Believe me, the first thing I did after seeing the BGA was counting of pins to discover, if the GPU isn't 512bit (and no, it isn't).I decided to use my neurons (yes, I still have some) and I discovered something that nobody seems to have noticed.
According to my discovery, the RV870 "could" have a bus of 384 bit !
Like ATI already proved us, they can put a 256 bit bus under the RV670, witch have 193,61mm² of surface. However, as everyone knows it, the size of RV870 is 18,25mm x 18,25mm = 333mm², which is enormous compared with the RV670.
Why does the RV870 have 35% more pins ?
RV670 = GDDR3 (69 I/O pins)
RV870 = GDDR5 (62 I/O pins)
The HD 5870 have a 850 MHz frequency, and some customs cards will soon have 900 or 950 MHz frequency.
Then I ask you, what's left for the Radeon HD 5890 ?
Much higher frequency ? Don't think so.
Would it be possible that the RV870 is in fact hiding a weapon of massive destruction ?
For a 4*64-bit interface that would be 4*17 COMM/ADDR wires and 8*44 for the DQ lines, so the overall sum should be 420 pins/balls.I have no idea how many extra pins do the GDDR5 modules require for 256bit bus.
I'm just bookmarking this post for the G300 launch. If the 5870X2 tops the G300 then its a terrible product from XMAN26's perspective.I'm running GTX260 216s in SLi, why should I bother to upgrade to this card?
Radeon X800 was introduced as a GPU with 12 pipelines. XT part with 16 pipelines wasn't officially mentioned until introduction of 16-pipelined NV40. There isn't any single die-shot of RV870. I wouldn't be surprised by anything.Errrmmmm...why is there still a discussion of the tech specs of a launched product? Didn't the review sites already said it has 256bit bus? Do you believe there are some kind of hidden surprises? I mean ok speculating before the launch is one thing, but speculating after 100 reviews is another!
Could all this be indicative that there is too much wishful thinking, because people think that ATI underdelivered and they are waiting for some kind of miracle? And no, I am not suggesting that they underdelivered, I am just wondering if people think so (I do have an opinion on the subject, but this is not the point of this post).
Total.fellix: 420 pins total for GDDR5 or extra over GDDR3?
G80 -----> 8800 Ultra -> 235W TDP -> GDDR3 (69 I/O pins) -> 384 bit -> 1449 pinsErrrmmmm...why is there still a discussion of the tech specs of a launched product? Didn't the review sites already said it has 256bit bus? Do you believe there are some kind of hidden surprises? I mean ok speculating before the launch is one thing, but speculating after 100 reviews is another!
You forgot this:
G80 -----> 681M transistors
RV870 --> 2154M transistors
//more grounding
So you guys are saying they intentionally gimped the bus and saved it for a refresh?
RBEs + PCIe + UVD + .... = 306M transistors.The RV740 is 312 million transistors more complex than the RV730. As a result, it has twice the computing capacity (640 ALUs against 320 ALUs) and twice the rasterization performance (16 RBEs against 8 RBEs). On the other hand, the new chip is 130 million transistors simpler than the RV770. Considering that the graphics cores of the Radeon HD 4830 and Radeon HD 4770 have the same configuration (640 ALUs, 32 TMUs, 16 RBEs), we can calculate the theoretical cost of the two disabled SIMD modules of the former. Easy to see, 160 ALUs (32 superscalar processors) and 8 texture processors take 130 million transistors, and one such module takes 65 million transistors. ... As we’ve said above, the RV740 has eight SIMD modules, so the total amount of transistors for the computing and texture resources of the RV740 is 520 million. For the RV770 with its 10 SIMD modules the number is 650 million transistors. Thus, there is 306 million transistors left for each GPU. They are used to implement the rest of the GPU subunits: RBEs with memory controllers, task scheduler, PCIe interface, display controllers, UVD video processor and HDMI audio core.
G80 -----> 8800 Ultra -> 235W TDP -> GDDR3 (69 I/O pins) -> 384 bit -> 1449 pins
RV870 --> HD 5870 ---> 188W TDP -> GDDR5 (62 I/O pins) -> 256 bit -> 1737 pins
Why ?!
While your efforts are nice but sorry to burst your bubble that DX11 compliance also has a die-"price". And I think it was Jawed or Arun who earlier had more accurate figures of die spaces wrt SIMDs, TMUs etc.It's a possibility, a small one, but a possibility nontheless.
RBEs + PCIe + UVD + .... = 306M transistors.
One SIMD = 65M transistors.
RV870 = RV770x2.
RV770 = 956M transistor -> RV770x2 = 1912M transistors.
RV870 = 2154M transistors.
Difference: 242M
242M is suffisant for 3.7 x SIMD (doh ?) or 2 SIMD (160 ALU and 8 TMUs) + 2 RBEs (16 ROPs) + 2 MC (128 bit bus)
Suffisant number of transistors to implement some "things".
Suffisant number of pins for a 384 bit bus.
It's a possibility, a small one, but a possibility nontheless.
RBEs + PCIe + UVD + .... = 306M transistors.
One SIMD = 65M transistors.
RV870 = RV770x2.
RV770 = 956M transistor -> RV770x2 = 1912M transistors.
RV870 = 2154M transistors.
Difference: 242M
242M is suffisant for 3.7 x SIMD (doh ?) or 2 SIMD (160 ALU and 8 TMUs) + 2 RBEs (16 ROPs) + 2 MC (128 bit bus)
Suffisant number of transistors to implement some "things".
Suffisant number of pins for a 384 bit bus.