ATI roadmap

by **smithpa68** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 10:02 am

Anyone know when ATI is going to release their next generation video card? Althought the 9800 is still king it has been around for a while now considering the speed of GPU development.

I am thinking of a getting a new video card but wondering when the next big shot will be fired.

by **ZOMBIE** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 11:09 am

i heard rumor of a 99 series.. but dunno details or specs or even if its true.. but the 9800xt is pretty damn sweet.. got it bout a month ago and im lovin it.

by **JimmyTango** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 11:38 am

The 420 is their next chipset. It is a completely new chipset, not a faster version of the 300. I forget when it is supposed to come out, but go to google and type in ATI roadmap, I am sure there are numerous websites on this topic.

by **shockwave203** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 1:51 pm

March/April of 2004, supposedly. The 420 is an AGP graphics card, and the 423, due to be released soon after the 420, is a PCI express graphics card (something brand new) and will offer slightly more speed than AGP. You'll have to buy a new motherboard to use the PCI express (one that supports it) so the 420 is the best choice for most people. I'm not sure what to upgrade to, a 9800pro or a 420.

by **JimmyTango** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 2:14 pm

Shock, wait for the 420, your card(and at those speeds) is fine. I'd upgrade that ram first, P4's LOVE memory bandwidth.

PCI Express will add no extra speeds with current or near future hardware. It is like AGP 8X, guess what? The information being passed is barely at 4X, 8X adds about 1 FPS.

by **shockwave203** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 2:29 pm

Originally posted by JimmyTango
Shock, wait for the 420, your card(and at those speeds) is fine. I'd upgrade that ram first, P4's LOVE memory bandwidth.

PCI Express will add no extra speeds with current or near future hardware. It is like AGP 8X, guess what? The information being passed is barely at 4X, 8X adds about 1 FPS.

ya you're probably right. I thought that going the PCI express route would add a little more speed because you'd be required to purchase a new mobo, but the gain would be very small associated with the prices in upgrading two pieces of hardware.

So...waiting for the R420 probably makes the most sense. How much faster than a 9800 is it 'suppose' to be? Isn't it something along the lines of 30%? I know it has 12 pipelines instead of 8, and I read somewhere a while back that the fill rate of the 420 or 'loki' is double a 9800XT, though I find that hard to believe.

by **smithpa68** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 2:51 pm

Thanks guys. Since I have a Shuttle XPC, I have to be careful not to overload the small power supply. So I probably won't upgrade my current set up. It is running everything very well right now. Lock On is a little sluggish but I will see what happens when the first patch comes out.

When the Ti4600 was king, I built this machine with a Ti4400. The Ti4600 was $300 and I got the Ti4400 for $190 at NewEgg.

When I upgrade, I will build a whole new box. I am just trying to gauge roughly when that will be. Ideally, I would build a new box 4 to 6 months after the next big thing in graphics cards. You get the best price/performance/longevity this way in my opinion.

by **smithpa68** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 3:03 pm

Did some googling in case anyone else is interested.

http://www.neoseeker.com/news/story/3023/

http://www.megagames.com/news/html/hardware/atir4202xfasterthan9800pro.shtml

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13270

http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2003Jul/bch20030711020796.htm

by **shockwave203** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 3:04 pm

ah, I remember the gold old Nvidia Ti days. I use to have an Nvidia Ti4200, that was a great card for the money I payed.

I wonder what Nvidia's nextgen cards are going to look like. I haven't heard much about them...hopefully they are good, and comparable to ATI. I don't want ATI to walk away and completely dominate the market, which would lead to higher prices and less competition to make the best product.

by **shockwave203** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 3:08 pm

Originally posted by smithpa68
Did some googling in case anyone else is interested.

http://www.megagames.com/news/html/hardware/atir4202xfasterthan9800pro.shtml

2X faster than a 9800 pro? heh, I doubt that's true, but if it is, wow :eek:

. I'll start saving up now :lol:

by **JimmyTango** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 4:01 pm

The 420 is a next generation chipset. Expect what is typical of going from one generation to the next, I'd say anywhere from 33 to 66% increase in performance when using the same hardware as before(as in same CPU, RAM, MB, etc).

It is not an exact science. The GF4's were not a huge step over GF3's at the time, where the 9700Pro was a HUGE step from the 8500. Of course, the GF4 was not that big of a technical leap over the GF3, it was really GF3.5.

The new chipsets from both ATI and Nvidia will be completley new chipsets, so I would expect larger than normal increases in performance.

by **shockwave203** » Mon Dec 29, 2003 2:26 pm

where the heck is bullhead? he's usually all over threads like this, spouting his neverending knowledge on video cards and such

by **Irish** » Mon Dec 29, 2003 2:49 pm

Holy pop-ups. I didn't get to read the article but I am sure it referenced both NVIDIA and ATI's new chipsets and even PCI Express. Starting in 2004 AGP will start to get phased out for PCI Express graphic cards. Maximum PC last month has a huge article on 2004 and all the new technologies coming out. I would suggest to anyone getting new upgraded equipment to read this article first. DDR ram is out and new DDR2 will be the norm. So your Extreme RAM will not work on the new MOBO's carrying DDR2. Nice buy last month, eh? New procesors such as the INTEL Prescott and Tejas. AMD is bringing out a third 64bit chip. This one will have 512cache instead of the current meg. This makes this AMD chip cheaper. New form factors for cases. ATX out and BTX in. Better airflow. The vid cards will be twice as fast from testing they have done. They also say that the PCI technology allows game developers to create a game that any PCI card can run. The difference would be the PCI card for $500.00 will run smoother and with all options enabled while the $75.00 card will still be able to run the game but with less options enabled.

Pick up the magazine and that article before any big purchases are made.

by **bayotanzk** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 7:43 pm

Good thread! I an looking for new video card. Thanks guys for the 411 and links.

by **Colonel Ingus** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 9:00 pm

While I understand wanting the hottest latest shit out there caution and patience may be advised.

I am personally thinking about 1 years time to a serious upgrade.

As previously mentioned PCI Express will be a feature soon, Also as someone else mentioned DDR2, combine that with the new OS MS is making to take advantage of 64 bit processors (which will require a new MOBO) and theres most of your machine right there.

Which will make grabbing nice stuff to tweak what you have real cheap real soon

You guys may have cash to blow and you suck because I don't but why throw 500-600 dollars out on the nextgen ATI or NVIDIA AGP card when 6 months down the road you are going to upgrade you processor/mobo and the card is then useless because you need PCI Express?

Anywho my two cents later guys.

ATI roadmap

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