The RV770 Story: Documenting ATI's Road to Success

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sirmonkey1985

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just finished reading this interesting article.. thought maybe you guys would want to check it out.. basicly talks about the creation and ideas behind the RV770 GPU (4850/4870/4870x2).. its a good article.. makes you relize how nvidia and ATI really competed with each other and their plans on how they designed the next gpu..


http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3469&p=1
 
that was an awesome article. I'm surprised this thread hasn't gotten more discussion. Thanks for the post, I've been slacking off on my updates from the usual sites due to no good info. D:
 
Rarely do I read every single word in an article but this was a fantastic read, and was worth my time.

A lot of Hardware articles focus not much more than showing the next uber technology and benchmarks, but this was a interesting from a different point of view.
I really like Anand's articles and writing about in-depth insights of archetecture and technology.
 
Perfect script for a blockbuster!
Does anybody know if Hollywood has already bought the rights?;)
 
RadXge said:
Perfect script for a blockbuster!
Does anybody know if Hollywood has already bought the rights?;)
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you know a docu-drama on the video card industry would be win
start at the 3Dfx days :D till now id pay money to see that
 
cool glad you guys enjoyed it.. i agree with the docu movie as long as its not as boring as the docu movie that was created years ago talking about how the personal computer was built and how microsoft and apple started... i remember having to watch that video in my computer networking class in high school.. god that video sucked..
 
"Documenting ATI's Road to Success "

So you stop having second hand, crappy cards for the first time in a few generations and all the sudden it's your "Road to success"?

I find it really funny how they manage to only have 1 card that stand out, so much so that they go so far just to talk abou, and make a documentary about this one good thing they managed to make.

We should make a documentary about Ice Ice Baby.
 
Xathian said:
"Documenting ATI's Road to Success "

So you stop having second hand, crappy cards for the first time in a few generations and all the sudden it's your "Road to success"?

I find it really funny how they manage to only have 1 card that stand out, so much so that they go so far just to talk abou, and make a documentary about this one good thing they managed to make.
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Since R300, ATI and nVidia have literally been trading the top spot every generation. RV770 is not by any stretch of the imagination the only good product ATI has ever made.
 
The 7 and 8 series really attest to how good ATi is, huh? Oh and at least their fucking terrible driver support stays 100% consistent.
 
Fascinating article. I've always loved ATI and hope that they continue to compete against the green team.
 
Xathian said:
The 7 and 8 series really attest to how good ATi is, huh? Oh and at least their fucking terrible driver support stays 100% consistent.
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The X1800 series competed well against the 7800's and the X1950XT was much faster than the 7900.

But seriously, ATI has had solid products up against nvidia's Geforce 3, 4, FX, 6, 7, and now 9/GT200. Why is is that people think just because they bombed with the HD2900, they've always been a terrible failure?
 
Xathian said:
The 7 and 8 series really attest to how good ATi is, huh? Oh and at least their fucking terrible driver support stays 100% consistent.
Click to expand...

The Radeon 9xxx series raped the GeForce FX series. The X8xx series was competitive with the 6800 series, and although they didn't have SM3 support, the later models were actually faster than nVidia's fastest 6800 card. The X1800 series was a bit faster than the 7800 series, and the X19xx series had a pretty nice lead over the 7900 series. The R600 was their only real flop within the past 7 years or so, and that was replaced pretty quickly with the RV670, which, although it wasn't the best performer, still performed very respectably compared to G92, and the 3870X2 was pretty competitive with the 9800GTX as well. So, out of five entire generations of GPUs, ATI only had one semi-failure. That's a track record at least as good as nVidia's.

And as for their drivers, I've had more issues with nVidia's driver support than I've had with ATI. Plus, I see you're conveniently forgetting about the little issue of nVidia not having Vista support for their G80 cards until several months after Vista's launch, leaving many proud owners of DX10 video cards not being able to actually use them with a DX10 OS.
 
Xathian said:
The 7 and 8 series really attest to how good ATi is, huh? Oh and at least their fucking terrible driver support stays 100% consistent.
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I'm pretty sure the x1950 won that whole generation and nVidia was forced to release the awful 7950GX2 that was buggy and full of microstutter.

The X850xt was the fastest single card of the 6800/x800 days as well.

The G80 was the first time nVidia has slaughtered ATi in a long time and look where we are at now because of this.

Even if you aren't an ATi fan you should thank them because they saved everyone alot of money on the the GT200 series.
 
Zero82z said:
The Radeon 9xxx series raped the GeForce FX series. The X8xx series was competitive with the 6800 series, and although they didn't have SM3 support, the later models were actually faster than nVidia's fastest 6800 card. The X1800 series was a bit faster than the 7800 series, and the X19xx series had a pretty nice lead over the 7900 series. The R600 was their only real flop within the past 7 years or so, and that was replaced pretty quickly with the RV670, which, although it wasn't the best performer, still performed very respectably compared to G92, and the 3870X2 was pretty competitive with the 9800GTX as well. So, out of five entire generations of GPUs, ATI only had one semi-failure. That's a track record at least as good as nVidia's.

And as for their drivers, I've had more issues with nVidia's driver support than I've had with ATI. Plus, I see you're conveniently forgetting about the little issue of nVidia not having Vista support for their G80 cards until several months after Vista's launch, leaving many proud owners of DX10 video cards not being able to actually use them with a DX10 OS.
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Not often i read a post where someone actually knows a little history without bias, nice post.
 
necrophile said:
Not often i read a post where someone actually knows a little history without bias, nice post.
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I've been in this game for a long time, and I know my shit. Few things irritate me more than idiotic fanboys with a false-colour conception of what actually happened. Having owned quite a few products from both ATI and nVidia, I have a pretty unbiased perspective of things.
 
