Anand off to San Fran, seeing something special !?

[xype]

<< Is there anyone who is not convinced that this "something special" is a killer new vid card from Matrox? >>



It's the most logical conclusion, ubt I just don't _want_ it to be a simple Matrox 3D card. I want a 4 ghz, 2066 mhz fsb, 64bit, dual G5 PowerMac for 500 $. Not that'd put a smile on my face

 

[darqice]

<< Not that'd put a smile on my face >>



lol xype to quote yourself earlier:



<< Did you mean "not" or "now"? >>

 

[CplHicks]

Just another idea to toss around here. I just read an interview at Beyond3D (link) that had to do with Creative Labs buying 3Dlabs. The interview was about a month old, but it touched on a lot of the things talked about in this thread, including 64-bit rendering. Also, 3Dlabs more or less confirmed that they'd be entering the consumer graphics market.

Researching further I noticed that 3Dlabs' corporate headquarters is located in Sunnyvale, CA. As some have mentioned, this is also where AMD is located. So perhaps there is a graphics card 64-bit tie in with AMD, but instead of Matrox being the graphics supplier it could very well be 3Dlabs.

EDIT:

I can't believe I missed this. Today (4/22) Dave Baumann of Beyond3d.om reports that he just got back from a visit to 3Dlabs. Here's the post:

"Well I just got back from my visit to 3Dlabs. I primarily went there to make sure the Wildcat card that I?ve borrowed would operate within my test rig as expected, however you always learn a little more about a company when you go and visit them. In fact I probably learnt a little too much?

Anyway, ostensibly I went there to learn about the operation and IQ of ?Superscene Anti-aliaisng? which features in 3Dlabs Wildcat series of Workstation cards, however I think the eventual article may spend a little time looking at 3Dlabs as a company and also the architecture of the Wildcat card as it may give us some insight into the capabilities of their future graphics chips.

Overall it was a thoroughly enlightening and interesting day at 3Dlabs, now I?ve got a few weeks to explore this beast of a graphics card!"

The line "In fact I probably learnt a little too much..." seems to hint a lot at a big development displayed by 3Dlabs. This would also fit in timing wise with Anand and other's visiting San Francisco. . .

 

[JHeiderman]

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet but OQO, the new startup that makes that little 5"x7" fully functional WinXP computer is talked about here at The Register US and they are using Transmetta's new chip.

Transmetta sure could be a third player and they were showing this new thing at WinHec in San Francisco. If you read the article it talks about expansion backplanes for this thing and everything.. very cool stuff. I'm not saying its "IT" I'm just saying it fits the time and place.

- J

P.S. I hope it really is Matrox

 

[acejj26]

jheiderman,

transmeta is still sporting the same chip they released over a year ago, so i doubt it has anything to do with them....plus OQO isn't a secret, so, it can't be them

i think that 3dlabs' new card and matrox's new card are the frontrunners

 

[DeathByDuke]

fingers crossed its 3DFX Undead! or maybe SOnicblue - they did say that after the Savage 2000, they promised they wouldn't be out of the graphics market long and will release 'something cool' in 2002... Bit Boys OY anyone?

 

[BD231]

<~~~Starting to tear

For the love of pancakes, stop the speculation already!!!! There is no possible way we'll know till it's out, so just save the heart ache and try to get on with life for now. I know it'll be hard, but thats just the way it is for now.....

 

[Cygni]

Matrox, Creative/3Dlabs, Micron/Rendition, STMicro, 3dfx-remnants, and BitBoys are all working in coalition to create a super card! You heard it here first!

The idea was simple.... use LAST generations tech, but use EVERYBODYS last generation tech. Therefore, it has all the features of an STMicro Kyro, a Matrox G550, a Rendition V2200, a Wildcat, a VSA100, and vaporware!

I was even able to snap a picture of the card at Matrox's headquarters, before being roughed up by some scary Canadian thugs!

