AMD to launch Volcanic Islands GPU (HD8000s) in 2013

[raghu78]

AMD has done itself and the consumers no good by skipping a refresh. AMD could get 30% more perf from Bonaire HD 7790 compared to HD 7770 Cape verde at the same 85 W TDP. A similar update to Pitcairn (Hainan) and Tahiti (Curacao) was talked about. but that seems to have been scrapped.

http://videocardz.com/39041/meet-aru...hd-8000-series
http://videocardz.com/34981/amd-rade...fiation-leaked

AMD could have addressed the weaknesses of Tahiti, by adding more front end resources and going for 2560 SP, 4 ACE, 4 tesselators, 4 raster engines, 48 ROP, 384 bit memory bus chip at 420 - 440 sq mm. This chip could have easily improved per sp performance and with the newer power states and voltage binning (1.15 - 1.175v) AMD could have easily got 25 - 30% more performance at 250W TDP.

Maybe AMD were trying to cut costs or were constrained on resources due to PS4 / Xbox Next production and launch this year. That seems to be the only logical explanation. The bleeding CPU division hasn't made things easier for AMD. HD 7970 was the first GPU chip to be launched on 28nm and by this year end would have completed 2 years. AMD needs a very strong reply to resurrect its poor competitive situation and loss of brand value. The lack of competition has helped Nvidia to increase prices in the high end with Titan selling for USD 1000 and post record margins. But a strong reply from AMD is what will bring lower prices at the high end. Thats good for everbody , even people who prefer Nvidia cards.