i was looking at a HD6850
now in order to get a new computer (and replace the POS i have now) i must find a solution to the other big problem
money :mad:
For about the same price as a 6850, you can also look at the new Radeon 7770:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/539?vs=536
I'd just wait until the OSS drivers are available, or at least the Catalyst driver supports it without the watermark. The GCN architecture will probably end up maturing to be closer to catalyst performance than the VLIW architecture in the 6850, and probably uses less power while doing so... You just have to wait for the OSS drivers to be completed if you don't want to use Catalyst, whereas the 6850 works fine on r600g today.
I agree with the spirit of this reply. Procure the newest generation of tech rather than an older generation. Find a compromise (fglrx) until the FOSS driver has matured to a usable state. Do what you can to contribute to the FOSS effort for the duration that you are in limbo (testing, bug reports, coding).
F
even if my code skills were beyond basic understanding of pointers coding at a level (skill wise) this high would be out of the question.
wish it was different but....
apart from that there are people who just want to use their computer and work so testing debugging etc are out of the question
I hear where you are coming from, and if that is the case, do not let us dissuade you.
If budgeting is a concern, I would still recommend that you hold on until the next product revolution in 2012. Intel has a new platform that is going to be set for release in a couple months, and VAR/HARs should have their release cycle shortly thereafter. (Oversimplifying) Buy now and you have a PC that is dated in 2.5 years. Buy in two-three months and you will have a PC that is dated in 3.5 years.
I'm not sure what AMD is doing with their platform release cycles. Last time I checked (there was a leaked spreadsheet), AMD didn't really appear to know either. Articles like http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/2/276...2012-2013-28nm provide some insight, but doesn't really do a good job of setting expectations or disclosing features.
F
You don't need leaks :
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5491/a...admap-revealed
Thanks, but the slides in the Anandtech article are the same Feb 2nd slides that are present in the article I linked. I'm looking for are some high level details (USB3?, how many?, how many PCI Express slots/lanes?, Sata 3? How many? , etc).
Ahh... for that you probably need to wait until we actually launch the product. I thought you were looking more for "what comes out when", sorry.
Leaks might give you info about those details, but no guarantee that what they say will actually happen.