DigiTimes picked up some information today that might make a few people holding off on an upgrade a little sadder.  The rumours we’d heard placed the availability of HD6000 cards in the fall but it seems that we will be waiting until November before we get to purchase AMD’s next generation of GPUs.  The story, if true is a little convoluted; originally codenamed North Islands, these cards were to be built on a 32nm process by TSMC until TSMC decided to skip 32nm and go from 40nm straight to 28nm.  AMD didn’t feel confident about jumping into the new process and Global Foundries is also working on 28nm chips which may have also lead to their change in plan.  Come November the 40nm Southern Islands GPUs should start to appear.

“Graphics card vendors are expected to start selling AMD’s next-generation GPU (Southern Islands) in November with AMD to officially announce the series in October, according to sources from graphics card players.

To defend its market share, AMD plans to cut prices for its ATI Radeon HD 5000-series GPUs in the near future. The action also serves as preparation for the upcoming Southern Islands GPUs, the sources noted.

AMD originally planned to have its next-generation GPUs using 32nm process and codenamed the chips Northern Islands, but Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) skipped its 32nm R&D for GPUs and advanced directly to 28nm R&D. In response AMD adjusted its plans and decided to continue adopting a 40nm process, while changing the product’s codename to Southern Islands, the sources explained.

AMD declined the opportunity to respond to this report saying it cannot comment on unannounced products.”

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