3 generations away from the 9800 round 2

[roguerower]

So it may not be strictly 3 generations but we're drawing closer to the release of the 9800. Even though ATI maybe dead, do you think AMD will do anything special to remember those great cards?

Also, after only 2.5 years, my 4850 is completely and thoroughly to be considered a dinosaur. Looking at the AT bench between the 4850 and the 5970, the 5970 is at least 3 times faster in almost everything yet uses just a wee bit more power and throws out a little bit more heat.

Damn, damn, damn.

 

[Rhezuss]

Yeah, I hope AMD will do something cool for the 9xxx series. Don't know what they could do...maybe some "vintage" design to remind us about those awesome 9800s back in the days.

 

[AnotherGuy]

vintage design that can keep up with today's cards is not gonna work... u need totally different heatsink design from the 9800 era... if u were talking about looks

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

I wonder when both companies will switch the naming scheme again...

Nvidia went from 9800 to 280, so I guess after the 980 comes the 28? Lol And theyve been using the GTX stuff since the 7800 as well... That was like 5 years ago?

Anyway, I guess the whole "family" stuff is necessary when you are releasing so many cards... Vs before when you had only a high end card and that was it, so we wont be seeing stuff like Voodoo or RivaTNT again

 

[themodernlife]

I'm not sure why you are mentioning the 9800? It was the 9700pro that changed the world of graphics cards forever. If anyone on this forum bought one on release you will know how insanely powerful it was compared to last gen and nvidia cards at the time. It was one of the last times that buying a newer graphics card gave you that 'DEAR GOD' reaction when compared to the visual improvements it delivered. Nowadays you can pay 3-500$ more just to increase AA, but you can't get that holy **** factor that the 9700pro handed out on release.

 

[Spike]

I'm not sure why you are mentioning the 9800? It was the 9700pro that changed the world of graphics cards forever. If anyone on this forum bought one on release you will know how insanely powerful it was compared to last gen and nvidia cards at the time. It was one of the last times that buying a newer graphics card gave you that 'DEAR GOD' reaction when compared to the visual improvements it delivered. Nowadays you can pay 3-500$ more just to increase AA, but you can't get that holy **** factor that the 9700pro handed out on release.

You can still get that reaction these days... you just have to skip a generation or two before upgrading . I look forward to that reaction tomorrow when I replace my 4870 512 with a 6970.

As for the 9xxx series I remember borrowing a 9600 but not the top end cards. I believe I was sporting an 8500LE at the time... ugh.

 

[Arkaign]

I'm not sure why you are mentioning the 9800? It was the 9700pro that changed the world of graphics cards forever. If anyone on this forum bought one on release you will know how insanely powerful it was compared to last gen and nvidia cards at the time. It was one of the last times that buying a newer graphics card gave you that 'DEAR GOD' reaction when compared to the visual improvements it delivered. Nowadays you can pay 3-500$ more just to increase AA, but you can't get that holy **** factor that the 9700pro handed out on release.

True.

The 9700Pro was the super game changer.
The 9500 that could unlock was the budget sneaky king.
The 9800Pro was the modest refresh.

Biggest game changers in GPU history IMHO :

3DFX Voodoo1 (obvious holy s*it factor compared to everything before it, good support)
TNT1 (first competitive product against 3dfx, only needed 1 card instead of 2 or more)
Geforce2 MX (brought respectable gaming performance for the time to a previously unheard of affordability)
Radeon 9700/9500 release (major performance leap from all previous cards, was good for YEARS of gaming)
Nvidia 8800 (same story as 9700 above)

Honorable mention to Ti4200, Radeon 8500, 6600GT.

 

[Josh123]

Man I loved my 9800 Pro. I remember playing Unreal Tourny, Halflife 2, and Far Cry with that bad boy.

 

[roguerower]

Thought about the 9700 but MY first personal GPU was a 9800 so I went there instead.

 

[Arkaign]

Thought about the 9700 but MY first personal GPU was a 9800 so I went there instead.

I can understand why from your personal perspective.

The 9700Pro was the release that heralded in that era of performance. Anyone who bought a 9700Pro had approximately zero reason to buy a 9800Pro as it was a refresh/tune of the architecture that had been released, kinda like Intel's tick/tock.

So for the general history, 9700Pro was the big step. It's kind of like the 8800GT and 9800GT, they didn't come out for a while after the epic launch of the 8800GTX, and they were really just refreshes/tweaks on that major event.

 

[SonicIce]

the question is what will they do next generation? they already had a radeon 7000 series

 

[Idontcare]

the question is what will they do next generation? they already had a radeon 7000 series

Whatever it is it will be met with much derision, this much is assured.

