OK, so there's a bit of a debate about it recently and a few tech YouTubers have also given their opinion, so it's only relevant that some random nobody with too many posts on a tech-forum also gives theirs.
I'll start off with what GCN cards AMD has released since 2012.
300 Series:
R9 390X - Hawaii XT 2816 Stream processors based on GCN 1.1 R9 390 - Hawaii PRO 2536 Stream processors based on GCN 1.1 R9 380 - Tonga PRO 1792 Stream processors based on GCN 1.2 R7 370 - Pitcairn PRO 1024 Stream processors based on GCN 1.0 R7 360 - Bonaire PRO 768 Stream processors based on GCN 1.1
200 Series:
R9 290X - Hawaii XT 2816 Stream processors based on GCN 1.1 R9 290 - Hawaii PRO 2536 Stream processors based on GCN 1.1 R9 285 - Tonga PRO 1792 Stream processors based on GCN 1.2 R9 280X - Tahiti XT 2048 Stream processors based on GCN 1.0 R9 280 - Tahiti PRO 1792 Stream processors based on GCN 1.0 R9 270X - Pitcairn XT 1280 Stream processors based on GCN 1.0 R9 270 - Pitcairn XT 1280 Stream processors based on GCN 1.0 R7 265 - Pitcairn PRO 1024 Stream processors based on GCN 1.0 R7 260X - Bonaire XT 896 Stream processors based on GCN 1.1 R7 260 - Bonaire PRO 768 Stream processors based on GCN 1.1
7000 Series:
7970 - Tahiti XT 2048 Stream processors based on GCN 1.0 7950 - Tahiti PRO 1792 Stream processors based on GCN 1.0 7870 - Pitcairn XT 1280 Stream processors based on GCN 1.0 7850 - Pitcairn PRO 1024 Stream processors based on GCN 1.0 7790 - Bonaire XT 896 Stream processors based on GCN 1.1 7770 - Cape Verde XT 640 Stream processors based on GCN 1.0 7750 - Cape Verde PRO 512 Stream processors based on GCN 1.0
Versions of GCN and improvements
GCN 1.0 - Initial release with the 7000 series in 2012, uses a SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) arcitecture instead of the old VLIW design used in previous arcitectures like the 5000 and 6000 series. Each GCN compute unit totals 64 stream processors. AMD launched it as a long term building block for future GPUs, which is why they still use it today.
GCN 1.1 - GCN 1.1 was a minor iteration that added feature support for TressFX and TrueAudio, and improved PowerTune support. Most of the improvements were compute and HSA focused for the APU side of things.
GCN 1.2 - GCN 1.2 is a release we have only seen in Tonga and Fiji so far, the big focus with the release of the R9 285 was power efficiency improvements, AMD improved their instruction scheduling and added newer instruction support, the additional 16 bit Floating point & Integer instructions means that less power can be used on applications that do not need the mathematical accuracy of 32 bit instructions. The new Fiji GPU has a reworked memory architecture so it works with the HBM memory.
Improvements in manufacturing
So a term thrown around a lot is "refinements", unfortunately no-one has been too specific about the refinements but there are board level improvements and the process used has seen improvements.
Both AMD and Nvidia have used the same TSMC 28nm manufacturing process since 2012, over time as the process matures the ability to produce big chips consistently improves, and performance consistency also improves. We get less leaky chips. Which means we can have higher stock clocks, better overclocking and the better chips achieve this with the same or less voltage than before, which leads to a lower average power draw. This is very similar to Intel's Haswell Refresh/Devil's Canyons (note how people are fine with this being called refresh and not rebrand?).
The new cards have also received higher clocked VRAM, from 1250 to 1500MHz.
VRAM
AMD have generally been more generous than nvidia when it comes to VRAM in the past. This is still true for the most part, the Hawaii based products now offer 8GB of VRAM, AMD were saying a lot about Crossfire technology and have improved crossfire support in their new drivers as well, AMD would like people to pair multiple R9 300 series cards to play games at 4K and above resolutions and they've given us the framebuffer to achieve this, reviews have demonstrated that above 1080/1440p the R9 390 and the 970 begin to make more of a gap in the 390s favour and some games will cap out the 970s effective 4GB VRAM. They also offer a 4GB version of the R9 380 at a similar price to nvidias 960 4GB.
Pricing
Here I'll list the MSRP launch price of the products from the 200 and 300 series and the 900 series nvidia cards, a lot of people are saying you might as well pick up the 290X as it's very close to the 390X and is cheaper, which is true. You also need to consider that the 7970 was cheaper than the R9 280X until it went out of stock... very quickly. So if you want to buy you may want to buy now, as this will not hold true for long. Note I am only listing the 200 series cards that have a 300 series equivalent.
R9 290X 8GB: $459 (note: the 4gb price had been cut to around 399 by the time this card launched) R9 290X 4GB: $549 R9 290 4GB: $399 R9 285 2GB: $249 R9 265 2GB: $149 R9 260 2GB: $109
R9 390X: This card is priced a bit lower and performs a bit worse than the 980, but will beat out the 970. I'll use GTA5 as an example here due to the cards high end nature.
This is true. I'm leaving
Some people may understand why, for others it may be a surprise. LTT has been great, from getting new friends to meeting new people. I have gained over 20 friends from this place! I started here with a question about a laptop wifi problem, then it led to me gaining friends, and eventually getting hooked! For the first year or so, (2013), It was great. I had proper control on when I used the forum, and how much i used it. But it has been getting out of hand. As some of you know, I got rejected from a private school I attempted to join. You know why? My grades were bad. Because of LTT. Instead of studying or doing homework, I would be on LTT fooling around. I got used to it. And it became an addiction. The only way to break an addiction is to use all your willpower. That's what I'm doing now.
Goodbye LTT, And all my friends I have gained and learned to like. If you want to contact me, Please email me at asritech.com@gmail.com or on twitter @Flight1sim or on steam @Flight1sim. If i cannot stop returning to this forum, I will ask to be banned.
Whoo! It's been a while!
So today was my first day of school (i.e.: We talked about what we were going to learn for 10 minutes and then just goofed around), I don't feel it yet but when test season comes I'll be counting the days till Christmas Holidays.
I wanted to make a different post today, but I'll just save it for another time, some other thing needs to be addressed. Microsoft bought Mojang.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. I've always liked that even though MC was such a big game the company was small and really cared about the community. One of the justifications they give for the acquisition is, and I quote:
I get it, the guy just wanted a small game, but it became huge, because it was (is) good. People liked it and it became big. I get that maybe he didn't like all the attention but one thing is for sure, there is no reason besides money to choose Microsoft, and I really didn't expect this from Notch of all people. Microsoft isn't known to listen to user feedback too much (Windows 8/8.1 anyone?) and they're not necessarily the most "open" company ever. I wouldn't be surprised if two years from now MC is a Windows only game, and one thing is scarier, I don't know if people would stop playing it for that, they should but I'm not sure. I'd like to hope for the best and that Microsoft just adds a subtle Microsoft logo, like Google did with Motorola.
I'd like to keep an open mind about this though, you might call it dreaming, ignorance, whatever, I want to believe that Microsoft is going to play nice and not mess around with MC too much and only finance the project and get their cut. We'll see how this plays out.
Speedbird reacted to harrynowl for a blog entry, Clearing up the AMD 300 series confusion
