AMD's Radeon HD 6870 benchmarked? (updated more screens)

[tajoh111]

Tajoh, ive been hearing that Cayman was originally designed for 28/32 nm as well.

Thinking about it some more, it makes sense. As GPU's take years to go from design to being finalised, I am sure the architecture after Cypress was designed with 28/32 nm in mind. Its not like the transition from 45 to 32 nm was taking too long so AMD just decided to modify the Cypress core here and there and sell it as Cayman in a few months. Also, the fact that 67xx seem to be modified Cypress cores means that Cypress would be cheaper to manufacture than a dumbed down Cayman cores, which might happen due to the fact that Cayman will be bigger in size compared to Cypress since, again, it was designed for 32nm.

Power consumption apparently seems to have gone up in comparison to Cypress as well. Hmm.

Also, you do need to realise that 67xx are going to replace the 58xx cards. I doubt AMD would price their midrange 67xx cards at current 58xx prices. Hence from what I feel, 68xx will be priced slightly more than 58xx, and 67xx are going to fill up the $150 - $200 market.

Of course I might be wrong

I could see if AMD doesn't update the 5770 them still keeping the 6770 range at the low price they are at. However, if it performs 25% better, I could see the 6770 being knocked up 50 dollars. If the 6770 performs like a 5830 or a gtx 460, it can totally get away with a price tag of 179.99 and the 6750 being 150. AMD can get away with such pricing because they have the momentum right now and Nvidia's low range products are looking mediocre.

If the 5xxx series is off the market, the consumer will be basically forced to buy AMD's line if they want something new at all or buy NVidia's slightly cheaper but worse performing line with higher power and heat.

The later they don't mind because they allow them to be reestablished as the premium brand in addition it allows their competitor to make some money just not that much.

Making money is the number one priority of a company, and getting something as quick to the market ASAP when the competition is vulnerable is the most important thing during that time. Nvidia is going to jump on 28nm ASAP when it comes out and AMD going to need a line at 28nm at that time too. This is likely going to be late 2nd quarter or early in quarter 3 of next year.

I cannot see AMD spending a full R and D budget and more to rush this product on a product that's going to only have a 9 month life cycle(which will be likely the shortest lifecycle ever for a lineup). They really don't need to blitz NV at this point. They are selling like crazy as is, and by keeping performance in check, it gives more incentive for people to upgrade when the 7xxx generation happens. Considering that this chip has to be bigger than the chips as is, to perform better, its not the place to take risks as we have seen with the TSMC 40nm. Its better to be safe so you can have predictable power outcomes.

I could see Nvidia still selling during this period with a 384 shader part at 249, gtx 480 at $399 and a gtx 490 at a price of 499.

Too much performance really is going to lead to gouging which really doesn't help AMD as a brand to profit as seen from their last quarterly statement. At this point timing is more important. The longer AMD can get away with big margins, the more money they will make.