Final Specs for ATI HD 4870 and HD 4850 Leaked

[Macadamia]

why not somethink like a 4830 with the disabled functionallity you describe?
4870 RV770 gpu, high clocks
4850 RV770 gpu, medium clocks
4830 RV770gpu, low clocks and some tiny bits disabled (like for exemple 16 rops)

i think this would able them to get higher yields, get an enthusast part, get an high end card and a high midrange card

Big die, small margins, dead ATI.

People who keep asking for a fast ATI chip (probably so that they can get their GT200s cheap, nothing else ), but apparently forgot the R580 situation. The chip was fast, in shader stuff blown the G71 out of the water, but ATI still netted loss on the GPU/line itself. The GX2 with horrible SLI support barely kept up too, especially when you used the card for more than 6 months.

ATI might be aiming for a shorter upgrade cycle with more cards, a strong midrange and hopefully a competent highend. A very nice upside is that RV770/870/etc will be hard/virtually impossible to screw up in execution/ stuff after tape-out.