Quote Originally Posted by tajoh111 View Post
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.
that's almost never done and for good reasons. also a gf100 based on 28nm could be easily 40% faster with relatively little effort.
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.
R&D is a fixed expense. it doesnt change much. but really it's not a quick paced game like you think. development of gpu's is 3-4 years so they arent going to base decisions on how the competition is performing 3 years from now, they are just going to reach the goals of the chip. i.e. performance, area, cost, etc.