R520 delayed...

[shabby]

http://globeinvestor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/RTGAM/20050623/wati0623

“This range has been adjusted down from the preliminary guidance announced on June 6, 2005, due to a more conservative expectation on the ramp of new products in the fourth quarter,” ATI said. The company said on a conference call that its new graphics chip, the R520, is delayed.

Bad times for ati.

[retsam]

so thats why there stcok took a nose dive today ...wow

[bkswaney]

Yep... ATI is hurting right now. Heads are
going to roll up there by the end of the year.

Nvidia is kicking there ass right now.
The 6800 put nvidia back on the top
and now nvidia has released it's next Gen.

I think ATI aimed way to high on the 520
and it's cost them big time.
Nvidia played it smart and put out a
card that they could build without a
whole lot of problems.

[msxyz]

The Xbox curse strikes again... :D

In 2000-1 NVidia designed the NV2A GPU for Xbox and a year later it lost the performance crown

In 2003-4 ATi designed the Xenos GPU for Xbox 360 and a year later it's struggling with the next gen part.

Jokes aside, Mr Bauman at B3D is hinting that the delay is due to their new bus technology. Whatever this means, he leaves it to speculations. (512 bit or QDR Bus ?)

[Lfctony]

So I guess the article I read about the R520 yield problems appears to be true...

[T-Spoon]

The Xbox curse strikes again... :D

In 2000-1 NVidia designed the NV2A GPU for Xbox and a year later it lost the performance crown

In 2003-4 ATi designed the Xenos GPU for Xbox 360 and a year later it's struggling with the next gen part.


Except there's one big difference.

nVidia designed the chip and also manufactured the chip.
ATi designed the chip and MS manufactures the chip.

nVidia had to do a lot more work, which ATi doesn't have to do.

And I don't think it's the yields that are a problem. I think it's 'a problem' in the chip itself which needed to be fixed first before going into mass production. This would explain why the chip was delayed, but why they (ATi & TSMC) still seem confident about the 90nm-lowk process.

[shan2]

:(

I hope they recover soon. Heck without ATI, what's to stop nVidia from slacking on their releases? Competition is good for all of us.

[Ninjaman09]

:(

I hope they recover soon. Heck without ATI, what's to stop nVidia from slacking on their releases? Competition is good for all of us.
True, but to be honest, I'd like to see the generation cycle slow down a little bit so the prices can catch up. I mean, it was worth the money, but $600 for a video card is getting a little silly, you know?

[|JuiceZ|]

True, but to be honest, I'd like to see the generation cycle slow down a little bit so the prices can catch up. I mean, it was worth the money, but $600 for a video card is getting a little silly, you know?

Tell me about. And besides the pricing, just look at how much these beasts are limited by other seemingly "high-end" system components. Most of us will be rather cpu limited unless we can afford to drop an FX-57 or X2 4800+ proc into our rigs. Unfortunately thats the price you pay when you're an enthusiasts since its been like this for years.

[Ninjaman09]

Tell me about. And besides the pricing, just look at how much these beasts are limited by other seemingly "high-end" system components. Most of us will be rather cpu limited unless we can afford to drop an FX-57 or X2 4800+ proc into our rigs. Unfortunately thats the price you pay when you're an enthusiasts since its been like this for years.
Yeah, that's totally true. Sometimes I wonder whether or not the investment is really worth it, it can seem like I spend more time planning, building, and benchmarking my hardware than actually playing games on it. But honestly I've recently been getting a ton of PC gaming time in and my interest is very renewed now. :D

[Riptide]

Whether it's worth it is a real personal question I think. A lot of people enjoy simply tinkering with new stuff. It's expensive though. Most people draw the line somewhere. For instance I'm not going to spend $800 on an FX57 just so I can get SSE3 and 400MHz more CPU speed. In the grand scheme of things another 10% (at best) performance increase is not worth $800 to me. But you know... For other people with more money to burn it is. I say do what makes you happy. There is a line though where things become extravagant though.

[serenity]

So I guess the article I read about the R520 yield problems appears to be true...
No, they arent true. Read the post above your post. ;)

[holmes]

Well, just as long as they don't paper launch their top card and wait 8-12 months to get a good amount of cards in retail... They should still be ok if they launch AND have product in quantity sometime this year, but I do see them against the ropes right now and so far they have no answer to SLI or GF7...

[nicorulez]

If you read the frontpage of Rage3d, even the moderators are worried. Read the article titled 7800gtx vs nothing; it is a very telling tale of the feeling in ATI's camp at the moment. BTW, I bought a x800xt PE last year (one of the lucky few) as I felt its D3D performance was and is superior to the 6800 series. However, with the coming out party of the 7800GTX, I give Nvidia all the credit in the world. It still is amazingly fast in OpenGL (it stomps on all) and now its D3D performance is unmatched. I am no fanboi, but Nvidia is really converting me. I got my brother a 6800GT for his birthday and it is smoking fast (almost as fast as my card) and he has had zero problems with drivers. I think this time around, especially with the delay, I am coming back home to "Green."