# AMD Rebrands Radeon HD 7000 Series GPUs to HD 8000 for OEMs



## btarunr (Jan 8, 2013)

It turns out that the "Radeon HD 8950" that Lenovo's Erazer X700 ships with, is yet another example of GPU makers shamelessly rebranding previous-generation GPUs, to the whims of pre-built PC makers. One of our forum members spotted this page on AMD's website, which lists the specs-sheets of nine OEM-exclusive Radeon HD 8000 series SKUs, which reveal them to be complete rebrands of their HD 7000-series counterparts. If you're into pre-built PCs, and planning to buy one soon, watch out what's crunching pixels in it.





*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## acperience7 (Jan 8, 2013)

Wow. Not just the budget cards, but the "top end" models as well...Are they _that_ strapped for cash?


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## cadaveca (Jan 8, 2013)

acperience7 said:


> Wow. Not just the budget cards, but the "top end" models as well...Are they _that_ strapped for cash?



I don't see it as being a money thing. I see it as a way to prevent users from buying a useless upgrade, while giving them time to tweak new designs further. We don't see any launch info from NVidia either right now, so it's not like this leaves AMD behind in GPU performance.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 8, 2013)

acperience7 said:


> Wow. Not just the budget cards, but the "top end" models as well...Are they _that_ strapped for cash?



NV has been guilty of this plus releasing weaker SKUs of certain Desktop Models under same name for OEM yet the Desktop Models are beefier than OEM parts


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## newtekie1 (Jan 8, 2013)

eidairaman1 said:


> NV has been guilty of this plus releasing weaker SKUs of certain Desktop Models under same name for OEM yet the Desktop Models are beefier than OEM parts



When did they do that?


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 8, 2013)

newtekie1 said:


> When did they do that?



http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-660-oem/specifications

whats funny NV site doesnt specify shader count, transistor count etc.


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## Widjaja (Jan 8, 2013)

No need to go on like this is a new thing for AMD and that they are doing this because they are strapped for cash because they have done this in the past.


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## btarunr (Jan 8, 2013)

I think OEMs are just as culpable. They tell GPU maker to offer chips that at least look new on the specs sheet, or they'd pick the other's.


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## cadaveca (Jan 8, 2013)

Explains why there are next to ZERO GHZ cards for sale locally(never has been, just the initial launch cards).

However, I got to say it:

Does this make the ASUS MARS II a 8970x2?


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## Delta6326 (Jan 8, 2013)

At least this is OEM's only and not AIB's...


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## The Von Matrices (Jan 8, 2013)

So I guess the Sea Islands refresh will be the 9000 series then?


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## Nordic (Jan 8, 2013)

I think it is more by OEM's request. Maybe even to move old 7000 stock.


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## Widjaja (Jan 8, 2013)

The Von Matrices said:


> So I guess the Sea Islands refresh will be the 9000 series then?



Could be.
The 8xxx series appears to be more of a tweaked 7xxx series.
Basically like what happened when nVidia went from the 8800 series to the 9800 series.

Fair enough since AMD are still refining their drivers for GCN architecture.


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## btarunr (Jan 8, 2013)

Sea Islands still is Radeon HD 8000 series. These are OEM-only models. If anything, it will hurt OEMs, not AMD. People will avoid buying pre-built PCs even after the real HD 8000 "Sea Islands" series launches, because they'd suspect re-branded HD 7000 cards in them.


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## HumanSmoke (Jan 8, 2013)

cadaveca said:


> Explains why there are next to ZERO GHZ cards for sale locally(never has been, just the initial launch cards).
> However, I got to say it; Does this make the ASUS MARS II a 8970x2?



Ares nameplate is AMD, Mars is Nvidia.

In any case the Mars II is a dual GTX 580 card...unless you're thinking about this one



eidairaman1 said:


> NV has been guilty of this plus releasing weaker SKUs of certain Desktop Models under same name for OEM yet the Desktop Models are beefier than OEM parts


If you're making a case for Nvidia's prior indiscretions, I seem to remember ATI "updating" the Rage Pro to Rage Pro Turbo that came with drivers optimized for synthetic benchmarks and shittier gameplay performance- and that was sometime around the beginning of 1998 (February I think) - so I wouldn't bother playing the historical card.