 

[Wreckage]

the question is what will they do next generation? they already had a radeon 7000 series

So did NVIDIA. Maybe it's time to bring the Voodoo name back. AMD Voodoo 6.

 

[IGemini]

Watch them go back to the X-naming convention from R400/500, Southern Islands will become the X2000 family. Heads will explode.

 

[Wreckage]

They could start using weird names like Phenom, Athlon, Sempr0n, etc.

 

[taltamir]

they SHOULD just add more digits... nothing wrong with a 10000 following the 9000

 

[StinkyPinky]

Why does it matter if they already had a 7000 series a decade ago? It's not like anyone will get them confused.

"Oops, I installed the wrong one. Why is Crysis 2 running at 0.1 fps?"

 

[GodisanAtheist]

So did NVIDIA. Maybe it's time to bring the Voodoo name back. AMD Voodoo 6.

Nvidia never released a Radeon 7000. Had to point that out.

 

[Throckmorton]

So weird how they keep ending up with repeats of the same numbers, multiple times with each company. Why not go back to naming cards?

 

[Smartazz]

True.

The 9700Pro was the super game changer.
The 9500 that could unlock was the budget sneaky king.
The 9800Pro was the modest refresh.

Biggest game changers in GPU history IMHO :

3DFX Voodoo1 (obvious holy s*it factor compared to everything before it, good support)
TNT1 (first competitive product against 3dfx, only needed 1 card instead of 2 or more)
Geforce2 MX (brought respectable gaming performance for the time to a previously unheard of affordability)
Radeon 9700/9500 release (major performance leap from all previous cards, was good for YEARS of gaming)
Nvidia 8800 (same story as 9700 above)

Honorable mention to Ti4200, Radeon 8500, 6600GT.

I gotta give the 4870 an honorable mention as well. Released at $300, forced Nvidia to knock their GTX 260 and 280 down to a reasonable price. We haven't seen a $650 single GPU card since the 8800 Ultra, which was ridiculously expensive.

 

[Doggiedog]

I joined Anandtech over ten years ago because I was a semiconductor analyst following the specialty semiconductor industry. I remember visiting all of the little start ups like Nvidia, S3, ATI, 3Dfx, 3D Labs, Trident, Diamond Multimedia, Stellar Semi but the thing I remember most clearly was when 3Dfx had a Voodoo running in SLI mode. That was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. It's amazing and impressive what has been achieved in the last ten plus years.

 

[Daedalus685]

My 9800pro is still working away somewhere at my parents house. Hasn't seen a game in ages though.

I replaced my radeon 8500 with it for what got me well through 3 years of gaming . Also owned a 9800gtx, heh. I'll make a point of buying a 9870 and mount them in a frame together at some point .

 

[Smartazz]

I joined Anandtech over ten years ago because I was a semiconductor analyst following the specialty semiconductor industry. I remember visiting all of the little start ups like Nvidia, S3, ATI, 3Dfx, 3D Labs, Trident, Diamond Multimedia, Stellar Semi but the thing I remember most clearly was when 3Dfx had a Voodoo running in SLI mode. That was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. It's amazing and impressive what has been achieved in the last ten plus years.

It's amazing that AMD and Nvidia are so competitive after their competitors disappeared. They're both very good at what they do and I hope that they remain competitive with one another in the future.

 

[JimmiG]

ATI actually re-branded the original Radeon as the Radeon 7500. Then there was the 8500 before the 9700 was released. So we're just one generation from full circle.

This was during the brief period when video card names actually made sense - the first digit indicated the DirectX version, the second was relative performance, and then two zeros were added because biggar numbars are moar bettar!!11one Then the X800 (ie. "10800") came out and ruined everything. They should have saved that one for the 2900XT. What's an "XT" anyway?

Nowadays, GPU/video card branding is just totally arbitrary. The numbers are at best only meaningful when comparing GPUs of the same generation, and the letters..wtf does "GTX" really mean and why is it better than "GTS"?

 

[Smartazz]

ATI actually re-branded the original Radeon as the Radeon 7500. Then there was the 8500 before the 9700 was released. So we're just one generation from full circle.

This was during the brief period when video card names actually made sense - the first digit indicated the DirectX version, the second was relative performance, and then two zeros were added because biggar numbars are moar bettar!!11one Then the X800 (ie. "10800") came out and ruined everything. They should have saved that one for the 2900XT. What's an "XT" anyway?

Nowadays, GPU/video card branding is just totally arbitrary. The numbers are at best only meaningful when comparing GPUs of the same generation, and the letters..wtf does "GTX" really mean and why is it better than "GTS"?

Sucks for people who buy the wrong cards based on their names. However, I think it's safe to assume that none of us will make that mistake. It's really important to look up benchmarks these days and to look at a bunch of them to get a general idea of what card to pick up.