(Seriously) Is there a GF5 in the works?

[MichaelD]

This is a serious question. I seem to remember reading something about a GF5 (AV25?) and how it's going to be Sooooooooo revolutionary, blah, blah.

Thinking about getting a GF4 4200...but then thinking about "skipping" a generation.

I have recently gotten into gaming at high resolutions (used to just do 1024x768...now 1152x864 w/everything cranked up) with all the bells and whistles turned on and the plain-jane GF3 isn't quite cutting it...for things like UT/Q3 it still rocks, but MaxPayne with everything on/4x AA is beating on it really hard.

The rest of my gaming rig is solid...KT266A/1.53GHz CPU/512mb PC2100, so it's the videocard.

Any info is appreciated.

 

[aswedc]

Yes there is a 'Geforce 5' in development but it probably won't be called that. Its supposed to be the biggest contribution Nvidia has ever made to the video card industry.

 

[Adul]

NV25 ws the geforce 4

NV30 is the next big thing from Nvidia and it promise to be significant.

I can't wait to see how they all turn out this fall

 

[GT1999]

I don't know if I can wait that long for a new card but I'll try. Since they were supposedly running Doom III off of the new ATI R300 I might just go for one of those if they're out before nVidia's new offering. Believe it or not my GF3 Ti200 just isn't enough anymore since I got SoF2 retail. It looks amazing but runs slower even at 800x600 with my 1.1GHz TBird, which is kind of disappointing.

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks guys. Fall, huh? Well, by then, the GF4 4600s will prolly be around $200 or so.

I dunno...I think I"m done paying upwards of $300 for a video card. I paid $350 for my GF3 when they first came out. I've learned my lesson....NAH!!!!!! I guess we'll see it, when we see it in Sep/Oct.

 

[Athlon4all]

Hi MichaelD

The GeForce4 is the NV25, and while there is a "GeForce5" in the works, it will not be called it. The next gen part is NV30, and its supposed to have 3dfx technology in it, and its really supposed to be revolutionary. Not much is known however. Its really tough to tell.

A GF4 Ti 4200 would definately give you a pretty good performance boost (at 1028x768 31% in future games based on the Unreal 2 engine, 32% in Serious Sam TSE which is prolly similar to Max Payne, 5% in Jedi Knight2, 33% in Comanche 4, and 33% in RTCW). So really, its just a matter of what you want to do. Theres no doubt that the NV30 will cost significantly more than the GF4 TI 4200 at launch (prolly $400), I would to be quite honest, try to wait. Disclaimer: My personal thoughts:
One thing that seems very likely with the NV30 is that it will feature like Parhelia and the P10, a 256-bit DDR memory bus and that will double the bandwidth avialable for the GPU (we're talking about if the same memory thats on the TI 4600 is used, 20.8GB/ps)and to be quite honest, if FSAA+High Resolutions+all details is your thing, I'd bet you this 256-bit DDR with nVidia's Visability subsystem, with its massive memory bandwidth capabilities would be able to play 4x FSAA with Ansiotropic Filtering at 1600x1200. Thats just what my gut is tellling me. There's more to NV30 tho, I'm thinking something like more vertex and pixel shaders, additional rendering pipelines, and of course the mystery 3dfx technology thats supposed to be in it, so. Its a matter of what you wanna do. I'd bet you could get $100 for that GF3 and then you could as a result get a GF4 Ti 4200 for $70 or so in the end. I hope this info will help you make an educated decision. Personally, I'd tough it out and wait for the next gen.

 

[MichaelD]

Hey, nice post, Athlon4all! Thanks for all the info. Yeah, I was seriously considering just skipping the GF4 and waiting for the NV30 to come out.

Overclocking my current card is an option, but then you introduce the possibilites of all kinds of nasties/anomolies like screen jitters/snow/artifacts and lockups. Not my idea of "a good gaming experience."

So, I don't currently OC my video card.

We shall see come this Fall. Later buddy.

 

[Oreo]

Believe it or not my GF3 Ti200 just isn't enough anymore since I got SoF2 retail. It looks amazing but runs slower even at 800x600 with my 1.1GHz TBird, which is kind of disappointing.

SOF2 and all the new games based on the Q3 engine are CPU dependant more so than graphics dependant so get a faster CPU first.

