Discussion On The ATI Radeon 5*** Series Before They Have Been Released Thread

FrankJH · 9 Sep 2009 at 17:28

gary996 said:
Why did they restrict the memory interface to 256 bits. Is it easier to do or does it keep the price down?

Certainly keeps the price down

Im sure one of AMD's cards a few generations ago had a 512bit memory interface, and at the time it didnt really make that much difference for some reason (my memory may be failing me though - but thats how I remember it)....a ringbus of somekind....I cant remember

Squakingcow · 9 Sep 2009 at 17:30

R600 had a 512 bit bus, and while it provided a lot of bandwidth most of it was unused and just vastly inflated the die size

LoadsaMoney · 9 Sep 2009 at 17:43

Its only a 256bit bus as they using GDDR5, doesn't need 512

nbkpsycho · 9 Sep 2009 at 18:18

Cant wait to grab one of these beasts

Mr Paul · 9 Sep 2009 at 18:26

gary996 said:
Why did they restrict the memory interface to 256 bits. Is it easier to do or does it keep the price down?

Because they don't need a 512 bit bus, the GPU isn't bandwidth starved anyway.

fizzle-187 · 9 Sep 2009 at 18:40

SfnX said:
ye if they make a game (except crisis) thatrequires you get the lastest and greatest hardware then casual gamers arent rly gonna go for it, also for people who cant spend as much freely.

Crysis 2?

TheGamingGeneral · 9 Sep 2009 at 18:44

fizzle-187 said:
Crysis 2?

Arent they releasing that on the consoles? It will probably run better than crysis.

mmj_uk · 9 Sep 2009 at 19:06

gary996 said:
Why did they restrict the memory interface to 256 bits. Is it easier to do or does it keep the price down?

Both.

fizzle-187 · 9 Sep 2009 at 19:37

I wonder how great these cards will be.

Monkey Puzzle · 9 Sep 2009 at 19:40

Think I'll pick up a 5870 - when is it likely to be available early-adopter-tax-free? Start of October?

chuck990 · 9 Sep 2009 at 19:43

Tom|Nbk said:
Wooot 1 day, macs at the ready

fizzle-187 said:
I wonder how great these cards will be.

nbkpsycho said:
Cant wait to grab one of these beasts

Bet they turn out to be absolute **** and its a complete let down

Korduo · 9 Sep 2009 at 19:51

Would be great if they did a 55% off

chaparral · 9 Sep 2009 at 20:02

Wonder how loud the fan/s are going be on these new cards ???

tdream · 9 Sep 2009 at 20:11

pics

adwol48 · 9 Sep 2009 at 20:19

yikes that looks longer than my 4870x2 and it's only a single gpu model what the 5870x2 gonna look like.

Winnter · 9 Sep 2009 at 20:21

do you guys think i should still hang on till the new nVidia cards come out? i will be wanting to upgrade from my 8800gt.

Aedus · 9 Sep 2009 at 20:22

chuck990 said:
Bet they turn out to be absolute **** and its a complete let down

How dare you say that!

Squakingcow · 9 Sep 2009 at 20:24

The size and rumoured $399 price tag of that thing are pointing to AMD not only trying to challenge nVidias mid-high end cards but possibly their top card as well....

psychas · 9 Sep 2009 at 20:24

thats huge is it 5870 or 5870x2 ? 8 pin and 6 pin by the looks of it so probably 5870x2

Jokester · 9 Sep 2009 at 20:25

Those pics dont' inspire confidence, give the impression it's going to be a power guzzling vacuum cleaner of a card.