Awesome news. We'll see how this new tech will change how we see things, or completely pass us as unimpressive. Looking forward to the TPU review.

I expect no effective changements cuz for the 40nm, so no real NEW GPU'S...

Maybe ATI will now take to rebrand its graphics cards, like nvidia did...

HD5000 series are freakin great in all aspects, what works well you tend not to change it.

Does anyone else get the feeling that the 6000 series will fix the lackluster crossfireX scaling? I don't see the 6000 series being that dramaticatlly different then what's available in terms of raw output (fps). Nvidia's Fermi SLI numbers are very impressive. Hence the 460 SLI comes close to the 5870 Crossfire numbers, but a single 5870 trounces the 460.

I think if dually cards are in your future, I think ATI needs to get their scaling fixed. I'm starting to look at NVIDIA more with their SLI results. Remember folks, minimum frame rate is what we all want to see and right now ATI's crossfire is getting hit hard with the fermi SLI minimum frate rate results. :ohwell:

AnimalpakI expect no effective changements cuz for the 40nm, so no real NEW GPU'S...

Maybe ATI will now take to rebrand its graphics cards, like nvidia did...

HD5000 series are freakin great in all aspects, what works well you tend not to change it.

Well i wouldn't call it a rebrand necessarily, i mean it's not like they're calling it HD 5870+ or something. Considering it's a whole new series of cards, i'd hope they'd throw a pretty significant amount of power in them over the 5 series. And yes the 5 series is great, but tech has to move on, and usually that's only a couple months after it's predecessor is released.

Hopefully we can get this graph going down (an example from Finnish price tracking service)

ASUS HD 5850 1GB

[dates are dd-mm]

This is kinda historical, at least IMO.

acperience7So will the Tessellation performance be significantly improved? I know not many games use it, but I like benchmarks and the Unigine 2.0 is laughing at me with my minimum and average fps.

Right now I'm thinking it may be a little better, but the 7000 will be the one to get a more focused look at it's tessellation performance.


Oh well, even if it's not I'll probably be upgrading.

Imo there is nothing wrong with Tessellation on the 5 series.

I run Unigine 2.0 as well and sure it looks a bit choppy at times but turn on V sync. Sure the frams are capped but it runs beautiful.

The framrates for me in the dragon scene was 51 fps and thats with everything maxed out.

I guess its just how you precieve the benchmark, all I know is its extremely smooth running.

i just want better xfire scaling 30% - 70% is a huge gulf compared to around 60%-90% of sli if the 6k cards offer better xfire scaling im on that shit like white on rice but only if the price is right

crazyeyesreaperi just want better xfire scaling 30% - 70% is a huge gulf compared to around 60%-90% of sli if the 6k cards offer better xfire scaling im on that shit like white on rice but only if the price is right

better start putting the pennies away then Ray :toast:

Im going to grab 2 6870's this time around :eek:

well if i sell the 5850s on the cheap then i can probably afford 1 6850 and if i save my pennies till xmass i might be able to get a 2nd for crossfire :toast:

First nVidia started using model numbers that sounded like old ATI cards (9600, 9800, etc), now ATI is using model numbers that sound like old nVidia cards. lol

At any rate, I hope they hire a better driver team to code for these cards. Their hardware has been great, but their software has been garbage. If they don't get a better driver team, my money is still going to nVidia on my next card purchase, even if it leaves me a gen behind.

So many people saying they're choosing to wait now because of this, and so many others are complaining about having waited too long.

I sourced my 5870 at the start of the year, during a bad shortage. If a graphics or platform is 2 gens newer then what you have and you have the itch for better performance, then review it without hesitation, decide weather the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for early adoption.

Sure, pricing is not as good as compared to if you wait, so may be the drivers and bios. IMO if you want to enjoy the performance of new tech, you have to do your research, then jump on board without hesitation if you believe it will keep you satisfied throughout its lifespan and hopefully for the next generation too, if you don't want to burn too much money, just don't go for the highest best of the best product, go for second best and you get the awesome speeds without most of the stupid price inflation.

If I get several months of far better gaming performance then others for a minor hundred or so dollars difference, I'm going to go for it. Provided I am jumping (over) a generation and feel the tech is all its made out to be.

Even with a 1Ghz overclock on my 5870 I could still use about 20% more performance to keep frame rates up in GTA.

I won't go nvidia due to the better image quality ATI gives, and the performance/price I have gotten with all my recent cards from them. I have had no noticeable issues with drivers, but I don't run any pirate software, and keep my system clean from malware, and I have a stable overclock.


About half of the driver issues with ATI cards could probably be traced to faulty overclocks, malware, incomparable software, or faulty pirate software that has been hacked.

AnimalpakI expect no effective changements cuz for the 40nm, so no real NEW GPU'S...

