Kyro II at 201MHZ!!!!!!

[Teasy]

http://www.aceshardware.com/#N25000416

Aces got a final retail Kyro II board from Videologic (no fan unlike the Herc 4500). They put it too 201mhz by adding a small fan!!!! Thats 16% faster then Kyro II at stock 175mhz and a full 66% faster then the Kyro 1.

 

[Killrose]

Geeze, no fan? What were they thinking? Put a fan on and crank it up!!

 

[dowxp]

this calls for a real use for a blue orb. eh? gf's didnt really need them since all of them are mem limited.

 

[Archknight]

The increase from Kyro1 to Kyro2 was 50Mhz and give it such a performance increase, since ace got it to run at 201Mhz, 26Mhz more, it should have a good performance increase as well. (Correct me if I am wrong).

Very interesting.

 

[MGallik]

Now if we could just get them to release the d@mn cards.

 

[Teasy]

<<<Geeze, no fan? What were they thinking? Put a fan on and crank it up!!>>>

They were thinking about price. The Kyro II Aces have is the Videologic Vivid!XS 32mb TV-Out. This card will sell in the U.K for only £85 inc VAT and free delivery at release which is the same price as the cheaper Geforce 2 MX 32mb cards!!

The Hercules 4500 64mb Kyro II that sells in the U.S will basically be a Videologic Vivid!XS coloured blue with a blue orb style fan so it should overclock well straight out of the box. The reason allot of the Herc 4500's reviews didn't find overclocking to be good was because those boards weren't final. They were based on an early PCB and the Vivid!XS that Aces got is a final card which all Hercules Prophet 4500's will be based on at release.

<<<The increase from Kyro1 to Kyro2 was 50Mhz and give it such a performance increase, since ace got it to run at 201Mhz, 26Mhz more, it should have a good performance increase as well. (Correct me if I am wrong).>>>

Kyro 1 was 115mhz (some sites did get very early 125mhz ref boards but retail they were 115mhz) and the Kyro II is 175mhz so it was a 60mhz increase. At high res that extra 60mhz gave a 60-70% framrate jump ( a little of that was driver imporvements though). So an extra 26mhz on top of that will be very nice indeed.

 

[Eug]

I wonder how well the 32 MB card will do compared to the 64 MB card at 1024x768x32. I'm not interested in average frame rates though. I am interested in worst case scenarios (ie. minimum frame rates with heavy duty game demos), since those are arguably the most important tests of a card's usefulness with heavy duty gaming.

 

[Teasy]

<<<I wonder how well the 32 MB card will do compared to the 64 MB card at 1024x768x32. I'm not interested in average frame rates though. I am interested in worst case scenarios (ie. minimum frame rates with heavy duty game demos), since those are arguably the most important tests of a card's usefulness with heavy duty gaming.>>>

I wouldn't think there'd be to much difference there especially with TC forcable in all API's, and most games with big textures support TC anyway. Also loads of those big textures aren't even seen. Most cards have to deal with those large unseen textures but Kyro II doesn't so they won't need to be loaded to ram. With FSAA you don't need a big framebuffer in ram either so FSAA will be very similar on both cards, and of course there's no Z-buffer needed in ram either so there's even less need for 64mb.

 

[Archknight]

Is vivid! XS going to be available in the U.S. market?

 

[Killrose]

Maybe they ought to hook-up with thermaltke, and put rebate coupons for Blue Orbs in the with the cards they sell.

 

[gambit410]

Just got a message from hercules saying the kyro2 prophet 4500 has been realese and will soon be available on their web site within the next day or 2(monday i think) 2 and in shops soon after!! Can't wait to get it!!!

 

[Rand]

Yes, the Vivid will be available in the US.

 

[Teasy]

<<<Is vivid! XS going to be available in the U.S. market?>>>

No it won't. Its a U.K only card although you can order it from Videologic and have it sent anywhere in the world. The Hercules 4500 is the card that will be in the U.S market along with a few more 32mb Kyro II cards from some cheaper companies that are not yet anounced. The reason there not yet anounced is the companies are having trouble with Nvidia trying to stop them from making Kyro II cards (its a rumour but a very strong rumour). Powercolor had a 32mb Kyro II card ready for release in the U.S for $100 (also a rumour but again a strong one). But Nvidia got them to sign a contract that said they cannot sell a chip from anyone but Nvidia (no doubt they threatened to stop supplying them with Nvidia chips if they refused). So Powercolor have now made a new company just so they can produce Kyro I and II cards without Nvidia beating them up and stealing there dinner money. So there will be more Kyro II cards sold in the U.S then the Hercules 4500 but Hercules have an agreement with ST Micro/IMGTEC that they will be able to release there Kyro II card 1 month before any other Kyro II card (appart from the Vivid!XS since that is produced by IMGTEC themselves). So one month after the Herc 4500 is released there should be a few more cheaper Kyro II cards from other companies.

 

[Teasy]

<<<Yes, the Vivid will be available in the US>>>

It can be bought in the U.S from the U.K but its not made to be available retail in the U.S. Although some U.S stored could buy Vivid!XS cards if they wanted I suppose.

 

[timsactown]

can't wait to get my hand on one of this.

 

[Killrose]

Geeze, I guess I better get rid of my Radeon and my Asus 6800 while i still can get something for them, the price of all used vid cards is going to drop $10-$15 with the appearance of this card.
I hope thier driver house is in order.