Way back in 1999, ATi released the Rage Fury MAXX. It used two Rage 128 Pro cores (each running at a whopping 125mhz) and 64mb of SDR SDRAM, and it was the first retail graphics card to incorporate two cores on one printed circuit board. Now, over 8 years later ATi has launched another dual GPU graphics card; The Radeon HD 3870 X2.
Below is a list of websites who have put the 3870 X2 through its paces to find out whether two cores are better than one:
With the current disappointment in how budget gaming cards such as the GeForce 8600GTS and Radeon HD 2600XT handle today's games, I've personally been waiting for two cards to arrive; the GeForce 8800GT and the Radeon HD 38x0.
Today nVidia's GeForce 8800GT comes to market and as the reviews show the 512mb version packs a major punch for its $249 msrp. Not only has the number of shader processors been increased over the 8800GTS, but it has increased texture addressing as well. Below is a collection of reviews around the web, and in one fell swoop nVidia has kicked its own GeForce 8800GTS out of the graces of budget gaming enthusiasts, replacing it with the GeForce 8800GT.
Over a month ago AMD launched the Radeon HD 2900XT, their first high end Dx10 graphics card. Today reviews of the low end Radeon HD 2400 and 2600 series have hit the internet.
AMD is pricing the cards quite low, with AnandTech's review stating up to $150usd for the Radeon HD 2600XT, and as low as $50 for the Radeon HD 2400 Pro, but they still have to offer some sort of value versus other cards (including the older Radeon X1k and GeForce 7 series) in their respective price ranges.
With nVidia releasing their GeForce 8800 series a full six months earlier, it's finally AMD's turn to launch their Dx10 graphics cards. Just as when the GeForce 8800 was launched, currently there is still a dearth of Dx10 games and applications, so the initial reviews will center around Dx9 performance.
Has the wait been worth it? Here are some reviews below:
Today nVidia released the GeForce 8500 and 8600 series, providing DirectX 10 graphics cards for the $200 and lower price ranges. The cards are based on the technology used in nVidia's high end GeForce 8800 series cards, though cut-down for the budget markets.
While you need Windows Vista to run Dx10 and there are currently no Dx10 tests commonly available to determine how well they perform with Dx10 shaders, below are some of the reviews up on the net using popular Dx9 games and benchmarks and comparing them to nVidia's GeForce 7 series and AMD/ATi's Radeon X1k series:
Today nVidia released the GeForce 8800 graphics processors, and there's no doubt that both the 8800GTX and 8800GTS are very fast cards.
They usher in DirectX 10, unified shaders, and shader model 4.0, but as there are currently no Dx10 benchmarks or games they must be judged (for now) on their Dx9 capabilities. In that area they pass with flying colors.
With the Core 2 Duo, Intel has done an about face in how their processors work. Gone is the Pentium's Netburst technology, replaced with a more efficient and powerful design.
Reviews of their new processor have begun springing up all over the internet, and the results have been impressive. Most of the reviews deal with the expensive (~ $1,000) Core 2 Extreme E6800 processor (their fastest initial Core 2 processor), and the 'power gamer' Core 2 Duo E6700 (~$530) and E6600 (~ $320), the but a few reviews also have results for the low end E6300 (~ $165).
Read on for several links to Core 2 reviews on various websites around the net.
Today AMD launched their new unified desktop socket format, Socket AM2.
Socket AM2 is set to replace AMD's socket 939 which will be EOLed (end
of life) at the end of this year, and will support both AMD's high end
Athlon 64 X2 and FX processors as well as their low end Sempron
processors. Socket 754 is set to remain in AMD's lineup throughout the
end of 2007 as a way to mantain an inexpensive single channel DDR based
platform.
Socket AM2 marks AMD's change from DDR memory to DDR2 memory, as well
as the move of their Sempron value lineup from single channel to a dual
channel memory format.
Today nVidia updated its GeForce 7xxx series of cards with three more offerings that are sure to interest most gamers' budget. In the high end segment (nVidia has quoted a rather large range of '$499 to $649') there's the GeForce 7900GTX, dropping down the the $299 range for the GeForce 7900GT, and finally the new mid-range GeForce 7600GT weighing in at an expected $199 or so.
To add some fuel to the fire ATi also today introduced their $249 msrp Radeon X1800GTO, a 12 pipeline version of the Radeon X1800XL which fills the gaping hole in their SM 3.0 card lineup between the Radeon X1600XT and the X1800XL.
Today ATi launched its next generation of graphics card, the Radeon X1900 series. The Radeon X1900 XT clocks in with a 625mhz core and 725mhz memory, while the Radeon X1900 XTX clocks in at 650 and 775mhz respectively. The biggest change over the X1800 series is the addition of more pixel shaders to bring the X1900's total to 48, up from the X1800's 16 pixel shaders.
Today ATi launched their X1300, X1600, and X1800 series of cards, and previews have shot up across the web.
All of the cards announced today are built on a 90nm manufacturing process, allowing for high clockspeeds (the lowest core clock on the four new cards is 500mhz) and smaller die sizes. So without further adieu...
