"Official" 9800GTX specs released

[eightballrj]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/discussion/3953.html

"G92" GeForce 9800 GTX specs.

- 65nm process technology at TSMC.
- Over one billion transistors.
- Second Generation Unified Shader Architecture.
- Double precsion support (FP64).
- GPGPU native.
- Over one TeraFLOPS of shader processing power.
- MADD+ADD configuration for the shader untis (2+1 FLOPS=3 FLOPS per ALU)
- Fully Scalar design.
- 512-bit memory interface.
- 1024MB GDDR4 graphics memory.
- DirectX 10.1 support.
- OpenGL 3.0 Support.
- eDRAM die for "FREE 4xAA".
- built in Audio Chip.
- built in tesselation unit (in the graphics core"
- Improved AA and AF quality levels


Discuss

<Found at XS in News>

[Karnal]

Ehh, sticking with my 8800GTX

[rogue3092]

Apparently 2x the performance of an 8800 Ultra with less power consumption. Paper launch in Nov. 07. Should be interesting, to say the least =)

Ehh, sticking with my 8800GTX

Yeah, me too. Unless Crysis actually comes out this fall (gasp) and runs very poorly on my 8800GTX @ 1920x1200.

[CGR]

It will probably cost your soul to get though. Noway that will be anywhere near a reasonable price when it comes out.

[dudleycpa]

Thanks for the link eightballrj!

[nightelph]

WOW. Free 4xAA is nice. I would have thought the price to be wayyy higher, and I'll miss the 90-day step up program on the eVGA 8800gtx I just bought.

[Jacobman]

I was planning on buying a new card august-september ish, like a 8800GTS 640. But would that be a bad idea now cause of these coming out in november, i just wanna play the new games, lol. Will the 8800 still be able to man handle them at 1680x1050?

[Burninate]

That seems a bit quick for Nvidia to be releasing another generation of GPU's (No 89xx's?). And I'll believe those prices when I see them. They seem a bit low, considering a claimed double performance of the ultra.

[eightballrj]

Hey... we can all hope for price drops to begin on the Ultras and GTX's now that there are two 2900's at the top of the ORB in '06.

[Anjow]

It will probably cost your soul to get though. Noway that will be anywhere near a reasonable price when it comes out.

Especially now they don't have ATI to compete with for that section of the market.

[eightballrj]

Especially now they don't have ATI to compete with for that section of the market.

Well, not in November. But, they want to go ahead and get the jump before Q1 '08 and R700 like they did for R600.

[rainless]

Well, not in November. But, they want to go ahead and get the jump before Q1 '08 and R700 like they did for R600.

They'll have the 10,000 series out before the R700... assuming, of course, the R700 makes it to the dance. (2900XTX where art thou?)

If it's got twice the performance of the Ultra, then I'm thinking another $800 video card that I won't buy.

[rogue3092]

That seems a bit quick for Nvidia to be releasing another generation of GPU's (No 89xx's?). And I'll believe those prices when I see them. They seem a bit low, considering a claimed double performance of the ultra.

It will be a year this Nov. since the launch of the G80, so it's really not that quick. I'm sure there will be a premium on the prices due to the newness of the product, but remember that it will be made using a 65nm process so that the cost of each core will be lower than the G80 due to higher fab yields.

[White_Pawn]

That seems a bit quick for Nvidia to be releasing another generation of GPU's (No 89xx's?). And I'll believe those prices when I see them. They seem a bit low, considering a claimed double performance of the ultra.

Nvidia also seems to like the christmas sale money. :D Smart choice imho. Constantly outdate your products by christmas. You're bound to get a bunch of money.

[dudleycpa]

Is it me or does it seem that Nvidia is going to a one year cycle?

I know that DAMMIT isn't the greatest competitor but still..

[eightballrj]

Well guys, it seems as if there might be a catch... Maybe the info isn't 100% accurate. No one knows for sure either way. But, it's possible that the info is incorrect in some way.

Stay tuned to this thread or the thread on XS if you want more info.

[White_Pawn]

Is it me or does it seem that Nvidia is going to a one year cycle?

I know that DAMMIT isn't the greatest competitor but still..

you aren't the only one that noticed. =P

Check out softpedia or inquirer for 9800GTX, they have said the one year thing already way before you.

[treatmentx]

doesn't seem like that big of a jump, I could live with my 8800gtx. But DirectX10.1? ugh, that's so annoying. wtf

[Anjow]

Well, not in November. But, they want to go ahead and get the jump before Q1 '08 and R700 like they did for R600.

I was talking about ATI's new stance of not bothering as much with the high end cards because midrange is where the money is for them.

