Arcticfox said:
It doesn't look like ATI cards will be going SLI anytime soon.
The true next generation of cards (not just some slightly higher clocked versions of current cards) are to be released in the first half of 2005. Neither ATI of Nvidia has announced a specific month (or even quarter) yet.
ATI is launching the R520 in May.
Argh...
NVIDIA has SLI (not to be confused with 3DFX's SLI).
ATI has AMR which stands for ATI Multi Rendering. The difference is that AMR doesn't require a cable to connect the cards together as they communicate entirely through the PCIe bus. AMR works with any compatible AMR card. It doesn't require the same card, for example, an X800 XL can be paired with an X850 XT PE. There aren't any details though on whether you can pair any of the current cards with a future card even though the description suggests so.
ATI's AMR only works on ATI RS480 and RS400 chipsets just like NVIDIAs SLI works on their chip sets.
The R520 is based on the R3XX. The chip inside the XBOX2 is an early preview of the R600. Although its called the R500, ATI apparently wants to move away from pixel and vertex shaders to a unified model which is what we will be getting a taste of in the R500 apparently (and from the early specs of the GPU and what it can do, this definitely backs it up.) The R520 is based off the R3XX with SM3.0.
golem said:
no.. ATI is working on their own SLI implementation though..
next cycle is probably a refresh cycle.. then new tech
It is not a refresh, the R520 design is "based" off the R3XX.
xexex said:
NV50 aka GF7 is *rumored* to have been cancelled :lol
actually I doubt NV50 is really cancelled.
That may be and most likely is true. ATI is pushing and wants to move towards the uniform shading model (SM4.0) while NVIDIA doesn't. Since this will be coming with longhorn and the NV50 coming close within its launch, it makes sense it would be cancelled as the card would be rendered obsolete within less then a years time (epecially the refreshes, mainstream, and budget derivatives launched afterward). They would have to design a new GPU from the ground up with the SM4.0. It makes sense they cancelled the NV50 to instead start work on their next chip with the new Uniform Shading model (SM4.0) to have a whole line of GPU's ready in time for launch of Longhorn.
ATI has been vocal about unifying the VS and PS while NVIDIA has been vocal it is not interested. Granted, the specs for SM4.0 aren't finalized or finished but it looks like NVIDIA may have given in and started on a new GPU design.
