With HD 7950 out we eagerly await the cards in the lower segments, and now the launch dates for HD 7700 and 7800 have leaked on to the web. HD 7700 will launch in less than two weeks, while HD 7800 will arrive in March. The new beast HD 7990 is still not dated.
AMD launched the HD 7950 today, which is a bit more expensive than expected. but luckily the cheaper models are coming soon. It is HD 7800 and HD 7700 we are talking about, since AMD has no plans releasing graphics cards based on the new archtiecture and TSMC’s new technology on the entry level.
On February 15th the circuit Cape Verde will arrive with HD 7700. HD 7770 and HD 7750 will get 896 Radeon cores and 56 texture units, and 832 Radeon cores and 52 texture units. The graphics cards has to settle for 1 GB GDDR5 memory and 128-bit memory bus. There is talk about 900 – 1 000 MHz clock frequency on the core, but this is uncofirmed. HD 7770 is expected to cost $149, while HD 7750 should cost $139.
Radeon HD 7770 ?
In march we should see the HD 7800 series. Both HD 7850 and HD 7870 are based on the Pitcairn circuit with a 256-bit memory bus and 2 GB GDDR5 memory. HD 7870 and HD 7850 will sport 1408 Radeon cores and 88 texture units, and 1280 Radeon cores and 80 texture units respectively. It is still uncertain how high the core will be clocked, but it should be on about the same level as the HD 7700 series. HD 7870 should cost around $299, while HD 7850 will cost $249.
The launch date for HD 7990 that uses two Tahiti circuits has not yet been decided. We can expect two fully equipped Tahiti XT circuits, also found on HD 7970, although with lower clock frequencies to keep energy consumption down. The prices should be around $849, which means the next generation flagship will be something extra.
It looks like AMD will soon be offering cards in the lower price ranges. The question is when NVIDIA will appear on the market? It is still April that is the hottest rumor, but some say February already. Due to the lack of information about Kepler we find this unlikely.
