ATI hint that RV560 and RV570 are late, 80nm northbridge up and running and on the way
In today's Q3 financial results for the 2006 financial year, ATI hinted that RV560 and RV570 -- their upcoming new mid-range desktop parts -- are a little late. Talking about discrete desktop GPU sales, ATI spoke of inventory hangover and lateness on products hurting them in the $150-250 price range, although they were bullish on initial 80nm product yields.Putting that together, it seems ATI were referencing RV560 and RV570. More than ever, they'll be keen to use those new chips to displace use of high-end GPU dies in lower-end SKUs, something they've had to do to fight NVIDIA in the mid-range. RV530-powered Radeon X1600 hasn't done what they'd hoped in the lower end of that pricing space.
Sticking with 80nm die production, they confirmed that an 80nm northbridge product was up and running in the lab, and indeed was up and running within hours of first silicon coming back, showing their northbridge core logic team is continuing to execute as it has in recent times.
Other noteworthy comments include Conroe being strong for them in terms of OEM interest in supporting core logic, including Crossfire SKUs, and that SB600 is doing well to increase business.
As far as the recent aquisitions of Bitboys and XGI go, ATI confirmed a total payment of $37.2M USD combined. XGI didn't cost much, then!
Overall, today's conference call put across a message that things are moving slowly in the desktop and notebook spaces, somewhat traditionally at this time of year, and that things are expected to pick up as ATI approach FY Q1 2007.
More notes on the conference call can be found here at Beyond3D.com.