[thideras]

Hmm...I may upgrade soon....:bday:

[Roofles]

Well looks like this Xmas is going to be good to me!

[Colton H]

If they are under 1,000$ I think I might buy one.

[Burninate]

If they are under 1,000$ I think I might buy one.

I hope you're joking :/ no card should ever be anywhere near $1,000. How can they be releasing DX10.1 when DX 10.0 is barely out? That seems a bit ridiculous in itself and would make me more than reluctant to jump on-board a new product if I know it may be obsolete 6 months later when DX10.2 could come out.

[White_Pawn]

I hope you're joking :/ no card should ever be anywhere near $1,000. How can they be releasing DX10.1 when DX 10.0 is barely out? That seems a bit ridiculous in itself and would make me more than reluctant to jump on-board a new product if I know it may be obsolete 6 months later when DX10.2 could come out.

That's their plan. It'll more or less increase the itching to upgrade more often.


At anyrate... The 8800 series aren't true dx10 cards anyway. They are hybrids. I can understand why the next line would change it to DX10.1.

[Deanzo]

Oh no!
Yet another thing to hide from the wife.

[Hazaro]

I wonder what the 9800 Ultra will be :)

[dudleycpa]

Oh no!
Yet another thing to hide from the wife.

Maybe think work differently in New Zealand than in the United States but, how exactly does one hide a large video card from the Mrs.?:D

[eightballrj]

Maybe think work differently in New Zealand than in the United States but, how exactly does one hide a large video card from the Mrs.?:D


No window on PC case and a computer illiterate Mrs :clap:

[White_Pawn]

I wonder what the 9800 Ultra will be :)

an overclocked 9800GTX. :p

[Hazaro]

an overclocked 9800GTX. :p

:rolleyes:

[ChinStrap]

The 8800 series aren't true dx10 cards anyway. They are hybrids. I can understand why the next line would change it to DX10.1.


they still play crysis pretty darn good for not being "true" DX10 cards. i was watching a video on youtube the other day and it was playing pretty smooth on a single GTX

[rainless]

That's their plan. It'll more or less increase the itching to upgrade more often.


At anyrate... The 8800 series aren't true dx10 cards anyway. They are hybrids. I can understand why the next line would change it to DX10.1.


Ten to 10.1 is not a full overhaul of the API. The 8800 series IS a "true dx10" card. It just doesn't have Virtualization implemented on the *driver* level. (They couldn't figure out how to get the vista drivers to work AND virtualization at the same time.) For that reason Virtualization was made optional in DX10. Which makes the 8800 series DX10 compatible.

Further driver updates will probably make it DX10.1 compatible. If this were not the case, then the vast majority of cards being sold as "DX10" cards... including the 2900XT (which has its own history of problems with shaders and AA) would not be compatible with upcoming games and apps. And THAT is not going to happen.

[MadMan007]

Hm no mention on the number of shaders. The prices look sweet though especially with that amount of Ram :o but what can I possibly do to sell my 8800GTS 640 before its price plummets and not be stuck in the lurch for a while? :p Ah well I suppose it should be worth at least $250ish. Or maybe I will just end up keeping it for a while anyway.

About the actual info posted...no mention of the detailed architecture details at all such as number of shader units etc although there's a little like the memory bus in there. Also I imagine it won't be PCIe2.0 only, even NV couldn't be that silly to try to push their new mobos. Otherwise I'd have to get an x38 to have a chance at using these plus sweet Matrix RAID.

[MattsterMH]

I wonder what the 9800 Ultra will be :)

See, that's the thing. The price for one card is eventually going to add up to the price of two decent computers. Why should a card be anywhere near $1,000?

[Hazaro]

Because they still make a profit and someone will buy it.

I can't wait to see actual ones of these in action.

[Captain Helghas]

- built in Audio Chip.

That part really raised my eyebrow. What does a video card need with a DAC?

[MadMan007]

Probably just some POS equivalent of mobo onboard for HDMI output. Wasted money imo, anyone high-end enough to have an HTPC won't be worried about running their audio and video on one cable.

[EmAn]

although i would love to see this be real im not going to take it without two grains of salt and a ball of pepper until it is up on nvidia's website

[Mr. Roboto]

Man it seems like I've been waiting forever to get a new video card. Hopefully they come out at a decent price. The video card of my rig has been the weakest link since day 1.

[rainless]

Man it seems like I've been waiting forever to get a new video card. Hopefully they come out at a decent price. The video card of my rig has been the weakest link since day 1.


That's how I used to feel about my 7600GS. I just didn't have... THE GUNS.

