Interesting. I was holding off on the 8800GTS 320 until this review and I'm still not really swayed from the 320. The 2900 XT is definitely a nice unit but I don't really think the performance gains justify the extra $100 or so price tag. I'm only going to be playing at 1680x1050.
Awesome review though. Kept me busy for about an hour (I had to read that wiki article, too).
Very very informative a quick query though (tech one)
With the Ultra Thread Despatcher, you say that it will move a process back if it waits on data. IIRC this is kind of like CPU waiting for instructions or DATA that isn't on RAM, then it has to wait for it to be fetched from swap and/or long term storage first.
In Linux it is possible to get the hit/miss ratio for these latency inducing errors, is this possible with a current (or future) R600 driver?
Also, is the 55W power difference between 975/680i the same with G80 hardware installed?
Interesting read. Performance-wise it's not what I hoped for. Not that I was planning to upgrade to R600 but I think I'll have to wait for Radeon HD 2900 XTX to finally make my decisions whether 6 months of waiting would have made sense or (fortunately) not.
overclock it. Push th memory to spec and lets see what she can do. Drivers obviously need to mature and going against the 8800 GTS was a smart move. I hate the power consumption. Hmmm. I wonder how ATI will do. Seems like they've been struggling for far to long.
Hopefully this will drive 8800 prices down. Now I can see why you were up for days writing this Tim, that's one hell of an article though I will admit I skipped the tech bits at the beginning as I'm far too tired right now.
I wouldn't expect it to drive the prices down, nVidia's are about the same if not a bit cheaper and they perform better than the ATi counterpart.
IF ATi lower their prices to compete on bang for buck THEN nVidia will drop their prices, but I wouldn't expect that for at least 6 weeks (due to ATi supply issues)
After you said that supply issues had driven prices up, I went to have a look. If I'd ordered one on Monday, I could have had it for more than £45 less than I will have to pay if I order one today! Cheeky buggers!
Originally Posted by DougEdey Very very informative a quick query though (tech one)
With the Ultra Thread Despatcher, you say that it will move a process back if it waits on data. IIRC this is kind of like CPU waiting for instructions or DATA that isn't on RAM, then it has to wait for it to be fetched from swap and/or long term storage first.
Yep, that's right, it's very similar to what a CPU does, but on a massively multi-threaded (or parallel) scale.
Quote:
In Linux it is possible to get the hit/miss ratio for these latency inducing errors, is this possible with a current (or future) R600 driver?
I'm honestly not sure - I see what you're getting at, but I don't think there are linux drivers out yet :o
Quote:
Also, is the 55W power difference between 975/680i the same with G80 hardware installed?
Originally Posted by Mankz. Sorry, speaking of water-cooling, I'm guessing that a MAZE 4/5 would fit, but wouldn't work properly because of the GPU Shim..??
Correct, you would need to cut down into the block to make space for the shim.
Originally Posted by Fozzy overclock it. Push th memory to spec and lets see what she can do. Drivers obviously need to mature and going against the 8800 GTS was a smart move. I hate the power consumption. Hmmm. I wonder how ATI will do. Seems like they've been struggling for far to long.
I'll be doing some overclocking a little later (I simply ran out of time on this one, especially after one allnighter and another as-near-as-dammit allnighter). There's plenty more R600 coverage to come.
Originally Posted by Mankz. Sorry, speaking of water-cooling, I'm guessing that a MAZE 4/5 would fit, but wouldn't work properly because of the GPU Shim..??
I don't think it will, but I don't have a Maze 4 or 5 block on hand. Anything that has a base that is larger than an R580 chip package (minus shim) isn't going to fit without either modification to the block or shim removal.
HaHa that was a great read Tim, i have got to love the picture of the 'test set up'
At the bottom of the page to rigs set up, one runing SLI 8800's and the other with a single ATI card, but to the left of the shot theres a a graphics cards lieing around, looked like 7950 GX2's and i think there was another 8800 or 8600 hiding there!
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The alignment of the text labels on many of the graphs are slightly off though, which can make reading them a little challenging. :/
Keep the good stuff commin.
Aggies
Awesome review though. Kept me busy for about an hour (I had to read that wiki article, too).
8800GTS it is then :)
With the Ultra Thread Despatcher, you say that it will move a process back if it waits on data. IIRC this is kind of like CPU waiting for instructions or DATA that isn't on RAM, then it has to wait for it to be fetched from swap and/or long term storage first.
In Linux it is possible to get the hit/miss ratio for these latency inducing errors, is this possible with a current (or future) R600 driver?
Also, is the 55W power difference between 975/680i the same with G80 hardware installed?
Are you using IE6?
looks like the r600 has flopped a bit compared to the specualtion, and it was late! sounds like amd is in a bit of trouble!
That does have to be one of the best reviews I've EVER read.
mucho congrats Tim and the Team.
IF ATi lower their prices to compete on bang for buck THEN nVidia will drop their prices, but I wouldn't expect that for at least 6 weeks (due to ATi supply issues)
After you said that supply issues had driven prices up, I went to have a look. If I'd ordered one on Monday, I could have had it for more than £45 less than I will have to pay if I order one today! Cheeky buggers!
Correct, you would need to cut down into the block to make space for the shim.
Exams are over for today, and there is R600 coverage!
At the bottom of the page to rigs set up, one runing SLI 8800's and the other with a single ATI card, but to the left of the shot theres a a graphics cards lieing around, looked like 7950 GX2's and i think there was another 8800 or 8600 hiding there!
i would love to play in your office for a day!