AMD HD7*** series info

[Lonyo]

I'm interested in what they might manage to pack into the low-mid end with low profile cards. Hopefully 28nm and VLIW4 should result in some nice lower power cards that can be used for light gaming, maybe close to 5750 level performance.

 

[ElFenix]

Unfortunately, there isn't anything Nvidia or AMD can really do. It's not them that's slowed down, but process tech.

the geforce3 was delayed months due in part to difficulties with the .15u process. the reason the voodoo5 needed 2 chips is because 3dfx didn't want to gamble on the .25u node working out. nvidia did (and the gamble paid off). the gf2 was built on the same node as the original gf256 and had much higher performance. the gf4 was built on the same node as the gf3, .15u, and again had much higher performance. the gf fx line was again late because nvidia gambled on .13u. the gf 6800 was built on that same .13u and showed huge performance gains compared to the fx.

 

[Will Robinson]

Some more good stuff here...
http://vr-zone.com/articles/next-generation-gpus-amd-s-cray-on-a-chip-/13163.html#

 

[AnandThenMan]

Thanks for the link, looks very interesting. Reading now... :thumbsup:

 

[Stuka87]

So is there any estimated ETA for the 7K series chips?

I currently have a lowly 5750 (512MB at that), but I do play BC2 heavily, and plan on playing BF3. I doubt the 5750 will cut it, so I will need an upgrade. The question is, 6870, or 7870?

 

[AnandThenMan]

The only thing we've heard from AMD is "this year" I don't think there has been anything more specific.

 

[Will Robinson]

So is there any estimated ETA for the 7K series chips?

I currently have a lowly 5750 (512MB at that), but I do play BC2 heavily, and plan on playing BF3. I doubt the 5750 will cut it, so I will need an upgrade. The question is, 6870, or 7870?

Looks like it's going to take a fairly grunty card to run BF3 at high res and with a decent amount of AA and AF filtering so I'd wait till the game comes out then buy a card based on performance reviews such as sites like AT.
The 7 series mid range cards aka "7850" or "7950" maybe out around that time so there ought to be plenty of decent choices.
Until then however I'd stick with what you have now(as am I with HD5850).

 

[toyota]

AF has basically zero impact on an any lower mid range or better card made in the last few years.

 

[-Slacker-]

Some more good stuff here...
http://vr-zone.com/articles/next-generation-gpus-amd-s-cray-on-a-chip-/13163.html#

Wow. Bye bye low lowered amd chips.

 

[seaotter2]

I'm reading that vr zone article, and each compute unit can do 128 double precision gflops at 1 ghz - which is a very realistic clock speed at 28 nm.

So how many compute units do you think we could see?

Also what's the potential of, in the future, bypassing API's and graphics pipelines entirely and coding directly to the hardware with some CUDA-like instruction set?

 

[Kenmitch]

Some more good stuff here...
http://vr-zone.com/articles/next-generation-gpus-amd-s-cray-on-a-chip-/13163.html#

Hmm....Makes me wonder if this is in part responsible for BD's delay. I doubt it will happen but would be kinda cool if AMD launched BD and the 7xxx series at the same time. I guess it would explain somewhat of the delay. BD's design may have needed some tweaking to interconnect with the 7xxx series. It's possible something was overlooked untill some 7xxx working silicone was available for testing. Guess time will tell in the end.

Let's hope that the AMD's BD and 7xxx series put some hurt to intel and nvidia....But not enough for someone like Apple to take AMD out of our hands!

 

[Idontcare]

Hmm....Makes me wonder if this is in part responsible for BD's delay.

That...seems unlikely.

 

[Grooveriding]

28nm Radeon chips likely this year

Interim AMD CEO Thomas Seifert revealed that his company already has working samples of GPUs fabricated using a 28nm manufacturing process.

AMD also says it is on track to unveil a revamped GPU lineup, codenamed Southen Islands, using the new process later this year.

Both Globalfoundries and TSMC will likely be used to manufacture new GPUs using the 28nm process.

Going this route AMD will need independent GPU designs for each foundry because of differences in the way that each foundry works.

By shifting over to this new process AMD will likely enjoy significant cost savings, assuming it experiences good yields from the 28nm process immediately.

​

When a new fabrication process is introduced, yields can vary greatly in terms of quality until the process is further fine-tuned. GPUs manufactured using the new 28nm process will also require less power and will thus run cooler than their predecessors.

Currently, AMD uses a 40nm manufacturing process to produce its existing range of Radeon GPUs.

 

[Rhezuss]

I'd like to see those new HD 7000 out before Christmas. I'd be glad to pick a 7850 for cheap if it beats the crap out of the current gen.

Any news on a release date?

 

[WMD]

We are seeing less and less performance increase with each new release nowadays. I won't be surprised if AMD's next flagship single gpu is only 20-30% faster and barely beating out the GTX580 by a hair. That is about the minimum they need to take market lead. Price and demand will be kept high by adding some new features and improving power efficiency by going to smaller process and smaller die.

