AMD: Sea Islands R1100 (8*** series) Speculation/ Rumour Thread

[Helmore]

VR-Zone is also saying that we can expect Sea Island based GPUs in future consoles. Would be quite nice if true.

 

[UniversalTruth]

VR-Zone is also saying that we can expect Sea Island based GPUs in future consoles. Would be quite nice if true.

What do you think will happen if false?

 

[Love_In_Rio]

What do you think will happen if false?

That consoles will use 9000 series, this is, volcanic islands!.

 

[ECH]

That consoles will use 9000 series, this is, volcanic islands!.

But will it be upgradeable this time? Upgrade to some switchable, CF action perhaps?

 

[Alexko]

But will it be upgradeable this time? Upgrade to some switchable, CF action perhaps?

An upgradeable console? Not likely, that sort of defeats the purpose of a console in the first place.

 

[iMacmatician]

From WCCFTech: "AMD Radeon HD 8970 (Venus XTX) and HD 8950 (Venus XT/Pro) Sea Islands GPU Specifications Leaked."

Venus chip:

• ~420 mm^2 [about the same size as R600]
• 5.1 billion transistors

Card specs:

• 2560 SPs, 160 TMUs, 32-48 ROPs (8970) and 2304 SPs, 144 TMUs, 32 ROPs (8950)
• Boost clocks higher than 1050 MHz
• 384-bit bus, 3 GB GDDR5 at "6GHz +" for > 320 GB/s bandwidth, that would imply ≥ 6.67 Gbps
• Dual 8-pin connectors
• Q4 2012 mass production, Q1 2013 release

 

[ECH]

Looks like the Wii U will use an AMD graphics card. I've not seen any other reports on this though...
link

I wonder if it will be one of the 8000 series or this E6760 as rumored?

 

[rpg.314]

From WCCFTech: "AMD Radeon HD 8970 (Venus XTX) and HD 8950 (Venus XT/Pro) Sea Islands GPU Specifications Leaked."

Venus chip:

• ~420 mm^2 [about the same size as R600]
• 5.1 billion transistors

Card specs:

• 2560 SPs, 160 TMUs, 32-48 ROPs (8970) and 2304 SPs, 144 TMUs, 32 ROPs (8950)
• Boost clocks higher than 1050 MHz
• 384-bit bus, 3 GB GDDR5 at "6GHz +" for > 320 GB/s bandwidth, that would imply ≥ 6.67 Gbps
• Dual 8-pin connectors
• Q4 2012 mass production, Q1 2013 release

Looks sane-ish.

I just hope they are able to get on the interposer bandwagon with this.

 

[lanek]

spec look logic.. Cant say if they are right or not, but should be close in any case.

25% CU more, 160TMU ( 4TMU/CU )..

 

[boxleitnerb]

From WCCFTech: "AMD Radeon HD 8970 (Venus XTX) and HD 8950 (Venus XT/Pro) Sea Islands GPU Specifications Leaked."

Venus chip:

• ~420 mm^2 [about the same size as R600]
• 5.1 billion transistors

Card specs:

• 2560 SPs, 160 TMUs, 32-48 ROPs (8970) and 2304 SPs, 144 TMUs, 32 ROPs (8950)
• Boost clocks higher than 1050 MHz
• 384-bit bus, 3 GB GDDR5 at "6GHz +" for > 320 GB/s bandwidth, that would imply ≥ 6.67 Gbps
• Dual 8-pin connectors
• Q4 2012 mass production, Q1 2013 release

Sounds like a re-hash of Leo's speculation over at 3DCenter from June:
http://www.3dcenter.org/news/tape-out-von-amds-sea-islands-launch-im-ersten-quartal-2013

I hate plagiarism...

 

[Psycho]

Looks like the Wii U will use an AMD graphics card. I've not seen any other reports on this though...

That has been official from day one: http://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/amd-and-nintendo-join-2011june07.aspx

 

[Pressure]

Looks like the Wii U will use an AMD graphics card. I've not seen any other reports on this though...
link

I wonder if it will be one of the 8000 series or this E6760 as rumored?

