G80 is comming out! (1 Viewer)

[Mattius]

Unfortunatly i don't know the data (not that i have the money to buy it). It is supposed to be comming out this month and one is already able to pre order it from most computer stores. So you should be able to get one before christmass, if you have the money to burn.

There are 2 cards comming out the 8800GT priced at about $740 and the 8800GTX priced about $1000.

So whats in the card?
384bit interface (for those of you who don't know this is very good in simple terms)
clock speeds of 575mhz and 900 mhz
768mb of memory (GTX) 600 (GT)

Some benchmarks have already been run.(below) It looks to be a extremely powerful card with downside of requireing 2 power cables. The card itself is quite large so id mesure your space before going out and getting it and make sure you have a decent enough powersupply.
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=4812

I'm hopeing that the r600 will be even better.

 

[Collin]

You forgot the arguably most important part: 128 unified shaders.
These cards are also the first DX10-compliant cards.
Another feature very important for enthusiasts is the inclusion of FP16 OpenEXR HDR (+ AA support). One main reason I passed on the 7950GX2 was because I couldn't run my HDR + AA.

It's also the 'GTS', not GT. NVIDIA decided to resurrect the old GTS moniker from the Geforce 2 series of cards.

My opinion? If you're not in a hurry, hold off on these cards for another 6 or so months. The G80 and R600 are expected to be huge, hot furnaces. With NVIDIA rushing 80nm production for it's current Geforce 7s, it won't be a surprise if we end up seeing 80/65nm G81s. A 8900GT ~ 8800GTX which also has a smaller form-factor and cooler? Yes please. Not to mention that Vista would of had some time to fix up many of it's inevitable performance-related bugs.. allowing one to hopefully confidently stride straight into the new OS along with the purchase of a new DX10 card. The R600 refresh is also expected to be shifted to a smaller process - 65nm.

The R600 is rumoured to be slightly more powerful than the G80, although I'm thinking the clocks would have to be fairly high since it only supposedly has 64 unified shaders.

As for the G80 benchmarks, they are impressive, as expected. 7900GTX SLi @ DX9/WinXP fast.. although for $1,000 I think I'll pass.

I'm much more interested in the hypothetical 8950GX2 (G81). Will end up costing around $750 prolly.. and judging by history, will be as powerful as 8800GTX SLi.

 

[Mattius]

Yeah i missed a bit.

But your right, buying these cards now is probably not a good idea, I'm just finishing my HSC now and have about 4 months of holidays and I am so not gonna enjoy that on a 6600GT. What I am gonna do is spend about $300 on a card (the 7900GS or more probably the x1950pro) that will last me about 6-9 months so that i like you have option of choseing some decend dirext x 10 cards when they are fully established. Probably (if it comes out) a 8900GT or an R600 card. Probably have to upgrade my whole system anyway next year anyway.

Yeah less shaders but i think it also has more pixel piplines. Was it 64?

Best thing is to wait and see.
The prices of all cards will drop soon as they bring out more cards.

 

[Collin]

These new cards have unified shaders. Although not necessary for compliance specification (which seems strange as Microsoft emphasised a strict compliance prerequisite for DX10 ages ago), an important progress of DX10 requires that the new cards implement new hardware-based algorithms to replace both pixel and vertex shader programs (a unified shader). The G8x+ and R6xx+ won't have dedicated pixel and vertex shaders anymore.

This is part of the reason why the G80 has been amazing for people who have speculated. Earlier on, the rumours were that the G80 does not adopt unified shaders while the R600 does. It was rumoured that the G80 had 32 pixel shaders, 16 vertex shaders and 16 geometry shaders. Then bang, comes out the 128 unified shaders which is an impressive figure, to say the least.

If you want a card to last you now for cheap, I'd either get the 256MB X1900XT or the 512MB Gainward 7900GS. This strange 7900GS from Gainward has a new cooler and boasts 1.2ns Samsung memory.. which allows many to OC it to 7900GTX speeds, air. Of course, don't expect 7900GTX performances since it is 4 pipelines deficient, however for less than half the price of a GTX it is an amazing deal. You mentioned the X1950PRO, which is a great $300 competitor to the 7900GT.. but my main affinity for it is it's new much improved Crossfire interface.

Edit: You have a 6600GT? Does that mean you're still on AGP?

 

[Mattius]

These new cards have unified shaders. Although not necessary for compliance specification (which seems strange as Microsoft emphasised a strict compliance prerequisite for DX10 ages ago), an important progress of DX10 requires that the new cards implement new hardware-based algorithms to replace both pixel and vertex shader programs (a unified shader). The G8x+ and R6xx+ won't have dedicated pixel and vertex shaders anymore.

Ok didn't know that, looks like I have to do some more reading up on dirext x 10.

My 6600GT and mobo is Pci-e so im safe there. I'll have a look into those options, but i've got a IPT exam tommorrow and chem one on friday. So basically I have no time left to waste.

Thanks for the imput, the X1950pro card that i was considering seems to beat the 7900GS in most aplications except open GL. Anyway ill have a look into this weekend when i will finally be able to reclaim my free time. DAMMM CHEM AND IPT

 

[DeathB4Life]

http://au.gamespot.com/features/6161267/index.html?sid=6161267&tag=topslot;action;4&om_act=convert&click=topslot

benchmarks do look impressive. definately better to buy one of these cards than the high end 7 series atm. a drop in price for the 7 series aswell as from ATIs 1x00 series should be on its way soon.

 

[KennyChew]

Prepare for a lighter wallet and some brown outs hahaha. from what i read one of these things draws over 300 watts by its self.

 

[Collin]

The 8800GTX draws about 320W load, but keep in mind the X1950XTX draws about 310 under similar conditions. The main difference is the card consumes more power idle than any other card out now.

 

[KennyChew]

That is interesting. I wonder how they managed to keep power consumption down. they didn't shrink the die size or reduce the fabrication size did they?

but there are some conflicting views on the power draw

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/11/08/nvidia_geforce_8800_gtx_g80/18.html
says there is a large gap

however this link
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTIxOCwxNiwsaGVudGh1c2lhc3Q=
shows that there is a small gap..

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/413/15/
this one shows a medium gap