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New Amd Card Specs

fightingfi

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Oct 9, 2008
Messages
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AMD Radeon HD 7900 to Utilize New XDR2 Rambus Memory
9:00 AM - September 14, 2011 by Doug Crowthers -
source: NordicHardware

AMD is set to launch its next-generation graphic processors this coming fall and it is shaping up to be more than expected with use of XDR2 memory interface.

Based on a leaked road-map, AMD will be releasing their new GPUs in Q4 for the upcoming holiday season. The GPUs will start with four different GPUs based on the 28nm version of the VLIW4 (Very Long Instruction Word) architecture. The four GPUs will be equipped with 768 to 1536 Radeon cores (stream processors) and GDDR5 memory.
Graphics card Radeon HD 7870 Radeon HD 7850 Radeon HD 7670 Radeon HD 7570
Node TSMC 28nm HPL TSMC 28nm HPL TSMC 28nm HPL TSMC 28nm HPL
Architecture VLIW4 VLIW4 VLIW4 VLIW4
GPU Thames XT Thames Pro Lombok XT Lombok Pro
Radeon cluster 24 22 12 12
Radeon cores 1536 1408 768 768
GPU frequency 950 MHz 850 MHz 900 MHz 750 MHz
Texture units
96 88 48 48
ROPs 32 32 16 16
Graphics memory
2GB GDDR5 2GB GDDR5 1GB GDDR5 1GB GDDR5
Memory frequency
5800 MHz 5200 MHz 5000 MHz 4000 MHz
Memory interface
256 bit 256 bit 128 bit 128 bit
Memory bandwidth
186 GB/s 166 GB/s 80 GB/s 64 GB/s
Power consumption
120 watt 90 watt 60 watt 50 watt

The fun begins when you start to look at the new high-end GPUs codenamed "Tahiti", which is expected to see a Q1 2012 release. The "Tahiti" will make use of PCIe Gen3 interface, which has a massive bandwidth of 32 GB/s. The 7900 series is set to utilizes new AMD's Graphics CoreNext GPU architecture. The GCN is expected to boost performance per square millimeter die area to improve upon the VLIW4 architecture .

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The most interesting change is AMD's decision to go with XDR2 memory interface from Rambus over previous generation DDR5 memory interface. Rambus claims the XDR2 is twice as fast as DDR5, while offering 30 percent less power consumption.

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Read more about Rambus' claim.

Additional information leaked has the Radeon HD 7970 series with, 2048 Radeon Cores, GPU frequency of 1000 MHz and XDR2 memory at 8000 MHz, which would result in a memory bandwidth of 256 GB/s over a 256-bit memory interface. This compared to the 176 GB/s in Radeon HD 6790 with GDDR5 memory at 5500 MHz. All this power will be packed within an estimated power consumption of 190 watts
Graphics card Radeon HD 7970 Radeon HD 7950 Radeon HD 6970
Node TSMC 28nm HP TSMC 28nm HP TSMC 40nm
Architecture GCN GCN VLIW4
GPU Tahiti XT Tahiti Pro Cayman XT
Radeon cluster 32 30 24
Radeon cores 2048 1920 1536
GPU frequency
1000 MHz 900 MHz 880 MHz
Texture units
128 120 96
ROPs 64 64 32
Graphics memory
2GB XDR2 2GB XDR2 2GB GDDR5
Memory frequency
8000 MHz 7200 MHz 5500 MHz
Memory interface
256 bit 256 bit 256 bit
Memory bandwidth
256 GB/s 230 GB/s 176 GB/s
Power consumption
190 watt 150 watt 250 watt

There looks to be some interesting times ahead for AMD in the coming months for us to keep watch. AMD will be releasing its new "Bulldozer" architecture, along with the new GCN architecture for the 7900 series GPUs (if the information leaked is accurate).
 
Rambus...

Meh...

I don't trust them after what they've done to the other memory makers.

