Watch the skies. Big things are coming.

[Rimfaxe]

TomsHardwareGuide:
http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/...p10vpu-05.html

Even the extraordinary power of existing GPUs doesn't seem to be pulling the market as much as expected. Watch the skies. Big things are coming. It ain't over till the fat lady is FSAA'd. Let's see what everyone else has to offer. Next Gen 3D Is On, Baby!

Watch the skies!!!

Big things are coming.

[Ant]

An asteroid?

[DukeP]

Too little, too late?

I know the statement by 3dlabs was rushed ahead, but one thing really sticks out: 10bit per colour.

I have only heard confirmed, that the new matrox chip doesnt support deeper bitplanes.


I for one would love to do 10bit black/white.
Even my old Atari Falcon could do 10bit greyscales (12bit, actually, but took some persuading).

Ah well. I guess we SOHO guys have to keep dreaming.

~~DukeP~~

[mdhome]

Independance day all over again!

MD

[Joe DeFuria]

Looks like the P10 is setting itself up to be a direct competitor to the Parhelia. (Considering the known rumors about parhelia):

* 256 bit DDR bus: up to 20 GB/sec bandwidth. Should board costs similar.
* Targeted at high-end gaming, low / mid-range professional.

The main surprise to me, is that the P10 is "only" 60+ million transistors, and will be manufactured on the 0.15 micron process. I was expecting all "next gen" parts to arrive on the 0.13 micron process.

If I were speculating man (and I am), I would speculate on the following pros when comparing the two:

P10 Pros: More flexible architecture (take better advantage of future games and apps), slightly higher visual quality, slightly lower cost.

Parhelia Pros: More raw performance, better compatiblity with legacy (current and past) games.

You heard it here first. Check back in another year or two and see how my predictions pan out.

[Joel]

I agree that in a year or two that there may be something to pass Matrox as far as speed goes but will never surpass Matrox as far a quality is concerned. Matrox has been number 1 in that area since the original Millennium. Image quality of other cards has always been compare to Matrox cards.

Joel

[Joel]

I have only heard confirmed, that the new matrox chip doesnt support deeper bitplanes.

Please clarify. What was your confirmed info as to what level they will support?

Joel

[thop]

It ain't over till the fat lady is FSAA'd.

hmm i guess the Parhelia will have some super sophisticated FSAA with virtually no performance hit so that it will be always enabled.

the other hint is a no-brainer. what can be seen in the sky? Parhelias

[ZokesPro]

Originally posted by Joel
Image quality of other cards has always been compare to Matrox cards.

Joel

Props to Matrox!

[Fat Tone]

Originally posted by Ant
An asteroid?

Nah, a Haemorrhoid?

[DukeP]

There was a post some time ago, stating that the Parhelia was going to be a pure 32bit thingy. No 40/42/44 bit mode.

Cant check (Im @work - no time) but it should be easy to find.

But I will be pleasantly surprised to find it able to do more than 32!


~~DukeP~~

[Hyp-X]

Originally posted by DukeP
There was a post some time ago, stating that the Parhelia was going to be a pure 32bit thingy. No 40/42/44 bit mode.

Actually I'd be happy to have 32bit as 11bit red, 11bit green, 10bit blue. (I'm talking about the framebuffer, not the internal precision.)
We only have 24bit cards currently, wasting 8bit per pixel.

And no, I have no information about Parhelia's color depth.

[DukeP]

Gaah. That was somewhat what I meant! Sorry. NIce correction there, HYP-x.

My old atari falcon only did 16bit - but its hardware where so openly available, that one ALMOST could do 16bit gray or red og green or blue on it. THAT was nice, for touching up scanned photos and such. Not the fastest machine on the surface tho'

~~DukeP~~

[Marshmallowman]

3dlabs make pro cards, I think they will have excellent visual quality at least until creative get hold of it, but no dual head

with 32 bit color its red,green,blue,alpha (8,8,8,8)

[Ant]

Ah so 40-bit colour would be 10,10,10,10 I guess.