NVidia Fall 8800 refresh coming just as some of us expected

[yacoub]

http://arstechnica.com/article...ce-8800-and-beyond.ars

This fall will not only see the introduction of the next G80 derivative at the high end, but Hara also stated that the company will start to product its first 65nm GPUs. Moving its GPU line from 90nm to 65nm will bring NVIDIA to process parity with AMD/ATI (not that the 65nm feature size appears to have given the R600 any advantage in performance or power dissipation), and it will give the company the flexibility to increase either their performance or their profit margins, depending on how AMD/ATI's next-generation part fares.

[NVidia] has to execute on its annual product refresh cycle, and it has to maintain performance leadership with its discrete GPU products across the mobile, desktop, and HPC segments that it's pursuing.

 

[SunnyD]

So basically the important part of what they said here is that:

1) A GTS should be able to clock just as high as an Ultra

and

2) Judging by the past, it should be possible to unlock pipes, shaders and stuff on a GTS unless it's fully hardware locked (which I doubt... it means more production cost $'s)

Good news for every GTS owner then!

 

[biostud]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
So basically the important part of what they said here is that:

1) A GTS should be able to clock just as high as an Ultra

and

2) Judging by the past, it should be possible to unlock pipes, shaders and stuff on a GTS unless it's fully hardware locked (which I doubt... it means more production cost $'s)

Good news for every GTS owner then!

unless the 8800GTS is running with a lower voltage, or some other limiting factor on the board.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Still waiting for the 8850GX2 that we know is coming after seeing the water block for it at E3.

 

[yacoub]

Waiting for the 8900GTS that has 8800GTX specs at $399 MSRP.
It should be the 7800GTX -> 7900GT refresh leap all over again.
Unless of course ATi can't release a competitive product and NVidia then doesn't have the need to give that much hardware away at that price level (which would in turn suck for us).

 

[apoppin]

the entire article is really interesting ... it discusses their future and offers some interesting speculations:

NVIDIA's plans to bring double-precision floating-point to their parts in the near future, and so on. More interesting, however, was the fact that his HPC discussion was also premised on the notion that Intel's first Larrabee products won't be competitive in terms of performance with whatever NVIDIA has out at the time of Larrabee's launch. I'm not sure what to make of this assumption, because only time will tell if it bears out. Regardless, the idea that NVIDIA can keep a performance lead over Intel in raw FLOPS is critical not only to the company's growth prospects but to its very survival. As I said above, NVIDIA is putting all of its eggs in the discrete GPU basket, and if Intel out-engineers them in that game, then it's all over.

The real take-home from all of this is that, from here on out, NVIDIA is like a man on a highwire without a net, so it's going to be a fairly simple company to follow. It has to execute on its annual product refresh cycle, and it has to maintain performance leadership with its discrete GPU products across the mobile, desktop, and HPC segments that it's pursuing. If it stumbles on either of these two legs, then there may be no chance of recovery.

 

[Woofmeister]

What apoppin said. What's most interesting is that NVIDIA sees both Intel and AMD/ATI increasingly fighting amongst themselves over the world of low-margin business desktops using CPU/GPU die-level integration, leaving NVIDIA as the only player on the high end of discrete GPUs.

If NVIDIA's right, enthusiasts will lose their only alternative to NVIDIA and almost everyone here is going to end up having no choice but to purchase an NVIDIA product.

 

[Cheex]

Are you guys saying that my brand new 8800GTS 320MB is now going to be obsolete???

I sure hope not!!!

 

[LightningRider]

Well, all comptuer components become obsolete sooner or later, and usually sooner than later... That 8800GTS will still last you a good while though, don't worry. I'm still running on my 7800GTX.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Your 320mb 8800GTS was obsolete when u bought it if you want to look at it that way. I pref to look at "obsolete" objectively. If I can do what I want with it just fine then it's not obsolete

 

[Modular]

Originally posted by: Cheex
Are you guys saying that my brand new 8800GTS 320MB is now going to be obsolete???

I sure hope not!!!

Obsolete? Not quite.

Are there better buys on the way? Absolutely.

I'm still playing on a 6600gt AGP and up until I got my Acer 20.1" WS panel, there wasn't a game I couldn't play on that card at decent rates at 1024x768.

Buying a 320 GTS recently was not the best decision since it's been speculated for a few months that a refresh was on the way. But your card will certainly not be obsolete. Obsolete is an nVidia Tnt card or a Raedon 7000

 

[ArchAngel777]

Well, I hope they get this refresh out there shortly. I want to see the G90 by Christmas!

