AMD Radeon R9 390X Arrives In 1H 2015 – May Feature “Hydra” Liquid Cooling

Ayahuasca · 28 Sep 2014 at 16:33

Wonder why he's not still using a 2900XT with it's 512bit bus as that's all that seems to matter to him when deciding if a card is mid range.

win8.1 · 28 Sep 2014 at 16:41

MjFrosty said:
But you're making zero sense which is what people are getting at. GM204 isn't a cut down GPU. It will only ever see a 256bit memory bus. Stop referring to the memory bus as exhibit A, as if it has any bearing on your argument

I say cut down compared to full fat Maxwell will be or another way of looking at it that full fat Maxwell will have bigger bus, more rop's and shaders. What should have been out now at launch for the same price as the 970.

win8.1 · 28 Sep 2014 at 16:44

Ayahuasca said:
Wonder why he's not still using a 2900XT with it's 512bit bus as that's all that seems to matter to him when deciding if a card is mid range.

I have already said though that bus size alone is not enough but it certainly does help as high end Maxwell's will not be on a 256bit bus.

Ayahuasca · 28 Sep 2014 at 16:47

It helps a very small percentage of their market, if nvidia knew it needed a bigger bus to sell they would have done so.

And if you honestly believe either side would release their full fat chip first for <£300 you need to wake up from whatever dream world you're living in.

win8.1 · 28 Sep 2014 at 16:53

Ayahuasca said:
It helps a very small percentage of their market, if nvidia knew it needed a bigger bus to sell they would have done so.

And if you honestly believe either side would release their full fat chip first for <£300 you need to wake up from whatever dream world you're living in.

I know Nvidia won't do it if the trend of the last two gen's continues but Amd have done and will though having to wait a bit longer if they don't launch 390 before full fat Maxwell.

Ayahuasca · 28 Sep 2014 at 16:57

The 290x was the full fat chip and was nowhere near £300 at launch.

980 is full fat for GM204, as explained above the next nvidia cards will be on a different chip.

Orangey · 28 Sep 2014 at 17:01

Nobody playing my game

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 28 Sep 2014 at 17:04

According to this the R9 390X will be launched in the next six months,but the R9 380X will be released in February and be 20NM:

https://translate.google.com/transl...vet_na_GeForce_GTX_980_i_GeForce_GTX_970.html
https://translate.google.com/transl...net/games/234/G023455/20140927004/&edit-text=

Second link says their APUs will get the improved tessellation engine in Tonga and the texture compression technology too. The latter could actually be significant in that area IMHO,since bandwidth limitations are very apparent for IGPs.

win8.1 · 28 Sep 2014 at 17:09

Ayahuasca said:
The 290x was the full fat chip and was nowhere near £300 at launch.

980 is full fat for GM204, as explained above the next nvidia cards will be on a different chip.

Well then we will call the 290 not quite the full fat chip but only 5% less it's performance for approx £300.

980 is how much and is it only 5% different performance to full fat Maxwell even if it is a different chip but still Maxwell?

Ayahuasca · 28 Sep 2014 at 17:13

win8.1 said:
980 is how much and is it only 5% different performance to full fat Maxwell even if it is a different chip but still Maxwell?

Different chips, 980 is GM204 and 980TI will be GM210. So can't be compared like that as it isn't full fat of the same chip.

Orangey · 28 Sep 2014 at 17:14

GM204 is just GM200 with bits lasered off no?

win8.1 · 28 Sep 2014 at 17:14

Ayahuasca said:
Different chips so can't be compared like the 290/290x

Are they both still Maxwell or not?

eddyr · 28 Sep 2014 at 17:15

Win 8.1 I would argue that high end/range is determined by the range of performance of what is available at the time. They can deliver their gaming orientated GM204 card earlier, does it matter what the relative performance of full fat Maxwell offers if its 6 months+ away?

Ayahuasca said:
The 290x was the full fat chip and was nowhere near £300 at launch.

980 is full fat for GM204, as explained above the next nvidia cards will be on a different chip.

Full fat refers to the 'fatter' arch with strong DP capability, rather than cut down/binned chips.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 28 Sep 2014 at 17:15

Orangey said:
GM204 is just GM200 with bits lasered off no?

No. GM200 will have extra transistors dedicated towards DP calculations.

Ayahuasca · 28 Sep 2014 at 17:16

win8.1 said:
Are they both still Maxwell or not?

Yes but aren't the same chip, you've already been told the 980/970 was built for 256bit, they aren't cut down chips as you seem to think.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 28 Sep 2014 at 17:18

Anyway,interesting if the R9 380X is 20NM though as the rumour is saying.

humbug · 28 Sep 2014 at 17:18

CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
According to this the R9 390X will be launched in the next six months,but the R9 380X will be released in February and be 20NM:

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.overclockers.ru%2Fhardnews%2F64106%2FAMD_obeschaet_dat_otvet_na_GeForce_GTX_980_i_GeForce_GTX_970.html
https://translate.google.com/transl...net/games/234/G023455/20140927004/&edit-text=

Second link says their APUs will get the improved tessellation engine in Tonga and the texture compression technology too. The latter could actually be significant in that area IMHO,since bandwidth limitations are very apparent for IGPs.

Thats interesting.

That would put the 390X for April, the 380X for February.
With them separately specifying the 380X as 20nm in February, are we to assume the 390X would be 28nm in April?

Thats a bit odd.

win8.1 · 28 Sep 2014 at 17:22

eddyr said:
Win 8.1 I would argue that high end/range is determined by the range of performance of what is available at the time. They can deliver their gaming orientated GM204 card earlier, does it matter what the relative performance of full fat Maxwell offers if its 6 months+ away?

It only matters if you want the best bang for buck at launch for approx £300 with only 5% less performance like Amd offered with the 290. As the gm204 cards are selling for that full fat Maxwell including it's 970 equivalent will be much higher.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 28 Sep 2014 at 17:25

humbug said:
Thats interesting.

That would put the 390X for April, the 380X for February.
With them separately specifying the 380X as 20nm in February, are we to assume the 390X would be 28nm in April?

Thats a bit odd.

Maybe the R9 380X is a test GPU like the HD4770 was for 40NM??

humbug · 28 Sep 2014 at 17:28

May be ^^

win8.1 said:
It only matters if you want the best bang for buck at launch for approx £300 with only 5% less performance like Amd offered with the 290. As the gm204 cards are selling for that full fat Maxwell including it's 970 equivalent will be much higher.

Thats still the case today, the 290X is slower than the 980, but not far off, about ~10% and £150 cheaper.

Of course it uses more power. How much more power, or how much power the 980 actually uses is difficult to pin down as the power switching tech in Maxwell is too fast for conventional meters to read, what has been found is that its rated TDP is a lot less than it actually uses.