A user from the Chiphell forums has leaked some of the specifications of the Radeon HD 8000 series discrete graphics cards. While previously we were under the impression that AMD was skipping the HD 8000 number for discrete desktop graphics cards, going straight to the HD 9000 numbering, the post on Chiphell seems to contradict this thought. Nonetheless, the specifications leaked are those of the HD 8970, HD 8950, HD 8870, and HD 8850.
Starting off with the high-end tier, the HD 8970 will be based on the Curacao XT core, which will carry 2304 stream processors, 144 TMUs, 48 ROPs, a core clock speed of 1100 MHz, and 6 GB of GDDR5 memory running over a 384-bit memory interface at an effective speed of 7.0 GHz. According to the post, it will outperform the Radeon HD 7970 by about 35 percent. The card might have a TDP of 250 W.
Moving on, the Radeon HD 8950 will be based on the Hainan XT core. This core will feature notably fewer stream processors, with the tally hitting 1,792. Beyond that it will feature 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs, a base clock speed of 1200 MHz, and 5 GB of GDDR5 memory running over a 256-bit memory interface at an effective speed of 7.0 GHz. The card will have a TDP of 190 W. Compared to the Radeon HD 7970, it will perform about 10 percent better.
Going down a tier, the HD 8870 will pack the Hainan Pro core. This core features 1536 stream processors, 96 TMUs, 32 ROPs, a base clock speed of 1100 MHz, and be paired with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory running over a 256-bit memory interface at an effective speed of 6.0 GHz. When pitted against the Radeon HD 7870, it will outperform it by a staggering 40 percent. This will be accomplished by a TDP of 160 W.
Lastly, the Radeon HD 8850 will be based on the Hainan LE core, which will feature 1280 stream processors, 80 TMUs, 32 ROPs, a base clock of 1000 MHz, and 2 GB of GDDR5 memory also running over a 256-bit memory interface at an effective speed of 6.0 GHz. It is expected to outperform the Radeon HD 7870 by about 15 percent.
All of the graphics cards will be based on the GCN 2.0 architecture. Pricing is listed as follows: $229, $299, $399, and $599 for the HD 8850, HD 8870, HD 8950, and HD 8970, respectively. The post also indicates that the cards will be released sometime during Q3 2013.
Do note, all of these specifications and pricing information have been pulled straight from the forum post, and thus remain a rumor and possibly false until verified. Be sure to take it all with a grain of salt.
