Alright nerds.

[metadigital]

It's a GigaWatt (GW), not a jiggawatt!

gigawatt

n noun a unit of power equal to one thousand million (10^9) watts.

[/pendantic SI comment]

[angshuman]

It's a GigaWatt (GW), not a jiggawatt! [/pendantic SI comment]

No, no, it's JiggaWatt! 1 JiggaWatt = 1000000000000000 billion zillion bajillion GigaWatts.

[metadigital]

...unless you plan on runnin' games like Oblivion an' such at 1600x1200, ye'd be wastin' yer money goin' fer the X1900XTX, or e'en the nVidia 7900GTX...my Sapphire X800GTO2 softmodded (all 16 pipelines enabled) an OCed ta a li'l o'er X850XT PE speeds (575 core, 615 memory) runs Oblivion just fine at 1280x960 on me ol' ViewSonic G90fB...if I was ye, I'd jus' grab an AMD dual core (if ya can afford the 4400 X2, go fer it; but the 3800 X2 be fine as well) a 7900GT on an ASUS A8N-E mobo wit' 2 gigs o' ram (OCZ be me preference there) an' let the good times roll...that is unless ya wants the "top o' the line new tech"; I canna really see Conroe or the next gen AMD offerin' makin' too much o' a difference right now, ta be perfectly honest...today's dual core processors should be good ta go fer a few years anyways... 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Radeon X850 XT (if anyone can still get it: once it was known that the extra pipes were unlockable via BIOS flash, they were all snapped up) is in tenth place, currently:

 

Playable

FEAR 1,280 x960 2xAA 2xAF

min: 26fps avg: 49fps OC min: 29fps OC avg: 54fps

 

"Unplayable" (i.e. less than 25fps)

FEAR 1,600 x1,200 4xAA 8xAF

min: 9fps avg: 21fps OC min: 9fps OC avg: 22fps

 

But I agree that other factors start to become important in the price-per-performance chart, like good quality and/or faster RAM (jury was still out whether 2GB is better than 1GB, though, as it can cause bandwidth problems elsewhere in the processor cycle) and a faster hard drive (SATA-2 and 16MB cache being most desirable), etc.

 

Also CPU intensive games (like Rome: Total War) will still lag behind if the CPU is not up to the job (and this is where the new PhysX cards will come in, too).

[alanschu]

1.21 GigaWatts? Great Scott!

[metadigital]

Spam removed.

[Bokishi]

GeForce 7950 GX2

 

 

(w00t)

Edited May 4, 2006 by Bokishi

[metadigital]

...

NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce 7950 GX2 retail Quad SLI graphics card ... The 7950 GX2 is apparently 8.6" long, compared to the OEM-only 7900 GX2's gargantuan 13.2" length. Considering that NVIDIA's current top-of-the-line GeForce 7900 GTX is exactly 9" long, the 7950 GX2 is actually a little shorter in comparison. HKEPC also says the card features 512MB of GDDR3 RAM per GPU, and has respective core and memory clock speeds of 500MHz and 1.2GHz. The package is said to add up to 143W of power draw per dual-PCB card, meaning a hefty 286W for a proper Quad SLI system. Finally, HKEPC says pricing is currently "undecided," but claims the card is indeed scheduled for a release in late May.

...

The card is made of 2 interconnected PCB each featuring one G71 clocked at 500 MHz and 512 MB of GDDR3 memory at 600 MHz. This is the only card to have a 16x PCI port. It connects directly to an NVIDIA PCI Express x48 chip that acts as a bridge between the two GPUs and the motherboard.

 

We also noticed that unlike with the 7900 GX2, the second PCB doesn

[mkreku]

My god.. it's a monster!!

[Bokishi]

1 GB video memory!!

[metadigital]

That's 2GB GDDR3 RAM @ 1.2GHz in SLi ... (w00t)

[mkreku]

Yeah, and the PSU must be the size of a common fridge.

[Fenghuang]

Holy Jesus.

[metadigital]

The package is said to add up to 143W of power draw per dual-PCB card, meaning a hefty 286W for a proper Quad SLI system.

Tagan Makes First 1.1kW PSU

[Dark_Raven]

That's nice.

[mkreku]

No. That's not nice at all. That's insane.

[Fenghuang]

Does...does it come with the suitcase?

[metadigital]

Yes. ^_^

[alanschu]

LOL!

[metadigital]

Tagan has unveiled its new Quad-SLI powering PSU, named the Turbojet.

 

T[w]o variations are available, coming in at 900W and 1100W. Bonkers!

 

The PSU will feature dual transformers, which means better support for high current and greater stability.

 

The Turbojet will feature four PCI Express power connectors. At CeBit this year, NVIDIA demoed all its Quad systems with these Tagan supplies. Initially, the Tagans will only be available to system builders making the first run of Quad systems, but they will be available for end-users to buy in May.

 

The packaging will be a leather briefcase! However, seeing as the power supplies will come in at

[Fenghuang]

Buying one. So hard.

[Fenghuang]

Wait, I must be frugal!

[metadigital]

Just don't go to comicon ... "

[Surreptishus]

1.1kW? wow that is excessive.

[metadigital]

Especially if you decide to install two in parallel to prevent single point of failure .... "

[Fenghuang]

Oh god yes!