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ROPs

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As we’ve seen, the number of ROPs has increased, but they haven’t gained any new features. But admittedly, the G8x ROPs were already quite complete, with support for 16- and 32-bit floating-point frame buffers with blending and antialiasing; antialiasing up to 8x or 16x in CSAA mode; Z rendering that’s eight times faster; etc. Not much needed to be added. So Nvidia made a point of optimizing performance. For blending in RGBA8 frame buffers, the G8x/G9x saw their performance divided in half, with 12 pixels per cycle. With the GT200 that limitation has been eliminated, with the addition of a 512-bit bus – with a bandwidth of more than 140 GB/s, the new ROPs should make the new GeForce cards unbeatable for fill rates. Here are the results for Z pixel rate:

gtx 260 280

As for raw performance, the results are no disappointment, setting a new record: 75,537 Mpixels/s! Still that’s a disappointing score in that it’s only a fourfold, and not an eightfold increase in the base fill rate. For the 9800 GTX, we posted a value of 5.2 – it was a little better, but again it remained well below the theoretical level.

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BadMannerKorea 06/16/2008 1:19 PM
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Lunarion 06/16/2008 1:40 PM
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-8+

what a POS, the 9800gx2 is $150+ cheaper and performs just about the same. Let's hope the new ATI cards coming actually make a difference

foxhound009 06/16/2008 1:56 PM
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-7+

woow,.... that's the new "high end" gpu????
lolz.. 3870 x2 wil get cheaper... and nvidia gtx200 lies on the shelves providing space for dust........
(I really expectede mmore from this one... :/ )

thatguy2001 06/16/2008 2:02 PM
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-6+

Pretty disappointing. And here I was thinking that the gtx 280 was supposed to put the 9800gx2 to shame. Not too good.

cappster 06/16/2008 2:06 PM
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-4+

Both cards are priced out of my price range. Mainstream decently priced cards sell better than the extreme high priced cards. I think Nvidia is going to lose this round of "next gen" cards and price to performance ratio to ATI. I am a fan of whichever company will provide a nice performing card at a decent price (sub 300 dollars).

njalterio 06/16/2008 2:07 PM
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-6+

Very disappointing, and I had to laugh when they compared the prices for the GTX 260 and the GTX 280, $450 and $600, calling the GTX 260 "nearly half the price" of the GTX 280. Way to fail at math. lol.

NarwhaleAu 06/16/2008 2:09 PM
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-6+

It is going to get owned by the 4870x2. In some cases the 3870x2 was quicker - not many, but we are talking 640 shaders total vs. 1600 total for the 4870x2.

MooseMuffin 06/16/2008 2:11 PM
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-5+

Loud, power hungry, expensive and not a huge performance improvement. Nice job nvidia.

compy386 06/16/2008 2:17 PM
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-6+

This should be great news for AMD. The 4870 is rumored to come in at 40% above the 9800GTX so that would put it at about the 260GTX range. At $300 it would be a much better value. Plus AMD was expecting to price it in the $200s so even if it hits low, AMD can lower the price and make some money.

vochtige 06/16/2008 2:23 PM
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-0+

i think i'll get a 8800ultra. i'll be safe for the next 5 generations of nvidia! try harder nv crew

cah027 06/16/2008 2:24 PM
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-3+

Looks like ATi might have a fighting chance of catching up to Nvidia. Hopefully this will help AMD out as a company.

anonymous 06/16/2008 2:25 PM
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-4+

I am fairly Dissapointed I thought Nvidia would go for the High end Market with great performance and a lot of money, but it's only a lot of money

baracubra 06/16/2008 2:28 PM
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sailormonz 06/16/2008 2:31 PM
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-4+

I don't believe quad sli with the 9800GX2 works too well, therefore these cards may be best suited for a person with tons of money to waste and wanting a SLI system with top of the line cards. These results were rather disappointing however.

Annisman 06/16/2008 2:54 PM
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-3+

My 9800GX2 looks like it's gonna be staying in my case for at least another month or two. (4870x2 anyone?)

RaZZ3R 06/16/2008 2:57 PM
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neodude007 06/16/2008 2:59 PM
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-2+

Boooo I want more power.

mr roboto 06/16/2008 3:10 PM
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-8+

I've had my 8800GTX for almost a year and a half and it still owns. My card was $499 when I bought it and was the most expensive card I'll ever buy. However, it's looking more and more like a great investment. This GTX280 is disappointing to say the least. I would love to see ATI jump back in the game!

What's funny is they might actually compete with this card with out even meaning to.

zarksentinel 06/16/2008 3:12 PM
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-5+

this card is not worth the money.

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