No official word out yet, but rumours suggest that the Bart core based 6 series GPUs from AMD/ATI are in line for an October 22 release. This line includes the new HD 6850 and HD 6870 graphics cards with Barts Pro and Barts XT cores respectively.
Disappointingly, they are expected to be "marginally slower" than their replacements - the HD 5870 and HD 5850. If speculations are to be believed, the HD 6870 is expected to perform better than Nvidia's GTX 460 (1GB), but cost more as well, with the price most likely to be slotted at $250.
However, ATI is evidently saving its performance trump card till November, when the Cayman is anticipated to be unveiled in either HD 6890 or even HD 6950 and HD 6970 avatars. With a size that's being compared to the GF100 (Fermi), the Cayman is the biggest chip to come out of ATI stables.
Having said that, don't hold us ransom to these figures as they're industry rumours. The true performance of these cards will only be apparent after thorough benchmarking at our Test Labs, so keep your eyes peeled for a review.
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