South Island is the development name of AMD’s upcoming graphics architecture that is expected to be launched in autumn 2011. Traces of architecture that is likely to be manufactured with 28-nanometer technology has now appeared in beta versions of AMD’s Catalyst drivers, where several new GPU models are named. Including Tahiti, which seems to be the flagship of what we expect to be Radeon HD 7000 family.
Tahiti appears in two different versions and, as expected, with suffixes XT and Pro, which can be compared with, for example Radeon 6970 (Cayman XT) and Radeon HD 6950 (Cayman Pro) from today’s North Island family. Tahiti is just like the Cayman even show up in a graphics card with dual circuits, this configuration is renamed to New Zealand. What exactly that Antilles is the name of an island-formation with two main islands.
In addition to top-of Tahiti, we see also Thames whose positioning is still a bit unclear. According to rumors Thames can be a mobile chip that will appear in three different configurations.
Lombok is the last code name that appeared in an early version of Catalyst 11.7 and is the approach we know least about the current situation. Four different models are specified and the platform or the performance they offer is in writing, unclear.
| Codename | Market segments | Models |
| ” New Zealand “ | Dual Tahiti-circuits on a single circuit board for high-end market. | 1 pc |
| ” Tahiti “ | Probably the top model in the South Island for the performance market. | 2: Pro Tahiti and Tahiti XT |
| ” Thames “ | Uncertain, may be a mobile version for Mid or performance market. | 3: Thames LE, Pro Thames and Thames XT / GL |
| ” Lombok “ | Unclear. | 4 pieces: Lombok Pro, XT Lombok, Lombok and Lombok AIO XL GL |
That we are now beginning to see signs of AMD’s new graphics chips to the manufacturer’s drivers do not speak much about a possible launch date. It has long been rumored that the South Island with his VLIW4 architecture is fully developed and that it probably will have to wait for a mature 28nm technology to produce chips with. If any of the circuits will use AMD’s upcoming “Next Graphics Core” architecture is unclear, but unlikely.
With that said, it took about two months from the first code names appeared in the Catalyst drivers before the first circuit from the North Island architecture was launched. If we see a similar development this time, we should be able to expect the first chips from South Island in September, a month has already been involved in discussions.