Radeon HD 7900 Series to Use XDR2 Memory?

[btarunr]

AMD's next-generation enthusiast graphics processor (GPU) is shaping up to be something more unique than expected. The GPU codenamed "Tahiti" is going to be bleeding-edge in terms of its feature-set. To begin with, there's talk that it will make use of PCI-Express Generation 3 (Gen 3) system bus, which will give it a mammoth 32 GB/s of system interface bandwidth. Next, Tahiti will use a number-crunching architecture that's a generation ahead of even the VLIW4 it released with Cayman. VLIW4 will make up for most of the HD 7000 series, but not the top-end Tahiti GPU, it will use what AMD is referring to as "CoreNext Architecture", which is expected to boost performance per square millimeter die area beyond even what VLIW4 manages.

The most recent piece of information is bound to shock and awe. Tahiti, it appears, will use the XDR2 memory interface. XDR2 is an ultra-high bandwidth and power-efficient memory bus that's competitive with GDDR5, maintained by Rambus, which is claimed by it to be a generation ahead of GDDR5. It's not like XDR2 will be exotic to AIBs, the XDR architecture is used in game consoles where the high-bandwidth offsets low memory capacity by allowing quick streaming of texture data. Rambus licenses XDR memory chip manufacture to notable high-volume vendors. Nordic Hardware compiled data from various unreliable sources to sketch out what Radeon HD 7900 series could look like.



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[halfwaythere]

Good job recycling last weeks news.

 

[btarunr]

Good job recycling last weeks news.

Thanks.

 

[eidairaman1]

I think it would be best idea to release the XDR2 on lower models first n compare GDDR5 to XDR2 models.

 

[BernardV]

Legit?

 

[NC37]

Thanks.

Well I didn't catch it. Thanks from me!

 

[Roph]

Ugh, please don't help rambus survive

 

[eidairaman1]

Legit?

http://lenzfire.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/AMD-Radeon-7000-12.jpg

cannot be confirmed at all, at this point is all speculation, just wait till the product comes out n talk about it

 

[csendesmark]

Can't be true

 

[xenocide]

cannot be confirmed at all, at this point is all speculation, just wait till the product comes out n talk about it

It says in the initial post that was speculation using projections.

 

[Frick]

Ugh, please don't help rambus survive

Why not? If they make good memory why not use it?

 

[hat]

Legit?

http://lenzfire.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/AMD-Radeon-7000-12.jpg

If that turns out to be true, then it seems to me that they haven't really made any true performance improvements since the 5 series, and have yet again mostly "compressed" it down to get roughly similar performance with lower power consumption and heat output. I guess that's not all bad... the 5870 is still a hell of a raw performance card, and these will be too, but with power and heat improvements. Meanwhile, Nvidia will push further with cards with marginally more performance than the last generation while grappling with power consumption and heat output issues. This seems a more likely story than all the good stuff supposedly happening in the OP...

 

[Syborfical]

Why not? If they make good memory why not use it?

When PC's used rambus the licensing fees etc made it cost at least 4 times more the DDR at the time.

Rambus in PC's was short lived due to the high price and having to pay a high licensing fees, plus it had high latency compared to SDR and generated lots of heat.

So going from past products XDR may or may not be the same.

 

[Red_Machine]

But... we've already has a 7950...

 

[entropy13]

But... we've already has a 7950...

From Nvidia.

There has been a Radeon 7500 already though.

 

[HalfAHertz]

it looks faker than an ePad. From what I could grab earlier, AMD's next arch is supposed to replace the 4(or 5) lesser SPs that formed a CU in VLIW and instead have a singular more powerful SPs much like Nvidia's current arch.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4455/amds-graphics-core-next-preview-amd-architects-for-compute

 

[RejZoR]

From Nvidia.

There has been a Radeon 7500 already though.

But not HD7500... Besides, AMD is not using whole numbers anymore so yo won't see Radeon 7500. It Will be HD7530 or HD7550 or HD7570 etc...

 

[Frick]

When PC's used rambus the licensing fees etc made it cost at least 4 times more the DDR at the time.

Rambus in PC's was short lived due to the high price and having to pay a high licensing fees, plus it had high latency compared to SDR and generated lots of heat.

So going from past products XDR may or may not be the same.

As you say that was some time ago. They've not been very succesful after that (afaik) so maybe they have learned their lesson.

And if it's already in use in some consoles (is it PS3?) it's already on.

 

[Recus]

*bark* *bark* *bark*

http://semiaccurate.com/forums/showpost.php?p=132861&postcount=1160

 

[Hayder_Master]

Make it with 512bit and let me forget upgrad the gpu for 3 years.

 

[RejZoR]

512bit bus is very expensive so don't expect it at all...

 

[the54thvoid]

*bark* *bark* *bark*

http://semiaccurate.com/forums/showpost.php?p=132861&postcount=1160

From source

Let me be blunt here, THERE IS NO XDR2 IN SI/HD7000/GCN.

I like when people make such statements. It means in Q1 2012 we can look back and say:

a) Look, CD was right, so there! or
b) Look, CD was wrong, so there!

 

[Completely Bonkers]

I don't mind waiting for this... and nV's next generation... so long as they can achieve the same performance at half the power consumption. Let's hope there is a 28nm 7770 with same performance of 6770 at half power. Or actually, even better would be speed bump of 33% whilst reducing power 33%. Or a GTX 660 with a speed bump of 33% whilst reducing power 33%. Current cards are too hot and too thirsty IMO. If I look back 10 years, then CPU power/performance ratios have improved better than GPUs, and that needs to be fixed.

 

[KooKKiK]

Make it with 512bit and let me forget upgrad the gpu for 3 years.

GTX285 is also 512 bit and it is fucking slow like hell now.

 

[Bundy]

Make it with 512bit and let me forget upgrad the gpu for 3 years.

Yes! More copper please.