My predictions: same old 256bit bus width, slighty faster DDR5, priced just under the GTX580

 

[Silverforce11]

I hope you realized we've been at 40nm for awhile and expecting major gains on the same node & semi-same architecture is unrealistic.

28nm will be huge for perf/mm2, that at least is obvious.

 

[james1701]

I wonder if we will see gains like when Nvidia launched the 8800GTX. The performance increase was staggering over anything else at the time.

 

[Arkadrel]

I'd replace "interesting" with "frightening", regarding the price and considering that cayman hasn't gone down much in price since launch.

The 7950 might cost $450+ at this rate.

Nvidia 580 already is.... undoubtly the 7950 will be faster, and probably better overall price/performance.

As long as performance, follows price, doesnt matter if the card costs twice as much as a 580, as long as its twice as fast.

 

[Nintendesert]

I'm curious to find out how different the GPUs fabbed at GF overclock and run compared to the TSMC ones and whether a manufacturer will let us consumers know which chip they're using in their cards.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Nvidia 580 already is.... undoubtly the 7950 will be faster, and probably better overall price/performance.

As long as performance, follows price, doesnt matter if the card costs twice as much as a 580, as long as its twice as fast.

Except that's now how it works, of course. The purpose of bringing in a new architecture along with a smaller process node is to reduce die size while obtaining either the same or higher performance than before. As always, the Performance category is the one that exemplifies this the most. By getting HD 6970 or a bit higher performance into a die size similar to the 6870 (Barts) they're able to have lower manufacturing costs in every way, which is then passed on to the consumer. For the Enthusiast market it means that you get 50% or even higher performance than before while having a similar die size to the previous generation but somewhat higher prices. 40nm to 28nm is a full node, not a half node like 65nm to 55nm.

It's extremely doubtful that you'll see a jump of 100% in performance going from something like a Radeon HD 6970 to a Radeon HD 7970; a more realistic expectation would be around the 50-75% faster ballpark. And with that also comes the problem of diminishing returns. The higher you get into the market, the less performance you get in return AND the higher price you get. Compare the Radeon HD 6770 to the Radeon HD 6870 to the Radeon HD 6970 and you'll see what I mean:

Radeon HD 6770: $110; Mainstream
Radeon HD 6870: $175; Performance
Radeon HD 6970: $340; Enthusiast

Now look at the performance differences:

Radeon HD 6870: 60-65% faster than Radeon HD 6770
Radeon HD 6970: 25% faster than Radeon HD 6870

With the 6870 you're paying 60% more than the 6770, but you're also getting 60-65% more performance. With the 6970, you're paying 95% more and getting 25% more performance. Needless to say, points of diminishing returns is a factor to take into account once you look at the Enthusiast cards, starting with the *950 or *70 in the case of NVIDIA. This will always be the case for years to come and the reason why you should never buy the highest-end cards if you care about getting good bang-for-buck, especially when a new architecture is developed in combination with a new process node. Yields for those parts will be low, and manufacturers will expect us to pay for it both in price and in availability.

Taking all that into account, I think that the 7950 will be around $300, the 7870 around $250, and the 7850 around $200. I could be wrong, obviously, but it's a good estimate.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Probably the same pattern happening again: New gen released but buy the last-gen for price/performance.

 

[Silverforce11]

Probably the same pattern happening again: New gen released but buy the last-gen for price/performance.

Unless there's a huge stuff up this time by AMD to retain so much 69xx stocks they have to sell it 1/2 price.. then no, 28n gen will be the new perf/$, perf/mm2 and perf/watt standard. A full node jump is a big deal.

 

[bryanW1995]

Why would they? If a customer feels like they're getting a good deal buying a 9400 for slightly less money than an 8800 then it's a win/win/win. Clearly the customer has no need for a performance video card, and nvidia and best buy both get a fat profit margin on the sale.

If he needs a discrete card, a 9400 over an 8800 would hardly be a "win" for the customer. Of course, the same can be said with AMD's cards, so buyers should clearly do a bit of homework before making a purchase. Of course, BB thrives on people who DON'T do their homework, keeping prices low for the rest of us

 

[tincart]

I will once again be looking at whatever can give me the best performance for around $200. Will probably wait to see what Kepler can do even if AMD launches quite a bit sooner. I'm hoping to see 6950/70 performance in that price range for the 7xxx series.

 

[Madcatatlas]

I will once again be looking at whatever can give me the best performance for around $200. Will probably wait to see what Kepler can do even if AMD launches quite a bit sooner. I'm hoping to see 6950/70 performance in that price range for the 7xxx series.

My plans aswell! If AMD doesnt screw up their upper midrange pricing this time, like they did with the fail on pricing 6850/70 versus the overclocked 460`s.

I wonder if they realised their huge fail in losing that many sales...