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ATI PCI-Express Devices Revealed
JohnQ writes "According to Xbitlabs and AnandTech, the specifications for ATI's newest graphics cards have been revealed. Interesting to note is that all of these next generation video cards will run exclusively on the PEG (PCI-Express x16) interface. This does not bode well for those of us who just paid top dollar for the last generation of AGP cards. Read more about the roadmaps on Anandtech and Xbitlabs"
In order to accomplish a bridge-free roadmap, ATI has to have two versions of every GPU: a PCIe and an AGP version (or an AGP substitute). Keep this in mind as we look at the GPUs due out in '04 since you'll be seeing two per market segment, one AGP and one PCIe.
It's also worth noting that all of ATI's GPUs will be available in both PCIe and AGP flavors throughout 2004.
who know nothing about this so called PCI Express x16, check out these useful sites... True, they're not in english, but as if it's any harder to read than xbitlabs and anandtech ;-) .
Unpretentious Sydney reviews by unqualified Sydney reviewers
JohnQ, are you some kind of idiot? If you READ the article, you'd see that ATI is releasing dual chipsets of identical performance, one each for PCIe and AGP.
Note that there are two differnet standards - PCI-X is different than "PCI Express".
Please don't call it that. There's enough confusion already between PCI-X and PCI-Express.
Check out PCI-SIG.
Call me crazy, but it seems to me that the changes ATI is making with R4xx are much less drastic than what Nvidia is doing with NV4x. Nvidia is claiming 3X perfomance increase over NV3x, and up to 8X performance increase in Pixel Shader operations. Yeah, it's all theoretical at this point, but it's something to think about. Of course, if you compare R3xx to NV3x, it appears that ATI just had a better design than Nvidia, for the most part, so they didn't need to change as much.
:)
Regardless of which chip you favor, it's shaping up to be an interesting battle come springtime! (Or more likely summer for those of use that don't get the very first cards direct from the manufacturers.) Can't wait! When these cards get released, I'll finally be able to afford a Radeon 9800XT.
Linux 2.6 + XFree86 4.3
Enable the "radeon" DRI driver in the kernel, use "radeon" in your XF86Config, and all is good. If you want to stick with 2.4, *disable* all DRI support in-kernel, and grab the DRI project R200 drivers.
What matter for 2d is amount of videomemory and to less extent GPU clock.
I believe the new graphics cards will use what is called PCI-Express For Graphics which has 4 PCI-Express (serial) channels. So it is likely that there will still be only one of these slots on future motherboards.
Nope - AGP can go both ways too, this is not a new feature on PCI-Express. PCI-Express is all about replacing PCI and AGP with a common interface.
Using the host processor "to make on the fly corrections to the image" would be madness as you would have to transfer the whole frame buffer off the GFX card to host mem and then back again. An incredible waste of bandwidth when you can do pretty much most things with pixel shaders anyway, without the round trip.are you on drugs?
almost ALL Nvidia cards with VGA + DVI do dual head out of the box for $69.00 to $299.00 nothing expensive there... 3 head? easy, just buy a (gasp) PCI card to compliment it.
matrox makes 4-8 head cards that are sub $500.00 which are in the same price ballpark as the go-fast latest shiny video card that also have great 3d.
I suggest you learn about what you are complaining about before you publically complain about it... there are GOBS of goodies for super cheap multi-head.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
It's a shame no one's making Linux games any more
Oh really?
How is this informative? You're just copying a couple of sentences from the anandtech story. At least attribute it so it isn't plaigarism.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
You do realize that running a system open-cased actually reduces cooling performance, right? Coses work through airflow, pulling air in one side of the case, flowing through the case and pushing out out the other. Put your case back on. Your CPU (and ears) will thank you.
-twb
I guess even the submitter did not RTFA.
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
Many people have pointed out that it really doesn't matter if one has just purchased an AGP card just because PCI Express versions are coming out this year... However, it may be influenced by the chipset support.
Intel's roadmaps reveal that none of their next-gen chipsets will have AGP support.
Similarly, SIS' roadmaps reveal that none of their chipsets will have AGP support either. That's for both Intel and AMD processors.
However, VIA's roadmaps show support for AGP throughout 2004 for both Intel and AMD processors.
So there's all the major players in the Intel game, and two for AMD. I would theorize that NVidia will go with whatever solution lets them pimp their high-end GPUs most effectively for their next NForce boards, but I don't remember seeing anything official about this. Anyone got a link?
...at least not compared to 100Mbit switches, and "normal" use. I stream any mp3/divx/whatever just fine over 100Mbit. I burn DVD+Rs and DVD-Rs at 4x just fine on-the-fly from the network. The only two times I'd really need Gb Ethernet is when moving files around, or load times for anything I'd run remotely (currently: nothing).
So yeah, this machine has GbLan onboard. But I don't have another machine capable, nor a switch. I simply consider it "GbLan ready" for now. When I get a second capable machine, perhaps I'll invest in a switch. And perhaps not even then.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
This isn't going to affect the price of AGP much at all. Look at vanilla PCI video cards these days (remember them?): all within $10 of their AGP cousins.
You'd think so, but for most cases (pun intended) It just ain't true. Maybe we just tend to get cheap cases ;) but I've had a LOT of personal experience with systems that crash from heat with the case on, but run fine with it off. I think you are perpetuating a computing myth.
Well, it's 16 channels and not four, but you have the right idea. PCI Express for Graphics is going to end up being analogous to AGP -- chipsets will only support one slot. However, the fact that PCI Express x1 slots will themselves have such high bandwidth will mean it won't be as much of a problem for those who want to run multiple graphics cards.
As another poster stated, this in unlikely to happen.
High-performance graphic cards will require a x16 slot, and most motherboards will only provide one x16, multiple x1 and maybe a couple of x4.
Moreover the PCI-Express specs define power limits. All the Gfx vendors requested (and got) amazingly high power limits for graphic slots. Having two Gfx boards working at the limit would blow past the cooling abilities of most cases. While it will be possible for a PC manufacturer to provide multiple such slots, this will not happen in the value segment and may only be offered at a high cost premium (if at all).
What I am hoping for is for "secondary" cards working from a 4x slot, with limited performance and limited consumption. I could use a (or two) secondary display(s) while using flight simulators (e.g., for auxiliary panels or peripheral vision).
Note also that the PCI-SIG is close to making a decision on "second generation signaling rate". The debate is between 5Gb/s/lane (ie 2 times Gen I) or 6.25Gb/s/lane. A Gen-II 4x slot would provide enough bandwidth to feed a current high-end card.