512MB version of ATI X850 card

[RealLifePixelShader]

There is a good change that ATI will be making an announcement soon about
new products, and that this will likely include a 512MB version of its X850
card.

Graphics RAM is becoming more interesting, at the moment. ATI is clearly
playing it both ways, with this new announcement increasing the amount of
on-board memory and its HyperMemory technology decreasing it. It's
interesting to consider why anyone would need 512MB memory right now, and
the answer is to run at stupidly high resolutions or to run with lots of
anti-aliasing. There is also the question of graphics memory moving to
next-generation XDR technology, from RAMBUS.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=21382

[retsam]

i have a feeling that this card is ati's answer to sli......

[Toss3]

i have a feeling that this card is ati's answer to sli......
How come? 512mb won't actually help, unless you play doom3 at ultra high :) and an SLi setup has only 256mb of memory, not 512 :) lot's of memory could also help in graphics applications... :rolleyes:

[Vagrant Zero]

They have enough trouble getting these cards out at 256mb. Now they want to double it. Brilliant.

[RealLifePixelShader]

No wonder I dont like ATI.

[ChrisRay]

I really dont think a 512 Meg card is ATIs answer to SLI. It's not going to improve performance. Heck 128 meg cards are still managing 1600x1200 with marginal texture swapping. 256 meg cards even close to swapping textures yet. 512 Meg GPUs is going to be a gimmick for a while.

[GlowStick]

Of course, adding ram to a product is a great way to get customers. I still cant belive how the 256mb versions of fx-5200's and 9600's get sold, it makes me want to puke.

[jbirney]

512 Meg GPUs is going to be a gimmick for a while.

Wasn't 512MB needed for doom3 ultra-high res mod? Or am I confused?

[OWA]

Wasn't 512MB needed for doom3 ultra-high res mod? Or am I confused?

From a post in this thread (Toss3)...

How come? 512mb won't actually help, unless you play doom3 at ultra high

[jbirney]

OWA,
thanks thought so. And with other games do out soon no idea what they will be like...

[Gator]

.

[SlyBoots]

iirc COD recommended 512 for one of the textures on highest, Global I think it was?

[Clevor]

They have enough trouble getting these cards out at 256mb. Now they want to double it. Brilliant.
LOL! :lol:

So I guess they will be double difficult to get. And imagine how much those suckers will cost!

[john19055]

I think they should make the cards they have now more available instead of comeing out with another one that will be hard to get.

[Clevor]

I think they should make the cards they have now more available instead of comeing out with another one that will be hard to get.

I mean every time I look at Newegg, the X800XT PE Assassin in AGP is backordered - for the last year I think. I know a few came in way back. At least the 6800 Ultras, even in PCI-Express, are readily available now. Tho' I know the OEM PEs are readily available.

I guess with that 512 MB card, you could say double the ram, double difficult to get, and double the price . . . :lol2:

[SH64]

I wonder if the X850XT with 512MB will finally be able to reach or outperform a single 6800U (256MB) in Doom3 at the highest settings ! (1600x1200,4xAA,8xAF,UQ) .

[AthlonXP1800]

I wonder if the X850XT with 512MB will finally be able to reach or outperform a single 6800U (256MB) in Doom3 at the highest settings ! (1600x1200,4xAA,8xAF,UQ) .

No, X850XT 512Mb performance is much less (http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33805933) than X850XT PE 256Mb, many people thought 512Mb card supposed to double the performance and beat 6800 Ultra SLI that DriverHeaven been hinted so it turn to be false.

[SH64]

No, X850XT 512Mb performance is much less (http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33805933) than X850XT PE 256Mb, many people thought 512Mb card supposed to double the performance and beat 6800 Ultra SLI that DriverHeaven been hinted so it turn to be false.

Could be a drivers issue ??
also we are talking here about highest settings with AA+AF enabled . those tests were done @1024x768 with no AA/4xAF so they wont count .

[AthlonXP1800]

Could be a drivers issue ??

