Live from Taiwan: ATI RD580 Motherboards
by Wesley Fink on March 1, 2006 8:55 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Bottom Line
ATI seemed to turn the corner in having product available at launch with their recent introduction of the X1900XT chipset video cards. Our conversations with Taiwan motherboard manufacturers in late February clearly showed that today's launch of the RD580 chipset will also be accompanied by retail products you can actually buy. It is good to see that ATI is finally able to consistently deliver product at launch. They seem to have turned the corner from the paper launches of 2005.With the introduction of RD580 ATI has a single-chip dual x16 PCIe Corssfire solution to compete with nVidia's top-of-the-line dual x16 PCIe chipset. With a competitive chipset, the fastest current video card in the X1900XT, and the end of paper launches, ATI has had a great start to 2006. The ATI position is further enhanced by the fact that the ATI RD580 is fully compatible with the upcoming AMD AM2 processors alted for relese late in the second quarter.
The Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe will be widely available for purchase today. Street prices are targeted to provide good value in a dual x16 PCIe chipset, with a selling price lower than the nVidia dual X16 A8N32-SLI. The DFI RD580 will follow in 10 days to a week, the Sapphire ships March 20th, and the Abit AT8-32X arrives later in March.
In addition to the Socket 939 RD580 boards, motherboard manufacturers were shpowing a number of AM2 designs based on the ATI RD580 chipset. Many of these prototypes and working models will be on display at Cebit in a couple of weeks. Since RD580 was designed to support AM2 as well as Socket 939 you will see more manufacturers offering the RD580 chipset when AM2 launches in about 3 months.
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Beenthere - Saturday, March 4, 2006 - link
For those silly enough to run out and buy an untested mobo, the ATI RD580 mobos don't seem to be readily available in the U.S. on March 1st as advertised. Today 3-4-06 I see only two e-tailers with a few of the Asus A8R32 and of course they are price gouging like usual. I don't see any of the Asus or other brands of RD580 mobos at Monarch, Mwave, or other larger e-tailers so it looks to me like some gray market mobos were shipped to the two e-tailers to be the first kids on the block to have them. ther's also no listing for the A8R32 on pricegrabber or Dealtime.I also see from the reviews that the A8R32 offers little performance advantage over the A8R-MVP and few of the voltage/BIOS issues have been resolved. With the foolish PCI slot locations and number on the RD580 chipset based Asus, Sapphire mobos it looks like these mobos are of little value to anyone. More not ready for prime time rushed to market crap for the sheep to buy.
SOS, DD.
Ecmaster76 - Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - link
Seriously though, when is the performance review coming (back) ?DigitalFreak - Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - link
I can't believe Asus would only put 1 PCI-E 1x slot on this board, and then place it so it's useless when a dual slot cooler video card is installed! Whomever designed this board should be smacked.Palek - Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - link
Wes, you say, "The Sapphire version is a virtual copy of the ATI Manta Reference design..."I seem to recall (I could be wrong though) that Sapphire designs most or all reference boards for ATi, and if that is the case here then the above sentence might require some rewriting.
breethon - Monday, February 27, 2006 - link
Why all the hoopla when AMD is moving away from Socket 939? Is this "NEW" thing going to support the new 940s too? Otherwise, how can you support the idea for the cost?Aelius - Monday, February 27, 2006 - link
Did you even bother reader it?R580 is not just socket 939. It is also for socket AM2, in fact many mobo manufacturers are only bringing this chipset out for socket AM2 and are skipping 939.
Personally I'm skipping AM2 altogeather and getting the best 939 system later this year when prices are much lower and laughing all the way to the next AMD socket generation after AM2. Should be in 2008.
Orbs - Monday, February 27, 2006 - link
Since the RD580 is going to support AM2, it's definately a longer-term chipset. With all the recent hoopla regarding HDCP support, does the chipset itself need to be certified to enjoy HD output on Vista? If so, does the RD580 support it?DanaGoyette - Monday, February 27, 2006 - link
I want the Abit, but it's a shame the board is brown (brown is ugly). I want it in black like the Asus, with red or black slots. I can make the SATA external just by passing it through a PCI slot or a hole in the backplane.Missing Ghost - Monday, February 27, 2006 - link
That DFI board looks like the most perfect board ever!ariafrost - Monday, February 27, 2006 - link
Or can you not access the ABIT page (should be page 4) of this article? It just takes me to the "bottom line".