R600 just turned into a MONSTER!!!

[piranha]

I agree; many people like myself will need to buy a new beefier PSU when contemplating a next gen video card.

With Intel and AMD achieving CPU's with low power consumptions it makes me wonder why the video card manufacturers have'nt achieved the same.

[Cozwin]

i think overall it looks ok but it wont compete tbh its taking to long

[vivaladan]

Originally Posted by piranha

I agree; many people like myself will need to buy a new beefier PSU when contemplating a next gen video card.

With Intel and AMD achieving CPU's with low power consumptions it makes me wonder why the video card manufacturers have'nt achieved the same.

It's a rather pathetic affair really. Processor manuactures have worked hard to get a good performance/power ratio and all that, and I might add the billions that made it happen in R&D has gone to waste if GPUs, babys compaired to microprocessors think they can come along and gobble up the "free" power.

*EDIT*

By badys, I should point out that i'm speaking in technology development, not size or power ^^

[dangel]

Originally Posted by vivaladan

R&D has gone to waste if GPUs, babys compaired to microprocessors think they can come along and gobble up the "free" power.

*EDIT*

By badys, I should point out that i'm speaking in technology development, not size or power ^^

Er... Baby's? Perhaps sir would like to look at the relative tranistor counts of CPUs and GPUs? I think you'll find quite few more on the latter!

[kalniel]

Originally Posted by vivaladan

It's a rather pathetic affair really. Processor manuactures have worked hard to get a good performance/power ratio and all that, and I might add the billions that made it happen in R&D has gone to waste

Gone to waste? You make it seem like CPU manufacturers reduced the power consumption of their chips to lower our overall electicity bill or something. They did nothing of the sort. AMD sucessfully out-marketed Intel and raised the public profile of Intel's achilles heal to such an extent Intel had to change strategy.

That has yet to happen in the GPU world - while NVidia generally produce much more efficient chips they don't make a song and dance about it as it would cut off their own SLI strategy which is aimed at getting you to have more than one card at once. ATI have followed that lead so also won't be jumping onto the power bandwagon just yet.

As soon as power consumption becomes a market feature then they'll change to meet the demands of the consumer, but right now it's better for them, and the industry as a whole (PSU upgrades ) not to.

[vivaladan]

Originally Posted by dangel

Er... Baby's? Perhaps sir would like to look at the relative tranistor counts of CPUs and GPUs? I think you'll find quite few more on the latter!

I did point out that I ment it nither in size or power. CPUs have been around alot longer than GPUs and hence the technology has had time to mature further. To use a bad analogy, it's like a person saving all their money till their old age, and then their son blowing it all on frizolous things in a short amount of time.

Originally Posted by kalniel

Gone to waste? You make it seem like CPU manufacturers reduced the power consumption of their chips to lower our overall electicity bill or something. They did nothing of the sort. AMD sucessfully out-marketed Intel and raised the public profile of Intel's achilles heal to such an extent Intel had to change strategy.

That has yet to happen in the GPU world - while NVidia generally produce much more efficient chips they don't make a song and dance about it as it would cut off their own SLI strategy which is aimed at getting you to have more than one card at once. ATI have followed that lead so also won't be jumping onto the power bandwagon just yet.

As soon as power consumption becomes a market feature then they'll change to meet the demands of the consumer, but right now it's better for them, and the industry as a whole (PSU upgrades ) not to.

Point taken. But you must admit that the customer demand for lower power GPUs is already on the rapid increase. The amount of review for the 8800 i've read that slate it for it's power consumption. The line will be drawn somewhere. 1k+ PSUs are just silly imo.

[kalniel]

Originally Posted by vivaladan

Point taken. But you must admit that the customer demand for lower power GPUs is already on the rapid increase. The amount of review for the 8800 i've read that slate it for it's power consumption. The line will be drawn somewhere. 1k+ PSUs are just silly imo.

I'm not sure there is any real customer demand to be honest. I've yet to see many performance per watt type comparisons for GPUs which suggest readership don't think it's important, and yes, the 8800 is power hungry, but then I don't think NVidia are expecting non-enthusiasts to buy them. Expect to see more efficient mainstream versions come out that are significantly slower and cheaper - speed and price are still the king of deciders when it comes to consumer decisions.