Hey, I've got a quick question... The ATI HD 3870 X2 is the card that they're talking about here in this article, is it the same as the R680...? I mean, are these both the same card...? The Dual Core GPU by ATI called the R680... I'm a little lost, any help would be nice... Thanks...

Yep, same card. The 3870 X2 was previously codenamed R680.

Smart move with this type of solution. It seems like the ATI acquisition will start to pay dividends in '08. ATI is thinking smart (on the cheap).
Now they have to attack on-board graphics segment. I read a rumour that a new chipset is on the way . The chipset is the 790GX aka RS780D. It is integrated with Radeon HD 3300 graphics on-board. You guys at TG daily heard anything about this?

This card and company is behind the 8 ball. And just a mess overall. It's a damn shame...

Here's the top reasons why this card is a disaster:

1) They couldn't get the PCI Express 2.0 support to work. This is terrible to be this late in the game for being a new card. And must be rectified ASAP. I can't understand this one because the single card supports PCI Express 2.0.

A NEW card to match your NEW system. If you claim to no longer be in a performance race then Damnit !!! STOP releasing cards wet behind the ears and drivers that need 3 to 7 updates before being worth talking about.

2) Price/performance in its own brand sucks. You can sli two 3870's ranging 219 to 249 (don't forget two possible rebates). Versus X2's costing 450 to 500 (highly likely NO REBATE) and similar to the HD 2900 having price manipulated to be frozen high because of its ATI top of the line for premium status (very over rated!).

3) 1 gig of slower GDDR3 memory, GDDR4 is available in the single version.

4) NVidia will be using GDDR4 and flirting with a GDDR5 version. This isn't a big thing for some since ATI already stated it is no longer in the race for performance.

5) Lower OC headroom can you say intel versus AMD? 45nm Vs. 55nm

7) Is A Huge One !!! And the back greaker to this entire card...

A single 8800 GT V2's out matches this multi GPU card. Cause it too has already beaten the 8800 GTX and Ultra and still has OC room with its 45 nm die. ATI is still on 55nm.

"Basically, the latter had made the GeForce 8800 GTS 320 MB and 640 MB obsolete and this new 8800 GTS 512 MB brings shame, at least on paper, to the 8800 GTX (17% less efficient) and the 8800 Ultra as well (7% less efficient)"
www.tomshardware.com/2007/12/12/geforce_8800_gts_512_mb/page2.html

Two 8800 GTS 512 meg V2's in SLI (meaning 1 gig gpu total) for the same price as the 3870 X2 and blwos it away.

8) The new Nvidia GPU (a company pushing and competing for our dollar rather than relying on fan boy loyalty) reportedly is faster than two 8800 GT V2's.

OK look at pecking order:

5) 3870 X2
4) 8800 GTX
3) 8800 GTX Ultra
2) 8800 GT V2's on par with the new 3870 x2's. Again that's 1 remake of an old GPU for 220 to 290 hanging with two 3870's costing 450 to 500
1) 9?00 greater than 2-8800 GT V2's or 2-3870 X2's (AKA 4-3870 GPU's) WOW !!!

It's a no brainer to me... And this card aint the choice by a VERY LONG SHOT...

They might do like AMD and call foul on competition begging Nvidia to slow down its production as well.

I hope not this would be ashame...

The price of this card needs to be about 280 to 330 even be in a discussion.

some of the cards do support pcie 2.0

just be careful...

And as of yet I haven't seen the specs of Nvidia's new card. If it's not a DX 10.1 compatible then that's an awful and horrible.

Especially since developers can access some of the DX10.1 hardware using DX9 API.

typo's galore

GT V2's equal GTS V2's obviously :-)

I tend to agree with you with Nvidia. They surely have the headroom to push on past the ATI solution. ATI at the top this time will be very short lived indeed. However, if the price of ATI's offerings are adjusted appropriately, it could be still compelling for some as you say 'fanboys' and some others looking for some graphics power on the cheap. Nvidia will be No1 but how will the prices work out? No1 part allows for price premiums.
For those seeking ultimate graphics power and money is no problem, then Nvidia solutions are great but, ATI may still prove viable to those on a tight budget. I suppose we will have to wait and see how the market pans out.

I laid out the price...

And ATI has announce they dont intend on competing in performance.

They have been squashed because look at Nvidia's actions. Better performance and lower cost.

That 8800 GTS is the killer because this new ATI card only matches it.

That means when the new Nvidia card comes out their line will be pushed down even further.

Look at my chart #2

2) 8800 GTS V2's on par with the new 3870 x2's. Again that's 1 remake of an old GPU for 220 to 290 hanging with two 3870's costing 450 to 500

You can't make a new GPU on par with a single older GPU for the other company.

450 X2 Vs. 220 GTS V2

tobago - "if the price of ATI's offerings are adjusted appropriately"

LOL the price for multi would have to fly down in the 200's and that simply wont happen. You can't be holding out for that even... Can You?

Look at their history...

They have never said HD 2900XT isn't a performance king so we are gonna move the price down substantially.

At least ATI is being more competitive now; which overall will make the market better for everyone.

All things being equal, regardless of benchmarks, using nvidia or ATI has ups and downs for each application.

At least ATI is willing to release information and drivers to the open source community, which is a big push to help w/ATI's performance in linux, etc. nvidia refuses.

With ATI's recent performance & product line improvements, they will give nvidia a run for their money; and yours.