Picture of AMD ''Cayman'' Prototype Surfaces

[btarunr]

Here is the first picture of a working prototype of the AMD Radeon HD 6000 series "Cayman" graphics card. This particular card is reportedly the "XT" variant, or what will go on to be the HD 6x70, which is the top single-GPU SKU based on AMD's next-generation "Cayman" performance GPU. The picture reveals a card that appears to be roughly the size of a Radeon HD 5870, with a slightly more complex-looking cooler. The PCB is red in color, and the display output is slightly different compared to the Radeon HD 5800 series: there are two DVI, one HDMI, and two mini-DisplayPort connectors. The specifications of the GPU remain largely unknown, except it's being reported that the GPU is built on the TSMC 40 nm process. The refreshed Radeon HD 6000 series GPU lineup, coupled with next-generation Bulldozer architecture CPUs and Fusion APUs are sure to make AMD's lineup for 2011 quite an interesting one.



Update (9/9): A new picture of the reverse side of the PCB reveals 8 memory chips (256-bit wide memory bus), 6+2 phase VRM, and 6-pin + 8-pin power inputs.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Crazykenny]

I honestly cant wait for them to be released and benchmarked to sh*t. I'm esspecially interested if AMD can get the performance throne back again, single GPU wise, meaning they have to beat the GTX480.

 

[_JP_]

Looks like they really aren't looking to bring out a completely new card, they just want to improve from the HD 5000. The cooler seems a bit more evolved from the HD 5000 reference, but other than that, I don't see much difference, because I can't.
Christmas doesn't come fast enough.
By the way, XT? Are those coming back?

 

[rodneyhchef]

Looks like they really aren't looking to bring out a completely new card, they just want to improve from the HD 5000. The cooler seems a bit more evolved from the HD 5000 reference, but other than that, I don't see much difference, because I can't.
Christmas doesn't come fast enough.
By the way, XT? Are those coming back?

Pro/XT is still used internally by ATi to denote the 50/70 series respectively.

 

[DaedalusHelios]

Photo looks to be partially computer generated. Around the fan placement the brightness and grainy look gives it away IMO.

 

[btarunr]

Photo looks to be partially computer generated. Around the fan placement the brightness and grainy look gives it away IMO.

It's cut out from a larger picture of the card installed on a system. You can see that a monitor is already connected to one of the DVI ports, and power connectors are in place. They just blacked-out parts of the picture outside the card. They just did an ordinary job blacking out, so it's not CGI.

 

[caleb]

What are those tiny ports near hdmi ?

 

[_JP_]

They are DisplayPorts.
Not very used and known, because most screens nowadays don't support the connector.

 

[DaedalusHelios]

It's cut out from a larger picture of the card installed on a system. You can see that a monitor is already connected to one of the DVI ports, and power connectors are in place. They just blacked-out parts of the picture outside the card. They just did an ordinary job blacking out, so it's not CGI.

I said partially as in it was a prototype that they altered the fan only in the photo. Looks grainy like an alteration to make it angled. Could just be from a cheap digital camera having trouble with low light but its looks altered to me. They might have other photos that show it better. I wouldn't think they would need to photoshop it into the photo but it just looks that way to me. lol

 

[pantherx12]

Could of made the heatsink about the inch longer.

 

[Atom_Anti]

I honestly cant wait for them to be released and benchmarked to sh*t. I'm esspecially interested if AMD can get the performance throne back again, single GPU wise, meaning they have to beat the GTX480.

It is probably a GTX480 killer, see some leaked benchmarks here:
http://www.fudzilla.com/graphics/gr...-hd-6800-series-performance-benchmarks-leaked

 

[_JP_]

http://www.fudzilla.com/graphics/gr...-hd-6800-series-performance-benchmarks-leaked

FUD is worth as much as you paid for it, nothing new here, at least nothing that we haven't seen in TPU...

 

[HossHuge]

Are they rolling out a complete line from 6450 to 6970?

