Radeons 9600 and 9800 XT

[Stringent]

ATI Technologies Inc. today introduced the RADEON™ 9800 XT and the RADEON™ 9600 XT, delivering killer DirectX® 9 performance in leading games like Half-Life® 2, which will be bundled with the graphics cards. The RADEON 9800 XT, the most powerful visual processor available, takes the award-winning RADEON 9800 architecture, the first and only to feature eight full pixel pipes, and makes it even faster. Shipping immediately, the graphics cards will feature 256MB of graphics memory and a wide, 256-bit memory interface. In addition to the brute-force capabilities of the visual processor, the architecture is efficiently designed to process instructions in parallel, maximizing performance. The RADEON 9800 XT will be available in stores and online in October from ATI and its board partners. ATI’s retail product will have a suggested retail price of $499.

The RADEON 9600 XT, the world’s first visual processor developed using a low k dielectric process, features four pixel pipes and 128MB of graphics memory and delivers unbeatable performance for under $200. Recent reviews have shown the RADEON 9600 XT to outperform cards twice its price in today’s shader-intensive DirectX 9 games. Gamers will enjoy the stunning visual quality that the RADEON 9600 XT delivers, which renders in full precision at all times. The card will also be available in stores and online in October from ATI and its board partners.


Now we also wait for them to make a Pro version

[Austin]

"RADEON 9800 architecture, the first and only to feature eight full pixel pipes"

The Rad9500PRO had 8 pixel pipelines and sold for under £150 over 6 months ago. The whole 9700 series also sported 8 pipes ... seems strange they kind of missed that one!

In fact the Rad9800XT is nothing more than a slightly higher clocked 9800PRO with a few minor internal redesigns (mostly to dissipate heat better). Since the 9800 is basically a minorly optimised 9700 which is over a year old it isn't anything to really rejoice about ... by now ATI should have a 9800PRO using 0.13mu (9900?) which would destroy all current cards.

"The RADEON 9600 XT, the world’s first visual processor developed using a low k dielectric process"

I guess they mean manufactured on 0.13mu, just liek the rest of the 9600 series which have been out for some time. In fact early info suggests the 9600XT is even more disappointing than the 9800XT as it is nothing more than a 9600PRO with higher default clocks, I haven't heard of any 9600PRO owner who couldn't exceed the clocks they're setting for the 9600XT ... there was plenty of rrom in there for higher clocks ... which is what made the 9600PRO being slower than the 9500PRO so disappointing. 9600XT is likely to mean nothing to an o/c'er just as ownig a real XP2800+ isn't when most XP1700+ TbredB could do it too, likewise for XP3200+ and the Barton XP2500+. Perhaps XT will impliment faster RAM, helping to reduce the hit of the 128bitDDR RAM ... but then the 4 pipeline design is always going to be the most limiting factor anyway. Seems very bad that the 9600PRO is faster than the 9800SE(128bit) and the 9600XT will be faster than the 9800SE(256bit).

[Stringent]

Well if its wrong or messed up blame the ATI press release!

ATI 9600, 9800 XT Press release

[Austin]

LOL, shows what ATI know doesn't it! I had a quick look into it and it appears the rather obscure 'low k dielectric process' does not relate to the 0.13mu process but to better internal management to prevent things like cross-talk and promote higher speeds. It was almost cross-talk alone which made the 0.13mu TbredA top out around 1.9ghz (XP2300+) instead of the 2.2ghz+ that TbredB hits (XP3000+?), AMD simply added 1 more layer (8 vs 9).

However 9600PRO (400mhz core) seem to all hit 500mhz core with 550mhz not being uncommon. I imagine ATI wished to be conservative with the clocks due to the premature nature of the 0.13mu process (which caught nVidia out) and so as to promote sales (ie widen the gap) of the 9800 series. So will we see o/c's of up to 600mhz on this new low k dielectric process or is it more ATI marketing spin? Just imagine what an 8 piped ATI card based on 0.13mu could achieve (esp coupled with 256bitDDR). Come on ATI, what are you playing at?