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## NHKS (Jan 8, 2013)

YAY! new year, new series, new g..p.. no wait!!

btw.. now that we are seeing more re-brands i am curious to know, what will users of these oem systems get to see when they use GPU-Z or how are their drivers different from retail models? do the drivers detect them as 8xxx(OEM)?


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## GSquadron (Jan 8, 2013)

I think it is a more problem that you didn't post the nickname of that 'forum member',
(or whoever ordered you not to) rather than a rebranding from some companies.
I wrote in a thread "both disappointing" (Nvidia + AMD) and we already are in GPU Dark ages

Personally, I think this is quite normal. They can do whatever they want, seriously.


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## HumanSmoke (Jan 8, 2013)

NHKS said:


> what will users of these oem systems get to see when they use GPU-Z


Do OEM system buyers use, or even know what GPU-Z is?


Aleksander Dishnica said:


> I think it is a more problem that you didn't post the nickname of that 'forum member'


Shouldn't be too hard to figure out from a post in a related article posted just before this one


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## NHKS (Jan 8, 2013)

^ valid question!.. but I dont underestimate ppl generally..
anyways, I am just curious to know.. thats all


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## McSteel (Jan 8, 2013)

I remember reading somewhere that the mobile HD8xxx naming and architecture would more closely follow the desktop counterparts than ever before. I just didn't expect the desktop parts to adjust to mobile practices, hoping it would be the other way around.

It's not like nVidia never did anything like this, but damn AMD sure does have crappy timing. Pulling a stunt like that just when they seemed to be able to get ahead is quite the slip-up.


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## btarunr (Jan 8, 2013)

HumanSmoke said:


> Do OEM system buyers use, or even know what GPU-Z is?



If they know what a graphics card is, and know they're choosing a PC with "HD 8950" in it, then surely they'll know what GPU-Z is.

We have plenty of OEM desktop users reporting their GPUs to us.


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## Nordic (Jan 8, 2013)

McSteel said:


> Pulling a stunt like that just when they seemed to be able to get ahead is quite the slip-up.



They are only doing this with OEM parts not the 8000 series in general. They will still put out the next gen that will actually be a next gen.


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## Roph (Jan 8, 2013)

I'd change my sig if I could be bothered.


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## McSteel (Jan 8, 2013)

james888 said:


> They are only doing this with OEM parts not the 8000 series in general. They will still put out the next gen that will actually be a next gen.



And that makes it ok?
It's not like the OEM market is insignificant - if it was, AMD wouldn't be doing business in it. And I for one wouldn't enjoy being screwed over just because I wanted to buy a Lenovo or a Dell. This *will* hurt sales, and it *is* a crappy move, no matter how you look at it.


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## Frick (Jan 8, 2013)

Aleksander Dishnica said:


> I think it is a more problem that you didn't post the nickname of that 'forum member',
> (or whoever ordered you not to) rather than a rebranding from some companies.
> I wrote in a thread "both disappointing" (Nvidia + AMD) and we already are in GPU Dark ages
> 
> Personally, I think this is quite normal. They can do whatever they want, seriously.



GPU dark ages? Why?


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## NC37 (Jan 8, 2013)

To be fair, this happens a lot in laptop GPUs. Heck nVidia's 600M series has a bunch of Fermi parts in it. Some of them high end ones. It is just easier to get away with it because people don't expect laptop GPUs to be the same as desktop.


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## jigar2speed (Jan 8, 2013)

There is going to be more of this kind of magic because of this guy - http://www.brightsideofnews.com/new...re-exec-roy-taylor-joins-amds-dream-team.aspx 

Sources suggest this was one of the best hiring in recent times by AMD.


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## n-ster (Jan 8, 2013)

At least my card will retain its value longer lol


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## SonDa5 (Jan 8, 2013)

If it helps build up AMD cards and get more gpus sold I don't care. This should only help lower costs to consumers.


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## xenocide (Jan 8, 2013)

This is a very idiotic move--rebranding older parts in general is pretty silly.


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## n-ster (Jan 8, 2013)

xenocide said:


> This is a very idiotic move--rebranding older parts in general is pretty silly.



not really idiotic imo... not for them. doesn't matter for us because it doesn't exist for us since it's OEM only


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## xenocide (Jan 8, 2013)

n-ster said:


> not really idiotic imo... not for them. doesn't matter for us because it doesn't exist for us since it's OEM only



And those OEM's are going to be selling them as AMD advertises them to consumers, which is going to create confusion and possibly people getting scammed on sites such as eBay.  _Technically_ it's an 8970, did I forget to mention it's an OEM version? *trollface*

I'm still pretty certain Nvidia is going to rebrand mid/top-end 6xx series GPU's as low/mid 7xx series GPU's, but as long as the performance isn't misleading (e.g. rebranding a GK104 as a 780 then releasing like a GK110 as a 775 that performs better or something) I am fine with it.


