ATI R600 is an 80u Chipset
Fudo over at The Inquirer reports that their sources are indicating that ATI's next generation flagship R600 GPU will be made with an 80u process. Apparently, TSMC's 65u process is moving along well though it is not quite mature enough to handle a chipset as complex as a high-end GPU. With the 80u process in mind, it is realistic to expect core frequencies to remain well under 1GHz with Fudo's estimates landing in the 700MHz range give or take 50MHz. Some concern could be had by the reference to further possible delays, though ATI does have the R580+ GPU supposedly coming in October to appease the masses in the interim.
"ATI and its partners have high hopes about this chip and they all believe that it will give the performance crown back to ATI. Nvidia is pushing hard with Geforce 7950 GX2 cards and its G80 should be just around the corner.
Don't forget that ATI has the last of its high end 90 nanometre chips to launch. It has R580+, Radeon X1950 XTX currently scheduled for October."
