AMD brings DisplayPort to pros with ATI FireGL V7700

Hot on the heels of AMD's Radeon HD 3000 graphics card receiving its oh-so-coveted DisplayPort certification badge comes the firm's first DisplayPort-equipped card for the professionals in attendance. Hailed as the "first commercially available 3D workstation graphics card with DisplayPort support," the ATI FireGL V7700 sports a PCI Express 2.0 interface, 10-bit display engine, 512MB of onboard memory, dual-link DVI connector and a promise to handle CAD / DCC projects with ease. 'Course, we don't see you picking this one up just for kicks at $1,099, but those actually in need can place a gaping hole in their wallet in exchange for one next month.

[Flashpoint @ Mar 31st 2008 8:10AM]

I don't see myself ever spending over $300 for just a video card but, I'd consider doing so if I was given absolute certainty that I could run CRYSIS in Very High detail using my Quad Core with 4 GB of RAM.

[Blaine Oliver @ Mar 31st 2008 8:26AM]

This is a workstation graphics card for CAD etc... Not a gaming graphics card.

[Kurian @ Mar 31st 2008 8:33AM]

The FireGL/Quadro are a scam. They just make some small tweaks to the hardware so that it can perform operations that an ordinary GeForce or Radeon can technically do and charge 1000$+ for it.

[zargon @ Mar 31st 2008 8:59AM]

I hope displayport dies a horrible death.

I am sick of some moron thinking we need yet another connection. Componenet can handle 1080p (and we could be using it had the IEEE not turned it down for use), DVI and HDMI are not needed. It is just because of the stupid studios forcing DRM down our throats and everything just assuming "digital" is better.

HDMI is now the new standard, most people have come to terms with this. Just freaking use HDMI!

[RangerVette @ Mar 31st 2008 9:17AM]

Zargon, you are the moron. Do a little research before you start calling someone a moron-

Display port is more than just "another connection"

[Mark @ Mar 31st 2008 9:22AM]

displayport (open standard) > hdmi

[Mikeo @ Mar 31st 2008 9:43AM]

Well, moron, HDMI can't drive a 30 inch Cinema (or Dell in that matter).

Duh.

[zargon @ Mar 31st 2008 9:52AM]

I know about DisplayPort, my whole point is we do not need yet another input type when we have one that will work perfectly fine, that HDMI will work just fine. More connections only cause confusion and issues.

HDMI can can perfectly drive a 30" and larger, CE companies just need to get their head out of there asses and stop making more standards that aren't needed.

[jordan @ Mar 31st 2008 11:13AM]

No, zargon, I don't think you're understanding why DisplayPort is a better alternative. First of all, it's an open standard; so, as far as I know, you don't have to pay the license fee associated with other ports (such as HDMI). Also, you don't have to worry about HDCP keys (and associated costs), because DisplayPort just uses AES encryption.

So, in theory, you have a connection that equals (or betters) HDMI in specifications, without nearly the same cost. Have you seen how much an HDMI cable costs? (And no, it's not that high just because it's not commonplace)

[zargon @ Mar 31st 2008 12:10PM]

No, I fully understand DisplayPort and what they are trying to do. It may be better but that is subjective and is not the point. The point is we are being thrusted with yet another connection type to worry about.

I am not claiming HDMI to be perfect, but it kind of has grabbed a major foot hold and is the standard now.

No more connections please!

[DiscoCat5 @ Mar 31st 2008 10:16AM]

as long as display port doesnt spuercede another connection type then i have no issue with it, let sleeping dogs lie.

[bigazzknocks @ Mar 31st 2008 1:16PM]

HDMI cables cost a lot because our brainless consumers don't mind paying a lot for them.

[Daniel @ Mar 31st 2008 3:04PM]

In terms of new standards, how long before DisplayPort has 100 versions? In particular I'm under the impression that it's supposed to support USB someday but I haven't heard of that actually happening. So is the plan that we eventually have cards & monitors with displayport with a list of features that they do or don't support? Yeah, brilliant.

[Apollo 14 trench team @ Apr 11th 2008 9:38PM]

The problem for you who merely play games ans so forth is that you don't understand what support for these cards is worth to the users. For example if I am a geologist and running Schlumberger's 3d reservoir model 3 to supervise a drilling rig in 1000ft of water, the rig costs upward of $200,000 a day. The geologist needs to be able to know that his machine is going to work and that he has tech support 24 hours a day if something goes wrong. ATI and Nvidia have around the clock tech support for these cards. If a card craters you are sent a replacement card on the next flight out either Toronto or California. As to the new out put it is really designed to be a interface for large numbers of these cards used to create something like Gauss at Lawrence Livermore https://publicaffairs.llnl.gov/news/news_releases/2005/NR-05-11-04p.html
The display is 4m x10m.DVI and HDMI don't cut it for parallel graphics cards for large display of very fine details, a billion or so colors. Or think Mission Control at NASA when they need to check for damage after launch of the Space shuttle. 1080P isn't going to cut it for detailed display of the underside of the shuttle. To quote Pete Townsend of The Who "I call that a bargain the best I ever had".