...now I do. :beer:

[Burninate]

Man it seems like I've been waiting forever to get a new video card. Hopefully they come out at a decent price. The video card of my rig has been the weakest link since day 1.

A 7900 GT is holding you back? Have you tried the V-mod and overclocked the hell out of it? I had mine to 725 core and 900 on the mem with the 1.5V v-mod. It took every game like a champ with 4x AA and 8 x AF with my 2.6 Ghz Opteron at 1920 x 1080. It shouldn't be holding you back much at all except the lack of DX10, which is kinda moot at the moment.

[MadMan007]

There's one grain of salt to take with those specs, aside from the fact that they could just be fake altogether. Don't get too excited over the total FLOP estimates, they specifically say that each shader is improved to do 3 Floating Point Operations per cycle which obvioulsy increases the FLOP rating. That's a good thing for software optimized to run operations with such combinations but it may or may not mean anything for games. If the drivers as a whole can be enhanced to re-work operations great, or even if there can be game-specific optimizations but if it requires developers to specifically write their code that way then it may not matter. Counting FLOPs this way is partly how ATi's GPU gets such a high FLOP rating but it doesn't directly translate into usefiulness for games.

[Evilsizer]

all i gotta say is it took long enough to get 512bit wide memory paths. i just hope they stick to those specs. Good thing i havent bought a 8800 yet, long hail 7900gt ko's!

[Mathersalan]

Yeah and I just bought a 8800GTX ...BAH!!

And it will be mid ranged in a couple of months...BAH!!!!!

[MadMan007]

lol, probably not quite mid-range. I'm sure it will at least equal the new GTS unless the new ones oc like mofo's.

[treatmentx]

lol. I did see some of the funny looking specs, as someone pointed out... audio? I don't want my graphics card to do audio. I want it to do graphics and don't waste any horsepower doing anything else. What's it going to do next, physics and raw cpu cycles while doing it's graphics? lol Maybe I just can't even venture a guess what the green boys have up their sleeves, and i wanna know damnit!

Regarding DX10 on 8 series, the guy who said Virtualization is correct in that the 8 series is written AS DirectX10, NOT DirectX10 compatible (last time i checked at least). And Microsoft CHANGED Virtualization as being OPTIONAL last minute, just so 8 series can be written down as DX10 certified.

However, if the 9 series is DirectX10.1, I think that's different then DirectX10. Just have to wait and see what that's all about =|

[dudleycpa]

all i gotta say is it took long enough to get 512bit wide memory paths. i just hope they stick to those specs. Good thing i havent bought a 8800 yet, long hail 7900gt ko's!

The 512bit memory was the first thing that caught my eye. I've been waiting on this as well (that's why I bought the 1800xl).

[systemhost]

lawls... I'll believe it when they're for sale...

[TruSlice]

What in God's name would someone need this card for? What can't the GTX handle in SLI?

It at least better be smaller than it...

[Surfrider77]

Although it sounds droolworthy, as the above poster said, I will wait until I start seeing some real-world reviews before getting any hopes up.

Also... an Audio DAC? WTF!?

[Mathersalan]

Audio DAC was probably added because nvidia thought yeah this card is big enough it wont hurt to add a nice useless extra that uses the graphics to make things equal...

^^ thats a bit way over board but yeah wtf does a graphics card need a onboard audio chip for? Anyone with a media center pc I'm sure has enough sense to buy a separate $80 sound card to go with the big theater speakers and rather than using some crappy IAP sound..lol

[Prodigious]

Audio DAC was probably added because nvidia thought yeah this card is big enough it wont hurt to add a nice useless extra that uses the graphics to make things equal...

^^ thats a bit way over board but yeah wtf does a graphics card need a onboard audio chip for? Anyone with a media center pc I'm sure has enough sense to buy a separate $80 sound card to go with the big theater speakers and rather than using some crappy IAP sound..lol
One cable solutions. Is it an essential? No. But it's a nice little feature they can use to jack up the price. Besides, hdmi1.3 is supposed to have autosynching between audio and video which is a very useful feature for movies since some high-end display and HT reciever combinations can introduce audio lag due to the speed that the video is internally processed versus the audio. Again, it's not absolutely necessary but it's a cool feature. My bet is the audio chip is purely for digital audio passthrough purposes and is not an actual standalone audio processor.

[Roofles]

One cable solutions. Is it an essential? No. But it's a nice little feature they can use to jack up the price. Besides, hdmi1.3 is supposed to have autosynching between audio and video which is a very useful feature for movies since some high-end display and HT reciever combinations can introduce audio lag due to the speed that the video is internally processed versus the audio. Again, it's not absolutely necessary but it's a cool feature. My bet is the audio chip is purely for digital audio passthrough purposes and is not an actual standalone audio processor.

