New rumor about ATI Southern Islands

[Vardant]

Hmmm, OBR is now saying, that the HD6800 line-up is the successor to HD58x0 cards. But if I'm reading it right, he's hinting, that the rename is in fact coming.

We should know everything in two days, because apparently there's going to be a techbrief in the US.

[zerazax]

This might be AMD's best job confusing everyone yet

Anywho, regarding the clocks and all that... remember, Juniper x2 is literally supposed to be Cypress, yet Juniper x2 in CF often beat Cypress handily, despite having to deal with CF... many say that Cypress had architecture issues/inefficiencies, so fixing those alone should net quite an improvement

edit: and with all the secrecy, it makes me wonder what AMD has up their sleeves.... its known that this is a relatively new architecture, the biggest chance since R600 in fact... less than a week to go and people aren't even sure whats up. This should be exciting

[Mech0z]

This might be AMD's best job confusing everyone yet

Anywho, regarding the clocks and all that... remember, Juniper x2 is literally supposed to be Cypress, yet Juniper x2 in CF often beat Cypress handily, despite having to deal with CF... many say that Cypress had architecture issues/inefficiencies, so fixing those alone should net quite an improvement

edit: and with all the secrecy, it makes me wonder what AMD has up their sleeves.... its known that this is a relatively new architecture, the biggest chance since R600 in fact... less than a week to go and people aren't even sure whats up. This should be exciting

Are you sure its so new? From what I have read its just a dieshrink with more shaders etc that normally follows such a thing. HD5xxx was new, then when we get HD7xxx its a new architecture on now tested half node so you dont get both new tech and die shrink at the same time (Which tends to cause too many problems)

[Mechanical Man]

Are you sure its so new? From what I have read its just a dieshrink with more shaders etc that normally follows such a thing. HD5xxx was new, then when we get HD7xxx its a new architecture on now tested half node so you dont get both new tech and die shrink at the same time (Which tends to cause too many problems)

Eh? HD6k is on same node as HD5k.

[Iconyu]

Eh? HD6k is on same node as HD5k.

You went too easy on him.

[Sn0wm@n]

6k series is still on 40nm ...

[Eagleclaw]

That is a interesting thought of a higher part coming after a "dual gpu top dog"

I plan on upgrading to the newest single GPU card when they come out (if the price/performance isn't out of this world.

Cayman XT was my first thought but you think something better than that could be coming?

is it possible tajoh that the renaming was done because of the introduction of fusion parts ... and now that the ati branding is the start of such thing ... so renaming parts one slot higher would mean a higher end part is comming after the dual gpu top dog .... at least thats my logic here ...

[Pantsu]

The specs and performace leak all seemed believable to me, and that would mean it certainly isn't a proper successor to 5800-series at least in performance. Of course given the suggested 250/200€ prices and 256-bit bus it would be kinda beefy for a 6700-series.

Good thing it'll all be clear in a few days hopefully.

[Eagleclaw]

All the "card name neysayers" should at leased take this into consideration. Posted by Dahbob over at guru3d................

There has been rumours of name change going along with this

With only 2 exceptions, names of the ATi's products launched in last 7 years, always corresponded to die size:

101 - 150mm² => x6xx

* RV830 (Radeon HD5500): 104 mm²
* RV635 (Radeon HD3650): 120 mm²
* RV530 (Radeon X1600): 150 mm²
* RV630 (Radeon HD2600): 150 mm²
* RV730 (Radeon HD4600): 150 mm²

151 - 190mm² => x7xx

* RV410 (Radeon X700): 156 mm²
* RV840 (Radeon HD5700): 170 mm²

191 - 340mm² => x8xx

* RV670 (Radeon HD38x0): 192 mm²
* R430 (Radeon X800XL): 240 mm²
* RV770 (Radeon HD4800): 256 mm²
* R420 (Radeon X800XT): 281 mm²
* RV790 (Radeon HD4890): 282 mm²
* R520 (Radeon X1800): 288 mm²
* RV870 (Radeon HD5800): 331 mm²

341 - 500mm² => x9xx

* R580 (Radeon X1900XT): 342 mm²
* R580+ (Radeon X1950XT): 34x mm²
* R600 (Radeon HD2900): 420 mm²

The only two exceptions in this system were two "pipe-cleaner" parts, which were used for testing of new manufacturing process and because of that, they were significantly smaller, than other GPUs of that family: RV570 (80nm), RV740 (40nm).

[Vardant]

All the "card name neysayers" should at leased take this into consideration. Posted by Dahbob over at guru3d................

And? Almost nobody knows that. On the other hand, almost everyone knows, that HD 4870 is the successor to HD 3870 and HD 5870... etc.

Anyway, if OBR is right, you can forget about this whole discussion.

