NVIDIA has canned the GeForce FX Ultra!

[Uttar]

Fotis: Hmm, yeah. But those are at "high" detail, JC generally leaves things in his engines which can be manually enabled and which degrade performance further. Maybe he won't do it much with Doom 3, I guess we can only speculate for now.


Uttar

[OICAspork]

Originally posted by Uttar
Err? Maybe I wasn't clear enough, but I definitively read it correctly.

My point is NOT that the GFFX is faster than the Radeon 9700 Pro.



Speaking of speed though... I'm fairly certain that carmack's plan update speed comments were in relation the the GFFX Ultra... I have a feeling that the GFFX is going to end up lagging behind the R9700 pro AND non pro in that game.

[Jethro]

heres some food for thought

The Inquirer has an interesting article up about the reasons behind the GeForce FX not having a 256bit memory bus like the Radeon 9700 Pro:

WE ASKED AROUND the industry why the nVidia GeForce FX does not use a 256bit bus with DDR II memory. We learned that nVidia wanted to go for DDR II memory simply because DDR I stops at the magic limit of 400 MHz and that was the reason for making card with DDR II memory.

We wondered why they didn't use a 256bit memory bus as that memory working at 500 MHz would give them 32GB of raw bandwidth. It would have definitely been a Radeon 9700 PRO killer, it would have had almost 13GB/s greater bandwidth.

Calling around to find out about using DDR II memory with a 256bit interface, we learned that it would be possible to get some - though in limited quantities because there is no demand for it and it would be extremely expensive.

An even more important reason is that, according to whispers from those in the know, the GeForce FX memory controller looks very like the one that they used in GeForce 4 cards and it is definitely not capable of running DDR II with a 256bit interface. That is what we heard from our sources though we would be glad to see an improved GeForce FX that uses this memory at least as technology demonstration. But this is unlikely to happen.

Remember even R300 aka Radeon 9700/9700 Pro can work with DDR II memory so the R350 that is an advanced and faster version of R300 will be able to run this memory. If the price is right, ATI might just announce a card based on DDR II. But remember it needs DDR II with a 256bit interface to make the difference otherwise it would have lower bandwidth that its current cards even if the memory clock is faster. µ
_________________________________________
interesting stuff no?

maybe Nvidias memory solution has alot more room to grow than ATI's? since it doesnt look like ATI will being going to 256bit DDR2 anytime soon and if they could it would put the thing in the strat0sphere pricewise With DDR being at its limits the R350 may not end up being all that much a leap after all...hmmm

[1eppan]

Originally posted by Typedef Enum
If they went with a 256-bit bus, there's no real need for DDR2. The whole DDR2 thing was kinda slothy, in the end.

In hindsight, they should have delayed the thing early on and implemented a wider bus.

yep.
Maybe it's the their general attitude towards things they haven't invented.

Just like with EMBM. nVidia was the last one to suport it. first came Matrox, then ATI, PowerVR and even SiS. what nVidia did after they saw Matrox banging EMBM drum?? they invented their own bump mapping DOT3. I don't have anything against DOT3, it's nice tech and can be used side by side with EMBM too, but problem is, that though EMBM had become almost a standard to the others and though NSR (in NV1x chips) would have been technically able to do EMBM they just didn't implemented it, until Pixel Shader forced them to do that. I just can't understand this. Why?

for me, nVidia has already become a synonym for "Not inveted here -> won't be supported"

IMO because they didn't have chance to get "we invented 256Bit Mega Bus" award, they decided to stick on the plan, even if it would cause a lot of troubles with huge development expenses for practically non-profittable product.

They wanted to be fastest with their own techs. (do they see borrowing tech from competitors invent/found list as humiliating perhaps?)

[Hellbinder]

Quoting the graphs nvidia showed at comdex the radeon 9700pro gets 33fps in doom3 at 1280x1024 HQ on a pentium4 3Ghz.
If there was any truth in them.


Those numbers are COMPLETELY False, and there are a number of reasons why.

[borntosoul]

im sure they wouldve done some suffling inhouse (now that the nforce 2 has been finnished)and are going full steam ahead with nv35/nv40

[whitewolfj]

It doesn't matter if Nvidia can make a card that will be faster than ATI's in regards to Doom III. I've heard it from the horses mouth that DoomIII will have a In-game FPS cap of 30FPS. So if ATI can pull that, then I'm keeping it.

[JemyM]

I want the next generation.

If ATI keeps up their step ahead, it will be ATI's next card, even thou I am scared **** about their drivers... But if NVidia can give a good jump ahead, it will be NVidia. I can wait another few months. No problem.

I dont want to jump to soon... I want to play games in 1940x1440 or at least 1600x1200. I have a decent 19", and everything smaller than that resolution looks grainy and Anti-Aliasing looks blurry.

Just my share of comments.

Best Regards
JemyM

[Nemesis77]

Originally posted by Gator
doubt it. I think ATI has a good hold on the speed race for awhile. NV35 could still be some time away, meanwhile R350 isnt so far and it should overclock nicely with the smaller 0.13 die size. So inshort, Nvidia is gonna be in second place for who knows how long.

R350 will not use .13 micron process. It's basically same chip as R300 is, just clocked higher (400MHz?). Changing the process to .13 micron would be a major change, and they will not do it with R350. R400 and RV350 are another matter, however.

[tamattack]

Originally posted by Jethro
Calling around to find out about using DDR II memory with a 256bit interface, we learned that it would be possible to get some - though in limited quantities because there is no demand for it and it would be extremely expensive.

I don't believe this is quite right.

Far as I understand it, each chip is 32 bits, and you combine 4/8 of these chips to make a 128/256 bit bus, respectively. But the memory controller must be capable of addressing the proper bus width.

Maybe one of you engineering types can clarify this if I am mistaken.

[tamattack]

Originally posted by 1eppan
they invented their own bump mapping DOT3. I don't have anything against DOT3

I don't think NV invented DOT3. I believe that they were just the first to implement it in consumer hardware.

[tamattack]

Originally posted by whitewolfj
DoomIII will have a In-game FPS cap of 30FPS.

I've heard that the FPS will be capped at 60. IMO 30 seems too low.

[sebazve]

Originally posted by tamattack
I've heard that the FPS will be capped at 60. IMO 30 seems too low.

youre right

[fantomas]

The R400 is Akin to Nvidias Nv40 design to give you some idea of what they are about to face later this year. hellbinder

well, if that comes out in November im sold :D