Upcoming Processors and Video Cards Forecast

[Goku]

For those of you not following rumor mill sites concerning computer parts I figured I would make a thread with that summarized info. This may prove to be helpful to those of you planning doing builds sometime this year or early next to know what is coming.

On the processor front for this year we have two new product lines coming from AMD and Intel.

AMD will be replacing their Phenom II line of processors with Zambezi sometime this fall with rumors strongly pointing towards October 12th for release. This line will be branded the FX series and will feature native a octo (8) core processor. With in this line there will be 4, 6, and 8 cores. The pricing on these FX processors will be from $??? for the quad to $250 for the flagship octo. At the time of release AMD is only putting out six and eight core versions. Unfortunately at this point we still do not know any performance figures concerning this new CPU from AMD. Many are thinking it will be a competitor to SB as well. Looks l

Intel is introducing Sandy Bridge - E processors to the market this winter and this will be the true successor to 1366 socket i7 CPUs (Sandy Bridge 1155 chips were a replacement for the 1156 socket). With this being the new flagship for Intel the CPU with feature quad channel memory, beefed up cache, and four to six core processors. Rumors are pointing the lowest end quad at $300 and the flagship six core at $1000. I have seen performance figures, but that is still up in the air as I do not know if they were real or not.

For video cards AMD's and Nvidia's release schedule is still unknown. TSMC who makes the 28nm process for both manufacturer's cards is having major issues with the process. Due to this both companies will likely not see a new release until sometime in early 2012. This is quite bad as we will nearly of had the same GPU performance for the past 2 1/2 years at that point. Normally doubles roughly every year.

For AMD it looks like their cards are being push into 2012 right now. Rumors are pointing towards a mainstream 28nm refresh replacing the 6800/6900 GPUs. This will likely be branded the 7800 series and feature the same arch as the current 6900s. Probably can expect a 6970 level video card at reduced power usage with in the $175-$225 bracket. Pricing will depend on how Nvidia will react to its release most likely. The new flagship video cards from AMD are said to feature a whole new arch leaving the previous one behind. There is no performance details as of yet, but if we are luck we can expect to see it later this year or early next.

Nvidia officially came out stating there is no chance of a new GPU this year. They are quoted as saying to expect their cards first quarter 2012. If you are hoping to pick up a new Nvidia video you are out of luck for this year. No rumors pertaining to performance either.

The far out reaching tech news into next year is interesting. AMD is expected to release a improved Zambezi line of processors with enhanced cores with also the cores being upped to 8. That will most likely be released way later in 2012 if it makes it. Intel gave a definite release on Ivy Bridge to be in March to April of 2012. That will be replacing the mainstream 1155 Sandy Bridge. I know this is bringing promised higher clocks/lower power usage due to this being the first 22nm CPU. Again there is no performance figures for this yet either.

[Goku]

Well finally have some possible info on the upcoming AMD GPUs. This is not official or confirmed of course.

HD 7990 New Zealand GCN

HD 7970 Tahiti XT GCN 1000MHz 32CUs 2048ALUs 128TMUs 64ROPs 256bit XDR2 8.0Gbps 256GB/s 2GB 190W HP

HD 7950 Tahiti Pro GCN 900MHz 30CUs 1920ALUs 120TMUs 64ROPs 256bit XDR2 7.2Gbps 230GB/s 2GB 150W HP

HD 7870 Thames XT VLIW4 950MHz 24SIMDs 1536ALUs 96TMUs 32ROPs 256bit GDDR5 5.8Gbps 186GB/s 2GB 120W HPL

HD 7850 Thames Pro VLIW4 850MHz 22SIMDs 1408ALUs 88TMUs 32ROPs 256bit GDDR5 5.2Gbps 166GB/s 2GB 90W HPL

HD 7670 Lombok XT VLIW4 900MHz 12SIMDs 768ALUs 48TMUs 16ROPs 128bit GDDR5 5.0Gbps 80GB/s 1GB 60W HPL

HD 7570 Lombok Pro VLIW4 750MHz 12SIMDs 768ALUs 48TMUs 16ROPs 128bit GDDR5 4.0Gbps 64GB/s 1GB 50W HPL

For more info check here. For those of you looking for a upgrade in the fall the 7870 will likely be the card to get. Around $200 out doing the 6970 while consuming nearly half the power. GCN/7900s are still up in the air as to when there is release date.

Bulldozer/Zambezi/FX AMD line up seems to still be on target for September too.

