Quote Originally Posted by ColonelCain View Post
True, but this would mean that RV870 is delayed, which wouldn't be a logical gamble for ATI. Risk GT200b beating a 40nm refresh, and have a longer wait to RV870 than if they forgo a refresh?
It WOULD however follow their "new strategy", that they announced awhile back. I think that it was around every 6 months alternating new arch/new refresh?

One thing that I found kind of interesting, concerning the redundancy debate, is that when you look at a die shot of Rv770 detailing the chips internals, there is possibility for their argument, at least as far as shaders go. If you look to the left of the "SIMD group", it looks almost like there are 4 extra shaders per group. X10, and we would get the extra 40. If you don't see it, look at the pattern.
I think you are right,there seems to be 4 extra shaders per group.Now,if they can be active with the rest or can be used just for redundancy purposes is unknown atm.It would be nice if 840SP rumor is true,but honestly how much more perf. these 40 stream units can bring?20% more TMUs and higher core clocks on the other hand can be more effective.