ATI's Upcoming R700 GPU's Tape Out - Radeon 4000 Series

[Apoptosis]

Last week I received word that ATI has taped out their R700 core... That means they are just a few weeks away from having running R700's in the lab. A little insider FYI for you as no one else reported this! ;)

So, I guess we can start calling these Radeon HD 4000s?

[Bio-Hazard]

Let the rumors start flying...............

With any luck AMD/ATi will have a top product again................

[skierkid450]

i think they are getting ahead of themselves, unless they have changed the technology, they dont need ANOTHER new series, they should work on getting the 3K series up in performance close to nvidia at least

[dgood]

i think they are getting ahead of themselves, unless they have changed the technology, they dont need ANOTHER new series, they should work on getting the 3K series up in performance close to nvidia at least

I disagree, they just remade the 2 series with some nice additions in the 3800's so now they need a new architecture and such to increase performance, so I think it's good they released somethign they can make cheaply that is decent that can keep them in the market, now it's time to make something that is really competitive to keep up.

[stopthekilling77]

i swear, this ati/nvidia battle is like watching a boxing match in HD, but super slow-mo.

you can see everything super clearly, and the blows are tremendous. i hope the new architecture does some super-awesome nvidia-whomping!

[largon]

This is very bad news!
Latest ATi product launches have taken place 9-12 months after core tape-out. If R700 taped out just recently then launch can be expected in 4Q 2008.

[grndzro]

This is very bad news!
Latest ATi product launches have taken place 9-12 months after core tape-out. If R700 taped out just recently then launch can be expected in 4Q 2008.

That was ATI,
AMD owns ATI now and is capable of putting things together much faster than the old ATI.

And with every new product we will see more and more blurring of their technology till we are hit with an all in one package that can handle just about anything that is thrown at it.

Intel lacks Graphics technology
Nvidia lacks CPU technology
Both lack an appropriate Hypertransport technology

AMD/ATI in hands down the closest to making a unified processor that can actually work at an acceptable speed.

Buy ATI, the longer they are afoat the better for the industry it is.

[DMB2000uk]

That was ATI,
AMD owns ATI now and is capable of putting things together much faster than the old ATI.

I really hope so.

Dan

[Kalko]

Just remember the little time between the 2900xt and the HD30xx series, so that is really possible.
where did the hd3900 series go?

[TheVoid]

Let's hope that a knockout pops up and puts them back where they belong, maybe get some confidence back in their stocks and the like. Perhaps even get rid of some of their debt. ^.^

[Tjoepie]

I think the 9800GTX will outperform the ATI X2 since the X2 had only a few % better results compared to the Ultra benchmarks.

But then again the X2 is cheaper so I guess you get what you pay for anyway.

[DMB2000uk]

Yeah but the R700 isn't the 3780X2.

Dan

[dgood]

I imagine once again ATI won't try to takeover the top spot. Just try to win in price/performance ration or the upper to mid range cards.

[skierkid450]

Yeah but the R700 isn't the 3780X2.

Dan

the X2 is R680, R700 is the next generation( 4k series)

[Antonik]

I'm an AMD/ATI fanboy, and so I hope R700 doesn't dissapoint. And the fact they seem to focus more on the mid-range ( the budget i always but on) is not a negative for me.

[maj0r_pawnage]

Won't their entire range have the same cores just a varying number of them?, like the lower end will have 1core, mid range will have 2-3, high end will have 3-5? of the same cores, I read somewhere that this would allow them to release their entire lineup at one time.

[skierkid450]

that i doubt, there probably wont be more than 4 cores on a Video card anytime soon(3870 X2's.. with GX2 design)

[PCFlip]

wow so when would review sites start seeing possible sample cards?

and as mentioned I agree with AMD doing the manufacture processing they should be able to punch these out fast, the only reason why the 2900xt was slow was all the merger process that took place between the two companies that really hurt them but once they got settled look how fast the 3800 series then came out and all of its lower end versions, so I think this R700 shouldnt take very long to bring to the market.

[Kougar]

Hmm, well the INQ did report on it on the last day of 2007. You have some nice sources... ;)

wow so when would review sites start seeing possible sample cards?

and as mentioned I agree with AMD doing the manufacture processing they should be able to punch these out fast, the only reason why the 2900xt was slow was all the merger process that took place between the two companies that really hurt them but once they got settled look how fast the 3800 series then came out and all of its lower end versions, so I think this R700 shouldnt take very long to bring to the market.

The INQ article probably can best answer your question. Taping them out only means the design is actually now in hard silicon. It does not mean it is remotely finished and bugfree ;) http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/ ... r700-taped

[JohnnyVic]

I think the old days of completely rebuilt designs/architecture or massive increases in transistors are gone. At one point about 1-2 years ago ATI said that their next designs would continue to push the power supply envelope (brute force approach) but after that we would start to see an increased focus on cost and power usage.

The current trend seeems to be incremental improvements either through a die shrink combined with minor changes or more significant changes on the same process. Right now ATI has just released a bunch of products on 55nm largely based on the previous generation which was 90nm. They perform better (run faster and cooler) and are less expensive.

Now its time to stick with 55nm and give the design a really good tweaking. Same basic design and process means quick turnaround.

Regarding the comment that ATI should work to improve the current hardware, the hardware design team can't just sit on their hands, and since the basic architecture is not changing, the driver mods at each release should benefit current hardware as well.