X-bit labs

December 2003 Hardware News Overview (page 11)

Category: Editorial

by Andy Yaschenko

[ 12/19/2003 | 05:36 PM ]

Meanwhile, NVIDIA is tearing itself apart between two suppliers, IBM and TSMC. The GeForce FX 5700 Ultra is manufactured at the IBM plant, while the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra – at TSMC facilities, both by the 0.13-micron tech process. It is rumored, though, that notwithstanding the positive words expressed by NVIDIA about its partnership with IBM, they have to transfer their orders to TSMC and UMC as IBM has problems with the chip yield with 0.13 and 0.09-micron tech processes using the low-k SiLK dielectric. The Taiwanese, according to the same rumors, provide a 20% higher chip yield with their 200mm wafers than IBM. On the other hand, IBM has a shorter production cycle – 65 days against 80 days with TSMC. So it is not quite clear who’s going to produce the NV40 and NV44 scheduled for the spring. So far, TSMC seems to have got the order, but things may change.

So these two companies, ATI and NVIDIA, have got hold of the whole desktop graphics market. S3 is only planning to launch its DeltaChrome one of these days, and XGI should come up with its Volari. The latter release looks more promising and there appeared previews of the Volari Duo V8 Ultra. That’s the topmost solution from XGI and preliminary tests put its performance somewhere in between the 5700 Ultra and 5950 Ultra (or between the RADEON 9600 XT and RADEON 9800 XT, if you like). Graphics card manufacturers (like Club 3D) will ask about $400 for this. It’s a bit tough, considering the inevitably raw drivers and the unknown brand.

This should add some competition into the market, though, and that’s the good about the whole affair. I hope XGI will do according to their schedule, although the company will find itself in dire straits: it’s going to get right into the middle of the next round between NVIDIA and ATI.

The current product lines from the two giants have the monstrous GeForce FX 5950 Ultra and RADEON 9800 XT hovering above everything else. They’ve been for quite a while in the market, and managed to get slightly cheaper, even. And the quantity of such cards from various manufacturers is on the rise. In November, ASUS, Gigabyte, Sapphire, SUMA, PowerColor, FIC and Chaintech announced such products. There are also some intriguing options like the Innovision GeForce FX 5900XT, which is an ordinary 5900, but with reduced frequencies (390/700MHz) and (supposedly) costing only about $200.

So we have the upper echelon merging with the renewed middle one. November, first cards on the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra made it into the market, priced the same $200 as the cut-down GeForce FX 5900. The choice of the RADEON 9600 XT from the same niche is enlarging, too. Curiously enough, the mainstream sector is mostly occupied by other manufacturers. Of course, we have the same ASUS and Gigabyte, but there are overall fewer well-known companies here. You can only spot Gainward, FIC and Chaintech. That’s quite logical since the price factor is of more importance here, and the set of brands should change accordingly.

GeForce FX 5700 Ultra from Gainward