ATI R420: Two Times Faster Than The RADEON 9800 PRO

[bgeh]

From Xbitlabs
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20030619023125.html

ATI R420: Two Times Faster Than The RADEON 9800 PRO

And Using The Same Technology!
by Anton Shilov
06/19/2003 | 02:33 AM

We continue our journey to the future of graphics cards and 3D technologies with more information about the upcoming graphics processors from ATI Technologies and NVIDIA. Additional details about the code-named R420 product appeared and we are going to share them with you.

Sources with knowledge of the matter revealed that the graphics chip known under the code-name R420 and developed under project-name Loki will be two times faster than the original RADEON 9800 PRO. As we revealed earlier, it will incorporate 110 to 150 million of transistors (see this news-story) and will support Pixel and Vertex Shaders 3.0. I expect the part to feature 8 rendering pipelines with 2 texture modules per each or 16 pipelines with 1 texture module per pipe. Its architecture will have much in common with the original R300 and R350/R360.

Talking about manufacturing technology used for the R420, our sources said that the graphics processor will be made using mature TSMC?s 0.15 micron fabrication process which seems to be enough for modern VPUs.

Currently it is unknown when the Loki R420 to be heaven-sent to the Earth, but in general it is expected to arrive in late 2003 or early 2004. We even can see some samples of R420 graphics cards this Fall, but definitely not massive commercial availability of such products since ATI Technologies needs a timeframe to sell its R360 code-named product.

What I found interesting was it said that it'll still be sticking with 0.15 micron process

 

[NFS4]

I have a hard time believing 2x faster on .15 micron technology

 

[mchammer187]

r420?

what about r400

 

[GTaudiophile]

I think everyone at Rage3D would disagree with the .15mu statement.

 

[bluemax]

M4H.... get your knife and fork ready....

 

[bgeh]

Originally posted by: mchammer187
r420?

what about r400

r400 has been replaced by the codename r420

 

[SexyK]

Sounds like they are getting "two times faster" based solely on the increase from 8 to 16 pipes. Still, I can't imagine a die that big running cool on .15u.

 

[vss1980]

'110-150 million transistors'

You just dont have an estimation that inaccurate....... a variation of a couple million is seen as large when estimating the content of a new chip.

 

[Schadenfroh]

twice as fast is bs. and wth are they still using .15 process

 

[Regs]

So now spending 399 for a video card would be worth it? Or will the price of this new wonderful product be doubled as well?

 

[GaryShandling]

Originally posted by: Regs
So now spending 399 for a video card would be worth it? Or will the price of this new wonderful product be doubled as well?

Tripled probably...it wont appeal to general consumers.

 

[Eug]

"Two times faster" means "three times as fast". Plus I don't see it 0.15 um.

Sounds like bull to me.

 

[Xenon14]

Twice as fast = it will be exceedingly fast, much faster than the 9800 Pro. Frankly, I couldn't care less how fast the card is, the sooner it comes out, the sooner i can get my 9700/9800 Pro.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Maybe twice as fast with certain "optimizations" made to the drivers to be run with certain benchmarking programs.

 

[KDOG]

That story just doesn't seem legit. I think I smell some BS here...

 

[Sideswipe001]

Every next generation video card is at least 2x as fast, according to marketing.

Show me the benchmarks that prove it. I don't care what marketing says; they lie to generate hype. Show me a working card.

 

[Vonkhan]

Originally posted by: GrumpyMan
Maybe twice as fast with certain "optimizations" made to the drivers to be run with certain benchmarking programs.

relax, they haven't turned into nVIDIA yet :evil:

 

[stncttr908]

I don't believe it. It would be useless anyway, because I believe the 9700/9800 Pro will play everything released through the end of this year just fine, with all of the eye candy cranked up.

 

[Agent004]

This is directly aim at nVidia's nv40 " twice as fast as nv 35" no doubt

 

[Curley]

2 Times faster than Radeon 9800 Pro, 1000 FSB, 3.6GHZ Pentium 4, Sata 10,000RPM Raid.

All dressed up and no where to go??

What kind of software is out there or projected to be out there to run this stuff.

Not that I don't like all this processing power, but if you sit back and take it in from 5 years ago, it is really hard to believe.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Some of the articles have claimed that it will be with PCI Express. If they do, they'll probably provide BOTH Pci express and AGP versions.

 

[mchammer187]

Originally posted by: AgaBooga
Some of the articles have claimed that it will be with PCI Express. If they do, they'll probably provide BOTH Pci express and AGP versions.

how fast is PCI-X compared to AGP

 

[Regs]

How fast? How fast depends on the Graphics card. How much bandwidth it has over AGP is more of the question. And that question is fully answered in this anandtech article .

 

[Intelman07]

Originally posted by: Sideswipe001
Every next generation video card is at least 2x as fast, according to marketing.

Show me the benchmarks that prove it. I don't care what marketing says; they lie to generate hype. Show me a working card.

I second that it seems every time they describe their new card to be 2 times as fast as their previous top of the line card.

 

[spclwpns]

Boy.... 2 times faster, AGAIN !!!!

I've heard of all kinds of things being 'twice as fast' or '2 times faster', but in this industry, it's 'code' for a mere 10%. Nothing more.
Manufacturers have worn that 'phrase' out with me along time ago...... :disgust: