AMD upgrades its RV770?

Earlier, rumors appeared on AMD's upcoming RV870 3D-chip, the successor of the successful RV770 used in the Radeon HD 4800 serie. The RV870 is to be expected in the first half of 2009. Prior to the RV870, AMD will possibly launch another high end 3D-chip, the RV790. This would be a refresh of the existing RV770, using the same 55nm production process and an equal amount of stream processors to the current RV770. Through slight alterations in the architecture, the chip would be able to reach significantly higher clock frequencies.

AMD already tried to release a Super-RV770 earlier, using unmodified hand-picked RV770 chips. The Super-RV770 was specified to attain frequencies of atleast 950 Mhz, but this was impossible to be realised in mass production. AMD claims that the RV790 does achieve such frequencies, which means the chip outperforms an overclocked RV770 one. 

The RV770 refresh is to compete with nVidia's G200 refresh, which is expected later this year. The G200b will be used for the GeForce GTX 270 and 290. The RV790 will be the last chip until the RV870 in 2009.

Tags: geforce overclocking radeon rv870

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