Monday, May 12th 2014
AMD to Launch New Single-GPU Card This Summer, to Take on GTX 780 Ti
AMD is reportedly working on a new single-GPU graphics card SKU to compete with the likes of GeForce GTX 780 Ti, and perhaps even take a swing at the GTX TITAN Black, since it's not too far ahead of the GTX 780 Ti at single-display gaming. The new SKU will be more than just a clock-speed bump, it will leverage HBM (high-bandwidth memory), a cutting-edge new technology that relies on stacking multiple DRAM dies with dedicated memory paths into a single package, cutting down on power-draw, thermals, and PCB real-estate.
The first kind of HBMs to hit the market are 8 Gbit 4Hi, which will interface with the GPU over a 128-bit wide path, which means there will be just four memory packages on the card (since the "Hawaii" silicon features a 512-bit wide memory bus), with improvements in the area of power-draw and heat output. The memory could be clocked higher, too. Sadly, memory bandwidth is not the prime-mover in VGA performance, and AMD will have to offer higher GPU clocks for the card to stand a chance against NVIDIA's high-end single-GPU offerings. As for the name this card would bear, we get a sense of deja vu about how NVIDIA launched the single-GPU GeForce 7950 GTX alongside the dual-GPU 7950 GX2, replacing the 7900 GTX. And so, it wouldn't surprise us if AMD named it Radeon R9 295X.
Source:
VideoCardz
The first kind of HBMs to hit the market are 8 Gbit 4Hi, which will interface with the GPU over a 128-bit wide path, which means there will be just four memory packages on the card (since the "Hawaii" silicon features a 512-bit wide memory bus), with improvements in the area of power-draw and heat output. The memory could be clocked higher, too. Sadly, memory bandwidth is not the prime-mover in VGA performance, and AMD will have to offer higher GPU clocks for the card to stand a chance against NVIDIA's high-end single-GPU offerings. As for the name this card would bear, we get a sense of deja vu about how NVIDIA launched the single-GPU GeForce 7950 GTX alongside the dual-GPU 7950 GX2, replacing the 7900 GTX. And so, it wouldn't surprise us if AMD named it Radeon R9 295X.
34 Comments on AMD to Launch New Single-GPU Card This Summer, to Take on GTX 780 Ti
GTX 780 Ti vs GTX 780 / R290 / 290X it's just higher memory bandwidth (400~500mhz)
The source also claims that AMD will ditch its partnership with TSMC (not saying that TSMC is that good partner, after all) for GLOBALFOUNDRIES which is a very significant change. I for one think it would be for the better and I highly appreciate and welcome the idea.
They'll get temps in the 50~60°C region with a single gpu which could translate in a quiet card hopefully, with a good oc potential too
With that aside, would this be out in time? 800 series which seems like could be not far off based on maxwell? AMD could just be chasing previous gen in all this.
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28nm TSMC Q4 2013 : High-end GPU, VI 1.0
28nm GlobalFoundries Q4 2014 : Mid-end GPU and Low-end GPU, VI 2.0
28nm GlobalFoundries Q2 2015 : High-end GPU, VI 2.0
20nm GlobalFoundries Q4 2015 : Mid-end GPU and Low-end GPU, PI 1.0
20nm GlobalFoundries Q2 2016 : High-end GPU, PI 1.0
14nm GlobalFoundries Q4 2016 : Mid-GPU and Low-GPU, PI 2.0
14nm GlobalFoundries Q2 2017 : High-GPU, PI 2.0
R(x) 3(xx) will be using HBM 1st Gen.
R(x) 4(xx) will be using HBM 1st Gen.
R(x) 5(xx) will be using HBM 2nd Gen.
Volcanic Islands 1.0 - 28nm TSMC
Volcanic Islands 2.0 - 28nm GlobalFoundries
Pirate Islands 1.0 - 20nm GlobalFoundries
Pirate Islands 2.0 - 14nm GlobalFoundries
www.overclock.net/t/1488641/next-r9-r7-graphics-to-use-hbm
;)
This could easily just slide right into the 290 single-GPU line by naming it the R9 290XT.
Adding cores is unlikely because that would need a new die. And a 10% clockspeed increase would mean that AMD has been with holding some really well binned chips. Which is very likely because the R9 295X2 chips pull less than 200W from the VRM output side since the memory pulls around 50W from the VRM and there is a 10-15% efficiency loss on the VRMs.
Proof that the Hawaii cores on R9 295X2 pull less than 200W each
So ram power draw = 50/0.85 = 58W
GPU power draw = 200/0.85 = 236W
236W+236W+58W = 528W
W1zz's review says that peak gaming is 500W so my numbers are a little too big.
That means that AMD has a stock pile of sub 200W Hawaii chips so this could very easily be a 1100mhz or 1150mhz Hawaii chip.
The last option is that AMD has gone to GloFlo's 28nm SOI which would allow then to clock higher at the cost of a power draw increase and a cost of production increase.
There is probability the information is not 100% accurate but to completely disregard it for the sake of it, is not good either.
Seems pretty solid confirmation that AMD is indeed going to launch something new soon.
This could lead to more price cuts. This could lead to more price cuts. This could lead to more price cuts.
Could be though , well 2015 is my next expected gpu update slot so I am in with speculating until then.
At the worst we have some extra cores, at the best we have better thermals. Either of which could mean higher performance, in the middle it could be a smaller cooler die and cost less too.
Given that, having 8 GB seems not only smart, but prudent. CF setups for 4K are currently very constrained by the 4GB's of RAM they're using.
Toss on a Watercooled+Aircooled cooler not totally unlike the one they invented for the R9 295X2 and they'd finally have a reference cooler people would get behind. Ramp up the clockspeeds.
Call it the R9 290XL.
28-20nm Fd Soi capabilities of glo fo and st micro.
And these nodes are being opened up to external customers, could make for a very interesting Vi asic for example.
This is however definitely a bit of a leap of dot joining and rumour milling on my part but Fd soi is good enough and cheap enough for mobiles so you never know.
Im very interested in the stacked HBD die stacked memory, higher clocked memory is going to be great for the high resolutions that are starting to become more of a norm. Im already about to grab a 4k Monitor to replace my eyefinity setup.