High-End Radeon HD 7000 series

High-end HD 7900 series GPUs will be named as Tahiti Pro and XT variants, and the monstrous dual GPU card as New Zealand, these GPUs make use of the new Graphic Next Core architecture (GCN). The implementation of GCN, a more programming friendly architecture is not only to improve the performance but also to improve the functionality of GPGPU applications.



28nm HPL Technology from TSMC

TSMC’s 28 nanometer HPL technology, which provides High Performance with Low-Power consumption. AMD Radeon HD 7870 have a maximum power consumption of only 120 watts, compared with 250 watts of the 40nm-made predecessor, whereas Pro-Thames, Lombok XT and Lombok Pro, all use the same power efficient 28nm technology, with consumption ranging from 90 watts down to 50 watts.



Apparently AMD is in its efforts to maintain a good balance between bandwidth and the memory bus, only so AMD would have chosen to abandon the use of GDDR5 memory and instead use XDR2 Rambus memory. Currently AMD pays royalties to Rambus on the use of its memory technologies for several years, so it would not sound strange upon AMD’s decision to implement them in their chips.



XDR2 Rambus Memories Performs more but costs more too

First Stage of Filtered Data

These cards can be expected to be released in between October to December of this year, Q4 2011. But high end HD 7900 series are expected to be released in Q1 2012. It is too early to get a complete picture of what AMD has prepared for us, and these details or rumors cannot be taken as a valid or official information. These are just first stage of filtered data, and we have no doubt that in the coming days / weeks, there will be many more like this, and even there may be some showing performance reviews of Radeon HD 7000 series.

source:http://lenzfire.com/2011/09/amd-radeon-hd-7000-series-graphic-card-details-exposed-40795/2/

figured i would post it here so you didn't have to leave OCF.

Most of this has been posted before (specs), but I like the XDR2 memory architecture slide for sure! Thanks!!!

EarthDog said:

Most of this has been posted before (specs), but I like the XDR2 memory architecture slide for sure! Thanks!!!

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what excites me about the XDR memory is it runs cooler than GDDR at lower power consumption, meaning more room to overclock without worrying much about the VRM's on most cards. 1200mhz core on a 7970, can't you just smell the power?

that's the pcb on fire bro

those look mean! Only 190 watts is incredible compared to the current offerings from either the green or red team.

Still not convinced this is accurate.

TSMC is having 28nm HP yield issues due to what I've read, which is why Nvidia's new cards are being delayed to Q1(?) 2012, and ATI is supposedly using a different process as a result to push their cards out sooner. Also I refuse to believe that they'd switch from years of GDDR5 research over to XDRAM, especially in a single generation.

Honestly I'd be surprised if anyone would work with RAMBUS after everything they pulled in the SDRAM era.

I also read that TSMC and GF are splitting these chips/produciton???

This is from that yayhoo Charlie at Semiaccurate:

Guys,
Let me be blunt here, THERE IS NO XDR2 IN SI/HD7000/GCN. Trust me on this, the spec list floating is complete bull, and you can tell by who is re-posting it and who is not. Some people know, and they are being VERY quiet on the subject.
This is not meant to knock XDR2 and/or Rambus, it is just a statement about what is in and what is not in the next GPU.

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http://semiaccurate.com/forums/showpost.php?p=132861&postcount=1160

EDIT: Now I remember where I saw all of this..: TPU!

grumperfish said:

Still not convinced this is accurate.

TSMC is having 28nm HP yield issues due to what I've read, which is why Nvidia's new cards are being delayed to Q1(?) 2012, and ATI is supposedly using a different process as a result to push their cards out sooner. Also I refuse to believe that they'd switch from years of GDDR5 research over to XDRAM, especially in a single generation.

Honestly I'd be surprised if anyone would work with RAMBUS after everything they pulled in the SDRAM era.

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I don't know what happened in the SDRAM era, but i am convinced, a card to become more efficient whether it's by 2 watts of 100 watts has to loose votlage, when memory takes a jump to 7000+mhz and core to 1000mhz, 28nm or not, i can't see the GDDR5 not being raised to over 1.15v and still be more power efficient, on top of that we already know it's leaping to PCIe 3.0, which IIRC a dual GPU recently hit the cap on GDDR5, the 6990? or was it the GTX 590, either way, it's come to an end, with the 5000 cards memory ran around 1.05v, with the 6000's upper end i was see'ing 1.1v - 1.13v on stock cards like the 6870 which had 1150mhz from some factories.

