AMD launches Radeon R7 260, coming in January

[Scorpus]

AMD hasn't quite finished with the graphics card announcements for 2013, today announcing a brand new lower-end GPU for those who don't require a whole lot of processing power. The Radeon R7 260 features a cut-down version of AMD's Bonnaire GPU, which is fully enabled in the R7 260X, making it an entirely new card rather than a re-badge.

Compared to the R7 260X, the R7 260 features two fewer compute units, bringing down the total stream processors to 768 (from 896), alongside 48 TUs (down from 56) and 16 ROPs. The GPU will run at a maximum clock speed of 1000 MHz, and comes with 1 GB of 6 GHz GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, meaning we're looking at performance around 80-90% of the 260X.

Although the R7 260 is a relatively low-power part, consuming around 95 W at peak, it still requires one PCIe power plug, for better or worse. Like the 260X, the 260 uses the GCN 1.1 architecture and contains support for TrueAudio, as well as Mantle.

The card itself won't be available at retail outlets until mid-January, slotting into the range with a price tag of $109: $30 less than the 260X, and $20 more than the R7 250. It's essentially a direct replacement for the Radeon HD 7770 that's been on the market for well over a year now, and competes with Nvidia's GTX 650 and GTX 650 Ti.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/55035-amd-launches-radeon-r7-260-coming-in-january.html

 

[cliffordcooley]

Although the R7 260 is a relatively low-power part, consuming around 95 W at peak, it still requires one PCIe power plug, for better or worse.

Why don't they make it mandatory for one connector on all graphics cards? The adapter can be used in all systems that don't currently have 6-pin from the PSU. And all future PSU's would then be equipped with at least one.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Can they make it mandatory? Will this kind of thing fall under the IEEE's jurisdiction?

 

[Steve]

Although the R7 260 is a relatively low-power part, consuming around 95 W at peak, it still requires one PCIe power plug, for better or worse.

Why don't they make it mandatory for one connector on all graphics cards? The adapter can be used in all systems that don't currently have 6-pin from the PSU. And all future PSU's would then be equipped with at least one.

Why would they do that? The PCIe power connector(s) are only required if the graphics card consumes more power than the 75watts delivered by the PCIe slot. So making it mandatory would mean low-end graphics cards that consume 75watts or less would have a 6-pin PCIe power connector that they don't need and can't use.

 

[ET3D]

What's the point of forcing a connector if it's not needed? It will add a bit of cost, make the card longer, add to the cable management nightmare in the case, all for zero benefit? And if you want it so much, why not force two 8-pin connectors on everything? Why make do with a 6-pin?

 

[cliffordcooley]

Why would they do that?

What's the point of forcing a connector if it's not needed?

For the very same reason everyone keeps recommending higher wattage power supplies than is actually needed. If more power is not needed in one area, then it is not needed in other areas. At least I'm asking for uniformity, which would make things less confusing to those who don't know the difference.

 

[ET3D]

Those who don't know the difference should stick to cards without power connectors.

Besides, as I said, it won't mean uniformity. Unless you make two 8-pin connectors the standard you won't get uniformity.