Here are some specs according to WIKI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compar...g_units#Southern_Islands_.28HD_6xxx.29_series

 

[Atom_Anti]

FUD is worth as much as you paid for it, nothing new here, at least nothing that we haven't seen in TPU...

I have not seen any similar here in TPU.

 

[_JP_]

According to Wiki, 2GB of RAM seems to start being implemented on high-end cards with still few games being able to fill 1GB. They seem to want this standardized.
Also, nice to see possible 512-bit memory buses. Last time I saw one of those was on a 2900XT (wow, long time ago).
Good thing is that the new HD 6870 is only going to consume 10W more than the current one, supposedly from the extra RAM.
But all of this hasn't been confirmed yet so it's FUD...It'll be be good if it happens...I'll patiently wait anyway...

I have not seen any similar here in TPU.

Start messing with the Search feature.
See here and here.

 

[mastrdrver]

Are they rolling out a complete line from 6450 to 6970?

Here are some specs according to WIKI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compar...g_units#Southern_Islands_.28HD_6xxx.29_series

Ah yes, Wikipedia. The other fud.

 

[gumpty]

Looks like they really aren't looking to bring out a completely new card, they just want to improve from the HD 5000.

I think originally they were planning on bringing out a new architecture for the 6k series, but it was being built around TSMC's 32nm process. But then TSMC canned the 32nm and went straight to a smaller one. AMD were stuck so they have bunged a few of the next-gen features with the previous gen's architecture and built it on 40nm as a stopgap (although the performance will still be better).

Something like that anyway.

 

[HossHuge]

Ah yes, Wikipedia. The other fud.

Again, according to WIKI. I didn't say I believed it. Don't shoot the messenger...

 

[Atom_Anti]

Start messing with the Search feature.

Than read the Wiki messes, because that won't have 512-bit memory buses.

 

[_JP_]

Than read the Wiki messes, because that won't have 512-bit memory buses.

But all of this hasn't been confirmed yet so it's FUD...It'll be be good if it happens...I'll patiently wait anyway...

Have I made myself clear?
And because it is FUD, your sentence backfires. As in, how do you know it won't have 512-bit bus width?

 

[pantherx12]

Wouldn't 512-bit bus with gdrr5 equate to bat-shit insane memory bandwidth?

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

After seeing what a big temp difference the evga highflow bracket makes I really think ati needs to stop with the little two third grating. If I got this card first thing I'd do is either snip out those grill struts or just cut the whole bracket down the center. Also pretty positive it's still using a 256 bit bus, just paired with what I'd call proper GDDR5... running at the high speeds manufacturers have advertised in press releases but never shown in products, until now. Oh and yay for getting rid of that happy meal plastic racing stripe... EDIT* nvm, I see it's on the side now.

 

[_JP_]

Wouldn't 512-bit bus with gdrr5 equate to bat-shit insane memory bandwidth?

Most likely, yes. More than 200GB/s. I can only see this useful for Eyefinity users (all 6 screens), for single screens it will be overkill. BUT the thing is that it's all FUD for now...

Oh and yay for getting rid of that happy meal plastic racing stripe.

I don't know, I kinda liked that. But I guess they had to innovate somewhere else other than the card's specs.

 

[btarunr]

There is no 512-bit memory interface. It's 256-bit, but making use of 7 GT/s memory chips (so one can expect 30~35% increase in memory bandwidth over Cypress). Don't refer to Wikipedia for unannounced products without any citations. They're usually some fanboy's wetdreams.

 

[_JP_]

There is no 512-bit memory interface. It's 256-bit, but making use of 7 GT/s memory chips (so one can expect 30~35% increase in memory bandwidth over Cypress).

Yeah, I guess I remember reading that somewhere....

Don't refer to Wikipedia for unannounced products without any citations. They're usually some fanboy's wetdreams.

Duly noted. But I wasn't referring to what's on Wiki as fact, just telling what's written there and comparing it's worth against what's written on fudzilla...it's all rumors until something official actually comes out, announced or released. I am very aware of that.