Hope they prove me wrong by switching their business model away from "launch lawsuits" back to "make memory".
 
lol, Rambus. I had them in my computer once... was with the TH7II-RAID mobo.
 
I don't see the RAMBUS part panning out. I really don't.

In-fact, I will go NVIDIA if it does happen - I refuse to buy products supplied by major patent trolls. Fuck RAMBUS.
 
http://www.rambus.com/in/technology/solutions/xdr2/xdr2_vs_gddr5.html

Capable of unprecedented data rates of up to 20Gbps, XDR 2 is the world's fastest memory solution. It delivers twice the peak bandwidth per device when compared to GDDR5 DRAM.

In fact, XDR 2 consumes 30% less power than GDDR5 at equal bandwidth performance. Given equal power budget, XDR 2 memory provides 50% more bandwidth than GDDR5.

While not liking them may be understandable, it's come to this. This isn't RDRAM.
 
Sooo the new midrange oughta be 8% faster than a standard 6970. Interesting, specially when you notice the lower power envelope at 120w.

Hopefully this becomes true.
 
You're right. It's vaporware until it's available on the market. More importantly, unless and until real-world performance numbers match their marketing rhetoric, I'll avoid them like an STD.

XDR1 beats the pants off of any consumer memory on the market so I'm willing to believe that XDR2 is faster than GDDR5. That said, RAMBUS is still a shitty company that deserves to die.
 
so if a dreadlocked fool breaks into your home, will you always hate dreadlocked people?

rambus is a piece of cabron company, however, its AMD using their memory, its not like them releasing a card!

it would be nice to build a pc completely AMD, between now and 1st Q 2012
 
So no upgrading my 6950 until 2012? That makes me sad. It runs things ok at 2560x1600, but I was kind of hoping for a bit more power this year.
 
impressive.

will have to see if these are the final numbers or not. I like how they increased the ROP's to 32 on the higher end models.

I wonder about pricing and performance. Otherwise i will just be getting a second 6870 and running crossfire.
 
I wonder how much of this has to do with them getting with Sony for the next console. As I recall, Playstation uses Rambus.
 
Additional information leaked has the Radeon HD 7970 series with, 2048 Radeon Cores, GPU frequency of 1000 MHz and XDR2 memory at 8000 MHz, which would result in a memory bandwidth of 256 GB/s over a 256-bit memory interface.

/skepticalface Hmm...Rambus? And that radical of a change? I'll believe it when I see it.

/optimistface HOLY CRAP if true...this should be awesome. 2048 cores alone would be amazing.
 
Well I spent the money I was going to spend on a new GPU on a sweet ass 27" HP LED monitor... so if they come by christmas cool, if not I'll just wait.

I'll be a little sad I gotta play BF3 on my GTX280 for a while, but I refuse to spend 300 dollars today and have the shit be obsolete in 2 months. Looks like the 7950 is where some good price vs performance will be. Makes you wonder what the 7970 and 7990 will be doing :)
 
BS until I see legit sites start to post the same specs.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-HD-7900-XDR2-Rambus-Memory,13408.html

I think it will be a great new series, it is nice to see AMD pushing the envelope here. Everyone is questioning the Rambus decision, but would AMD really risk its top tier cards with half-assed memory? I doubt it. The power usage on these chips looks awesome. Really looking forward to that.
Regarding patent trolls, I am starting to highly dislike this term. If you aren't in a technology company and actively deal with this issue, or if you are not a patent lawyer, you do not understand the fact that in some cases, companies do not wish to sue others over their patents, but they are basically forced to do so, to maintain their ability to produce their products. I had a nice discussion with a patent lawyer about this a month ago, and the whole thing is overblown by everyone, who I assume, are not lawyers.
I am hoping these cards launch soon!
 
