ATI in Trouble...

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Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
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Originally posted by: McArra
Originally posted by: Ackmed
Holy cow, at least look before posting. This has been posted several times. And there is no proof any of it is even true.


How can you be so rude??

There's an abundance of rudeness on the forums lately. It's putting me in a bad mood whenever I read it so I end up being rude as well.

*EDIT* I think it's the heat of the summer... has everyone fired up. ;)
 

Killrose

Diamond Member
Oct 26, 1999
6,230
8
81
If R520 is supposed to have 32pipes and they are having problems, but are at least able to yeild 24pipe and 16pipe GPU's, Does that mean we will at least see a R520 based PRO andd SE versions :p
 

imported_Noob

Senior member
Dec 4, 2004
812
0
0
Originally posted by: Creig
It does get aggravating when people refer to their information as coming from "highly reliable sources". I'll consider it "highly reliable" when multiple independent reviewers come to the same conclusion. Until then, it's simply rumor.

But with all the delays you can make a speculation that this is true. But I don't understand how the Xbox 360 R500 is ok and the R520 isn't. I would have thought they would use the same techniques for building a 90nm card.
 

Elcs

Diamond Member
Apr 27, 2002
6,278
6
81
Originally posted by: Killrose
If R520 is supposed to have 32pipes and they are having problems, but are at least able to yeild 24pipe and 16pipe GPU's, Does that mean we will at least see a R520 based PRO andd SE versions :p

Heh. Its not a bad way to make money and give us cheap cards. Perhaps the "failed 32 pipe card" sold as a 16 pipe card can be unlocked?

Some fun speculation and some rather personal rudeness.
 

xtknight

Elite Member
Oct 15, 2004
12,974
0
71
Where did he say the Inq was a highly reliable source? I don't disregard everything the Inq says. The Inq was right about the video card I have in my PC right now, and I planned based on what the Inq posted about it. Turns out it was all true...and I'm glad I saw that article on the NV41. People have right to post anything about video in this forum, so let them and quit making useless and annoying cliche comments, and degrading others... let us speculate if we want to.

It's very likely ATI is having problems with a chip utilizing 32 pipelines on a new 90nm process. Not really any surprises here.
 

trinibwoy

Senior member
Apr 29, 2005
317
3
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Originally posted by: Elcs
Perhaps the "failed 32 pipe card" sold as a 16 pipe card can be unlocked?

You can't unlock failed pipes. You can only unlock working pipes that the IHV's have intentionally disabled in order to ship the chip as a certain SKU. And this isn't going to happen anytime soon since they will thank their lucky stars for every fully functional 32-pipe die.

Of course, this is assuming that 32-pipers even exist. Those in the know say no..... (or maybe) ;)
 

Insomniak

Banned
Sep 11, 2003
4,836
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Honestly, I think ATi will be ok. I imagine they are probably having yield troubles (that would account for the delays), but I imagine their core is up to the task of taking on G70.

The big question is whether or not they can get them to market. That kicked their butts last generation, a repeat would probably hurt even worse.
 

Insomniak

Banned
Sep 11, 2003
4,836
0
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Originally posted by: trinibwoy
Originally posted by: Elcs
Perhaps the "failed 32 pipe card" sold as a 16 pipe card can be unlocked?

You can't unlock failed pipes. You can only unlock working pipes that the IHV's have intentionally disabled in order to ship the chip as a certain SKU. And this isn't going to happen anytime soon since they will thank their lucky stars for every fully functional 32-pipe die.

Of course, this is assuming that 32-pipers even exist. Those in the know say no..... (or maybe) ;)



Well technically, it's like this - some pipes on a chip may not work - example, an NV40 core with three faulty pipes on a single quad can have those pipes disabled and the card can be shipped as a 12-pipe 6800NU. It's unlockable, but will all the pipes work correctly when unlocked? Maybe, maybe not - depends on how bad the problem was. Both ATi and NV have very rigorous quality control, so small problems cause them to shut down pipes - problems the end user may never have. So it's really a crapshoot - failed pipes may work "well enough", or may not.
 

Elcs

Diamond Member
Apr 27, 2002
6,278
6
81
Originally posted by: Insomniak
Originally posted by: trinibwoy
Originally posted by: Elcs
Perhaps the "failed 32 pipe card" sold as a 16 pipe card can be unlocked?

You can't unlock failed pipes. You can only unlock working pipes that the IHV's have intentionally disabled in order to ship the chip as a certain SKU. And this isn't going to happen anytime soon since they will thank their lucky stars for every fully functional 32-pipe die.

Of course, this is assuming that 32-pipers even exist. Those in the know say no..... (or maybe) ;)



Well technically, it's like this - some pipes on a chip may not work - example, an NV40 core with three faulty pipes on a single quad can have those pipes disabled and the card can be shipped as a 12-pipe 6800NU. It's unlockable, but will all the pipes work correctly when unlocked? Maybe, maybe not - depends on how bad the problem was. Both ATi and NV have very rigorous quality control, so small problems cause them to shut down pipes - problems the end user may never have. So it's really a crapshoot - failed pipes may work "well enough", or may not.

Thanks Insomniak. Explained it better than I did.

Also, sometimes yields at the top end are excellent so a company will disable perfectly good pipes and sell the card branded as a slower card. This happens in Processors as well.
 

Creig

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,170
13
81
And as the process matures, the chance of getting a "good" unlockable core will continue to increase. Unless the manufacturer implements some method to prevent the unlocking of cards.