7800 Ultra is coming?!!!

[evilchris]

They need a 500/1.5/512 GTX. No comparison to a card like that.

[Hex]

A EVGA 512 KO edition would make me happy

[agentkay]

All GTX PCB´s have these empty spots for extra memory, right? Did someone noticed the traces on the PCB that lead to these empty memory spots? I´m wondering how this extra memory would be accessed. Is it possible that the G70 core actually has 2x256bit memory controller/bus? So that current 256MB GTX cards are running on one 256bit memory bus and when the other 256MB are added (512MB GTX, or Ultra whatever), the exta memory would run on the second memory bus?

Or do they just share the existing, one and only 256bit memory bus? Can someone with a GTX check the traces? Thanks a lot, and in the meantime I´ll see if I can find some close up pictures of the PCB online.

[technoid]

if it was only possible to once and for all dispell this myth. Ned-ucation available at www.firingsquad.com where they have a new FEAR review with the final game code (disregard all previous beta benchmarks you might have seen since as name beta implies, the results were *rough* and not representitive of final results). So, if you go through that firingsquad review carefully, you will see how much X800XL 512MB is faster than X800XL 256MB - its actually SLOWER!!!. Muahaahaa.

When and if nVidia launches a 512MB 7800 GTX or Ultra or whatever, it will be to fullfill marketing checklist. The extra memory wont make it faster at all, except in the rarest of circumstances... but, I'm sure they will use faster memory though.

Did you look at the article I left a link to? The big thing it pointed out was the demo for Call of Duty 2 was lowering the IQ for 256 MB boards. It did show the 512 MB ATI board faster but the thing I found most interesting was the demo was setting the IQ lower for 256 MB boards, they had pictures of it. With textures getting larger all the time it's possible that type of thing will happen more. So I think the point is a 512 MB board might not be such a bad investment now days.

[agentkay]

Did you look at the article I left a link to? The big thing it pointed out was the demo for Call of Duty 2 was lowering the IQ for 256 MB boards. It did show the 512 MB ATI board faster but the thing I found most interesting was the demo was setting the IQ lower for 256 MB boards, they had pictures of it. With textures getting larger all the time it's possible that type of thing will happen more. So I think the point is a 512 MB board might not be such a bad investment now days.

You can override these settings and force higher detail textures even if you don´t have the 256MB or 512MB video card. Let me upload the pictures I took with my 6800nu and it has just 128MB. (1280x960, AF enabled ingame, no AA, all other settings maxed out, HP setting in control panel, 81.85 drivers)

http://www.supload.com/thumbs/default/shot0000.jpg (http://www.supload.com/free/shot0000.jpg/view/)
http://www.supload.com/thumbs/default/shot0001-114996.jpg (http://www.supload.com/free/shot0001-114996.jpg/view/)
http://www.supload.com/thumbs/default/shot0002-223160.jpg (http://www.supload.com/free/shot0002-223160.jpg/view/)
http://www.supload.com/thumbs/default/shot0003-536250.jpg (http://www.supload.com/free/shot0003-536250.jpg/view/)
http://www.supload.com/thumbs/default/shot0004-782171.jpg (http://www.supload.com/free/shot0004-782171.jpg/view/)
http://www.supload.com/thumbs/default/shot0005.jpg (http://www.supload.com/free/shot0005.jpg/view/)
http://www.supload.com/thumbs/default/shot0007.jpg (http://www.supload.com/free/shot0007.jpg/view/)
http://www.supload.com/thumbs/default/shot0008-204985.jpg (http://www.supload.com/free/shot0008-204985.jpg/view/)
http://www.supload.com/thumbs/default/shot0010-541382.jpg (http://www.supload.com/free/shot0010-541382.jpg/view/)

I didn´t find the exact spot like in the pictures of the article, but I adjusted all "picmip" settings to "0" (except the manual one) and the textures looked much better than what default setting tried to force me to play with. And best of all, at these settings its totally playable and very enjoyable (especially visually) and considering that its just a 6800nu with 128MB (and 1GB Ram), the COD2 demo actually runs better than FEAR (retail).

I´m sure these forced settings will run with 256MB cards even better and while I agree 512MB cards are definitly the future, if people have 2GB Ram, 512MB cards are not that bad needed yet. I do plan to upgrade my video card next autumn, to a 512MB G80...IMHO, should be a nice jump from the 6800nu. :D

[rudedog]

agentkay, what and where are these settings? I would love to try this out.

