Sunday, October 29th 2006

G80 pictures reveal a second RAMDAC processor

Oct 29th, 2006 11:50 Discuss (43 Comments)

Pictures of the NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS and 8800GTX show what looks like two graphics processors. However, the smaller second chip is dedicated to "NV I/O".

It turns out that the small chip on the Geforce 8800 cards is an Nvidia NVIO chip. It provides dual 400MHz RAMDAC and Dual - Dual Link DVI output, TV Out and HDCP. Our informative friends call the chip External Video I/O Chip or simply External RAMDAC. We don't have any idea why Nvidia needed that, as RAMDAC has been normally part of the chip for generations.

There are also specifications showing the power requirements for the NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS and GTX. The 8800GTS will require 26 amps on the 12 volt rail, and the 8800GTX will require a whopping 30 amps on the 12 volt rail. The 8800GTX also has a second SLI bridge, which may link to a future physics solution from NVIDIA.

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43 Comments on G80 pictures reveal a second RAMDAC processor

#26

Tory

newtekie1Pay attention class:

The 30a power requirement is for the whole computer, not just the video card. The current high end cards on the market have very similar requirements, so shut up if you don't know what you are talking about.

Thank you!!! I've been trying to say this for ages but nobody hears me.

#27

Chewy

you could very well be right Tory/newtekie, but the second power dongle makes it seem suspicious, why is it there I wonder when we can power our cards today with 1 dongle.

It will be a while till it is actually released, someone should e-mail Nivida and ask them, I will.

#28

kakazza

newtekie1Pay attention class:

The 30w power requirement is for the whole computer, not just the video card. The current high end cards on the market have very similar requirements, so shut up if you don't know what you are talking about.

An X1950XTX consumes 'a maximum of 125Watts'. So the 8800 will consume a bit more, according to specs which they never really reach tho.
Not saying that you are wrong, but can you post a reference to your statement?

#29

Chewy

I tried creating an account at nivdia and it had an internal error.
nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nvidia.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php
Anyone wanna try finding out?

#30

gR3iF

add a vapochill for the cpu to cool this beast :D

#31

Agility

well i rather intel go back and work thier dual-cores CPU to fully use it's 2nd core rather then rushing to quad-core with shitty dual-core support. Same goes to AMD and Nvidia's quad sli.

#32

kakazza

Agility - The HW is there, the Software has to be written/optimized. And as long as not 100% of all users use DC it's a very exhausting work I'd imagine. I don't mean 'using both cores' but 'efficiently using both cores'.

#33

Judas

Nice .. :) its in black too how long is it?

#34

Agility

Oh software? Didn't know. Or was it? Someone confirm me?

#35

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

All Intel can do is give the hardware that lets them do it(and they have), they can't force software companies to use it.

#36

Shyska

Skiping this generation sounds more and more appealing...

#37

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

ShyskaSkiping this generation sounds more and more appealing...

Yeah, I have already decided that is what I am going to do. I am sticking with my 2.8GHz X2 4400+ and my SLI 7900GTs @ 600/1600 for at least a year, or at least until games won't run on WinXP and DX9 anymore, whichever comes first.

#38

cdawall

where the hell are my stars

hey you'll saw how long i stuck with a s754!!! and agp those still support dx9 so im ok till they release something that just makes all that just look silly

#39

zekrahminator

McLovin

JudasNice .. :) its in black too how long is it?

8800GTX is 11 inches, 8800GTS is about as long as an X1900XTX at 23cm.

#40

XooM

I would like to throw into the power discussion a handy fact - the absolute maximum this card could draw is 225 watts. The PEG slot is rated to provide 75 watts, and each PEG power plug is rated at 75 watts. 75 * 3 = 225watts MAXIMUM. In reality, total power draw is probably in the neighborhood of 150-175 watts, but i just made that number up.

read the PCI-E/PEG specs ;)

@pics: holy hell, if that massive chunk is the core and not a cap... holy hell O_O

#41

infrared

Chewywill the OCZ GameXstream 600watt sli/cf be good enuff to run one of theses? it has quad 18 amp rails, I'm guessing its just enough.

Edit: Thought I had posted this already, the 4 rails would have like 56 max amps so 18 +18 = 36 leaves 20amps for the system and maybe some room for an overclock.

I'll prob get one of theses suckers in a years time, hoping my 1900gt will be enough for now.

unfortunatly no. each rail is kept separate, they're not combined. So you'd have 18A for the cpu, 18A for 1st graphics card, 18A for 2nd graphics card and 18A for the drives and periferals.

That's the problem with having many rails. IMO a powerful psu with 2 rails is the best solution.

#42

Chewy

ah ic, being on a tight build budget, kinda suck I would like gigabyte dq-6 board since it opens up more opportunity (fsb,cf, more ram voltage), but being my first time building a computer its ok. I dotn even know if that card would fit into the case I bought, so hopfully the come out with some other real nice, smaller dx10 cards.

#43

XooM

it most certainly could run one of these cards. 18 amps * 12v is 216 watts, which, through the 2 PEG plugs, is well more than needed.

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G80 pictures reveal a second RAMDAC processor

43 Comments on G80 pictures reveal a second RAMDAC processor

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