AMD confirms that the ATI R680 GPU is indeed two RV670 GPUs on oneboard

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10033
AMD's January GPU launch includes the dual-GPU R680 (Source: AMD)

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/3180/r680xl7.png

AMD Announces R680, RV620, RV635 Graphics Cores


Get ready to enter 2008 with a bang: AMD has a bunch of GPUs on the
way

AMD's newest R680 graphics processor might look a whole lot like the
ill-fated R600 GPU, but the reality couldn't be more bizarre. Instead
of one 80nm behemoth-of-a-GPU, the R680 consists of two 55nm processor
cores.

Representatives from AMD would not confirm that the R680 is
essentially two RV670 GPU cores on the same board, though the company
did confirm that each core has the same specifications of an RV670
processor.

The RV670 graphics core, announced last November with the Phenom
processor, is the first 55nm desktop graphics adaptor. AMD does not
target this card as a high-end adaptor, though reviewers were quick to
herald the RV670 as AMD's best product of 2007.

The company also made quick mention of the RV620 and RV635 GPU cores.
These cores are nearly identical to the previous RV610 and RV630
processors, but will be produced on the 55nm node instead.

All three of AMD's new GPUs are scheduled to launch next month.

Dual-GPU technology is not new. 3dfx's flagship Voodoo 5 family also
resorted to multiple processors to achieve its relatively high
performance. ASUS, Gigabyte, Sapphire, HIS and PowerColor all
introduced dual-GPU configurations of just about every graphics
processor on the market, though these were never "sanctioned" ATI or
NVIDIA projects. Ultimately, all of these projects were canned due to
long development times and low demand.

Cross-state rival NVIDIA isn't sitting on idle hands though, either.
The company publicly announced plans to replace all 90nm G80 graphics
cores with G92 derivatives by the end of the year. G92's debut
introduction, GeForce 8800 GT, met wild support from reviewers and
analysts alike. G92's second introduce, GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB, was
met with similar but less enthusiastic acceptance during Tuesday's
launch.

NVIDIA's newest roadmap claims the DirectX 10.1 family of 65nm
processors will also hit store shelves this Spring. The chipsets --
codenamed D9E, D9M and D9P -- are architecturally different from the
G80/G92 family.

If you are gonna start trolling the groups again, at least have up to date
info...

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/images...NgdN_1_1_l.jpg
What the card really looks like.

http://www.legitreviews.com/images/r...adeon_r680.jpg
Two R680 boards in [quad-]Crossfire... back in November.

The problem with quad-Crossfi there are only so many frames you can
render ahead in AFR mode before mouse lag and DirectX limitations come into
play.

On the other end of the scale, AMD got a $49 low-end card to run in
Crossfire with the integrated video on the motherboard, resulting in
middle-grade performance in Crysis:
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/articl...50aHVzaWFzdA==

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."


"NV55" wrote in message
...
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10033
AMD's January GPU launch includes the dual-GPU R680 (Source: AMD)

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/3180/r680xl7.png

AMD Announces R680, RV620, RV635 Graphics Cores


Get ready to enter 2008 with a bang: AMD has a bunch of GPUs on the
way

AMD's newest R680 graphics processor might look a whole lot like the
ill-fated R600 GPU, but the reality couldn't be more bizarre. Instead
of one 80nm behemoth-of-a-GPU, the R680 consists of two 55nm processor
cores.

Representatives from AMD would not confirm that the R680 is
essentially two RV670 GPU cores on the same board, though the company
did confirm that each core has the same specifications of an RV670
processor.

The RV670 graphics core, announced last November with the Phenom
processor, is the first 55nm desktop graphics adaptor. AMD does not
target this card as a high-end adaptor, though reviewers were quick to
herald the RV670 as AMD's best product of 2007.

The company also made quick mention of the RV620 and RV635 GPU cores.
These cores are nearly identical to the previous RV610 and RV630
processors, but will be produced on the 55nm node instead.

All three of AMD's new GPUs are scheduled to launch next month.

Dual-GPU technology is not new. 3dfx's flagship Voodoo 5 family also
resorted to multiple processors to achieve its relatively high
performance. ASUS, Gigabyte, Sapphire, HIS and PowerColor all
introduced dual-GPU configurations of just about every graphics
processor on the market, though these were never "sanctioned" ATI or
NVIDIA projects. Ultimately, all of these projects were canned due to
long development times and low demand.

Cross-state rival NVIDIA isn't sitting on idle hands though, either.
The company publicly announced plans to replace all 90nm G80 graphics
cores with G92 derivatives by the end of the year. G92's debut
introduction, GeForce 8800 GT, met wild support from reviewers and
analysts alike. G92's second introduce, GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB, was
met with similar but less enthusiastic acceptance during Tuesday's
launch.

NVIDIA's newest roadmap claims the DirectX 10.1 family of 65nm
processors will also hit store shelves this Spring. The chipsets --
codenamed D9E, D9M and D9P -- are architecturally different from the
G80/G92 family.