ATI cuts 6950 allocation

[555BUK]

The more I hear about Cayman, the more I doubt ATI's ability to beat the 580 performance wise. I know that core design and optimisations are very important, and that ATI are current ahead in this area, but can they really overcome a ~30% transistor deficit and ~20% memory bandwidth deficit?

My opinion is that the 6970 will only match or slightly exceed the GTX580 if the cores are pushed very close to their limits. 875-900MHz seems the probable default clock range and overclocking is unlikely to yield more than 1000MHz on a core which is larger than 5800. This leaves NVidia room to release an Ultra version of the 580 with clocks north of 850core. All 580's seem to reach 900MHz+ on stock coolers with a little voltage bump.

So there you go, +1 person for 6900 being ultimately slower than GTX5x0.

 

[RavenXXX2]

^^ Let's be honest, the 580 is not massively quicker than a 5870 in most games that are not Nvidia biased, just like the 480 was not all at stock. The 6970 will destroy a 5870 IMO, look at the 6870 it's on par with a 5870 for the most part. I can't see anything but the 6970 having a convincing performance lead over a 580.

 

[easyrider]

I can't see anything but the 6970 having a convincing performance lead over a 580.

Pricing too

 

[555BUK]

^^ Let's be honest, the 580 is not massively quicker than a 5870 in most games that are not Nvidia biased, just like the 480 was not all at stock. The 6970 will destroy a 5870 IMO, look at the 6870 it's on par with a 5870 for the most part. I can't see anything but the 6970 having a convincing performance lead over a 580.

How can you begin that comment with "let's be honnest"? The 580 is atleast 20% faster with ATI biased games and upto 65% faster within the ones which favour NVidia. Overall, the GTX580 is ~40 faster, which is MASSIVE.

If 6970 turns out to be only 40% faster than GTX580, will you say that difference is also not massive?

 

[Stanners]

Well I think AMD have done a very good job of keeping their new beasts under wraps, I'm 100% certain that the 6970 will be a 580 killer.

Why are you a 100% ?, do you have more information or is this based on your firends, dogs, uncle ?(jk)

 

[Rroff]

Edit; nice ninja edit Rroff

I posted from my phone when I got to my PC I saw the prices were up on OcUK by that time so my post was redundant.

 

[Lightnix]

It would be massive, but AMD's fastest single GPUs are always 'massively' fast compared to their mid-range GPUs. I to be honest don't understand why some people fully expect AMD to bother to release a chip that is only 20-30% faster than Barts.

 

[Skyrocket]

It would be massive, but AMD's fastest single GPUs are always 'massively' fast compared to their mid-range GPUs. I to be honest don't understand why some people fully expect AMD to bother to release a chip that is only 20-30% faster than Barts.

Powercolour executive said that 30-50% over Barts.
I think shes in the know more than you and me.

 

[Gerard]

^^ Let's be honest, the 580 is not massively quicker than a 5870 in most games that are not Nvidia biased, just like the 480 was not all at stock. The 6970 will destroy a 5870 IMO, look at the 6870 it's on par with a 5870 for the most part. I can't see anything but the 6970 having a convincing performance lead over a 580.

OOh the smell of pre-emptive flip flopping is strong.

 

[Greebo]

Well the last time ATI managed to keep things under wraps so much and have so much mis information/direction over exact number of cores etc, it was the 4870 which came out of nowhere and caught Nvidia napping and totally shocked people with it's performance.

Could we have yet another "killer" card from ATI? I certainly hope so.

Not sure whether I would buy one, but if the 69xx cards made Nvidia slash the price of a gtx570 to £200 I would quite fancy two of them.

 

[Lightnix]

Powercolour executive said that 30-50% over Barts.
I think shes in the know more than you and me.

Actually her exact words were "basically we believe the new generation of 6000 series, the performance will be more than 30 or 50 percent better than the 68 series right now." If that's not intentionally ambiguous then I don't know what is.

From here, as I presume you haven't seen it: http://www.donanimhaber.com/ekran-k...rmansini-ve-fusion-islemcilerini-konustuk.htm

 

[555BUK]

Well the last time ATI managed to keep things under wraps so much and have so much mis information/direction over exact number of cores etc, it was the 4870 which came out of nowhere and caught Nvidia napping and totally shocked people with it's performance.

Wasn't the 4870 pretty much equal to a GTX260 and 15-20% slower than the 280? The 4870 was a superb value proposition (4850 was better), but it was not the top dog. The same also applied to 5870 and 5850.

 

[RavenXXX2]

The 5870 spanked the 280 and was on par with Nvidia's top dual GPU at the time the 295. I was not expecting the performance the 5870 gave.

 

[555BUK]

The 5870 spanked the 280 and was on par with Nvidia's top dual GPU at the time the 295. I was not expecting the performance the 5870 gave.

Of course it did. The GTX 280 was from the previous gen and 5870 was tageted at the GTX 480.

4850 & 4870 vs GTX260 & GTX280
5850 & 5870 vs GTX470 & GTX480

Both of these previous gen ATI cards lost out in performance to their NVidia counterparts, but nobody will argue that ATI offered better release value.

 

[JediFragger]

I really do think we're dreaming if the 69** are going to be cheaply priced and am *really* thinking that AMD & nVidia have an unspoken 'pact' to keep prices rather inflated. I'm thinking £299 & £399 for the 6950/6970 respectively, but am more than happy to be proven wrong!

 

[RavenXXX2]

The 5870 came out six months before the 480 it didn't have a target at that time.

 

[Rroff]

I really do think we're dreaming if the 69** are going to be cheaply priced and am *really* thinking that AMD & nVidia have an unspoken 'pact' to keep prices rather inflated. I'm thinking £299 & £399 for the 6950/6970 respectively, but am more than happy to be proven wrong!

Given recent price trends I'd be unsuprised it you were right.

 

[JediFragger]

470 SLi and 5870 Crossfire will look to be providing the best value by far I think, esp at current pricing

Hell, if 470s/5870s hit the £150 mark i'll be getting a pair!

 

[555BUK]

The 5870 came out six months before the 480 it didn't have a target at that time.

That was only because Fermi was delayed by TSMC 40nm process. Both cards were designed and made to compete against eachother.

The GTX200 series were released before the 4800 series. This does not mean GTX200 was made to fight the 3800's.

 

[Rroff]

470 SLi and 5870 Crossfire will look to be providing the best value by far I think, esp at current pricing

Hell, if 470s/5870s hit the £150 mark i'll be getting a pair!

My GTX470 SLI setup when overclocked isn't hideously behind a pair of overclocked GTX580. 90 v 120fps in heaven 2.1. Not bad when I got my setup for just over £300 and just one of those 580s cost more than that.