The new S models come in a silver top but still with a two toned black/silver look. Looks good. Also noticed that they’re using Nvidia’s GeForce 6200 with 128MB of memory for the top end graphics solution. Also note that they’re advertising 2GB support officially. Even better is that they’re using more standard SO-DIMMs rather than MicroDIMMs in the higher end model. The higher end model also uses the Intel 915PM chipset too so it has Dual Channel DDR2!
Yeah, it’s Nvidia’s new marchitecture called TurboCache. The best aspect is the real DirectX9 support…even though it’s only 4 pipelines, it does have all the shaders.
On more research, the 6200 actually doesn’t sound too thrilling. I think my Radeon 9700 is actually still better. I don’t know why they didn’t go with the Radeon 9800 with real 128MB of memory. Or why not go buck wild and release a 256MB model?
It’s possible that they might change the GPU before they release it in the US…here’s hoping…
Although I don’t notice much sluggishness with my S (Dothan 1.7), there are times when more speed would be nice. Combine these nice specs with one of the Seagate 100GB 7200RPM 2.5” drives and you’d have a great machine. Hmm, I might have to upgrade when these come over. If anything the silver casing looks nicer and wouldn’t show smudges as easily.
Yeah, at least for our current S170s, we can upgrade the CPU and HD ourselves to give us a boost. I’m ready to buy that Seagate drive the second they release it… :wink:
I find my 1.7GHz still very acceptable…i might upgrade to 2GHz when the prices start going down. $435 is still a little expensive for 300Mhz. Actually, simply upgrading to the 7200RPM drive should breathe new life into an already very speedy system.
Hmm rather disappointed with that graphivs card change, i was hoping Sony would come up with the the 256mb x800 mobility when they suped up the S Series range.. i do like the silver top though, but thats not going to be enough for me to trade up from my s1xp.. I may have to get one of those 16mb 100gb 7200rpm hdd’s when they come out though.
[quote author=“tifosiv122”]Plus…I still hold a grudge against nVidia for killing the superior 3Dfx.
3Dfx fell of its own dead weight. nVidia’s TNT2 had 32-bit color and was capable of using 2MB textures, as opposed to the Voodoo3, which was only capable of 16-bit color and 256k textures. Then came the GeForce series and that put 3Dfx to bed. 3Dfx was fignting true technology leaps (like T&L) with packing more and more chips on the board. Remember the ridiculousness that was the ill-fated, 4-CPU Voodoo5 6000 ?
By the end, it was kind of putting the old dog out of its misery. :| Until the 6-series cards, it looked like nVidia was going in the same direction.
[quote author=“Drachen”]nVidia’s TNT2 had 32-bit color and was capable of using 2MB textures, as opposed to the Voodoo3, which was only capable of 16-bit color and 256k textures.
Yeah, but your forgetting why…R&D $‘s went to a legal fund…although 3Dfx won the case, they went broke doing so.
[quote author=“tifosiv122”]Yeah, but your forgetting why…R&D $‘s went to a legal fund…although 3Dfx won the case, they went broke doing so.
That suit was filed less than 6 months before 3Dfx finally went belly up. Remember who sued first . It was the tech and the lack of the OEM revenue stream that really killed 3Dfx. The suit was just the coup de grace.
[quote author=“Drachen”][quote author=“tifosiv122”]Yeah, but your forgetting why…R&D $‘s went to a legal fund…although 3Dfx won the case, they went broke doing so.
That suit was filed less than 6 months before 3Dfx finally went belly up. Remember who sued first . It was the tech and the lack of the OEM revenue stream that really killed 3Dfx. The suit was just the coup de grace.
September 22, 1998- 3dfx sues Nvidia for multi-texture patent infringement.
December 15, 2000- 3dfx closes it’s doors and sells off it’s assets to Nvidia.
This is the lawsuit I was talking about…3Dfx sued nVidia, and it cost them everything they had to win. Those 2 years all funds went towards the lawsuit and they left nill for R&D…as you said, they just added chips and kept releasing products. Don’t forget, they had to sue Sega a bit before for breach, which they settled, but not for as much as they needed.
[quote author=“tifosiv122”]This is the lawsuit I was talking about…3Dfx sued nVidia, and it cost them everything they had to win. Those 2 years all funds went towards the lawsuit and they left nill for R&D…as you said, they just added chips and kept releasing products. Don’t forget, they had to sue Sega a bit before for breach, which they settled, but not for as much as they needed.
Granted, but:
September 22, 1998- 3dfx sues Nvidia for multi-texture patent infringement.
October 1st? 1998- Banshee cards released for sale.
November 16, 1998- 3dfx announces Voodoo 3.
December 14, 1998- 3dfx announced it was going to acquire STB systems and start making their own cards, Voodoo 3 delayed 5 months due to merger.
April 1999 - nVidia launches the TNT2.
April 7, 1999- Voodoo 3-2000 and 3000 cards released.
July 30, 1999- V3-3500 released
September 1999 - nVidia launches the GeForce 256
Sounds like a bad business decision followed by slow sales of Voodoo3 and getting behind a product cycle was the match that started the fire.
