ATI Shipping R520 and Xenos!

[FarFarAway]

It seems ATI have managed to step up production of their much-maligned r520 chip.

It seems the third run came out with enough working chips on it to start full production.

Unfortunately for ATI (and all us enthusiasts), they would have to match the excellent widespread availability that nvidia produced on the launch of the 7800GTX.

This seems to mean a September launch according to Bit-Tech.

What we still don't know is whether R520 is going to be 24 or 32 pipes - we have a sneaking suspicion that it will be 32. But you can rest assured that Nvidia will have their 7800 Ultra part waiting in the wings for whenever ATI choose to launch the R520.

Lets hope its 32pipes then nivida will have to hot it up with therir Ultra!!

Also the Inquirer:

[QUOTE="The Inquirer]We already said that R520 is to work at more than 600MHz but we believe this number is going to go even higher.

We strongly believe that ATI doesn’t have any other choice than to go for a hard launch and, if that happens, you won’t see any Fudo R520s before September. This will give Nvidia a pure lead of two and a half months before ATI reshapes and releases its new cards. [/QUOTE]

So yes 600MHz+ would be nice (screming inside kempez's head - "but my 7800GTX ) Ah well. Progress is progress

Also it appears that the Xenos chip is shipping fine and IBM are now starting to really ramp up production for the launch.

evelopers are now getting the "Real" hardware still based on G5 MACs but this time with real R500 graphic cards inside. This means that R500 chip is taped out and that it is working but we don’t know whether this is the final chip that Microsoft plans to ship at later date.

Well all good - cept for the £400 pricetag

Just a biot of bad news on ATI tho:

However, still no news on the appearance of Crossfire on the shelves. Last we heard, ATI were having some problems with the compositing chip. There appears to be the distinct possibility that we won't see Crossfire until R520 starts to appear, despite the launch last month.

Thats a big DOH for those wanting a bit of a crossfire soon

Bit-Tech for a Summary.

IBM/R500 @ The Inquirer

And ATI's r520 news @ The Inquirer

 

[ionicle_old]

wel its lookin good, if only i could aford it

 

[NickS]

If only ANY of us cld afford it, except Frag.