Quote Originally Posted by xlink View Post
it was meant to be a sidegrade. Check the transistor budget... about 25% fewer transistors. It was meant to achieve around the same level of performance.

if it were meant to be an upgrade, transistor count would have gone up. check how the 6900s have an increased transistor count
that was because they were stuck at 40nm.
originally they wanted 32nm, in which case things would probably a lot different right now... there is just so much they can do at 40nm.