nVidia GT200 Series Thread

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation

Originally posted by: Extelleron

HD 4870 X2 should be 2x the speed of the HD 3870 X2, unless AMD runs into power issues, so it should beat the GTX 280 in a lot of big games (definitely UT3 and probably Crysis too).

In ATI's case you'll have a card which might not even scale in some games (and most likely you'll have to wait for constant driver updates to get proper scaling) - COD4.

Also, it's highly unlikely NV will lose in Crysis - Crysis bench 3870 x2

ATI's card would have to be significantly cheaper or faster or scale extremely well -- otherwise it's hard to recommend a dual-gpu solution over a single gpu. Also, significance of UT3 benchmark is largely irrelevant since my low level 8800GTS 320MB already runs the game at 1920x1080 very smoothly.

Xbitlabs is the only review site that I have ever seen having problems with Call of Duty 4 scaling. Anandtech showed great scaling on day one back in January, and so has every other credible review site that I have seen.

I am basing what I said off nVidia's own chart, which I am sure shows nVidia in the best light possible. And that chart shows GTX 280 being ~80% faster in Crysis, so if I double 3870 X2 performance, it would be faster.

Not to start some kind of consipracy theory, but Xbitlabs always seems to show bad results for AMD cards. They show 3870 X2 being equal to 8800GTS, meanwhile Anandtech's reviews show it is 30% behind the 9800GX2. I'll believe Anandtech over Xbitlabs.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Extelleron
Not to start some kind of consipracy theory, but Xbitlabs always seems to show bad results for AMD cards. They show 3870 X2 being equal to 8800GTS, meanwhile Anandtech's reviews show it is 30% behind the 9800GX2. I'll believe Anandtech over Xbitlabs.

Heh- I've always thought the opposite of Xbitlabs. One thing I do like about their reviews is they always test a lot of games anyway.

 

[bryanW1995]

Rollo, is there any truth the rumors about a 55nm die shrink for nvidia?

 

[Isaac MM]

Do you people think that CrossFire HD 4870x2 can beat the GTX 280?

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
Rollo, is there any truth the rumors about a 55nm die shrink for nvidia?

No need to invoke NDA on this one- no idea. Haven't been told about it if true.

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: Isaac MM
Do you people think that CrossFire HD 4870x2 can beat the GTX 280?

That would depend on scaling, but in games that scale well with CrossfireX I would say for sure.

There are a few games where it looks like HD 4870 X2 could outperform GTX 280 by itself, so certainly if 2->4 GPU scaling is good, then it would win by an even larger margin.

I'm pretty sure that GTX 280 SLI > HD 4870 X2 CF-X though. SLI 1->2 GPU scaling will surely beat CF 2->4 scaling. That's the one bad thing about having a 2 GPU card; You can't put two in CF and get good scaling, because then you are talking about Quad CF. Regardless of which card wins by themselves, GTX 280 Tri-SLI will remain the ultimate graphics setup.

 

[Isaac MM]

edited because i had wrong info

 

[dv8silencer]

Originally posted by: Isaac MM
I have no doubts that GTX 280 SLI will beat HD 4870 X2 CF-X, but since a HD 4870 X2 will be like 300$ and the GTX 280 600$+, a CF-X of those would be a very good option

Oh really?

 

[taltamir]

basically it is going to be a back and forth punch fest with each company scoring a hit that lasts for a very short time before the other one ups them. Sounds perfect to me.

 

[Cookie Monster]

HD4870X2 is rumoured to be priced around $449 (or $499?). The thing is that straight off the bat that single GPU cards hold quite a bit of advantage over dual/multi GPU cards like the X2. Even with GT200 being the biggest GPU history, the 4870X2 will probably be more hotter, power hungry card as seen and indicated by the figures produced by 3870X2 reviews (since it uses two GPUs with two seperate memory systems, etc etc). Then theres the scaling issue, synchronization issue (this can cause jittering during gameplay when using AFR, think we had a long thread about this on AT).

Anyway multi GPU solutions are great in some sense, but how to communicate these GPU efficiently has always been the problem even since the concept of multi GPUs came to life and ultimately this has been their downfall.

 

[Fadardo]

Once the chinese sites start leaking the performance reviews of the g260/280 in a matter of 10-20 hours would it be alright if i link to them or does this forum prohibit such things since they are in violation of Nvidias NDA?

 

[dv8silencer]

I think you're prohibited only if you agreed to the NDA.

And if you're just linking to a web site and not really saying anything yourself, then it shouldn't matter if you've agreed to the NDA or not, anyways.

But this is all guesswork by me.