 

[FTemplar]

Originally posted by: Athlon4all
Hi MichaelD

The GeForce4 is the NV25, and while there is a "GeForce5" in the works, it will not be called it. The next gen part is NV30, and its supposed to have 3dfx technology in it, and its really supposed to be revolutionary. Not much is known however. Its really tough to tell.

<i> its supposed to have 3dfx technology in it </i>

omg, Hidden Texture Removal anyone? if they get this in the nv30 it sure is gonna be revolutionary...

 

[Electric Amish]

how it's going to be Sooooooooo revolutionary

C'mon, this IS Nvidia we're talking about.....

Stealer of Engineers....

Copier of features....

Emulator of naming conventions...

amish

 

[gunf1ghter]

Geez, another ATI fanboy slam.

Give me a break. They are in business to make money and be successful. That means you buy other companies and utilize their intellectual property. That means you hire engineers who can benefit your company. That means you reverse engineer new technology and figure out if you can utilize it without violating patent laws.

If you can prove that NVIDIA has broken the law please do so.

Otherwise, STFU.

 

[Pariah]

Not everyone who dislikes Nvidia is an ATi fanboy believe it or not. There were no accusations of illegal activity made. What NVidia does is perfectly legal. The point being made is that as far as market leaders go, NVidia makes Microsoft looked like the innovation gods.

 

[MistaTastyCakes]

C'mon, this IS Nvidia we're talking about.....

Stealer of Engineers....

Copier of features....

Emulator of naming conventions...

Those darn capitalists, I wish they'd just stop trying to make money.

Geez, another ATI fanboy slam.

Matrox fanboy..

 

[wmansir]

I wouldn't get too exited about an NV30 this fall. I know the CEO recently said they plan to release it this fall, but if it is, I wouldn't expect it until late, late fall. And I wouldn't be surprised if it didnt come on the market, in reasonable numbers, until Q1 2003.

As we all know the DoomIII demo ran on a next generation ATI card (probably R300), but nVidia couldn't produce a NV30 sample and instead tried to get the job done with "a very high speed GF4" (probably something OC with hand picked chips and custom cooler). Of course it was no contest.

Everyone knows how big a deal the DoomIII demo was, so I'm sure if nVidia could have had a next-gen card ready they would have. Which means they must be pretty far back in the development cycle.

Last I heard the R300 was set for release in August, a week after R250. If ATI can get their act together on the driver front, it should be a the fastest on the market for several months. However, *in theory* the 8500 should be faster than the GF4 (at least in certain situations), but most of the time it is not because of crappy driver support.

 

[MichaelD]

Oooooooooooooo, flaming in my thread! :Q Play nice, gentlemen, or I'll take away your toys.

Personally, I could care less what company I give my hard-earned money to; I'm in it for:

a) Performance
b) Bang for the buck
c) Support (i.e. drivers that work with no issues!)

So far, from what I have seen, ATI has A & B but not C. They are getting there. If the R300 or even the Parhelia has A, B & C, then that company will get my dough. Now if you'll excuse me, i have to go overclock my GF3 somewhere between GF4 4600 performance and complete and utter chip failure and meltdown. :Q

 

[gunf1ghter]

well, you can get a GF3 TI4200 pretty darn cheap and O/C it to TI4600 levels. Why not do that and then sell that card for a new one in 6 months?

 

[Mingon]

a 256-bit DDR memory bus and that will double the bandwidth avialable for the GPU (we're talking about if the same memory thats on the TI 4600 is used

Not likely, nvidia have stated that this is too expensive at the moment.

Stealer of Engineers....

LOL more like the matrox engineers were so bored they left.

 

[Athlon4all]

Personally, I could care less what company I give my hard-earned money to; I'm in it for:

Agreed. Ya wanna know why I got a Radeon 7500 over a GF4 MX 440? Because the performance of the R7500 was good and it had HydraVision support while the other GF4MX's in that price range didn't. Ya wanna know why a Duron 800's in my primary rig right now rather than an Intel CPU? B/c at the time, the Duron 800 was faster than any other Celeron in the same price range and it is just as stable as my Celeron system. Who made it doesn't figure into it.

