NV18 and NV28: GeForce4 with AGP 3.0 support? And it is only the beginning!

Necrosis

From Reactor Critical

Reactor Critical

Apparently NVidia is going to introduce the new versions of its graphics GeForce4-family processors at Computex, Taipei. According to unofficial facts we learned from Hardware.Fr, the new GPUs will have only one difference compared to the predecessors: AGP 3.0 support.

SiS has been demonstrating its SiS648 since CeBIT (see this news-story for details) and is possibly going to officially announce it at Computex. VIA Technologies has recently announced the Apollo P4X333 supporting DDR333 and AGP 8X. Therefore, motherboards that will have AGP 8X in the specs will definitely hit the stores sometimes after Computex. In fact, SiS Xabre is the only GPU that have AGP 8X declared (see this news-story for details), so, it is quite logical for NVidia to make formal announcement of AGP 3.0 GPUs, for instance, NV18 and NV28 even if they are simple GeForce4 MX and GeForce4 Ti accordingly. We believe, it is also quite possible that the new solutions will have some other improvements as well.

In fact, AGP 3.0 is going to be massive this year: Matrox Parhelia-512, 3Dlabs P10, Nvidia NV30 and ATI R300 will definitely need a higher AGP bandwidth to perform well. Keeping in mind Taiwanese core-logic developers, we can also note that AMD, NVidia and Intel are likely to launch their chipsets with AGP 8X support this Fall or in the early 2003.

Coming back to Computex we should admit that it will be quite interesting this year: NVidia is going to showcase its NV18/NV28 GPUs, ATI Technologies is likely to announce their RV250 and possibly also R300, or, at least show the latter behind the closed doors (see this news-story for details).

Translated w/ Google from Hardware.fr

According to should our information, NVIDIA launch at the beginning of summer, perhaps at the time of Computex, the evolutions of its NV17 and NV25 called respectively NV18 and NV28. Principale innovation? The support of the AGP 3.0, otherwise known under the name of AGP 8x (from where 8 at the end of the reference). For recall this new graphic bus offers a band-width of 2 Go/S, that is to say twice as much as the AGP 4x. Of course in practice the profit should be only tiny, the more so as few applications call upon the AGP Texturing.

It is not known yet if there will be other changes, even if that appears not very probable Of course being given the arrival to the re-entry of the NV30. as long as NVIDIA did not announce these new GPU this information is to be taken with tweezers... ( sorry just thought that was funny)

UberLord

Am I being overly paranoid, but if there is a hardware problem like Mark_Fox was suggesting here then nVidia may be "fixing" it on the sly

Necrosis

Maybe..but what I don't understand is why didn't they just do this in the first place? The NV30 and NV35 will be out before too long, so what really is the point??? What they could of done is released the 4200 with AGP 2.0, and then waited a bit longer and did the 4400 & 4600 as AGP 3.0. It would give them more time for engineering and marketing as well. I think their just doing this because a couple of cards have this support now or really soon. Sounds to me like their scared. Everyone raise their hands if they have AGP 3.0 support on their motherboards, see my point? I'm not going to go out and buy a motherboard that supports this, it's about as pointless as having 128 meg on a video card. I think Nvidia is getting to big for it's britches. I'll have a card & motherboard that supports this say October/November, when I'll have the bandwidth to make some use of it!

Calavaro

Jedi Knight 2 needs 128 megs on your video card at 1280*1024 and higher. At 1024*768x32 a 64Mb GF4 ti4200 scores ~92 fps and at 1280*1024x32 is scores ~52 fps. A 128meg version scores same at 1024*768x32, but only drops to ~89 fps in 1280*1024x32.

64 meg version http://www.hardocp.com/images/articl...jgJY8X_2_4.gif (full article http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=Mjc3LDI= )

128 meg version http://www.hardocp.com/images/articl...C3cNpZ_3_3.gif (full article: http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MjkyLDM= )

Not to mention the extra 64 megs helps immensly @ 1600*1200x32 and when enabling FSAA and aniso.

GTA3 needs the extra 64 megs as well... I couldn't find any "official" benchmark numbers yet though.

So yeah, we need 128 megs on the gfx card nowadays, not to mention tomorrows games (ie UT2k3). Not everyone changes gfx cards every 6 month to 1 year, so any additional power they can get now is much appreciated.

/rant

Necrosis

From Dictionary.com

need (nd)
n.
1.A condition or situation in which something is required or wanted: crops in need of water; a need for affection.

2.Something required or wanted; a requisite: “Those of us who led the charge for these women's issues... shared a common vision in the needs of women” (Olympia Snowe).

3.Necessity; obligation: There is no need for you to go.

4.A condition of poverty or misfortune: The family is in dire need.

Quoted from the forementioned articles.

A theory does not necessitate need.

I have this game myself and under my sig. you will see the specs. for my system. I didn't need 128 Meg on my video card to play it, and that's with EAX enabled as well. My resolution is 1280x1024x32 with all features on. & FSAA x2 & Aniso x2. It runs perfectly fine for me, with no slow downs.

It is true in the "near" feature we will not be able to live without 128 Meg video cards. The here and now it is not required. Since January I've been through three different video cards, and I upgrade regularly. Which means before too long I will own one of these nice sparkling 128 jobbies. Until then I can stand a few less FPS.

Calavaro

Necrosis

OK.. lemme say this a little simpler.
Gfx cards cost money. Not everyone buys new gfx cards every so often like you (for whatever reasons). If you get these extra features like additional RAM the card will last you longer. This is appreciated by most, I'm sure including you.

Besides most gamers see a difference between 52 fps and 89 fps. I surely do. (Humans see about 72fps, but with "motion blur").

As for your dictionary copy/paste. I'm not a native English speaker so my choise of words might not be 110% technically correct, but the point surely comes across.

So... buying a graphics card today with only 64Mb RAM is not the wisest choise you could make. If I can get a AGP 8X card today, great, I'll buy it if it has the features/speed I want/need.
Longlivety....

(btw, I still can play JK2 at reasonable speeds with my Kyro II @1024*768x32 but I feel the slowdowns/lack of fps. It benched 60.4 fps 1024*768x32 maxed settings).

Necrosis

I upgrade every so often so my system can keep pace with the current technology. I've even owned a Kyro II about a year ago. Great card, even ran MDK2 faster than my Geforce 3. Yes I can appreciate the value of 128 meg card. If I was to go out and buy one tomorrow I get one with 128 on it. I did not mean to offend you with the definition, I was just comparing what you said to what the author said.