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AMD-ATI Ships Radeon 2900 XT With 1GB Memory

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the shiny-happy-hardware-holding-hands dept.

MojoKid writes "Prior to AMD-ATI's Radeon HD 2000 series introduction, rumors circulated regarding an ultra-high clocked ATI R600-based card, that featured a large 1GB frame buffer. Some even went so far as to say the GPU would be clocked near 1GHz. When the R600 arrived in the form of the Radeon HD 2900 XT, it was outfitted with 'only' 512MB of frame buffer memory and its GPU and memory clock speeds didn't come close to the numbers in those early rumors. Some of AMD's partners, however, have since decided to introduce R600-based products that do feature 1GB frame buffers, like the Diamond Viper HD 2900 XT 1GB in both single-card and CrossFire configurations. At 2GHz DDR, the memory on the card is also clocked higher than AMD's reference designs but the GPU remains clocked at 742MHz"

21 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. But... by gQuigs · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does it run (on) Linux yet?

    1. Re:But... by dascritch · · Score: 5, Funny

      A lit'l more RAM and it can run Windows Vista. By itself.

      --
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    2. Re:But... by hitmark · · Score: 4, Funny

      but dont expect it to run any office software at the same time...

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    3. Re:But... by tux_deamon · · Score: 3, Informative

      I know you're kidding, but as a matter of fact, it is supported under Linux by a couple different drivers.

      A good review of the 2900 XT under LinuxIn fact, you have options.

      Using the proprietary driver

      Using the open source driver

    4. Re:But... by kshade · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Well, you can use it to speed up swapping a little: http://gentoo-wiki.com/TIP_Use_memory_on_video_card_as_swap

    5. Re:But... by UnderDark · · Score: 4, Funny

      Why would I want a card whose only purpose in life is make lots of calculations quickly and accurately run MS Office Excel 2007?

  2. also, more vespene gas by User+956 · · Score: 5, Funny

    When the R600 arrived in the form of the Radeon HD 2900 XT, it was outfitted with 'only' 512MB of frame buffer memory and its GPU and memory clock speeds didn't come close to the numbers in those early rumors.

    Well, that's because when they tried to build the 1GB units, a loud voice was heard saying "We require more minerals", and production was blocked.

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
  3. Considering 32-bit OSes are still mainstream.. by Chas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    These cards are ridiculous. ESPECIALLY in Crossfire installs.

    Wow! Now that 4GB of main system memory I installed has been pared back down to a more manageable 2GB!

    WHEE!

    Until 64-bit becomes more mainstream, cards like this will only become more and more detrimental to the systems they're installed in.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
    1. Re:Considering 32-bit OSes are still mainstream.. by Schemat1c · · Score: 3, Funny

      Note: Wasn't talking about for ME. I'm already running 64-bit, as I've chosen hardware that's fairly well supported driver-wise. Sorry but even 64-bit isn't going to help ME run any better.
      --

      "Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees that it is old enough to know better." - Unknown
  4. Finally some effects! by The-Pheon · · Score: 4, Funny

    With this new hardware, will be able to run vim with some colors for syntax highlighting? :)

  5. Useless! by ynososiduts · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Unless you are running quad 32" screens at some insane resolution, there is no need for 1 GB of frame buffer RAM. I think this is more for the "OMG MI VIF CARD HAZ 1 GIGGBYTES OF MEMORYIES!11!" type.

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    622677120
    1. Re:Useless! by DigiShaman · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's not just for frame buffering. That memory is also used to store texture maps, Z-buffers, stencil buffers, etc. Basically, Almost all of it is used for 3D games/applications. If all you needed was a 2D card, you could get away with just 64MB of on-board RAM.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    2. Re:Useless! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      You do realize that texture size is completely independent of screen resolution right? And that you possibly have hundreds of textures loaded at once? And they can't be stored compressed because decompression would take too long?

      Basically, other than the framebuffer for what's actually displayed on screen none of the graphics card memory is depended on screen resolution.

      Anyway, this card isn't useful *now*. That's because video game producers target the cards that are widely available. 2 years from now you're going to need *at least* 1GB to run games at their max settings.

  6. Useful for 3D animation work. by Animats · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sounds useful for 3D animation work, where you need all that memory for textures. Remember, by the time players see a game, the textures have been "optimized"; stored at the minimum resolution that will do the job, and possibly with level of detail processing in the game engine. Developers and artists need to work with that data in its original, high-resolution form.

  7. Ahh... by xx01dk · · Score: 5, Funny

    Question. Where are the ships? I wanted to read about video cards and ships. This article only half-delivers.

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    There is simply too much glass..
  8. Frame buffer? You mean video ram? by chrisl456 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Umm, not to sound like a tech jargon-nazi, but "frame buffer" to me has always meant just the part of video ram that "mirrors" what you see on screen. A 1GB frame buffer would give you 16384x16384x32bit color, so unless you're doing some kind of huge multi-screen setup, 1GB of frame buffer is a bit overkill. ;)

    --
    -chris
    1. Re:Frame buffer? You mean video ram? by aliquis · · Score: 5, Funny

      And here he where trying to be cool using new words he had seen, and you ruined it all :(

  9. That could be viewed as a serious question by MSRedfox · · Score: 3, Informative

    Hopefully, it will run well under Linux in the near future given AMD's recent actions. As was covered previously on here, AMD has already release quite a bit of detail to improve Linux support. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/24/053252

  10. Re:"Framebuffer memory" by AHuxley · · Score: 4, Funny

    640p is enough for anyone.

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  11. Re:Depends on what side your on... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hey, nice backwards smiley there. The smiley emoticon has been around for 25 years, and it looks like this: :)

  12. bitchin by savuporo · · Score: 5, Funny

    All these years later, and its still no match for the original Bitchin' fast 3d! 2000 Livin' la Video loca con Puerto Para Garficios Acelerados Gigante!

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