Official AMD Radeon 6000 Series Discussion Thread

[cadaveca]

maybe we'll see another 4770 type part (~$100) as AMD's first 32nm GPU, before Northern Islands. It would make sense based on precedent and what the Anandtech article said about AMD wanting to get process refinement before moving to the larger and more expensive dies.

Problem is, there is no 32nm for them to do as they did previously. I mean, there's 32nm processes out there, but where AMD has access to 32nm, they make thier cpus, and the cpus cannot afford to wait, as they are a bit supply constrained.

So now we are back full circle. Rumoured(although from questionable sources), was Southern Islands...a combination of the missing 32nm design, and current 40nm design. But noone's sure what combination that will be. Now these gpus are coming...

I said before I doubted there would be "refresh". Given the info that 4-series had specific issues with TSMC's process, and now, over time, issues remain @ TSMC, so this very much limits what combination AMD can come up with.

I will be very surprised if there is even cards in October...what might be happening is a launch to OEM partners...telling them that the gpu design is done, and that things like pcbs and boxes can be made. AMD will then be selling the gpus to OEMs...who then needs to re-ship to retailers....That leads to maybe December for cards....as I said much earlier.


It's possible that they could take this chip, near 5850 performance, put two on a pcb...and the 6-series cards are done.

The question that remains...how do they get that performance? Does a simple add-on of 160 shaders to 4890 give that? A few tweaks here and there...and those slides that were posted earlier showing shader changes, seem pretty fake to me.

 

[DigitalUK]

I thought adding this here now might prove interesting:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=38065&stc=1&d=1285001634

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2937/1


What 6870 might be, is the original 5870.

thanks for that what a great read, best artical ive read in ages . changed my opinion of anandtech.com

 

[a_ump]

that is def possible, but i'd say even better. they've re-worked the chip a decent amount from what we've heard, its just not fully new. I like to put it that SI is a half brother or cousin of Evergreen.

 

[douglatins]

This was said to be a hoax.... but it was reported to wikipedia..... If these do turn out to be true. There is no way on god's green earth I will be buying one of these cards. At $999 for a 6970 or $599 for 6870 ATI could put their cards were the sun don't shine.

I do think this is a fake though. I don't see the 6870 having a 512 Bit memory bus. It also just looks crummy put together. But still take it for what you will.

I would stay with Nvidia for right now. But anyway here is this for what it's worth and were I found it from....

http://forums.techpowerup.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=38066&stc=1&d=1285020246

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=3711619

If this is real I will really have lost allot of respect for AMD/ATI. AMD/ATI used to be the company for the underdogs. If this is true they have forgot were they came from and all of those people who supported them through tough times *Cough* "2900XT"

OMG this is weird, firts 3B transistors? 2GB for 6850 and 6870? price tags? OMG so debatable!

 

[Zen_]

Problem is, there is no 32nm for them to do as they did previously. I mean, there's 32nm processes out there, but where AMD has access to 32nm, they make thier cpus, and the cpus cannot afford to wait, as they are a bit supply constrained.

What about the rumors that GlobalFoundries would be manufacturing some AMD GPU's in the future?

Purely speculation on my part. I thought the 4770 was one of, if not the best bang for the buck products AMD has ever come up with. It was cheap to produce, performed great, clocked well and they sold a ton of them. One would think that AMD would want to repeat that success and get a little experience with the 32/28nm process before Northern Islands rolls out.

 

[cadaveca]

What about the rumors that GlobalFoundries would be manufacturing some AMD GPU's in the future?

Rumour. One I hyped myself...but only because I knew TSMC was bad. Of course, they are making gpu-based parts, in the Fusion-based chips, but i think that until they have gone "full-in-fusion", they really cannot afford to be producing gpus @ GF.

 

[wahdangun]

yeah, because i heard GF used different process than TSMC, so it will difficult, unless AMD use different design maybe bart was for TSMC and Cayman for GF

 

[Bronan]

lol i do not think a die shrink will be done anything soon especially with what they have learned so far from 40nm production problems, i think if your gonna wait for the nexgen 28nm its going to be a long wait

 

[mastrdrver]

I thought adding this here now might prove interesting:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=38065&stc=1&d=1285001634

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2937/1


What 6870 might be, is the original 5870.

The 400mm2 or 5870 with sideport?

Either case 400mm2 is about right because back porting the 32nm design to 40nm gets to to about 400mm2. Whether it has sideport or not who knows.

Btw from everything I've read the 6000 series we are getting is not the hybrid Evergreen shaders and N.I. "uncore" but the new architecture that everyone thought was happening until the hybrid rumor started.

 

[douglatins]

Hey dudes what about we start a official maxwell thread? hehe JK.
When is the ETA for the 6870/6970?

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

no idea man but should hit retail november ish from what i know but spec wise i know squat

 

[_33]

From the Fudzilla article, I understand that the tesselation portion of the HD6000 series gpu shouldn't get the enhancement that some of us were hoping for. Too bad... But let's still hope and wait for the benchmarks to come.

http://www.fudzilla.com/graphics/graphics/graphics/radeon-hd-6000-launch-in-late-october

 

[Jstn7477]

But let's still hope and wait for the benchmarks to come.

Agreed.

 

[TheMailMan78]

All I know is the 6850 better be no more then 300 or I ain't buying shit. PLUS ATI better start bringing some new features to the table. Why? Because a 5850 will pretty much run every PC game on the market maxed out or damn close to it. Why? Because games today are ports.

Game developers no longer make PC gaming their number one priority. Consoles are. With that being said massive power boosts per generation are no longer needed. What we need is features.

Say what you want about Nvidia but at least they are trying to branch out. ATI better do the same or I am going green soon.