[technoid]

You can override these settings and force higher detail textures even if you don´t have the 256MB or 512MB video card. Let me upload the pictures I took with my 6800nu and it has just 128MB. (1280x960, AF enabled ingame, no AA, all other settings maxed out, HP setting in control panel, 81.85 drivers)

That's definitely cool but I don't know the entries needed to do that and I think most people will probably be in same boat. So I still think it's a good idea to have a system capable of running the worst thing a game developer can throw at you and not worry about it. Then again if the textures are too large to fit in graphics memory they will either have to be swapped in and out from system memory when needed or even worse use dime to render them. All I'm really saying is I think some of the games that come out fairly soon will benefit from 512 MB of graphics memory.

Of course I know if the textures fit in 256 MB then there won't be any benefit from having a 512 MB card at all. So it's only in a few select games you'd be able to see any benefit and the rest of the time the extra memory would just sit there looking pretty :D

[Riptide]

Well if a 7800 Ultra or a 512MB GTX is in the pipeline I hope it comes out before the end of January. I just read up on eVGA's step-up program - very nice service they offer there. My eligibility will run out by the end of January though so I hope they get it in gear and release an X1800XT killer. lol

[agentkay]

agentkay, what and where are these settings? I would love to try this out.

You need to edit the Config.cfg file, and change it to these settings:

seta r_picmip "0"
seta r_picmip_bump "0"
seta r_picmip_manual "1"
seta r_picmip_spec "0"
(0=extra 1=high 2=medium 3=low)

The picmip_manual setting if set to "0" automatically adjusts most likely the quality of textures, therefore set it to "1". Also after the changes done, I would make the file read-only, so the COD2 demo can´t switch back to lower detail textures.

[agentkay]

That's definitely cool but I don't know the entries needed to do that and I think most people will probably be in same boat. So I still think it's a good idea to have a system capable of running the worst thing a game developer can throw at you and not worry about it. Then again if the textures are too large to fit in graphics memory they will either have to be swapped in and out from system memory when needed or even worse use dime to render them. All I'm really saying is I think some of the games that come out fairly soon will benefit from 512 MB of graphics memory.


Check my other post for the entries and I´m pretty confident that they will work on the retail version of COD2.

One of the few games that currently available that definitly would love to have a 512MB video card, is Quake 4 running in Ultra mode. When I try to play that game with my 6800nu, it really kills it. I never had so many hicups and hd swapping ever before. Of course having 2GB ram (instead my 1GB), would help it and would be a relative cheap short term alternative, but a 512MB card with 2GB system ram, would be the optimum.

One thing that I find annoying, is that both games (COD2 and Quake) offer visual features like the flashlight shadows or better textures in COD2 (which have been proven to be by far not that taxing like Quake4 Ultra textures), that even low-mid end cards are capable of rendering with just a small performance hit. They probably want to make people buy better cards by limiting/binding features like this to the highest settings, but I surely find it annoying.


Of course I know if the textures fit in 256 MB then there won't be any benefit from having a 512 MB card at all. So it's only in a few select games you'd be able to see any benefit and the rest of the time the extra memory would just sit there looking pretty :D

The only benefit in this case would be the capability of using widescreen hi-resolutions (1920x1200 or higher) and being able to switching on lots of AA/AF. A card with only 256MB would slowly but surely starve for more video memory at these settings. Of course you need one powerful card to produce acceptable fps at settings like that in the first place. ;)

The other problem I always had when having to choose between a card with normal/standard or high amount of memory, was the question how many games would actually take advantage of the extra memory during the cards estimated lifespam. Look how long there have been 128MB cards, so I personally thought back in January this year: "I´ll go with a cheaper 128MB 6800nu, when overclocked and unlocked, its not too far away from the GT, I should be fine". I actually see that I did a mistake back then, because I rather should have waited the 3 weeks and pay the $80 extra for a 256MB 6800GT since I´m seeing now that there are definitly games that benefit from 256MB cards. It doesn´t kill me, as I see that only the Ultra setting of Quake 4 is the only thing I´m truely missing out, but the time until my next video card upgrade would come, would have been smoother with a 6800GT 256MB.

I won´t repeat that mistake again and will get a 512MB card when the new DX10 cards are suppose to hit the market, around summer/autumn 2006. I think the time for 512MB cards will be perfect then, but currently it isn´t yet, it isn´t far though.

It really depends on how long people want to keep their cards. If people want to buy now a card, and keep it only for a year anyway, then I´d say that they´d be fine with a 256MB card AND 2GB system ram, however, if people want to keep their card from now for at least 2 more years, I would definitly recommend a 512MB card. There will be a sh!tload of games that will benefit from 512MB cards during the next 2 years.

[technoid]

Check my other post for the entries and I´m pretty confident that they will work on the retail version of COD2.
Thanks. I'll save those and give them a try. Hopefully they'll fix the retail version and give you better control in the menus, but if not I hope your settings work in it too.


