AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series

[Achilles1600]

Hi, im currently building a rig" and i dont know if i should buy a 6000 serie's card, and i would like to know when the 7000 serie's is being released.?

[Super XP]

It sounds like XDR2 needs higher latencies for it to perform faster. Who knows, though it would be nice to see it used on Graphics Cards. Price plays a factor also.

[mastrdrver]

Production plays the main roll. No one makes it. You kind of need that to make production parts or even test parts.

[Jegergrim]

I'm frankly still oblivious on how XDR2 exactly will outperform the GDDR5.., so it has higher latencies and requires twice the frequency? so somewhere along the lines of 2200 mhz?

[Evolved]

HD7000 series should release some time this November.

I say, get a single 6870, and wait for the HD8000 series

[KainXS]

I doubt AMD will make the same mistake ATI did back with the 2600/2900XT and GDDR4 and its high latency problems. Either we are missing something about XDR2 or they're not going to use it, they made that mistake once, I doubt they would make it again.

[Jegergrim]

Originally Posted by KainXS

I doubt AMD will make the same mistake ATI did back with the 2600/2900XT and GDDR4 and its high latency problems. Either we are missing something about XDR2 or they're not going to use it, they made that mistake once, I doubt they would make it again.

I hope things have changed for the better since then, considering it has been a while. So my assumption is that information haven't been leaked out yet, or ofcourse as you say it could be fake info about the 7950/70 models with XDR2

[LordJummy]

Waiting is pointless. You'll spend half of your life waiting. Get what you want now and do what you want now. Money is an illusion, so buy what you want now before the monetary system completely collapses and is scrapped for good

[mastrdrver]

Originally Posted by KainXS

I doubt AMD will make the same mistake ATI did back with the 2600/2900XT and GDDR4 and its high latency problems. Either we are missing something about XDR2 or they're not going to use it, they made that mistake once, I doubt they would make it again.

The thing that is missing is that the "leaked roadmap" mixes desktop and mobile parts. If the fake roadmap can't get the parts on the right platforms, then how much trust do we really want to put in the XDR2 part?

[1Kurgan1]

AMD will launch its first graphics card in the Radeon HD 7000 family during the fall and as expected it will be the first VLIW4 circuits at 28nm. The top models of the Radeon HD 7900 series aims higher and will according to recently leaked roadmaps use the AMD Graphics Core Next architecture and the high speed memory XDR2 from Rambus.
Radeon HD 7000 will like the current 6000 family launch in steps and with different base architectures. If we are to believe the latest information that is said to come from AMD's leaked roadmap the graphics card marker is aiming for a first launch in Q4 2011. Then it will be the latest VLIW4 architecture (Very Long Instruction Word) that is on the menu and it will most likely have the same base as the Radeon HD 6900 series. An archtiecture that will be more efficient than VLIW5 that was used by other Radeon HD 6000 cards.


AMD's first 28nm circuits may be based on the same base as Radeon HD 6900 series

AMD is planning four different GPUs based on the 28nm version of the VLIW4 architecture and use them in three different series, Radeon HD 7800, HD 7600 and HD 7500. The four GPUs will be equipped with 768 to 1536 Radeon cores (stream processors) and GDDR5 memory in high speeds.



Radeon HD 7870 is the top model based on the GPU Thames XT and according to the documents they will be made with TSMC's 28 nanometer HPL technology (High Performance Low-power). Despite specifications that are similar to the current top model Radeon HD 6970 - actually higher on several points - Radeon HD 7870 will get a maximal power consumption of only 120 watt, which is more than half of the 250 watt the 40nm precursor consumed.
Besides Thames XT we also have Thames Pro, Lombok XT and Lombok Pro where all use the same efficient 28nm technology with power consumption down to 50 watt.
Radeon HD 7900 series looks to be a question for the future - just like the Radeon HD 6900 series was. The reason is quite simple and it is abbreviated GCN. AMD Graphics Core Next is whole new and from the ground up designed GPU architecture that AMD has been talking about for some time now. The company has used a more programming friendly approach that will improve performance and functionality in GPGPU applications.



We have no concrete information on when Radeon HD 7900 series will launch, but most likely Q1 2012. AMD has chosen to use a more performance oriented node, TSMC's 28nm HP (High Performance) that will be ready later than HPL, but also have switched from GDDR5 to the pretty untested XDR2 technology.
XDR2 is made by Rambus and is marketed as the world's fastest memory system. Rambus claims that XDR2 offers twice the bandwidth of GDDR5 per circuit, while power consumption will be 30% less at the same performance.



