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 RV515 aka Radeon X1300
ATI's internal roadmap reveals that the RV515 (X1300) is the follow up to RV370, and will come in three main variations with several HyperMemory options and differing core clocks as well. Our previous roadmaps have revealed that RV515 is exclusively a single quad design, with memory interfaces from 32 to 128bits. Even the low end RV515 cards will utilize some form of H.264 decoding and/or HDCP support, making these cards extremely attractive for DVR machines.
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ATI RV515 Roadmap
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| Card | Pipes | Std Core Clock | Std Memory | Memory Width |
| X1300 Pro | 4 | 550MHz | 500MHz | 128-bit |
| X1300 LE | 4 | 450MHz | 400MHz | 128-bit, 64-bit |
| X1300 LE HyperMemory | 4 | 450MHz | 500MHz | "64-bit" |
HyperMemory versions of RV515 will utilize a 32-bit memory bus, but since they utilize the system memory they use a different system of determining the "Supported Memory" configurations as follows:
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HyperMemory "Supported Memory"
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| Card Memory | System Memory | "Supported Memory" | ||
| 32MB | 256MB | 128MB | ||
| 64MB | 256MB | 128MB | ||
| 128MB | 256MB | 256MB | ||
| 32MB | 512MB | 128MB | ||
| 64MB | 512MB | 256MB | ||
| 128MB | 512MB | 256MB | ||
Wrap Up
Among other noteables in the roadmap, some of the more prominent features of R520 included HDMI over Silicon Image's WALDO interface -- all other cards in the roadmap that feature HDCP but not HDMI will use TI's TFP513PAP. On low profile RV530 cards, HDMI connectors are supported directly on the PCB, while analog and DVI connectors are attached via a ribbon cable to a daugther card. For users looking to set up a cheap TV-only DVR, the daughtercard is completely optional - saving money and space.
In the roadmap we also saw some new SKUs from the X550 line and X600 line supporting HyperMemory. With NVIDA's quasi-TurboCache GeForce 6500, an X600 HyperMemory card could put a real advantage of low end video processing back in ATI's court.
X800GTO is also going to be hitting the shelves soon with street prices of $159 for the 128MB version and $179 for the 256MB version. You might want to check our previous roadmap on this particular product, since everyone (including ATI) expects a sub $200 12 pipe R420 to really become the de facto midrange option. A low volume sixteen pipe version will show up for select vendors in select regions.
We go under NDA in the near future for many things ATI, so get ready for AnandTech's upcoming coverage come launch time!
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yacoub - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
And me still waiting for my four-speed, dual-quad, positraction 409...JarredWalton - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
I asked Kris this exact question. The answer: we don't know. The roadmaps/PDFs don't say anything about vertex pipelines. However, consider this:G70: 8 vertex @ 430 MHz / 4 = 860 MV/s
R520: 6 vertex @ 600 MHz / 4 = 900 MV/s
Basically, with the higher clock speed there's no point in having more than 6 vertex pipelines. With R580, if they move to 24 pixel pipelines, it would make more sense to go to 8 vertex pipelines. 32 pixel pipes would probably need 10 vertex pipes. Then there's the whole "unified architecture" that we're moving towards.
Anyway, the main point is that I have yet to see anything officially stating that R520 has 6, 8, 10, or whatever pipes. Everything is pretty much a guess, and Ocham's Razor suggests that if 16/6 was good for last generation, and R520 has 16 pixel pipes, it probably has 6 vertex pipes again. :p
Questar - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
What if the 16 pipe card performs like a 24 pipe 7800?Is an eight cylinder engine always better than a six?
jkostans - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
Exactly, this is a new architecture we're talking about. Chances are it's a good deal more efficient than the last generation of cards.nserra - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
"First of all, ATI's traditional core design can do "more" per clock cycle (at least on the R3xx design) than NVIDIA."Ati 9700 with just 275Mhz core speed, and ONLY 270Mhz(540Mhz) memory speed killed any card, even the ones that worked at 500Mhz core and 500Mhz(1000Mhz) memory speed (nvidia 5800).
Put all these new cards at 275Mhz (memory and core) if possible (under clock them) to see who does more work.
I don’t think the phrase is correct for the R4xx design since it as higher memory and core speed than nvidia 6xxx and 7xxx.
arturnow - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
"First of all, ATI's traditional core design can do "more" per clock cycle" - I have to disagree. X850XT has higher fill rate and memory bandwidth then GeForce 7800GT but slower in most games...Griswold - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
The X850XT also has 16 pipes vs. the 20 pipes of the 7800GT. And the GT is only faster in "most" games, not all and then also not by that much. So, all in all, what they said sounds right.arturnow - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
of course not. Who cares if it's 20 pipelines oraz 16 pipline. It all depends on core clock and pipline. X850XT PE is 540/1180 MHz, 7800GT 400/1000MHz theoretical Radeon is faster but in games GeForce prevail :-]Griswold - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
I dont think you understand what you're talking there. The 850XT PE is faster in a few games under certain resolutions with AA/AF cranked up. That is due to clock speed and weaker AA/AF modi. But in most games under normal conditions, the 7800GT is faster - due to the 4 more pipes...Jep4444 - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
the pipeline performance is theoretically negated by the higher clock speed so you are actually wrongthe reason the X850XT PE is slower is becuase its based off older technology and hasn't had any improvements made to its effeciency from the Radeon 9700 days which is why GeForce 6800 cards operate at lower clock speeds for the same performance