AMD to launch 40/45nm GPUs in early 2009, RV870 is one of th

[Andreas G]

AMD has one or two plans for next year, not that we would call them surprises, but they do have some shock value. AMD is first of all going to shrink things with the RV740 core. If you hadn't already figured it out, 40 means 40nm. This GPU is slated for Q1 2009. Somewhere around there, AMD will be giving the the final touches to its next "high-end" GPU RV870, using the same node. So far, the only thing we know about it is based on a lose rumor that says it will have 2000 shader processors. Considering the mere size of ATI's shaders, it's not unfeasible, but it's still too early too say anything really.