GF100 (Fermi) previews and discussion

[hallowed_dragon]

This must be similar to the phenomena that goes on in these forums. Every arm chair expert THINKS, and doles out rhetoric as if the 5850 is as fast as the 5870. Nothing new here , ATI fans have been doing the super size me for months.

....says the troll.

 

[firebird]

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5870-review-test/25
Granted that is a 5870, but you can OC a 5850 to the same performance.

I'm pretty sure Cyberlink's PowerDirector does support ATI GPU's.
"The first consumer video editing software to be optimized for Intel Core i7, NVIDIA CUDA, and ATI Stream technology"

http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdirector/overview_en_US.html?affid=2581_584_479_2_0_ENU_powerdirector&utm_source=CLHP_FeaturedSoftware&utm_medium=CLHP_FeaturedSoftware_2_powerdirector&utm_campaign=CL_Homepage

It seems that Mediashow Espresso from Cyberlink would also do the job.

I may just end up with the Spursengine card and my 3 3870 GPUs until the prices drop on new GPUs.

Hopefully once the 400 series cards show up the prices for the 5000 series will drop.

Anyone know if Stream processing is utilized over multiple GPUs?

 

[Dekasav]

If one name has different numbers of processing units (Shaders, Texture, bus width, VRAM, etc.) under it, it's a problem. This is especially true when Fermi has several signs of terrible yields, and no reviewer is going to be sent the slower card.

That's a difference.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

This must be similar to the phenomena that goes on in these forums. Every arm chair expert THINKS, and doles out rhetoric as if the 5850 is as fast as the 5870.

Except the HD5850 is named the HD5850, not some 'read the fine print' HD5870.

It's not an issue for knowledgable gamers, but lets not pretend that if such majorly different specs don't get named differently that it won't cause problems for many, especially those ordering on line where they can't inspect the details first hand ("All we said was we were selling a GTX480, why did you think it was so cheap? Of course it's not a 512SPU model").

 

[notty22]

Except the HD5850 is named the HD5850, not some 'read the fine print' HD5870.

It's not an issue for knowledgable gamers, but lets not pretend that if such majorly different specs don't get named differently that it won't cause problems for many, especially those ordering on line where they can't inspect the details first hand ("All we said was we were selling a GTX480, why did you think it was so cheap? Of course it's not a 512SPU model").

And all that would be a issue and reason for concerns if it ACTUALLY happens. And not just some scenario conspiracy yet to happen.

Wait, ATI already tried this with the 5770. They activated only 720 of the 800 sp's. *CONSPIRACY* This probably hid some of the grey screening problems.*END CONSPIRACY
http://www.techpowerup.com/111186/Sapphire_HD_5770_BIOS_Botchup_Leaves_Users_with_Just_720_Stream_Processors.html?cp=4

 

[DarthPiggie]

Now that I think about there were like three different GTX 260's for a time....one with 198SPs, one with 216SPs, and one which was 216SPs AN 55nm....all used the same name, and Nvidia refused to tell you which one was in the box...so perhaps this isnot so farfetched....and this could be a way for NVidia to not let down fans, yet come to grips with the terrible engineering design on their part. Perhaps Charlie is correct when he says that this was NOT meant to be a gaming chip at conception; perhaps this WAS indeed a chip headed directly to the GPU compute alley, when Nvidia decided that they needed a new architechture, or the one that they were orignially working on went vaporware.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

And all that would be a issue and reason for concerns if it ACTUALLY happens. And not just some scenario conspiracy yet to happen.

Wait, ATI already tried this with the 5770. They activated only 720 of the 800 sp's. *CONSPIRACY* This probably hid some of the grey screening problems.*END CONSPIRACY
http://www.techpowerup.com/111186/Sapphire_HD_5770_BIOS_Botchup_Leaves_Users_with_Just_720_Stream_Processors.html?cp=4

So you're going to blame the Sapphire botch-up of the BIOS on ATi/AMD as the same thing as the IHV's hardware naming convention? Talk about going off the reservation to make excuses for nVidia's potential naming convention.

Also Sapphire addressed it and the people who bought HD5770shad HD5770s, people looking to buy a 512SPU GTX480 who may have instead bought the 480SPU model wouldn't be getting that changed by either the AIB or the IHV, so they aren't the same in that respect either.

