Kougar
02-15-2007, 07:23 AM
It looks like officially sanctioned Overdrive overclocking is back, Apple has a new ATI card, and the 1ghz core clock rumor might actually be somewhat true...
Now, the power connector story is a pretty interesting one. At present, there is actually only one design for both OEM/SI and retail/AIBs, and that one is 8-pin/6-pin. You can use 6+6-pin configuration, but if you do not plug 8-pin/6-pin, the ATI Catalyst driver suite will forbid you to enter the "Overdrive Zone".
Yes, you've read it right - the R600XTX is coming out with a legal overclocking mode, no nonsense and limiting overclocking to its partners like some other companies have. The clocks have not been set yet. Even AMD is waiting until a couple of days before the launch before it makes that decision.
The current estimate is that the memory will float between 1 and 1.1GHz GDDR-4 memory in DDR mode (2.0-2.2 GHz), while the GPU clock will be set around 800MHz. Some say 826MHz, but we're not sure how far the Overdrive will go. We'd say not beyond 850 MHz, but that is just my personal opinion.
Our sources tell us that the clock bump should be around 10 per cent for the GPU and 14 per cent for the memory, bringing the total clock to 880/2400-2600. It is insane to see a 700M+ 80nm transistor chip run at such a high clock, especially given the limitations the G80 had with sub-700M chip and 90nm process, but this is an industry where anything that can happen will happen.
These estimates are for the A13 revision. As we wrote quite some time ago, AMD/ATI decided to re-spin the chip to solve some problems it had with the product. It turns out that those problems involved engineers trying to get as high a clock as possible and to try to lower the power consumption, which is pretty steep right now - but still within do-able limits.
The BIOS for the board is now a "smart" one - it will detect whether the GPU is leaking current and will throttle power to prevent thermal or electrical "episodes".
So, the R600XTX has a special OEM/SI design mostly for Apple, the retail versions won't come with water cooling, but rather advanced vapour chamber technology, and the board has 8/6-pin config but can be used with two 6-pin ones - in which case you'll lose the Overdrive feature and stay inside a 225W power envelope, just like Nvidia Geforce 8800GTS . We will bring you more details about the connectivity of R600 boards later in the day
They mentioned a13 silicon for some of those core frequency figures, but the 1ghz rumor (if true) applies to revision a15. For those in the market for a new central heating unit for their house this summer, here's a cheap one!
Full source: http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37614 (http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37614)
Now, the power connector story is a pretty interesting one. At present, there is actually only one design for both OEM/SI and retail/AIBs, and that one is 8-pin/6-pin. You can use 6+6-pin configuration, but if you do not plug 8-pin/6-pin, the ATI Catalyst driver suite will forbid you to enter the "Overdrive Zone".
Yes, you've read it right - the R600XTX is coming out with a legal overclocking mode, no nonsense and limiting overclocking to its partners like some other companies have. The clocks have not been set yet. Even AMD is waiting until a couple of days before the launch before it makes that decision.
The current estimate is that the memory will float between 1 and 1.1GHz GDDR-4 memory in DDR mode (2.0-2.2 GHz), while the GPU clock will be set around 800MHz. Some say 826MHz, but we're not sure how far the Overdrive will go. We'd say not beyond 850 MHz, but that is just my personal opinion.
Our sources tell us that the clock bump should be around 10 per cent for the GPU and 14 per cent for the memory, bringing the total clock to 880/2400-2600. It is insane to see a 700M+ 80nm transistor chip run at such a high clock, especially given the limitations the G80 had with sub-700M chip and 90nm process, but this is an industry where anything that can happen will happen.
These estimates are for the A13 revision. As we wrote quite some time ago, AMD/ATI decided to re-spin the chip to solve some problems it had with the product. It turns out that those problems involved engineers trying to get as high a clock as possible and to try to lower the power consumption, which is pretty steep right now - but still within do-able limits.
The BIOS for the board is now a "smart" one - it will detect whether the GPU is leaking current and will throttle power to prevent thermal or electrical "episodes".
So, the R600XTX has a special OEM/SI design mostly for Apple, the retail versions won't come with water cooling, but rather advanced vapour chamber technology, and the board has 8/6-pin config but can be used with two 6-pin ones - in which case you'll lose the Overdrive feature and stay inside a 225W power envelope, just like Nvidia Geforce 8800GTS . We will bring you more details about the connectivity of R600 boards later in the day
They mentioned a13 silicon for some of those core frequency figures, but the 1ghz rumor (if true) applies to revision a15. For those in the market for a new central heating unit for their house this summer, here's a cheap one!
Full source: http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37614 (http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37614)