Tech Power Up! are reporting some interesting rumours for the specifications for nVidia's next graphics card -- the G92, or what would be more commonly known as the Geforce 9800GTX.
The rumoured specifications:
"G92" GeForce 9800 GTX specs.
- 65nm process technology at TSMC.
- Over one billion transistors.
- Second Generation Unified Shader Architecture.
- Double precsion support (FP64).
- GPGPU native.
- Over one TeraFLOPS of shader processing power.
- MADD+ADD configuration for the shader untis (2+1 FLOPS=3 FLOPS per ALU)
- Fully Scalar design.
- 512-bit memory interface.
- 1024MB GDDR4 graphics memory.
- DirectX 10.1 support.
- OpenGL 3.0 Support.
- eDRAM die for "FREE 4xAA".
- built in Audio Chip.
- built in tesselation unit (in the graphics core"
- Improved AA and AF quality levels.
Pros.
65nm process will allow for better yields and better power consumption. power consumption will be lower than that of a GeForce 8800 GTX. GeForce 9800 GTX will be over two times faster than a GeForce 8800 Ultra in real world games and applcations.
Release date : November 2007. There will be TWO products at launch: The flagship GeForce 9800 GTX and the second fastest GeForce 9800 GTS. Price for the GeForce 9800 GTX will be 549-649 USD. Price for the GeForce 9800 GTS will be 399-449 USD.
Now remember when you hear these rumours they usually overestimate the final product. From this I would speculate that the following from the list will probably be on a next generation chip from nVidia:
- 65nm process technology at TSMC.
This makes sense, graphics cards are always behind processors when it comes to manufacturing processes. AMD now have 65nm and Intel are looking to move beyond this. A 65 nanometre chip is almost a certainty.
- 512-bit memory interface.
With nVidia already using a 384-Bit memory interface on their 8800 Ultra, 8800 GTX, and 8800 GTS I can see them moving up the ladder. Especially as ATi's HD 2900 XT already features a 512-bit memory iterface. Even though graphics cards did stand still using 256-bit interfaces for some time, it looks more likely that nVidia would keep up with ATi on this front.
- 1024MB GDDR4 graphics memory.
I can easily see this feature on the absolute top card from nVidia. I would be surprised to see nVidia not offering a 768MB, 640MB, 512MB, or even a 320MB card. To put it simply a gigabyte of RAM is too expensive for it to be the only option for the top/enthusiast card. Especially when the RAM used is GDDR4, just look at the prices for a HD 2900 XTX on NewEgg -- $529. The nVidia offering would, if rumorers are true, only cost at worst $100 more. That's with new technology, a sound chip, eDRAM, and a whole lot more transistors. Sounds fishy...
With an improved process it is not unreasonable for power consumption to drop, or stay around the same levels. Whilst the performance figures may sound a little optimistic, but remember we have seen such figures before. We all know how well the X800 and 6800 series pounded ATi's humble 9800 Pro. These figures are even more believable if benchmarked at high resolutions, where the cards increased RAM and memory interface would give it a huge advantage.