 

[Bronan]

lol i have no clue what your talking about nvidia new features where, when, how.
there is absolutely nothing new about fermi, for me looks all the same as before.
Your post seems to me all nonsense

 

[bobzilla2009]

lol i have no clue what your talking about nvidia new features where, when, how.
there is absolutely nothing new about fermi, for me looks all the same as before.
Your post seems to me all nonsense

maybe they mean physX, you know, the thing no-one uses.

Don't worry, consoles will destroy themselves soon enough anyway (or at least the xbox will. Due to them not having blu-ray, the only method of buying games will be downloading them via XBL, and who bets it'll cost the earth to buy them too. Imagine steam, but with a 70% price hike and no sales)

 

[KainXS]

From the Fudzilla article, I understand that the tesselation portion of the HD6000 series gpu shouldn't get the enhancement that some of us were hoping for. Too bad... But let's still hope and wait for the benchmarks to come.

http://www.fudzilla.com/graphics/graphics/graphics/radeon-hd-6000-launch-in-late-october

damn that makes me sad

what the hell did they do then, just throw in some more shaders or somethin cause I know it damn sure aint gonna have no 64 rops or thats gonna be one expensive ass card and im not buyin it.:shadedshu

not lookin good,

lol i have no clue what your talking about nvidia new features where, when, how.
there is absolutely nothing new about fermi, for me looks all the same as before.
Your post seems to me all nonsense

no he is right, most of the games are ports and 5850, hell a 5770 can run most decently, and its gonna be like that for the next few years until new consoles come out, consoles are here to stay, thats where the money is.

 

[bobzilla2009]

Well, since the hd6 series would have likely been taped out before the hd5870 appears, they may not have expected nvidia to care about tessellation so much. After all, it's very obvious nvidia did it only for the bragging rights (in actualltessellation usage, the hd5870 holds up fine, it's only in unrealistic situations like unigine extreme that it chugs).

I'd imagine the hd7 series to have ridiculous amounts of tessellation power in it though. of course, i also couldn't see AMD sitting on their collective arses with tessellation either, so i'd expect to definitely see an improvement in the hd6 series. Plus, if the leaked benchmarks are correct, the improvement is huge in tessellation.

 

[wahdangun]

yeah we need crysis 2,

but has anyone heard about MJ MMORPG ? it rumored used crysis games engine

 

[The Comfy Chair]

yeah we need crysis 2,

but has anyone heard about MJ MMORPG ? it rumored used crysis games engine

But crysis's engine is pretty bad by todays standards

What i'd like to see is a game that looks like the 3dmark 11 teaser Also, i guarentee you that guild wars 2 will be better than that MMORPG in terms of gameplay (and maybe even visuals too, they'd have to push the crysis engine like crytek did for it not to).

 

[Bronan]

Well lol i agree the 5870 holds its ground very well and i am amazed that it does that without even getter much warmer then it is in idle mode.
Now many people complain about the high sound from the fan.
But they seem to forget to mention why, they cranked it up to get the card cooler.
Since mine runs when the gpu 100% loaded at 33% fan speed, i hardly hear the damn thing.
In my opinion there is no need at all to crank up my fan not even if i overclock it, the difference is 1% and believe me people they are made to do run to about 100c, this far under 100% load i never reached 85.
If the newer models gets released i wonder if they kept it as cool as these, but if rumours are right it probably is less cool

 

[cadaveca]

My 5870's are far from quiet, and I haven't done a single thing to them...and I get artifacts or throttle long before 100c.

If they were truly made to withstand 100c, I'd not see any throttle.

I'm glad you are happy, but just because you have no problem does not mean the problem does not exist.

It's one of the major issues I'd like to see addressed with the 6-series(niose and heat), but because they are still 40nm, I know I expect too much.

(*note that i have reference 5870 cards, so my own experience is with those cards alone.)

 

[TheMailMan78]

My 5870's are far from quiet, and I haven't done a single thing to them...and I get artifacts or throttle long before 100c.

If they were truly made to withstand 100c, I'd not see any throttle.

I'm glad you are happy, but just because you have no problem does not mean the problem does not exist.

It's one of the major issues I'd like to see addressed with the 6-series(niose and heat), but because they are still 40nm, I know I expect too much.

(*note that i have reference 5870 cards, so my own experience is with those cards alone.)

You my friend seem to be the exception to most of the rules. I mean honestly we all have issues from time to time but you seem to have the most. CTD, Heat/noise, FPS issues, Artifacts. I mean WOW.

lol i have no clue what your talking about nvidia new features where, when, how.
there is absolutely nothing new about fermi, for me looks all the same as before.
Your post seems to me all nonsense

The fact you do not understand what I am saying says to me you need to stay at TPU and learn some. No offense meant.

maybe they mean physX, you know, the thing no-one uses.

Don't worry, consoles will destroy themselves soon enough anyway (or at least the xbox will. Due to them not having blu-ray, the only method of buying games will be downloading them via XBL, and who bets it'll cost the earth to buy them too. Imagine steam, but with a 70% price hike and no sales)

Physx is just one example. Crunching, 3D are some more. Bottom line is they may not be ground breaking but at least the are TRYING.

 

[cadaveca]

You my friend seem to be the exception to most of the rules. I mean honestly we all have issues from time to time but you seem to have the most. CTD, Heat/noise, FPS issues, Artifacts. I mean WOW.

Heh. actually, seems common among XFX 5870 users. In such a way that my local store doesn't carry thier products any more, due to the number of returns(and barely anyone anywhere globally has XXX model, either). I blame AMD only because they are reference.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Heh. actually, seems common among XFX 5870 users. In such a way that my local store doesn't carry thier products any more, due to the number of returns(and barely anyone anywhere globally has XXX model, either). I blame AMD only because they are reference.

So is it just the XFX that has this issue?