Wednesday, September 7th 2005
R520 spy pics
HKEPC has the R520 core picture (here), we have the full PCB.
The card you are seeing is the R520 XT. It is a dual slot solution and uses a cooler similar to the X850. ATI will also offer one-slot versions which will have less performance.
The will only be PCI-Express boards. AGP versions are definitely not planned.
Internally the chip will use 512-bit memory transfers. However, the external memory interface will still be 256-bit - expect some nice marketing from ATI regarding that "feature".
Right now the product lineup is:
R520 XT
In the thread at HKEPC linked above (translated) "it is likely that the ATI R520 will change its name to ATI Radeon X1800 series, the estimated release date for the ATI X900 series is early October".
One of these two names is correct my source says, he didn't want to reveal which one though. The October release date is correct.
The will only be PCI-Express boards. AGP versions are definitely not planned.
Internally the chip will use 512-bit memory transfers. However, the external memory interface will still be 256-bit - expect some nice marketing from ATI regarding that "feature".
Right now the product lineup is:
R520 XT
- 512MB RAM
- ~600 MHz core
- ~650-700 MHz memory
- Dual slot cooling
- Dual DVI
- 256MB RAM
- ~500 MHz core
- ~500 MHz memory
- Single slot cooling
- VGA + DVI
- 256MB RAM
- ~450 MHz core
- ~450 MHz memory
- Single slot cooling
- VGA + DVI
- 256MB RAM
- ~600 MHz core
- ~650-700 MHz memory
- Dual slot cooling
- VGA + DVI
In the thread at HKEPC linked above (translated) "it is likely that the ATI R520 will change its name to ATI Radeon X1800 series, the estimated release date for the ATI X900 series is early October".
One of these two names is correct my source says, he didn't want to reveal which one though. The October release date is correct.
150 Comments on R520 spy pics
And if you're spending $500 on the video card, what $70 mobo would you recommend, sir? At least $100 minimum and it's $100 unnecessary dollars, since AGP has never been the bottleneck of a graphics subsystem. The PCI-e switch is simply a way to sock it to the consumer because most graphics card makers are also mobo makers and the NF3's and 865/75 motherboards were too good, so people started rolling out immature, "new" technology to force upgrades at basically no advantage.
Making an AGP+PCI-E card requires a lot more dev time than a pci-e or agp native card. AGP is a dieing slot, and is actually being eliminated faster than I thought it would be.. I'm usually way behind the upgrade path, but even I have a pci-e mobo.. and I stuck with a TnT2 until a Ti4200 was $80 lol :D
What you say about "no advantage" is completely wrong PCI-e has several advantages.
1.) dual cards!
2.) more bandwidth!
3.) most importantly, MORE JUICE.
We all know these cards are super power hungry... :eek:
Also, the true advantages to PCI-E lie elsewhere; it's far more scaleable than PCI ever was. With PCI-E, one can truly use gigabit NICs. One can truly use multiple gigabit NICs. One can use far larger storage controllers because of the much more massive amount of bandwidth present. in a dinky little x1 slot, you have more bandwidth than a 64bit PCI lane which is several times larger.
PCI-Express isn't there only to serve up a new platform for videocards; that is merely a byproduct that will be adapted eventually, just as each AGP standard has been adapted over the ages, and PCI was adapted to from ISA. I bet there used to be people saying "why would i ever want PCI? Who on earth really needs that bandwidth?! ISA still has more than enough!"
90% of gamers are still using AGP? - Where did you get this 'pretty' statistic from? Or did you just make it up?
ATI and nVidia knows you have the money dude, that's why SLI and Crossfire are only available on PCI-e. Why have 1 card when you can have 2.. Like I said.. you're weird..
If you are going to be building a new computer in time for Vista, why would you now dish out $500 + dollars to last you until that point? Just buy everything at the same time, and until then, an x850 XT will last you *extremely* nicely. Heck, even an x800 would do until that point.Calm downAGP is dying. It will last you another year until you upgrade, but it's death is a good thing. Quit dragging progression down you weird person. :o
I really don't think I'm weird or stupid for not wanting to overhaul my entire system just to get a new video card. I was simply stating that ATI and nVidia could make their higher end cards for PCIE as well as AGP if they really wanted to instead of only catering to the minority. Seems like a good business strategy to me. Sorry about the 90% I mentioned...but surely AGP is still the majority out there. Anyways...I guess I'll replace my 9800Pro with a X850 XT till I do build that new system for Vista. I'm sure that will still be a nice upgrade. Anyone think the price will drop significantly if I wait a few weeks till these new cards are out?
let it go, bye bye agp!
A 7800gt is about $500 CDN, and presumably one of the R520 variants will come in at a similar price; I can come up with this amount in a reasonable amount of time.
BUT: $150 for a motherboard, $180 for a new CPU, $150 for a 24 pin PSU and $60 for a new waterblock makes another $540. No way can I come up with $1040(Plus shipping, plus 14% tax...) just to get a new graphics card. AGP may be dying, but it shouldn't be declared dead just yet.
in the first paragraph after "Athlon 64 Socket 939"
If you want an AGP card, don't whine here, because none here can help you (especially the children who post here) but rather go to your preferred computer store and demand what you want. They might not have it, but they will ask their suppliers. The suppliers will then inquire with the manufacturers, who will go back to nVidia and ATi saying "Ok, we have had 100 requests of XYZ video card on AGP platform. If you produce that number, and we sell half of that, would it be worth it?"
Go out and do something. Personally, I don't think I'll need to ditch my X800XL for another year. I can play the games I want with excellent resolution and extremely playable frame rates - or isn't this the point?!
AGP SLI was possible via AGP (or PCI66) bridge chips. There are two possibilities: Let one GPU be a bridge, or use a dedicated bridge. Both methods were implemented by 3dfx back in the days of AGPs uprising.
Voodoo5 5500 (VSA100 #0 = Bridge):
(shown with custom cooling)
Voodoo5 6000 (HiNT HB1-SE66 = Bridge):
There were chipsets, which would possibly also have supported two AGP Slots (Don't remember which ones, i840?! Could also just use an additional AGP controller chip..). And from there it can't be far to two-slot SLI solutions. I think, it would have been definitely possible.
The cool thing about AGP was its dedication to and optimization for graphics. Make it AGP16x, and it could still compete for a long time. Personally, i have already given up my AGP platform for the sake of SLI, but i DO miss the slot. If some manufacturer would have built a Single AGP Card with two 7800GTX GPUs on it, i would have bought it. Then we would have seen, how badly AGP limits the graphics subsystem. ;)