Friday, January 11th 2019
AMD CTO Mark Papermaster Confirms 7 nm Lineup Refresh for 2019
AMD's CTO Mark Papermaster, in an interview with TheStreet, confirmed AMD's plans with 7 nm for their graphics offerings are just beginning with Radeon VII. When inquired on AMD's plans for their graphics division, Papermaster said that "What we do over the course of the year is what we do every year. We'll round out the whole roadmap." he then added that "We're really excited to start on the high-end... you'll see the announcements over the course of the year as we round out our Radeon roadmap."
So these comments form papermaster seemingly confirm two things: first, that AMD plans to "round out" its lineup using the 7 nm process technology, which means increasing offerings at different price points. The use of the word "refresh" almost takes the breath away, since refreshes are usually based on the same previous architectures. However, AMD does have plans for a new mid-range chip to finally succeed Polaris in Navi, which should become the next AMD launch in the 7 nm process for graphics technologies.
However, what might put some of the enthusiasm down on AMD's plans is Papermaster saying that AMD's starting on the "high-end". As it stands, that seemingly means that yes, AMD will be releasing Navi-based graphics, but that such releases will offer lower performance than that of Radeon VII. Of course, there's still a chance that AMD can also refresh their high-end or explore above-Radeon VII performance - one of Navi's marketing materials does mention scalability - but... That just seems like hopeful speculation after Papermaster's words. It seems that any market above NVIDIA's RTX 2080 will be available solely for NVIDIA, as has become the norm in recent years.
Source:
TheStreet
So these comments form papermaster seemingly confirm two things: first, that AMD plans to "round out" its lineup using the 7 nm process technology, which means increasing offerings at different price points. The use of the word "refresh" almost takes the breath away, since refreshes are usually based on the same previous architectures. However, AMD does have plans for a new mid-range chip to finally succeed Polaris in Navi, which should become the next AMD launch in the 7 nm process for graphics technologies.
28 Comments on AMD CTO Mark Papermaster Confirms 7 nm Lineup Refresh for 2019
damn, Nvidia domination is really unstoppable then...
I really hate AMD's graphics division...
judging by his face it seems he's drunk in the photo...oh well
Of course, if this turns out to be talk of Navi arriving with an arch revamp that further increases perf/w, that would be great. Fingers crossed.
-1 again! Casecutter is not loving me today!
Then Navi that gives you Vega 64 for $280, while the gelding of that is like GTX 1070 for $230, and we wait for Navi or something with the HBM2 above the Vega 7.
Though I think I'm very judicious as to those prices, as I think we have already been bowled (or bowl-ed as in toilet) over to what was the old perf/$ curve and fear it's just going to be getting worse
AMD is the king of confusing naming:
- Radeon R5/R7/R9 300 series and R9 Fury
- Radeon R5/R7/RX 400 series
- Radeon 500/RX 500 series (the last one, RX 590 was introduced after the RX Vega series)
- Radeon RX Vega series
- Radeon VII (?)
AMD need to do better than this.
Next few years will show if rtg can really fight, when they can finally put some money in development. With new gen of consoles almost done, they can concentrate on radeon itself.
I think that's probably been their plan since before Zen went into production - no doubt their internal roadmaps would show that. They know very well that GPU's aren't gonna save them at this point, so they put in just enough skin to stay in the game while they focus on better opportunities. AMD, if nothing else, has been very, very coordinated and organized lately. It's actually been pretty cool to see them go from floundering around to systematically making shit work. Just about everything they do is blatantly calculated and it seems to really be paying off for them. They may not be on top right now, but I swear they actually have it more together than Nvidia or Intel atm. The way they operate now is very interesting. It's hard for me to pin down, but sometimes you can really see where leadership is and isn't.
The only surprises have been how decent the CPU's have been. And I think these GPU's are probably a calculated move, too. Small moves mean smaller failures, too. Bigger chance at a small success that won't really get them anywhere, but won't hold them back from succeeding elsewhere. They're not banking on any big successes with their GPU's just yet because they really don't need to just yet. I'm betting they've got a lot more going on in the future than they let on. I really sincerely doubt that what they have coming now GPU-wise represents them putting it all on the table. They're playing it smart and picking their battles IMO. So far I think they've chosen right, in both spheres.
Nothing really to go by, there. Just general observations.
It's not like AMD has some exclusive manufacturing process. If AMD needs processes to compete, it will never be competitive, and nvidia will be free to jack up prices even more while commandeering developer attention in the PC space.
AMD NEEDS to compete with something new. Only hardcore AMD fans that are going to pay $800 for thrice microwaved GCN chips.
Taking things in stride and making moves when they have to while keeping things headed in the right direction, it's a balancing act of sorts and so far they've been doing well at it. With Intel and Nvidia reeling from recent issues now is the time to make a move but AMD isn't going for the throat, instead intrenching themselves deep into the market as they should in baby steps and those add up over time. They aren't in a hurry to ramp up competiton vs Nvidia since those guys are for now tripping themselves up in comparision - Not severely but enough AMD can capitalize on said blunders and make a statement.
Metering out releases instead of trying to all-out slam Nvidia is the way to go if it's going to be done at all because it can't be done any other way.
In short AMD is playing it smart and it's paying off, all they have to do is keep the ball rolling in the right direction.
Add to that the CPU announcements that cover AMD's plan till Q2-Q3 and it's pretty obvious Navi is still pretty far from a launch.
I thought Navi was something architecturally new that was supposed to come after Vega. What is this then? That's not Navi :-O