Monday, September 9th 2013
Since the very first DirectX 10-ready graphics cards by AMD, we've been used to the "Radeon HD xyz0" nomenclature, in which "x" denoted generation, "y" market segment, and "z" variant. That all is about to change with the company's Volcanic Islands GPU family, which will be unveiled (at least to the press), later this month. Using the same "x, y, z" variables as mentioned before, the new nomenclature could look like "Radeon Ry xz i" (where the new variable "i" could denote special features).
An example of this new nomenclature could be, say, Radeon R9 280 X, where "9" denotes the high-end market segment, currently held by Radeon HD 7900 series, "2" indicating generation, and "80" denoting variant. "XT" (full-spec) chips could get the "80" marking, and "Pro" (partial-spec) chips could get the "60" or "70" marking, but it isn't fixed, and could even be "50" and "40" for lower-end parts. At this point, we can't even speculate what the "i" (special feature) could denote. For mobile parts, the letter "M" could be prefixed to the "xz" component of the model number (example: Radeon R9 M380 X). Validations for graphics cards running early drivers with this naming scheme, have been showing up on our GPU-Z Validation database for days now, and our analysis is our best understanding of their naming strings. Capiche? Can't blame you.
39 Comments on Next-Generation AMD Radeon Series Nomenclature Detailed
R6 970 =9670
Or for example, a 7970 would be a R9 770
R5 = Crap
R9 = Top end
They are doing the same thing Intel is doing, create 30 things where there was once 10, with ridiculous monikers, to confuse the crap out of the newcomers to the market, in hopes that they pay more for what they dont need.
So basically AMD are appropriating Nvidia's naming scheme- just replacing GTX/GTS/GT with R9/R8/R7 etc.
GTX 280 ( GTX= market segment, 2 = generation, 80 = hierarchy within the segment)
R9 280 ( R9 = market segment, 2 = generation, 80 = hierarchy within the segment) Just to play the pedant, the word is Capisce if you're addressing a person- or probably Capite when addressing a group.
I like the new naming, imagine a 9990... sounds more like a price...£99.90 please sir.
hopefully the R9 will be great!
maybe Capite (plural, group) or capisci (single)
On the other hand with cards there will be always confusion. 6970 is smaller as a number than 7770, but 6970 is faster than 7770.
With the new naming the R9 280 will be maybe faster than R7 480 but R7 480 will be two generations newer than R9 280.
So the new naming doesn't give a priority to generation like it was until now, but in performance. I think this is better for the average consumer because new generations are not, like in the past, much faster than the old, or with much more features.
P.S.
I am more interested in performance gain over previews generation, than on the naming scheme.
Tuners (overall and with good SW support) are becoming a rarity here, for some reason.