Nice read. A bit on the long side, but I got through it. I hope both Nvidia and ATI do stay competitive as we the consumer win.
 
Zero82z said:
I've been in this game for a long time, and I know my shit. Few things irritate me more than idiotic fanboys with a false-colour conception of what actually happened. Having owned quite a few products from both ATI and nVidia, I have a pretty unbiased perspective of things.
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it just explains the history of ATI's RV770 and how it came about.. theres nothing bias'ed about it..


Zero82z said:
The Radeon 9xxx series raped the GeForce FX series. The X8xx series was competitive with the 6800 series, and although they didn't have SM3 support, the later models were actually faster than nVidia's fastest 6800 card. The X1800 series was a bit faster than the 7800 series, and the X19xx series had a pretty nice lead over the 7900 series. The R600 was their only real flop within the past 7 years or so, and that was replaced pretty quickly with the RV670, which, although it wasn't the best performer, still performed very respectably compared to G92, and the 3870X2 was pretty competitive with the 9800GTX as well. So, out of five entire generations of GPUs, ATI only had one semi-failure. That's a track record at least as good as nVidia's.

And as for their drivers, I've had more issues with nVidia's driver support than I've had with ATI. Plus, I see you're conveniently forgetting about the little issue of nVidia not having Vista support for their G80 cards until several months after Vista's launch, leaving many proud owners of DX10 video cards not being able to actually use them with a DX10 OS.
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lol im a huge ATI fan.. but come on.. comparing the radeon 8 series to the 6800? come on.. lol the 8500 was horrible.. before they switch to the X series naming.. the radeon 9 series were probably one of the best cards to be released until the x850..

as for the drivers i think nvidia relies on their customers to find errors to much instead of just testing their drivers before releasing them.. the whole beta driver thing has gotten out of control with nvidia.. if they actually spent the time to test their stuff them selves we wouldnt have so many of these problems.. and as for the vista nvidia thing.. you can blame microsoft for that.. for changing the coding right before its release leaving everyone in the dark for driver support..

Xathian said:
"Documenting ATI's Road to Success "

So you stop having second hand, crappy cards for the first time in a few generations and all the sudden it's your "Road to success"?

I find it really funny how they manage to only have 1 card that stand out, so much so that they go so far just to talk abou, and make a documentary about this one good thing they managed to make.

We should make a documentary about Ice Ice Baby.
Click to expand...

obviously you havent payed attention the whole graphics card market.. its been a back and forth battle between Nvidia and ATI since the r300 gpu.. sure ATI had its mistakes.. but so did Nvidia.. it wasnt until recently that nvidia left them a hole in the mainstream market and ATI took every advantage of it.. if it wasnt for ATI guessing this market hole.. you would see be seeing the GTX 200 series selling for over 400 dollars.. so you should actually be thanking ATI for coming out with an under estimated HD4k series card.. now we just need to see where this battle goes.. if Nvidia tries to steal the mainstream market or if they stick to designing huge gpu's.. like they have been over the years..
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
lol im a huge ATI fan.. but come on.. comparing the radeon 8 series to the 6800? come on.. lol the 8500 was horrible.. before they switch to the X series naming.. the radeon 9 series were probably one of the best cards to be released until the x850..
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I think he was referring to the x800 x850 etc series (x8x0), not the 8500 series.
 
It clearly says X8xx series. Should be no thinking involved there.

I remember when I got my 9700Pro. Good memories :)
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
lol im a huge ATI fan.. but come on.. comparing the radeon 8 series to the 6800? come on.. lol the 8500 was horrible.. before they switch to the X series naming.. the radeon 9 series were probably one of the best cards to be released until the x850..
Click to expand...

I was talking about the X8xx series, not the 8500 series. Big difference there.
 
Good post Zero!
Hit the nail on the head right there, I still have my X1900XTX around here somewhere. I wonder if it's as loud as I remember it. :D
 
Uberbob102000 said:
Good post Zero!
Hit the nail on the head right there, I still have my X1900XTX around here somewhere. I wonder if it's as loud as I remember it. :D
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yea this was the card that turned me onto ATI.. mine is still goign strong, playing all the latest games

great card, and the 4850 is about as good as it gets for the money you pay.
 
zero's post is fairly accurate but needs some clarifications. first of all, the entire line of x8xx cards were faster than their 68xx counterparts....in dx9. it was in open gl performance where the nvidia part was significantly faster than ati. sm3 shader was nice for nvidia but not very significant for gaming between 2004-2005. fact of the matter was that the 6800 cards were easier to find than the x800 cards so it was easier for the slightly inferior part to capture market share. the x1800 faster than the 7800...not really. both gpu's were very competitive across the board even with the nvidia part offering half the memory of the ati card. here ati managed to reverse its piss poor open gl performance and matched nvidia stride for stride in quake 4. the problem was that the x1800 appeared 5 months behind the 7800(summer 05) and was replaced by the x1900 a mere two months later. transparency aa is the one feature that really defined gaming during this time. anyone who remembered how much better cod2 looked with this feature coming from standard aa knows what i'm talking about. the x1900xtx lead the way with great adaptive aa performance and superior aniso through its hq aniso feature. ati held this performance advantage above nvidia all the way until the release of the 8800gts/gtx. we all know how the story unfolds after that.
 
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