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AMD roadmap hints at five new Radeon HD 7000-series GPUs

by Parm Mann on 1 February 2012, 11:11

Tags: AMD (NYSE:AMD)

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AMD's Radeon HD 7000 series is off to a flying start with the launch of the venerable HD 7970 and the almost-as-fast HD 7950, but for those of you who're unable - or unwilling - to spend in excess of £300 on PC graphics, we've good news as it seems the underlying GCN architecture will be filtering through to the mainstream marketplace as soon as February 15.

That date appears to have been leaked by the following MSI slide, which hints at the release of the HD 7750 and HD 7770 in a fortnight's time, followed by the HD 7850 and HD 7870 in March, and the range-topping dual-GPU HD 7990 in the second quarter of the year.

It'll be an interesting couple of months, that's for certain, but these supposed release windows don't mean a lot without card specifications, so we're putting on our conjecturing hats to come up with some logicial numbers.

All seven Radeon HD 7000 series cards are detailed in the table below, and while none of the details are confirmed, the rumour mill coupled with a pinch of common sense tells us these numbers won't be far off.

Speculative Radeon HD 7000-series specification

GPU HD 7990 HD 7970 HD 7950 HD 7870 HD 7850 HD 7770 HD 7750
Codename New Zealand Tahiti XT Tahiti Pro Pitcairn XT Pitcairn Pro Cape Verde XT Cape Verde Pro
Release Date Q2 2012 January 9, 2012 January 31, 2012 March, 2012 March, 2012 February 15, 2012 February 15, 2012
Memory 3,072MB (x2) 3,072MB 3,072MB 2,048MB 2,048MB 1,024MB 1,024MB
Processors 4,096 2,048 1,792 1,408 1,280 896 832
Compute units 64 32 28 22 20 14 13
Texture Units 256 128 112 88 80 56 52
ROP Units 64 32 32 24 24 16 16
Core Clock (MHz) 800 925 800 950 825 900 900
Memory Clock (MHz) 5,000 5,500 5,000 5,500 5,000 5,500 5,000
Memory Bus (bits) 384 (x2) 384 384 256 256 128 128
DX API 11.1 11.1 11.1 11.1 11.1 11.1 11.1
Architecture GCN GCN GCN GCN GCN GCN GCN
Process 28nm 28nm 28nm 28nm 28nm 28nm 28nm
Price Guesstimate £650 £450 £350 £250 £200 £130 £115

What do you think, folks? Any reason to bet against the proposed specifications? And, if not, would any of the above cards be on your list of ones-to-watch-out-for in the coming months?



HEXUS Forums :: 23 Comments

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So according to that my 6870 would be replaced with a 7870 which works fine for me, I'm not due an upgrade until the 8870 hits eitherway :D
i thought that the models below 79xx would be using an older VLIW based instruction processor. Good if it doesnt mind!
They have to be kidding with that pricing structure … 7870 priced at £250, yet there own chart puts it below the outgoing £200 6950.
You can even pick up a 6970 for £250!
I think we're all a bit disappointed with the new price structure…but things are getting more expensive all around
Hmmm, I have two old 4850s in crossfilre which I am looking to replace. I recall that a 5850 was approximately equivalent to two 4850s in crossfire and that a 6870 was more or less equivalent to the 5850 etc etc but I am having problems translating this on to the GCN architecture.

Does anyone have an ideas as to how the number of GNC “processors” compares with the old VLIW shader processors? Are they doing he same job or more or less?