Assumptions

[Helevitia]

I am hoping that some of you will be ble to help me in my assumption making here. I currently have about $400.00 saved up for the yet-to-be-announced Parhelia. Should I be assuming it will cost a lot more, somewhat more, or a little more for the high end version? Of course, any extra I have to make up will be put on a credit card. I am hoping to have $600.00 by the time it is announced The more I read the posts though the more I feel the high-end card is going to be be more than $600.00 Oh well, nothing to do but save money and wait.

Dave

[Kruzin]

Well, based on rumors (as all I say is) I think if you want the ultra-high end 256meg model, you will have some extra time to save up. I doubt the hopped up pro version will be released at the same time as the 64 and 128 meggers. And you will need that extra time to save. I'd guess with your $600 you'd be about half way there.
But, if you are willing to settle for the 128meg version (which most ppl who want the pro will), you will be in good shape...

[Helevitia]

WOW! Half way there! Jesus, I need to sell my kid at this point. OK, this leads me to my next question. Can we assume the "ultra-high end 256meg model" will be a gaming card as well or should I assume the "128Megger" will be the gaming card to have?

Dave

[Kruzin]

Even low lowest priced, slowest clocked, 64 meg OEM models should become very popular with gamers

[magog]

I would say even the 64MB card should be enough.

[superfly]

Originally posted by Helevitia
WOW! Half way there! Jesus, I need to sell my kid at this point. OK, this leads me to my next question. Can we assume the "ultra-high end 256meg model" will be a gaming card as well or should I assume the "128Megger" will be the gaming card to have?

Dave

Hard to say at this point....For all we know the rumored 256 bit bus with 19 gigs/sec of bandwith may only apply to the highest end model,the mid range ones may very use a more conventional setup(IE 128bit bus with DDR sdram),to keep it within roughly the same price range as their competitors(give or take 50$)...



So sit tight,wait for the official announcement in roughly 2 weeks time and see for yourself...

[Kruzin]

I would expect them to use the same memory bus on all models. They could use slower clock speeds on different versions, but they have always used the same bus on previous models. This way they don't have to design different PCBs and memory controllers and so forth...

[Kruzin]

And I don't think they are too worried about how their competitors products are priced. There will be no competition

[Ali]

The other thing to worry about is what process its using.

If its comming out soon, then it almost has to be .15 micron. If two months later .13 micron comes online, what do you do?

Assume that the .15 version will be fast as hell, but will also run hot, and posibly have power problems, possibly solved by an onboard power connector aka 3dfx Voodoo5 5500, or need an AGP Pro connection.

How many people will wait if they knew that in a couple more months, they could get a card that is cheaper, performs the same or better, and wont have any compatibility issues? Also by that time the drivers will have matured a little.

Remember these cards will be so fast that they should last as long as our beloved G400s have.

Sorry to be a little down, but I realised I only have about US$200 in my 'Toy Fund' at the moment, and need to wait another 2-3 months before buying. Probably shouldnt have bought Super Swampers for my truck I suppose

Ali

[Novdid]

Well I have enough for the 128meg version it seems.

Why the sad smiley you ask???

It's ALL I have.

[Joel]

I have to concur with Kruzin on this and further state that I don't think that Superfly and frankymail know what the hell they are talking about.

And as Ant put in another thread.

They probably been visiting the MURC again and were getting wound up about Parhelia rumours, the logs show they like to visit often.

http://forums.murc.ws/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32169

Joel

[Helevitia]

Originally posted by Kruzin
Even low lowest priced, slowest clocked, 64 meg OEM models should become very popular with gamers

Sorry, I wasn't clear. What I mean is, I would love to buy the ultra-high end 256meg model" and I will if it is optimized for games. I am wondering if this card will only be optimized for such applications as CAD, Graphics, OGL, etc...hmmm...maybe I am not understanding something here. For instance. The 8800 from ATI and the Quadro whatever it is called. Am I wrong in assuming they won't work well with games sinve the drivers are written to take advantage of the drawing apps and such?

Dave

[DentyCracker]

rofl

[superfly]

Originally posted by Kruzin
I would expect them to use the same memory bus on all models. They could use slower clock speeds on different versions, but they have always used the same bus on previous models. This way they don't have to design different PCBs and memory controllers and so forth...

Essentially,kruzin,you're agreeing with me though...Even if(and that's a huge if),they decide to keep a 256 bit memory bus for all models,just the simple fact that they very well may use slower memory on the midrange and lower end models still means that those 19 gigs/sec bandwith number only apply to th high end model anyhow....

[Parhelia Pro256]

ahh, but 16.2gigs/s wouldn't be bad, eh?