Maybe ATI will now take to rebrand its graphics cards, like nvidia did...

HD5000 series are freakin great in all aspects, what works well you tend not to change it.

Seems you've got fabrication process and chip design confused XD

SteevoEven with a 1Ghz overclock on my 5870 I could still use about 20% more performance to keep frame rates up in GTA.

I won't go nvidia due to the better image quality ATI gives, and the performance/price I have gotten with all my recent cards from them. I have had no noticeable issues with drivers, but I don't run any pirate software, and keep my system clean from malware, and I have a stable overclock.


About half of the driver issues with ATI cards could probably be traced to faulty overclocks, malware, incomparable software, or faulty pirate software that has been hacked.

I don't have malware, pirated software, or incompatible software. And the drivers are still shit at stock clocks on a fresh install. These aren't user caused issues.

And ATI no longer has an advantage in IQ. They are both slightly different, but neither is better anymore. ATI is strong in IQ where nV is weak, and vice versa.

Radeon is already tunned up with 5000 series, they will try to open some more SP but who knows, not sure if this will be good series, Series 4000 was a bit cranky also.

Interesting. There are many controversial "guesses" about how Southern Islands will perform. Some say, it's only 5-10%, some claim that it will bring improvements up to 30%.

I wouldn't expect much, since it's still 40nm. I would guess, that it will have e.g. improved tessellation, since Nvidia has been beating them in that, and maybe 10-15% improvement in general performance. Also, they might have been able to improve the thermal performance.

But we won't know how Southern Islands will perform until Q1 2011, when the high-end cards of the lineup will be released, if not delayed that is. The good side is, that because it has some elements of Northern Islands (the upcoming 28nm architecture), we might be able to gain some information about Northern Islands possible performance.

Wile EAt any rate, I hope they hire a better driver team to code for these cards. Their hardware has been great, but their software has been garbage.

Couldn't agree more.

One thing i'm certain about performance is that the 6750 will be about the same perf. as the 5850, the 6770=5870, 6650=5750, 6670=5770. And so on. :D Its the 6970 performance that is unpredictable :D

MeizumanHopefully we can get this graph going down (an example from Finnish price tracking service)

ASUS HD 5850 1GB
hintaseuranta.fi/temp/hintagraafit/t322017.png
[dates are dd-mm]

This is kinda historical, at least IMO.

It's a shame how some countries get raped like this. I resell my cards eventually and always get asked if I'll consider overseas shipping. This is why.. :shadedshu

mdsx1950One thing i'm certain about performance is that the 6750 will be about the same perf. as the 5850, the 6770=5870, 6650=5750, 6670=5770. And so on. :D Its the 6970 performance that is unpredictable :D

Bro, your so...... gonna get 2 HD6970's aren't you hahaha:laugh::laugh::rockout::rockout:

mdsx1950One thing i'm certain about performance is that the 6750 will be about the same perf. as the 5850, the 6770=5870, 6650=5750, 6670=5770. And so on. :D Its the 6970 performance that is unpredictable :D

That's a possibility, but what makes you so certain?
I'm less worried about the performance and more so about the price.:shadedshu

EDIT: @SteelSix
In South Africa (where I'm forced to buy often), the price equivalent of the 5850 was close to US$500 when it was about US$300 on NewEgg.

I hope the 6970 won't be any bigger than the 5970... the 5970 barely fit in my case :S

mdsx1950One thing i'm certain about performance is that the 6750 will be about the same perf. as the 5850, the 6770=5870, 6650=5750, 6670=5770. And so on. :D Its the 6970 performance that is unpredictable :D

Here's my prediction.

3870x2 = 4850
4870x 2= 5870
5830x2 = 6870

HossHugeHere's my prediction.

3870x2 = 4850
4870x 2= 5870
5830x2 = 6870

That makes the 6870 barely faster than the 5870....
Since the 5830 is actually no better than a 4890.

Whats the point in releasing a new high-end if it is only around GTX 480 speeds?

ZubasaThat makes the 6870 barely faster than the 5870....
Since the 5830 is actually no better than a 4890.

Whats the point in releasing a new high-end if it is only around GTX 480 speeds?

From what I've read the 5870 is about the same as a 5770 crossfire system. So, I based my prediction from that.

And from this article

In particular, this paragragh.

The SI family will offer higher performance compared to currently available ATI Radeon HD 5000 “Evergreen” line, but will hardly be considerably more advanced in terms of feature-set. It is rumoured that designers of the new GPUs concentrated mostly on improving efficiency, but not on building something completely new from scratch, which is why certain building blocks of the new Sothern Islands family will be inherited from the current Evergreen line.

So, I'm guessing it will be about 20-30% faster than a 5870 but much more efficient. Remember, it's just a guess...:)