AMD Cayman info (or rumor)

[96redformula]

I just bit on HD6950, I have been struggling with that or HD6850 crossfire for 1080P 27" monitor resolution with a possibility of getting two more 27" monitors within 6 months. I think the 6950 will come out just fine in the long run. On water I fully expect to surpass 6970 , but we will see how it goes.

[96redformula]

Oh sure, now a HD6850 goes on sale for $155 . Hope I went with the right decision.

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2484241

[tbone8ty]

yeah after reading alot of reviews of the 6900 series....it reminds me of when Fermi(gtx480) first came out it was all over the place in games and benchs, but like 2-4 months later the drivers fixed this and we saw considerable gains over 5870.


meaaah my example sucked lol but basically i hope drivers fix incompatibility's and such

[Nintendork]

96redformula
In some places 6850 toxic sells for the same price as the regular version. This price-cuts were expected.

For eyefinity 2GB is the way to go.

[safan80]

yeah after reading alot of reviews of the 6900 series....it reminds me of when Fermi(gtx480) first came out it was all over the place in games and benchs, but like 2-4 months later the drivers fixed this and we saw considerable gains over 5870.


meaaah my example sucked lol but basically i hope drivers fix incompatibility's and such

I agree with this, I think the rager yesterday/today is over for the most part and people are looking at things more logically.

[Dalten]

Looks like fudzilla was pretty dead on with their info, like calling the number of SP's, etc. If anyone wants to practice facepalming, go read the comments by the retarded fanboys on all the 59xx articles... good lord. At least on here they called out and mocked.

[zerazax]

Looks like fudzilla was pretty dead on with their info, like calling the number of SP's, etc. If anyone wants to practice facepalming, go read the comments by the retarded fanboys on all the 59xx articles... good lord. At least on here they called out and mocked.

No they weren't. They flat out copied what Chinese forums were saying and showed tons of faked slides they claimed were real.

"Even a broken clock is correct twice a day"

[kuroikenshi]

No they weren't. They flat out copied what Chinese forums were saying and showed tons of faked slides they claimed were real.

"Even a broken clock is correct twice a day"

so long is an analog clock

[TurboDiv]

@96redformula

Single card is always better than Crossfire. CF set up is only for making a lot of points in 3D mark, it is not practical for gameplay since it has a lot of issues and incompatibility problems.

[safan80]

@96redformula

Single card is always better than Crossfire. CF set up is only for making a lot of points in 3D mark, it is not practical for gameplay since it has a lot of issues and incompatibility problems.

What issues? Please explain because if you have not used crossfire/SLI with the current cards on the market how can you say this?

[flopper]

@96redformula

Single card is always better than Crossfire. CF set up is only for making a lot of points in 3D mark, it is not practical for gameplay since it has a lot of issues and incompatibility problems.

99% gpu use in BC2, 110fps at 5760x1080 issues and compatibility problems?
scaling better than sli nowadays?
crossfire has evolved over the years and finnaly they got things right.

there can be issues sure, since it involves two cards, much like raid.

[TurboDiv]

I have friends who use it, and there are issues. From micro stuttering to incompatibility where you end up using only 1 card. Its the usual stuff we always talk about. Thats my advice to him. Its not a fact, just my opinion.

[safan80]

I have friends who use it, and there are issues. From micro stuttering to incompatibility where you end up using only 1 card. Its the usual stuff we always talk about. Thats my advice to him. Its not a fact, just my opinion.

Microstuttering is not an issue, unless of course you do not have a strong enough cpu to feed crossfire/SLI. When it comes to game incompatibilities you can usually rename the exe and get some performance out it at least.

[zerazax]

Incompatibility is a legit issue

However, microstuttering has been so heavily overblown that I bet 95% of those who claim they see it don't even know what it actually is and what to look for...

I think the rate of adoption of multi-GPU has actually gone way up over the last few years, in part because cards have been a lot cheaper, and because frankly, issues are getting resolved a lot better than in 2006 when it was turrrrrrrible

[Bigchrome]

Big difference is that the 2900XT's were quickly shelved/forgotten... they were around only 6 months.

Biggest evidence for driver changes is the fact that 69xx performance ranges everywhere from well above 5870 to only 5870 and occasionally below. Methinks the change from VLIW5->VLIW4 is a big issue, because code has been so heavily optimized for VLIW5 since 4800's AND 5800's have been using it. Makes no sense for 384 SIMD card to be less than 320 SIMD unless there's some issues with compiling vector instructions

See: 5870 release scores/benches (below 4870X2 performance) to today's #'s (just 10-20% below the 480/570 depending on the review you look at).

Also, what display capabilities are you looking for? If you're going single card, there isn't much display wise the 570's can do the 69xx's cant at this point

That is quite true, the problem is there is every possibility of being stung like that again! After seeing their performance increases to date with the 5870 I have a lot more faith in their abilities but that being said it's always going to be a gamble! They could decide tomorrow that they've sunk enough time into making games run better on it and just leave it as is.