Click Here to View the Card!

 

[|TOAST|]

LOL... That's all fine and dandy but it still ain't up to date on aesthetics! It's already outdated. Old news and it ain't even been released. Guess that's the pace of technology. hehehe.

 

[Cygni]

They heard your cry!

The l33tzorg Edition!

They also announced a value card, known as the "Really Boreing" Version. Their CEO, Slappy McGhalaster, sent me this message:



<< We observerd the market and saw a huge demand for a really low performance, really boreing looking card. All we had to do was put the same name of the super card on it, and we were in business! We dont know why it works, but it just does. >>



The Really Boreing Edition

On another note, i aparently have no life

 

[BD231]

lol Cygni

 

[AGodspeed]

Ah ha! We may have a winner folks...

After having a lot of different phone conversations this past week, I have come to a conclusion on the recent news pertaining to AMD's Hammer products and their needed support in the OEM world. Anything that you are going to read in this post is purely speculation and has no real grounds from anything I have been told from AMD or any company that I have talked with. All I have done is combine the information that I have heard and read and come up with this very simple prediction for this weeks activities:
Microsoft is going to announce on Wednesday a new Windows XP version for 64-bit operating systems and that it will have support for the AMD Hammer line of processors.

First, how did I come to this conclusion? There were several factors that lead into it. Primarily, I know that another event will be happening on April 24th involving the AMD line of Hammer processors. Unfortunetly, I can not share that with you until my NDA has expires on that. Also, many of you already know that AMD will be ringing in the bell on Wednesday, another pointing fact they are planning something big for the industry. The last key was this transcript fo the Microsoft hearings and what Jerry Sanders says in it on April 16th. Finally, at the Inquirer there is an email that may or may not be real, that points to successful running of a Hammer processor on a 64-bit Windows OS. All of this adds up to the speculation I made above.

Please keep in mind that this is a forward-looking little bit of information. I have no verification of the announcement from anywhere in AMD, Microsoft or elsewhere. However, if it is true, this is going to be a great day for AMD and will put a lot of those who have denounced AMD's Hammer to rest. What would AMD gain from this kind of support? Well, most noteable is the recent discord on whether or not AMD's Hammer would be able to gain the necessary OEM support it needs to be a success. With Windows XP 64-bit support, this would show the OEMs and everyone else that AMD's Hammer is the most inovative platform available and we would surely see a pick up in the Hammer discussion at top companies throughout the world.

Thanks to NFS4 for the info.

 

[MadRat]

Alright, lets add multiple ideas together and come up with an UPDATED grand scheme:

Anand went to San Francisco for the E3 convention to learn more about Microsoft's 64-bit Windows XP/64 support for AMD x86-64 processors, running on a new NVidia nForce/64 chipset with dual-channel DDR400, using a (200FSB, 512k L2 cache, x86-64 compatible) Barton aka Athlon XP/64 CPU, using Matrox Parhelia/64 video (based on 64-bit color and eDRAM technology), Creative Labs SoundBlaster Audigy/64 (based on 64-bit sound) and playing both the demo of Duke Nukem Forever and a beta of Doom 64 simultaneously...

After all 64-bit is twice as good as 32-bit...

 

[microAmp]

<< Yeah look at the last paragraph in the Under $200 video card article. He mentions R300, NV30, and *Something being shown behind closed-doors right now*. It's gonna be Matrox, I'm almost definitely sure. >>



Good point salman327, I was also going to point out in this review, just recently he did with ATI AIW, at this section of review he says

<< Matrox started the trend of putting together 3D gaming cards with TV tuners and video capture devices. The Matrox Marvel line has had a strong following although we haven't seen a new product in the line for over a year now. >>



Show that Matrox has been quite for a while.

