G80 incredible but is it worth it?

[Brute Force]

Thx for the link... Damn look at all those shader units DAMN. more then 2 times what the X1900XT's have currently wow.

They are not shaders, they are streaming processors. How fast they will be we don't know, we still await the architecture details.

 

[deathman20]

They are not shaders, they are streaming processors. How fast they will be we don't know, we still await the architecture details.

Whats the difference between the 2 then?

 

[Brute Force]

Whats the difference between the 2 then?

From what I hear, they can only do one Vec4 ALU computation per clock compared to regular ones today being able to do 4/5. But that point is moot since there is 128 of them and they are at 1350MHz.

 

[jivetrky]

They are unified shaders, so there isn't a seperate unit for vertex and pixel shaders....each one can do either type of calculation, which is what is supposed to be DX10's big performance maker

 

[Matarael]

I'm waiting for the 2nd series of DX10 cards to come out before even considering them.

Until that time comes, I'm going to get a cheap 7900G-something when the 8x00 cards come out.

 

[dreamtfk]

I'm waiting for the 2nd series of DX10 cards to come out before even considering them.

Until that time comes, I'm going to get a cheap 7900G-something when the 8x00 cards come out.

Yeh that's not a bad idea since the new cards will probably drive down the price of current cards. I am thinking of just going with the new GTO.

 

[deathman20]

Yeh that's not a bad idea since the new cards will probably drive down the price of current cards. I am thinking of just going with the new GTO.

Yup the GTO sounds impressive. Guess will have to wait and see what benches show, and how the PPU works on it.

 

[Brute Force]

They are unified shaders, so there isn't a seperate unit for vertex and pixel shaders....each one can do either type of calculation, which is what is supposed to be DX10's big performance maker

Like I said, these are not shaders.... This is going to be real confusing explaining this new architecture to everyone when the full details come out.

Also Unified shaders can switch between Pixel, Vertex and Geometric shading.

 

[InsaneManiac]

The 400W barrier is not the consumption of the card itself, but the power consumption of these cards is going to be a real pain in the neck for people who dont have a ton of money to pay out the wazoo on their electric bill. If this keeps up, we might as well as get a generator and try to learn how to harness the power of fusion. Just imagine what the enthusiasts around the world are saying right now, "I'm gonna OC the holy crap out of this thing, then see how far I can get. Heck if my dual 720W zippies dont do the trick, I'll just triple em."

Honestly, when will ATI and Nvidia stop talking about extra physics support and actually improve the problem of the increasing power?

 

[terran2k]

I personally would like to have the G80 or r600, but they are so overpriced for what they are. I'd say it'd be worth it about 8 months from now. After vista is out and developers have played with the cards for a bit.

 

[panagiotis]

I must admit. With the G80 upcoming release it will drive the 7950 GX2 lower. Already the MSI 7900GTO 512, cost around £130 (expect it under £100 by november) and the dual 7950 GX2 1GB will be below £200 before the end of November.

Is good time to buy? I might say yes when G80 comes out and drive the prices down.

Either way DX10 is still a promise and with the Vista licence as is now I don't believe it worth to get it. DX9c and Shader 3.0 have a lot to deliver still.
Don't forget that when new games are only for DX10 we will be in the next decade. Overal even the humble 7900 GTO with 512MB RAM will do the job (get a 2nd if you want) perfectly.
Also bit overclocking will do good to our pockets.

 

[Joeteck]

Is good time to buy? I might say yes when G80 comes out and drive the prices down.

That may not happen. Remember when the 7900 GTX came out? the 7800's were still up there.. Now they're lower, but I don't think its going to that big of a drop. The 7900 GTX's are still around $500 plus or minus 8% US dollars. Granted, the 8800's are going to kick some major butt, but I feel the 7900's are still going to up there. They are the best DX9 cards out there. And will run newer games that come out, but will not show DX10 features. 7900 owners will be set for a long time...Besides who here can aford a $650 graphics card? And I'm sure they maybe higher, if we make a real big deal about it, which will cause the prices to go higher than MSRP, like the Conroe chip... I'm just curious if its going to be PCI-e version 2.0... Instead of 16 lanes, 8 in, and 8 out, it will be 16 in, and 16 out, total 32x. Sweet.

 

[Nandro]

Just ordered a 7900gto myself, as it seems from people that have them they are really just rebranded gtx's. also here:
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35110

we see that XP will get its own version of dx10 to play with, call it dx9L or whatever, but game makers will be sure to optomize for it because thats where the larger buyer base is, so dont write off our generation cards just yet... I'll wait till I can get the next gen when my SLI 7900GTO's dont play reasonable anymore. To me OC'ing and and tweaking was never about being the fastest, it was about being the fastest for the money spent, and right now nothing touches the GTO, got mine at new egg shipped for $260. With 512 mem and nice speedy core, I will review it against the 7800gt, 7800gtx I have now. Then when K8L comes out and all the true AMD lovers drop their conroes like donkey turds to go back to their love, I will be there to pick them up! I love being one ster behind....also helps when your poor

 

[dreamtfk]

I am looking forward to that review Nandro, I really thnk the GTO is gonna be the card for me until later next year when Vista and DX10 have both feet firmly on the ground. That is great news about the DX9L, it is true since Vista will be released well before any affordable DX10 cards meaning MS will lose out on lots of potential gamer $$$.

I am just curious what the price drop will be on current cards (especially the GX2) when G80 comes out next month, until then fingers crossed.

 

[zangler]

well....people are estimating 12000 06 marks...best SLI setup is sub 5 still? at least according to toms vga charts

 

[deathman20]

well....people are estimating 12000 06 marks...best SLI setup is sub 5 still? at least according to toms vga charts

People hit into the 10k's with SLI setups no problem it seems. So basically its doublting the cards rendering power which is always nice expecially with unoptimized drivers even.

 

[Nandro]

I want to run a comparative check right now on my 7800gtx What settings do I check on 3D06 as I usually use 05 and 03, so I can get a good comparison. remember, I am using a D805 at 3.96ghz(4ghz eludes me still).

 

[zangler]

People hit into the 10k's with SLI setups no problem it seems. So basically its doublting the cards rendering power which is always nice expecially with unoptimized drivers even.

well...i was talking stock just to compare apples to apples...but i know what you mean...so we are talking more like a 150% or so upgrade over single GPU to single GPU...id say thats worth it...

 

[kbanny]

Amen to that.

Maybe we can relate this to:

Some guys like slim and athletic, some like thick and curvy. (I'm not sure which card is which type, but uhh yeah )

How about hot and huge for the g80

As far as the topic at hand, I will be picking up a 8800.I am just unsure which flavor I will pick.

 

[vixro]

You were misinformed about DirectX9L. It's an enchanced version of DirectX9 for vista. Not a version of DirectX10 for XP. Just thought I would clear that up since nobody else had that I saw...

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35140