ATIs Pipelines Increasing

April 8, 2004 - 9:00pm

The pipeline issue is continuing to rage between ATI and nVidia and just as we were getting our fingers ready to count the number of them which the GeForce 6800 Ultra (NV40) will sport and used to the idea that the speed Crown will change hands, ATI are confusing the battle again.

The latest twist in the pipeline saga comes from ATI's camp and claims that ATI are about to announce a product carrying a 16x pipeline architecture. It is not clear if this refers to ATI's Radeon X800 (R420) chip or to some revised version. It would however be extremely unlikely that ATI had the time or resources necessary to have reacted to nVidia's 16x announcement so soon.

The first sign that there might be some substance to this report of ATIs increasing pipelines comes from its timing. Just as the first, triumphant, nVidia 3DMark benchmarks started coming in, indicating that boards are now out there, this story surfaces raising doubt over nVidia's expected supremacy. The other is that ATIs early announcement of a 12x pipeline architecture may have been used to get nVidia to confirm the number that the NV40 will carry.

The impact of a 16 pipeline ATI board on the fight for the crown will be considerable. Recently the two new chips were tested against each other and reports claimed that nVidia's baby had come out on top but only just. If the ATI board being tested carried a 12x chip then it is clear that a 16x chip will surpass its rival by a decent margin. Was the ATI chip tested the R420? We will have to wait and see.

Another problem which seems to be currently troubling nVidia is that of availability. Although the company plans to officially announce its new chip very soon, recent reports from partners claim that 3-4 months will be needed to get them ready for the public, giving the GeForce 6800 Ultra a street date of July or August. ATI however are expected to have their new boards out by July, at the latest. If they beat nVidia to retail and come out with a 16x product then they will have made a great big step towards winning this chapter of the graphics war.

Comments

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

YAY, someone else who knows the truth. Only reason some peeps thought it was going to be a 8x2 config was due to the transistor count being speculated at 175 million (thought it was impossible to fit ful 16 pipes on that many transistors), when in fact it is 222 million. Btw, nv40 appears to be a new architecture or so heavily modified from nv3* that it is basicly new.Some info from a friends speech for school (wish i was doin yr11 computeing :( )NVidia poured $1 billion R&D into NV40 lineup, including highend down to entry level, all set to be rolled out this year.Focused on 4 priorities:Priority 1: make sure NV40 was fastest on market, period.Priority 2: advance shader technology, support ps3.0Priority 3: prosumer home theatre video, Hi-DefPriority 4: Film quality fx in games, real time

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

Ati better have something good :P, i think the nv40 in the reviews was also Only when it's released will we know...Murmandarmusat 3:4 14/4/2004Soory for the repition64's, so if you own one, shut the hell up.The only reason NV3* was a flop was because ATI's competeing cards were betterFX5900se and get great frame rate then go for it.yodaat 0:31 12/4/2004if u also don't know about the weakness that exists in the FX line. then you are clearly not well informed.yodaat 0:25 12/4/2004

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

want to say you piece of f**king silicone is better then somebody elses. Otherwise you would not feel secure of your purchase if you did not try to influnce other people. So bring on the shit!I will wait and buy whichever is fastest when i build my new system halfway through this year.Anonymousat 13:22 9/4/2004Last post!!!!!!!!!Email:Contact me when this article is updated!previous article All hardware next articlesounds really wierd. i mean, it's like saying there are 32 pipelines, and through each pipeline there are 0 pixels per pass. Isn't that like the dumbest thing ever?roma_turokat 6:51 12/4/2004Wait for next year 32 pipelines :)Anonymousat 5:10 12/4/2004You are an idiot, ATI is cheaper!Anonymousat 3:40 12/4/2004will release their garbage first, that isn't a entirely correct statement. Retailers wont start showing the video card until June or July, ATI because of their partners. ATI will release their video in June at the latest, thanks to their partners, i better get off too sleep, just got back from theClick Here

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

Well, it would appear that the ultra version will have 16 pipelines and the non-ultra will have 12 pipelines (eerily similar to ATI). There is no multi-texture approach used like in the nv3x. Well, the performance looks good, and so far, nvidia seem to have dilivered on their promises of 2x performance and 4x (nv3x) performance. Now its ATI's turn. Image quality on ATI hardware should be improved even furthur and I think they have come up with entirely new filtering algorithms. Also, the clock speed on the ATI cores seem to be higher. Now I am curious about R420's performance. To the guy with the "isn't that the dumbest thing ever comment." No that is not the dumbest thing ever ... 32x0 is not an actual pipeline configuration. It is a label for the type of acceleration nvidia uses for its ultrashodow II technology.

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

The reason for that is the number of pipelines it has and the amound of raw bandwidth that the card can use. It has a 35gb/sec bandwidth to the memory which makes it just as fast in higher resolutions ... sometimes even faster in higher resolutions. This card is great for insane people who can not play their games at anything except 1600x1200. My monitor doesn't even support that mode.

