FIC announced Radeon 9800/9800 Pro boards: Pro card is 400/460 with 256MB!!! **UPDATE** Possibly GDDR-II

[GTaudiophile]

Sapphire announces their 9800 PRO

(Still no clock speeds.)

 

[PrinceXizor]

Dude...this thing sucks so much power it needs one of them 4 pin power connectors used for HD's....is this common on high end graphics card (I've got an ancient TNT2)?

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: PrinceXizor
Dude...this thing sucks so much power it needs one of them 4 pin power connectors used for HD's....is this common on high end graphics card (I've got an ancient TNT2)?

What do you think the GeForceFX 5800 Ultra uses (as a .13mu part)?

 

[PrinceXizor]

Calm down...I wasn't trashing the card...sheesh....just curious, that's all....

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Sapphire announces their 9800 PRO

(Still no clock speeds.)

Shame about the lack of speeds, however, there is something interesting there:

Industry's only 8-pipeline graphics solution in its 2nd generation, providing twice the rendering power of any currently competing product.

Does that mean that it's the only one in second generation, or the only one on any card (and do they consider the GF FX as a competing product since it's not really out yet).
I'm guessing it means the only 2nd gen 8 pipe card though, not 100% clear.

256MB or 128MB DDR memory accelerates the latest 3D games

The Inquirer was close, but not quite there with their 9900.

It should be a kick-ass card though, and with better AA/AF

 

[BFG10K]

Bring on the benchmarks.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Sapphire announces their 9800 PRO

(Still no clock speeds.)

Linky no worky

 

[GTaudiophile]

They pulled it.

 

[dem0nic]

Bump... and how long until the Review??

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
They pulled it.

The Inq has an all-to-brief summary:

BIG ATI PARTNER Sapphire is getting so over excited about the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro technology that it's already telling us all about it.
According to its web site, the Radeon 9800 Pro will be the "big bang" creation of "your virtual world".

The Atlantis version that Sapphire will sell includes the 256MB of DDR memory, the 256-bit interface, what's described as the "industry's" only eight pipeline solution, and suppor fot AGP 8X.

And you can find much, much more, here. µ

 

[Dean]

I stole this from Killrose at Rage3d forums, he stole it from Firing squad forums.

"killrose

R350 Info
Ok, I was responding to a thread over at Firing Squad comments section about the GF 5800 Ultra preveiw.

It went like this:

Firing Squad Moderator:
Patience, grasshopper. I'm still debating if the
initial article is going to be a preview followed
by the review (as we've done in the past with
9700, GF4, GF3, etc) or not. There are a few
quirks with the driver but not many. It's better
than the initial 9700 driver for the Aug '02
article, but not quite as polished as the 9500
review from Nov '02.

Me:
OOH OOH OOH!!
You mean R350 is in da'house?

Firing Squad Moderator:
Hmm, I guess I kinda slipped on that one. You
guys will certainly be impressed by the OC
results!"


It looks like the 9800PRO is going to be a monster OVERCLOCKER!

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Linky no worky

Yeah, they pulled it, but here it is:

ATI RADEON 9800 PRO Chipset

Features:

-256MB or 128MB DDR memory accelerates the latest 3D games
-256-bit memory interface removes hardware performance bottleneck and provides end users with faster 3D graphics
-Industry's only 8-pipeline graphics solution in its 2nd generation, providing twice the rendering power of any currently competing product.
-Supports the new AGP 8X standard, providing a high-speed link between the graphics board and the rest of the PC (2.0 GB/sec)
-First to fully support DirectX® 9.0 and the latest OpenGL® functionality
-New SMARTSHADER? 2.1 technology allows users to experience complex, movie-quality effects in next-generation 3D games and applications
-SMOOTHVISION? 2.1 technology enhances image quality by removing jagged edges and bringing out fine texture detail, without compromising performance
-128-bit floating-point color precision allows for a greater range of colors and brightness
-Unique VIDEOSHADER? engine uses programmable pixel shaders to accelerate video processing and provide better-looking visuals
-ATI's new FULLSTREAM? technology removes blocky artifacts from Streaming and Internet video and provides sharper image quality

 

[bluemax]

[Home Alone's Kevin pose, hands on face:] AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! :Q

I can't WAIT to see the numbers and quality reviews!

