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So I was taking a look at Newegg today and noticed that the 6950 and 6970 prices have skyrocketed. This probably means that AMD has stopped production of them. You could find a 6950 for $230 a few months ago, now it's $300. The 6970 is close to $400 now. To me, this means bad news for the 78xx launch. Early rumors have the 7870 priced at $300. My prediction is the performance will probably be a little better than the 6950. From a price/performance standpoint, this will be the 7770 launch all over again. So why not buy a 6950 now? Because there are none left at a decent price. When the 7870 launches, the consumer will end up spending $70 more for a card that is only marginally better than the 6950. Kepler cannot come soon enough.

This happens with every release from either company...it's almost always best to wait until the next company plays catch-up.

The 7870 will be a good bit better than the 6950. It's a die shrink of the 6970 so it will be better than the 6970. The good 6950's (shader unlock) are hard to find anyway. A stock 6950 vs a stock 6970 is around difference 8-10% FPS. Then add to that for the 7870 over the 6950. I can't speak to what the prices will be when they launch, but I expect them to be pretty good performance wise compared to the 6900 series.

bru_05 wrote:

The 7870 will be a good bit better than the 6950. It's a die shrink of the 6970 so it will be better than the 6970

Nope, the 7870 i.e. "Pitcairn" is a brand new GPU based on "GCN" architecture. It is not a die shrink of Cayman.

Edit: ugh, too many typos.

flip-mode wrote:

bru_05 wrote:

The 7870 will be a good bit better than the 6950. It's a die shrink of the 6970 so it will be better than the 6970

Nope, the 7870 i.e. "Pitcairn" is a brand new GPU based on "GCN" architecture. It is not a die shrink of Cayman.

Edit: ugh, too many typos.

Even better then. I thought it was a die shrink, must've read that somewhere. I still expect it to be a nice step up from the 6900 series. But, I've been wrong before

bru_05 wrote:

flip-mode wrote:

bru_05 wrote:

The 7870 will be a good bit better than the 6950. It's a die shrink of the 6970 so it will be better than the 6970

Nope, the 7870 i.e. "Pitcairn" is a brand new GPU based on "GCN" architecture. It is not a die shrink of Cayman.

Edit: ugh, too many typos.

Even better then. I thought it was a die shrink, must've read that somewhere. I still expect it to be a nice step up from the 6900 series. But, I've been wrong before

There may be a lesson to be learned from the 7770 launch. The 7770 is technically the successor to the 5770 / 6770. The 7770 is slower than the 6850. So the 7870, technically the successor to the 6870, could end up being a fair bit slower than the 6970. Going to have to wait and see. Technically, the 7970 is the successor to the 6970.

AMD always seems to pull this type of pricing scheme though. When the 5830 came out it was priced at $240 - wayyyyy overpriced for how it performed. Then the GTX 460 came out is was the $200 king. I bought one right away and have not looked back. It made the 5830 irrelevant and AMD was forced to price it that way.

I would actually buy a 7850 if I didn't have this feeling that Kepler will produce a $250 winner with much more bang for the buck. Basically, I have faith that Nvidia will not produce a card that is only marginally better than a GTX 560 T.I. but priced significantly more. Now, if the 7870 launched at an aggressive $250, then it changes everything - it would become the mid-range gamer's go-to card. But from what I saw in the 7770 launch, this is absolutely not going to happen.

flip-mode wrote:

There may be a lesson to be learned from the 7770 launch. The 7770 is technically the successor to the 5770 / 6770. The 7770 is slower than the 6850. So the 7870, technically the successor to the 6870, could end up being a fair bit slower than the 6970. Going to have to wait and see. Technically, the 7970 is the successor to the 6970.

True, I guess I'm still stuck in my old thought that it was a die shrink... I suppose they will prolly line up pretty close to the 6900 series, but if they can overclock like the 7900 then they should end up doing alright.