The PS3 has been running on XDR1 since release and that's a HUGE reason it had an upper hand with visuals and exclusives, the bandwidth between both the Cell and GPU wasn't bottlenecked. To many things point to XDR or XDR2, if it does release with GDDR5 i'm going to be very very surprised and wonder how in the world they were able to reach 2000mhz without heat issues, and i'm going to wonder even more about how little it will overclock due to the limitations of the memory bandwidth with itself.

I just wonder what Intel will be doing and performing at the next GEN CPUs, when they apparently might be able to build integrated GPU solutions which may come close to mid range GPUs. Then AMD and Nvidia might have a hard life because its currently theyr main buisness selling GPUs.

Still leaving lot of questions open, finally Intel is losing potential for the sake of integrated solutions. Such CPUs will have higher TDP and higher cost, but actually the high end users get a CPU with useless functions since they gonna get a dedicated GPU. Also i didnt like theyr whole Sandybridge strategy because they delayed development on purpose since they had no one being able to destroy theyr buisness. Oh well, surely will be interesting how much punch those new 7000 series actually got and if Intels integrated solutions truly can hit the mid range of dedicated solutions.

One is for sure, we cant go up on heat much more than that what we currenly got. The 6990 +590 is just totaly out of order, the highest TDP any GPU ever had. So we are close to the very limits of air cooling and it cant be expected to have huge water coolers a standart. I am now having PCs for over 15 years but home PCs never drained so much power ever (500-600 W supply is now a standart), even if we are constantly increasing efficiency.

Although im not sure that they gonna use XDR2, that rather sounds like unrealistic dream values, because rambus is very expensive and if they want to use 2-4 GB of it, then the product simply gets extremely pricy and only a high end user would pay those bucks, and those are to less to make it truly useful. No one said that DDR is the fastest tech out there, but its not compatible for the mass consumer who expect to have a cheap price. But maybe they try to implement such a design on a high end series, nothing impossible and sometimes a dream will come true.

Ivy said:

Although im not sure that they gonna use XDR2, that rather sounds like unrealistic dream values, because rambus is very expensive and if they want to use 2-4 GB of it, then the product simply gets extremely pricy and only a high end user would pay those bucks, and those are to less to make it truly useful. No one said that DDR is the fastest tech out there, but its not compatible for the mass consumer who expect to have a cheap price. But maybe they try to implement such a design on a high end series, nothing impossible and sometimes a dream will come true.

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If you have 2 companies buying a wackload of the stuff for all their new gpu models.. I am sure they will be getting it for a decent price..

AMD GPU'S FTW!

I lost all hope on nvidia, my opinion, is not yours, don't tell me that they are good in anyway.

S02 said:

AMD GPU'S FTW!

I lost all hope on nvidia, my opinion, is not yours, don't tell me that they are good in anyway.

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580>6970

S02 said:

AMD GPU'S FTW!

I lost all hope on nvidia, my opinion, is not yours, don't tell me that they are good in anyway.

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the most ironic part is the 460 in his sig...

EarthDog said:

the most ironic part is the 460 in his sig...

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LOL!

And yea bmw, the 580 > 6970 by about 150 bucks!

Tokae said:

LOL!

And yea bmw, the 580 > 6970 by about 150 bucks!

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Ya, true on the price point. but the best always cost more. All I care about is performance so whoever has the best gets my money. But I bench not game. So bang for buck doesn't mean as much, it more about the bang.

bmwbaxter said:

Ya, true on the price point. but the best always cost more. All I care about is performance so whoever has the best gets my money. But I bench not game. So bang for buck doesn't mean as much, it more about the bang.

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True, benching is an entirely different beast..

Difference is about $80 for the low-end cards (AR) at the Egg.

Tokae said:

True, benching is an entirely different beast..

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Much more expensive

But way more fun IMO

I bought it purely because it was as good as I could get at the time.I must admit though, I'd be happier with a radeon at that price, even at that time.

Since I've now had the card for nearly a year, once tested sli 460's, had no use, no effect on games, either broken or slow, think one of the stalker's worked perfectly(remember seeing an ati logo as I went into the game, thought it wouldn't work, but it gained the most, quite ironic).

2x6970, that's what I call good performance for the buck.

I'll never buy nvidia again.

No point in trying to talk to you about it as you said, just know, there are plenty of reasons, outside of brand, for the results you have seen. Both camps have their issues, both make very good cards, there is no denying that (unless its you who wont hear it ). I'll just keep on keeping on using both, one last note, I have had ZERO problems with my Nvidia cards.