 

[taltamir]

links to Chinese NDA breakers are posted on these forums all the time...
Also, please include the google translation to english as part of the link

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Fadardo
Once the chinese sites start leaking the performance reviews of the g260/280 in a matter of 10-20 hours would it be alright if i link to them or does this forum prohibit such things since they are in violation of Nvidias NDA?

Why 10-20 hours?

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Extelleron

Not to start some kind of consipracy theory, but Xbitlabs always seems to show bad results for AMD cards. They show 3870 X2 being equal to 8800GTS, meanwhile Anandtech's reviews show it is 30% behind the 9800GX2. I'll believe Anandtech over Xbitlabs.

Hmmm....I have been following them for a while now. They consistently showed faster performance for:

9800Pro/XT > 5900 series
X800XT series > 6800 U series (6800GT > X850Pro though)
X18/900 seres > 78/900 series

So I wouldn't say they are biased to NV. Their sister site Digit-Life has also favoured ATI cards over NV last 3 generations in a row (9800/x800/x1900).

What about mid-range? Are we ever going to see another 6600GT from either company ? (i.e. mid-range outperforming previous gen high-end).

 

[biostud]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation

Originally posted by: Extelleron

What about mid-range? Are we ever going to see another 6600GT from either company ? (i.e. mid-range outperforming previous gen high-end).

Price wise aren't the 8800GT and 3870 considered mid-end?

 

[HOOfan 1]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation

What about mid-range? Are we ever going to see another 6600GT from either company ? (i.e. mid-range outperforming previous gen high-end).

what about 9600GT? It is essentially still a generation beyond 7 series and doesn't it outperform the 7900GTX?

 

[Rusin]

X-bit labs uses actual game play for their reviews and Anandtech uses time demos (well at least once Anandtech benchmarked CoD4 using it's intro-video..). Somehow those sites using actual game play for their reviews are getting relatively better scores for Geforce 8/9-cards than those sites using time demos. I use mostly Muropaketti which uses actual game play for their reviews with "apples vs. apples"-comparisons. They had the same pattern as X-bit labs Radeon 9000-series owned Geforce FX and X800 and X1800 series were ahead of their main rivals.

 

[Rusin]

Originally posted by: HOOfan 1

Originally posted by: RussianSensation

What about mid-range? Are we ever going to see another 6600GT from either company ? (i.e. mid-range outperforming previous gen high-end).

what about 9600GT? It is essentially still a generation beyond 7 series and doesn't it outperform the 7900GTX?

Well if 8600 GTS (with later drivers..) is around 7900 GTO/GTX levels then 9600 GT...

 

[taltamir]

but that 7900GTX can use those same later drivers... sure if you compare the tests from way back then to modern tests... but since then both the games and the drivers have been updated.

I am curious as to how they compare, but it will need to be done in a new testing environment.

 

[9nines]

Gigabyte might have reference boards at trade show:

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=13600

 

[biostud]

HD3950 hasn't been talked about yet, and it indeed seems that the 4850 will be GDDR3

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: HOOfan 1

Originally posted by: RussianSensation

What about mid-range? Are we ever going to see another 6600GT from either company ? (i.e. mid-range outperforming previous gen high-end).

what about 9600GT? It is essentially still a generation beyond 7 series and doesn't it outperform the 7900GTX?

6600GT came out just 10 months after 9800XT and spanked it.

9600GT is not a "true" mid-range card since not only did it come out almost a year and a half after 8800GTX, but full 2 years!!!! after 7900GTX. Therefore, this isn't a valid comparison. 8600GTS should have been 8800GTS 320mb imo. Now 9600GT won't have anywhere close of the staying power that 6600GT had because it was so late to the market.

8800GT on the other hand was never a true mid-range card since it cost $250-275 upon debut and displaced high end 8800GTS 640mb card. Its prices have come down over time due to competition from ATI and the fact that new gen of cards is right around the corner. So yes, I agree that now you can call that mid-range.

When I say "competitive mid-range", I am talking about the launch of mid-range cards close (within 6 months) of new generation of cards (i.e. GTX 240/AMD 4650 beating 9800GTX for <$200 in the next 6 months). Maybe 4850 will deliver

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: biostud
HD3950 hasn't been talked about yet, and it indeed seems that the 4850 will be GDDR3

HD3950? Wasn't that the original name for the 3850 before they changed it?

 

[Rusin]

http://www.hardware-infos.com/news.php?news=2113
So Geforce GTX 280 would consume 30W on idle-mode. That's slightly more than 9600 GT (26W) and slightly less than 8800 GT (35W).

http://sg.vr-zone.com/articles..._In_Computex/5823.html
VR-Zone also reported that they were told that these cards run cool on idle [and that they are much faster than 9800 GX2]