From: First of One on
Looks like the chipset codenames are now based on vacation spots. :-)
Supposed released date is Q3/2010.
http://www.hardware-infos.com/news.php?news=3280&sprache=1

In other news, Powercolor decided to offer a version of the HD5870 with the
EK waterblock preinstalled.
http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2009/10/29/powercolor-launches-first-liquid-cooled-radeon-hd-5870.aspx

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."


From: DRS on
"First of One" <root(a)127.0.0.1> wrote in message
news:gvadnWX2OrTwPXDXnZ2dnUVZ_gOdnZ2d(a)giganews.com
> Looks like the chipset codenames are now based on vacation spots. :-)
> Supposed released date is Q3/2010.
> http://www.hardware-infos.com/news.php?news=3280&sprache=1

Yes, but will the cards fit in any known case? ;)



From: William on

"First of One" <root(a)127.0.0.1> wrote in message
news:gvadnWX2OrTwPXDXnZ2dnUVZ_gOdnZ2d(a)giganews.com...
> Looks like the chipset codenames are now based on vacation spots. :-)
> Supposed released date is Q3/2010.
> http://www.hardware-infos.com/news.php?news=3280&sprache=1
>
> In other news, Powercolor decided to offer a version of the HD5870 with
> the EK waterblock preinstalled.
> http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2009/10/29/powercolor-launches-first-liquid-cooled-radeon-hd-5870.aspx
>
> --
> "War is the continuation of politics by other means.
> It can therefore be said that politics is war without
> bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."
>
>

Possible 28 nm process? It boggles the mind when you think of what it takes
to expose masks at that small size. Does that use step and repeat x-ray
exposure? You know, at those sizes quantum noise is becoming an increasing
problem when using memory wells (capacitors) for storage of 1's and 0's. Or
do they use flip-flops?

Could you see getting Mil-Speck for those chips. They would never make it
into outer space. Oh well, forget the Space Station, Moon missions, Mars,
and what not. Forget those new laptops, get something bigger for the trip.

Gee - how small will they go. I understand that the cost of setting up a
fab to run these new processes is getting out of reach for all but a few
manufacturers. It is interesting that AMD is dropping TSMC and going with
Globalfoundries. We will be lucky if we still have competition in the
manufacturing of these new processes with two or more foundries working at
these new levels in the future.

This stuff blows me away. The speed of electrons down a conductor is to
slow, the size of light wavelengths is to large to use to make
semiconductors. Silicone is to slow. (Here comes Gallium on Diamond?) What
is next?

William

I digress, sorry.


From: First of One on
"William" <nospam(a)pacifier.com> wrote in message
news:UsqdnavNBrVOT3DXnZ2dnUVZ_oqdnZ2d(a)posted.palinacquisition...
> Possible 28 nm process? It boggles the mind when you think of what it
> takes to expose masks at that small size. Does that use step and repeat
> x-ray exposure? You know, at those sizes quantum noise is becoming an
> increasing problem when using memory wells (capacitors) for storage of 1's
> and 0's. Or do they use flip-flops?

The 28 nm is the GPU process, not the RAM chip process. The GPU contains
cache, which typically uses flip-flops.

> Could you see getting Mil-Speck for those chips. They would never make it
> into outer space. Oh well, forget the Space Station, Moon missions, Mars,
> and what not. Forget those new laptops, get something bigger for the
> trip.

Space-grade chips tend to be primitive because of the environmental
hardening. The Pathfinder rovers used Intel 8088 CPUs, from what I remember
reading Popular Mechanics.

> Gee - how small will they go. I understand that the cost of setting up a
> fab to run these new processes is getting out of reach for all but a few
> manufacturers. It is interesting that AMD is dropping TSMC and going with
> Globalfoundries. We will be lucky if we still have competition in the
> manufacturing of these new processes with two or more foundries working at
> these new levels in the future.

AMD did have more advanced fabs than TSMC, so diverting GPU production to
Globalfoundaries is a good idea. No point in reserving the most advanced
processes for CPUs, which are becoming less and less important. :-)

The interesting thing is, the GPU only accounts for some $50-$100 of the
total price of the card. The RAM is now a bigger driver of graphics card
capability and price, and it's outside the control of AMD, nVidia and Intel.
Case in point: the HD5870 for all its greatness, has the same memory
bandwidth as the GTX285.


--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."