AMD is looking to bolster its already impressive sub-£200 range with a half-and-half card. Created using the best of both the first and second tiers of its latest Southern Islands range, the HD 7870 XT is using the top-end Tahiti GPU, albeit a cut-down version. The fact that it can fit all that in a card for less than two ton seems impressive, but we've seen what damage can be down when you start slicing up your top-GPU with Nvidia's convoluted lineup, so is it a cut too far? These are tough times for AMD, the computing industry's favourite plucky little underdog. With share prices at a low ebb and a dwindling pot of ready cash, there are reports that the company may not be around in its current form for very much longer. That's a terrible thought for the industry, because lack of competition breeds complacency and a general lack of innovation. Just look at how much Intel has sat on its laurels since it retook the CPU performance lead. When it had been talking up core count over frequency increases, we'd hoped to have six and eight-core desktop processors by now. Instead we've had to make do with overpriced server chips squeezed into a bloated server/desktop platform. Sadly, AMD has been making a rod for its own back. Despite having the best graphics cards of this generation, in terms of price/performance metrics, AMD is still ceding market share to Nvidia's GTX lineup. The public perception of flaky drivers and weak performance may no longer be true, but the extra marketing
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