It's official. ATi Evergreen DX11 cards launch on 10th, Sept.

[akhilles]

[Update] We’ve got confirmation from AMD that the Evergreen cards are being shown this weekend, at the QuakeCon video game convention in Dallas, Texas.

The word is finally out. AMD will launch it’s much anticipated next generation graphics processors code name “Evergreen” on September 10th; ahead of Windows 7’s launch in late October.

For AMD, these 40-nm, Microsoft DX11-compliant GPUs will fundamentally change the graphics industry and give it a clear advantage over Nvidia, again!

The prior generation of ATI cards was such high performance and so cheap that they forced Nvidia to hastily put together competitive video cards.

Sadly, AMD’s Santa Clara, Calif., rival hasn’t shown much of its DX-11 chips yet. However, Nvidia might choose to show off its wares at its own GPU Technology conference at the end of September in San Jose.

The GPU market is finally kicking some tires, just in time for the holiday season!

AMD “Evergreen” Graphics Chips: You Won’t Believe Your Eyes… Nvidia! TechPulse 360

[Blake]

dammit i need ~$500 in the next 3~5 weeks... ideas anyone? can't sell my soul as i didn't have one to begin with...

[MeltDown]

Nice, I'm glad to see ATI on the ball. Hopefully we'll see at least 1GB memory for the top card at launch this time as high res monitors are becoming very common.

Now how about some test results for this and nV's models?

[Mandrake]

Very nice. I agree with MeltDown in that 1GB should the considered the minimum for a high end card, especially a brand new 40nm DX11 one. More memory, 1.5GB or even 2GB might even be in order for next-gen games like Modern Warfare 2.

I'm guessing these cards will be real expensive, I'm certain that AMD will be very glad for the chance to make a good amount of profit on these cards. It'll be interesting to see the performance on these cards. I'm more or less happy with my GTX 260 SLI setup, but buying a single card to replace them would have some advantages.

[SEAL]

Very nice. I agree with MeltDown in that 1GB should the considered the minimum for a high end card, especially a brand new 40nm DX11 one. More memory, 1.5GB or even 2GB might even be in order for next-gen games like Modern Warfare 2.

Careful. This is still a console game. True, the PC version has options such as AA and higher res textures, but I'd be incredibly surprised if you need over 1GB of RAM. My guess is it will run maxed out even on a 4870 512MB.

[SuperFly03]

They had to come out when I have no money.

[TSIMonster]

Looking forward to it. Maybe, come christmas, it'll be time to give Crossfire a try

[Sailer]

Oh, just a little over two weeks to wait. Then read the reviews, then decide which company to order from. Just wonder if ATI will improve its folding performance? That's been the only down point for ATI cards to me.

[prozac26]

Beautiful.

My plan is coming alive.

[orangegator]

Oh, just a little over two weeks to wait. Then read the reviews, then decide which company to order from. Just wonder if ATI will improve its folding performance? That's been the only down point for ATI cards to me.

Is the lower folding performance due to hardware/architecture? I've always thought it was more an issue of the folding client/ software. If a good cuda equivalent was implemented for ati cards, the performance would probably be better.

[Sailer]

Is the lower folding performance due to hardware/architecture? I've always thought it was more an issue of the folding client/ software. If a good cuda equivalent was implemented for ati cards, the performance would probably be better.

My understanding, which may be wrong, is that there is a combination of ATI running 256 bit instead of 512 bit architecture and the client/software causing the lower performance of ATI cards. Therefore I'm hoping that ATI goes to the 512 bit and open up more speed. But, as I say, I may be wrong concerning this.

[m25]

Is the lower folding performance due to hardware/architecture? I've always thought it was more an issue of the folding client/ software. If a good cuda equivalent was implemented for ati cards, the performance would probably be better.

Yep, the implementation in F@H really leaves to be desired. I've sen reviews of apps supporting both CUDA and FireCL and ATI cards are usually slightly ahead of the competition.

[mew905]

I've always wanted to play with the stock market, been considering investing in AMD considering right now their stocks are worth almost nothing. (something like 1.24), if ATi can manage to pull off a win with this and AMD with their next CPU, it could prove to be quite a good idea.

I may also move over to ATi with my next upgrade if 2 things are met: ATi's folding performance is improved, and if nVidia doesn't offer a DX11 card when I upgrade

[m25]

I've always wanted to play with the stock market, been considering investing in AMD considering right now their stocks are worth almost nothing. (something like 1.24), if ATi can manage to pull off a win with this and AMD with their next CPU, it could prove to be quite a good idea.

I may also move over to ATi with my next upgrade if 2 things are met: ATi's folding performance is improved, and if nVidia doesn't offer a DX11 card when I upgrade

For this you should ask the F@H dev team, not AMD; ATi cards have a theoretically higher computing power and as opencl is spreading, other apps are confirming this superiority.

[SirRobin4ever]

My understanding, which may be wrong, is that there is a combination of ATI running 256 bit instead of 512 bit architecture and the client/software causing the lower performance of ATI cards. Therefore I'm hoping that ATI goes to the 512 bit and open up more speed. But, as I say, I may be wrong concerning this.

Actually, the ATI 2900 XT was a 512 bit card, and it had no folding performance advantage over it's similar cousin, the 3870, which is 256 bit. The performance limitations are due to the architecture of the card and also the programming. The architecture limitation is due to the way the card is designed, in that only some of the stream processors are able to do every operation. Because of this, many of the stream processors cannot be fully utilized in a folding at home environment. If the programming of the client was improved, it could be possible to make better use of the other stream processors, which would yield better performance.

[Afrodisiac]

Has AMD stopped losing money yet? Like, did they reach the bottom of their downwards spiral? Or will the success of the DX11 ATI cards just mean additional slowing of the ever-continuing downfall?

[Sailer]

Has AMD stopped losing money yet? Like, did they reach the bottom of their downwards spiral? Or will the success of the DX11 ATI cards just mean additional slowing of the ever-continuing downfall?

AMD is still loosing money, just not quite as fast. They're still looking for the rabbit to pull out of their hat so they can actually make some money.

Actually, the ATI 2900 XT was a 512 bit card, and it had no folding performance advantage over it's similar cousin, the 3870, which is 256 bit. The performance limitations are due to the architecture of the card and also the programming. The architecture limitation is due to the way the card is designed, in that only some of the stream processors are able to do every operation. Because of this, many of the stream processors cannot be fully utilized in a folding at home environment. If the programming of the client was improved, it could be possible to make better use of the other stream processors, which would yield better performance.

Yeah, I had thought the old 2900 XT was a 512 bit card, but it had a bunch of other troubles which held back its performance. So it appears that I have it right that it is a combination of architecture and programing with the present cards. Just wish the programmers could make use of all the stream processors. Oh well, just something we have to live with for now.