AMD RDNA 2 "Big Navi" to Feature 12 GB and 16 GB VRAM Configurations

[AleksandarK]

As we are getting close to the launch of RDNA 2 based GPUs, which are supposedly coming in September this year, the number of rumors is starting to increase. Today, a new rumor coming from the Chinese forum Chiphell is coming our way. A user called "wjm47196" known for providing rumors and all kinds of pieces of information has specified that AMD's RDNA 2 based "Big Navi" GPU will come in two configurations - 12 GB and 16 GB VRAM variants. Being that that is Navi 21 chip, which represents the top-end GPU, it is logical that AMD has put a higher amount of VRAM like 12 GB and 16 GB. It is possible that AMD could separate the two variants like NVIDIA has done with GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and Titan RTX, so the 16 GB variant is a bit faster, possibly featuring a higher number of streaming processors.


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[ZoneDymo]

bring it on

 

[laszlo]

we should have a poll "how you take rumors":
1.-with a grain of salt
2.-with two grains of salt and one pepper
3.-with a cup of salt and one bottle of water
3.-with a bag of salt and a hot bath
4...
5....

 

[TheLostSwede]

we should have a poll "how you take rumors":
1.-with a grain of salt
2.-with two grains of salt and one pepper
3.-with a cup of salt and one bottle of water
3.-with a bag of salt and a hot bath
4...
5....

With bath salts...

 

[JAB Creations]

I'm all against dumb rumors but that doesn't negate logical deduction:

• AMD did not release a high end card in the 5000 series.
• A high end card is naturally going to have more video memory to handle higher resolutions.
• AMD released a 7nm 16GB HMB2 card on February 7th, 2019.
• AMD has had more money for R&D to justify investments in lower margin products such as Radeon video cards.
• AMD releasing a 16GB card with GDDR6 is not an unreasonable assumption.

Sure, it's not been announced but it's not like there are rumors suggesting that a 6700 will be the top card in the RDNA2 line up.

 

[Verpal]

With bath salts...

The Bath Salt of the Gamer Girl Is a Pathway to many abilities, some consider to be....... unnatural.

 

[londiste]

12GB and 16GB implies different memory bus widths, which should be significant.

 

[Valantar]

It is possible that AMD could separate the two variants like NVIDIA done with GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and Titan RTX, so the 16 GB variant is a bit faster, possibly featuring a higher number of streaming processors.

... or like the Vega 56 and 64? As, you know, normal GPU product segmentation?

 

[chaosmassive]

we should have a poll "how you take rumors":
1.-with a grain of salt
2.-with two grains of salt and one pepper
3.-with a cup of salt and one bottle of water
3.-with a bag of salt and a hot bath
4...
5....

amount of that salt intake enough to give you heart attack

 

[Hardware Geek]

With bath salts...

This made me chuckle. Never understood the whole "bath salts" craze. Tried them one and it was a horrible feeling.

 

[Deleted member 185088]

I wonder what will the new consoles do, their 16gb seemed low when they were announced only 4gb more than the One X, was expecting at least 24gb.

 

[r.h.p]

looking forward too some new hardware news that's interesting ......

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

12GB and 16GB seems more than enough to me, any higher than that is just adding expense. Depending on how Navi2 is, I might make the jump into a higher tier. I'll have to sell my Sapphire 5700xt Nitro though which I've only had since November

 

[Chrispy_]

Nvidia is on 8nm Samsung this time around. They may have an impressive design with Ampere, but Samsung's 8nm is not good - at least it's nowhere near as mature or as efficient as TSMC's 7nm EUV.

I honestly think that Nvidia has a ~20% architectural advantage over AMD but it doesn't matter if TSMC's advantage over Samsung is greater than that.

 

[Chomiq]

i drink orange juice

AMD fanboys will be drinking Kool-Aid if rdna2 becomes a failure.

 

[JAB Creations]

AMD fanboys will be drinking Kool-Aid if rdna2 becomes a failure.

A fellow Pole, from a country that was wiped off the map not once but twice by greater military powers mocking the smaller good guy and on top of all that post someone else's culture for their avatar. The hypocrisy is inescapable.

 

[The Quim Reaper]

I'll be interested to see just how good AMD's first hardware ray tracing solution is, compared to Nvidia's second generation iteration in Ampere.

