Leading AMD AIB Partners Avoiding "Tahiti LE"?

[btarunr]

According to industry sources we spoke with, multiple leading AMD add-in board partners lack plans to launch Radeon HD 7870 "Tahiti LE" graphics cards. The new performance segment SKU is slated for November 27, and already lacks an AMD reference design. The new SKU is being designed as a limited-edition model, targeting limited markets, to help AMD score big on the winter shopping season. Earlier this week, Club 3D defied the November 27 launch date to release the HD 7870 jokerCard, which is believed to stick to the final specifications of "Tahiti LE." Since TUL is the contract manufacturer for Club 3D, one can safely confirm that two AIB brands owned by it, PowerColor and VTX 3D, will announce HD 7870 "Tahiti LE." Incidentally, the three are also among the only AIBs with a Radeon HD 7990 dual-GPU graphics card, apart from HIS.

Based on the 28 nm "Tahiti" silicon, the limited edition Radeon HD 7870 "Tahiti LE" is configured with 1,536 Graphics CoreNext stream processors, a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface holding 2 GB of memory, and clock speeds of 925 MHz core, 975 MHz PowerTune boost, and 6.00 GHz memory (192 GB/s). It is said to be priced competitively with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 660, while being allegedly 15% faster.



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[ViperXTR]

mebbe because it will cannibalize the HD 7870 and 7950 sales '__' (kinda reminds me o my ol FX 5900 XT hehe)

 

[Tatsumaru]

A double edged sword i guess

well if 7870 would be out of production , then yes , 7890 would made some sense, but since 7870 is SUCH a SELLER card ! no wonder partners refuse...
Personally i think they will sell it for 270$ targeting 660ti, when in theory , if overklocked to 1ghz it will be as fast as 670.
So, if 7890 will go for 270$ ,then AMD send 2 of them in Massachusetts, got my money ready.

 

[TheGuruStud]

Drop 7950 25 bucks and sell more of those

 

[Completely Bonkers]

Too many GPU derivatives - especially with LE monikers which do what? exactly to the specs? - creates too much confusion in the market. Buyers DO NOT WANT to play lucky dip bingo.

 

[RCoon]

Too many GPU derivatives - especially with LE monikers which do what? exactly to the specs? - creates too much confusion in the market. Buyers DO NOT WANT to play lucky dip bingo.

eventually they will develop 1 card for every 50mhz difference in gpucore speed... ridiculous.
i can understand wanting to tap every price point of customers, but is it just too much to ask to stick with 2 entry level cards, 2 mid level, and 2 enthusiast level...
eventually nvidia will go back to their old days and start developing 665 665ti 675, then amd will create the 7890.5 or something, to compete at that price point

 

[dj-electric]

Protip AMD, close the freaking gap between HD7850 and HD7770 already!

Oh and next time? Don't bother refreshing the HDX600 series, give us the new stuff.

 

[renz496]

i think it has more to do to sell every chip they can get from TSMC. this Tahiti LE are surely chip that can't meet the requirement to be 7970 or 7950 so instead toss it into the bin they make a 'product' out of it. same case as 6790 and 5830. it might lead to confusion for customers but i dare to bet most of people that are going to buy it will not care how the company named their card. when they go to buy in their local store the first question they will ask is: is this card fast or will this card fast enough for the games that i'm going to play?

so in the end what matter the most to amd is making profit and they really need it badly

 

[3870x2]

Too many GPU derivatives - especially with LE monikers which do what? exactly to the specs? - creates too much confusion in the market. Buyers DO NOT WANT to play lucky dip bingo.

As opposed to NVidia's Ti? I still don't know what ti stands for, but they are much more expensive and powerful than their non-ti counterpart.

 

[Frick]

As opposed to NVidia's Ti? I still don't know what ti stands for, but they are much more expensive and powerful than their non-ti counterpart.

There's a clear definition to Ti, and it has been that way since Geforce 3. LE has historically been gimped versions of cards, "Light Edition" (ironically most LE cards have been Nvidia cards). And it looks like the "LE" moniker will not be part of cards, but rather something else.

 

[3870x2]

There's a clear definition to Ti, and it has been that way since Geforce 3. LE has historically been gimped versions of cards, "Light Edition" (ironically most LE cards have been Nvidia cards). And it looks like the "LE" moniker will not be part of cards, but rather something else.

I guess I should get off my lazy ass and see what TI means.

if LE is referring to the 7950, that would make sense, but not 7870LE.

 

[Completely Bonkers]

How fast is a 7870 LE GTX OC Green edition? Better or worse than 7970 or 7950 or 7870 or 7850?

Exactly. QED

 

[Frick]

How fast is a 7870 LE GTX OC Green edition? Better or worse than 7970 or 7950 or 7870 or 7850?

Exactly. QED

Most indeededly.

 

[tacosRcool]

Why doesn't AMD just give us a HD 7990 instead?

 

[Benetanegia]

Why doesn't AMD just give us a HD 7990 instead?

They already gave you the HD7990, at least, from what I read in the article, as much as they are going to be giving you this card. None of them (7990 or "Tahiti LE") have a reference design.

 

[Xzibit]

There's a clear definition to Ti, and it has been that way since Geforce 3. LE has historically been gimped versions of cards, "Light Edition" (ironically most LE cards have been Nvidia cards). And it looks like the "LE" moniker will not be part of cards, but rather something else.

Its kind of obvious what "LE" stands for if you read the article

The new SKU is being designed as a limited-edition model, targeting limited markets, to help AMD score big on the winter shopping season

 

[cadaveca]

I really want to get my hands on one of these...to me, 7870 infers 7870 pricing, but maybe not performance. I'd like to find out.

 

[Frick]

Its kind of obvious what "LE" stands for if you read the article

I know, i just speak from a historical point of view. All i can think about when i see LE or SE is Hyper memory and ultra gimped cards.

 

[alwayssts]

This is just a guess, but perhaps TUL keeps a smaller amount of cards on hand than other AIBs like Sapphire, MSI, and ASUS? It surely seems the prices on their products change more often, and may more directly reflect the current wholesale price...hence the inference.

If that were the case, it would make sense they would jump on a limited-edition product like this, where-as others may ride out the storm and bridge the gap until the next-gen launch with supplies of 7870/7950.

Like I've said, this is probably a limited-edition for a reason: I think 8850 will be this product spec reborn with a die ~75% the size, a shorter pcb, cheaper price and possibly even under 150w (depending on if amd wants to let users ramp the clock, like this product, and compete with 670 rather than 660ti, or if that will be the niche for this product while 8850 simply goes against 660ti). 8870 may launch at a price close-enough to this with performance that exceeds it (and hits an important niche) while using similar power. I wouldn't want to be left holding a stock of these cards when those products launch. It's very possible the shelf-life vs price factors into the equation of offering this card.