AMD Polaris architecture – GCN 4.0

[drunkenmaster]

there are quite few pc games where 8gb is at least recommended. i mean 8gb is a safety net for the next 5 years. pc game are only going to become more demanding and ram use will increase. i'm not going to pay £300 for amd video card now and be forced to buy upgrade again next year

btw

gta 5 recommends 8gb
doom 4 recommends 8gb

One that is system memory, not graphics memory and two, you said minimum requirement, minimum requirement and recommended are entirely different things.

 

[flopper]

Pretty sure Polaris will slot into 400s spots and Vegas is replacement for Fury; we'll know the 18th as AMD is doing a release on Polaris or at least information release on it - when it launches we should know also on the 18th.

that's 4 days

Most info later this month, 18th I dont expect much. its a 30min webinar.

I have a good feeling about polaris however

 

[JediFragger]

I have a good feeling about polaris however

To be fair floppy, you'd have a good feeling about AMDMatt's defecation....

 

[old gamer]

To be fair floppy, you'd have a good feeling about AMDMatt's defecation....

It's best to stay optimistic, si I see you came to your senses and pulled the sale of your x34

 

[JediFragger]

It's best to stay optimistic, si I see you came to your senses and pulled the sale of your x34

Yeah, I just can't seem to let it go!! With the added bonus that 1 overclocked 1080 will be able to drive it with no problems! Really am torn tbh, as I must admit 4k looks absolutely epic BUT the X34 is def the better gaming panel (and looks better to boot!).

Movies look epic on one, and TV shows epic on the other!!! It really is 50-50, truely


PS - Was only joking flopper, didn't mean to be so crude

 

[Lokken86]

That is not what DM said.

He said NVidia paid tech sites to use overclocked cards. This is a hell of an accusation without proof.

Please don't let Anandtech anywhere near an EVGA Kingpin card as they may get a shock.

Also if a tech site uses an overclocked card for a review all they have to do is list the clock speeds and state it is overclocked.

You think they didn't offer money in exchange? Comon Kaap this is a high profile business we are talking about.

Both AMD and Nvidia pay companies to get what they want.

 

[Seanspeed]

Pretty sure Polaris will slot into 400s spots and Vegas is replacement for Fury; we'll know the 18th as AMD is doing a release on Polaris or at least information release on it - when it launches we should know also on the 18th.

that's 4 days

Could potentially be more than just one Vega GPU, though.

And remember that Fury was a 'new' thing from AMD in an attempt to give the flagship card its own branding like Nvidia did with the Titan. Certainly wasn't that long ago that the 7970 and 290X were the flagship cards.

These companies often tweak their naming conventions, so thinking it's always going to be exactly like the previous generation isn't a safe assumption.

 

[maonayze]

I thought there were going to be at least two Vega GPUs? The 10 and 11...like Polaris. Maybe I was mistaken.

I have a strange feeling (in my water, obviously) that the X versions of the new cards and Vega 11 will have GDDR5X and the others will have GDDR5. Vega 10 will have HBM2. Just a feeling or maybe it was a vision/dream. Not a bad tie-in for AMD that though. They can have that idea for free

 

[old gamer]

I thought there were going to be at least two Vega GPUs? The 10 and 11...like Polaris. Maybe I was mistaken.

I have a strange feeling (in my water, obviously) that the X versions of the new cards and Vega 11 will have GDDR5X and the others will have GDDR5. Vega 10 will have HBM2. Just a feeling or maybe it was a vision/dream. Not a bad tie-in for AMD that though. They can have that idea for free

I had the exact same thought about the memory, but I was thinking cost and availability, but what do I know

 

[JediFragger]

I thought there were going to be at least two Vega GPUs? The 10 and 11...like Polaris. Maybe I was mistaken.

I have a strange feeling (in my water, obviously) that the X versions of the new cards and Vega 11 will have GDDR5X and the others will have GDDR5. Vega 10 will have HBM2. Just a feeling or maybe it was a vision/dream. Not a bad tie-in for AMD that though. They can have that idea for free

No, it'll be more like 8/12GB and 16GB (to combat the Titan) of HBM2.

