ATI

[zack1234]

Is there a new ATI card due out 6000 series?

[skribetm]

Due out Dec. 13; HD6950, HD6970, HD6990

http://bit.ly/fwvZyj

However, AMD is making a big deal out of the 6900 GPU having dual graphics engines and a new VLIW4 core architecture, which looks to be the real Northern Island "new architecture". Add to this more SIMD engines and texture units, as well as upgraded render back-ends and AMD should’ve managed to get a fair bit of extra performance out of the 6900 series. The 6900 series also features dual 8th generation tessellation units with support for off-chip buffer and AMD claims up to three times the tessellation performance over the 5870.

The product specification slide leaves a lot to be desired, as it only let slip a memory bandwidth in excess of 160GB/s, 128 Z/Stencil ROPs, 32 Colour ROPs and that the new GPUs can process two polygons per clock compared to one of the 5870. As for SIMD engines, Stream processors (shaders) and Texture units, well, they’re all labelled with TBD, but judging by the earlier slides, expect some serious increases here over the 5870.

AMD has also come up with yet a new anti-aliasing technology called EQAA or Enhanced Quality Anti-Aliasing. This is a new MSAA mode with up to 16 coverage samples per pixel and the ability to manually control the number of colour and coverage samples that should be used. It’s said to be compatible with Adaptive AA, SSAA and AMD’s 6800 series addition, Morphological AA. We have no idea how much better this will look, but in theory at least it should be an improvement over MSAA.

There are also a couple of slides about power containment, as it turns out that the 6970 will use around 300W of power, while the 6950 should end up close to 225W according to the slides. The power is listed as board power rather than TDP, so this should be actual power usage. Due to this AMD has come up with a new integrated power control processor that’s said to monitor power draw every clock cycle and it has the ability to dynamically adjust clocks for various blocks of the GPU to enforce the pre-set TDP value. There’s meant to be some form of user control here via AMD’s OverDrive utility, although it’s not clear as to how much control. AMD also claims that its solution provides direct control over GPU power draw and hints that it’s not like the driver-based solution that Nvidia came up with for its GTX 580.

[zack1234]

ati4850 at present, will my Predator Aspire quad core thing be able to run this new card?
Wife wants to buy me something to keep me quiet when Stricly come dancing is on

By the way i know jack about pc's 

[skribetm]

thats a mean looking machine,  but which model is it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_Aspire_Predator
can you open up the side panel and see the brand/model of the power supply?
also, what resolution are you gaming with on your monitor?

we're going to need at least one six pin and one eight pin PCIe power cord to upgrade to a 6970.
heck even a 5850/5870 would be a significant upgrade already over a 4850. AH2 needs as much GPU as it can get.
and your cpu being a quad core is more than enough cpu power for the next few years at least.

[zack1234]

aspire 7200 blue with red lights at the front

[zack1234]

i am getting 75 fps with 4850 self shadow etc bumpmap water, everything on is 59/60.

I don't have everything on shadows on buildings etc

i put a 5870 last week and was getting 25fsp in AH and ROF so i took it back, someone mentioned flashing the BIOS ?

I heard about new card so i thought i would give it a go

[skribetm]

theres clearly something wrong if you tried a 5870 and got lower framerates. 
you probably dont have the correct drivers. here's a good guide on how to properly install them.

check back on that 5870 in two or three days.
there should be pretty hefty pricedrops prior to ati releasing the 6970. (if you want to save)
but if you want to splurge, the 6970 surely wont disappoint.
just need to install it correctly. 

the system supports crossfirex, so it probably has a good psu.
i cant find the exact specs for that, however. so might be best to look it up inside.

[zack1234]

someone did mention crossfire would another 4850 be an option?

[skribetm]

someone did mention crossfire would another 4850 be an option?

yup, you do have another pciex16 slot available if you want to do that.
but i prefer single GPU solutions, what with micro-stutter and the inconsistency of crossfirex performance across games.
have a look at the GTX570/GTX580 too, looks like nV finally fixed their uarch and came out with the goodies. 
but whatever you do, dont forget theres pricedrops coming DEC. 13!!!

[zack1234]

hurrah!

[zack1234]

i loaded new drivers from ati, should i have deleted old drivers?

[skribetm]

i loaded new drivers from ati, should i have deleted old drivers?

you already got a new GPU?
yes, use driversweeper everytime you upgrade or change brands.

here i was thinking we wait a few days for some sales. 

[zack1234]

i took it back thinking it was poo, i will try again and buy one when its dropped in price

[Tigger29]

i took it back thinking it was poo, i will try again and buy one when its dropped in price

Yeah the 5870 is a monster.  I only have a 5830 and it easily handles 60FPS with AH... well 2k shadows and no other planes shadows anyway... otherwise maxed

[zack1234]

hurrah!