New rumor about ATI Southern Islands

[tajoh111]

If I'm not mistaken, you seem to be missing something here... So, you as an average customer, step into the hardware store with your $215 (or go online). What do you see there? Certainly not a HD5870 for that price. With some luck maybe a HD5850. And a HD6870. So purchase the HD6870, and guess what - you just got better bang for you buck, a higher efficiency and more features.

Granted, the HD5870 will probably go a little bit lower in price, due to the new series. But to expect $300 performance from a $215 card is somewhat questionable. What about looking at it the way around? You could spend $300 on a HD5870, and be very disappointed when you find out that your neighbor that spent only $215 (on a HD6870) got nearly the same performance - along with better tessellation etc.

So, in other words, I believe most consumers don't want a certain card with a certain number, they just have a certain budget and go out to find a card that suits it. If AMD's pricing were to be way off here, it would be a ripoff indeed. But by the same sort of rumours that regard the name shift , AMD's pricing seems perfectly reasonable.

The 215 pricing is after selling your card. I am thinking Barts xt is going to be around 259 or higher as AMD as of late has been very expensive relative to the size of the chips they are selling.

Expecting to get better performance should be natural. The gtx 470 is much larger than a 5870 and performs about the same at this point and is 279 dollars. With a new architecture and smaller size, I could see AMD making really good improvement, something smaller than the 5870 and performing better. The point of new technology in videocards, is you get better performance for the price as technology improves. It is perfectly believable that AMD can get 5870 performance for the price of a 5850 as time moves forward. Look at the price difference and performance of cards like the 2900xt tp 4870. Have the cost and twice the performance. Or the 3870x2 to 4870. Both of these were the top tier from the generation before or two generations ago and they simply get beat by a card at a much cheaper price point.

If AMD is making a smaller chip, the lower price should be a given.

However if we are getting 5850 performance again at the same 259 dollar price point(maybe 5 percent better), I don't think we are getting a good deal as AMD is benefiting more than us.

Also modifying your example. What if you see two cards, the 5850 for 170 dollars on clearance and the 6870 for 259 what is the consumer going to buy? Both are the same speed in most games and the 5850 is a better deal. However normally the 6870 would be twice as fast as the 5850 because it is a generation ahead and is the top tier for single GPU chips, so you buy it thinking it is worth the extra cost. However in this case with the new naming your not getting closed to that. AMD just made an extra 90 bucks off you for a card that performs the same and cost less for them to produce.

If the vantage numbers are true. Your getting something much closer to 5850 performance than 5870(which partners seem to be suggesting) and if your paying 259, I don't think your getting that great a deal because that speed and price could have been received last generation.

[zerazax]

The 215 pricing is after selling your card. I am thinking Barts xt is going to be around 259 or higher as AMD as of late has been very expensive relative to the size of the chips they are selling.

Expecting to get better performance should be natural. The gtx 470 is much larger than a 5870 and performs about the same at this point and is 279 dollars. With a new architecture and smaller size, I could see AMD making really good improvement, something smaller than the 5870 and performing better. The point of new technology in videocards, is you get better performance for the price as technology improves. It is perfectly believable that AMD can get 5870 performance for the price of a 5850 as time moves forward. Look at the price difference and performance of cards like the 2900xt tp 4870. Have the cost and twice the performance. Or the 3870x2 to 4870. Both of these were the top tier from the generation before or two generations ago and they simply get beat by a card at a much cheaper price point.

If AMD is making a smaller chip, the lower price should be a given.

However if we are getting 5850 performance again at the same 259 dollar price point(maybe 5 percent better), I don't think we are getting a good deal as AMD is benefiting more than us.

Also modifying your example. What if you see two cards, the 5850 for 170 dollars on clearance and the 6870 for 259 what is the consumer going to buy? Both are the same speed in most games and the 5850 is a better deal. However normally the 6870 would be twice as fast as the 5850 because it is a generation ahead and is the top tier for single GPU chips, so you buy it thinking it is worth the extra cost. However in this case with the new naming your not getting closed to that. AMD just made an extra 90 bucks off you for a card that performs the same and cost less for them to produce.

If the vantage numbers are true. Your getting something much closer to 5850 performance than 5870(which partners seem to be suggesting) and if your paying 259, I don't think your getting that great a deal because that speed and price could have been received last generation.

Dude you are analyzing WAY too deep into this right now, all based on some Vantage/3dM scores with no CPU reference for each set of scores

First, you have no idea what size Barts is going to be... it's been hinted that it's roughly 1/3 the size of the GTX 470, so it can be priced below what a 5850/5870 was at release...

More than a few people have said the 68xx is a worthy successor to the 58xx's, so wait and see IMO. If they really improved DX11 tess/other performance, then I bet the performance delta increases in actual game benchmarks, and not 3dMark06/Vantage which won't see those changes put to use at all since those are very set on the DX9/10 feature set