X-bit labs

ATI Technologies to Intro a Competitor for NVIDIA’s GeForce 6600.

Category: Video

by Anton Shilov

[ 08/17/2004 | 04:14 PM ]

UPDATE: NVIDIA Corp. has corrected statement in regards the number of vertex processors in the GeForce 6600 and GeForce 6600 GT GPUs.

A Chinese web-site has published brief technical details about ATI’s future mainstream visual processing unit that should be announced in short-term future and be opposed to NVIDIA’s GeForce 6600-series GPUs unveiled last week.

Rather unexpectedly, ATI’s code-named RV410 graphics processor is said to resemble NVIDIA’s higher-end flavour of the GeForce 6600 family in terms of specifications. The new mainstream chip from ATI will have 8 pixel pipelines, 6 vertex pipelines and native support for PCI Express x16 bus. The technology will inherit feature-set of the RADEON X800-series products and will sport such technologies as Shader Model 2.0b, 3Dc and other, according to a report from HKEPC.com web-site.

Markham, Ontario-based ATI usually offers two or three product versions based on its mainstream graphics chips. Currently higher performance iteration of the code-named RV410 product is rumoured to sport 500MHz and 1000MHz core and memory speeds respectively.

Earlier this year it was reported that ATI RV410 visual processing unit would be made at TSMC using 0.11 micron fabrication process. Thin manufacturing process enables lower cost and potentially higher clock-speeds of complex chips, such as graphics processors.

NVIDIA’s mainstream GeForce 6600 family of graphics processing units formally announced last week and proclaimed “the Doom III GPU” are also manufactured using TSMC’s 0.11 micron process technology, feature native PCI Express support, pack in 8 pixel and 3 vertex pipelines as well as inherit feature-set of the GeForce 6800 family of chips.

Graphics cards based on the GeForce 6600 GT and GeForce 6600 will be available in September 2004. Recommended retail price for the GT flavour is $199 for the USA and 229 euro for the EU. Pricing of ATI’s RV410 product line is expected to be in the same range, though, it is unclear when the company plans to release its new product.

Official representatives for ATI did not comment on the story.