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Battle of the Titans...ATi vs. nVIDIA
14 January, 2010 in Video/Graphics
nVIDIA and ATi are both gearing up for their next GPU launches, and while nVIDIA's most ground-breaking products may be in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment, ATi is prepared for what they surely hope will be as big a comeback in the mobile world as they have recently made in the desktop world.
ATi is preparing to launch their Mobility Radeon HD 5000 series of graphics cards, bringing the first DirectX 11-capable GPUs to notebook users everywhere. New notebooks with 5000 series GPUs will be launching throughout the first half of 2010, with one of the first, the Asus G73JH slated to launch next month with the top-of-the-line Mobility Radeon HD 5870 graphics card.
Outside of the excitement over being the first DirectX11 mobile GPUs, one of the most exciting aspects of the Mobility Radeon HD 5800, 5700, and 5600 series graphics cards is ATi's new Eyefinity technology. Using the DisplayPort graphics interface, a single Mobility Radeon 5600 or better GPU can drive as many as 6 displays (the Mobility Radeon 5400 series can only drive 4 displays).
Early benchmarks indicate that the Mobility Radeon 5000-series GPUs perform as-well-as-or-better-than nVIDIA's flagship cards (better than in applications that do not implement nVIDIA's PhysX technology, and neck-and-neck even within PhysX-enabled applications).
For their part, nVIDIA is ramping up to launch their GeForce 300M series, which will, at least at first, simply be rebranded (and in some cases revised) versions of their GeForce 200M series, but they are also gearing up for the desktop launch of their Fermi architecture, a DirectX 11 technology that is shaping up to be quite amazing. Although using the same die-size as the GeForce 200 series, Fermi GPUs will carry more than double the transistors, promising a revolutionary increase in graphical power once they launch.
Currently, desktop GPUs equipped with Fermi are slated to launch in limited quantities this March. If nVIDIA holds to the same mobile release schedule as they have in the past, we can expect mobile GPUs built on Fermi technology by the end of 2010.
With ATi back in the graphics market as a powerhouse contender, the competition between nVIDIA and ATi should be very interesting in the months to come. nVIDIA is trying to plan a shut-out with Fermi, but ATi has a head start, and the Mobility Radeon 5000 series has put ATi back on the map in a very real way. The competition can only mean good things for notebook buyers, and it will be exciting to see what each company does to reshape the high-performance landscape!