AMD “Hawaii” Die Shot Shows Unused Streaming Processors – 3072 SPs in Total

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jlqrb

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Turns out there could be more streaming processors in the Hawaii GPU. A new model coming maybe ? They would have to take care of the heat issue though.

http://www.hardware-360.com/amd-hawaii-die-shot-shows-unused-streaming-processors-3072-sps-in-total/

amd_hawaii_block_diagram_500.jpg
 
So if they want to be aggressive, they can pull a Nvidia Titan/780 Ti...

Knowing AMD, I doubt they will...
 
Shark974 said:
So if they want to be aggressive, they can pull a Nvidia Titan/780 Ti...

Knowing AMD, I doubt they will...
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You mean they can't - because any more power and the heatsink will not be anywhere near enough to keep it below dangerous temperatures.
 
Phishy714 said:
You mean they can't - because any more power and the heatsink will not be anywhere near enough to keep it below dangerous temperatures.
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Hawaii is fine upto 120C with a recommended operating temperature of 95C, the entire card is designed to run at 95C
 
Phishy714 said:
You mean they can't - because any more power and the heatsink will not be anywhere near enough to keep it below dangerous temperatures.
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Well they could just make a better stock cooling system because aftermarket R 290X's run cool n quiet.

Which they need to get around to doing anyway, since Nvidia's reference cooling is much better.

Or I guess they could just let board partners make them and not have a reference. They've done that before (early 7990?)

Hmm, 3000+ shaders is +20%. Should easily beat the 780 TI.
 
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Shark974 said:
Well they could just make a better stock cooling system because aftermarket R 290X's run cool n quiet.

Which they need to get around to doing anyway, since Nvidia's reference cooling is much better.

Hmm, 3000+ shaders is +20%. Should easily beat the 780 TI.
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If you didn't read the links to the other threads here at HardForum, this 48CU Hawaii is BS.
 
What are the chances of unlocking the rest of those in the future? My 290 unlocked to 290x no problems. I wonder if they laser cut those remaining cores.
 
An AMD spokesperson has commented and said that the 290x uses the full Hawaii chip.

The extra CUs are redundant, on boot the card selects the highest performing CU's.

Some of the 48 CUs may be factory disabled due to being bad and some may not be used as they are not as fast as others.

Their will not be a full 48 CU card.

The 290x2 will be AMDs highest performing 28nm card with dual Hawaii chips with a total of 80 CUs.
 
Spazturtle said:
An AMD spokesperson has commented and said that the 290x uses the full Hawaii chip.

The extra CUs are redundant, on boot the card selects the highest performing CU's.

Some of the 48 CUs may be factory disabled due to being bad and some may not be used as they are not as fast as others.

Their will not be a full 48 CU card.

The 290x2 will be AMDs highest performing 28nm card with dual Hawaii chips with a total of 80 CUs.
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This sounds kinda nonsense, didn't Nvidia use every last CU in the GK110? Then why cant AMD?

That's the whole point of binning. There are going to be some chips where all 48 CU's work perfectly. Of course many will not, that's the point.
 
Shark974 said:
This sounds kinda nonsense, didn't Nvidia use every last CU in the GK110? Then why cant AMD?

That's the whole point of binning. There are going to be some chips where all 48 CU's work perfectly. Of course many will not, that's the point.
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Because there aren't 48CUs, there are only 44CUs.

AMD and Nvidia have very different approaches to redundancy.
 
LordEC911 said:
Because there aren't 48CUs, there are only 44CUs.

AMD and Nvidia have very different approaches to redundancy.
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Apparently so. I was just reacting to that guys post that said there were 48. If there really were 48, it would be as I described. Evidently there is actually only 44.

It is odd how Nvidia seems to stay JUST a little ahead. Like AMD need to aim JUST a little higher...because this happens kinda consistently.

Ehh, R290X is a beast regardless, and I cant really complain about AMD because they're a lot closer to Nvidia than they used to be nowdays.
 
Shark974 said:
It is odd how Nvidia seems to stay JUST a little ahead. Like AMD need to aim JUST a little higher...because this happens kinda consistently.

Ehh, R290X is a beast regardless, and I cant really complain about AMD because they're a lot closer to Nvidia than they used to be nowdays.
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Because they have the R&D and can take the risk in manufacturing these +500mm2 ASICs and wait for yields to improve because of their dominance in the professional market.

AMD takes a more middle of the road strategy because they can't really take the risks at this point in time. Heck, they have been getting screwed by TSMC anyway while being conservative.

Hawaii is a pretty solid piece of engineering from a diesize POV, how much they were able to cram in by using more but simpler IMCs. IMO it is also a very balanced GPU buffing the areas that seemed to be lacking in Tahiti.
 
LordEC911 said:
Because there aren't 48CUs, there are only 44CUs.

AMD and Nvidia have very different approaches to redundancy.
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Ah ok, the AMD person said only 40 CUs are used. The article said their were 48CU's so I assumed their were 8 un-used CUs.
 
The cards don't get that hot, and the cooler isn't that bad.

That would have nothing to do with any decision.
 
Guys, it's fake. The 290X is a full chip.

AMD should learn from Nvidia's marketing techniques though... purposely market the their highest end videocard with disabled units as the best while waiting to unleash their full featured product that they've had all along. Very clever!
 
I'm pretty sure all of this is BS. I highly doubt AMD would have been binning for the last two months without at least a tease at a new card. Especially after Nvidia threw out a curveball in the form of a fully unlocked 780ti. You think AMD would announce a 290XT or something...
 
stealthy123 said:
The cards don't get that hot, and the cooler isn't that bad.

That would have nothing to do with any decision.
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Do you even own one? These are the hottest GPUs I have ever used. I understand that the cards were designed for that, don't get me wrong - I don't have a problem with it per se. But don't try and downplay it. Two of these in CrossFire without an extremely well ventilated case and higher fan speeds = throttling hard on the reference cooler.
 
I own 3.

max fan speed 55 percent, no throttling and temps seems to hover around the 85c mark at max, which is pretty much the norm for high end cards.

I do think I changed the target temp setting in CCC though.

edit: ohhh and I don't run crossfire, so I would imagine if the cards are close together it might be an issue.
 
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stealthy123 said:
I own 3.

max fan speed 55 percent, no throttling and temps seems to hover around the 85c mark at max, which is pretty much the norm for high end cards.

I do think I changed the target temp setting in CCC though.
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Yeah I can echo the same results.. the temps are highly overblown (like astronomically out of proportion), what matters is the ability to dissipate the created heat effective and the reference coolers do well enough when set at 55-60% fan speed. No louder than my H100.
At 55% fan speeds and in CFX, a 290X and 290.. the 290 drop MAYBE be 8 mhz.. just picked up Sapphire's 290X Tri-X OC (was really hoping for 8GB Toxic Editions)..quieter, cooler, less heat and power than a 780Ti.. NOW only if vendors would stop gouging and nV get back into a price war we could reap the benefits..
 
stealthy123 said:
I own 3.

max fan speed 55 percent, no throttling and temps seems to hover around the 85c mark at max, which is pretty much the norm for high end cards.

I do think I changed the target temp setting in CCC though.

edit: ohhh and I don't run crossfire, so I would imagine if the cards are close together it might be an issue.
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and thus the GREAT part about the 290/290X.. no bridges to put constraints on space between cards.. only the Motherboard's own limitations..
 
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