R600 prototype card snapped

R600 prototype card images courtesy of ZDNet.

ZDNet's David Berlind has managed to snap a good selection of pictures of a prototype version of the eagerly-anticipated ATI R600 graphics card at an event in San Francisco.

Berlind said that AMD gave him permission to post the pictures under the condition that he referred to the card as an R600 prototype. The card looks very similar to the shots that were posted in our forums a few weeks ago.

The next-generation R600 chip supports native CrossFire, just like the RV570-based Radeon X1950 Pro, and a pair of R600 stream processors are capable of delivering over one Teraflop of compute power using a general multiply-add (MADD) calculation.

R600's power requirements have been rumoured to be fairly colossal, but you could say the same about Nvidia's G80 graphics processor too. While GeForce 8800 GTX has two six-pin PCI-Express power sockets, the R600 prototype card has one eight-pin PCI-E 2.0 socket and a familiar six-pin PCI-E connector. This would point to higher power consumption than G80 but we're not going to find out the truth about the card's power requirements until we get our hands on the hardware in the run up to the launch.

A few weeks ago, sources close to AMD revealed to us that the retail versions of the card are expected to be much smaller than the prototype card AMD has already displayed. Looking at the reverse side of the prototype card, it's apparent that the PCB is much shorter than the humongous cooling solution and thus there is the prospect for retail R600-based graphics cards to be much shorter.

In related news, VR Zone is reporting that the R600 variants sporting GDDR3 memory will be available in early May, while the faster GDDR4 variants will not be available until the middle of May. This appears to shed some light on when we can expect to see the first R600-based graphics cards in the wake of the delays we reported last week.

Discuss in the forums
Quote DougEdey 2nd March 2007, 09:40
When you said "snapped" I thought you meant broken!

Trying to give me a heart attack Timmy?!
Quote Tim S 2nd March 2007, 09:54
yes ;)
Quote keir 2nd March 2007, 09:55
I was thinking the same thing too, I wouldn't be supprised if it did tho!
Quote Jipa 2nd March 2007, 10:00
Quote:
Originally Posted by DougEdey
When you said "snapped" I thought you meant broken!

Trying to give me a heart attack Timmy?!

That's what I thought too! The best part is that it seems like snapping could be a real problem with all that copper and 24 W fans hanging from the poor PCB.

IMO Ati has already fuxored this one. Even if it will be faster than the 8800GTX (which it WILL hopefully), it's no good as it it launched six months later! It's just taken way too long to get the card even to this phase, and even now it doesn't seem like they'll be able to get those into markets before may? Makes me expect Nvidia already has something in their sleeve to throw to the markets by the time R600 comes out.
Quote Mother-Goose 2nd March 2007, 10:45
Yeeep it would be nice for ATi to show off the retail vapour chambered versions. (rumoured vapour chambered versions I should say).

The fact that they are finally showing it off means we must be close though which is good. May isn't too far away I guess, ho hum.
Quote r4tch3t 2nd March 2007, 11:47
If I were to get one of these in my next upgrade I would want the OEM one. Surely it would be quieter than the retail one with that huge fan on the end.
Quote Tim S 2nd March 2007, 11:50
It's about 13 1/2 inches long... so the first problem you'll have is getting it in your case.
Quote DougEdey 2nd March 2007, 11:52
As has already been said by you Tim, it's only a prototype, the production one will probably be the same as nVidias G80
Quote r4tch3t 2nd March 2007, 11:52
The case I am planning on getting shouldn't have a problem swallowing it, a Lian Li V2000
Quote Tim S 2nd March 2007, 11:53
Quote:
Originally Posted by DougEdey
As has already been said by you Tim, it's only a prototype, the production one will probably be the same as nVidias G80
Of course, but I'm fairly sure that this isn't just a prototype - it looks like it'll be used by OEMs (I've got a similarly long 7900 GTX sitting here...)
Quote DougEdey 2nd March 2007, 11:55
I think the cooling solution is the prototype to be honest. I think that the fan they've got on there will be relocated.

I can't see many OEMs using R600s, I think Dell are the only OEM with 8800GTXs?
Quote Mother-Goose 2nd March 2007, 12:02
aha but us builders could get them. OEM is supposedly the card we see here and retail is vapour chamber cooled from what I have read.

