AMD to Skip 20 nm, Jump Straight to 14 nm with "Arctic Islands" GPU Family

[btarunr]

AMD's next-generation GPU family, which it plans to launch some time in 2016, codenamed "Arctic Islands," will see the company skip the 20 nanometer silicon fab process from 28 nm, and jump straight to 14 nm FinFET. Whether the company will stick with TSMC, which is seeing crippling hurdles to implement its 20 nm node for GPU vendors; or hire a new fab, remains to be seen. Intel and Samsung are currently the only fabs with 14 nm nodes that have attained production capacity. Intel is manufacturing its Core "Broadwell" CPUs, while Samsung is manufacturing its Exynos 7 (refresh) SoCs. Intel's joint-venture with Micron Technology, IMFlash, is manufacturing NAND flash chips on 14 nm.

Named after islands in the Arctic circle, and a possible hint at the low TDP of the chips, benefiting from 14 nm, "Arctic Islands" will be led by "Greenland," a large GPU that will implement the company's most advanced stream processor design, and implement HBM2 memory, which offers 57% higher memory bandwidth at just 48% the power consumption of GDDR5. Korean memory manufacturer SK Hynix is ready with its HBM2 chip designs.

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[matar]

Not an AMD Fan but I have to say that's a smart move AMD

 

[Noel.VSL]

14nm NAND Flashmemory, really!?

 

[HumanSmoke]

Can't say it comes as a surprise, but all those people yelling from the rooftops about the 390X being a 20nm design must be getting acid indigestion about now.

Not an AMD Fan but I have to say that's a smart move AMD

20nm from either GloFo or TSMC is wholly unsuited for large power budget IC's. Bit of a no-brainer that both AMD and the completion would skip the process node. With Nvidia already looking to cover their bases by sourcing from TSMC and Samsung, AMD really couldn't commit to a late (and by all accounts, underperforming) 20nm.

 

[john_]

Can't say it comes as a surprise, but all those people yelling from the rooftops about the 390X being a 20nm design must be getting acid indigestion about now.

I though the 20nm big GPU idea died months ago. I didn't knew there where still debates about that.

 

[micropage7]

nice move, but seriously AMD should offer more, if they cant pass their competitor they should offer something new

 

[HumanSmoke]

I though the 20nm big GPU idea died months ago. I didn't knew there where still debates about that.

Well, I wasn't pointing at TPU in particular, but some people still refuse to believe that both TSMC's CLN20SOC and GloFo's 20LPM were never intended for large power budget IC's that characterise GPUs, as their own respective literature spells out.

 

[john_]

Well, I wasn't pointing at TPU in particular, but some people still refuse to believe that both TSMC's CLN20SOC and GloFo's 20LPM were never intended for large power budget IC's that characterise GPUs, as their own respective literature spells out.

The only rumors I know they still persist about big chips at 20nm, have to do with Xbox One and PS4 APUs. Everything else about 20nm is either about Nolan/Amur or other ARM SOCs. But discrete GPUs on 20nm for desktops are abandoned as an idea many months ago from most people/publications. It would have been great if Granada was a 20nm Hawaii instead of just a rebrand, but it's not happening.

 

[Caring1]

nice move, but seriously AMD should offer more, if they cant pass their competitor they should offer something new

AMD are already comparable on performance, a power reduction is all they need to get the edge, combined with ease of overclocking cores and memory they should come out in front.

 

[GreiverBlade]

nice move, but seriously AMD should offer more, if they cant pass their competitor they should offer something new

passing? they are toes to toes ... technically

well power consumption is a letdown, but as for example my 290 still keep up the brand new 970 that a friend has in a quite similar setup to mine ... and the 980 is not too far above so that even a 290X can keep it in check

ok now there is the Titan X and the "upcoming" 980Ti but ... the T'X is a steal and the 980Ti is a "bend over, here it come again" scenario.

reducing the manufacturing node mean reduced power need if i am not mistaken? so maybe 14nm will be the feature that will enable Arctic Island to have a lowered power consumption

(even if Volcanic island will still be on 28nm it will still be a competitor for Maxwell and the upcoming nV cards until Arctic island is released in the wild)

i guess i will keep my 290 until the next next gen ....

 

[dorsetknob]

14nm NAND Flashmemory, really!?

Re read the OP 1 or

Named after islands in the Arctic circle, and a possible hint at the low TDP of the chips, benefiting from 14 nm, "Arctic Islands" will be led by "Greenland," a large GPU that will implement the company's most advanced stream processor design, and implement HBM2 memory, which offers 57% higher memory bandwidth at just 48% the power consumption of GDDR5. Korean memory manufacturer SK Hynix is ready with its HBM2 chip designs.

