This is very interesting bit of information and shines light on the reason why AMD bought ATI in the first place. If anyone's following CPU/GPU/GPxPU news, you can see that things are starting to converge upon each other. From the programmable shaders in GF3, GPU has started to walk the path into becoming a "general purpose" processor, albeit a bit more specialized than CPU. Folding with ATI's GPU already proved that GPUs are quite capable of running non-visual code. If indeed what that post says is true, then I understand AMD's strategy for next few years, especially with the "Torrenza" and "HT 3.0 Co-processors". Think super integration/linking. As much as current situation looks bleak for AMD, if their bet goes well with this strategy, they can edge out Intel in whole different way(why do you think Intel's been hyping out their in-house GPU so much lately?).
Anyways, I would wait until official numbers or 2-3 more sources giving the same numbers as DT do, before I pass judgement down on R600. I'm not even interested in cards past $300 segment, as very few will buy them + they're not the profit for GPU makers. Sub $200 and especially sub $100 market is where the money is made for GPUs. If you doubt me, you can easily check Valve's hardware surveys. Add to the fact that 86xx series are disappointing with their price segment. If the HD 26xx series outperforms 86xx series maintaining the same price range, than that's all it matters for me.