AMD Readying Radeon HD 4790 Based on RV790

[btarunr]

AMD is preparing yet another performance-mainstream Radeon HD 4000 series SKU. The Radeon HD 4790 finds lineage from the Radeon HD 4890, currently AMD's fastest GPU. The RV790 GPU will be given a new set of specifications and memory configuration, to yield an SKU that performs better than the Radeon HD 4770, and slightly better than HD 4850. It beats us as to why it is positioned in the HD 4700 series, and not say "Radeon HD 4860", but we are too late to comment on that.

Specifications-wise, the RV790 core runs at 600 MHz, slightly lower than the RV770 in Radeon HD 4850 (625 MHz), but its performance increment over it comes from the use of GDDR5 memory. The GPU makes use of a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. It handles 512 MB of memory clocked at 800 MHz (3200 MHz effective). Being based on the RV790, it is pin-compatible with any existing HD 4890 PCB. Price-wise, it is expected to sit between the HD 4850 and HD 4870.



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[Odin Eidolon]

so its 55nm?

 

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

ati is just dumping out cards

 

[WhiteLotus]

swamping the market, one way to make sure you get cards sold!

 

[btarunr]

so its 55nm?

Yes, 55 nm.

 

[Odin Eidolon]

Yes, 55 nm.

bah. i dont see much sense in this card other than that of selling out stocked chips. ATI's lineup is becoming too crowded

 

[Cheeseball]

So are they phasing out the HD 48xx series cards now? The performance is supposed to be between the HD 4850 and HD 4870.

 

[cdawall]

this card really makes no sense...


is it xfireable with a 4890?

 

[lemonadesoda]

Hmm. ATi is struggling with getting 40nm fabbed. It is having to create another 55nm SKU to fill the "consumer gap" in the 4770 space. The "hope"? So people think they are buying into the 47xx range of price, low power, silent, and one step quicker than a 4770. But actually, they are getting an "underperforming" 4870/4890 with similar power consumption levels.

While it might still be a good card and a good price/performance ratio, it isnt a step forward, just yet another SKU-confusion to price gouge in the retail channels where the typical consumer doesnt know sh1t.

 

[Odin Eidolon]

this card really makes no sense...


is it xfireable with a 4890?

uhm... i think so? but not sure

 

[KainXS]

this is more than likely just to get rid of the cores that are low binned and can't run at the stock freq's of the 4890

its just a 4890 with a low core clock thats it

as a matter of fact that card is exactly the same as the Powercolor HD4890 from the looks, the PCB even has the same model number on it.

 

[newtekie1]

I really don't get ATi here, it seems they are trying to flood the market to make up for their failure to successfully get 40nm out in reasonable quantities.

This card just adds more confusion to the mix. It seems to me like ATi wanted to use 40nm for the HD4770 series, but because they couldn't get enough 40nm chips, they have instead used their other higher end chips to make the cards. That doesn't make sense to me really, why not keep the RV790/770 chips named HD4800, and forget about HD4770.

We still don't even know what the HD4730 can be used with in Crossfire...

this is more than likely just to get rid of the cores that are low binned and can't run at the stock freq's of the 4890

its just a 4890 with a low core clock thats it

as a matter of fact that card is exactly the same as the Powercolor HD4890 from the looks, the PCB even has the same model number on it.

Why not use those cores in the HD4870s then?

 

[Kitkat]

k so im officialy ready to admit this is too many cards. gettin silly. I also dont think it has anything to do with consummer gaps lol just alot of cards.

 

[btarunr]

Hmm. ATi is struggling with getting 40nm fabbed.

TSMC, not specifically AMD. They've got some serious fab issues, and both AMD and NVIDIA are looking for potential alternatives if TSMC gives them a hand when it's time for their 40 nm GPUs.

 

[KainXS]

Why not use those cores in the HD4870s then?

they probably don't want to get it all mixed up and cause confusion, but then again those cores might not even clock to 4870 frequencies either efficiently

Its not that many cards I mean theres only gonna be 12 HD4XXX cards with this, but including nvidia's nearly 20 current cards now I still say not really

 

[scope54]

imo this is stupid, and i call shens....until i see a real press release.

 

[leonard_222003]

Strange card with a strange number , overclocked can be just as good as a 4870 , the next generation must be very good if they dump the old stock so quickly , they make me curios how fast the new generation will be to dump the 4800 series so cheap.

 

[newtekie1]

they probably don't want to get it all mixed up and cause confusion, but then again those cores might not even clock to 4870 frequencies either efficiently

Its not that many cards I mean theres only gonna be 12 HD4XXX cards with this, but including nvidia's nearly 20 current cards now I still say not really

Using the RV790/770 in HD4700 cards adds way more confusion than simply using RV790 cores in HD4870 cards. The general user wouldn't know the difference, and the RV770 and RV790 are virtually identical. They certainly are a lot closer to eachother than they are to RV740. And if they don't clock to HD4870 speeds, put them in HD4850's then. I find it hard to believe that an RV790 couldn't at least do 625MHz. Why release a whole new card to take the place of the HD4850 instead of just using the RV790 cores in the HD4850s?

As for who has more cards in production:

ATi: 13 | nVidia: 11
HD4350 | 9300GS
HD4550 | 9400GT
HD4650 | 9500GT
HD4670 | 9600GT
HD4730 | 9600GSO
HD4770 | 9800GT
HD4790 | GTS250
HD4830 | GTX260 216
HD4850 | GTX275
HD4870 | GTX285
HD4890 | GTX295
HD4850x2 |
HD4870x2 |

I don't see where you are getting 20...

 

[djisas]

I bet these will sell well and ppl will try to oc the living shit out of them...
If some finds a way to oc it to 800+ i bet the stock's will be sold out...

 

[erocker]

4870 replacement.

 

[kn00tcn]

ATi: 13 | nVidia: 11
HD4350 | 9300GS
HD4550 | 9400GT
HD4650 | 9500GT
HD4670 | 9600GT
HD4730 | 9600GSO
HD4770 | 9800GT
HD4790 | GTS250
HD4830 | GTX260 216
HD4850 | GTX275
HD4870 | GTX285
HD4890 | GTX295
HD4850x2 |
HD4870x2 |

I don't see where you are getting 20...

where did 9800gtx, 9800gtx+, gtx280, gtx260 original go?

 

[erocker]

where did 9800gtx, 9800gtx+, gtx280, gtx260 original go?

Though completely off topic:
9800GTX = No longer in production/replaced by 9800GTX+
9800GTX+ = Renamed to GTS 250
GTX260 = No longer in production/replaced by 55nm 216 shader GTX 260
GTX280 = No longer in production/replaced by GTX 285

 

[Easo]

SOOOOO.... IT has happened, card with lower "number" beats mine 4850... QQQQ :/

 

[KainXS]

naa i was tryin to say about 20 altogether but forgot to put it in a understandable manner

sry for the confusing post

but I wouldn't include the 4830, or 4850x2 since ati is replacing the 4830 and they never truly supported the 4850x2 anyway

 

[Initialised]

So this is the 4890 512MB