AMD: Radeon HD 7790 to be 10% slower than 7850, 7990 prototype "ready"

It's no surprise AMD plans to fill the ill-strategized void left somewhere between its Radeon HD 7700 and 7850 offerings -- a space where Nvidia's GTX 650 Ti is likely getting comfortable. According to hardware.info though, at a recent CeBIT conference AMD offered onlookers new details regarding its upcoming Radeon HD 7790 graphics chip.

In short, AMD's Radeon HD 7790 will be based on a 28nm "Bonaire" GPU with unsurprising support for Direct 11.1 and OpenGL 4.3. The company also claims the HD 7790 will be about 10 percent slower than its HD 7850, although that figure may not be truly indicative of real-world performance without context.

Recent rumors suggest the HD 7790 will feature a 1075MHz core equipped with either 896 or 768 shader units. Although memory and clockspeeds remain unknown, AMD confirmed the card would contain 896 shader units. 

AMD told the European crowd its Radeon HD 7790 will carry a recommended price tag of £118, which is about $175 USD. Note that the U.S. price will likely be lower and it'll need to be -- graphics cards like the Radeon HD 7850 can be found for about $140. It's clear AMD will have to do better than $175 that if it hopes to make the Radeon HD 7790 a hit in the states.

The chip maker also mentioned its Radeon HD 7990 "Malta" prototype is ready -- a dual-GPU Radeon that may be destined to become the fastest AMD card available. Little is known about  the 7990 either, but recent rumors indicate it will arrive during the first half of 2013.