GDDR5/X and HBM aren't easily interchangable

 

[old gamer]

I'm sure I read somewhere that vega could use HBM or gddr, not sure tbh, I expect someone will either confirm I'm right or I'm a complete buffoon

 

[andybird123]

I'm sure I read somewhere that vega could use HBM or gddr, not sure tbh, I expect someone will either confirm I'm right or I'm a complete buffoon

Saying Vega is like saying "Pascal"
GP100 is HBM2, GP104 is G5 or G5X, if there is more than one chip for Vega (like we have Polaris 10 and 11) one of them could be GDDR and the other HBM

 

[DarrenM343]

You think they didn't offer money in exchange? Comon Kaap this is a high profile business we are talking about.

Both AMD and Nvidia pay companies to get what they want.

Sorry guys, you are stating without any proof that both of these companies offer payment for something, such as preferential treatment. Well,I don't know how up to date you are with laws affecting business, especially in the UK, but you are acusing the two companies of BRIBERY & CORRUPTION! That is against the law.

Something as simple as taking a client out to an expensive lunch these days can be seen as bribery which is against the law. Offering money to review sites would definitely be against the law and very controversial. I believe the US law is not as strict as the UK,which is a shame for a supposedly "world leader" but I'm sure both nVidia and AMD are careful as they sell their products internationally where such laws are more strict. If for example a UK based person or company accepted money from the AMD or Nvidia then the UK party would be breaching the law for accepting the bribe so the law applies to both the giver and the receiver.

I'm surprised someone hasn't picked up on this as many companies in the UK HAVE to provide anti-bribery and corruption training and covers gifts and hospitality, both the giving of and the receving of. Blatantly paying someone for something to "help get what they want" would be the worst thing they could do. "High profile" companies have to be especially careful.

 

[drunkenmaster]

Offering money to reviews sites isn't remotely illegal. THere is no law in any country that says graphics cards must only be benchmarked against others on equal footing. I've been part of the review industry, I knew multiple people running multiple high traffic sites. I've also worked in a computer sales store and spoke with many industry contacts. I know for a fact that multiple website owners refused to benchmark cards unless the company wanting their product reviewed paid for a specific amount of advertising for an amount of time. IE they say give me 5k of ad revenue and I'll review your product.

That doesn't even mean the review itself is bent, just that those running most of the sites have an agenda and are taking money to review a specific product and when sites do that providing a negative review of said product doesn't go down well.

There is precisely nothing illegal at all about giving a site 5-10k of ad revenue they would otherwise not purchase and that site adds a heavily overclocked card into a review alongside stock cards to make them appear better.

YOu have Anandtech who very publicly talked about being asked to showcase low availability, ultra expensive cards from Nvidia in place of stock cards to make them look as stand out as possible. Anandtech reverted from that and from recollection won't do so in product launch reviews and won't go out of their way to review and overclocked card from a specific company and only show it against stock competition cards.

Anyone and everyone involved in reviewing knows this goes on. There are countless incidents of youtube reviewers that randomly do these insanely positive reviews, get called out and eventually admit they were paid and some movement towards forcing such reviews to disclose such payments has happened.

Don't forget that Intel got taken to court and lost in their paying companies to not even buy AMD products. Since then they still do it, they just structure their payments differently even though the result is the same. Intel is out there spending literally billions in 'contra revenue' to 'win' contracts over their competition including AMD. They will find a way to provide their chips at lower cost than the competition so companies don't use the competition chips to push the competition out of markets, cause them to lose money and stop being competition to Intel at which point Intel jack the prices up.

 

[Phixsator]

Sorry guys, you are stating without any proof that both of these companies offer payment for something, such as preferential treatment. Well,I don't know how up to date you are with laws affecting business, especially in the UK, but you are acusing the two companies of BRIBERY & CORRUPTION! That is against the law.

Something as simple as taking a client out to an expensive lunch these days can be seen as bribery which is against the law. Offering money to review sites would definitely be against the law and very controversial. I believe the US law is not as strict as the UK,which is a shame for a supposedly "world leader" but I'm sure both nVidia and AMD are careful as they sell their products internationally where such laws are more strict.

