t buy the 6800 ULTRA for anything other than it´s gaming performance.

And killermmc you will be heavily CPU bottlenecked with that CPU ;)

[randsom]

his 3.oc is still a fast cpu.

my 3.0c is doing 3800 on air and keeping up quite nicely with the a64 cpus.

once my danger den stuff gets here, ill pr0bably be able to pull off 4.0+
ill be good for awhile.

[oqvist]

I am talking when you comp it with a 6800 ULTRA and a X800... Look at the benchies. It´s not until 1600x1200 these cards really fly away.

[Spotch]

but this time round it's totally feature packed
plus it does video encoding on hardware which is good

So are you getting it to play games or do you run some sort of video pirating studio?

I mean hardware video encoding is nice assuming that the software you use will even support it in the first place. Furthermore exactly how much faster will the encoding be? Will it turn a 90 minute encoding session into 3 minutes? I dont think so. Even if it cuts encoding time by 75% how many videos does any one person expect to compress in a year? I don't know about you but I use my dv recorder quite a bit with all my kids and such, and I have a hard time using up a 90 minute tape in a month.

Edit:
Woops I was a bit late.... What he said too...
The only features I care about is really support for stereo3D gaming and perhaps the PS 3.0 support.

I got a Realmagic Xcard and a TV tuner so those mpeg features are quite redundant for me. I can bet my ass it won´t support 10 bit colours like the Xcard and won´t output as good video for DVD:s. So much of the futures isn´t really necessary.

Also isn´t mpeg 4 more compressed and of lower quality than MPEG 2? Also what is the point hardware accelerating mpeg in the first place with todays fast CPU:s? Even my moms old P 2 400 is quite fine without hardware acceleration. I rarely do something else than watch movies when I watch movies.

I think it´s this kind of features which keeps the transistor count sky high and keep the prices up. From what I have heard the X800XT will cost 399 whereas the 6800 ULTRA will sell for 499 but rumours, rumours I know.

I won´t buy the 6800 ULTRA for anything other than it´s gaming performance.

And killermmc you will be heavily CPU bottlenecked with that CPU ;)

[OWA]

Also isn´t mpeg 4 more compressed and of lower quality than MPEG 2? Also what is the point hardware accelerating mpeg in the first place with todays fast CPU:s? Even my moms old P 2 400 is quite fine without hardware acceleration. I rarely do something else than watch movies when I watch movies.
If you're talking about the VP and why it would be important, I believe the big deal is the encoding which is difficult for even high-end CPUs. It can also be used to aid in other cpu-like tasks. I think there is a thread in the rumor mill section talking about all that.

[Bopple]

But still, few would want that feature.
I don't want to pay more for a feature I don't need.

[oqvist]

Yes nVidia will have a hard time earning money from the NV40 as it´s. That card is surely much more expensive to produce than the NV30 yet they stick with 499$ as the limit. But then I can´t imagine I will ever pay more than 499$ for a video card so that make sense.

[zakelwe]

his 3.oc is still a fast cpu.

my 3.0c is doing 3800 on air and keeping up quite nicely with the a64 cpus.



You should be able to get a lead over a P4 at 3.8GHz if you have your AMD64 at 2400 or so.

Regards

Andy

[oqvist]

Yes but as he said a P 4 at 3,8 do stack up pretty well. Well enough to make ut useless as of today to upgrade anyway.

[Wenzula]

Here you can find the first pic of the r420 board:

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11781

It is a modified R360 PCD mit 8 or 11 layer. Do not have the exat number!