The next leap in graphics technology and the next iteration of the GPUs wars is about to begin. Last May Nvidia released the GTX 780 and GTX Titan, which gave enthusiasts a taste of the next step in performance. Now, it’s AMD’s turn to flex it’s guns and bring the heat. AMD has announced the Radeon R9 and R7 series of GPUs. The naming scheme of the GPU’s are a follows (from lowest to highest performance): R7 250, R7 260X, R9 270X, R9 280, and finally AMD’s flagship GPU the R9 290X. This comes as a bit of a surpise considering many expected the names of AMD’s next GPUs would follow an HD 8xx0 naming scheme.
| R9 290x | 7970 GHZ | GeForce GTX TITAN | GeForce GTX 780 | GTX 680 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPU | Hawaii XT | Tahiti XT2 | GK110 | GK110 | GK104-425 |
| SPs / Cuda Cores | ~2816 | 2048 | 2688 | 2304 | 1536 |
| TMUs | 176 | 128 | 224 | 192 | 128 |
| Core Clock (Boost) | N/A | 1050 MHz | 876 MHz | 902 MHz | 1058 MHz |
| Memory | 4GB GDDR5 | 3GB GDDR5 | 6GB GDDR5 | 3GB GDDR5 | 2GB GDDR5 |
| Interface | 512-bit | 384-bit | 384-bit | 384-bit | 256-bit |
| Price | ~ $599 | $400 | $999 | $650 | $449 |
| ROPs | 44 | 32 | 48 | 48 | 32 |
| Bandwidth | 300+ GB/sec | 288 GB/sec | 288.4 GB/sec | 288.4 GB/sec | 192.256 GB/sec |
Looking at the specifications it will be interesting to see how this will stack up against Nvidia’s GTX Titan.
In other graphics related news, AMD is also hard at work on a new API called Mantle. Mantle is a low-level graphics API specifically designed and optimized for Radeon GPUs. While this will also be used for consoles, what is interesting is the specified use of this API for PCs. This API allows for less abstraction and overhead which allows developers to obtain better performance over the likes of DirectX and OpenGL.
Additionally, Mantle could allow easier porting since both consoles and PCs would be able to support the API. But, how will this new API affect those with Nvidia or Intel hardware? Could it be that those with Nvidia or Intel GPUs may lose out on some of the key optimizations that accompanies the new API? It may just be easier for developers to support higher-level API’s like DirectX and OpenGL since they are easier to program for and allow for a greater range of supported hardware. Thus, it will be interesting to see how this new API as well as these new AMD GPUs affect PC gaming.
Source: Dailytech.com,Guru3D.com, VR-zone.com, Anandtech.com
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now all i need is $600 dollars
Doing some digging it sounds like only the 290 and 290x will be faster than the 7970GHz. So that would put the 280x below the 7970GHz and the 270 below the 7950. If that’s the case then I really don’t see the point in either of them. The 290x could be impressive, depending on price. It is not going to be $600, by the way. Kyle Bennett of [H]ardOCP was at the even and right next to Raja from ASUS who shook his head at the $600 price “confirmation”.
AMD said the 280x is designed for 1440p gaming, but if it’s under the 7970GHz in performance then I don’t really see it. The 290 or 290X I think will end up being a lot more optimal for 1440p gaming, especially for pushing specs. If the 290x comes in at around $550 and can match or get close to the GTX 780 then I think it will be a great value. If it can beat the 780 at that price point it will be an amazing card.
On a different note: Not sure I’m fond of the new naming scheme. We’ll see once I get used to it.
Yeah, the naming scheme is a bit weird and you def need more than a 280 to game with 1440p unless some how this mantle stuff gets that magic 9x performance :D.
If the 290x is $550 I might be tempted to get it, assuming it beats the 780 or even the Titan. If not then I’ll just get a second 770.
PS: Why are you never on Steam or Skype?
Been busy with job interviews and other stuff :(. I’ll try to make it on more often though.
That’s assuming that what you read was accurate. I take it all with a grain of salt, including hearing that the 280x is basically a 7970GHz.
Which would make more sense by previous generation naming schemes and pricing. Typically it’s seemed that a previous gen card would release at the name and price of a level below it. That doesn’t translate exactly to the new names, but 300 right now is 7950-7970 pricing. I could see a 280x being that good.
