How will the X800SE perform in comparison to the X800XT?

[SickBeast]

Will it be 1/2 the performance since it has 1/2 the pipelines? When is this card expected to be released? Will it be considered mid-end? Low-end?

Thanks. 🙂

 

[Matthias99]

I would expect basically a 9800XT, but with higher clocks and better PS2.0/VS2.0 performance. So maybe 10% faster than a 9800XT, depending on the app. Or, in other terms, yes, around half of an X800XT. At $299, this is a 'midrange' card in terms of pricing, at least for the next generation (a little scary, huh?).

I wouldn't be surprised to see a 4-pipe variant come out for the low end -- or ATI might even just keep making 9600XTs for a while. Saves on the development costs, and then they can put out a new 'low-end' card when they go to PCI-E.

 

[Alkaline5]

Originally posted by: Matthias99
I wouldn't be surprised to see a 4-pipe variant come out for the low end -- or ATI might even just keep making 9600XTs for a while. Saves on the development costs, and then they can put out a new 'low-end' card when they go to PCI-E.

According to the last Anandtech ATI roadmap, that's exactly what will happen. The wierd thing about that is, the performance delta between high- and mid-range will be huge (X800-->9600 is like falling off Everest). It's odd to me that ATI and NV keep throwing money at developing new mid-range cores that are slower than the flagship GPUs from their previous product refreshes. On top of that "mid-range PCI-E" will have to be an extremely tiny niche market until the system builders start putting PCI-E in their cheapest systems, so why throw money at it so soon?

 

[Marsumane]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
Will it be 1/2 the performance since it has 1/2 the pipelines? When is this card expected to be released? Will it be considered mid-end? Low-end?

Thanks. 🙂

I remember seeing something about a 128bit memory bus and clocks a bit lower then the 9800XT. Who knows if these will remain true. If so, we have ~5800U+better shaders at best on our hands. If this is the case, u might as well buy a 9800XT. Who knows though, theyll probably change something around esp sense NV's offerings look really good. (6800 reg for the same price as the X800SE)

 

[SickBeast]

Eeeew...128bit bus=sux0rs. I might as well buy a 9500pro then. 🙂

So I guess I'll either have to break the bank and go for one of these new $400-500 uber-cards or play the waiting game a little longer. I see no point in going from a 9700pro to 9800xt performance at the moment as I don't want to spend $200 to gain 30% in performance.

Maybe I'll just play it cool 'till the R500 comes out. 🙂

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
Eeeew...128bit bus=sux0rs. I might as well buy a 9500pro then. 🙂

Agreed... but I haven't seen anything about that. In fact, any kind of specs on this card seem very hard to come by.

 

[zephyrprime]

and then they can put out a new 'low-end' card when they go to PCI-E.

Yeah, they'll definitely need a new low end core to supplant the 9600.