The information that has leaked on Radeon HD 7900 series says that AMD will pair the new architecture with XDR2 memory at up to 8000 MHz, which in the flagship would result in a memory bandwidth of 256 GB/s over a 256-bit memory interface, comparable to 176 GB/s in Radeon HD 6790 with GDDR5 memory at 5500 MHz.



The unconfirmed information says that the flagship Radeon HD 7970 (Tahiti XT) will ship with 2048 Radeon cores and a GPU frequency of 1000 MHz, which should result in a performance to remember, but despite that the power consumption will only be 190 watt, thanks to the new node technology.
Radeon HD 7950 (Tahiti Pro) and Radeon HD 7990 (New Zeeland) are also mentioned. Where the latter is the first graphics card with dual GPUs based on the Graphics Core Next architecture.
AMD looks to have something really exciting coing over the coming six months, but this is unconfirmed information that we may very well be fake. Either way it sounds likely that AMD will start its 28nm launch of Southern Islands with VLIW4 and later introduce Graphics Core Next. Whether the untested XDR2 memory technology will appear or not, we don't know, but if so it will be worth to look closer at.

English Source
Japanese/Chinese? Source

[1Kurgan1]

Some interesting numbers, the 7870 being slightly faster than a 6970, but less than half the wattage, or even the7970 being 60w less than a 6970. Impressive to see those numbers.

[Fourstaff]

Do I hear awesome? Nordic hardware is quite accurate, lets hope this translate to good prices!

[Jegergrim]

I wonder, will it even be worth buying the 7800 series, when the 7900 series with a new architecture is around the corner? Seems like such a waste

[1Kurgan1]

Originally Posted by Jegergrim

I wonder, will it even be worth buying the 7800 series, when the 7900 series with a new architecture is around the corner? Seems like such a waste

Different markets, getting a midrange card that usesless less than half of the power of todays top card, but has slightly better performance, but will most likely cost less, how can you go wrong?

[Delta6326]

So is the 79xx the new architecture? If so then it just might be time to upgrade from my 2x 4850! Lol I bet I can't sell them for much now.

[ST.Viper]

Finally....reason to start saving money Will you buy those beasts guys even if the price is not so friendly?

[DannibusX]

Will be setting aside dollars now. I'm going to want 2 7970's, unless they start whispering about 7990's coming.

Either way!

[1Kurgan1]

Originally Posted by DannibusX

Will be setting aside dollars now. I'm going to want 2 7970's, unless they start whispering about 7990's coming.

Either way!

7990 has already been mentioned.

[DannibusX]

Well that settles it then.

[qubit]

I think it should be boycotted just because it uses RAM from that nasty patent troll, Rambus. We don't want to give them more money to screw companies and customers over, do we?

Good find though, 1Kurgan1. This is not a dig at you!

[DannibusX]

Originally Posted by qubit

I think it should be boycotted just because it uses RAM from that nasty patent troll, Rambus. We don't want to give them more money to screw companies and customers over, do we?

Good find though, 1Kurgan1. This is not a dig at you!

Not takin' a swipe here, but...

...you're kinda saying we should further screw a company for something that Rambus does. Now, I'm all in favor of giving Rambus the finger, but I like AMD and I will continue to support them no matter what technology goes into it.

[qubit]

Originally Posted by DannibusX

Not takin' a swipe here, but...

...you're kinda saying we should further screw a company for something that Rambus does. Now, I'm all in favor of giving Rambus the finger, but I like AMD and I will continue to support them no matter what technology goes into it.

No swipe taken.

Well, in my book, AMD should be boycotting them first for the same reason. If not, then an indirect boycott is justified. Look, I'm just expressing a sentiment born out of seeing a decade of patent abuses meted out by Rambus, as reported in the tech press.

The cards will sell or not sell depending on how well they perform and their price, not on any moral grounds of right or wrong.

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by qubit

as reported in the tech press.

No offense, but we are talking about the same tech press that has told us AMD was releasing Bulldozer already. I prefer to make my own choices rather than listen to what now is obviously bias...

And that choice is to trust that AMD chooses the best technology they can for their products, while keeping costs for the consumer down. If tht involves using Rambus tech, then fine.


Frankly, i think RamBus holding patants is a good thing, as they serve to keep the industry in check. Without RamBus, things like DRAM price fixing and such wouldn't not be investigated, IMHO.

[Wrigleyvillain]

Mmm less jigawatts...

[the54thvoid]

It will be very good to see 6970 performance bested (marginally) by the 7870. Even better at half the energy consumption. So 6990 performance for the cost of a 6970. Happy days.