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-HD-7900-XDR2-Rambus-Memory,13408.html

I think it will be a great new series, it is nice to see AMD pushing the envelope here. Everyone is questioning the Rambus decision, but would AMD really risk its top tier cards with half-assed memory? I doubt it. The power usage on these chips looks awesome. Really looking forward to that.

There was a side article on Anandtech referencing the nordic article, but they said to take it with a grain of salt, so I'll wait until a site like hardocp or anandtech decides to actually post the specs and put their reputation on the line.

I'm really hoping that the specs are right and that the cards will be out this year, but I doubt it. (I'll also be a bit sad because I just picked up a Sapphire Toxic 6950. :( ) My guess is that general availablilty will start in March or April, even if they do put a few cards out before the end of the year to say that they launched in 2011.
 
Regarding patent trolls, I am starting to highly dislike this term. If you aren't in a technology company and actively deal with this issue, or if you are not a patent lawyer, you do not understand the fact that in some cases, companies do not wish to sue others over their patents, but they are basically forced to do so, to maintain their ability to produce their products. I had a nice discussion with a patent lawyer about this a month ago, and the whole thing is overblown by everyone, who I assume, are not lawyers.

So by your logic If a person is not a trained chef they should have no opinion about the restaurant industry?
 
So by your logic If a person is not a trained chef they should have no opinion about the restaurant industry?
That is different. You eat some of the food that is produced at a restaurant, and from that, can gain some idea of that restaurants quality. Besides that part, you are going to be one big person, doing a lot of eating, in order to get an idea I would imagine to judge an entire industry. Also, food is something every single person in this world has experience with, I doubt anyone here can say that even 95% of the world has that kind of experience and knowledge of patents. Extremely poor example imo. On the other hand, are you reading all the patents and lawsuits that Rambus is involved in? The entire patent industry?? No? Then stfu.
 
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BTW- that Toms article quotes Nordic HW as the source. Its the same article regurgitated.
 
I just linked to a legit site because it was asked for. Tom's bit on the leak, but even they said it's a leak and may not be accurate.
 
I'd say NordicHardware is far more legit than tom's :p

Some interesting revelations from these specs though, and I see no reason to believe any of it false.
AMD are playing quite conservative again, cutting the max TDP down a fair bit, which means the performance gains from this architecture won't be enormous, just the performance per watt (as expected with the issues regarding silicon yields). The ability to get an HD6970 facsimile on a single 6-pin card is quite nice, that should sell like hotcakes if it's priced right.
 
I already hate dreadlocked people. This is a nonissue.

I take offense to that.
Only he can truly do the dreadlocks...

Predator2.jpg
 
True, it probably won't be how the cards turn out in reality, but I see little reason why they'd be much different from this.
 
lol RDRAM.. loved that shit.. made bank off it on fleabay.. during its height it was making 300 bucks a pair and that was for the crappy 512mb PC800.. the PC1000's were going for 350-400 dollars and repair shops were eating them up..

You're making me laugh.

I'm just sayin this, not sure why

Hasn't there been a trend towards increasing bandwidth efficiency rather than actual delivered bandwidth?
 
That is different. You eat some of the food that is produced at a restaurant, and from that, can gain some idea of that restaurants quality. Besides that part, you are going to be one big person, doing a lot of eating, in order to get an idea I would imagine to judge an entire industry. Also, food is something every single person in this world has experience with, I doubt anyone here can say that even 95% of the world has that kind of experience and knowledge of patents. Extremely poor example imo. On the other hand, are you reading all the patents and lawsuits that Rambus is involved in? The entire patent industry?? No? Then stfu.

My point is that you don't need to be a practicing expert on an issue to hold an opinion about it. I'm not a baseball player, but I still have opinions about the game. Similarly, many people aren't patent lawyers, but they're still entitled to their opinions on patent law and its misuse.

Patent trolling is a real concern, and what Rambus did or didn't do with their patents is fair game for discussion. Especially since they brought the issue into a public courtroom.
 
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