1. 0629 chip,Clear Version HD2900XTX(high density heat sink, cross shaped fan frame)

This is the first official propaganda picture of HD2900XTX. PS is very beautiful. Although there is no chip picture, techpowerup provided the R600 chip date of the card as 0629 weeks (about late July 2006). There is no information about its origin on the Internet.

On May 25, 2006 (about 0620 weeks), ATI revealed for the first time the details of graphics chip code R600: equipped with 64 pipelines, 16 texture units, clock above 650MHz, GDDR4 memory support. On June 24, 2006 (about 0625 weeks), amd acquired ATI.It's as if ATI is pushing up the priceDisclose R600 chip in advance.It can be seen that the 0629 chip that techpowerup said is not a conjecture out of thin air, it seems to have a basis. 0629 chip should be the earliest R600 chip.

2.0632 chip

The official photos of 0632 chip are photos from different angles of the same chip (two places at the core and corners are broken into white), which have appeared on multiple websites. Now, three representative pictures are selected.

The tail of the 0632 chip logo in the official leaked picture was erased for confidentiality reasons. The chip version number is only "215rgdcka". The version number of 0635 chip is "215rgdcka11fg", and the word smeared out may be "11fg". The version of these two chips is "215rgdcka11fg", which is "a11". The date difference is 3 weeks. Some corrections should be made.
No HD2900XTX graphics card is found in this version of chip.
　

3.0635 chip, Red Version HD2900XTX(high density heat sink, cross shaped fan frame)

On March 20, 2007, amd just announced the relevant specifications of R600 chip video card in CeBIT 2007. When it closed the door with its partners to display R600 chip video card, eBay auctioned the following video card. It's probably a former ATI engineer who wanted to do it. The cancellation of the auction of this card has aroused a lot of speculation.

Fortunately, I realized the extraordinary of HD2900XTX in time and collected this card today. Thus, the suspense of many years has been solved, and these early HD2900XTX have been clarified.

In appearance, the card is exactly the same as the R600 chip that eBay stopped auctioning, except for the missing handle of the graphics card. This card is different from the color of the radiator shroud in ATI's official promotional image. It has the most significant appearance features of earlier versions of ATI: cross fan frame, round fan cover, and 40 high-density fins.

The identification on 0635 chip on the card tends to be standardized, and the chip version number is "215rgdcka11fg", which is "a11" version. Considering the above situations, it is assumed that there will be no "A10" version of R600 chip.

The board type marked in the lower right corner of the card is 109-b00031-00c. The PCB of the chip evaluation board of R600 chip of "a11" passed the revision of 00a and 00B quickly, and the PCB finalization has been basically completed in 00C. The PCB of "A12" R600 chip product evaluation board also uses this 109-b00031-00c model, but it has been revised. The most obvious change is that six power supply phase number lights near the back fan have been cancelled, which is used to strengthen the power supply. See below.

Only the red HD2900XTX is available for 0635 chip, and only two are visible in this version.

4. 0639chip, BlackVersion HD2900XTX(low density radiator, Trident fan frame)

The version of 0639 chip is "215rgmcka11fg". Compared with "215rgdcka11fg" of 0635 chip, there are changes in character identification, which should be corrected more. But they are all "a11" version R600 chips, and also engineering samples.
0639 chip is an advanced version of ATI. The graphics card based on this chip began to use the black radiator wind guide cover and the black HD2900XTX graphics card with a circular fan cover and a black fan. The fan bracket changed from a cross bracket to a trident bracket, and began to use 28 low-density fins.


(Thanks for the picture provided by 龍嗣)

There are less than 5 visible streams in this version, and the labels are all torn off. The label date cannot be determined.
The four R600 chips mentioned above are all engineering sample chips, and the graphics card based on these R600 chips is the chip evaluation board. Generally speaking, the chip evaluation board will have a R & D code as the model, or directly called R600 chip evaluation board, or use the strongest model x2900xtx / HD2900XTX based on this chip as the model. As the core secret, chip evaluation board can flow out very little and has the highest collection value.
　

5.0647chip, Red/Black Version HD2900XTX(low density radiator, Trident fan frame)And Red Version HD2900XTX (high-density heat sink, Trident fan bracket)

Techpowerup said that 0646 chip may be wrong, or not yet. Only PCB is 0646, and chip is 0647.

Since R600 chip 0647, amd has taken over the R600 project and produced R600 chip "215rgmdka12fg" of "A12", which is not marked as engineering sample. Thus, it also enters the product evaluation stage of R600 chip graphics card. Some product evaluation boards have product R & D codes or are named after the final product model developed. If your R600 chip is the "a11" version, congratulations on owning ATI's last generation of x2900xtx, otherwise congratulations on owning AMD's first generation of HD2900XTX!