The display capabilities was horribly mis-worded, I meant to say the 6950/70 had better performance/price and display capabilities, whilst the nvidia card was a better folder.

Ultimately I can't decide. I've never had this much trouble making a decision in my life before! If 2GB of ram turns out to be a big thing to have in future games I'll feel like an idiot, then again if they never fix folding on the ati cards I'll also get far less use from the card. If I chose not to go the nvidia route, 2x6850s are also very temping when compared to a 6970.

[hurrdurr]

Again NO ONE really understands what microstuttering is... You don't "see" microstuttering. Microstuttering merely means seeing 60FPS in FRAPS but feeling a smoothness of 30FPS (or whatever). It is a very legit issue. Very. When I switched from GTX 480 to HD5970, even though all FPS indicators increased, I didn't feel a parallel increase in smoothness. Maybe not at all.

I guess you people just concentrate really hard on seeing a little "stuttering", and when you can't, voila, microstuttering is not an issue. This is SO not the case.

The common practice when you're feeling that the game is running a bit slow is to load up FRAPS and see what FPS is at that moment. I encountered this a lot with nearly all dual GPU setups I ever used (x1900 CF, 8800GT SLI, HD5970): the game feels slow, I load FRAPS, see FPS is actually not bad, and think "60 FPS you say? oh... then it must be me... the game is actually smooth!"

Comparing dual GPU FPS to single GPU FPS is a wrong thing to do in a lot of cases.

[safan80]

Again NO ONE really understands what microstuttering is... You don't "see" microstuttering. Microstuttering merely means seeing 60FPS in FRAPS but feeling a smoothness of 30FPS (or whatever). It is a very legit issue. Very. When I switched from GTX 480 to HD5970, even though all FPS indicators increased, I didn't feel a parallel increase in smoothness. Maybe not at all.

I guess you people just concentrate really hard on seeing a little "stuttering", and when you can't, voila, microstuttering is not an issue. This is SO not the case.

The common practice when you're feeling that the game is running a bit slow is to load up FRAPS and see what FPS is at that moment. I encountered this a lot with nearly all dual GPU setups I ever used (x1900 CF, 8800GT SLI, HD5970): the game feels slow, I load FRAPS, see FPS is actually not bad, and think "60 FPS you say? oh... then it must be me... the game is actually smooth!"

Comparing dual GPU FPS to single GPU FPS is a wrong thing to do in a lot of cases.

Tell me what resolution do you game at? Do you also run AA and if so what level of AA?

I had the issue with my Nvidia 9800GX2. I know what it is, the big problem is it can be smooth but then it becomes jerky at times. I do not trust fraps for the most part ( I'm not going to get into that), I usually run in game frame rate counters and when it happens you will see a massive spike downwards.

[Kristers Bensin]

If i am not mistaken at 28nm will be Keplar, new arch. If AMD keeps same arch just doubles shaders it might be different ball game vs Keplar.

I belive AMD wont be sitting on the bench waiting for Nvidia to cut ahead. As ive been informed Cayman architecture is a hybrid between cypress and the new southern island. So while Cyaman might look all new its actually just a test for the new architecture that southern island will contain. But i dont think we can tell much before all the new 28nm cards are out.

[zerazax]

Kepler isn't going to be a new arch - Nvidia isn't going to shelve it after one gen.

Kepler is going to be an expanded card on 28nm, hence the 2011 date (well, assuming 28nm gets in this next year) - but with of course changes and so on, much like GT200 was heavily G80 based but had things done

[zshadow]

I belive AMD wont be sitting on the bench waiting for Nvidia to cut ahead. As ive been informed Cayman architecture is a hybrid between cypress and the new southern island. So while Cyaman might look all new its actually just a test for the new architecture that southern island will contain. But i dont think we can tell much before all the new 28nm cards are out.

This is what I've heard too. Cayman is a stepping-stone to AMD's new architecture.

I'm sitting this GPU gen out personally. Not worth upgrading from my 5970 for what.. 20-30% more performance if I go 2x6970. It's a good time to upgrade if you are still on the 4xxx or GTX2xx series cards though.

[chispy]

I'm sitting this GPU gen out personally.

+1 me too

[Lanek]

This is what I've heard too. Cayman is a stepping-stone to AMD's new architecture.

I'm sitting this GPU gen out personally. Not worth upgrading from my 5970 for what.. 20-30% more performance if I go 2x6970. It's a good time to upgrade if you are still on the 4xxx or GTX2xx series cards though.

when i see the price of 5870 just right now, i start to think i will take a 3th...
Just for the OC and tri CFX bench fun ... but at same time, for the price 2x 6970 ( close the 580 SLI ), are tempting, just need to wait for see how they OC with voltage tweaks and proper cooling.

[mutantmagnet]

Just to go back to the previous discussion about multi gpu compared to single, unless I mistaken you only have triple buffer support with single cards.

[STEvil]

Just to go back to the previous discussion about multi gpu compared to single, unless I mistaken you only have triple buffer support with single cards.

no, and irrelevent to playability.