I know you have no idea about the past of these things, you've proved it before, but if they do the same thing as both companies have done in the past with regards to duplicate naming, then there will be people who get duped.

But sure blame any potential naming stupidity on Sapphire's botched BIOS, yeah it's Sapphire's fault nViida might name two different chip variants the same thing.

 

[rawsteel]

And all that would be a issue and reason for concerns if it ACTUALLY happens. And not just some scenario conspiracy yet to happen.

Wait, ATI already tried this with the 5770. They activated only 720 of the 800 sp's. *CONSPIRACY* This probably hid some of the grey screening problems.*END CONSPIRACY
http://www.techpowerup.com/111186/Sapphire_HD_5770_BIOS_Botchup_Leaves_Users_with_Just_720_Stream_Processors.html?cp=4

Well first of all that was AIB partner screw up not ATI, as ATI never intended to release 720sp 5770s. I cant see any comparison between both situations.
Plus its fixed and apologized for. How that compare by actually releasing 2 versions of same named card which actually are 2 different cards.

1. Performance will be different
2. Power consumption idle/load between both will be different
3. Heat decipated and probably fan control could have different settings (one could end up noisier)


Although I admit its similar to like 4870 with 512MB ram and 1GB ram. However its little more disguised as its too much into the little details which usual buyers look at.
Time will tell. Hey it is only rumor btw so it could not be true so lets not throw stones yet

 

[roofus]

well some rebranding is excusable if there are meaningful changes. the 8800gts G92 to the 9800gtx+ was a die shrink and increased performance so personally, i can forgive that. rebranding it as a 250 was a sneaky was to trick someone into thinking they bought a g200 arch video card when they had not. there is no need to make excuses for a multi-billion dollar company or to try to rationalize an act that brings about confusion or deception. we have all seen the "should i buy a 250 or 260?" threads and if they were named according to arch, the questions may have never come.

 

[Mousemonkey]

well some rebranding is excusable if there are meaningful changes. the 8800gts G92 to the 9800gtx+ was a die shrink and increased performance so personally, i can forgive that. rebranding it as a 250 was a sneaky was to trick someone into thinking they bought a g200 arch video card when they had not. there is no need to make excuses for a multi-billion dollar company or to try to rationalize an act that brings about confusion or deception. we have all seen the "should i buy a 250 or 260?" threads and if they were named according to arch, the questions may have never come.

But as I pointed out earlier, that was not always the case as some AIB's (XFX for one) were selling OC'd 65nm 9800GTX's as the GTX+ model.

 

[roofus]

I would think Nvidia would have enough influence and tighter rules over their partners than to allow it to be honest. They clearly don't meet the specifications of the 9800GTX+.

 

[notty22]

Another ace is being dealt for 3d . Panasonic and/with Best Buy are going to push 3d Television technology which uses glasses. This is going to be free advertisement for Nvidia's 3d system. I wonder if one will be able to use one of these Panasonic tv's with Nvidia's implementation. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704706304575107211471320850.html?mod=WSJ_business_MediaMktNewsBucket
http://www.tgdaily.com/hardware-features/48741-panasonic-and-best-buy-tout-3d-tv[flash=480,385]http://www.youtube.com/v/HOEo-zx9FaU&hl=en_US&fs=1&[/flash]
http://www.panasonic.com/3d/default.aspx

 

[Mousemonkey]

I would think Nvidia would have enough influence and tighter rules over their partners than to allow it to be honest. They clearly don't meet the specifications of the 9800GTX+.

This is from an article published in December 2008:-

Although Nvidia claims that the transition to the new tech process is complete in the mainstream sector (see this news story for details), you can still meet GeForce 9800 GTX+ with the older version of the core in shops.

Source

And here is a link to a thread from earlier this year:- http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/281166-33-9800gtx-windows

At first it was being blamed on GPUz not recognising the card properly but as times gone on it seems the article from xbitlabs was bang on.

 

[strangestranger]

Another ace is being dealt for 3d . Panasonic and/with Best Buy are going to push 3d Television technology which uses glasses. This is going to be free advertisement for Nvidia's 3d system. I wonder if one will be able to use one of these Panasonic tv's with Nvidia's implementation. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704706304575107211471320850.html?mod=WSJ_business_MediaMktNewsBucket
http://www.tgdaily.com/hardware-features/48741-panasonic-and-best-buy-tout-3d-tv

There was nothing advertising nvidia there. 3-D is not going ot be really big I don't think and nvidia is not the only one with a solution for it.

 

[sabot00]

Another ace is being dealt for 3d . Panasonic and/with Best Buy are going to push 3d Television technology which uses glasses. This is going to be free advertisement for Nvidia's 3d system. I wonder if one will be able to use one of these Panasonic tv's with Nvidia's implementation. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704706304575107211471320850.html?mod=WSJ_business_MediaMktNewsBucket
http://www.tgdaily.com/hardware-features/48741-panasonic-and-best-buy-tout-3d-tv

Yes, people will totally spend money on a smaller TV + 3D over a bigger TV.

 

[notty22]

Yes, people will totally spend money on a smaller TV + 3D over a bigger TV.

Is this the argument against eyefinity ? You forgot to mention that you need to buy 3 smaller monitors when
you upgrade and not one bigger higher performance monitor.

 

[TheViper]

Another ace is being dealt for 3d . Panasonic and/with Best Buy are going to push 3d Television technology which uses glasses. This is going to be free advertisement for Nvidia's 3d system. I wonder if one will be able to use one of these Panasonic tv's with Nvidia's implementation.

You do know that the HD 5000 series can do 3D as well? ATi just isn't trying to make it the next big thing like nVidia has.

 

[sabot00]

A bigger 30 inch monitor is still a 8:5 ratio.
Eyefinity however gives you a wider field of view, giving you a advantage in online game.
However 3D vision doesn't give you much of an advantage, in some games like HAWX yes, but even in that I prefer the wider field of view because it already tells me how far away planes are, but it doesn't widen my FOV.
Moreover, humans are more sensitive to parallax, occlusion, perspective, and relative/familiar size than stereoscopy.

 

[yannifb]

http://blog.gsmarena.com/nvidia-premium-gtx480-demoed-fails-to-impress/

Just found this.

 

[DarthPiggie]

Does anybody know if 3D video affects performance? Or is it strictly a biological illusion?

 

[DarthPiggie]

http://blog.gsmarena.com/nvidia-premium-gtx480-demoed-fails-to-impress/

Just found this.

This here is a rehash- Old news...In fact, I even suspect that this is the same graph Nvidia released with their white-paper laung back in January.....Anybody care to post a pic comparing the two?

 

[ajrunke]

So any release date yet? My 8800gt keeps overheating in Bad Company 2 and I need a gfx card bad. I want to wait for fermi, but I haven't heard a date yet...I don't think I can hold out too much longer!

 

[yannifb]

Well back to what was being discussed a few posts back (the 480SP vs 512SP versions of the 480. How much of a performance difference did the 19(6 or 8?) and the 216 sp versions of the GTX 216 have? That might be helpful in determining the difference between the 480's.

 

[mindless728]

@ajrunke, i think the launch date is late this month (March 2010), though we will see

and we don't know if it is going to be a paper launch (ie not many cards) and not be in full strength a little later

though for me this is all a moot point anyways since i just bought another 4870 1GB and that should do me well for a while

 

[Avro Arrow]

One thing I truly believe is that it won't unseat the Radeon HD 5970 as king of the hill and I'll tell you why. ATi lately has proven itself more capable of dropping power consumption and operating temperatures MUCH better than nVidia has. (Not to mention the problems nVidia had with those bumps falling off..lol) Now you see, ATi was smart. They brought the 5970 right to the ceiling of the ATX power spec. That is a barrier that neither ATi nor nVidia can cross at this time. I don't think nVidia has the technology to make a card that will use the same power as a 5970 but outperform it. ATi has released not one, but TWO generations of cards in the past 18 months. What has nVidia released? ummm the GTS 250 a.k.a. the rebadged 9800 GTX+ and the ummm... GT 210, GT 220 and GT 240. I honestly think they should have thrown those GT 2xx cards in the garbage rather than make themselves look like such morons for releasing product that is undercut and overpowered by their own stuff still on the market!!! LOL

nVidia - Monty Python couldn't have written it better.