What will be the successor to the HD 6970 class/segment?

[blitzio]

Because I'm planning on upgrading my 5870 a little later this year and I've decided to skip the 6970 for the next generation.

Any rumors or input would be appreciated.

 

[kllrnohj]

7970, duh



(rumors haven't started - probably won't hear much until late Q3, which is when the rumors will pick up, and then the cards will start showing up some time in Q4 - that's my guess anyway)

 

[Vexerz]

http://www.fudzilla.com/graphics/item/22373-amds-28nm-graphics-is-only-a-die-shrink

Only thing I agree with fudo here is that it will be 2012. TSMC is never on time. I don't for a second buy that it will not have any distinctively improved hardware.

 

[blitzio]

Haha 7970 is indeed the natural evolution of the naming scheme I'm sure!

So do you guys recommend I wait it out for this or switch to the 6970 mid year?

 

[Vexerz]

Just buy what you need now. Life is too short to wait for the next best thing that will come out the end of this year at the earliest.

 

[kllrnohj]

So do you guys recommend I wait it out for this or switch to the 6970 mid year?

How about you ask again when you are actually ready to buy?

I never understand the point of questions like this. "Hey guys, tell me right now what decision I should make it 2 months" - just ask in 2 months, then you'll be basing your decision on the most up-to-date information.

That said, I don't think the 6970 is worth upgrading to from a 5870 (hence why I haven't upgraded ). 6990 + 6970 trifire suddenly looks really damn attractive, though...

 

[Lorien]

Southern Islands taped out around February so the HD7k 28nm pipe cleaner mid-range limited production card will be out early to mid Q3 2011 (think of the HD4770). But it all depends if Global Foundries and TSMC deliver 28nm bulk production on schedule.
Technical details of the architecture will be revealed in June at the Fusion Developers Conference. https://amdfusion.wingateweb.com/scheduler/eventguide/publicScheduleByType.jsp?ts=13026810674470

The Key Note will briefly cover some details

103 - Evolution of AMD's Graphics Core, and Preview of Graphics Core Next
GPU shader cores have been evolving frequently and significantly at AMD. We introduced our common shader core in 2007 with the HD 2000 series. This introduced the unified VLIW-5 instruction set that we've had since. In late 2010, we introduced the first significant departure from this core architecture, the symmetrical VLIW-4 used in the HD6900 series of products. In this presentation, we will review that evolution, but also present an overview of the next generation of AMD cores under development. This next generation of cores will propel forward its capabilities and continue this evolution.

Speaker
Eric Demers CTO and CVP, Graphics BU AMD

And there will also be a one hour in depth talk

2620 - AMD Graphics Core Next
At the heart of every AMD GPU is a power aware high performance set of compute units that have been advancing to bring users new levels of programmability, precision and performance. Starting with the introduction of the HD 2000 family of Unified Shader Systems to the PC consumer markets in 2007, AMD has delivered four unique generations. In this presentation, an overview of AMD's Graphics Core Next architecture will be introduced. We’ll talk about the architecture of this new shader system, and how it provides improvements to the necessary software stack and creates user programming flexibility. We believe you will obtain an understanding of this new architecture and how it lays the foundation for future AMD architectures.

Speaker
Mike Houston Fellow AMD
Mike Mantor Senior Fellow AMD

 

[blitzio]

How about you ask again when you are actually ready to buy?

I never understand the point of questions like this. "Hey guys, tell me right now what decision I should make it 2 months" - just ask in 2 months, then you'll be basing your decision on the most up-to-date information.

That said, I don't think the 6970 is worth upgrading to from a 5870 (hence why I haven't upgraded ). 6990 + 6970 trifire suddenly looks really damn attractive, though...

Definitely, but its more of me being on a fact finding mission. Like everyone here I'm on an obsessive quest for the latest trends and news on computer hardware and I just wanted to know if anyone had some idea or know of any rumors of the impending "7970" or whatever the successor will be.

Will definitely replace my 5870 over to that when it hits.

 

[Sottilde]

There is some info in another thread about it, who knows if it is at all reliable. I think we can count on a simple die shrink and expansion. I would love a 7870 with the power of the 6970 and half the thermal envelope... or of course a 7970 with twice the power of the 6970.