ATI Tape Out Three Successful!!!

[Keysplayr]

Great News. I hope it arrives soon.

There is word that high speeds were reached. Bad news is, there isn't a high yield.

opinion
My guess (this is strictly my own opinion) is that we will see 32 pipe R520's in very low availability, but will give ATI the performance title. We will however see a 24 pipe (pro) in the same availability the X800pro offered which was pretty good.
/opinion

 

[TStep]

Can anyone explain in layman's term what exactly is the "Tape out" process. Just a week ago, the third go around had just begin and it was going to delay shipment for month's and cost millions. Now it's announced that it is a success in a little over a week's time. How can this cost millions? Is there extensive modification required in the manufacturing tools that will cost time and money following the tape out, or does that 4-5 million dollar figure include projected lost profits? Confused.

 

[biostud]

with a r580 expected early '06, I beginning to suspect the r520 will be 24 pipes only.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: TStep
Can anyone explain in layman's term what exactly is the "Tape out" process. Just a week ago, the third go around had just begin and it was going to delay shipment for month's and cost millions. Now it's announced that it is a success in a little over a week's time. How can this cost millions? Is there extensive modification required in the manufacturing tools that will cost time and money following the tape out, or does that 4-5 million dollar figure include projected lost profits? Confused.

The process that is required to bring a design to readiness and be able to produce as wafers/cores.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: biostud
with a r580 expected early '06, I beginning to suspect the r520 will be 24 pipes only.

Hard to say, you see rumours of 16 "extreme" pipes, 24 pipes, and 32. All that matters is that the performance is there, I personally wouldn't care if it's one pipe as long as it works comparable to it's competitor.

 

[FlasHBurN]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: biostud
with a r580 expected early '06, I beginning to suspect the r520 will be 24 pipes only.

Hard to say, you see rumours of 16 "extreme" pipes,

 

[blckgrffn]

First off, w00t for this coming to market in a predictable manner now!

Second, lets hope they didn't say "this one is good enough" and decide to run with it...

I agree with Rollo on this one, who cares so long as it is fast. 16 pipes wouldn't be great though, but at 600+ mhz it shoud compete with a 24 pipe @ 430 mhz, but just not at 500+ mhz. If however, we see 24 pipes at 600+ mhz, nvidia watch out, we have a "contendah", and the 32 pipe model... well, I just expect it to cost $700-$800 if it exists this generation, for it should have no peer, and should they come out with multi-gpu in good numbers from ATI this generation, then the tables could turn pretty quickly.

Too bad this amounts to little more than idle speculation at this point, I wish they just had the chips ready to go at this point!

 

[Hacp]

I doubt that ATI will make much money when it launches.After all 7800GTX prices have been falling(491 at dell), and If they charge 600+ for it, no one is going to buy it.

 

[Creig]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: biostud
with a r580 expected early '06, I beginning to suspect the r520 will be 24 pipes only.

Hard to say, you see rumours of 16 "extreme" pipes, 24 pipes, and 32. All that matters is that the performance is there, I personally wouldn't care if it's one pipe as long as it works comparable to it's competitor.

For once, I completely agree with you. End user performance/satisfaction is what matters, not specs.

 

[blckgrffn]

Have you observed nothing? If it is even a little faster than the GTX, they will be able to command a premium for it, as long as nvidia releases nothing that is faster.

Nat

 

[ZobarStyl]

Agreed, with words like 'extreme' pipes being thrown around and R580 being due for first thing '06, I have my doubts on 520 being the 32 pipe monster. Anytime a product is marketed using the word extreme, the consumer gets shafted.

Secondly, hacp I couldn't find your dirt cheap 7800GTX deal from Dell, care to post a link? And you're saying that 8 pipes more was worth 600 bucks for the 7800GTX, but an additional 8 isn't worth that same 600 a month later (assuming 32)? That makes little sense.

 

[vision33r]

Originally posted by: Hacp
I doubt that ATI will make much money when it launches.After all 7800GTX prices have been falling(491 at dell), and If they charge 600+ for it, no one is going to buy it.

Last check the price at dell is $463 after 25% off however, one trick they have is the item won't ship until end of month. One of those Dell trick to queue up orders so they can make a large batch purchase for cheap. By then, the price of the 7800GTX should reach $500, so you're not really saving much.

 

[Acanthus]

I seriously doubt a 32 pipe card, the transistor count would be too high for a 90nm part to be reliably produced.

A 32 pipe card would also cause enmormous yeild problems with defects, so unless ATI goes with their age old "disable the junk pipes" method with thier new line, i really cant see it happening. A 24 pipe card would make a lot more sense.

However, they may suprise us with a 32 pipe part, make 5, and bring on a slew of 24 pipe defects to sell to the masses. After all, they want the crown back.

