James Gorbold

Input/Output - 2007 versus 2008

Posted at: 23rd January 2008

2007 was a great year for cut-price hardware, but 2008 should see the launch of more innovative technology.

While 2007 was undoubtedly a great year for PC enthusiasts, this wasn't due to any major new product launches or the introduction of new technology, but to the multibillion-dollar price war between Intel and AMD.

Despite the way that AMD fumbled the launch of its Phenom and Opteron 2300-series CPUs, releasing these underperforming CPUs almost nine months late, Intel still slashed the price of its quad-core CPUs by more than 300 per cent. Intel also gave us a glimpse of the future in the shape of its awesomely overclockable, energy-efficient 45nm Core 2 Extreme QX9650 and QX9770.

In contrast, 2008 is likely to have more in common with 2006 than 2007. The main theme of that vintage year was the introduction of several new technologies, all of which had a significant effect on the performance of our PCs. The first big bang of 2006 was the launch of the Core 2 series of CPUs, which saw Intel return to the top of the CPU market after stumbling around in the wilderness for several years, due to its unwillingness to ditch the ailing NetBurst architecture.

Just before the end of 2006, Nvidia also managed to surprise everybody by releasing the world's first unified shader DirectX 10 GPU, the GeForce 8800 GTX, almost six months ahead of ATI. Even though DirectX 10 has so far proved to be about as much use as a parasol in a tropical rainstorm, the GeForce 8800 GTX was so good at DirectX 9 games that it remained Nvidia's flagship product for more than a year, bar the 8800 Ultra, which is basically just an overclocked 8800 GTX.

One of the most promising areas of development for 2008 is monitors. While these don't generate the same level of excitement or rabid fanboyism as CPUs and GPUs, seeing as it's the part of the PC you interact with most, it should be subject to the same level of analysis. One of the most interesting new developments is that of 3D displays, such as the amazing Zalman Trimon. This incredible screen works by stereoscopy, a technique that tricks the brain into combining two slightly out-of-sync images into a single 3D scene. It's incredibly hard to explain without seeing the Trimon in action, but at the risk of using too much hyperbole, this monitor is simply amazing to behold and genuinely succeeds in tricking your senses. Technically speaking, it was released in 2007, and as it currently only works with older GeForce 7-series graphics cards, it isn't a practical alternative to a standard 2D display. However, Nvidia has promised to release a GeForce 8-series-compatible driver in 2008, which will hopefully encourage other manufacturers to release 3D displays.

Also on the display front, Alienware recently demoed what can only be described as a really, really widescreen monitor. This innovative display combines three panels into a single unit, with a native 2,800 x 900 resolution that curves gently inwards. Sticking with the display theme, several companies have plans to release high-resolution TFTs in 2008. However, in contrast to current high-resolution 2,560 x 1,600 displays, which are only available as 30in panels, these high-resolution displays (3,280 x 2,400) will be available as smaller panels, making them more practical for home use. As the pixels will be so small, there should be no need for anti-aliasing either. The only downside I can foresee is that you'll need an incredibly powerful graphics card to render such a huge resolution at a decent frame rate - a clear challenge for all GPU designers for the year ahead.

GPU designers will certainly have a lot to think about in 2008, with plenty of challenges ahead, such as the appearance of the first true DirectX 10 games, as opposed to the botch-job attempts of 2007. Despite ATI's inability to produce a high-end DirectX 10 GPU, it won't be long before Nvidia releases its long-awaited successor to the GeForce 8800 GTX. Although details of this new GPU are thin on the ground, and fall into the 'unsubstantiated rumour' category, Nvidia will have a new competitor to worry about in 2008, so the company is under a lot of pressure to release a great new GPU.

While ATI appears to be in worse trouble than AMD, the real sea change in the GPU market will come from a new competitor - Intel. The Californian giant hasn't made a discrete graphics card GPU since the terrible i740 back in 1998, but the company's forthcoming Larabee-based graphics cards are likely to provide major competition for Nvidia. In fact, senior Nvidia personnel have already told us that they're more concerned about Intel than ATI in 2008. Whatever form Larabee takes, one thing is for sure - more choice is always a good thing, so I welcome any new competitor into the graphics market.

Submit to:

Slashdot | Digg | Stumbleupon | Del.icio.us
Reddit | Technorati

Print-friendly version

Comments

Prices down what now ?

James what about a feature on bandwidth with 4 or more core CPUs + DDR2+DDR3 and any future developments coming soon ish