[Zloyd]

So would it be correct to say that AMD is trying to sell 5870 & 5850 performance at a lower price while at the same time maybe increasing their profits & with the bigger single chip take back single fastest gpu title as well and sell that at a premium ? Maybe they wont make more money per card but with the lower prices and great VFM they look to get a bigger share of the market with the cheaper cards.

I might have simplified it too much but that seems like a great move from AMD

[Sn0wm@n]

So would it be correct to say that AMD is trying to sell 5870 & 5850 performance at a lower price while at the same time maybe increasing their profits & with the bigger single chip take back single fastest gpu title as well and sell that at a premium.

I might have simplified it too much but that seems like a great move from AMD

it might look like it .. but no official news on those parts have been released yet ....

a couple more days till we find out what's real or not

[hurleybird]

All the "card name neysayers" should at leased take this into consideration. Posted by Dahbob over at guru3d................

It's aslo been posted in this thread. Several times.

[Eastcoasthandle]

If it's true that 6870 is the true successor of the 5870 then that may mean that there are 2 versions of the 6870. One for the desktop the other for mobile. Just like Juniper! You have a 5770 for the desktop and a 5770 called a 5870 for mobile. But who knows with all the confusion surrounding this.

[Manicdan]

i like the confusion

however i would also like to know when they will give us the news. isnt that like really, really soon?

[Sn0wm@n]

i like the confusion

however i would also like to know when they will give us the news. isnt that like really, really soon?

yeah .. this week end iirc ... the 18th amd has an anual conference or something

[Vardant]

More news:

It's a successor, but AMD puts HD 6850 against GTX 460 1GB, HD 6870 is one level above. It's not a performance chart, but a price chart, I guess?

The Vantage numbers are real apparently, but it looks better in games.

They will be faster, but with less units.

The clocks we've seen so far are wrong.

All in all, it looks like AMD is going to cash on the problems NV had this generation, release "slightly" faster cards with bigger margins and keep the big guns for the year ahead.

[Sn0wm@n]

so all the rumors about number of shaders and clockspeed wrong???? .... nice to know ...

[AMDDeathstar]

x8xx series with only one CF tab?
I don't think so

http://gpudesign.bafree.net/amd-radeon-hd-6850-picture

[jaredpace]

x8xx series with only one CF tab?
I don't think so

That is in fact a HD6850 board with the Barts Pro core, and the board has one Crossfire goldfinger. The Cayman boards have two crossfire goldfingers for 3x and 4x crossfire configurations.

Calling the Juniper successor (Barts) boards "HD68xx" is an obvious attempt at positioning your new product line-up for better margins (a page taken out of NV's playbook). People will think, "Hey, this is a 6850, so it must be an upgrade to my 5850." (Even though that may or may not be the case.) It's a similar naming convention to what took place with G92 and 8800gtx -> 9800gtx.

Personally, i think it sucks. But what can you do. The real special sauce is the Cypress successor (Cayman XT) board (HD6970). And the SOY SAUCE, if you will, is the Dual Cayman XT board "Antilles" (HD6990) that is slotted for around the end of the year.

Don't be fooled by marketing names when it comes to the HD6870.

[570091D]

[zerazax]

The real special sauce is the Cypress successor (Cayman XT) board (HD6970). And the SOY SAUCE, if you will, is the Dual Cayman XT board "Antilles" (HD6990) that is slotted for around the end of the year.

Don't be fooled by marketing names when it comes to the HD6870.

It makes me wonder though. If Barts is the replacement for the 5770, and Cayman XT is going to have a big 30-40% performance boost on what's ~5870 performance today.... just imagine what Antilles can do

[-Sweeper_]

It makes me wonder though. If Barts is the replacement for the 5770, and Cayman XT is going to have a big 30-40% performance boost on what's ~5870 performance today.... just imagine what Antilles can do

antilles will have to deal with low clocks to maintain 300w TDP...

[Yvese]

antilles will have to deal with low clocks to maintain 300w TDP...

Clocks which you could then easily bump back up just like the 5970.

[tajoh111]

That is in fact a HD6850 board with the Barts Pro core, and the board has one Crossfire goldfinger. The Cayman boards have two crossfire goldfingers for 3x and 4x crossfire configurations.

Calling the Juniper successor (Barts) boards "HD68xx" is an obvious attempt at positioning your new product line-up for better margins (a page taken out of NV's playbook). People will think, "Hey, this is a 6850, so it must be an upgrade to my 5850." (Even though that may or may not be the case.) It's a similar naming convention to what took place with G92 and 8800gtx -> 9800gtx.

Personally, i think it sucks. But what can you do. The real special sauce is the Cypress successor (Cayman XT) board (HD6970). And the SOY SAUCE, if you will, is the Dual Cayman XT board "Antilles" (HD6990) that is slotted for around the end of the year.

Don't be fooled by marketing names when it comes to the HD6870.

+ 1
Holy man. Someone finally see what I see. Rather than some crazy shifting strategy that benefits the consumer.