One of the few games that currently available that definitly would love to have a 512MB video card, is Quake 4 running in Ultra mode. When I try to play that game with my 6800nu, it really kills it. I never had so many hicups and hd swapping ever before. Of course having 2GB ram (instead my 1GB), would help it and would be a relative cheap short term alternative, but a 512MB card with 2GB system ram, would be the optimum.
When I first played the FEAR SP Demo on a P4 3.4 Gig Northwood / 6800GT / with 1 GIG of RAM it had lots of pauses and hicups playing at Maximum but it played fine with everything set to Medium, so I upgraded to 2 GIG of RAM and it played fine on Maximum. That's why I want a 512 MB board, so I'll have the best of both worlds (2 GIG and 512 MB).

You're right about not getting much from it right now but I'm one of those guys that would like to upgrade and keep the system for 2 years and I'm sure it would be beneficial during that time. Right now I have an AGP system and I'd like to move to PCI Express and be able to keep it for 2 years before upgrading again.

I bought FEAR and Quake 4 but I'm currently playing FEAR and haven't installed Quake 4 yet but I'm almost done with FEAR so it won't be long. If Quake 4 is 80% as good as FEAR it'll be a good game. I liked Quake 2 so I'm looking forward to see what they did with Quake 4.

[agentkay]

When I first played the FEAR SP Demo on a P4 3.4 Gig Northwood / 6800GT / with 1 GIG of RAM it had lots of pauses and hicups playing at Maximum but it played fine with everything set to Medium, so I upgraded to 2 GIG of RAM and it played fine on Maximum. That's why I want a 512 MB board, so I'll have the best of both worlds (2 GIG and 512 MB).

FEAR makes a huge difference on these settings, AA, soft shadows, volumetric light density, so I have them disabled, except volumetric light is set to medium. Maximum textures caused with 1GB a medium amount of hicups, but after I defragmented my hdd completely they are almost gone! I know I don´t have the lowest tolerance for things like that and its not super smooth, but its totally playable and as long as I can enjoy the game, its all what matters. :)

You're right about not getting much from it right now but I'm one of those guys that would like to upgrade and keep the system for 2 years and I'm sure it would be beneficial during that time. Right now I have an AGP system and I'd like to move to PCI Express and be able to keep it for 2 years before upgrading again.

I´m on AGP too and when I upgrade next summer, it will definitly be a major one. $400 videocard, $250 2GB memory, $100 mobo, $250CPU which basically is $1000 in total but when I sell the old stuff and am a little lucky, I should end up with a $700 bill. I´m more the economical type and definitly try to get the best out of every dollar I spend for hardware, especially because its outdated really really fast these days.

I bought FEAR and Quake 4 but I'm currently playing FEAR and haven't installed Quake 4 yet but I'm almost done with FEAR so it won't be long. If Quake 4 is 80% as good as FEAR it'll be a good game. I liked Quake 2 so I'm looking forward to see what they did with Quake 4.

You will like Quake 4, its much better than Doom 3. I really like the SP part because thats what I´ve been playing most and it really kicks ass. It´s definitly an underrated game, and I´d have given it at least 90%. FEAR would get 92% from me, but I haven´t finished both yet. One thing is certain for sure, thats one kick-ass month for PC gamers. :D

Sorry for the OT convo.

[Vagrant Zero]

People wailed on Quake becuase they gave D3 too high a score. Bunch of pussies, punishing one game in relation to thier own stupidity of another game.

[vert305]

does anyone know if it would be possible to SLI 7800GTX 256mb with a 7800Ultra/512mb?

[Reaper106]

does anyone know if it would be possible to SLI 7800GTX 256mb with a 7800Ultra/512mb?

Yes, but the 512mb card would only be able to access 256mb of it's own memory. defaults to the lowest cards memory size.

[vert305]

i see that sucks

[pnut_gallery]

Hello? what have we here?

http://img484.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7800u5vu.jpg


Beats me

[saturnotaku]

Has to be fake, the font used for spelling out "nVIDIA" is a big hint.

[pnut_gallery]

Go check on www.hkepc.com , since i can't understand Chinese and online translators does such a bad job, i am baffled.

[pnut_gallery]

Has to be fake, the font used for spelling out "nVIDIA" is a big hint.

Unless I am mistaken, the 7800GTX 256 & 512MB uses the same font on their chips, go check in google.

[pnut_gallery]

http://img477.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gainward7800gtxchipsmall3mr.jpg

A picture of the Normal GTX's chip.

[FraGTastiK]

People wailed on Quake becuase they gave D3 too high a score. Bunch of pussies, punishing one game in relation to thier own stupidity of another game.

well said.

[macatak]

NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX 512: The Unborn 7800 Ultra (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce7800gtx512_3.html)