It’s also been thrown around in leaked benchmarks that the 290x can hang with the Titan. And Someone from Dice is quoted as saying that using Mantle it’ll ridicule the Titan. So, this is an interesting and exciting time to watch it all unfold.
The naming scheme doesn’t bother me, it’s relatively similar to Nvidia, the only odd part is R9 but that’s just a tongue tied equivalent of GT/S/X.
That’s why I said if. Any benches or what-not are based on pre-release drivers so anything can change. The not-$600 price for the 290X can change as well. It sounds like AMD is really only final on specs. I didn’t watch the entire video (the terrible speakers drove me nuts) did they say when these would actually be available?
I think the 290x and 280 are up at bat first in 1-3 month(s).
So, here is something interesting: DVI to VGA adapters will not work on some of these cards. The DVI ports have no analog pins in them, a VGA adapter won’t even fit. I don’t know if this is just for the 290x or if it’s for the entire series, but that is very interesting.
Well that’s uninteresting if you ask me. Nobody who would want these cards is going to use them with vga.
That aside, I don’t see why they’d release a new mainstream card that’d be inferior to the previous gen’s top dog. That’s not something that they usually do. I don’t know, I’ll wait and see.
At this point in time I’m more interested in Mantle and Steam OS. Really hope the 2 big graphics guys get behind both projects or at least get behind steam os and opengl and push devs that way.
You would be surprised. Even the Titan includes DVI-VGA adapters.
It doesn’t make a ton of sense, but very little does in this market. It is also possible that they are weaker right now due to unfinished drivers. It wouldn’t be the first time AMD crippled their cards with bad drivers, in fact it happened just this generation.
AMD and Nvidia have already said they’re supporting SteamOS. As for Mantle, from what I’ve been reading it will not work on Nvidia cards. It’s a low-level API designed specifically for AMD GPUs. The only way for Nvidia to use it would be to create an API wrapper for Mantle, which would make it run much slower. They would be doing something similar to what emulators have to do. So that means we might have another API war on our hands, especially if Nvidia decided to make their own. Prepare for the stupidity of the late 90s/early 2000s again if that happens. It could very well be a situation like Glide vs OpenGL vs DirectX just on a multiplatform level with AMD having a huge advantage with their control of the console market.
Nah it’s like what happened with physX. nVidia added it to its cards and then said they could licence it to AMD for a price. In this case, AMD puts it in their cards and says it’s open, so nVidia could use it in their cards if they wanted. Not like it has an extra chip after all. Right?
The API war will occur anyway though. We got windows, steam os, 2 consoles and mantle all out there. There’s bound to be a period of “wtf am I supposed to buy”, all things considered..
AMD’s wording was a bit specific. Mantle being open could simply mean that like OpenGL people are free to play with it. They also said it was multiplatform but for the moment Windows only. They didn’t say anything about it working on Nvidia cards despite them previously having no problems saying when something isn’t proprietary (like TressFX). AMD has also been saying “AMD hardware” every single time when talking about what Mantle does. Mantle can be both open and proprietary at the same time, even if it sounds kind of silly to put it that way. It is designed specifically around GCN, which is why it won’t work for previous architectures.
If SteamOS is a big hit then Microsoft will lose the war. DirectX is actually fighting a hard battle right now, especially with gamer resistance to Win8. Valve has the power to push Linux gaming and take down DX. If Valve fully gets behind Mantle, things will get very interesting. Once Mantle hits the PS4 and XB1 I wonder how many developers will use it, especially for porting since it seems like making ports easier is one of the goals behind the API.
On a completely different note: Did anyone notice that the new cards don’t have any Crossfire connectors? Well, there is a reason for that. The new cards will not require a Crossfire bridge. CFX will be done over PCI-E. AMD is saying that this will not have a performance penalty compared to using a bridge and it will be compatible with their frame pacing fixes.
http://tof.canardpc.com/preview2/1c6278ad-01af-4e62-ab8a-1d5ce1c44758.jpg
That’s actually great. If it works as well as crossfire (uhh… yeah lol)
Back to the topic, I thought they meant open to use. I’ll never understand this political talk companies and politicians use… :/
When it comes to PR speak a lot of times you have to look at what they don’t say or how they say things and present information more so than the words themselves, especially when it’s words that have very wide meanings.