Comparation - G80 GeForce cards

GeForce 8800 GTX
Processor: G80
Fabrication Process: 90 nm
Number of Transistors (millions): 681
Core Clock (Including dispatch, texture units, ROP units): 575 MHz
Memory Clock (MHz / data rate): 900/1800
Memory Interface: 384 Bits
Frame Buffer Size (RAM): 768 MB

GeForce 8800 GTS
Processor: G80
Fabrication Process: 90 nm
Number of Transistors (millions): 681
Core Clock (Including dispatch, texture units, ROP units): 500 MHz
Memory Clock (MHz / data rate): 800/1600
Memory Interface: 320 Bits
Frame Buffer Size (RAM): 640 MB

GeForce 8600 GTS
Processor: G84
Fabrication Process: 80 nm
Number of Transistors (millions): 289
Core Clock (Including dispatch, texture units, ROP units): 675 MHz
Memory Clock (MHz / data rate): 1000/2000
Memory Interface: 128 Bits
Frame Buffer Size (RAM): 256 MB

GeForce 8600 GT
Processor: G84
Fabrication Process: 80 nm
Number of Transistors (millions): 289
Core Clock (Including dispatch, texture units, ROP units): 540 MHz
Memory Clock (MHz / data rate): 700/1400
Memory Interface: 128 Bits
Frame Buffer Size (RAM): 256 MB

GeForce 8500 GT
Processor: G86
Fabrication Process: 80 nm
Number of Transistors (millions): 210
Core Clock (Including dispatch, texture units, ROP units): 450 MHz
Memory Clock (MHz / data rate): 400/800
Memory Interface: 128 Bits
Frame Buffer Size (RAM): 256 MB

GeForce 8400 GS
Processor: G86
Fabrication Process: 80 nm
Number of Transistors (millions): 210
Core Clock (Including dispatch, texture units, ROP units): 450 MHz
Memory Clock (MHz / data rate): 400/800
Memory Interface: 64 Bits
Frame Buffer Size (RAM): 128 MB or 256 MB

GeForce 8300 GS
Processor: G86
Fabrication Process: 80 nm
Number of Transistors (millions): 210
Core Clock (Including dispatch, texture units, ROP units): 450 MHz
Memory Clock (MHz / data rate): 400/800
Memory Interface: 64 Bits
Frame Buffer Size (RAM): 128 MB or 256 MB

Cheap Athlon X2 BE-2350

Fast and cheap - new Athlon X2 BE-2350!



It is almost incredible to watch the recent price drops in the processor segment. You can get an Athlon 64 X2 3800+ for as little as $80, and only the 6000+ top model exceeds $200. Intels Core 2 Duo family struts past the Athlon line with the faster products, but you should carefully consider the price premium before purchasing. Since AMD cannot attack Intel in the high-end or the upper mainstream, it dropped prices, so you might get more bang for the buck with AMD. On June 5th it introduced new mainstream CPUs to strike Intel where it is really vulnerable: the low power desktop segment.
The new processors are called simply "Athlon X2", as AMD has decided to drop the "64" suffix. This is a good choice, I believe, because no one really cares much about 64-bit; the new Phenom processors won't carry the "64" label either. It will take many months until 4 GB RAM enters at the upper mainstream, which finally requires a 64-bit operating system to fully utilize the memory. So, 64-bits is a must-have, but by no means a real selling point.
The Athlon X2 BE-2350 runs at 2.1 GHz, while its smaller brother, the BE-2300, operates at 1.9 GHz; they're priced at $90 and $85 respectively. How do these differ from the Athlon 64 X2 4000+ and 3600+, though? All of them are based on the 65 nm DSL SOI process (dual stress liner, silicon on insulator) with 1 MB L2 cache, but the new BE processors are rated for a maximum thermal design power (TDP) of only 45 W.
While Intel had been quick to increase its thermal envelopes to as much as 130 W to support its Pentium 4 and Pentium D hot rods, it reduced the TDP to 65 W in the mainstream with the introduction of the Core 2 Duo. Intel currently does not have a desktop processor to get by with just 45 W, though it does offer two processors under the Pentium brand that might be able to get close to it. The Pentium Dual Core E2140 (1.6 GHz) and E2160 (1.8 GHz) are based on the Core microarchitecture, but they only utilize 1 MB L2 cache and they lack some features.

GeForce 8800

I will start today with my favourite graphics card, which is GeForce 8800.

The 8800 series, codenamed G80, was launched on November 8, 2006 with the release of the GeForce 8800 GTX and GTS. The GTX is equipped with 768 MB GDDR3 RAM while the GTS has 640 MB GDDR3 RAM. The 8800 series replaced the GeForce 79x0 series as NVIDIA's top-performing consumer video card. GeForce 8800 GTX and GTS use identical GPU cores, but the GTS model disables parts of the GPU and reduces RAM size / bus width to lower production cost.
As of April 2007, the G80 is the largest commercial GPU ever constructed. It consists of 681 million transistors covering a 480 mm² die surface area built on a 90 nm process.(In fact G80's total transistor count is ~690 million, but since the chip was made on a 90nm process and due to process limitations and yield feasibility, NVIDIA had to break the main design into two chips : Main shader core at 681 million transistors and NV I/O core of about ~5 million transistors making the entire G80 design standing at ~690 million transistors). Thus making G80 the largest and most complex design ever made for the PC market.

The 8800 GTX has 8 clusters of 16 stream processors, for a total of 128 stream processors. 8800 GTS, in comparison, features a G80 processor with 2 of the 8 clusters disabled, leaving 96 stream processors. The cards are larger than their predecessors, with 8800GTX measuring 10.6 in (~26.9 cm) in length and the GTS measuring 9 in (~23 cm). Both cards have two dual-link DVI connectors and a HDTV/S-Video out connector. The 8800GTX requires 2 PCIe power inputs, to keep within the PCIe standard, while the GTS requires just 1.
NVIDIA released a 320 MB version of the 8800 GTS on February 12, 2007 in order to tap into a more mainstream market. Aside from the decreased amount of video memory, all other aspects of the 8800 GTS remained unchanged. The unit retailed at US$299.[
On May 2nd, 2007, NVIDIA released the 8800 Ultra, and it retails at $829.
NVIDIA claims that the GeForce 8800 GTX has 518.4 Gigaflops performance given the fact that there are 128 processors at 1.35GHz MADD+MUL dual-issue[(MADD(2flops)+MUL(1flop))×1350MHz ×128 SPs＝518.4 Gigaflops)]. However, it should be noted that 8800 GTX's 518.4 Gigaflops may not be the practical performance, due to the fact that the MUL operation is not always available.
A minor manufacturing defect related to a resistor of improper value caused a recall of the 8800GTX models (not the 8800GTS) just two days before the product launch, the launch itself was unaffected.

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I created this blog to write about some parts of the computer which I see that is important to write about. I hope that it will be usefull and you will enjoy the descriptions.