AMD will launch its second generation DirectX 11 architecture in Q4. The code name is Southern Islands and the new cards are expected to sell as the Radeon HD 6000 family, and Catalyst 10.8 implies that the HD 6000 series is in fact Northern Islands.
At Rage3D they have gone over the code in AMD’s latest graphics card drivers and have found a smörgåsbord of code names and product names. As expected the new models will be called Radeon HD 6000, but the code names aren’t about the expected Southern Islands but instead Northern Islands.
AMD Northern Islands was believed to be a whole new graphics circuit architecture that will be made with 28 nanometer technology in the latter half of 2011. To maintain its position on the graphics card market AMD decided to launch Southern Islands by the end of 2010 using TSMC’s tested 40nm technology.
AMD Radeon HD 5870 – First DirectX 11 card to reach the market
But now it looks like NI is the next stop for AMD and if this is correct the question is if the code names have been mixed up or if AMD has greater plans for Q4 2010 than we thought.
The drivers mentions the code-names Cayman, Gemini and Blackcomb. Among the products we see a bunch of Radeon HD 6700 models that makes us wonder if this covers both mobile and desktops. Maybe even Fusion APUs. We also find suffix like LP, XT and Pro, which further broadens the number of models.
Below you will find the gathered list of product and code names found in the drivers.
223,CAYMAN GL XT (6700),NI CAYMAN
224,CAYMAN GL XT (6701),NI CAYMAN
225,CAYMAN GL XT (6702),NI CAYMAN
226,CAYMAN GL XT (6703),NI CAYMAN
227,CAYMAN GL PRO (6704),NI CAYMAN
228,CAYMAN GL PRO (6705),NI CAYMAN
229,CAYMAN GL (6706),NI CAYMAN
230,CAYMAN GL LE (6707),NI CAYMAN
231,CAYMAN GL (6708),NI CAYMAN
232,CAYMAN GL (6709),NI CAYMAN
233,CAYMAN XT (6718),NI CAYMAN
234,CAYMAN PRO (6719),NI CAYMAN
235,ANTILLES PRO (671C),NI CAYMAN
236,ANTILLES XT (671D),NI CAYMAN
237,BLACKCOMB XT/PRO (6720),NI BLACKCOMB
238,BLACKCOMB LP (6721),NI BLACKCOMB
239,BLACKCOMB XT/PRO Gemini (6724),NI BLACKCOMB
240,BLACKCOMB LP Gemini (6725),NI BLACKCOMB
241,BARTS GL XT (6728),NI BARTS
242,BARTS GL PRO (6729),NI BARTS
243,BARTS XT (6738),NI BARTS
244,BARTS PRO (6739),NI BARTS
245,WHISTLER XT (6740),NI WHISTLER
246,WHISTLER PRO/LP (6741),NI WHISTLER
247,WHISTLER XT/PRO Gemini (6744),NI WHISTLER
248,WHISTLER LP Gemini (6745),NI WHISTLER
249,ONEGA (6750),NI TURKS
250,TURKS XT (6758),NI TURKS
251,TURKS PRO (6759),NI TURKS
252,SEYMOUR XT/PRO (6760),NI SEYMOUR
253,SEYMOUR LP (6761),NI SEYMOUR
254,SEYMOUR XT/PRO Gemini (6764),NI SEYMOUR
255,SEYMOUR LP Gemini (6765),NI SEYMOUR
256,CAICOS GL PRO (6768),NI CAICOS
257,CASPIAN PRO (6770),NI CAICOS
258,CAICOS PRO (6779),NI CAICOS
Currently it’s not that easy to draw any major conclusions about AMD’s coming graphics circuits, but it certainly looks like AMD is planning something big.
