Turkish website DonanimHaber reports that AMD is preparing to release 28nm mobile GPUs at the end of 2011, tentatively branded AMD Mobilty Radeon HD 7000 series (though this could end up as Radeon HD 7000M just as well). Four codenames associated are Wimbledon, Heathrow, Chelsea and Thames, and the series will be fabricated at 28nm. The mobile GPU flagship will be Wimbledon, with a saucy TDP of 65+W, 2GB GDDR5 over a 256-bit memory interface, expected to release in early 2012.
The performance GPU will be Heathrow, with a TDP between 33W and 45W. It is likely that the chip will support 192-bit memory, however, though some SKUs may end up with 128-bit. Below Heathrow will be the mainstream GPU, Chelsea, with 128-bit memory and a TDP of 20W to 30W. Chelsea is expected to release earlier than Wimbledon, as early as Q4 2011. Finally, the entry level GPU will be Thames, with 15W-20W TDP. Interestingly, it will feature a 128-bit memory bus, an upgrade from the 64-bit we have come to expect from entry GPUs with 15W power consumption. With the dawn of the Fusion era, it is no surprise that entry level GPUs will receive the most major upgrade.
Not much else is known about AMD's plans at 28nm at this stage. It is likely that 28nm will see a thorough move to the VLIW4 architecture first previewed in Cayman. The performance improvements over the upcoming 6000 generation is expected to be modest, in the 30% range, though it is quite early to consider such predictions.
Judging by the timelines for recent mobile GPU releases, their desktop 28nm counterparts might just release before Q4 2011. Regardless, for AMD, NVIDIA and consumers, 28nm can't come soon enough!
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