Radeon HD 6870 PCB and GPU Pictured

[btarunr]

The fine folks at IT168 revealed the first pictures of the Radeon HD 6870 PCB with its cooler completely off, and in its production livery (black). Also let out is the first [clear] picture of the GPU itself. The PCB was first pictured in its nascent qualification sample form, with a development GPU cooler on. The final version of the PCB sticks to its qualification sample for the most part, it has VRM components positioned forwards, trailed by the GPU and its memory. The card makes use of a 4+1+1 phase VRM. All eight memory chips are on the obverse side, each with its own 32-bit wide path, since there's a 256-bit memory interface.

The GPU package is of the same dimensions as the Cypress package, albeit a smaller die. We're getting to hear that Barts is pin-compatible with Cypress (meaning that a Barts GPU can be placed onto a Cypress PCB, given the appropriate BIOS, and it will work), however, no AIB is likely to reuse Cypress PCBs other than for Eyefinity6 designs, because while Barts can make do with a 6-layer PCB, close to every existing Cypress PCB is an 8-layer one, and that Cypress PCBs lack the second mini-DP connector. The die is placed diagonally on the package (à la Cypress and R600), it is rectangular, while the Cypress die is more or less square. ChipHell.com contributor musicinlove did a nice size measurement and comparison. Finally, the AMD "arrow" logo is etched onto the die, it's curtains down for ATI.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[afw]

Awesome ... cant wait to see the benchmarks

 

[20mmrain]

Intresting VRM's in the front of the card....Hope this means better VRM cooling.

 

[claylomax]

Awesome ... cant wait to see the benchmarks

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2010/10/12/amd-radeon-hd-6800-benchmark/1 They think this is the replacement for the 5800 series when it's not the case, hence the "disappointment"

 

[bear jesus]

Intresting VRM's in the front of the card....Hope this means better VRM cooling.

I love the idea of the vrm's being on the oppisite side of the core to what they used to be. if i get a 5xxx card it may be the first gpu i will leave the stock cooler on for the first time in years. my 4870 had a zalman vf1000 strapped to it before i even checked that it worked.... not the best thing to do but still, the vrm temps in reviews and forum posts are what made me want to do it.

With the blower style cooler they should see a very nice drop in temps but it greatly depends what the heatsink fo them is like.

 

[erocker]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2010/10/12/amd-radeon-hd-6800-benchmark/1 They think this is the replacement for the 5800 series when it's not the case, hence the "disappointment"

Apparently Bit-Tech is confused by the name change as well.

 

[FilipM]

Let's just hope that it is a replacement for the HD57xx series and not the high end 58xx - which from what ive read will likely be

 

[20mmrain]

Apparently Bit-Tech is confused by the name change as well.

Yeah I saw that too.... See confusion.... but even so if they consider themselves to be a tech news site they should do a little more investigation before posting their story.

Anyway...with the scores these cards are getting. Give them a little while with Driver updates and they will easily beat the 5870/5850.

 

[HalfAHertz]

I personally like the name change and summarized my thoughts on it here

 

[Bo$$]

someone change the LOGO for the news post, it is outdated

 

[H82LUZ73]

That one pic with the size difference almost make out the Radeon logo on the chip.

 

[_JP_]

So "musicinlove" must be code language for...?

 

[W1zzard]

So "musicinlove" must be code language for...?

wtbinternetfamebyusingphotoshopmeasuretools

 

[cadaveca]

That's the best thing I have read all day. Thanks, Wizz.

 

[jamsbong]

I've seen the benchmarks and it is slower than the 58xx series. Seems to me, the Bart chip is meant to be a cost reduction exercise. the chip is only 230mm^2 and the PCB is 6layer instead of 8layers. Finally, the performance is slightly lesser but you can get it at a lower price.

I doubt there are significant additional performance out of that chip being so small. Remember Nvidia had to use a lot of extra transistors to increase the triangle throughput. Thats why the 460 has a die size similar to the cypress but contains a lot less "cores" 240 vs 320.

Nvidia appears to be the winning combo for dx11 games. ATI for directcompute???

 

[Super XP]

Let's just hope that it is a replacement for the HD57xx series and not the high end 58xx - which from what ive read will likely be

There's nothing wrong with it being a replacement for HD 5870 and calling it HD 6870 so long as it outperforms big time.

 

[erocker]

There's nothing wrong with it being a replacement for HD 5870 and calling it HD 6870 so long as it outperforms big time.

You must of missed the other article.

Cayman is what you are looking for. One month to go.

 

[mdsx1950]

Only Crossfire?

 

[bear jesus]

wtbinternetfamebyusingphotoshopmeasuretools

That's the best thing I have read all day. Thanks, Wizz.

I agree, thanks for starting my morning with a good laugh

 

[W1zzard]

I've seen the benchmarks and it is slower than the 58xx series

i've run the benchmarks and your statement is not true

 

[bear jesus]

i've run the benchmarks and your statement is not true

I'm very excited to see your review... darn NDA

 

[pantherx12]

I'm very excited to see your review... darn NDA

When does it end again?

 

[Enmity]

i've run the benchmarks and your statement is not true

ooohh im excited now, i'm hoping the 6870 will perform between 5850 and 5870 range. keeping in mind the 6870 is only replacing the 5770...not the 5870...

like someone else said before, cayman is what you're really waiting for - they are the 6950 and 6970 which will be the real 5870/5850 replacements - should see these towards the end of november.

on top of this there is antilles, the dual gpu solution ( i think dual cayman? ) scheduled for early 2011, but likely to hit around xmas I would expect - this will be the 5970 replacement - likely to be called the 6990 and have some serious powahh!

fun times ahead!

 

[a_ump]

ooohh im excited now, i'm hoping the 6870 will perform between 5850 and 5870 range. keeping in mind the 6870 is only replacing the 5770...not the 5870...

like someone else said before, cayman is what you're really waiting for - they are the 6950 and 6970 which will be the real 5870/5850 replacements - should see these towards the end of november.

on top of this there is antilles, the dual gpu solution ( i think dual cayman? ) scheduled for early 2011, but likely to hit around xmas I would expect - this will be the 5970 replacement - likely to be called the 6990 and have some serious powahh!

fun times ahead!

from what we kno so far, your actually incorrect on that statement(the bold). the Juniper core is to stay and become the HD 67XX series(rebadge). Barts fills the gap between 5850 and 5770, which only has the 5830.....which is just a sad product price/perf wise.

 

[Enmity]

ok so what i really should have said is that the 6850 will be competing with the likes of the nvidia 460's (and fill the gap around the 5770/5830), and the 6870 to compete against the likes of the 5850/5870.

This is what I had meant.