I would agree here. Its an audio chip that I would imagine just processes audio into a digital stream so you can use HDMI out that has both audio and video signals like the 2900 does. I would not bet on it having ANY analog capability.

At least dedicated chips running audio is much better than having it run natively on the graphics card itself.

[WonderingSoul]

A 7900 GT is holding you back? Have you tried the V-mod and overclocked the hell out of it? I had mine to 725 core and 900 on the mem with the 1.5V v-mod. It took every game like a champ with 4x AA and 8 x AF with my 2.6 Ghz Opteron at 1920 x 1080. It shouldn't be holding you back much at all except the lack of DX10, which is kinda moot at the moment.


I too may be a little late to the game, but a 7900GT volt modded kicks arse. I had mine only on a 1.4v mod and was clocking 650/1600. Ran FEAR, STALKER, DODS, CSS, HL2 completely fine. I was just weak on the CPU... until now :beer:

[Saints 26]

What in God's name would someone need this card for? What can't the GTX handle in SLI?

It at least better be smaller than it...

what if you don't want SLI?

[Mr.Guvernment]

It will probably cost your soul to get though. Noway that will be anywhere near a reasonable price when it comes out.

would cost the same as any past high end card would $500-$700 US on release.

[Hillsdale]

Ill wait for 3 years.

[Vipasnipa]

eDRAM die for "FREE 4xAA".

Everyone saw that, right? Free AA on mega-resolutions? Yes please.

Also, 9800 ololATIwtf. Has Nvidia ever released a "Pro" or "XT" flavor? I hope they don't this time or confusion will abound.

By the time I get around to upgrading to VISTA, this will probably be the architecture I go with for a GPU upgrade. The 8X00 series is a monster at DX9, but DX10 performance is still somewhat lacking in my book (and why do you need a DX9/10 hybrid card like the 8X00 if you aren't drinking the VISTA juice anyways? 79XX cards are more than enough).

[squashfx]

Everyone saw that, right? Free AA on mega-resolutions? Yes please.

Also, 9800 ololATIwtf. Has Nvidia ever released a "Pro" or "XT" flavor? I hope they don't this time or confusion will abound.

By the time I get around to upgrading to VISTA, this will probably be the architecture I go with for a GPU upgrade. The 8X00 series is a monster at DX9, but DX10 performance is still somewhat lacking in my book (and why do you need a DX9/10 hybrid card like the 8X00 if you aren't drinking the VISTA juice anyways? 79XX cards are more than enough).

Benching!:)

[itstemo1]

what is "Free 4xAA"

and what is up with the Audio Chip?

[Vipasnipa]

what is "Free 4xAA"

and what is up with the Audio Chip?

Free as in no performance cost - No noticeable hit to frame rate when you turn it on.

[Evilsizer]

what is "Free 4xAA"

and what is up with the Audio Chip?
so that if you didnt want to use the built in audio chip. you could use the digital pass thru chip on the card to send it to your reciver, ala HDMI 1.3 connection.

[emceepecks]

this settles it, i'm buying an xbox360.

[Mathersalan]

If the 9800GTX does come out around Christmas.and am pretty sure there will be a couple of big shots on the forums who will have em and show off I may be tempted to sell my 8800GTX and buy one!

[Mobious]

this settles it, i'm buying an xbox360.
:attn: :attn: :attn: :attn: :attn: :attn: :attn: :attn: :attn: :attn:

Props my good sir, props to you.

-Mobious-

[xbiker321]

I'll be building a new water cooled pc come January/February so hopefully these won't be extremely expensive. I'll probably just buy one since right now a single 8800ultra can pretty much max out any game on the market.

[Mathersalan]

Hell I have 8800GTX clocked almost to a Ultra and it does play anything...16AA 16AF on battleifled 2/2142... damn straight

[cronozer0]

When this comes out it'll be the perfect time to pick up a 8800Ultra. Nice and cheap.

[MadMan007]

Maybe but often the (semi) special edition high-end cards either just go out of production or don't pricedrop significantly, then the supply dries up quickly and there are no more.

[MattsterMH]

shoot...i hope getting an 8800gts 320 mb wasnt a bad idea... :(

[treatmentx]

There's always going to be bigger and better. Don't feel bleh about your purchase, you gotta settle on a CPU/GPU/MOBO some time or you'll never have anything :beer:

[cronozer0]

There's always going to be bigger and better. Don't feel bleh about your purchase, you gotta settle on a CPU/GPU/MOBO some time or you'll never have anything :beer:

Yes, and you won't have any money left.