I'm surprised someone hasn't picked up on this as many companies in the UK HAVE to provide anti-bribery and corruption training and covers gifts and hospitality, both the giving of and the receving of. Blatantly paying someone for something to "help get what they want" would be the worst thing they could do.

I totally agree with you that before someone starts accusing a firm of buying off reviews, be it AMD or nVidia, you need to have your evidence in order. However you would also have to be a bit silly not to expect it to happen in some capacity. Not in raw cash but more in "favors" which could be, recieve a review sample 1 day early or something along those lines. You know, "we will be easier to work with if you promise to help us in return".

 

[DarrenM343]

Offering money to reviews sites isn't remotely illegal.

Jezus dude, read again what I wrote. It is illegal especially in the uk, sorry. They would be attempting to persuade the review to be favourable with money. In the UK, even an expensive evening meal would do it - could be sued for a lot of money (both parties too - the giver and receiver).

I have had to do this training twice in the last year or so as I've worked with two large important clients.

The law doesn't go down too the finer detail of "graphics cards" but the offering of money would be covered by the law.

If EVGA wanted some cards from NVidia and Nvidia said "4 weeks" and EVGA offered to pay more per unit if they did it sooner, that would also be bribery and both parties could be sued if they went ahead with it. That's known as a grease payment - greasing the wheels which is also illegal. Just giving this as an example.

 

[Panos]

Jezus dude, read again what I wrote. It is illegal especially in the uk, sorry. They would be attempting to persuade the review to be favourable with money. In the UK, even an expensive evening meal would do it - could be sued for a lot of money (both parties too - the giver and receiver).

I have had to do this training twice in the last year or so as I've worked with two large important clients.

The law doesn't go down too the finer detail of "graphics cards" but the offering of money would be covered by the law.

If EVGA wanted some cards from NVidia and Nvidia said "4 weeks" and EVGA offered to pay more per unit if they did it sooner, that would also be bribery and both parties could be sued if they went ahead with it. That's known as a grease payment - greasing the wheels which is also illegal. Just giving this as an example.

I agree on that. Because as a contractor, I am not allowed to even buy a pizza to my colleagues. I have to give it to HR and they will put it on a raffle (usually around Christmas).

 

[DarrenM343]

I totally agree with you that before someone starts accusing a firm of buying off reviews, be it AMD or nVidia, you need to have your evidence in order. However you would also have to be a bit silly not to expect it to happen in some capacity. Not in raw cash but more in "favors" which could be, recieve a review sample 1 day early or something along those lines. You know, "we will be easier to work with if you promise to help us in return".

It's all dodgy ground I'm afraid. Would either Nvidia or AMD risk it? The words you quoted alone said to the press or appropriate government body could be an expensive case for either company. As I said, the laws do vary though (per country)but it became known then in a worse case either company could be banned from selling products in some countries, including the UK due to the breaching of our laws.

 

[DarrenM343]

I agree on that. Because as a contractor, I am not allowed to even buy a pizza to my colleagues. I have to give it to HR and they will put it on a raffle (usually around Christmas).

Yep, only the last few years have they really got hot on it.
If I give a pen to someone with my company logo on that's fine. If I give a more expensive looking pen without a logo on it's not (>£10). It might be acceptable but best avoided. THat's fine as I'm a stingy bugger anyway .
If I go to an evening meal with a client or someone representing them I have to make it clear I will pay my share or make sure they know they will have to pay their share.

Doing the training is a bit of an eye opener as some things I agree just seem reasonably normal business practice but not anymore.

If in danger it's a bit different. So, if I was in Iraq and needed to get out of the country on safety grounds and I'm asked for payment to allow me out or out more quickly (a grease payment) I can pay it but must report it afterwards. Likewise I can try to bribe someone if they're about to hurt me.

Look at the issue Glaxo had in China!

 

[andybird123]

Jezus dude, read again what I wrote. It is illegal especially in the uk, sorry. They would be attempting to persuade the review to be favourable with money. In the UK, even an expensive evening meal would do it - could be sued for a lot of money (both parties too - the giver and receiver).

most review sites have paid for advertising banners on their website, if Asus take out a banner ad and then just happen to get a good review... ?