After AMD's accession, it has increased its research and development efforts. There must be some undiscovered chips between 0639 and 0647. It seems that AMD has also added a "(03)" laboratory. HD2900XTX is the same as PCB date. One is that PCB date is marked 4606, the other is 0646 (03). Almost the same sample labels also appear.
5.1 Red Version HD2900XTX(low density radiator, Trident fan frame)



(Thanks for simulatio's pictures)

5.2 Black Version HD2900XTX(low density radiator, Trident fan frame)



(image from Somersetsale)

5.3 red Version HD2900XTX (high-density heat sink, Trident fan bracket)
In the early days of ATI, R600 chips used high-density heat sink, while in the late days, R600 chips used low-density heat sink. I don't know what's the difference between them. In the age of AMD, the HD2900XTX graphics card with high-density heat sink is the high-frequency version, which is much less than the low-frequency HD2900XTX graphics card with low-density heat sink.


(image from Somersetsale)

(Thanks for the picture provided by 龍嗣)

Starting from the HD2900XTX of this 0647 chip, there are many HD 2900xtx graphics cards in AMD version. In general, the number of HD2900XTX circulated is about the same as that of voodoo 5 6000, about 100.

6.0648 chip, Black Version HD2900XTX(low density radiator, Trident fan frame)And Red Version HD2900XTX (high-density heat sink, Trident fan bracket)

6.1 Black Version HD2900XTX(low density radiator, Trident fan frame)

（图片来源于：erek）

6.2 Red Version HD2900XTX (high-density heat sink, Trident fan bracket)



(Thanks for the picture provided by 龍嗣)

7.0702 chip, Black Version HD2900XTX
Starting from this R600 chip, it is "A13" version "215rgmdka13fg", and the card based on this chip begins to enter the qualification sample stage. PCB is 109-b00031-00.


(Thanks for the picture provided by 龍嗣)

8.0704 chip, Red Version HD2900XTX
0704 chip is the latest qualification sample. It is rare to find HD2900XTX samples after this period. Does amd know at this time that HD2900XTX project is difficult to carry out, perfunctory to everyone, or the sample control during this period is more strict? At the end of the paper, this puzzle will be revealed.




(thanks for simulatio's pictures)

The R600 chip graphics card has been developed for more than half a year. In the expectation of the outside world, on February 15, 2007, VR-zone claimed that it had received official news from amd-ati: it was determined that R600 would be named as the radeon x2900 series, rather than the previously rumored radeon x2800. It is expected that AMD will release the high-end radeon x2900xtx and radeon x2900xt first, and then the low-end radeon x2900xl later.
From March 15 to 21, 2007, CeBIT 2007, AMD released relevant specifications of R600 graphics card, but did not deliberately mention the name of x2900xtx.

In April 2007, it was rumored that AMD would abandon ATI's "X" series and enable the "HD" series.
On May 14, 2007, amd released the radeon HD 2000 series, which has three sub series: 2900, 2600, 2400. You can't see the expected XTX. Because amd has realized that the design defect that the frequency of R600 chip is not directly proportional to the efficiency cannot be solved in a short time, it has to let hd2900xt be on top.

The PCB version of hd2900xt is 109-b00631-00, which is quite different from 109-b00031-00 of HD2900XTX.

9.0705 chip, Red Version HD2900XTX

(image source: Gold Leader)

The date on the PCB of this card is 0705 weeks. I don't know if the 0705 chip listed in techpowerup comes from this HD2900XTX or the model of this HD2900XTX comes from techpowerup. It may be that the PCB date is confused with the chip date. But the label on this video card shows that it has the serial number of the official product. It is not an engineering sample, nor a qualification sample. It may be used as a customer sample, or for special purposes. For example, the vodoo5 6000 video card of 3dfx was also used for a very small number of installed machines.

10.0706chip

On May 14, 2007, amd released the radeon HD 2000 series. The picture of the 0706 chip is as follows.

(image source: https://www.neoseeker.com)

11.0712 chip, Red Version HD2900XTX

This may be the final HD2900XTX, official version. No official sale.

(Thanks for the picture provided by 龍嗣)

12.0737chip, FIREGL V8600

The date of chip 0737 is about the end of September 2007. The chip version "215rgidka13fg". Although it is also the "A13" version, it is the product of AMD's successful revision of R600 chip. As time goes by, HD2900XTX is no longer qualified to use the most powerful final version of the R600 chip. This marks the time when AMD, it can also be said that the HD2900XTX was completely abandoned when the radeon HD 2000 series was released on May 14, 2007. Amd made great efforts to revise the R600 chip, and finally launched the professional version of HD2900XTX -- FireGL v8600 / 8650.
The PCB of FireGL v8600 is 109-b31331-00a, which is like HD2900XTX graphics card with 2GB video memory placed on stretched PCB.

From the perspective of computer hardware collection, this paper presents the visual feast of HD2900XTX graphics card. Please accept it and correct the deficiencies in the article. Thank you for your information. Thank you for your persistence and dedication.

It's a good retrospective, your efforts are appreciated. Only thing is that I wouldn't compare it to a Voodoo 6000, that card is a more interesting member of its lineage.

Don't tempt me to buy the FireGL cards.. 1GB on the v8600 and 2GB on the v8650... yummy.

But what would that help me anyway? Would there be a point at all to even have them when I already have faster cards for XP?

1Gb on 2900XT should be enough for everything.

I have just seen a youtube video about this never sold XTX.

I love these strange stories in informatics and expecially in video card world that I am more specialized in.

Interesting card that at the end of this story go only 2 percent more than a normal hd2900xt.