blastingcap
Gawd
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2009
- Messages
- 682
Improved UVD, possible Eyefinity without needing DP->VGA/DVI adapter, and improved Stream Processor efficiency. TDP and die size will be higher than 5xxx series, performance is 25-40% higher than 5xxx series. (If these rumors are correct, then the HD5870 analog would be ~20% faster than the GTX 480.) Tessellation power is supposed to be 3-4 times as powerful as the 5xxx series.
Technical discussion about improvements made to 6xxx series architecture: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=30402647#post30402647
Photos: http://vr-zone.com/articles/amd-cayman-and-caicos-pictures-leaked/9769.html (Note the two mini-displayports instead of one displayport. Also, the guy who leaked these photos supposedly has not one, not two, but TWENTY 6xxx cards. If that doesn't scream "imminent launch," I don't know what does.)
What's also interesting to me is that not only will the HD5870 analog part be faster than the GTX 480, but the HD5850 analog might beat it, too.
UPDATE: http://www.semiaccurate.com/2010/09/06/what-amds-northern-islands/
Charlie, who has good sources no matter what you think of his red vs. green politics, posts more about 6xxx series. Here are the takeaway points:
1) TSMC abruptly canceled 32nm process and AMD's plans got rearranged, hence the SI vs. NI naming confusion. The 6xxx series will be called Northern Islands.
2) Charlie confirms the 4+1 -> 4 redo of the stream processors (shaders), as highlighted by the Anandtech forum post. The new arrangement can do almost as much work as the old arrangement, and it's smaller, so you can jam more of them onto the same die space.
3) The non-shader portion of the chip is more efficient too. (Also, Charlie didn't mention this, but I heard that AMD had some unused die space in Cypress that they were able to reclaim for Northern Islands.)
4) The Northern Islands flagship GPU (analog to Cypress) will be a larger chip, 380-400mm2.
5) Currently there is scheduled an event for October 12 that has something to do with Northern Islands, but it isn't a launch.
6) AMD will launch the Juniper analog first, then the Cypress analog, then the Hemlock analog, all before the end of 2010. (If we use last year's terminology, it will be as if AMD launched 5770/5750 first, then 5870/5850, then 5970.) Lower-end parts will be released early next year.
Technical discussion about improvements made to 6xxx series architecture: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=30402647#post30402647
Photos: http://vr-zone.com/articles/amd-cayman-and-caicos-pictures-leaked/9769.html (Note the two mini-displayports instead of one displayport. Also, the guy who leaked these photos supposedly has not one, not two, but TWENTY 6xxx cards. If that doesn't scream "imminent launch," I don't know what does.)
What's also interesting to me is that not only will the HD5870 analog part be faster than the GTX 480, but the HD5850 analog might beat it, too.
UPDATE: http://www.semiaccurate.com/2010/09/06/what-amds-northern-islands/
Charlie, who has good sources no matter what you think of his red vs. green politics, posts more about 6xxx series. Here are the takeaway points:
1) TSMC abruptly canceled 32nm process and AMD's plans got rearranged, hence the SI vs. NI naming confusion. The 6xxx series will be called Northern Islands.
2) Charlie confirms the 4+1 -> 4 redo of the stream processors (shaders), as highlighted by the Anandtech forum post. The new arrangement can do almost as much work as the old arrangement, and it's smaller, so you can jam more of them onto the same die space.
3) The non-shader portion of the chip is more efficient too. (Also, Charlie didn't mention this, but I heard that AMD had some unused die space in Cypress that they were able to reclaim for Northern Islands.)
4) The Northern Islands flagship GPU (analog to Cypress) will be a larger chip, 380-400mm2.
5) Currently there is scheduled an event for October 12 that has something to do with Northern Islands, but it isn't a launch.
6) AMD will launch the Juniper analog first, then the Cypress analog, then the Hemlock analog, all before the end of 2010. (If we use last year's terminology, it will be as if AMD launched 5770/5750 first, then 5870/5850, then 5970.) Lower-end parts will be released early next year.
Last edited: