AMD has settled on launch dates and a naming scheme for its next-generation RV770-based graphics cards, according to VR-Zone. The Singapore-based website claims the first of AMD's new line, the Radeon HD 4850, will hit store shelves on June 18. A faster version, the Radeon HD 4870, will reportedly launch on June 25, but retail availability shouldn't follow until July. Later in the third quarter, VR-Zone says AMD will introduce a dual-GPU Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics card.According to recent rumors, the 4850 will cost $269 at launch, and the 4870 will be priced a little higher at $349. Both cards will feature 480 stream processors and 256-bit memory interfaces, with the Radeon HD 4870 packing 1GB of 1935MHz GDDR5 RAM and the 4850 only featuring 512MB of slower memory (perhaps of the GDDR3 type).In related news, several sources including HKEPC and Fudzilla report that Nvidia will dub its next-gen top-of-the-line graphics card "GeForce GTX 280." The lower-end variant will be known as "GeForce GTX 260." This new naming scheme may be tied to Nvidia's recent statements about its lineup being too large and confusing.Both the GTX 280 and the GTX 260 will be based on the next-gen GT200 graphics processor, the sources claim. Older rumors suggest the GTX 260 could have 240 stream processors, 1GB of GDDR3 memory, a 512-bit memory interface, and a $499 launch price.
Later this week NVIDIA will enact an embargo on its upcoming next-generation graphics core, codenamed D10U. The launch schedule of this processor, verified by DailyTech, claims the GPU will make its debut as two separate graphics cards, currently named GeForce GTX 280 (D10U-30) and GeForce GTX 260 (D10U-20). The GTX 280 enables all features of the D10U processor; the GTX 260 version will consist of a significantly cut-down version of the same GPU. The D10U-30 will enable all 240 unified stream processors designed into the processor. NVIDIA documentation claims these second-generation unified shaders perform 50 percent better than the shaders found on the D9 cards released earlier this year.The main difference between the two new GeForce GTX variants revolves around the number of shaders and memory bus width. Most importantly, NVIDIA disables 48 stream processors on the GTX 260. GTX 280 ships with a 512-bit memory bus capable of supporting 1GB GDDR3 memory; the GTX 260 alternative has a 448-bit bus with support for 896MB. GTX 280 and 260 add virtually all of the same features as GeForce 9800GTX: PCIe 2.0, OpenGL 2.1, SLI and PureVideoHD. The company also claims both cards will support two SLI-risers for 3-way SLI support.Unlike the upcoming AMD Radeon 4000 series, currently scheduled to launch in early June, the D10U chipset does not support DirectX extentions above 10.0. Next-generation Radeon will also ship with GDDR5 while the June GeForce refresh is confined to just GDDR3.The GTX series is NVIDIA's first attempt at incorporating the PhysX stream engine into the D10U shader engine. The press decks currently do not shed a lot of information on this support, and the company will likely not elaborate on this before the June 18 launch date.After NVIDIA purchased PhysX developer AGEIA in February 2008, the company announced all CUDA-enabled processors would support PhysX. NVIDIA has not delivered on this promise yet, though D10U will support CUDA, and therefore PhysX, right out of the gate.NVIDIA's documentation does not list an estimated street price for the new cards.
Nvidia GTX260 and 280 revealedMissed targets and low yieldBy Charlie Demerjian: Saturday, 24 May 2008, 5:57 PMNVIDIA STAGED ITS regular editors' day, and once again, we were not invited. Luckily, that means we can tell you about it early.With the usual flair of spin and statistics which almost no one questions for fear of being cut off, NV talked about two new GPUs, the GTX280 and GTX260. The 280 is the big one, the 260 is the mid range, what used to be the GTS.The 280 has 240 stream processors and runs at a clock of 602MHz, a massive miss on what the firm intended. The processor clock runs at 1296MHz and the memory is at 1107MHz. The high-end part has 1G of GDDR3 at 512b width. This means that they are pretty much stuck offering 1G cards, not a great design choice here.The 280 has 32ROPs and feeds them with a six and eight-pin PCIe connector. Remember NV mocking ATI over the eight-pin when the 2900 launched, and how they said they would never use it? The phrase 'hypocritical worms' come to mind, especially since it was on their roadmap at the time. This beast takes 236W max, so all those of you who bought mongo PSUs may have to reinvest if they ever get three or four-way SLI functional.The cards are 10.5-inch parts, and each one will put out 933GFLOPS. Looks like they missed the magic teraflop number by a good margin. Remember we said they missed the clock frequencies by a lot? Here is where it must sting a bit more than usual, sorry NV, no cigar.The smaller brother, aka low-yield, salvage part, the GTX260 is basically the same chips with 192 SPs and 896M GDDR3. If you are maths-impaired, let me point out that this equates to 24 ROPs.The clocks are 576MHz GPU, 999MHz memory and 896MHz GDDR3 on a 448b memory interface. The power is fed by two six-pin connectors. Power consumption for this 10.5-inch board is 182W.This may look good on paper, but the die is over 550mm, 576 according to Theo, on the usual TSMC 65nm process. If you recall, last quarter NV blamed its tanking margins on the G92 yields.How do you fix a low yield problem? Well, in Nvidia-land, you simply add massive die area to a part so the yields go farther down. 576 / 325 = 1.77x. Hands up anyone who thinks this will help them meet the margin goals they promised? Remember, markets are closed Monday, so if you sleep in, no loss.The 260 will be priced at $449 and go up against the ATI 770/4870 costing MUCH less. The 280 will be about 25 per cent faster and quite likely lose badly to the R700, very badly, but cost more, $600+