 

[Dman877]

A 32 pipe R520 would basically be the performance equivalent of 2 X850XT's in crossfire would it not? Does anyone else see that kind of performance as unecessary at this time? Who cares if they only build 5 of them, I'd rather see a 16 pipe "value" card for 200$ personally .

 

[Munky]

What if the r520 is 32 pipes with some 8 defective ones disabled? Would it matter if it was built from scratch for 24 pipes or only had 24 pipes enabled? I say whatever they can do to push this out the door faster is good news. Maybe the whole retaping was to switch from 32 pipes to 24 and to reach higher clock speed so they have a high end product available sooner. Still hoping for 32 pipes, though.

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Great News. I hope it arrives soon.

There is word that high speeds were reached. Bad news is, there isn't a high yield.

opinion
My guess (this is strictly my own opinion) is that we will see 32 pipe R520's in very low availability, but will give ATI the performance title. We will however see a 24 pipe (pro) in the same availability the X800pro offered which was pretty good.
/opinion

Exepct the R580 to be 32 pipes and the R520 24 pipe.

R580 shows up near the end of teh year. ATI needs to get in the game and worry about bragging rights later.

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
I seriously doubt a 32 pipe card, the transistor count would be too high for a 90nm part to be reliably produced.

A 32 pipe card would also cause enmormous yeild problems with defects, so unless ATI goes with their age old "disable the junk pipes" method with thier new line, i really cant see it happening. A 24 pipe card would make a lot more sense.

However, they may suprise us with a 32 pipe part, make 5, and bring on a slew of 24 pipe defects to sell to the masses. After all, they want the crown back.

So *many* people think nVidia have a 32 pipe 7800Ultra in the wings, ready to be produced on 110nm, but then apparently ATi can't make a 32 pipe card on 90nm because the transistor count would be too high?

Either ATi can possibly MORE easily produce a 32 pipe card than nVidia, nVidia don't really have a hope of a 32 pipe card, or something else.

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: Genx87

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Great News. I hope it arrives soon.

There is word that high speeds were reached. Bad news is, there isn't a high yield.

opinion
My guess (this is strictly my own opinion) is that we will see 32 pipe R520's in very low availability, but will give ATI the performance title. We will however see a 24 pipe (pro) in the same availability the X800pro offered which was pretty good.
/opinion

Exepct the R580 to be 32 pipes and the R520 24 pipe.

R580 shows up near the end of teh year. ATI needs to get in the game and worry about bragging rights later.

LOL at the pun...

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: Acanthus
I seriously doubt a 32 pipe card, the transistor count would be too high for a 90nm part to be reliably produced.

A 32 pipe card would also cause enmormous yeild problems with defects, so unless ATI goes with their age old "disable the junk pipes" method with thier new line, i really cant see it happening. A 24 pipe card would make a lot more sense.

However, they may suprise us with a 32 pipe part, make 5, and bring on a slew of 24 pipe defects to sell to the masses. After all, they want the crown back.

So *many* people think nVidia have a 32 pipe 7800Ultra in the wings, ready to be produced on 110nm, but then apparently ATi can't make a 32 pipe card on 90nm because the transistor count would be too high?

Either ATi can possibly MORE easily produce a 32 pipe card than nVidia, nVidia don't really have a hope of a 32 pipe card, or something else.

I said form the beginning the GTX wouldnt be 32 pipes, the transistor count was way too low.

 

[MegaWorks]

Great news for ATI, now lets hope we'll see that card.

 

[Schadenfroh]

What is an "extreme" pipe?

 

[HDTVMan]

LOL. Two things come to mind.

Where is the OMFG and ATI TAKEOVER statements?

I will gladly take a lowly only 16pipes working off one of the edges.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: HDTVMan
LOL. Two things come to mind.

Where is the OMFG and ATI TAKEOVER statements?

I will gladly take a lowly only 16pipes working off one of the edges.

I believe that's another thread. This one is about ATI's successful tape out number 3.
Care to comment on the thread topic?

And, I am at a loss about what the bolded statement above means. Can you be a little more detailed? 16 pipe? Edges? Not sure what that means.

By the way, this doesn't mean that the R520 will get here any sooner than we discussed in the other thread. It means that the tape out is done and successful. We still have about 120 days to wait. Give or take.

 

[Creig]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
And, I am at a loss about what the bolded statement above means. Can you be a little more detailed? 16 pipe? Edges? Not sure what that means.

I think he means he'd be happy with a 16 pipe card made from this newest process.

 

[imported_X]

ATI doesn't need a 32 pipe card to compete with Nvidia at this point. If they can crank out a 24 pipe at 600+ mhz, they will have a winner. Great to hear that they are finally able to produce the R520 with acceptable yields.