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

Nvidia has taken seat of the king??? The R420 is not even out yet? You cannot compare last years generation chipset to a newer chipset retard. And from early reports. The R420 will run at higher MHZ then the 6800 and have less transistors."Still, with all these great things said, NVIDIA is far from being off the hook in terms of competition. ATI's R420 VPU is looking to be a 16 pixel pipeline part and is being touted as a 600MHz monster."-HARDOCP.COM-

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

Well, it is nice to see benchmarks and all that but comparing a "next generation" part with current video cards is ... an unfair comparison. An apples to apples comparison should have been done with the x800. Also, who is actually going to buy a $500 card? Crazy people, that's who. USE THAT MONEY FOR RENT PEOPLE!

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

You have to compare the XT800(R420 WITH 16 PIPELINES) to the NV40. Then compare the 800Pro with 12 pipelines to the NV40 non-Ultra with 12 pipelines. To compare the NV40 to the 9800XT or even it's own 5950 is quite useless.

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

I see you guys read my post. Yes, the benchmarks are interesting but are not painting a complete picture of course. It doesn't matter to me really. I will not be able to afford any of these new cards as I have recently purchased an Evga 5900; that would be the one clocked at 400 and 850 for memory. So far no issues and even if there were issues ... I could do nothing about it as I have no job currently and no money.

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

NVIDIA's new card delivers a performance jump not seen for a long time. The device is also solidly engineered as well as insanely fast.12.000 points in 3DMark 2003. A score of over 60.000 in AquaMark 3. Over 60fps in Halo at 1600x1200 and more than 50fps in FarCry with High FSAA and 4tap anisotropic filtering at 1024x768 - these are numbers that will bring tears of joy to PC enthusiasts everywhere.-Tom's Hardware-

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

hmmm i'm getting nvidia next time. with all that hassle owning an ati i don't think it's worth it. the support sucks. i'm not against ati or something, i currently use a 9800 rite now but always wanted to change. i guess this is the perfect time to change. good bye ati, hello nvidia.

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

Don't count out ATI yet. Theoretically, the x800 pro will keep up with the 6800ultra even though it has 4 less pipes. This is due to the higher clock speeds of the core. Either way, nvidia probably has another card to face the x800XT ... I am guessing something clocked at 500mhz or over. I wish they wouldn't have raised the bar right after I bought a card. I am a little ... jealous.

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

Real world performance will tell, I don't think its fair to downplay the importance of real world performance. I mean, if specs on paper were all that mattered, the FX would be a champ. Not to mention that ATI is using low-K dielectric manufacturing which is going to keep the cards cool (in theory). Also, ATI is planning to have cards out in the market when it launches as opposed to the "paper" launch nvidia pulled. It isn't over till the fat lady sings uhhh, or something. Also, x800 seems to need dx 9.0c ... curious. Could it be that all the rumors saying ATI will not support pixel shader 3.0 are incorrect? Isn't the dx 9.0c update for ps 3.0?

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

Getting back to the point of the thread though. Any technology demos that nvidia has put out there traditionally run as well if not better on ATI hardware. Case in point, the dawn and dusk demos run well on ATI hardware. I have a feeling that ATI hardware will handle unreal 3 quite well. However, I doubt Nvidia would like one of their "technical partners" to backstab them by letting ATI demo their hardware on the unreal 3 engine also.

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

YAY BRING IT ON FANBOYS!You know you want to say you piece of f**king silicone is better then somebody elses. Otherwise you would not feel secure of your purchase if you did not try to influnce other people. So bring on the shit!I will wait and buy whichever is fastest when i build my new system halfway through this year.

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

I will have to wait and see some solid benchmarks before I will shell out my hard earned money for a new card. Unless its blazing fast compared to my 9600XT then I will not upgrade.And If i do It will be another ATI card, I have never had problems using ATI cards So i will stick with what works.

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

Alright Let Me End this Right now before the speculation begins.This has already been settled.[url removed] X800 Pro will have 12 pipelines and the X800 XT will have 16 pipelines.Ok now the fanboys can go back at it!

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

Well wether all you fanboys just shat your pants on hearing that - there is one ultimate thing to keep in your mind: that is the only thing to come from this is good. New PCX technology hitting the shelves, as well as a major drop in the current, but soon to be outdated AGP cards.Once again the consumers win :D

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

nvidia will take the crown back. why because they're gonna release their garbage first. and then ati might take it back...but u'll never know. voodoo had some strong v-cards...but they were crap because they sucked @ everything...even w/ "extreme" speed.

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

to matriXBOXsucks,u said nvidia will release their garbage first, that isn't a entirely correct statement. Retailers wont start showing the video card until June or July, ATI because of their partners. ATI will release their video in June at the latest, thanks to their partners, i better get off too sleep, just got back from the royal sydney easter show.later

ATIs Pipelines Increasing

DOOM 3 RULES! Oh wait...HL2 RULES!! Oh wth they both rule. I love the gods that created capitalism. Just so that we the gamer community can enjoy the benifits of lowering prices for graphics boards and lower $$ on CPUS that are saturating the market. Silicone especially is going down in price and also the mainboards are showing more and more price creeps as we speak. I love Nvidia and Ati...thats why I bought a WildCat graphics board that puts them both to shame. :-)

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