Author Topic: Whats the Latest Rumors on NV30? (Read 355 times)

Vermillion · « **on:** October 17, 2002, 09:02:53 AM »

Hey guys, I dont' usually have the time to keep up on all the latest tech review/rumor sites

But whats the latest rumors on NV30? The last I heard was that it was scheduled to be out before Christmas.

I was looking at getting at Radeon 9500, but wanted to wait and see how the NV30 did, and if the competion between the two would drive prices down a little. I shudder at thinking of paying $350 for a video card.

But I'm getting REALLY sick of my old Radeon LE card, and I'm getting the "itch" to spend some money.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #1 on:** October 17, 2002, 09:33:21 AM »

I have been keeping tabs on the NV30, but NVidia went dark about it last month.

I don't see them being quiet as a bad sign. They may be trying to get past the problems they created by talking about the product well before they were ready to show it.

I understand they are supposed to be showing the product at Comdex. That was pretty much the last official word I have heard.

Opinion: I cannot see them getting NV30 into stores before Christmas. The logistics window is closing fast on them. It takes about 30 days to fill the retail pipeline with inventory. If they are showing the product at Comdex, but do not have any engineering samples they are willing to show today, I would say they are into late January, maybe early February before the product is available.

Vermillion · « **Reply #2 on:** October 17, 2002, 10:21:56 AM »

That was pretty much the feeling I was getting, but I hadn't kept up with the latest news.

I expected to start seeing reviews out by now, if they actually hoped to get it out before Christmas.

GRUNHERZ · « **Reply #3 on:** October 17, 2002, 03:24:52 PM »

The news on nv30 is that you shoud prolly buy a Radeon 9700 right now...

bloom25 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 18, 2002, 01:21:22 AM »

I doubt they manage to have boards on the shelf in large quantities by Christmas. Supposedly the NV30 only tapped out just a month ago or so. It's pretty rare for a new design to be completely functional on the initial stepping. Even if it was, it takes time to do the testing and actually produce enough chips to fufill demand. nVidia gets their chips mosly from TSMC, and supposedly their yields of .13 micron parts is very poor right now.

Even if they did get NV30 out by then, it's likely that ATI would release an "Ultra" version of the 9700 cards which would likely match or exceed NV30s performance. nVidia is awefully quiet about NV30 right now. It's not even a given that the NV30 will perform better than the 9700 Radeons do right now.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #5 on:** October 18, 2002, 08:54:42 AM »

Actually bloom. It isn't really known if they have had a successful tape-out. The CEO elluded to doing multiple tape-outs and reported to the financial community to expect NVidia to fall well below expected earnings this quarter due to the number of development tape-outs.
He did not specifically say it was NV30, and avoided answering questions about NV30, so it is a bit of speculation, but if I recall, NVidia has only shipped one new part (NV28?) this quarter, so it appears safe to assume they are having problems with NV30.

Could be wrong. Regardless, they cannot skirt the logistics of getting product to consumers and that pretty much dictates there is no way they are going to make full inventory in time for Christmas.

bloom25 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 18, 2002, 10:50:37 AM »

That's what I thought would happen. It's pretty rare for a complex chip (like NV30) to be fully functional on its first stepping. Complicating the matter is TSMCs poor yields on .13 micron parts. Even if it did work right now, nVidia would have a hard time getting enough of them to do anything more than a paper release before Christmas.

Vermillion · « **Reply #7 on:** October 18, 2002, 12:31:40 PM »

Yah, AMD and their "paper releases" have pissed me off enough to actually consider buying my first Intel processor in about 4 years.