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## Prima.Vera (Jan 8, 2013)

Anyhow you put this, it is still a VERY bad move from AMD...


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## n-ster (Jan 8, 2013)

Still, it's not affecting us apart from needing to wait for the 9XXX series which is good if they take the time to really get a good jump from the 7XXX series

AMD will make more money because of this so its a good move for them, when they did renaming before it didn't hurt them. AMD with more money = better for us the consumers since AMD can remain more competitive and still alive


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## Melvis (Jan 8, 2013)

This is all i gotta say about this > Sweet Brown - Ain't Nobody Got Time for That (...


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## Recus (Jan 8, 2013)

SonDa5 said:


> If it helps build up AMD cards and get more gpus sold I don't care. This should only help lower costs to consumers.





n-ster said:


> Still, it's not affecting us apart from needing to wait for the 9XXX series which is good if they take the time to really get a good jump from the 7XXX series
> 
> AMD will make more money because of this so its a good move for them, when they did renaming before it didn't hurt them. AMD with more money = better for us the consumers since AMD can remain more competitive and still alive



I'm surprised how Nvidia's rebranding is bad but AMD can do anything to survive.



> That said, once again AMD appears to be delaying a product line due to inventory levels.



So they have plenty of HD6xxx if they are going to use than in next-gen consoles.


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## Calin Banc (Jan 8, 2013)

james888 said:


> They are only doing this with OEM parts not the 8000 series in general. They will still put out the next gen that will actually be a next gen.



And if "this" generation is called 8000 series, then "that" generation is going to be called ... 9000 series?


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## n-ster (Jan 8, 2013)

yea, basically like skipping a generation for us... didn't NV do something like that with the 3XX series?


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## repman244 (Jan 8, 2013)

This should be made illegal to do IMO.


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## 3870x2 (Jan 8, 2013)

Frick said:


> GPU dark ages? Why?



I guess he is referring to the fact that we have very powerful GPUs but not a whole lot to push it, which many blame on the console stagnation.

You might see things that will put a hurt on your high-end GPUs, but this is primarily due to intensive particle effects that don't add a whole lot to the experience.  A good example of this is Metro 2033.  (great game though)

Unreal and Source engines do a great job while maintaining wide playability, while engines like Frostbite are tough to run, but look great with effects not often found in other engines.

Edit: this makes me wonder if my 6850m is actually a 5850m, ill have to check that.


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## claylomax (Jan 8, 2013)

Melvis said:


> This is all i gotta say about this > Sweet Brown - Ain't Nobody Got Time for That (...



Lol!


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## Disparia (Jan 8, 2013)

I take it back, I don't wish anyone at AMD a happy new year!


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## TheMailMan78 (Jan 8, 2013)

WTF just happend?


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## newtekie1 (Jan 8, 2013)

eidairaman1 said:


> http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-660-oem/specifications
> 
> whats funny NV site doesnt specify shader count, transistor count etc.



The OEM version of the GTX660 being weaker is arguable, the clocks are lower, but it has more shaders, and while the memory bandwidth seems higher on the retail GTX660, because of its memory configuration 512MB of the memory has to share its memory bandwidth.


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## SeventhReign (Jan 8, 2013)

james888 said:


> I think it is more by OEM's request. Maybe even to move old 7000 stock.



That makes no sense.  If that was the case they'd just label and sell it as the 7000 series and save themselves the hassle.


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## cadaveca (Jan 8, 2013)

SeventhReign said:


> That makes no sense.  If that was the case they'd just label and sell it as the 7000 series and save themselves the hassle.



They could do that, but they'd not have the same profit margins for having a "NEW" GPU.

I can't buy a GHZ Edition 7970, or ANY BOOST 7950's, or 7870's...they just do not exist locally.

In fact, ANY high-end AMD card is really rare here. NVidia, you got 100 models of GTX670 in stock, and about 15 GTX680.

