ATI to introduce Radeon 9500 in mid-3Q

[NFS4]

http://digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?datePublish=2002/07/31&pages=04&seq=21

 

[rbV5]

ATI already stopped placing orders for Radeon 8500 products

Better get 'em while they're hot. I'd like to see the 9500 a wee bit sooner, but it is good seeing the 4200 closing in on the mx440(in terms of sales), maybe an indication that folks want more out of their video card performance...and more out of their video game experience, so maybe we'll start seeing more games using some advanced card features....

 

[GTaudiophile]

Cool. The 9500 will probably replace my aging Radeon 7500.

 

[Adul]

i wonder what major differences there will be if any.

 

[Anand Lal Shimpi]

Read the last page of my R300 piece for info about the Radeon 9500. An educated guess would be a 4-pipeline version of the R300 running at lower clock speeds.

Take care,
Anand

 

[Athlon4all]

That is a decent hypothesis Anand, but wouldn't that make the R9500 not fully DX9 Compliant? Sure it still would be faster anyway, but wouldn't that make it not DX9 Compliant? I dunno

 

[Chadder007]

Even if it will be DirectX8.1 compliant instead of 9....it'll still be the fastest card available that is only 8.1 compliant.

Either way I just bought my 8500....it ain't going anywhere, anytime soon.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: NFS4
http://digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?datePublish=2002/07/31&pages=04&seq=21

Is the link dead? All I'm getting is a page full of Asian characters.

Beyond3D has some of the text from the newsbite here:

Buried in amongst all the Radeon 9700 (R300) launch details was a small snippet of information pertaining to a Radeon 9500 board that ATi were not ready to talk about as yet. Digitimes is reporting that ATi will introduce this in Quarter 3 this year:

"Graphics chip designer ATI Technologies has scheduled to introduce a new R300 core-based chip, the Radeon 9500, around the middle of the third quarter, company chairman and CEO Ho Kwok-yuen told DigiTimes after a new product presentation in Taipei.

Though based on the same R300 core, the Radeon 9500 will be priced lower than the company's top-end Radeon 9700 and offer certain specification variations and a different pin count. ATI said that it would announce the official quote in mid-August."

Its interesting that Digitimes are reporting that ATi are set to introduce the Radeon 9500 based off the R300 core - given the size of the chip (purportedly 107+ Million transistors) and being based on the .15um process it's a surprise that such a core would scale down to lower cost options. Digitimes mention that it will be differentiated from the standard Radeon 9700 by pin counts, which could could indicate a smaller memory bus than the 256Bit (external) bus employed by Radeon 9700; this would also likely reduce the board costs as 10 layer boards are likely not to be necessary.

Radeon 9500 is set to be introduced to fill the price divide of the offerings recently announced: With the low cost Radeon 9000/9000 Pro's occupying sub $200 recommended pricing and Radeon 9700 at an initial price of $400, ATi need a part in the $200-300 range.

Anand, the article claims a different pin count. A narrow memory interface wouldn't surprise me. It would certainly reduce packaging costs for the chip and PCB.

Athlon4all, DX9 doesn't specifiy a number of pixel pipes in order to be compliant. In theory, you could have a single DX9 compliant pixel pipe.

 

[Athlon4all]

Athlon4all, DX9 doesn't specifiy a number of pixel pipes in order to be compliant. In theory, you could have a single DX9 compliant pixel pipe.

Ok, well I just wasn't certain if that was a part (the 8 Pixel Pipes) of the DX9 Compliance

Anand, the article claims a different pin count. A narrow memory interface wouldn't surprise me. It would certainly reduce packaging costs for the chip and PCB.

Yea, the 128-bvit Memory bus would help, but the 4 pixel pipes would decrease die size and pin count as well, but the article does indicate something more than onbly 4 pixel pipes. We shall see, hopefully ATi won't disappoint with the all important $150-200 price range.

 

[WetWilly]

I'd guess the 9500 will show up right around the time stocks of 8500s shrivel up. It's obvious from pricing - $69 and dropping - that the Radeon 9000 is the 7500's replacement, regardless of what ATi says.

 

[Booster]

ATI to introduce Radeon 9500 in mid-3Q

Great! If only the drivers will be good (I'll keep my fingers crossed 😉).