If it only performs at say current Turing levels, that will be a big disadvantage for someone like me to even consider swapping over from Nvidia, saving $50-$100 on the purchase price is nice but it wouldn't be enough to make me go AMD if the future of graphics rendering performs considerably worse on Navi 2, and then there is the matter of traditional 3D raster performance, which needs to be within 5-10% of Ampere's.

 

[Th3pwn3r]

AMD fanboys will be drinking Kool-Aid if rdna2 becomes a failure.

It won't be. AMD has been doing really well and it's looking like they'll continue to do so.

 

[springs113]

I'll be interested to see just how good AMD's first hardware ray tracing solution is, compared to Nvidia's second generation iteration in Ampere.

If it only performs at say current Turing levels, that will be a big disadvantage for someone like me to even consider swapping over from Nvidia, saving $50-$100 on the purchase price is nice but it wouldn't be enough to make me go AMD if the future of graphics rendering performs considerably worse on Navi 2, and then there is the matter of traditional 3D raster performance, which needs to be within 5-10% of Ampere's.

I thought AMDs ipc was about equal to Nvidia? No? It is safe to say that this will be a Zen moment for AMD. The only thing that I'm truly worried about is pricing of the top tiered card.

 

[bonehead123]

If past trends are any indications, there WILL be 12 and/or 16GB variants, and possibly even 24GB for the very top end....
remember the infamous "nobody will ever need more than 16k of ram" quote from way back, and look at where we are nowadays....

And since the current crop of 11GB cards are really, really expensive as compared to the 8/6GB models, so if you want one of the above, perhaps you should shore up your finances, then put your banker and HIS gold cards on retainer, hehehe .........

 

[arbiter]

• AMD did not release a high end card in the 5000 series.

Lets be real when was their last legit high end card? They have had nothing that compete with current line up that wasn't like 2 years late.

I honestly think that Nvidia has a ~20% architectural advantage over AMD but it doesn't matter if TSMC's advantage over Samsung is greater than that.

There is also a nice bit of driver advantage as well since they seem to have far less overhead as well.

I'll be interested to see just how good AMD's first hardware ray tracing solution is, compared to Nvidia's second generation iteration in Ampere.

If it only performs at say current Turing levels, that will be a big disadvantage for someone like me to even consider swapping over from Nvidia, saving $50-$100 on the purchase price is nice but it wouldn't be enough to make me go AMD if the future of graphics rendering performs considerably worse on Navi 2, and then there is the matter of traditional 3D raster performance, which needs to be within 5-10% of Ampere's.

Also lets not forget the NVenc at its current state is far beyond what AMD has which is a huge selling point for people thinking about doing some streaming

 

[Chomiq]

A fellow Pole, from a country that was wiped off the map not once but twice by greater military powers mocking the smaller good guy and on top of all that post someone else's culture for their avatar. The hypocrisy is inescapable.

You tried so hard to prove your point and yet you missed the obvious Jonestown massacre reference. Try harder next time.

PS.
The "smaller good guy" has an estimated net worth of almost a hundred billion USD. It's value has been on rise for 4 years now. It's at no risk of getting "wiped off the map".

 

[windwhirl]

And since the current crop of 11GB cards are really, really expensive as compared to the 8/6GB models, so if you want one of the above, perhaps you should shore up your finances, then put your banker and HIS gold cards on retainer, hehehe .........

To be fair, the high prices of really high-end GPUs are partially due to Nvidia's complete control over the segment. If AMD can bring something competitive to the market, there might be a chance of prices coming down.

Lets be real when was their last legit high end card? They have had nothing that compete with current line up that wasn't like 2 years late.

Last time was probably Fury X vs 980 Ti. Nearly similar performance and launch prices, IIRC.

I wonder what will the new consoles do, their 16gb seemed low when they were announced only 4gb more than the One X, was expecting at least 24gb.

They're consoles, they're not supposed to be super expensive. And besides, they don't have to deal with the user filling them with bloatware running all the time lol

 

[gridracedriver]

if full chip rdna2 are 16GB it means that the bus is 512bit, nVidia's Killer?

 

[londiste]

if full chip rdna2 are 16GB it means that the bus is 512bit, nVidia's Killer?

Could be 256-bit and use 2GB chips.