I'll gladly take an HD8950, and flash my 7950 BIOS on to it. Because I CANNOT buy a 79xx-series card even if I wanted to.


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## Delta6326 (Jan 8, 2013)

I didn't realize this many TPUer's used Pre-Built OEM's... I don't see anything wrong with this a 7970 is still plenty fast for any normal user and someone thats going to be buying Pre-Built will not be buying a whole new computer just to upgrade the GPU.


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## cdawall (Jan 8, 2013)

McSteel said:


> And that makes it ok?
> It's not like the OEM market is insignificant - if it was, AMD wouldn't be doing business in it. And I for one wouldn't enjoy being screwed over just because I wanted to buy a Lenovo or a Dell. This *will* hurt sales, and it *is* a crappy move, no matter how you look at it.



How will this hurt sales? When the people who buy the vast majority of these rigs configure them on Dell or Lenovo's or HP's site or see them in the local bestbuy and one has an 8950 in it the highest number card sold do you really think they are going to spend hours researching if that is a rebranded card or blindly purchase it? Do you really think for a second the people purchasing a PREBUILT PC give two flying hoots what rebrands in their PC as long as it is the fastest sold? No one is telling you to run out and spend 3 times as much as the hardware is worth for a prebuilt, but people buy them and right now the 8950 sounds like the fastest card out there. 

Why do you think OEM's have terrible graphics cards with 4GB of onboard ram? Do you really think a GT620 can use 4GB of ram? On a spec sheet that looks great just like the 16GB of slow as heck ram they stuffed in next to it. OEM prebuilts are a numbers game and big numbers sell. Move on. You can get your panties in a wad all you want, but you are never going to stop it.


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## RejZoR (Jan 8, 2013)

This should be prohibited by law. Seriously. Lets repack Fiat 500 as Ferrari 458 Italia. They are both italian, they can both be in red, lets sell them both for the same price. Wtf...


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## cdawall (Jan 8, 2013)

RejZoR said:


> This should be prohibited by law. Seriously. Lets repack Fiat 500 as Ferrari 458 Italia. They are both italian, they can both be in red, lets sell them both for the same price. Wtf...



What are you talking about? They do that now Ford Taurus and Ford 500, Chevy Aveo and Chevy Sonic the list goes on and on. AMD didn't rebrand the 7950 as a GTX780 like you are suggesting.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 8, 2013)

HumanSmoke said:


> Do OEM system buyers use, or even know what GPU-Z is?



Nope so they honestly think they are getting a good deal, for them its price that matters- performance they care if it can run youtube and internet and play videos or music. Plus if they get a Monitor Keyboard Mouse and Printer for say 200-600 bux


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## Kaynar (Jan 8, 2013)

According to AMD's official website the HD8970 GHZ edition has the same specs as an 7970GHz 

the 8970:

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/oem-solutions/Pages/desktop.aspx#2

http://www.amd.com/us/Documents/AMD_Radeon_HD_8970_Feature_Summary.pdf

and the 7970 sheet:

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/7000/7970ghz/Pages/radeon-7970GHz.aspx#3

so it is generally official, the 8000 series is a consumer buying trick as we have already seen in the past.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 8, 2013)

It is not out yet, once its out then we will determine what it is



Kaynar said:


> According to AMD's official website the HD8970 GHZ edition has the same specs as an 7970GHz
> 
> the 8970:
> 
> ...


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## McSteel (Jan 8, 2013)

cdawall said:


> How will this hurt sales? When the people who buy the vast majority of these rigs configure them on Dell or Lenovo's or HP's site or see them in the local bestbuy and one has an 8950 in it the highest number card sold do you really think they are going to spend hours researching if that is a rebranded card or blindly purchase it? Do you really think for a second the people purchasing a PREBUILT PC give two flying hoots what rebrands in their PC as long as it is the fastest sold? No one is telling you to run out and spend 3 times as much as the hardware is worth for a prebuilt, but people buy them and right now the 8950 sounds like the fastest card out there.
> 
> Why do you think OEM's have terrible graphics cards with 4GB of onboard ram? Do you really think a GT620 can use 4GB of ram? On a spec sheet that looks great just like the 16GB of slow as heck ram they stuffed in next to it. OEM prebuilts are a numbers game and big numbers sell. Move on. You can get your panties in a wad all you want, but you are never going to stop it.



