WHEN YOU KNOW what is going on, it makes sorting rumors from truth a lot easier. One of the biggest tricks has leaked almost entirely out, so lets give you the rundown on the latest ATI code names.
The upcoming DX11 parts are commonly known as R870, but some call it RV870. It’s smaller sibling is similarly known as RV840. The problem is that ATI dumped the numerical code names a long time ago, those names never existed. If you have seen anything purporting to show specs on these parts, they are fabricated. Anyone that has the real chip specs would know the code names as well.
Here is the source
As you can see, the MS demos clearly say Evergreen, “HARDWARE: EVERGREEN” to be precise. This is the family, all of the DX11 parts all fall under the Evergeen banner. The chips under them each have their own code names, trees in the evergreen family. R8xx and RV8xx never existed as code names, and never will.
DX11 demo on Evergreen hardware
So, what are those code names? They are Cypress and Juniper. Cypress is the big chip, and Juniper is the mid-range part. ATI strongly hinted at the conference that the wafer was a Cypress, but I don’t recall if a chip code name was explicitly stated. It it was Cypress, die size estimates in the 180mm^2 range should make Nvidia very nervous. If the wafer was a Juniper, Nvidia should be far more nervous.
In the end, if you see people calling any specific part Evergreen, they don’t have a clue and are making things up. This was a very clever move on ATI’s part, it likely will gain them at least 3 levels of cunning when they level up.S|A
Charlie Demerjian
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