Anandtech "Tech Update: R420, NV40 Get Names and Birthdates"

[YeOldeStonecat]

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=2018

"Recently we received confirmation that the first retail samples of ATI's R420 (AGP Radeon X800) will debut April 26 as Radeon X800 Pro. NVIDIA's NV40 (GeForce 6800) officially launches April 13th, but retail availability will occur around April 26th. Notice the NV40 product to be released April 13th is GeForce 6800, not GeForceFX 6800. ATI's naming scheme for R420 has been closely guarded as well, but the open term we hear from vendors is "Radeon X800."

What seems highly unusual is the scheduled introduction of Radeon X800 XT on May 31st; only a month after Radeon X800 Pro's unveiling. Recall that Radeon 9800 and 9800 XT were launched six months apart. We can speculate ATI has either changed their marketing strategy, or the difference in performance between R420 and NV40 hastens ATI's release schedule. Further inspection of the ATI roadmaps reveals that "Non-Pro" Radeon X800s are absent. Perhaps "XT" has replaced the "Pro" Radeon series, and "Pro" thus replaced the "Non-Pro" Radeon series. Even though the initial launches of Radeon X800 will use 256MB of GDDR3, before the end of the year we also anticipate a 512MB revision. Furthermore, we will almost certainly see Radeon X800 SE with 128MB of DDR1; which will also debut with much a lower clockspeed.

NV40 breaks NVIDIA's naming scheme with the removal of FX from their GeForceFX moniker. Will we see a separate GeForce and GeForceFX in the NV4x GPU family? It appears that is also speculation.

R423, the PCI-Express (PCX) version of R420, is scheduled to launch June 14th. Specifications on R423 are identical to R420, and the cards will also carry the Radeon X800 product name. NVIDIA's bridged PCI-Express cards will launch April 13th along with the AGP versions.

RV380 and RV370 will also receive new product names, as Radeon X600 and Radeon X300, respectively. For more details about R420, RV380 and RV370, please take a look at our previous ATI roadmaps here. Stay tuned for more ATI and NVIDA news from the trenches."

[BaLa]

wee...


maybe I will be able to afford a 9800pro, by the time my vid card dies

[Ghosthunter]

When are PCI Express motherboards coming out?

[Burke]

I am waiting for all the new tech to be available...new generation of boards, CPUs, video cards...I want them all at once.

[Brent]

me too, my next upgrade will be:

PCI-E Mobo w/DDR2
Whatever CPU is best at the time P4 whatever or maybe AMD64
Latest and Greatest PCI-E Vid Card
A couple of SATA 73GB WD Raptors, or if there is anything better
Windows XP 64Bit (if I go AMD64)

that will be a nice upgrade, most likely around Fall time

[YeOldeStonecat]

Yeah I'm guessing fall/Thanksgiving time.