 

[PrinceXizor]

I'm just patiently sitting here...just sitting here....patiently....just...sitting...here...p..a..t..i...e...n...t...l...y..........s....i...t...t...i...n...g.....h....e....r....e um.....just patiently sitting here waiting for the review to be posted..... just pa...ti...en...tly....si...tt...ing here....wa...it...ing....j....u...s...t p....a....t...i...e.... I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE......AIEEEEEEEEEEAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AdmiralTiger]

OH MY FREAKING GOD! :Q (I'm atheist, and what a breakthrough that was! wait... nevermind that)

Man, come to think of it, I was going to buy the 9700 Pro as soon as those cards were to hit the shelves.... I'm still stuck on the Ti 4200 and I'm screaming for mercy already! I've finally overclocked my GPU and CPU last weekend, and never realized how EASY it was to do that. Man, I'm such a n00b! Now, after reading the new specs (%*@&^ Sapphire for removing the specs from their site) - I'm already sold on getting a 9800 Pro (or 9900?) and that would cost me a pretty penny (unfortunately, none of those colored $20 bills (not monopoly money) as they don't come out until late this year)

Man, after typing all of this - it makes me want to play "Aces High" , do a webpage work (thinking about making my own H/W site and link some of the articles from here (none from THG)) and sleep with my fiancee all at the same time!

If there's any more info coming out regarding this baby - I'll be back before you know it! I never thought I'd be so eager to have a GPU like that since the time I broke my virginity for the first time. (ok, that was unnecessary).

(edit... didn't realize that this was my first-ever post... OMG - I thought I did several before this one.. my bad.)

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: PrinceXizor
I'm just patiently sitting here...just sitting here....patiently....just...sitting...here...p..a..t..i...e...n...t...l...y..........s....i...t...t...i...n...g.....h....e....r....e um.....just patiently sitting here waiting for the review to be posted..... just pa...ti...en...tly....si...tt...ing here....wa...it...ing....j....u...s...t p....a....t...i...e.... I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE......AIEEEEEEEEEEAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hit OT for awhile.

 

[XBoxLPU]

hrm

can't wait to wake up in the morning

 

[FuManStan]

Hmm... 9 PM PST, should be 12 EST and the next day over there.... come on previews!

 

[FishTankX]

Eug, I told you so! It isn't very likely that they're gonna be able to stuff 460MHZ DDR on there, is it? They most probably used Hynix's 375MHZ DDR and underclocked it (Which is why it runs at 380MHZ) and in that case, the card's memory cost 80$ to put on. The chip and board probably cost an equal amount. The rest is probably profit and such. Pay for more R&D or whatever.

Just kidding on the 'I told you so', but now we know how much their memory costs to put on the boards.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: FishTankX
Eug, I told you so! It isn't very likely that they're gonna be able to stuff 460MHZ DDR on there, is it? They most probably used Hynix's 375MHZ DDR and underclocked it (Which is why it runs at 380MHZ) and in that case, the card's memory cost 80$ to put on. The chip and board probably cost an equal amount. The rest is probably profit and such. Pay for more R&D or whatever.

Just kidding on the 'I told you so', but now we know how much their memory costs to put on the boards.

Not sure I understand you.

 

[FishTankX]

But if Hynix just made a press release about 375MHZ DDRSDRAMs in the 128MB variety what's the chance they'd have 460MHZ RAMs ready 4 months later? Pretty slim, if you ask me. Seems pretty hard to believe they'd have 460MHZ 256 megabit DDRSDRAMs ready this fast.

That's what I was refferring to when I said 'I told you so'. In my previous posts I mentioned 2 anomolies. Hynix's top speed for a DDRSDRAM on their site is listed as 375MHZ. Also, they listed a 10$ price for 375MHZ DDRSDRAMs on their press release in december. I therozied that 460MHZ wasn't possible.

Now my new theory is that they took those 375MHZ DDRSDRAMs (Which were selling for 10$ for a 128mb chip) and ran them at slightly lower clockspeeds to ensure stability (possibly at tighter timings). What I said in my previous post is that it looks like they're using those 375MHZ DDRSDRAMs and it costs 80$ for ATi to buy them for each card. Then the board and GPU probably cost around 80-100$. So that means ATi has a pretty fat margin to pay for R&D.

Oh yeah, and for future refrence, I was just kidding on the 'I told you so'.

 

[FishTankX]

Then agian, I haven't seen pics of the RAM so I dont know what on earth they're using. It's possible they're using 3NS RAM.

 

[Eug]

Still not sure I follow.

All along I've been saying that 460 MHz doesn't make sense.

 

[FishTankX]

Well, then just merely discard my 'I told you so' comment all together.

All i'm saying is that 375MHZ is probably the neighbourhood for how high the memory will go, as that was Hynix's most recent release.

 

[FishTankX]

My question though, is who will produce the insane Graphics DDR when/if Hynix goes under? They can't keep taking loans forever. Their debt will grow so huge not even the government can bail them out.

Also, it makes sense about the GDDR-II rumors flying around. Perhaps it wasn't a typo after all!