Monday, November 8th 2010

Radeon HD 6970 Launch May Face Delays

Originally slated for a November 22 launch, AMD's next-generation enthusiast-grade GPU, the Radeon HD 6970 may face some launch delays, according to industry sources. Apparently the company is yet to finalize a launch driver and BIOS for the HD 6970, and that could push back launch by a little. Meanwhile, a Zol.com.cn contributor let out some juicy pictures of the HD 6970 reference design accelerator.
Sources: Expreview, Zol.com.cn
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88 Comments on Radeon HD 6970 Launch May Face Delays

#76
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
EarthDog75W at the slot for PCIe2.0. Go to PCIsig and looksee. I thought the same thing for the longest time as well. Sites reports ALL OVER that its 150W at the slot too. :)

I didnt read this entire thread, but aside from driver/bios issues, I thought yields were single digits from TSMC on these things (if true, anyone want to bet that dope charlie doesnt report this?!!).

www.techeye.net/chips/amds-cayman-christmas-card-delayed-say-taiwanese-sources
Then how do cards that pull 300w+ get away with only a 6-pin and an 8-pin?
Posted on Reply
#77
EarthDog
Thats a logical statement I have no answer to and actually asked myself. I can only point you to PCIsig again for clarification and this thread I particpated in when I thought the same thing. My guess is that the 75/150 watt numbers for the 6/8 pins are not a hard wall.

www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=614657

Specifically post #9 ^^

Link form there, look at slide 39 (link below)www.pcisig.com/developers/main/training_materials/get_document?doc_id=b590ba08170074a537626a7a601aa04b52bc3fec

Also, what cards pull over 300W from the factory? Not the 5970. Not the 480... not the GTX 295...
Posted on Reply
#79
cadaveca
My name is Dave
newtekie1Then how do cards that pull 300w+ get away with only a 6-pin and an 8-pin?
8-pin =150w
6-pin =75w
slot =75w in highpower mode.

total=300w.

but bear in mind, 6-pin max is NOT jus 75w...it's 150w, dependant on wiring(wire gauge specifics for 150w via ATX PSU spec).

Since I have yet to see a site actually measure power consumption @ the slot(near impossible), any power usage numbers are suspect at best, if not outright faked.
Posted on Reply
#80
Wile E
Power User
newtekie1Then how do cards that pull 300w+ get away with only a 6-pin and an 8-pin?
Because an 8 pin is just a 6 pin with 2 more grounds. There are no additional 12V leads.
Posted on Reply
#81
Imsochobo
cadavecaBecuase I bitch about it so much, they now admit it's an issue, at least, and maybe they can pull some driver magic to fix it, but I highly doubt that they will ahve any success implementing a driver fix. They've listed it as fixed in the release notes, several times now, only to have it appear in the next month's notes as "a known issue".

You, bear, will be able to switch to a multi-stream box, when they come out, because you have 6-series, and this will eliminate the problem. So all is not lost for you. 5-series owners, unfortunately, do not have this option. I bought 5-series cards specifically for Eyefinity, so yeah, it's a sore point for me.

It's doesn't happen on the DP monitor for me, most often, either...it's on the DVI monitors that the cursor shows up corrupt most often. But give it some time, and you'll see it on the DP monitor as well.
They already admitted this is a issue in march.
officially.
Unofficially already in jan/feb.
and its pretty much fixed, but not for everyone.
I used to have it, but after 10.7 it was completely gone, havent seen it again.
A mate, updated bios. solved.
another made, upgraded , mobo, that solved it.
another one, still have issues.
Posted on Reply
#82
caleb
They should place the damn leads on the PCIE or on additional power outlet on the motherboard.I always thought its a temporary solution with that additional cable until they change the interface standard to be compatible with the new power demands. If that's impossible they should at least move the GFX power socket towards back of the case so its not in the middle of everything.
Posted on Reply
#83
largon
Originally Posted on TechEye
According to our sources, yields for Cayman are still in the single digits
In other news, TSMC considers refreshing the company logo for accuracy:

Now / Future
newtekie1Then how do cards that pull 300w+ get away with only a 6-pin and an 8-pin?
Simple.
Such cards overload them 6/8pin plugs. They draw more current than spec'ed from the plugs. PCIe slot power is hardly used at all on modern cards because it's nigh impossible to load balance several so different voltage sources such as PCIe slot's tiny power traces and 6/8pin plugs' 18-gauge wiring.

For example HD5970 draws <15W from the PCIe slot under Furmark.
Posted on Reply
#84
xtremesv
"Apparently the company is yet to finalize a launch driver and BIOS for the HD 6970"

Maybe AMD saw GTX580 was better than expected and now they have to overclock 6970 and optimize drivers to overtake Nvidia.
Posted on Reply
#85
bear jesus
xtremesv"Apparently the company is yet to finalize a launch driver and BIOS for the HD 6970"

Maybe AMD saw GTX580 was better than expected and now they have to overclock 6970 and optimize drivers to overtake Nvidia.
The driver i assume is just because AMD has a talent for constantly updating drivers every couple days :laugh: but i have to wonder if they wanted to know how the 580 performed before setting the final clocks to see if they could beat the 580 with a bump in clock speeds/possibly voltage to go with it.

Although that could just be wishful thinking on my part as i want a really powerful single card/chip to run games across 3 monitors.
Posted on Reply
#86
LAN_deRf_HA
xtremesv"Apparently the company is yet to finalize a launch driver and BIOS for the HD 6970"

Maybe AMD saw GTX580 was better than expected and now they have to overclock 6970 and optimize drivers to overtake Nvidia.
Better than expected? Nobody knew about it until very recently. It came out of the blue and launched relatively soon after it was announced, and technically it was worse than expected if your expectations were based on the numbers nvidia marketed. Not sure what else the expectations would be based on.
Posted on Reply
#87
n-ster
A single GPU matching a 5970 is pretty impressive
Posted on Reply
#88
a_ump
n-sterA single GPU matching a 5970 is pretty impressive
i guess you could say that but the fact that this single GPU is released almost(if not) a year after the HD 5970 makes it a little moot point. I personally find AMD's improvements in the HD 68XX series more impressive than the release of the GTX 580. I mean if you think about it the GTX 580 should be out for a good while. I can't imagine Nvidia releasing another higher end GPU(GTX 680?) for a while, not till 28nm anyways. Judging from the past yr or so, anyone that thinks about it for a second can't logically think that they've already got something else up their sleeve for cayman. If they had such resources already then they would've released it like a nuke, catching everyone's eye, whereas the GTX 580 imo is more like a "We finally did it".

Though we shall see if AMD's rumored delays are massive, though i read it only got bumped from the 22nd of nov to the 29th.
Posted on Reply
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