As we all know the DoomIII demo ran on a next generation ATI card (probably R300), but nVidia couldn't produce a NV30 sample and instead tried to get the job done with "a very high speed GF4" (probably something OC with hand picked chips and custom cooler). Of course it was no contest.

Nope. Go to the big thread in GH, NFS4 has got a link that shows that Doom III was not run on a next gen part from ATi or nVidia, but rather a GF4 Ti that has AGP 8X support.

Not likely, nvidia have stated that this is too expensive at the moment.

Hmmm. Maybe. But, still, I will not be supriswed if it does end up with a 256-bit memory bus.

 

[FrustratedUser]

I am just amazed by how much ordinary people know about products that doesn't exist.
Nice reading.

 

[gunf1ghter]

Which product "doesn't exist"? There is definitely alpha silicon on at least one of these cards... and already released technical specifications will give anyone knowledgeable an idea of what the capabilities should be.

 

[FrustratedUser]

Originally posted by: gunf1ghter
Which product "doesn't exist"? There is definitely alpha silicon on at least one of these cards... and already released technical specifications will give anyone knowledgeable an idea of what the capabilities should be.

Is there alpha silicon out for the NV30? In that case, my bad.

 

[gunf1ghter]

As I indicated, there are simply some numbers that have leaked out from Nvidia that indicate that the NV30 should be on par with the R300. And I do suspect that there is alpha or even beta NV30 silicon at Nvidia... whether anyone outside of Nvidia has gotten ahold of it is the real question.

 

[Pabster]

Of course. NV30 is well under development. As is ATi's competing R300 core. It should be an interesting fall.

That said, I have to give the nod to the GeForce 4. Even the Ti4200 is an incredible improvement over GeForce 3 (and in some key areas, Radeon 8500). It isn't all about synthetic tests, but real-world frame rates. As well as drivers.

You could probably upgrade to a Ti4200 for relatively cheap (75-100) and they o/c easily to Ti4400 status, some higher. Considering the price difference between the cheapest Ti4200 and the cheapest Ti4400 (around 50-60) the Ti4200 is a damn good deal. Of course Ti4600 owns all, but I can't recommend it -- except for those who always have to have the "latest and greatest" and are willing to overpay to get it. I used to be like that. I remember dropping $450 for a vanilla GeForce 3 at launch. I decided I wasn't going to do that with GeForce 4, and I didn't. I waited for a good deal on a quality Ti4200 (without the vivo crap) and took it. It is running slightly above Ti4400 stock speeds and incredibly fast, for half the cost of what I would have spent on a Ti4600.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Pabster
Of course. NV30 is well under development. As is ATi's competing R300 core. It should be an interesting fall.

That said, I have to give the nod to the GeForce 4. Even the Ti4200 is an incredible improvement over GeForce 3 (and in some key areas, Radeon 8500). It isn't all about synthetic tests, but real-world frame rates. As well as drivers.

You could probably upgrade to a Ti4200 for relatively cheap (75-100) and they o/c easily to Ti4400 status, some higher. Considering the price difference between the cheapest Ti4200 and the cheapest Ti4400 (around 50-60) the Ti4200 is a damn good deal. Of course Ti4600 owns all, but I can't recommend it -- except for those who always have to have the "latest and greatest" and are willing to overpay to get it. I used to be like that. I remember dropping $450 for a vanilla GeForce 3 at launch. I decided I wasn't going to do that with GeForce 4, and I didn't. I waited for a good deal on a quality Ti4200 (without the vivo crap) and took it. It is running slightly above Ti4400 stock speeds and incredibly fast, for half the cost of what I would have spent on a Ti4600.

Nice post, Pabster. Very good info *me writes it to flash ROM* <--damn, I spend way too much time on my PC/ I take it you overclock you 4200 using Coolbits?

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: gunf1ghter
Geez, another ATI fanboy slam.

Give me a break. They are in business to make money and be successful. That means you buy other companies and utilize their intellectual property. That means you hire engineers who can benefit your company. That means you reverse engineer new technology and figure out if you can utilize it without violating patent laws.

If you can prove that NVIDIA has broken the law please do so.

Otherwise, STFU.

I would take that back if i was you .. Amish is a die hard matrox fan... and for good reason!