ATI R580, better known as Radeon X1900, got a really though opponent through NVIDIA’s launch of the G71 architecture. Radeon X1900 XTX and GeForce 7900 GTX is the name of each manufacturer’s flagship, whose performance are very even, but NVIDIA has, as we’ve earlier discussed, a clear advantage due to lower manufacturing costs. While NVIDIA is now focusing on its next generation GeForce series, G80, ATI has yet another stop to make before moving on to the development of the R600, its answer to G80. It’s a tuned version of the R580 circuit, a circuit we should receive for testing sometime in May. When we say tuned that is exactly what we mean as nothing but the manufacturing process will be different, moving from today’s 90nm to the new 80nm technology.
This would make ATI’s X1900 series both easier and cheaper to manufacture, while at the same time it will make it easier for it to raise the frequencies even higher. The new 80nm circuit is called R580+ and if this information turns out to be correct the new circuit is expected to be massproduced during the third quarter of 2006.
Source: The Inquirer
