AnandTech's R520, RV530 and RV515 Pre-NDA Extravaganza
by Kristopher Kubicki on September 13, 2005 9:24 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
ATI's RV530 aka Radeon X1600
Targetting the upper midrange is the Radeon X1600 (RV530), built on the same 90nm process as the Radeon X1800 (R520). All of these RV530 series and lower are single slot products, according to the roadmaps.
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ATI RV530 Roadmap
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| Card | Pipes | Std Core Clock | Std Memory | Power Consumption |
| X1600 XT | 12 | 600MHz | 700MHz | 60W |
| X1600 Pro | 12 | 500MHz | 400MHz | 40W |
Radeon X1600 will actually be very similar to X1800LE, but with a smaller internal bus (256-bits) and a smaller memory bus (128-bits). The X1600 cards also have H.264 support like the R520 series.
Like X600, there will be many vendor dependent options for the cards. The configuration roadmap allows for DDR1, DDR2 or GDDR3 in both the XT and Pro cards, with memory sizes ranging anywhere from 128MB to 512MB. In fact, we even have claims from one manufacturer that they will produce 64-bit versions of the card en masse; so potential buyers will need to be wary of buying Radeon X1600 Pro cards with the smaller bus (like with the Radeon 9800SE). Another noteable is the support for HDCP and HDMI on many cards. Also, like with the GeForce 7800 series, vendors are allowed (perhaps even encouraged?) to bin chips for higher clock speeds. We've received reports from AIBs that some RV530 Pro cards will ship with 525MHz clock speeds even though the roadmap indicates 500MHz is the standard configuration.
Perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of RV530 is the low power consumption. Reference 64-bit boards of RV530 using GDDR3 at 500MHz core clock speeds have a power consumption of just 25W. 128-bit boards were estimated at 40W and X1600XT boards with all the goodies were estimated by AIBs to be 55W.
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Griswold - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
Yea but what if they got a 24 or 32 pipe version up their sleeve? I planned to buy a 7800GT for my new box this year, but after finding out how bad the visual quality (texture flickering) is compared to older GF and the current ATI card, I'm not so sure what I should do right now. I'm even tempted to get a very cheap card from either the current ATI line or the 6xxx series from NV and replace it later with a 7800GT (if NV can fix their visual problem with drivers) or the next ATI line - if it's superior.
At any rate, it will be a step-up from my trusty 9700pro. :)
patrick0 - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
Texture flickering has been fixed with the new driver release.Griswold - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
Really? Would be good news.
nserra - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
What more nvidia optimizations? Never heard that before....Griswold - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
Check out this article:http://tinyurl.com/9kwzn">http://tinyurl.com/9kwzn
nserra - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
I dindt know that....But why toms, anand, xbit, ....
doesnt say anything about it...
But what is nvidia trying to achive? Sis Xabre image quality levels?
I dont understand the AF hit is much lower then AA. Why remove quality from it if AF is much more important (with less performance it than AA) to achive higger image quality levels.
Why did Nvidia disable the "old" AF of Geforce3/4 (and FX)? Is it impossible to suppord both at hardware and driver level?
Griswold - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
It seems that FPS is what sells hardware these days.. ATI is no exception, though their image quality was not as low as the nvidia counterparts. This episode taught me a lesson though. I value image quality very high, especially when I put down several hundred bucks for a single piece of hardware. I will check and doublecheck any vid card from either company before I even consider upgrading in the future.Somebody mentioned that the newest drivers fixed the texture flickering, gonna have to check that out somehow before I order the 7800GT I planned to buy.
Slappi - Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - link
So for $50 more you get 1250mhz memory vs. 1000mhz memory and a 550mhz core vs. a 500mhz core AND 256MB of more memory?!?I smell BS.
KristopherKubicki - Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - link
MSRPs have a difficult time translating into Retail.Kristopher
knitecrow - Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - link
When doesthe NDA expire?