Rumour: ATI RV870 to use 384-bit memory bus

Written by Clive Webster

August 17, 2009 | 16:48

Tags: #bandwidth #bus #hd-5870 #interface #radeon #rumour #rv800 #rv870

Companies: #ati

Hardware Infos has an interesting story regarding ATI's forthcoming RV870 GPU, set to be the first DX11 GPU on sale. The story claims that rumours in Asia indicate that 'AMD's DirectX 11 chip for the performance segment, awaited in the next weeks, bets on a 384 Bit memory interface, just as the G80 did.'

A 384-bit memory interface would be an improvement on the 256-bit of the current RV770 and RV790 design, which are better known as the Radeons HD 4870 and 4890 respectively. If both GPUs were to use identically fast memory, this upgrade alone would give the FV870 50 per cent more memory bandwidth than the RV7xx design.

The story also reveals some details regarding the size of the new GPU, which is said to over 300mm². This is a significant increase from the 260mm² of RV770, even more so if ATI uses the 40nm manufacturing process used to make the Radeon HD 4770 rather than the larger 55nm process of RV770.

Hardware Infos claims that RV870 is due to launch on 10 September 2009 and is expected to cost between US$249 and US$399 at retail, and speculates that as the GDDR5 used on RV790 can run at 1.25GHz (5GHz effective), a new card based on RV870 could have a memory bandwidth of 240GB/sec - twice as much bandwidth as the HD 4870 has.

Does the bigger memory busy sound likely? And what money on the retail name of RV870 being Radeon HD 5870? Let us know in the Forums!
Discuss this in the forums
YouTube logo
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review

October 14 2021 | 15:04

TOP STORIES

SUGGESTED FOR YOU