The only improvement I imagine seeing on a XT is in terms of drivers. Anandtech reported over a year ago how the next gen card scene was "depressing". I wish I could find the link but I guess they had made a trip to ATi and at the time the R600 could only run with water cooling and required a heck of a lot of power. Anandtech said at the time that they had gotten "carried away" in terms of beating the other side, and had created something that required a lot of power and gave off a lot of heat.
I think the 2900XT we see today is the result of a lot of refinement.. and I really can't imagine the situation getting any better without a water cooler. I think the reason why the December launch was delayed till now has been revealed. When the 8800GTX came out, everyone was shocked to see how little power it consumed and how little heat it gave off. I am sure ATi were the ones most shocked, and looked at their little piece of kryptonite and realized it gave the same performance as a 8800 for twice the power/heat.
I feel this is the end of the line for the R600 and it needs a serious rework. Like Matt2 says, it needs to move to 65nm. That won't be easy... hell the Xbox 360 has long been rumored to switch to a smaller process but been quite unable as of yet.
However I am a massive ATi fan. I switched to Nvidia with the 7800GTX, but I always remember ATi fondly for their superior image quality and the fact that they gave me better cards for a lower price. I was a student at the time and I found great comfort in the 8500s and then the 9700s.
From the current benchmarks the 2900XT matches the 8800GTS, and I expect the price to go slightly lower. Also with better drivers I have a feeling it will get even better. I'd say it is a good buy.
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)
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