Quote Originally Posted by Picao84 View Post
Conspiracy Theory:

When Charlie said that allocation for HD6950 was changed to HD6970, what if there wasnt a change in the chips? Imagine HD6970 was going to be 1920 SPs, and instead of a real allocation from 1536 SPs to 1920 SPs, what was changed was just the name?

The chip might have 1920 SPs, but launched with only 1536 enabled. This would give space for AMD to launch a HD6980 in the future, or even a renamed product for the 7xxx series, while waiting for the 28nm process to mature (quite possibly it will only be available on Q42011 or Q2012).

I cant imagine them developing another 40nm chip meanwhile. Maybe they are just playing their cards for the near future?
If their top model (6970) does not have every single unit enabled then it is a major fail no matter how you look at it. And since AMD has very little problems with 40nm tech and their chip isn't GIGANTIC so there is really neither room nor reason for such a move.