Probably

[MustangSVT]

I can already play Doom3 at Ultra Quality with no hiccups and 60fps. In CoD, what use would 512MB be even if say the "extra" settings needed 512mb. The game runs at like 150fps on my 6800GT.

This is my view towards this 512MB X850 or whatever it'll be: They have enough trouble getting these cards out at 256mb. Now they want to double it. Brilliant.

Here's a funny analogy :p .

double memory => double trouble!

[SH64]

I can already play Doom3 at Ultra Quality with no hiccups and 60fps. In CoD, what use would 512MB be even if say the "extra" settings needed 512mb. The game runs at like 150fps on my 6800GT.

This is my view towards this 512MB X850 or whatever it'll be:

Here's a funny analogy :p .

double memory => double trouble!

If thats the case .. then expect the same with Gainward's upcoming 6800U 512MB ;)

[ChrisRay]

Wasn't 512MB needed for doom3 ultra-high res mod? Or am I confused?


I think Doom 3's texture requirements are bogus. My 6600GT SLI setup plays Doom 3 faster than my 6800GT(marginally) except @ 1600x1200 with 4xAA/16xAF @ high quality which requires 256 megs of ram. These are "total" case scenerios for the levels and probably wont be seen much in levels and itmight amount to a small swap while playing.

[tristancarton]

i'll have to disagree with that. i don't think anyone believed the extra 256 of video ram would do anything and i don't think it is a problem with drivers. the fact of the matter is that a 512mb x850xt will run at the exact same speeds as a 256mb x850xt in all games out nowadays except for maybe a brand new game running at higher than 1600x1200 with 6aa/16af. 256mb is adequate for a texture storage and as a frame buffer in basically all games out right now. (minus maybe doom3 in ultra mode or perhaps a high end flight sim game)

this will undoubtedly change over the next year however right now i would even go as far as saying the 256mb x850xt-pe (note the pe sign at the end) will beat the 512 x850xt in most benchmarks/games because there just is no need for the extra 256mb storage right now and that higher clocks on both the memory and clock have a much bigger impact when you aren't filling the storage memory up. (sort of like the difference between a 128mb 9800 pro at 420/380 vs a 256 9800 pro at stock 378/338 two years ago) you would see faster frame rates with the 128mb because the extra 128mb of storage would never be used in older games with lower aa and af settings. now that time has passed you do see differences in the speeds and the 256mb 9800 pro will take the lead over the 128mb one at high res and high quality.

in any case i am pretty pissed at ati right now because i swore they were going to try and go for the 3dmark record this weekend. you just can't do that with an extra video memory card that runs at speeds below your top of the line. in fact havign an extra 256mb of video memory hurts the overclock and has no forseeable benefits when benching programs like 3dmark 2001/2003/2005 because all of these benchmarks fit into the 256mb texture memory with minimal paging.

i thought ati was going either to release their amr/sli catalyst program, an uber clocked 850, or a preproduction r520. instead they decided to release the 512mb 850xt which, while nice, is very sad for the amount of hype presented and the overclocking gurus they brought in. if you really want to generate buzz give those guys free r520 cards and let them have fun over the next few months spreading "holy crap 300k in 03 benchmarks". the amount of marketing just from those numbers would pay for the preproduction cards in only a few days.(only bad thing about this is that nvidia would see ati's cards and be able to try and outgun the r520 a few months in advance)

sorry for the rant. i just had to vent.
No, X850XT 512Mb performance is much less (http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33805933) than X850XT PE 256Mb, many people thought 512Mb card supposed to double the performance and beat 6800 Ultra SLI that DriverHeaven been hinted so it turn to be false.

Probably

[SlyBoots]

I'm more interested in seeing what the 'Bullhead' can do :cool2: NDA is up on monday :)

[tristancarton]

was reading on those forums about the boards they were using. had pictures up but then they were taken down or smudged out. i guess the pictures looked component for component exactly like this board on anandtech.
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2269&p=3

guess is that performance has increased by quite a bit since nov. but maybe not. in any case this will whet your appetite till then.
I'm more interested in seeing what the 'Bullhead' can do :cool2: NDA is up on monday :)