R350 - March 2003

As if nVidia's woes were not enough, ATI is going on full speed and the Radeon 9800 is not letting off with the pressure. The GeForce FX is out, and being thoroughly shunned and mocked. Then, to further humiliate the previous king, ATI brings out a new version of the R300 core, as if to underline the fact that nVidia has missed a cycle and is now the runner-up.

All that is true, except that it does not keep nVidia from remaining the better seller of low-end cards. Sure, ATI has the performance crown, but nVidia is the one who is getting the money on the market.

If only ATI could do away with driver issues once and for all . . .

Tech Sheet - 9800 Pro

RAMDAC 2x400 Mhz Transistor count (millions) 107 Technology 0.15 micron Frequency 380 Mhz Onboard RAM 128/256 MB DDR RAM bus frequency 340 Mhz DDR RAM bus width 256 bits Memory Bandwidth 21.8 GB/s Pixel Pipelines 8 Vertex Shaders 4 Triangle count (millions) 380 Pixel fill rate 2 600 MPixels

Given the above results, it must be said that nVidia is once again in the lead, since the FX holds it own against the newcomer. But let us not forget that the 9800 is DDR-II ready, and that means that nVidia's supremacy is just a revision away from being seriously put into question.

In addition, this time ATI is really going for it, and has released "budget" versions at the same time, just like nVidia has been doing for years now. Let's look at them :

Tech Sheet 9600/9200

Model 9600 9200 (RV280) RAMDAC 2x400 Mhz Transistor count (millions) ? Technology 0.13 micron 0.15 micron Frequency 400 Mhz 275 Mhz Onboard RAM 128 MB DDR 64 MB DDR RAM bus frequency 300 Mhz DDR 225 Mhz DDR RAM bus width 256 bits Memory Bandwidth 9.6 GB/s GB/s Pixel Pipelines 4 4 Vertex Shaders 4 2 Pixel fill rate 1.6 GPixels One remark on the 9200, it is the only one to NOT be DX9-compatible. Talk about a low blow. In any case, despite the fact that the nVidia has pretty well managed to corner the budget market, the FX must look like a life raft to them. The Radeon 9700 Back