"NV55" wrote in message
om...
Bad news for ATI: Nvidia to 'own' ATI at CeBit / no pixel shader 3.0
support in R420

It looks like R420, while potentially up to 3 times faster(in PS 2.0
and VS 2.0 shaders) than R360, will not be PS 3.0 compliant. If NVIDIA
notches up similar PS 2.0 performance, ATI is in trouble.

Allow me to suggest something. One of the main reasons cited for NV30's
lackluster performance was because of NVIDIA's prior focus on the X-box. .
..the engineering resources required for that sapped them for their next
generation PC part. ATI's movement of R400 from late last year to the X-Box
2/R500 could have been to pre-empt the fact that they are going to have to
divert resources to meet the X-Box deadlines, so rather than take the hit
later they are doing it now. In other words, release the next part (R420)
with a lower specification that's build primarily upon their existing
architecture and therefore requires less engineering time and resources to
finish, and where the key inflection point isn't going to be architectural
abilities (i.e. Shader 3.0 is an interim spec) but a relatively small change
to PCI-Express, while ensuring that the technology isn't lacking after the
X-Box is released. In short, the hit that NVIDIA took post-X-Box, ATI are
trying to minimize by taking it pre-X-box2.

Just a thought. And I don't know NV40 or R420 specs.

John