I think there are going to need to some sort of extendable support between the case floor and the end of the card to suppor the weight there don't you?
Quote mikeuk2004 2nd March 2007, 12:15
That is a monster of a card. I too like the rest of you jumped the gun and thought that it was snapped (broken). Just shows how many of us read things 2 quick and judge wrongly :p
Quote Mother-Goose 2nd March 2007, 13:05
http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20070302VL201.html - some related news regarding the board partners.
Quote [USRF]Obiwan 2nd March 2007, 13:47
I dont get it. I have seen the prototypes on 9 februari last month. ( See VR-Zone) So i dont see the news value of this post. As we all know this is the systembuilders OEM card. What really would impress me are the retail cards and dualcore R600 cards snapshots...
Quote Mother-Goose 2nd March 2007, 13:51
well, we maybe able to purchase these (as system builders, im not sure) and more importantly, these pics aren't snapped on a mobile phone.
Quote Mathmarauder 2nd March 2007, 14:25
Tim needs to be more like Robin Hood and distribute all those cards we know you have amongst the populace ;)

But its nice to see they are showcasing working cards.
Quote randosome 2nd March 2007, 18:08
do you need to use both the PCI-E power connectors, or just 1
and what happens if your PSU doesn't have an 8 pin plug (do any have them yet ? :S)

Also is that a cooler or a vacuum cleaner on the end ?
Quote Tim S 2nd March 2007, 18:17
Quote:
Originally Posted by [USRF]Obiwan
I dont get it. I have seen the prototypes on 9 februari last month. ( See VR-Zone) So i dont see the news value of this post. As we all know this is the systembuilders OEM card. What really would impress me are the retail cards and dualcore R600 cards snapshots...
This is the first "official" shot I've seen since AMD actually let the photographer publish the pictures, everything else has been rumour.
Quote traderonline 2nd March 2007, 19:41
It will be a monster VGA :D
We need some competition. now you can get a GF8800 for $299 (with less memory). I hope this one will be competitively priced.
Quote Woodstock 2nd March 2007, 19:45
Quote:
Originally Posted by randosome
do you need to use both the PCI-E power connectors, or just 1
and what happens if your PSU doesn't have an 8 pin plug (do any have them yet ? :S)

Also is that a cooler or a vacuum cleaner on the end ?

exactly what i was gonna say, i think it will have to be both since the 8800GTX is using two and i think there will be an adapter of some kind
Quote Adnuo 3rd March 2007, 00:30
I like how the link to the thread has a banned OP. Classy!
Quote Jokkocze 3rd March 2007, 16:10
I found this pic while reading some news on different sites..
http://www.jokkocze.com/bilder/2xopty2xr600.jpg

Dual opterons and dual R600's :) (Have probably been seen before..)
Quote DougEdey 3rd March 2007, 16:13
That was AMD demonstrating 4x4 I think.

The cards do loook veerrry nice.
Quote Tile 3rd March 2007, 18:23
Deleted
Quote Grinch123456 5th March 2007, 03:18
That's only about as long as my car...
Quote Crazyglue 5th March 2007, 13:03
WOW, THAT THING IS MASSIVE!

why would they put pci-e2.0 on it? its not even close to out yet, and i havent heard of it being out for a long time....

when will vid card makers learn to cut down on powerconsumption? its the only computer component that, over the years, is increasing in power needs. ddr2, core2duo, even some mobos are all trying to cut down on power consumption, buy why not vidcard makers?
Quote Mother-Goose 5th March 2007, 13:27
http://www.hardocp.com/news.html?news=MjQ0MTcsLCxobmV3cywsLDE= - link to some news, rumoured wattage required is now 300 watts for a SINGLE card. 300 WATTS! christ, at that level i'd rather take a 8800GTX and deal with what will be slightly less powerful card but a lower electricity bill.
Log in

You are not logged in, please login with your forum account below. If you don't already have an account please register to start contributing.







Mobile Phones

LG Arena ReviewHTC Magic Review

Compare over 250 mobile phones &
52,000 deals!



Broadband

Mobile Broadband

Compare over 100 broadband & mobile broadband deals online!

Dragonage