2012-12-21-138

[Rumour] Next-gen ATI dual-GPU flagship in 2010

AMD's optimal die / dual GPU strategy has proved to be successful overthe last three generations, and there is no indication to suggest thatthis strategy will change for AMD's upcoming next-generation SouthernIslands GPUs. Fudzilla reports that AMD have a dual-GPU successor to theHD 5970 prepared, and it will release in 2010.

As is customary, the single GPU performance products are expected to be released first, followed by dual-GPU and derivative products. Rumours heavily suggest an October/November 2010 release for the first Southern Islands products, which means the enthusiast dual-GPU model will follow shortly after.

Southern Islands is not expected to bring dramatic improvements. This will be no surprise, considering the only reason S. Islands is being released is TSMC's cancellation of 32nm, and the move of Northern Islands to 28nm. Thus, Southern Islands is expected to be an intermediate generation - a bridge between Evergreen / HD 5000 and the 28nm Northern Islands. S. Islands will be fabricated at the same 40nm TSMC process as the HD 5000 / Geforce 400 products.

However, considering AMD still has a leadership in the performance/price/die size over Nvidia's latest GF10x products, perhaps a dramatic improvement is not essential.

While Nvidia's still working on finishing up the Geforce 400 series, their plans to combat ATI's Southern Islands is unknown. It is unlikely to be further price cuts, as Nvidia is already utilizing this strategy against aging and overpriced HD 5000 series products. 28nm is still a long way away, so Nvidia will have to either respond with new chips at 40nm, or hold out till late 2011 for 28nm.

Reference: Fudzilla