FierceRedI don't expect the 7950/7970 to sell for much less, if at all lower, than current 6950/6970 prices. And that's just fine.

I'd say they'll be price almost exactly as the original MSRP $300 / $370 was when the 6950/6970 came out. I believe AMD has fixed their price points to embrace especially in today’s economy. Unless there’s a huge performance jump, which that’s not what I'm getting from most dialogue. They'll be able to again leap-frog as I’m doubtful of the 45% claims of lately, and will probably stay on the heels or match of what Nvidia’s Kepler might provide. Then by Q3 2012 AMD have a re-spin that “one-ups-men’s” Kepler.

If "Tahiti" does get XDR2 memory (which I hearing is still up in the air) it might be on a special model that comes later with the 7990 (dual GPU) to counter what Kepler brings.

Can't tell you how much of this is correct, but it makes a good read.
www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2011/11/30/radeon-hd-7000-revealed-amd-to-mix-gcn-with-vliw4--vliw5-architectures.aspx

CasecutterCan't tell you how much of this is correct, but it makes a good read.
www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2011/11/30/radeon-hd-7000-revealed-amd-to-mix-gcn-with-vliw4--vliw5-architectures.aspx

I was about to post that myself. Lots of info in there and a lot of it seems very reasonable. I like the part where the 78xx series is a die shrunk 69xx series. It would be nice if that bit is true. We're looking at a nice jump in performance if it holds up.

Perhaps they are onto GCN with X64 truly implemented on the GPU and thus the move away from X86 as a mainstream/performance focus.


I would enjoy finally seeing windows and many other applications accelerated by the GPU instead of throwing more cores at us, use the insanely faster GPU to make shit happen.



Though they are probably pipe dreaming if they are basing their future on it.

CasecutterI'd say they'll be price almost exactly as the original MSRP $300 / $370 was when the 6950/6970 came out. I believe AMD has fixed their price points to embrace especially in today’s economy. Unless there’s a huge performance jump, which that’s not what I'm getting from most dialogue.

Sorry sorry, I forgot for a moment this was the Internet.

I live in Canada, so when I said current prices I meant CAD, which at the moment continues to get screwed over relative to USD by putting current 6950/6970 prices in the $300~$350 range, which I too recalled being close to the 6900s launch MSRP.

So that's what I meant when I said current prices, the $300~$350 range.

erockerI was about to post that myself. Lots of info in there and a lot of it seems very reasonable. I like the part where the 78xx series is a die shrunk 69xx series. It would be nice if that bit is true. We're looking at a nice jump in performance if it holds up.

If I'm reading that correctly, it says the 7990 is coming in March 2012? Isn't that the tip-top dual-GPU $600+ card?

I thought the 7900 series was having a bottom up release schedule, rather than a top down.

erockerI like the part where the 78xx series is a die shrunk 69xx series.

Exactly some Editors/writer would say OMG three different architectures in the same series! I say, "if it ain't broke don't fix it". To get Cayman level performance in mainstream, who will cry…? Though the shrink will need to bring down power, as I don't see the mainstream ready for TDP of +200W. I mean more than 2x-6-pins is pushing the envelope, and while the 6870 is a 2x-6Pin card (151W TDP) and there's plenty additional, to me it is one important limiting factor (length). Sure a 6950 with 2Gb (200W) works on 2x-6Pins, so the shrink and clocks can easily achive what they should need on a 7870. ;)

FierceRedI thought the 7900 series was having a bottom up release schedule, rather than a top down.

No I think AMD will stay with what they always pretty much do... start with the Enthusiast, then mainstream, finally then fill in lower or the higher depending on what they see how Nvidia does. It beats what is being said Nvidia is going with, first the low-end starting Q2, then mainstream Q2-3, and finishing with the big dogs sometime in July-Sept 2012? AMD could be already to release their GenII, maybe with XDR2 memory... IDK but... that’s just wack? :confused:

If that's the case there might be again defection from within the ranks! :twitch:

FierceRedI thought the 7900 series was having a bottom up release schedule, rather than a top down.

If I'd take a guess based on previous releases, I'd say we'll see a few cards (maybe even the 6850/6870 replacement right before Christmas, 6950/6970 replacement in January and the 6990 replacement in March. Everything else will get released somewhere in there.

CasecutterExactly some Editors/writer would say OMG three different architectures in the same series! I say, "if it ain't broke don't fix it". To get Cayman level performance in mainstream, who will cry…? Though the shrink will need to bring down power, as I don't see the mainstream ready for TDP of +200W. I mean more than 2x-6-pins is pushing the envelope, and while the 6870 is a 2x-6Pin card (151W TDP) and there's plenty additional, to me it is one important limiting factor (length). Sure a 6950 with 2Gb (200W) works on 2x-6Pins, so the shrink and clocks can easily achive what they should need on a 7870. ;)

No I think AMD will stay with what they always pretty much do... start with the Enthusiast, then mainstream, finally then fill in lower or the higher depending on what they see how Nvidia does. It beats what is being said Nvidia is going with, first the low-end starting Q2, then mainstream Q2-3, and finishing with the big dogs sometime in July-Sept 2012? AMD could be already to release their GenII, maybe with XDR2 memory... IDK but... that’s just wack? :confused:

If that's the case there might be again defection from within the ranks! :twitch:

I really don't see the XDR2 memory thing happening. It looks like GDDR5 has a lot of life left in it considering its bandwith. We already know what lower clocked GDDR5 can do with a wider than 256 memory bus on Nvidia cards. If it's true that AMD's new 384 bit bus can handle higher vram speeds there will be bandwith a plenty.

Hopefully yeilds are good for both AMD and Nvidia because that's what is basically keeping these cards from being released or not.

erockerIf it's true that AMD's new 384 bit bus can handle higher vram speeds there will be bandwith a plenty.

It's not really 384-bit, in the sense most are used to thinking of it. The extra 128 bits will be used for the IOMMU connection, not local vga memory like nV 384-bit cards.

I think compared to its own product line, this will be a decent step - It will be interesting to see how Kepler from NV stacks up.

The other issue is drivers... I wish there was a slide in there that said, "We increased our drivers team optimization tools for devs teams by 50%."