The part that everyone wants to hear about is, of course, the Radeon X1800 based on ATI's long awaited R520 GPU. Due for introduction later this quarter, the 90nm R520 will be a 16-pipe, 16-shader processor design with a number of different SKUs based on the GPU. Internal ATI documentation specifically claims that the R520 series will ship at launch, just as NVIDIA's 7800GTX and 7800GT series shipped and launched on the same dates.

ATI R520 Roadmap and Pricing
Card Pipes Std Core Clock Std Memory MSRP
X1800 XT 16 600MHz 700MHz 512MB GDDR3 $599
X1800 XL 16 550MHz 625MHz 512MB GDDR3 $499
X1800 Pro 16 500MHz 500MHz 256MB GDDR3 $449
X1800 LE 12 450MHz 450MHZ 256MB GDDR3 $349

Common features to all R520 based boards include the new 90nm lead free manufacturing process, a Xilleon based TV encoder, SM3.0, H.264 decode acceleration and CrossFire support. Also expect to see HDTV options for all 90nm ATI cards in the near future, although they may be limited to the All In Wonder series for R520.

At the top end is the Radeon X1800 XT; this 16-pipe R520 will feature a 600MHz core clock, with a 256-bit memory bus connected to 512MB of GDDR3 memory clocked at 700MHz. The 600MHz core clock will give it a lower fill rate than the GeForce 7800 GTX (24-pipes at 430MHz), while the 700MHz memory clock will give it more memory bandwidth than the stock GTX (600MHz). Much like the GTX, the X1800 XT will be priced at $599. The X1800 XT will feature two DVI outputs with HDCP support. The lower fillrate seems alarming at first, but consider several factors. First of all, ATI's traditional core design can do "more" per clock cycle (at least on the R420 design) than NVIDIA. Secondly, R520 has a lot of little tweaks including hardware asissted H.264 decoding. Just last week, we also received details about ATI's revamped memory controller which operates on an internal 512-bit ring bus. There is a lot to speculate about performance, but even with similar fill rates as NVIDIA, there is a strong possibility that other workings in R520 will differentiate the card on a real world performance level.

Next up is the Radeon X1800 XL, which is positioned between the GeForce 7800 GTX and the 7800 GT. The XL drops the core clock down to 550MHz, and the memory clock down to 625MHz. Other than the lower clock speeds, the XL is identical to the XT, meaning it still has 512MB of GDDR3 memory connected to a 256-bit memory bus. The X1800 XL will be priced at $499. Both the X1800 XT and X1800 XL appear to be dual-slot designs from previous roadmaps and existing box art. The roadmap also details that there will be HDCP support for the X1800 XL and X1800 XT via Texas Instrument's TFP513PAP DVI transmitter.

Priced at $449, we have the X1800 Pro, once more a 16-pipe R520 design but this time the core runs at 500MHz. The Radeon X1800 Pro only has 256MB of memory, also running at 500MHz, but still retains the same 256-bit memory bus. What is interesting about the Radeon X1800 Pro is that its fill rate and memory bandwidth appear to be identical to that of NVIDIA's GeForce 7800GT; coincidentally, so does its price. The reference design for the X1800 Pro features a single VGA and a single DVI connector, with no HDCP support.

The last member of the R520 family is the Radeon X1800 LE, which disables four of the pipelines of the R520 taking it down to a 12-pipe design. The LE runs at 450MHz with 256MB of 450MHz GDDR3 memory. Once again we're dealing with a 256-bit memory bus, and this time a $349 price tag. The outputs are identical to the X1800 Pro. Both the Pro and LE cards are single slot cooling design, thanks to their lower running clock speeds.

According to our roadmaps, it looks like ATI will abandon the "vanilla" nomenclature for future products. For example, instead of a plain X1800, instead we will get an X1800 LE. Likewise, on our previous roadmaps components that were named with the non-XT non-LE non-Pro non-XL name will thus become "LE" parts. Certainly a good move on ATI's behalf, as "vanilla" X800 cards are hard enough to explain to readers.

The roadmap also refers to R580, and that the card is working in-house at the moment. R580 is essentailly a clock ramp and pipe ramp of R520, but both of those details have not been disclosed yet (even to AIBs). Unforunately, the R580 will not ship at the same time as R520.

RV530
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  • raz3000 - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link

    Actually, you missed a few:
    X800
    X800GT
    X800GTO
    X800PRO
    X800SE
    X800LE
    X800PRO
    X800XL
    X800XT
    X800XT
    X850 PRO
    X850XT
    X850XTPE
    and I think there's also an X850LE/SE somewhere (it's an OEM).
  • Griswold - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    You mentioned the X800XT twice. :P
  • mistersnail - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link

    well, see, it just goes to show how many cards there are and most of them didn't come out until after the initial release. It also shows how many cards there really are and how confusing it is regardless if you're informed or Joe Six Pack
  • Jep4444 - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link

    i never heard of the X800LE
  • Griswold - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    There is a X800LE, friend of mine got one. Cant say I've seen many being sold though.
  • mistersnail - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link

    Well, you have to realize that at first, the GT, GTO, XL and X850 series didn't exist. So, at the release of the R420, there was the X800, Pro, XT and XT-PE. Cards like the LE, GT, XL, and X850 were released later to fill in gaps in the market. Give it some time ^^
  • Jep4444 - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link

    the X800SE came out close to launch, the X800 came out at the same time as the XL
  • jkostans - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link

    I can't wait to see how these cards stack up to their equivalently priced nvidia parts. The most I've ever spent on a video card was $350 for a geforce 2 ultra 64mb ddr, and I doubt I'd go higher than that ever. I love having the fastest card available, but it seems like that's no longer a possibility for me. Makes me sad, maybe one day ATI and nVIDIA will stop being so greedy and price their cards more sanely. Or maybe they will give me a free one because I'm better than everyone else at everything...... (yeah that includes you a$$hole)
  • OvErHeAtInG - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link

    LOL

    Bottom of page 1: "R580 is essentailly a clock ramp and pipe ramp of R520, but both of those details have not been disclosed yet (even to AIBs)." So no 24-pipe part? Disappointing....
  • mistersnail - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link

    quote:

    So no 24-pipe part?


    I don't think you understood. A pipe and clock ramp insinuates that there will be more pipes in the R580. It'll probably be a 24 pp GPU. Roadmaps disclosed that the R520 would be a four quad (4x4=16) GPU and the R580 would be a 6 quad (6x4=24) GPU.

    Does anyone know how many vertex pipes the R520 has? : ( I can't remember where, but I think I once saw it would have up to 10 vps. Is this true? You'd think 8 VPs working at 600MHz would blow the G70 out of the water in terms of vertex processing power. I need to do more research regarding GPUs. Does anyone have any good references?

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