RSSNVidia premieres its ninth-generation GPU
By Tim Conneally | Published February 22, 2008, 11:09 AM
With generational shifts in graphics processors taking place almost every 12 months now, instead of the 18 months GPU manufacturers prefer, the value proposition becomes more difficult each time. Yesterday, NVidia hoped it could make a play to the mainstream buyer.
The company's ninth generation of graphics processors burst onto the scene yesterday, in the form of the GeForce 9600 GT card, the first unit to feature its GeForce 9 series GPU.
With a moderate pricetag estimated to be around $199, NVidia claims the 9600 to be "HD Gaming for the Masses." However, this is not to say that enthusiasts will not also take note when considering processing-per-dollar.
The specs revealed yesterday for the 9600 GT reference card read as follows: 64 stream Processors, a core clock speed of 650 MHz, shader clock speed of 1625 MHz, and a memory clock of 900 MHz. The card's 512 MB of 256-bit memory has a bandwidth of 57.6 GB per second, and a texture fill rate of 20.8 billion per second.
If you're familiar with NVidia's nomenclature, you'll note right away that the "6" in the second digit, and the absence of an "X" at the end, indicates this will not be the high-end card in the product line, or in that of any of NVidia's OEMs. But SLI configuration will be an option, the company said.
The GeForce 9 GPU is designed for the PCI Express 2.0 bus architecture, but devices on this standard feature backwards compatibility with former PCIe motherboards by design.
News of the new line of GPUs has been circulating since before Christmas, and some sites are already claiming this card to be the best in its class when weighed against competitors.
Additionally, the 9600 GT features NVidia's trademarked PureVideo HD acceleration, which speeds up the decoding and post-processing, and Dynamic frame-by-frame contrast enhancement.
I used to keep track of the top end cards, but I must be getting old because they just dont cut it for me any more.
Im happy to make do with bargains that come along, these new cards might be powerfull but I still think they are a over priced.
My card plays COD4 smooth and fast, and cost me £50.
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|Gotta love this new Nvidia trend of single slot coolers. I dont know who decided that its "ok" that your card goes above 100C under load, because it isnt. Just... no.
Fortunately i know my way around with pc hardware so changing the cooling isnt a problem but i feel sorry for people who buy these things and they "blow up" year or two after purchase. But thats just me... :)
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|Even the ATI cards do this. Mine sits at ~67 at the desktop.
Under load, it hits 100 easily. Doesn't leave much room for overclocking, but I didn't buy it to overclock it, so I couldn't care less.
If it's blowing up on them, perhaps they should be using it at stock timings. :)
...but that's just me. ;)
(Which NVIDIA do you have?)
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|320 stream processors (vs. 9600's 64)
Core Clock: 740 MHZ (vs. 9600's 650 MHZ)
This is my Radeon 2900 XT. The *only* thing the 9600 beats it on is Memory clock (825 vs. 900), and I got the card a week ago for $205.
Meh... Doesn't sound worth it, at least from the specs. Would love to see some benchmarks though.
I think I'll be hanging with this card for quite a while.
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|Yeh, they are both apples, but you can't directly compare "green" to "red" ones as you did. That's so newbie.
See some benches anywhere, I usually pick Anandtech or TomsHardware.
Different companies have different tech.
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|at least from the specs. Would love to see some benchmarks though.
...was meant to indicate an understanding of those facts, but thanks anyway.
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|my respect to you for speaking like a gentleman.
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|;)
So which is it?
I can't compare apples to oranges, I know that. So I assumed I could compare apples to pales and oranges to oranges...
Now I can;t even do that?
You've got to give me something to work with here! :p
I mean, next you're going to tell me I cannot compare Granny-Smith with Mutsu. (two varieties of Green apple, yes, I had to google for another green) :p
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|This really isn't much of a change from the 8000 series--and does not deserve the new '9' as far as the number of changes it has had. Nevertheless, it is definately a worthy contender for performance at this price point, and until the price drop on the Radeon 3800 XT takes full effect, this is the card to get for that price.
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|Despite the model number, the GPU is basically an 8000 series GPU with a higher amount of defects (which caused the reduced amount of stream processors) than the previous 8800GT model Nvidia graphics adapter. Otherwise both graphics cards are identical.
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