ATI will use a simple tactic to boost the sales of RV670 based cards: by branding its card Radeon HD3000 series or HD3800 the company plans to make two important moves and boost sales at the same time.
First, the new HD38x0 name will affect users by making them believe that the HD3000 series is better than HD2900, simply because it has a higher model number. It will be better, but not that much, as it is an evolution in design, not a revolution. ATI will also get rid of the XT / PRO and GT sufixes that are very confusing for the average Joe who buys the cards at retail stores.
The new strategy will be rather simple: the bigger number is better. One other secret behind HD3000 series is that ATI desperately wants to get away from the ghosts of HD2900 that didn’t turn out as well as expected.
We are disappointed with ATI's decision to pick such a high number for RV670, as HD3000 should be reserved for the real next generation. RV670PRO is an improved design of R600 and reduced to 55 nanometers, but with this in mind it doesn’t deserve the HD 38x0 name.
We can only voice our objections, but we are sure that from the market's point of view, this renaming will help DAAMIT sell more cards.
With this in mind, we can at least speculate that R700, the real next generation chip, will get the HD 4000 name; but ATI might change the branding completely for this one.
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Graphics
RV670 doesn?t deserve the HD 3000 name
It is an evolution, not a revolution