On
March 30, 2007, AMD will initially debut the R600 as the ATI Radeon X2900
XTX in two separate configurations: one for OEMs and another for retail. The OEM
version is the full length 12" card that will appear in high-end systems. ATI
guidance claims the X2900 XTX retail card comes as a two-slot, 9.5" design with
a vapor chamber cooler. Vapor chambers are already found on high-end CPU
coolers, so it would be no surprise to see such cooling on a high-end GPU
either. The OEM version of the card is a 12" layout and features a quiet fan
cooler. 1GB of GDDR4 memory is the reference configuration for Radeon
X2900 XTX. Memory on the reference X2900 XTX cards was supplied by Samsung.
Approximately one month later, the company will launch the GDDR3 version of the
card. This card, dubbed the Radeon X2900 XT, features 512MB of GDDR3 and lower
clock frequencies than the X2900 XTX. The X2900 XT is also one of the first
Radeons to feature heatpipes on the reference design. AMD anticipates the
target driver for X2900 XT to be Catalyst 8.36. WHQL release of the X2900 XTX
drive will appear around the Ides of March. Radeon X2900 will feature native
CrossFire support via an internal bridge interface -- there is no longer a need
for the external cable found on the Radeon X1000 series CrossFire. There is no
Master card, as was the case with other high-end CrossFire setups. Any Radeon
X2900 can act as the Master card.
A much anticipated feature, native HDMI, will appear on all three versions of
Radeon X2900. One 6-pin and one 8-pin (2x4) VGA power connectors are featured on
Radeon X2900, but both connectors are also backwards compatible with 6-pin power
supply cables.
AMD claims the R600 target schedule will be a hard launch -- availability is
expected to be immediate. Board partners will be able to demonstrate R600 at
CeBIT 2007 (March 15 - 21), but the only available cards will be reference
designs. Final clock frequencies will likely remain estimates until later
this month.
FYI: AMD's guidance claims R600 will feature 700 million transistors. By comparison, the Radeon X1900 series R580 GPU incorporated 384 million transistors into its design; the half-generation before that, R520, only featured 320 million. 700 million transistors?!? Wow. Power will be something to see, and I really hope that it's a 65nm part!
