ATI to launch R520, RV530 and RV515 in September / October

Beyond3D writes Rick Bergman, ATI's Senoir Vice President of the PC Business Unit, recently said at an investors Q&A session that the R520 was originally planned for June, but due to a number of design issues the card has been delayed to September-October.

The lower-end RV515 and RV530 are already finished and Rick said they will be launched in the September/October timeframe. It's even possible ATI will launch the high-end R520, the low-end RV515 and the mainstream RV530 with a few weeks gap between each, spanning those two months.

The R520 will be ATI's high-end product with Shader Model 3.0 (SM3) capabilities while the RV530 and RV515 should replace respectively the ATI X700 and X300 class of products.

Releasing a top-to-bottom line of products with the same level of shader capabilities will be a first for ATI, as previous releases have seen their low end product lagging behind in the 3D capabilities of their high end brethren.

Rick made note that all of ATI’s current products will use 90nm from TSMC initially, but they will spread to other fab partners in time. He also mentioned that there is a fourth PC product based on 90nm currently underway, which could be the rumoured R580 product.

ATI's CrossFire is another product that was delayed quite a bit but Rick claims the first samples will go the the press later this month and shipments are expected in September.