[BorisBlade]

Tom's Hardware had some tests on the new intel chips, they are pre release versions however and will prob do a bit better when released. Honestly tho, as far as gaming anyway, zero improvement over my 2600k. I know there must be somethin somewhere but it wasnt showin up in the tests. Im definately anxious to see what AMD comes up with, im a big fan but they have dropped the ball so bad lately that my system is Nvidia/intel.

[Traak]

Yeah, when AMD's most expensive CPU is 1/3.3333333 the cost of the most expensive Intel CPU, I'm guessing they aren't really near Intel in performance.

Now if we could just mitigate that with dual-CPU motherboards with all the goodies we want, then it wouldn't be so bad.

[BorisBlade]

Dont judge performance on price, cause actually those $1000 intel chips are waaaaaaaaaaaaaay overpriced. Sandybridge i5-2500/i7-2600 are $200/$300 respectively and are pretty much the same in gaming situations as the $1000 i7-990x. Honestly not sure why people use those older generation chips for gaming, they dont run games faster (well unless you mean 77 vs 75 fps or 39 vs 38 fps etc from a few tests i saw). They just cost $700-$800 more. You really cant beat the i5-2500 as far as real game performance for the money. The plethora of real world benchmarks with games show it as a great chip for the money.

AMD's stuff til now is just pathetic, good for super cheapo machines but honestly, gettin dam near top of the line for 200 bux, its hard to justify buying an AMD chip thats so much worse.

Now this new stuff comin out from AMD supposedly will change that up, at very least be at sandybridge i5/i7performance. But until i see final benchmarks tho, its all just speculation and rumor.

[Goku]

Indeed. Looks like Bulldozer got pushed back to mid October now. That is a 4 month delay as it was suppose to launch in June. Oh well.

[Goku]

Updated the info. BD is expected to be launched October 12th now and the next gen graphics card got pushed back into a 2012 release. The delay on BD is blamed on bad yields from Global Foundries. GPU delay is because of TSMC being unable to get everything right with the 28nm process Nvidia and AMD use for their core.

[Traak]

The latest, greatest video card I've found on Newegg is the Asus Mars dual-GTX 580 card.

1499 dollars for it.

Evidently, triple lower-priced Nvidia cards in SLI can beat it for price and performance.

But, as a one-card solution, this is it.

Review conclusions page:
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1691/14/

I will be cruising the Web on occasion for the latest and greatest real-world prices.

[Traak]

And, the latest and greatest desktop Nvidia GPU is the Nvidia GTX 590.

Relative performance from Nvidia's page:

[Mutant]

Good news for those looking to build an obscenely priced PC:

Looks like SB-E is going to hit in 2 weeks.
NDA goes up nov 14th 12:01

Top of the line (for the usual $1000 i presume) will be:

Core i7-3960X
*Unlocked

Base Clock: 3.3 GHz
Turbo Clock: 3.9 GHz
Threads: 6/12
L3 Cache: 15 MB
Memory: 4-channel DDR3-1600
Socket: LGA 2011
TDP: 130 W

[BorisBlade]

Not sure what the prices on those are, but every test ive seen with them, they didnt beat out the i7-2600k when it came to gaming, they were even at best. These chips are more for servers me thinks. Didnt see the pricing but im guessin they are more expensive, and with no gaming benefit i dont see any reason to get em as a gamer. Of course people still buy those i7-980's for who knows what reason when they cost 3x the price of a SB chip which in most real gaming situations is equal or often better than the overpriced 980.

[Traak]

The tests that you saw, were they overclocked insanely, with liquid cooling or a big cooler, overclocked at all, or what? Show us the pages with the tests so we can see them.

[Traak]

Originally Posted by Mutant

Good news for those looking to build an obscenely priced PC:

Looks like SB-E is going to hit in 2 weeks.
NDA goes up nov 14th 12:01

Top of the line (for the usual $1000 i presume) will be:

Core i7-3960X
*Unlocked

Base Clock: 3.3 GHz
Turbo Clock: 3.9 GHz
Threads: 6/12
L3 Cache: 15 MB
Memory: 4-channel DDR3-1600
Socket: LGA 2011
TDP: 130 W

Quad-channel memory? Or 2-channel 4-slot memory? Quad channels is new and impressive, indeed.

[Traak]

A video card review I came across:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-ge...ower-review/24

[Traak]

The Ivy Bridge by Intel. Big resolution without a discrete graphics card.

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/20822/...ons/index.html