Samsung is manufacturing its Exynos 7 (refresh) SoCs. Intel's joint-venture with Micron Technology, IMFlash, is manufacturing NAND flash chips on 14 nm.

there was no mention of AMD using NAND Flashmemory

 

[micropage7]

passing? they are toes to toes ... technically

well power consumption is a letdown, but as for example my 290 still keep up the brand new 970 that a friend has in a quite similar setup to mine ... and the 980 is not too far above so that even a 290X can keep it in check

ok now there is the Titan X and the "upcoming" 980Ti but ... the T'X is a steal and the 980Ti is a "bend over here it come again" scenario.

reducing the manufacturing node mean reduced power need if i am not mistaken? so maybe 14nm will be the feature that will enable Arctic Island to have a lowered power consumption

(even if Volcanic island will still be on 28nm it will still be a competitor for Maxwell and the upcoming nV cards until Arctic island is released in the wild)

i guess i will keep my 290 until the next next gen ....

yeah, the 14nm may reduce the power consumption, and as usual top of the line has basic problems:its heat and high power consumption

personally i wonder how about the performance of new 14nm on the road

 

[Ferrum Master]

I just want a new GPU... quit the tease already... my 7970 is starting to cough up blood already...

 

[Lionheart]

nice move, but seriously AMD should offer more, if they cant pass their competitor they should offer something new

HBM memory is new...

 

[64K]

Then we should see a considerable leap in performance from the 390X to the 490X. I also think AMD has code named it Arctic Islands because they have found a way to design a GPU that doesn't draw as much power as they currently do to compete with Nvidia. I hope their flagship is still around a 250 watt card design though. Using that much wattage on the improved efficiency of the 14nm process should be a beast.

 

[buggalugs]

AMD should have dumped TSMC long ago although there isn't that many choices. AMD should try to do a deal with Samsung.

 

[the54thvoid]

AMD are already comparable on performance, a power reduction is all they need to get the edge, combined with ease of overclocking cores and memory they should come out in front.

Depends on how you define comparable. Perf/price - they're better than Nvidia. Perf/watt they are way behind. On pure performance you can argue, Titan X -> GTX980 -> Titan Black -> GTX 780ti ->(or =) R9 290X. All single GPU of course. 295X2 beats them all when crossfire scaling works.

AMD need the 390X to shift the market. By 2016 Nvidia will be on their Pascal designs. June can't come soon enough for me, let alone 2016.

 

[Naito]

All I can say is that this will be a very interesting time; not that I'll be getting 4K any time soon, but will be keen to see what tech on such a fab is capable of. That, and DX12.

 

[JMccovery]

AMD should have dumped TSMC long ago although there isn't that many choices. AMD should try to do a deal with Samsung.

Who was able to compete with TSMC 'long ago', hmm?

Absolutely no one.

Samsung wasn't even a blip on the radar until recently.

 

[jabbadap]

Hmh there's no upcoming 14nm process on TSMC. TSMC:s road maps shows next node after 16nm ff+ is 10nm ff. So if amd is truly going to 14nm it must be GF/samsung nodes(I doubt intel will sell them its 14nm nodes).

 

[Kaotik]

Actually GlobalFoundries has 14nm in production already, too.
Their biggest owner, Mubadala Development, announced early this month that GloFo is already ramping up 14nm production for a client (meaning it's not even test chips)

 

[Jorge]

Actually GlobalFoundries has 14nm in production already, too.
Their biggest owner, Mubadala Development, announced early this month that GloFo is already ramping up 14nm production for a client (meaning it's not even test chips)

Exactly. And GloFo will be delivering a variety of 13 Nm chips - CPU, APU and GPU for said customers.

 

[Casecutter]

Named after islands in the Arctic circle, and a possible hint at the low TDP of the chips, benefiting from 14 nm, "Arctic Islands" will be led by "Greenland," a large GPU that will implement the company's most advanced stream processor design, and implement HBM2 memory, which offers 57% higher memory bandwidth at just 48% the power consumption of GDDR5. Korean memory manufacturer SK Hynix is ready with its HBM2 chip designs.

Whew... that was 3 breath sentence.

But it's that last one that surprises, all of a sudden rumors say 1st Gen HBM is constrained, even though SK Hynix indicated client shipments started in January 2015. While this says SK Hynix is "ready" for HBM2, sure not near production but appears on track.

What's more in question is where is TSMC with 16 nm FinFET? As from some of the rumors others have been "investigating options" or at "keeping open mind" for their next shrink. Some speculate TSMC might not have full production for large power budget IC's until Q3 2016. Such a lapse might give AMD the window to get Arctic Islands parts solidly vetted at GloFo and still be ready by this time next year.

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

passing? they are toes to toes ... technically

well power consumption is a letdown, but as for example my 290 still keep up the brand new 970 that a friend has in a quite similar setup to mine ... and the 980 is not too far above so that even a 290X can keep it in check

So is my GTX780.. a 2 year old card.. and the 980 is not too far above so that even a 780ti can keep it in check.

AMD is lagging that much, they needed to skip a 20nm just to make them competitive.

 

[Casecutter]

So is my GTX780.. a 2 year old card.

Could almost be... GTX 780 launched May 23, 2013