***Official*** NV40 Benches (Updated as they go live) ANANDTECH Review Added

[rbV5]

Any chance of a link to the info on this "true" hardware accelleration of video, and not just filtering. Cos ive never heard of anything but filtering outside of the AIW range, and am curious as to the details of it.

Hardware accelerated MPEG-2 iDCT, motion compensation, and color space conversion have been a standard for the entire Radeon line(and prior). Beyond that, you're for the most part correct in support for filtering. R2xx added limited video shader support for RM (fullstream deblocking/filtering, but only on the enabled Real Media Player) and r3xx added Divx fullstream deblocking (only with the enabled Playa) and a programmable VPU (which I'm not sure what it ultimately is capable of). Its basically very limited, and I'm not sure if its lack of development (probably something to do with it) or lack of capability (also probable)

The video/ multimedia aspects while more than just checkbox features, are a niche use for PC graphic cards. Now with HD resolutions and Entertainment PC's becoming more popular, and a serious effort by NV to bring some powerfull functionality to the table, things will likely change much more quickly. I'm excited to see how the PVP works out, and a little dissappointed that they have nothing to show yet. It will also be interesting to see what ATI brings to the table as well. NV took a completely different approach than ATI did with R3xx, and I wonder if its going to be a feature accross the entire line, or just specific models. NV finally introduced YPbPr output support with its hardware and drivers with NV35, so maybe they're serious about being a player in what was one of ATI's strongholds.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: Eug

Originally posted by: Acanthus
Why are people complaining about power consumption and heat?

Its the price you pay to play the game.

More speed = more heat and more power consumption.

That is of course, incorrect.

Design has a lot to do with it. Why do think the Radeon 9800 series uses less power than the competing GeForce FX 5900 series?

It seems like nVidia is doing some brute force design lately, and this can't go on forever.

Because there were heavy bottlenecks in the NV30 design.

Its not to be taken literally, im saying traditionally more speed = more heat. 486, Pentium, Pentium II, III, IV, IV-C, IV-XE, IV-E... The athlon series, The geforce series.

Isnt the 9800 low-k as well? that makes a difference.

 

[ectx]

Originally posted by: rbV5

The video/ multimedia aspects while more than just checkbox features, are a niche use for PC graphic cards. Now with HD resolutions and Entertainment PC's becoming more popular, and a serious effort by NV to bring some powerfull functionality to the table, things will likely change much more quickly. I'm excited to see how the PVP works out, and a little dissappointed that they have nothing to show yet. It will also be interesting to see what ATI brings to the table as well. NV took a completely different approach than ATI did with R3xx, and I wonder if its going to be a feature accross the entire line, or just specific models. NV finally introduced YPbPr output support with its hardware and drivers with NV35, so maybe they're serious about being a player in what was one of ATI's strongholds.

Right on. HTPC is the way to go and I am frustrated that is not enoguh attention to this aspect. ATI had paid more attention in this category (and that is why I got drawn to ATI) but it is nowhere enough. I am excited if Nvidai can provide some competition in this aspect.

Love my HDTV and DVD through my pc and projector. However, it could have been better.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
Its not to be taken literally, im saying traditionally more speed = more heat. 486, Pentium, Pentium II, III, IV, IV-C, IV-XE, IV-E... The athlon series, The geforce series.

Ah yes, but Intel for one is actively trying to push themselves in the other direction now. Intel seems concerned with power disadvantages of chips such as Prescott, and is trying to redevelop part of its platform on Banias-like architectures, partially because of power considerations.

Like I said, nVidia's designs really are getting out of hand. They had better pull a rabbit out of the proverbial hat for their next design, even if does transition to 90 nm. Process technologies are not the only solution. ATI has historically had better designs in terms of power it seems, but they're coming close to getting out of hand with their GPU designs too.