I am out to buy a PC that has an HD 8780 in it. I have read an HD 8780 review on TPU, and was very impressed by it, hence my decision to buy. I see Dell offering a desktop machine that boasts HD 8780. I may or may not notice that Dell's specs for that card differ from what I've seen in the mentioned review. I may or may not realize what AMD has done, and I decide to buy the Dell. I have been mislead, and once I discover it, I will return the desktop, outraged, I will voice my protest everywhere I can.

Hurt sales.


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## cdawall (Jan 8, 2013)

McSteel said:


> I am out to buy a PC that has an HD 8780 in it. I have read an HD 8780 review on TPU, and was very impressed by it, hence my decision to buy. I see Dell offering a desktop machine that boasts HD 8780. I may or may not notice that Dell's specs for that card differ from what I've seen in the mentioned review. I may or may not realize what AMD has done, and I decide to buy the Dell. I have been mislead, and once I discover it, I will return the desktop, outraged, I will voice my protest everywhere I can.
> 
> Hurt sales.



When are you going to discover it when you couldn't be bothered to read the spec sheet to begin with.


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## n-ster (Jan 8, 2013)

If I understand, they will only be available through OEM so the OEM and one that has a review here would be exactly the same


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## Peter1986C (Jan 9, 2013)

This is the same kind of outrage as when it appeared that the HD 6770 was "secretly" a 5770 (as was publicly announced and thus no deceipt). Whatever <shrug>


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## erocker (Jan 9, 2013)

Wow! Rebranding everything for OEM desktops. That is pathetic.


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## Widjaja (Jan 9, 2013)

Most people who go out and purchase a per-built desktop will never know this happened and most likely don't care so despite us computer enthusiasts seeing this as a pretty crappy thing to do, they can get away with it.


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## cadaveca (Jan 9, 2013)

I think it's less confusing than 7970, 7970 GHZ, 7950, 7950 GHZ, 7950 BOOST, 7870, 7870XT, 7870 BOOST...


IF we are left with just 7970/7950 then 8970/8950 are the boost cards, this works really well, imho, because if anything, the current naming is as confusing as can be. Make all the GHZ/boost/youplaymeiplayyou cards the 8-series, leave the original 7-series as 7-series, and I am one happy camper.


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## HumanSmoke (Jan 9, 2013)

cadaveca said:


> I think it's less confusing than 7970, 7970 GHZ, 7950, 7950 GHZ, 7950 BOOST, 7870, 7870XT, 7870 BOOST...IF we are left with just 7970/7950 then 8970/8950 are the boost cards, this works really well



Nice idea...
But of course that won't be the case. We already have (as example) 7950 Boost, 7950 vanilla, 7950 reduced-BoM/limited OC potential, plus a resell market of BIOS flashed to Boost. To that you can add the OEM 8950 which will -like every other OEM card- find its way into the retail channel as white box parts, warranty replacement/owner swap-outs. Ain't no way you're shutting that particular Pandora's Box.

I'd have preferred moving back to ATi's naming scheme - XT, Pro, XL, GT with leaving the top SKU XT vacant unless AMD know that the launch card/process won't be significantly improved upon, and if something happens (miracle of silicon revision efficiency) you'd have the XTX suffix as a fall back on.
Still, the way that IHV/OEM marketing like to bleed the user base, it's not overly surprising that they'd pass up any opportunity to slip the shiv in.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 11, 2013)

HumanSmoke said:


> Nice idea...
> But of course that won't be the case. We already have (as example) 7950 Boost, 7950 vanilla, 7950 reduced-BoM/limited OC potential, plus a resell market of BIOS flashed to Boost. To that you can add the OEM 8950 which will -like every other OEM card- find its way into the retail channel as white box parts, warranty replacement/owner swap-outs. Ain't no way you're shutting that particular Pandora's Box.
> 
> I'd have preferred moving back to ATi's naming scheme - XT, Pro, XL, GT with leaving the top SKU XT vacant unless AMD know that the launch card/process won't be significantly improved upon, and if something happens (miracle of silicon revision efficiency) you'd have the XTX suffix as a fall back on.
> Still, the way that IHV/OEM marketing like to bleed the user base, it's not overly surprising that they'd pass up any opportunity to slip the shiv in.




those codes are used in the GPU code names nowadays. But I understand what youre getting at.

I honestly feel Pro should be the highest model atleast before they came up with XT etc.


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