Is Nvidia still following the 6-month trend?

[eden]

Seems not, since the NV30 will be delayed until holiday. GF4s were out in what, February???
In any case even if they have some chips out soon, they would destroy the 6 month thing since NV30 would come out shortly after.

--
The sound of determination is the echo of will...

 

[chuck232]

It seems like they'll skip a whole product cycle. Well, it can only be good for ATi. NVidia better get their act together, or receive a good ass-whooping from ATi.

:lol: Finally, I get a capitalized title!! WOOT!! :lol:

 

[williamc]

When you think about it, 6 months is awfully short timespan when your talking about a complete new architecture and DX version. For a while there really weren't that many new features on graphics cards so we saw them coming out really fast. I think its going to slow down alot for everyone as we move more towards features instead of speed as being the primary marketing area for the new cards. Also we've seen alot more attention on drivers instead of the next card upgrade which is a good thing.

This applies to both ATI and nVidia.

The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the empires state building, along came goblin, wiped the spider out

 

[chuck232]

Not necessarily a whole new DX version and revamping of the whole video card line, just a speed bump or something. I mean, it's probably gonna take nVidia almost a year for NV30. The GF4s came out Feb 2002 IIRC and NV30 will probably be out this Q4 2002-Q1 2003. That's quite a long time without a new product.

<i>Past mistakes may make you look stupid, but avoiding future ones will make you look smart!</i>

 

[phsstpok]

At least since March 1998, nVidia has been on a 9-10 month cycle for the Tnt, Tnt2, Geforce256, Geforce 2, 3, & 4 with an Ultra, Pro (or both), or Ti thrown in between major products.

Seems we are due for one of those minor updates.

<b>I have so many cookies I now have a FAT problem!</b>

 

[jc14all]

Yeah you are right. I work in the semiconductor manuf. industry and I know the processes a chip goes through: (engineering planning, circuitry design, photolithography, masking, ion implantation, annealing, etching, chemical vapor deposition, plannerization, metal deposition, chemical mechanical polishing, then nitiride sealing & packaging) All those processes just to manufacture the core chip, then the board must be integrated, tested, quality control inspected, and finally retail boxed for shipment.

six months is very conservative depending on where they are in the process. I can't remember what the core line width is going to be (.13 microns), but the smaller the line width goes more things can go wrong.

So, with all that going on (IMHO) both ATI & nVidia should be perfecting the drivers for their existing produce and stop spouting off at one another of whose the fastest to the market or whose the best. We the consumer will vote for the 1# position with our hard earned cash$$$. I'll get off my soap box now.

<font color=purple><b>An average human brain weights aprox. 3lbs., but a thought weights a load.</font color=purple></b>

 

[aufan17]

I've heard good things about the NV30. I'm not certain, but I believe the current Ti4600 runs at 35 gb/s? I've heard the NV30 will be running at 90 gb/s, the largest jump ever. Should be interesting to see

 

[eden]

Holy moly you are in fact years ahead of us!
The Ti4600 has 10.4GB/sec, far from 35GB which is also far indeed!
The NV30 should have around 28GB last I read.
On Nvidia's website they have all details on the new CineFX architecture (goodbye NfiniteFX!). Supposedly it still uses the Shaders architecture but also the Cg technology. I still am not too understanding on this new one, and don't know if the new tech has features as good as the GF3 first came out with, who were revolutionary in graphics. Look at games a month before GF3's intro, then the new DX8 ones like Aquanox, made a HUGE jump no?

--
The sound of determination is the echo of will...

