AMD: Volcanic Islands R1100/1200 (8***/9*** series) Speculation/ Rumour Thread

[Alexko]

Even if this is true that is still over 4 months away.

The article also has an out because of the MAY in the title:

GTX 980 May Lose The Performance Crown To AMD’s R9 380X in February 2015

If Fiji is what it is expected to be, i.e. a 550mm² GPU with HBM, besting the GTX 980 shouldn't be a problem, as the 290X isn't that far off anyway.

Now, I don't know if the 380X will be based on Fiji or something else, but the latter does appear to be real. Of course, being faster than GM204 is one thing, being faster than GM200 is quite another.

 

[Grall]

Shall we have an inofficial round of betting on which makes it out first - Fiji, or a new catalyst driver release?

Seriously, what's up with that. It's been like six friggin months now without a WHQL, is that how it's gonna be from here on out; bi-YEARLY driver updates? When I and others said that out-of-synch once-a-month releases, plus a slew of even more out-of-synch hotfixes was too much and a generally terrible system, I'm sure we didn't expect AMD to jump to the other extreme, which right now seems to be something on the order of "we'll release something if or whenever the hell we feel like it"

How much staff has AMD really fired, and how many of those were from the driver team? OMG!

 

[Alexko]

There are frequent non-WHQL driver updates. What's wrong with those?

 

[eastmen]

If Fiji is what it is expected to be, i.e. a 550mm² GPU with HBM, besting the GTX 980 shouldn't be a problem, as the 290X isn't that far off anyway.

Now, I don't know if the 380X will be based on Fiji or something else, but the latter does appear to be real. Of course, being faster than GM204 is one thing, being faster than GM200 is quite another.

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+7+-+64

14.9 just dropped

 

[swaaye]

There are frequent non-WHQL driver updates. What's wrong with those?

You know that's going to cause a discussion of the warm-fuzzies of WHQL.

Still, I can't help wonder why one of the Betas wasn't pushed through WHQL testing.

 

[firstminion]

We all know that, but thanks for reminding.

Was this particular presentation in Japan given after September 18?

If 285 was launched on Japan later, on the adequate performance and price for that market, how is this relevant? Those are all marketing points. "AMD is the future of gaming" is no worse than "Nvidia is the best" or whatever nvidia must be using.

It may well be that what earns them money through sheer volume isn't on the high-end. AMD even launched a Japan-only card on that event and it sure isn't high-end by any means.

 

[CaptainGinger]

You know that's going to cause a discussion of the warm-fuzzies of WHQL.

Still, I can't help wonder why one of the Betas wasn't pushed through WHQL testing.

Maybe they didn't pass.

 

[silent_guy]

If 285 was launched on Japan later, on the adequate performance and price for that market, how is this relevant?

You have a bit of a point if the GTX970/980 doesn't undercut AMD in Japan in price. I don't know if it does.

Those are all marketing points. "AMD is the future of gaming" is no worse than "Nvidia is the best" or whatever nvidia must be using. It may well be that what earns them money through sheer volume isn't on the high-end. AMD even launched a Japan-only card on that event and it sure isn't high-end by any means.

The last 3 weeks, AMD has been very efficient at making themselves look like a company that's been detached from the real world.

There's the #game24 hijacking which, worse than people being upset about it, or being of questionable taste, it fizzled into a apathetic non-event. AMD fans didn't care even when promised free goodies. Who ever thought it was a good idea to crash the party where they're celebrating your demise?

There's the AMD India thing which energized a bunch of people into hoping there'd be an answer, and Roy Taylor fanning the flames, but all they got was a picture of R285 being so hot that they can be used as rockets. (I get it: India had something space related going on at that time.)

And then there's this thing. If those slides were presented after sept 18, imagine the reaction of journalists who were present...

It's as if AMD believes it's still living in the old days, where news and rumors don't travel from one side of the globe to the other in seconds. If they believe they can operate at the local level without a unified message, they're hopelessly naive, and it will cost them. Being the target of ridicule is about the worst that can happen.

 

[Alexko]

You have a bit of a point if the GTX970/980 doesn't undercut AMD in Japan in price. I don't know if it does.

