AMD to Launch Radeon HD 6000 Series October 19

We always hate to recommend waiting to upgrade your hardware -- after all, something new and better and faster and shinier is always right around the corner -- but if you can hang tight for two to three more weeks, you'll have more options to choose from. Nvidia is planning to release a few new Fermi-based GPUs, including its entry-level GeForce GT 430, as well as introduce some price cuts. In anticipation of that, word on the Web is that AMD will launch its Radeon HD 6000 series on October 19.

The latest chatter runs counter to recent reports that AMD would delay the launch of its HD 6000 series, and since AMD hasn't said anything official, we'll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, Nvidia is planning to cut the price of its GTX 460 768MB card during that same time frame to sway users away from the HD 5000 series, so we can see why AMD would pull a 180 and push ahead with its 6000 series rather than put it on the back burner for another month or two.


In case you haven't seen it by now, a purportedly leaked slide shows exactly how AMD's 6000 series will stack up to its HD 5000 series. According to the slide, the 6000 series will also come built on a 40nm manufacturing process, but the Barts PRO and Barts XT cores look to be quite a bit faster than the Juniper PRO and Juniper XT cores they're replacing, and compares somewhat favorably to the Cypres XT-based 5870.