AMD To Launch New Desktop GPU This Quarter (Q2’15) With HBM
by Ryan Smith on May 6, 2015 2:22 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
- AMD
- Radeon
- AMD FAD 2015
Having just left the stage at AMD’s financial analyst day is CEO Dr. Lisa Su, who was on stage to present an update on AMD’s computing and graphic business. As AMD has already previously discussed their technology roadmaps over the next two years earlier in this presentation, we’ll jump right into the new material.
Not mentioned in AMD’s GPU roadmap but now being mentioned by Dr. Su is confirmation that AMD will be launching new desktop GPUs this quarter. AMD is not saying much about these new products quite yet, though based on their description it does sound like we’re looking at high-performance products (and for anyone asking, the picture of the card is a placeholder; AMD doesn’t want to show any pictures of the real product quite yet). These new products will support DirectX 12, though I will caution against confusing that with Feature Level 12_x support until we know more.
Meanwhile the big news here is that these forthcoming GPUs will be the first AMD GPUs to support High Bandwidth Memory. AMD’s GPU roadmap coyly labels this as a 2016 technology, but in fact it is coming to GPUs in 2015. The advantage of going with HBM at this time is that it will allow AMD to greatly increase their memory bandwidth capabilities while bringing down power consumption. Coupled with the fact that any new GPU from AMD should also include AMD’s latest color compression technology, and the implication is that the effective increase in memory bandwidth should be quite large. For AMD, they see this as being one of the keys of delivering better 4K performance along with better VR performance.
In the process AMD has also confirmed that these HBM-equipped GPUs will allow them to experiment with new form factors. By placing the memory on the same package as the GPU, AMD will be able to save space and produce smaller cards, which will allow them to produce designs other than the traditional large 10”+ cards that are typical of high-end video cards. AMD competitor NVIDIA has been working on HBM as well and has already shown off a test vehicle for one such card design, so we have reason to expect that AMD will be capable of something similar.
With apologies to AMD: NVIDIA’s Pascal Test Vehicle, An Example Of A Smaller, Non-Traditional Video Card Design
Finally, while talking about HBM on GPUs, AMD is also strongly hinting that they intend to bring HBM to other products as well. Given their product portfolio, we consider this to be a pretty transparent hint that the company wants to build HBM-equipped APUs. AMD’s APUs have traditionally struggled to reach peak performance due to their lack of memory bandwidth – 128-bit DDR3 only goes so far – so HBM would be a natural extension to APUs.
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Manch - Friday, May 8, 2015 - link
Well at least you don't deny it. Your constantly railing against anything however AMD is as bad as Apple Sheeple screaming their heads off about Android. You're like Tony Swash on DT. Me a die hard AMD fan? lol I'm a fan boy of neither. I buy what gives me the best bang for my buck.chizow - Friday, May 8, 2015 - link
Nah, because in the case of Apple they are trading off superior end-user experience for inferior hardware. With Nvidia, there is no compromise. You get a better end-user experience AND better hardware capabilities.stephenbrooks - Tuesday, May 19, 2015 - link
The tree's response is: AMD support open interfaces, whereas NVidia have a tendency towards proprietary solutions. Also NVidia have a rather high market share right now and I'd like to see something other than a monopoly especially combined with the above tendency towards non-open technologies, so I always buy AMD at the moment.P39Airacobra - Wednesday, June 3, 2015 - link
Whatever happened to just being a fan of beautiful technology? I am a AMD or Nvidia or Intel user, I do not care, I just go with whoever offers me the best for my dollar. During Nvidia's 8000 and 9000 series I first had a 8800GTS 320, Then a 9800 GTX+, And during AMD's 5000 series I got a 5850, the 5850 lasted a long time, So when it died It was Nvidia's 600 series or AMD's 7000 series, And since at that time I just wanted something cheap but on the performance level of my old 5850 I got a 650 Ti, Because it was cheaper than the 7850 and performed close to it. Then later I got a R9 270, Because games were still not horrible console ports yet, And a cheap re-badged 7870 was perfect for 1080p gaming. Then game devs sale out and release horrible optimized ports, So I took forever deciding to get either a R9 290 or a GTX 970, And I probably annoyed many forums asking for advice! I finally decided on a GTX 970, Because to me it offers the best bang for buck in the high end market. As for CPU's I always used to use AMD. Now I use Intel because a i5 will last forever. But if AMD comes out with a competitive CPU I might go with them again. It makes no sense to me to get lost in the idiot fanboy BS! It makes sense to me to get the best value for my hard earned dollar! I never cared much for being trendy! Trendy does nothing but drag you down and suck all your brain power away.Alexvrb - Wednesday, May 6, 2015 - link
He gives die hard Nvidia fans a bad name. Also I take issue with the tree comment - I've never encountered an arrogant blowhard tree before. :Pchizow - Wednesday, May 6, 2015 - link
And on that note Alexvrb, you'll be happy to see your favorite turd-like ASIC Turdga, rides again in AMD 300 series.Alexvrb - Thursday, May 7, 2015 - link
An OEM rebadge, you're gonna have to troll a lot harder than that. I know you have it in you, you're a first class gosu trollmeister. Anyway I argued with your bogus pre-release claims about it throttling. I'd never buy one, I think it's overpriced.chizow - Friday, May 8, 2015 - link
You really think Turdga is only in OEM? LOL. It's their "newest" chip (but of course, still sucks) and has the most features, given how many times they've rebranded all their older ASICs you REALLY think it won't be in their desktop stack.You argued stupidly over its performance and TDP, I already made provisions that they COULD prevent throttling by going with custom cooling, but in doing so, prove their stated TDP was bogus, and they did exactly that.
But I am sure you were the first idiot to claim the 970 wasn't a 135W TDP part based on THG's review with a custom cooled, custom power target part amirite?
Go find another AMD turd to polish, fanboy (here's a hint, there's a whole pile of turds in AMD's 300 stack).
Alexvrb - Friday, May 8, 2015 - link
That's much better trolling. Unlike you, I'm not a fanboy. I did point out that the 285 models tested that "blew TDP" were all custom (hence the range of results), and I never knocked the excellent 970 for blowing power targets. Not once. I did point out that lots of Maxwell chips throttle, but only because you were so hellbent on attacking AMD for throttling. My oh my how your view changes depending on your precious.Personally I don't think I've given anything but praise for the excellent 970. Sorry, not a diehard fanboy like you. But you're blind to that. If some isn't a diehard Nvidia-only fanboy, then to Chizow that makes them an AMD fanboy somehow. If you disagree with Chizow on something relating to graphics cards, you're automatically an AMD fanboy somehow. Everyone sees how you turn into a total flamer on AMD articles.
chizow - Saturday, May 9, 2015 - link
LMAO, you're not an AMD fanboy, yet you repeatedly defended quite honestly, the worst ASIC AMD has developed in recent history. And now you're going around making excuses for AMD's Rebadgeon line of mobile and OEM chips. Riiight you're not an AMD fanboy, not at all!You didn't acknowledge Turdga's throttling/TDP issues, you kept insisting it would be a higher performer at a lower TDP, and as I correctly pointed out, it would be EITHER/OR but not both. And, we later find out it's not even the fully-enabled ASIC, so if it was it would certainly blow by Tahiti TDP while performing better, just as I stated when drawing comparison to other GCN 1.1+ ASIC Hawaii. So yes, in the end I was right.
And of course you did say something negative about the 970, you tried to make claims about the TDP being misstated but of course, you like every other AMD fanboy was using non-ref higher power target results from THG which were later retracted.
But yeah, you're not an AMD fanboy, at all! lol.