Direct X 10 and you.

I'm not sure how reassuring that is though. The reason why the 8800GTX is so power efficient is that it is significantly more hand designed than the X1950XTX or 7900GTX, which means the desktop version is already nearly as power optimized as it's going to get. Normally, something like the X1950XTX would be designed by computers since power isn't as important on a desktop and then optimized for the mobile version. In this case, there isn't a lot of wiggle room left. That means we're probably waiting on process advancement like 80nm (which is a cost node so not actually much more power efficient than 90nm, unless a specific low-power process is used which reduces transistor performance) or 65nm.

 

dx10 mobile gpu's will be released with vista

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20061113141458.html

 

Q2 might be a little too early. I've heard reports that they are aiming for Q3, and July '07 may be the earliest we see anything.

The article states they are only "sampling" mobile DX 10 cards. There have been no announcements yet, and Vista will be released in about a month. There is the Intel integrated DX10 graphics processor that will be avaiable at Vista's launch though.

I'd love to see them come out sooner as well, but I don't think it will be until the 2H of '07 as Chaz reported recently.

 

Nah, hand optimized isn't the same as notebook optimized.

What they normally do with mobile GPU's is not to custom design more parts the way they did with the (desktop) 8800.

Rather it's simply to redesign some parts for slightly lower performance and much lower power consumption. That's often done in the same semi-automatic way as is used to design the original desktop GPU's, and not hand designed.

Performance and power consumption is always a tradeoff. You might implement a feature that cuts your power consumption in half, but also reduces performance by 10%. That might be acceptable on mobile cards, and on midrange gpu's, but on the first launch of the entire architecture? You want your extra 10% so you can claim the title of fastest GPU.

Notebook cards simply use different priorities for that tradeoff. They still want performance, but on notebooks, 10% performance might not be worth a 50% increase in power consumption, so features that are added or removed to suit the new priorities.

That's where the big gains are made. What they usually get from tweaking and hand designing is negligible by comparison. (That's more like the ~10-20% that separate the 7800 from the 7900 desktop models. That's because they had time to tweak things a bit and custom design a few minor parts to get lower power consumption and better performance out of the same design)

But the difference between desktop and mobile parts are closer to 80% reduction in power consumption, and that's done by sacrificing a tiny bit of performance, adding power-conserving features and removing or stripping down some of the really power-hungry ones

And that can still be done just as well with the 8800.
I wouldn't worry, I think it can end up a very nice notebook gpu.

 

A BIG thing they add is the ability to dynamically turn off sections of the core not in use, the chip does this itself on the fly, the more segmented you want it (ie not just turning the whole 3d section off) the more of a nightmare it becomes.

What jalf is describing is mostly done via a voltage and clock reduction sometimes along with handpicking of chips that will operate at lower voltages via binning during the manufacturing process.

 

hi to all,

whats the latest news on mobile directx 10 gpu launch date??

i have been using an old 600mhz 64mb dell laptop since nov when my desktop packed up.. am desperate to get a new laptop but like many others am holding off until vista launches in the hope that they will annouce directx 10 mobile card to launch at the same time... am i getting my hopes up for nothing as i cant cope with this snail of a laptop for much longer...!!

many thanks

andy

 

What! just when I get a lap top everyones already advancing this is why im a console guy.
I have a Toshiba L35 it say it's window vista capable does that mean iii can im rove dx9 to to 10 or wht ever with out buying another laptop.

 

The chances of getting high-end DX10 mobile GPUs much less mainstream DX10 mobile GPUs when Vista launches in January are very low. In fact, the chances of even getting mainstream desktop DX10 GPUs for Vista launch are extremely low.

The plans are for ATI to release the high-end R600 in February. nVidia isn't planning on launching mainstream desktop DX10 parts until March with availability in Q2. ATI is even farther behind on their mainstream desktop parts. There's no word on mobile parts, but it's a safe bet that they would be even further behind.

Even more telling is that nVidia has stated they don't expect DX10 to really pick up until H2. What's more they themselves aren't planning on fully transitioning their product line from DX9 to DX10 until Q4. Basically, even if there's a miracle and things launch early, I doubt we'll get decent availability or mainstream products for another 6 months. So if you really a notebook, it's better to just by now. That's what I'm doing anyways.

 

So you are saying to play games in the dx10 era iwill have too get a new mother board(non intergrated graphics card) a graphics card compatible with dx10 and some more ram.

Plus windows vista that might cost more this lab top altogether

 

Yes. But as mentioned a number of times in this thread, DX 10 is not going to take over immediately. Game makers will not alienate the majority of their target market by going DX 10-exclusive right away (unless they want to sell less copies of their games). So they will program DX9-compatibility into their games for a while.

Vista has yet to be adopted by the majority of PC users, and then DX9 cards will need to be replaced by gamers. There will be a slow transition. But if you want to see the DX 10 effects, you will need a DX 10 card and system.

 

I just thought I'd bring this topic up a bit further. There seems to be rumors that there is an x2300 chip that is DirectX 10 capable. Is this confirmed? As well, is there any more news on the release of mobile DirectX 10 capable video cards?

 

Don't need DX10 now, may be in another 2-3 years time when I replace my current notebook

 

x2300? That sounds like an ATI name, correct? Never heard of it, but it sounds logically that one will exist sooner or later.

They'll probably launch with x2800 or something like that. And for the last several years, they've then over the following months, introduced _600 and _300 variants, so yes, there will probably be a x2300 as well. And it might be launched in the next 6-9 months some time. And no, it hasn't been confirmed. But I'm willing to bet you won't see it when the R600 is initially launched.

 

Well they DID launch all 3 (9200/9500/9700) once, but then again the 9200 was 8500 based (though it was redisigned a little) and the 9500 was a 9700 with bits disabled, I think this is one of the few (if only) case of the mid range as a separate model sharing the same core with the highend.

 

The X2300 chip is specifically stated to only be DX9.0c capable on ATI's webpage.