14 DAY TRIAL // The cat isn't even out of the bag yet and AMD is already preparing the next truck full of surprises. One of these is the shrinking of the R600 die to a more acceptable size, the 65nm manufacturing technology having to take a part of the "blame" for that. All in all, the problem with R600 isn't whether or not it will outperform NVIDIA's offerings, but also if the power consumption levels, for which ATI is known to usually cross the line with, will be acceptable or not.
The first rumors about the R600 stated that it had a power consumption of 240-270W, and even said to be around 300W, so that meant a staggering 600W just for a CrossFire setup, not counting the rest of the system. And apparently, as one part of the industry follows the "energy-efficient" motto, trying to make components that consume less and less power, it seems the sides are divided, while other segments of the computer industry make power-hungry monsters.
According to Fudzilla, AMD is going to make a somewhat desperate attempt to cut down on the power consumption of the R600, which is built on the 80nm process node, with a new version of the card, called R650, which will be built on the 65nm process node, much like AMD's current line of processors, which should yield a lower power consumption. This move, however, has certain disadvantages, first of all, people won't buy the R600, knowing that AMD is going to release a second version in the second half of the year, which also translates to less, or even no revenue off this deal. Not a good point right now, giving the money problem AMD is in and their struggle of still being a presence on the market.
Adding to this material problem of theirs, is the fact that switching to the 65nm manufacturing technology implies, you got it, more money. Right about now, people are starting to wonder whether AMD will survive the hurricane, and somehow make it out alive from the ordeal; others are considering the possible purchase of AMD by another company. Anyway you might look at it, they are now walking a very fine line, which could take them to where they need to be, or it will bury them.
The R650 will have the same features as the R600, the power consumption being the only problem that needs fixing. That means R650 will also be capable of processing two simultaneous video streams, even in HD format, due to the Universal Video Decoder (UVD) which also supports Blu-ray and HD-DVD decoding, as well as H.264 content, regardless of the format. The video decoder and the video processor inside are an integrated solution, also called Xilleon. As for the sound part, R600 currently is known to have a Realtek HD audio chip, let's hope that the revision keeps all these parts together, or it's going to get messy.