Soldato
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Exclusive: AMD working on Tonga GPU
- Thread starter Boomstick777
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, lot of users out there at that gpu level of performance
Caporegime
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Pretty much expected, first full on gpu at Global would almost certainly be relatively low end card, though the whole low end is basically shifting upwards due to APU's.
As with 4770 and many other cards testing a process, I was expecting a relatively small card 250mm^2 or less, to be the first thing done at GloFo before they tried a bigger core.
As with 4770 and many other cards testing a process, I was expecting a relatively small card 250mm^2 or less, to be the first thing done at GloFo before they tried a bigger core.
Soldato
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AMD had to something about there GPU's power efficiency as Nvidia have had AMD over barrel sin e the introduction of the gtx680 and it looks like this could be it.
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Caporegime
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Great, glad it's not *too* low end 
Surely this is very unlikely?
If Tonga is meant to be a more power efficient version of GCN 1.0/1.1, then that would mean either bringing out a card with the same performance as the 280/X but at lower power consumption (and what would be the point of that?), or bringing out a card at the same power consumption with greater performance (which would then make the R9 290/X pointless to buy).
It only makes sense to compete with the GTX 750 Ti
I guess it makes sense if it's supposed to be a demo, and/or just responding to the GTX 750 Ti with something similar, but it doesn't make sense as a 'proper' edition to the line-up since it would potentially damage what they already have.
e.g. let's say it is a replacement for the 280/X. For them to actually bother doing it they must have made a power cut of at least 20-30% (since the GTX 750 Ti is a reduction of ~50%). So that would then mean 280X performance at ~180W. That just kinda seems pointless, unless it overclocks like a beast, but then that would hurt the 290/X.
Makes sense if they intend to launch a new high-end laptop card too I suppose.
e.g. let's say it is a replacement for the 280/X. For them to actually bother doing it they must have made a power cut of at least 20-30% (since the GTX 750 Ti is a reduction of ~50%). So that would then mean 280X performance at ~180W. That just kinda seems pointless, unless it overclocks like a beast, but then that would hurt the 290/X.
Makes sense if they intend to launch a new high-end laptop card too I suppose.
The thing is both companies have the same issue, needing to get the power usage down. So you need to design a chip that uses less power at a certain performance point to what you already produce.
Now unless you are going for the very high end it is going to overlap with a currant product. It makes sense to choose one of your products that can be used in mobile devices as this is where the lower power usage can be noticed most.
Nvidia has chosen the mainstream mobile segment and it would seem if the article in the opening post is correct that AMD are aiming for the high end mobile segment.
Neither is wrong, just different approaches to the problem.
Obviously both cards also fall into line in the desktop segment, Nvidia have shown their hand and it only remains now for AMD to try to match them proportionally in power usage.
Now unless you are going for the very high end it is going to overlap with a currant product. It makes sense to choose one of your products that can be used in mobile devices as this is where the lower power usage can be noticed most.
Nvidia has chosen the mainstream mobile segment and it would seem if the article in the opening post is correct that AMD are aiming for the high end mobile segment.
Neither is wrong, just different approaches to the problem.
Obviously both cards also fall into line in the desktop segment, Nvidia have shown their hand and it only remains now for AMD to try to match them proportionally in power usage.