ATI Radeon 7XXX

[Rennadrel]

Sounds like another over kill to me. 90% of the games out now or coming out in the next 2 quarters will run exceptionally well on a 560 non TI or better. Even a 460 GTX equivalent will handle all gaming fine. These new cards are for the Elitist group that think they need 120 FPS at all times. Unless you are running 3 monitors with some unreal resolution you probably would never see a difference.

And pretty much all those cards run on 40 nm technology, the advantage of a new lineup would mean better cooling and improved energy consumption while generating more performance with each model. ATI has progressively brought out new sets that are improved in both power consumption as well as performance over the last few years. I remember the early HD series of cards, the 3000's and 4000's were not really that great but the 5000 series really became the dominant line of graphics cards. Nvidia has been behind in this regard, their early Direct X 11 cards having severe heating problems to the point where you could fry an egg on them.

I would assume the 7000 series will start out with early models being slightly better but more efficient then their 6000 series counterparts.

[haxartus]

I can understand why anyone would wait for HD7000. Both the HD6000 and GTX500 generations are a big joke. This isn't new technology, this is the same old technology with a new name. They mask this by positioning higher models as a middle range which makes the customers happy, but the things at the high end are stuck. The reason for this ? 40 nm.

[MachoSasquatcho]

Does anyone know when the 7XXX series is about to be released? I want to upgrade my current 5770 card until BF3 is released, but I want to know if it's worth waiting for the 7XXX series or buying the 6XXX series is the way to go?

AMD 6950 2GB are a fantastic deal IMO because they can be easily modded to a 6970. I purchased one @ release and modded mine and it's been an absolutely fantastic card for the money.

[Cows For Life]

Actually google might be a deceiving bastard along with me. I find articles suggesting that AMD still have deals with TSMC for 28nm, but amd's fusion chips have used global foundry urgh.

Someone who actually followed these kinds of news articles more closely than me might be able to spread less inaccurate info on the subject. I'll be quiet.

Word on the street is that GloFo is several months behind TSMC but ATI/AMD has different 28nm designs for either fab. It's looking like TSMC will still be the one, at least for this round.