Recently, the upcoming AMD Radeon HD 8000 graphics card specifications sheet has been leaked. The specs sheet revealed the specifications of both AMD Radeon HD 8870 and AMD Radeon 8850, comparing it with their predecessors Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon HD 7850. These two new graphics cards are based on Oland GPU that will replace the Radeon HD 7000 graphics card that are based on Pitcairn family. The Radeon HD 8870 and Radeon HD 8850 are also built with a 28nm technology and a higher 3.4 billion transistors.
The new AMD Radeon HD 8000 graphics cards are codenamed Sea Islands, and obviously the Radeon HD 8870 and Radeon HD 8850 are not the fastest in this family. Since, we should also be expecting Sea Islands’ flagship, Radeon HD 8970, that will hopefully be revealed soon. The Radeon HD 8870 is said to perform on par with GeForce GTX 680 (or better), while the Radeon HD 8850 is said to be comparable to GeForce GTX 670. See the specs sheet below.
Based on the table above, we see a significant improvement from Radeon HD 8870 vs Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon HD 8850 vs Radeon HD 7850. Not only is there an improvement in their performance, but power efficiency and price is improved as well. The TDP or Thermal Power Design of the Radeon HD 8870 is 9% lower compared to HD 7870. Same goes with their prices, Radeon HD 8870 price is 20% lower ($349 down to $279). That means, the upcoming Radeon HD 8000 family might offer better performance for a lower cost and power consumption.
Most of the time, information like this are close to authenticate information. But since these are just leaked information, you need to understand that you need to take these information with a grain of salt.
Other than the Radeon HD 8870 and Radeon HD 8850, the Radeon HD 8570 and HD 8490 are being prepared as well. But most probably this will only be re-brands of the previous 7000 series graphics card.
The AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series release date is expected to be this coming January 2013.
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