I'm pretty sure that has been the rumor all the time. We just don't know which GPU. Some said R700, like the Radeon HD 4870.

EDIT: And even official, as Psycho posted above.

 

[ECH]

I'm pretty sure that has been the rumor all the time. We just don't know which GPU. Some said R700, like the Radeon HD 4870.

EDIT: And even official, as Psycho posted above.

Which GPU though? This E6760 that's been talked out or something from the 8000 series. To me, that may determine how well future PC games will be developed and how they compare vs the same game on consoles. Consoles already have a pretty big advantage when it comes to draw calls. So I wonder what next gen AMD cards will do for PC games in this aspect. I guess Stuff on Screen is a pretty good way of putting it.

Can we get a PC game that showcases HD 8000 series card using higher draw calls then what current or next gen consoles games offer? That's what I would like to know.

 

[iMacmatician]

From KitGuru: "AMD Radeon HD 8970 and 8950 launch plans revealed."

They have a screenshot of the (unsourced) Wikipedia page in the report, so I'm taking this with a few grains of salt, but they say a June 2013 launch is likely.

We’ve learned that, right now, partners are planning to show off the Radeon HD 8970 XT at CeBIT in March – with a full launch at Computex in June.
However, the products are actually ahead of schedule, giving AMD the option to launch early if something new comes along from nVidia. If AMD is as far down the line as we suspect with its development, there will be some ‘behind closed doors’ displays for key customers in a secret hotel room in Vegas come the first week in January.

Videocardz, in their "AMD Radeon HD 8970 Rumored Specification Analysis" report, claims that ESes will arrive in Nov/Dec with release in February.

 

[Alexko]

A March launch would be very late considering that all of AMD's recent launches happened in a September-January window.

 

[lanek]

Cebit, Computex ? what they have got is just AIB who have told them their cards will present on Cebit of March .. Nothing about the AMD release , who will surely occur betwen January and March for the early models ( 8970- 8950 first, followed by the 8870-8850) ..

Each year some sites like Kitguru are pusing the 8930 ( 7930 - 6930 ).. If a card like this is released this will not be decided before the "standard " one are pushed on release.

 

[UniversalTruth]

We’ve learned that, right now, partners are planning to show off the Radeon HD 8970 XT at CeBIT in March – with a full launch at Computex in June.
However, the products are actually ahead of schedule, giving AMD the option to launch early if something new comes along from nVidia. If AMD is as far down the line as we suspect with its development, there will be some ‘behind closed doors’ displays for key customers in a secret hotel room in Vegas come the first week in January.

This is simply plain ridiculously late. After this, please, don't ask why people have the impression that something happens late. Probably even too little too late...

 

[Kaotik]

From KitGuru: "AMD Radeon HD 8970 and 8950 launch plans revealed."

They have a screenshot of the (unsourced) Wikipedia page in the report, so I'm taking this with a few grains of salt, but they say a June 2013 launch is likely.



Videocardz, in their "AMD Radeon HD 8970 Rumored Specification Analysis" report, claims that ESes will arrive in Nov/Dec with release in February.

Few grains of salt? Obvious fake is obvious when you mix desktop (oland, island in a sea) and mobile (mars, venus, planets and other things in space (since sun is supposed to be there too)) in the same chart

edit:
Not to mention it says that 8950 is Venus Pro, 8970 Venus XT and dualchip 8990 would be Venus XTX, which is obviously false

 

[Ryan Smith]

A March launch would be very late considering that all of AMD's recent launches happened in a September-January window.

When it comes to GPU launches it's ultimately TSMC who controls when something launches. Even though Sea Islands is 28nm, AMD has to be sure to pace themselves so that they don't have too much of a gap between that and their 20nm GPUs.

I think it's safe to say we're off the yearly GPU cadence right now, at least in the two generations per node scenario.

 

[liolio]

How about a launch of the 87xx and 88xx first, some "bartized" 79xx and 78xx and the 89xx launching later with a significantly revamp architecture. A bit like what happenend from 5xxx to the 6xxxx series?