Southern Island GPU's to be rebranded HD 5xxx series?

[ambam]

I heard that the ATI Radeon "Southern Island" family of graphics cards are just rebranded HD 5xxx series with absolutely no physical or electronic changes/improvements to the GPU and PCB itself, just the name. Much like the NVidia 9800GT was a rebranded 8800GT. The ATI "Northern Island" will be the true 2nd generation of DX11 graphics cards from ATI.

Should I wait until late 2011 for the NI cards? Or should I just get an HD 5970?

I am NOT waiting for Q4 2011 to buy the Intel Sandy Bridge and LGA2011 motherboard.

 

[jryan388]

Nobody knows for sure until ATI confirms it. Where did you hear that?

 

[rawsteel]

absolutely untrue

They already reported that Southern Islands are new architecture between current and Northern Island. You are confused because it will be using same 40nm technology. Thats because TSMC decided to cancel its 32nm and now ATI need to wait for 28nm late 2011. So they decided to come up with middle gap filler.


They will give more info september probably but as far as rumors go there will be changes, which might include UnCore, change to shaders, Improved Tesselation capabilities, more performance / clock etc.

Time will tell, but its not rebrand not at all

 

[ambam]

absolutely untrue

They already reported that Southern Islands are new architecture between current and Northern Island. You are confused because it will be using same 40nm technology. Thats because TSMC decided to cancel its 32nm and now ATI need to wait for 28nm late 2011. So they decided to come up with middle gap filler.


They will give more info september probably but as far as rumors go there will be changes, which might include UnCore, change to shaders, Improved Tesselation capabilities, more performance / clock etc.

Time will tell, but its not rebrand not at all

I don't know what an "UnCore" is, but I'm guessing probably a small, 25-30% overall performance increase? Unlike the HD 5xxx series being almost Twice as fast as the 4xxx series.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

First of all where did you hear this, other than trying to create the rumour yourself?

Link would be helpful. [:grahamlv:3]

No one said it would be a big boost, NI was the scheduled big boost, but since SI has to stick to existing 40nm Fab, there's little way to achieve a big boost with a major redesign, which SI isn't, or a huge die size increase, which it also isn't.

Pretty much from announcement of it's existence most people (both reviewers/reporters and leaks) have suggested it will be a minor boost closer to 20+% boost globally, but with bigger boosts in areas they may have needed to improve on.

As we mentioned when it ws first announced that they had decided to go SI instead of NI we've expected not an HD3K->4k-5K style boost, but more of an HD2K->3K style boost that is more subtle and benefits more in specific areas.

 

[jeffredo]

Everything I've read points to a refresh of the 5000 series, but I don't think its going to be a straight rebrand with nothing new under the hood.

 

[eyefinity]

ATI said that they would refresh the 5xxx series in 2010, and that's what they will do. They can't magic up a new process node, they can only work with what tsmc gives them. It certainly isnt a rebrand, but you wont see 50% improvements this time, maybe 20-30% which is good depending on cost.

 

[yannifb]

when will AMD start using GloFo? They make it seem so superior to TSMC.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

GloFo is mid 2011, but they will still use TSMC as well.