R420*: What do we know?

[BaboonGuy]

Anyone know anything about the new cards from ATi? I haven't heard a thing, I'd expect them to release something new before HL2 and Doom3, you guys heard anything about this at all? Or perhaps even the new nvidia card?

 

[Schadenfroh]

i thought the next one was r420

 

[bgeh]

we know that's it's been renamed to R420(Loki) 😛

 

[chilled]

Yes indeed, the next generations cards from nVidia and ATi will be the nv40 and R420 respectively.

This is a little guess work I have been doing:

TNT, TNT2
GF, GF2
GF3, GF4
GF FX, nv40

The TNT2 was a evolution of the original TNT. Similarly, the GF2 was a evolution of the original GF, etc. The TNT, GF, GF3 and GF FX were very much revolutions that brought completely new cores to the market. So, the nv40 should have a similar design to the GF FX. Thus the performances could be much closer, albeit a step forward.

I would expect the nv50 to be a completely new core design.

However, there is one flaw if we look at the Ati cards: Each generation was more of a revolution than the previous. This would suggest a huge performance benefit for the R420.

What do u guys think? Looking over this it seems my idea is flawed, but I wanna buy a 5900 now rather than wait for the next generation of cards.....grrrr!

 

[Xernex]

Originally posted by: chilled
Yes indeed, the next generations cards from nVidia and ATi will be the nv40 and R420 respectively.

This is a little guess work I have been doing:

TNT, TNT2
GF, GF2
GF3, GF4
GF FX, nv40

The TNT2 was a evolution of the original TNT. Similarly, the GF2 was a evolution of the original GF, etc. The TNT, GF, GF3 and GF FX were very much revolutions that brought completely new cores to the market. So, the nv40 should have a similar design to the GF FX. Thus the performances could be much closer, albeit a step forward.

I would expect the nv50 to be a completely new core design.

However, there is one flaw if we look at the Ati cards: Each generation was more of a revolution than the previous. This would suggest a huge performance benefit for the R420.

What do u guys think? Looking over this it seems my idea is flawed, but I wanna buy a 5900 now rather than wait for the next generation of cards.....grrrr!

Well its one way of looking at it and we have already been told the R420 is going to be a whole new core. But before its release we will see the R360 a slightly beefed R350. The NV40 is *MEANT* to be a new core I think. It will atleast be a reasonable redesign of the NV30 core, and I think they will need it because I have a feeling the R420 is gonna be something very special.

I bought my radeon 9800 pro now because we wont see these cards till late December early next year at best. So I'd rather enjoy it now and trade up later.

 

[Lonyo]

TNT, TNT2
GF, GF2
GF3, GF4
GF FX, nv40

The TNT2 was a evolution of the original TNT. Similarly, the GF2 was a evolution of the original GF, etc. The TNT, GF, GF3 and GF FX were very much revolutions that brought completely new cores to the market. So, the nv40 should have a similar design to the GF FX. Thus the performances could be much closer, albeit a step forward.

Slightly wrong there I think. The GF FX 5800 was the NV30, then the 5900 was the NV35, and was effectively the evolution from 5800, like TNT2 to TNT, thus it would follow that the NV40 would be a new core, like the GF FX or original GF.

 

[billyjak]

Exactly what I did, bought the 9800 Pro now to trade up later for the R420, ATi cards rock.
I was a Nvidia devoted person for tooo long. Waiting and waiting, screw the waiting.
I'm now enjoying the speed of ATi, and the drivers are great with the 3.6's , maybe if Nvidia comes up with something down the road, but they can't seem to deliver like ATi as of late.

 

[XBoxLPU]

I bought an 9700 Pro and I have been very pleased

 

[wetcat007]

Originally posted by: billyjak
Exactly what I did, bought the 9800 Pro now to trade up later for the R420, ATi cards rock.
I was a Nvidia devoted person for tooo long. Waiting and waiting, screw the waiting.
I'm now enjoying the speed of ATi, and the drivers are great with the 3.6's , maybe if Nvidia comes up with something down the road, but they can't seem to deliver like ATi as of late.

The 5900 Ultra put nVidia back in the lead but not by a huge margin.

 

[Davegod]

When are we expecting the next lot of cards? - do most people aggree with Xernex's "late December early next year"?

I'm thinking of buying a 9800pro/5900 now. I dont desperately need it for anything until DooM3 or Half Life 2 (im running on a heavily overclocked GF3ti200, but there isnt really many games that i cant just about manage with it), but am getting impatient and anyway the bloody video cards never seem to come down in price significantly now, they just get replaced with the faster version - the crappy gigabyte 9700pro is now at £205, crucial's was something like £275 from the start! Of course, now crucial only sell their 9800pro - for £285... Market is a bit sucky for those of us who normally get the almost-fastest card for half of what it cost when it was the newly crowned fastest one, the non-pro's are too much of a drop from the pro versions.

 

[billyjak]

Well the 5900 Ulta seems hard to find now.
It came out awhile ago
Half Life 2 is scheduled for release in September
Doom 3 probably early 2004
September is only a short while away.
The new video card releases in reality won't be out until Dec at the earliest if even you can get one then.
The choice is clear, enjoy now , get a 9800 Pro or 5900 FX now or you'll be waiting and waiting like I did with my Ti 4200
I'm really happy with my new card and the visuals are extremely better now with AA & AF enabled in all games., And screaming fast too.

 

[ss284]

Waiting is probably the best option. The two killer games at this moment are HL2 and Doom 3. I'm sure HL2 will run fine on most of our systems; while doom3 will probably require an upgrade to run decently. When the performance on these games are released, upgrade then.

-Ste