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: yacoub
http://arstechnica.com/article...ce-8800-and-beyond.ars

This fall will not only see the introduction of the next G80 derivative at the high end, but Hara also stated that the company will start to product its first 65nm GPUs. Moving its GPU line from 90nm to 65nm will bring NVIDIA to process parity with AMD/ATI (not that the 65nm feature size appears to have given the R600 any advantage in performance or power dissipation), and it will give the company the flexibility to increase either their performance or their profit margins, depending on how AMD/ATI's next-generation part fares.

[NVidia] has to execute on its annual product refresh cycle, and it has to maintain performance leadership with its discrete GPU products across the mobile, desktop, and HPC segments that it's pursuing.

Anyone else notice that they refer to the R600 as being currently built on a 65nm process? My understanding was that all current R600's are on an 80nm process. Are they not sure what they're talking about or has there been a recent change that I'm not aware of?

 

[RussianSensation]

If refresh is in the fall, we probably wont see G90 before Q1, 2008. However, earlier rumours claimed a "before year end introduction of next gen."

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: Elfear
Anyone else notice that they refer to the R600 as being currently built on a 65nm process? My understanding was that all current R600's are on an 80nm process. Are they not sure what they're talking about or has there been a recent change that I'm not aware of?

What's worse - they're talking about nVidia having a process, when it's well-known they contract out to third-party fabs.

Refreshes happen. No big deal.

 

[mrfatboy]

i was planning on getting the 8800 gts 640 (EVGA) in July. Doesnt' EVGA have a 90 day step up program? I hope they come out with the new model before my 90 days is up.

 

[yacoub]

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777
Well, I hope they get this refresh out there shortly. I want to see the G90 by Christmas!

Yeah I'm hoping August for the refresh but probably September.

 

[lopri]

This, if true, is a good news. I almost thought NV would skip straight to G90. I actually like refreshed parts more (e.g. 9800>9700, 7900>7800) because they run better and cooler, with more mature drivers. But didn't they also say that G90 will debut on November? And it's already Jun.. I can't imagine G81 in August and G90 in November..? That's only 3 months.

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: Woofmeister
What apoppin said. What's most interesting is that NVIDIA sees both Intel and AMD/ATI increasingly fighting amongst themselves over the world of low-margin business desktops using CPU/GPU die-level integration, leaving NVIDIA as the only player on the high end of discrete GPUs.

If NVIDIA's right, enthusiasts will lose their only alternative to NVIDIA and almost everyone here is going to end up having no choice but to purchase an NVIDIA product.

The integrated GPU/CPU hybrids won't catch up the high-end discrete GPUs for several years due to their relative lack of memory bandwith. However, if AMD and Intel start eating up the low end and eventually mid-range, Nvidia is going to be screwed unless they diversify into other markets. They won't be able to sustain their business model if they are only selling $300+ high-end parts. I honestly don't think the HPC market for discrete coprocessors is big enough to keep them going, either.

 

[Cookie Monster]

You guys are forgetting that the refresh of G80 is G92. Sort of like NV40 to G70 kind of refresh is going to happen. A new high end will launch around Q4 this year while the midrange G9x hit spring in 08. This is nVIDIA's new approach i believe.

 

[FireChicken]

Originally posted by: biostud

Originally posted by: SunnyD
So basically the important part of what they said here is that:

1) A GTS should be able to clock just as high as an Ultra

and

2) Judging by the past, it should be possible to unlock pipes, shaders and stuff on a GTS unless it's fully hardware locked (which I doubt... it means more production cost $'s)

Good news for every GTS owner then!

unless the 8800GTS is running with a lower voltage, or some other limiting factor on the board.

I had heard that after the 6800 series the extra pipes were laser cut so enabling them would be impossible text

 

[Lord Banshee]

You heard correct FireChicken, SunnyD must have lost it if he thinks that any 7xxx or 8xxx can unlock pipes. Nvidia has finally found the best way to stop quadro mods and pipe unlocking, which is rumored that certain lines are physical cut on the die of the GPU.

 

[Munky]

What this means the refresh will be a die shrink and speed bump, and not a whole new generation g90 architecture that was recently rumored to be coming this fall.

Anyways, that's what I expected, and it follows the pattern of previous Nvidia product releases.

 

[BFG10K]

I hope this thing comes sooner rather than later. I'm itching to upgrade my 8800 GTS but I don't really want to go the 8800 GTX route.

 

[Cheex]

Now I feel like I made a bad purchase...

This is my FIRST high-end GPU and now it is being relegated...