 

[eden]

That is absolutly true.
However my problem is that Doom III is coming in a very bad time, November 2002. The game arguably needs power. I doubt my Ti200 will ever deliver it at even 1024*768. IF and only IF it runs at 640*480 smoothly at max settings, I shall enjoy. But the problem is that it uses DX9 also, so I worry that some effects in fact might miss. And the last thing I want is D3 not being fully played as it should be on my comp.
And here comes the prob. I am working now and saving money. Now unless the condition above does not happen, I will be stuck to get a new card. And here arises many things. First off, how true is the R300's performance on Doom III, and when shall we see benches to beleive. We need intensive ones to be sure the game plays with intensive action with no frame drops. THEN, the R300 requires power, and this weird floppy power thing which I don't get. So I don't know how far must I modifiy my system just to install this card. Then after that comes the drivers and the stability. Will I be able to put the card in, uninstall the Detonator XP drivers and install the new ATI drivers, on my WinXP with no prob? Or will I need some format. THEN, will that card's drivers be like the Detonators and perform well, as well as no graphical glitches, as it has been reported in many games... this is worrying indeed.
Also, will that card if the conditions above are also positively met, cost less in November, two months after its release? Hard to predict, we might be able to base that on the Rad 8500's timeline.
Then, if none of the above conditions and the very first one about my current card are possible, then I am looking at the NV30, which also no one knows whether or not it is suitable for Doom III. I am saying this cuz Carmack repeated so many times about more textures per pass needed, and has only commented on the R300. Also is the NV30 price, and if I know Nvidia, boy will it cost!

Truly though, my biggest prob is Doom III's release. Really it is too early, at a time not everyone can buy the R300 easily or even install it easily. I wish they had stuck to next year's release.

--
The sound of determination is the echo of will...

 

[chuck232]

HEHEHEHE LOL!! You're so like me...

Oh, I think that I know the solution to this whole problem... Doom]|[ is gonna be released late 2003 I thought.... I could be wrong.

BTW, when installing WinXP Pro, I had to format my computer a total of 3 times... God it was annoying!

<i>Past mistakes may make you look stupid, but avoiding future ones will make you look smart!</i>

 

[nexus_alpha]

I heard the nv30 is 48 gb/s with 500 mhz ddr 2 (don't bother with math I know 500 mhz ddr2 does not equal 48 gb/s just syaing what i saw at reactor-critical). But guys listen to this the nv30 is a multi-chip solution runs at 400 mhz + 400 -500 mhz ddr 2 possible firewire connection new process with low yields 120+ million transitors. WHAT THE @#$% how much is this monster going to cost. Even if it is the fastest, for the sake of competition this card better be a heel of alot faster than the r300. For 2 reasons its going cost alot more than the r300 ( because by the time it releases ATI's card should be old alot cheaper) and r350 with .13 micron process 400mhz clock and 400 mhz ddr 2 should be out around the same time. Not to mention the the r400 to tape-out in 7 months time.

 

[chuck232]

I really doubt ATi is gonna use a 1 quarter product cycle. That's just way too fast. NV30 should be out end of this year, or beginning of next year. R350 shouldn't be shipping til March of next year, with an announcement in February.

<i>Past mistakes may make you look stupid, but avoiding future ones will make you look smart!</i>

 

[HolyGrenade]

Carmack! DirectX9 as in using Direct3D? R U sure? Absolutely Sure? Absolutely Postively Sure?

I think you may be wrong there. I think he's doing another OpenGL engine. It may have a DirectX mode as well. You (or rather, I) never know...

<b><font color=red>I'm a bomb technician. If you see me running, try to keep up.</font color=red></b>

 

[williamc]

Well yea...that can be a problem if you use a scale like that. I don't, partly because Doom3 isnt even registering on my horizon, its a complete non-issue here. Aside from D3 there's just nothing in dev that needs the R9700 right now so I have plenty of time to wait and see whether i prefer the new ATI or nVidia board more.

I can definitely see it being more of an issue for gamers without GF4 ti cards though, i've been running a visiontek 4600 since day 1 and I love it. I think i'd be sweating out the R9700 ass well if i still had my GF3 origional release board.

The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the empires state building, along came goblin, wiped the spider out

 

[chuck232]

Just had a little check in on VR-Zone and it seems like they got some news:

<A HREF="http://www.vr-zone.com/#2575" target="_new">Here</A>

Seems like there may possibly be a R9700MAXX, and R9500 will have 4 texture pipelines and 128bit DDR RAM. So if it's clocked @ 300/300, it should compete close to a Ti4600. If it's clocked lower, then it'll probably be closer to Ti4400 levels...

<i>Past mistakes may make you look stupid, but avoiding future ones will make you look smart!</i>