Then in the same review, in the conclusion here in paragrah 6 he says

<< We've left Matrox out of these final words as their current solution is a bit behind the times. This is understandable considering its release well over a year ago and there's no doubt in our minds that another Marvel card has been long in the works over at Matrox. With a pretty accurate blueprint of what they're up against, we have nothing but the highest expectations for the next-generation Marvel card - Matrox, don't let us down. >>



Then to top it all off in this Voting Thread here he puts in HIS VOTE!

 

[BD231]

Hammer.......So........Sexy.........Must.......Calm..........Down.................................................... Shew, that was nuts.

 

[billyjak]

I say lithographic hardrives or the Bitboys embeded dram chipset, total new inovations.

 

[billyjak]

I did mean holographic hard drives, speed, speed. speed

 

[FrustratedUser]

<< As qouted above



<< Today I'll be hopping on a plane to head off to San Francisco to meet with a company we haven't heard much from in a while >>



I think its going to be a graphics company. Which one, who knows other than, it wont be Nvidia, or ATI.

Who havent we heard from?

3dfx
Creative(well sorta)
Matrox
Trident
VIA/S3/SonicBlue

What other graphic company is there, that still exsists? I would say Rendition but theres even less of a chance of that happening than a new 3dfx emerging. >>



SGI, haven't seen anything XtraOrdinary from them in a long time.

 

[BD231]

What I would REALLY like to see, is better storage options, IDE and SCSI dont cut it any more.

 

[Nemesis77]

Trust me, it's most likely Matrox. Why? A while ago (last week if I remember correctly), they held a press-gathering in Paris. Alot of European journalists were invited, and Matrox showed Parhelia to them (that was so that they had their material ready by the time Parhelia is officially introduced). Then we had this mystery-meeting in SF. And in few days Matrox is having another press-gatherin in Italy. Seems to me that Matrox has been busy last few weeks showing their product to the members of the press. It seems likely that the SF-meeting was Matroxes North American press-gathering.

 

[BuckNaked]

I think AGodspeed got it right with the post above, about Hammer and the 64-Bit version of XP...

I was hoping it was going to be Matrox... I still use an old Millenium 2 in another box, and the thought of Matrox's unrivaled 2D with top end 3D sounded pretty nice to me...

Dave

 

[ElDonAntonio]

Think about it guys, what other company than Matrox is capable of keeping a mystery cloud that thick around a product and hyping it that much?
Matrox is one of the only privately-owned companies in the high-tech sector, so they don't have to disclose anything to any shareholders...

btw I also have some inside plugs @ matrox

 

[Nemesis77]

I bet Anand is reading this thread and laughing at our attempts to guess what he went to see.

Hi Boss !

 

[Electric Amish]

<< Just so you aren't surprised, it was said that the Matrox's new card will be MORE expensive than Ti4600. So if you love $500 video cards, you have something to look forward to... >>



Yeah, but it will many times faster than the Ti4600 too.


Oh, and for the record. Parhelia

Main Entry: par·he·lion
Pronunciation: p&auml;r-'hEl-y&n
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural par·he·lia /-y&/
Etymology: Latin parelion, from Greek parElion, from para- + hElios sun -- more at SOLAR
Date: 1647
: any of several bright spots often tinged with color that often appear on the parhelic circle


amish

 

[AGodspeed]

Hummmmm.....

AMD ANSWERS 64-BIT QUESTION


SUNNYVALE, CA-APRIL 23, 2002

On April 24, AMD will announce two significant developments related to its next-generation family of processors, code-named "Hammer."

Please join Dirk Meyer, group vice-president of AMD's Computation Products Group, and other AMD executives during a teleconference tomorrow, as AMD marches toward the future of 64-bit computing.

Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2002
Time: 4:30 p.m. U.S. EDT
Domestic: 1-888-790-2854
International: 1-212-896-6155

Two big Hammer announcements: One of them almost certainly should be Microsoft's announcement of x86-64 support. But the other, I have no clue.....

Also, there's some more info on MS's support of x86-64 here and here.