The slides are about the R9 285, which doesn't really compete with the GTX 970/980 anyway.

 

[silent_guy]

The slides are about the R9 285, which doesn't really compete with the GTX 970/980 anyway.

Sure, sure. If only everybody would look at it that way.

 

[Alexko]

Sure, sure. If only everybody would look at it that way.

Given the price difference ($249 vs. $330 for the GTX 970) I think most people do. I'd expect the 285 to drop a little lower, just to be sure to avoid this uncomfortable competition.

Actually, Newegg is currently selling one R9 285 SKU for $229.

 

[silent_guy]

Given the price difference ($249 vs. $330 for the GTX 970) I think most people do. I'd expect the 285 to drop a little lower, just to be sure to avoid this uncomfortable competition. Actually, Newegg is currently selling one R9 285 SKU for $229.

I meant the first part, about the slides only being about 285 and not the rest of the product line. It's clear that 285 is not competing against a 970.

Anyway, it's not a big deal. I just wonder if there's going to be any reaction at all other than the fumbles of the last few weeks.

 

[firstminion]

I meant the first part, about the slides only being about 285 and not the rest of the product line. It's clear that 285 is not competing against a 970.

Anyway, it's not a big deal. I just wonder if there's going to be any reaction at all other than the fumbles of the last few weeks.

You actually got a good point overall, those slides were mismatched, someone should've gone through them, giving answers to us, global onlookers, but as local events both India and Japanese launches were even more informative than the 30 years of graphics day.

 

[Sinistar]

Isn't this a 3D architecture thread, not a bash AMD marketing thread?

 

[eastmen]

this allways happens when nothing new hits for awhile. Hopefully we get to see new stuff soon.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Given the price difference ($249 vs. $330 for the GTX 970) I think most people do. I'd expect the 285 to drop a little lower, just to be sure to avoid this uncomfortable competition.

Actually, Newegg is currently selling one R9 285 SKU for $229.

Yeah I think Tonga needs to drop a bit. I also think that $249 vs $329 is not that far off from each other, especially in this case when the 970 even offers more performance per dollar and twice the memory, $249 is not low enough to escape the gravity of 970 imo. 285X with 3GB at $249 would be a lot nicer.

 

[Alexko]

Yeah I think Tonga needs to drop a bit. I also think that $249 vs $329 is not that far off from each other, especially in this case when the 970 even offers more performance per dollar and twice the memory, $249 is not low enough to escape the gravity of 970 imo. 285X with 3GB at $249 would be a lot nicer.

Yeah, when the Tech Report released its review of the GTX 970/980 and I looked at the price/performance plot they made, I thought the same thing: the 285X needs to be released at $249 and the 285 has to drop lower, somewhere around $199 or maybe even $179.

(Assuming the 285X is 5~10% faster than the 280X, that is.)

 

[AnarchX]

Dave should save the R9 285 and allow the partners to build 4GiB designs.
Probably Tonga stays 256-Bit in consumer market, if the benefit of additional BW is not high high enough through the better compression compared to costs for AIBs. Competing with 3 or 6 GiB Tonga XT with 4GiB GM204 could also be a problem.

In the end the first iterations of AMDs Graphics IP v8 (former Volcanic Islands) does not look promising, like GM10x did in early '14. This could be a problem for future cards, if they cannot increase power efficiency like NV did.

Fiji (>500mm² + HBM) could be a big leap form performance side, but at high costs (BOM of HBM+interposer, hybrid cooler which was leaked). And it could be questionable if they could scale it down, like it will be possible for ~550mm² GM200 @ 384-Bit GDDR5, to <$399 markets.

 

[Squilliam]

Forgive me for being a little dumb, but if the colour compression is saving bandwidth then surely it is also saving memory? So for instance if the card has 2GB, but there is a 40% savings on bandwidth then that is the equivalent of 2.8GB under the old system, or am I completely wrong?

 

[Alexko]

I doubt the savings are anywhere near the advertised 40%. The way AMD computed that number, according to the slides they showed, was kind of ridiculous.