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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imaheadcase - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
But you don't need the fastest CPU out to get the latest and greatest, unlike graphics card.IKeelU - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
Would you be more satisfied if they released $300 vid cards every 18 months? It would definately cost less to own the latest-and-greatest.I wouldn't, because having super-high end video cards is a good thing, no matter how much they cost. This is what makes PCs such an great platform: if you want to pay more to get better graphics, you have the ability to do so. Games devs will always target the most popular platform, so you will never *need* a top-of-the line card to get a good experience (HL2 kicked ass on my 3.5 year-old PC).
You no longer need a high-end CPU to enjoy games because, generally, user demand for game improvements in CPU-intensive functions has gone down (only with the popularity of realistic physics has demand gone up, but with dedicated physics cards on the way, it will go down once again, just like when GPUs took over transform and lighting).
yacoub - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link
"Would you be more satisfied if they released $300 vid cards every 18 months? "As opposed to $600 cards every 6 months, thus costing twice the price and being outdated three times as quickly? Yes, I'd rather have a $300 purchase every 18 months, which is about as frequently as a person currently needs to upgrade a videocard anyway. The Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb card has been out around 24 months now, IIRC, and it is just now needing to be replaced by a 7800-series card to run very high resolutions smoothly in the latest games. So yeah, $300 every 18 months is about right.
xsilver - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
whats wrong is people that are WILLING to pay $500-600 for a video cardits all about supply and demand
also for as long as I can remember now high end pcs cost a little over 2k US, over time, many things have reduced in price, so expensive video cards just make it possible to keep the total system cost to around the same mark
tonyou - Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - link
The price for the 512MB X1800 XT looks like a steal if it can debut at the same price NVIDIA had for the 256MB 7800GTX. Damn, and I just bought a 7800GTX, hopefully I won't regret it!Cybercat - Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - link
"First of all, ATI's traditional core design can do "more" per clock cycle (at least on the R420 design) than NVIDIA."refering to what? obviously not shader ops...
jonny13 - Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - link
Being that the GTX has been out for so much longer and the prices have dropped since release, the GTX retails for about the same price as the X1800 PRO. That might be a tough sell for ATI unless these cards are monsters at all price points. Either way, it should be interesting to see how the new cards perform as they look competetive on paper.Pete84 - Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - link
Heck, ATi has a card for EVERY price point!!! When are the mid and low range GeForce 7's going to come out?coldpower27 - Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - link
When Nvidia is ready to debut products on their 90nm process. The 6800 GT, 6800 will do in the meantime. They are basically feature complete speedwise they maybe a problem.xsilver - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - link
i dont see how the 6800gt can be a "problem" -- it kicks! the only reason why the x800xl is competitive right now is price, when these ati cards come out, nvidia will sure revise their whole pricing schemeby looking at the speculation right now - the ati cards may only perform marginally better than the nvidia counterparts, not quite the revolutionary "kick ass" chip everyone's been expecting