AMD R9 390X with 8 gigs of ram?

[Cheddle]

UE4, Unity 5, CryEngine & Frostbite all use deferred rendering techniques TODAY.

Rendering depth, albedo, normal buffers can all be done separate from each other, it's only when we're doing lighting and final compositing that we're actually waiting for the prerequisite buffers to complete rendering.

On top of that you can also utilize these GPU's for general compute, I don't think some rendering "downtime" is a bad thing to have. Note that this is already in place now, It's just that Engine makers can now actually fully control what each GPU does, which should boost performance (reduce "downtime" vs SLI/Crossfire) and efficiency (avoid VRAM duplication).

For some things where data duplication is unavoidable due to performance considerations, the workload can be split up across x amount of GPUs. They could potentially even offer you the choice of VRAM vs rendering speed. (I doubt we'll ever see that outside of a tech demo) Frostbite enforces performance by rendering in tiles across GPUs, that's why you see really good SLI/Crossfire scaling in BF4. But they could do so much more.

 

Well, you cannot render a normal buffer without all the normal texture data being present for the thing that you are tying to render. In other words either the texture data would reside on both GPUs (copied as it is now) or one GPU would need to fetch it from the other each and every rendered frame. (that would be shitty.) AFR would only be helpful in terms of pure rendering performance, but it would put you in the exact same boat as SLI / Crossfire in terms of VRAM. This is however the easiest & laziest way to implement some DX12 & Vulcan benefits, which means that it is the first thing you'll actually see being used in games

I'm not a Graphics Programmer in function ( I'm a 3D Artist / Level Designer ), but I did study it in University and have written my own little engine in DX11, while also doing some shader work in Unity 4, Unreal 3-4 and Cryengine (DEV version just before Crysis 2 dropped). So I somewhat know what I'm talking about, but I haven't kept up to speed the last 1-2 years in terms of the graphics programming, and this industry is very fast moving.

I'd like to see some technical talks about it, but atm I doubt you'll see any official statements from major Game Engine houses as the spec isn't even out yet, let alone properly implemented. Sorry for the rant btw.

 

Thank you for taking the time to post this.

[Icecube26]

The 980 across the board beats the 290X in 4K.

it beats it by like 6-8 fps... which is nothing...

[patrickjp93]

it beats it by like 6-8 fps... which is nothing...

1) That difference is a lot when no single card is getting 60fps at 4K anyway, which is the fastest we can drive the standard currently as well. Did someone never learn proportions?

2) Since the newest WHQL drivers the difference is closer to 10-12 fps, and 15% is certainly an improvement worthy of note.

[Icecube26]

1) That difference is a lot when no single card is getting 60fps at 4K anyway, which is the fastest we can drive the standard currently as well. Did someone never learn proportions?

2) Since the newest WHQL drivers the difference is closer to 10-12 fps, and 15% is certainly an improvement worthy of note.

the new drivers improve perfromance in GTA 5  not across the board....

[Opcode]

1) That difference is a lot when no single card is getting 60fps at 4K anyway, which is the fastest we can drive the standard currently as well. Did someone never learn proportions?

2) Since the newest WHQL drivers the difference is closer to 10-12 fps, and 15% is certainly an improvement worthy of note.

1. 60 FPS at 4k is perfectly possible with most high tier cards, maxed out in-game settings is not a valid argument.
2. The GTX 980 only performs roughly around 3-8 FPS better than the R9 290X at 4k resolution.

[patrickjp93]

 

1. 60 FPS at 4k is perfectly possible with most high tier cards, maxed out in-game settings is not a valid argument.
2. The GTX 980 only performs roughly around 3-8 FPS better than the R9 290X at 4k resolution.

 

1) No, max settings (no AA) is and has been the standard for years.

2) No, 8 is easily the minimum now.

 

 

the new drivers improve perfromance in GTA 5  not across the board....

 

WHQL, not beta. Please be more careful. Look at the driver just before the GTA V-specific one. 

[Opcode]

1) No, max settings (no AA) is and has been the standard for years.

2) No, 8 is easily the minimum now.

1. There is no standard when it comes to benchmarking as long as every game is benched at the same settings.
2. You have sources to backup these claims?

[patrickjp93]

 

1. There is no standard when it comes to benchmarking as long as every game is benched at the same settings.
2. You have sources to backup these claims?

 

Tom's Hardware and overclockers.uk both keep up-to-date bench lists for all new drivers. You should know that by now.

[Opcode]

Tom's Hardware and overclockers.uk both keep up-to-date bench lists for all new drivers. You should know that by now.

Tom's Hardware is a joke of a source (you should know that by now) and I don't browse around just to look at benchmarks. Also overclockers.uk is not a valid domain. Just paste the direct links to them here to make it easier on everybody that's interested.

[Cheddle]

first result I found

 

BF4 @ 4k

 

290    = 35 fps avg

290x  = 36 fps avg

980    = 41 fps avg

980G1= 45 fps avg

295x2= 67 fps avg

[patrickjp93]

first result I found

 

BF4 @ 4k

 

290    = 35 fps avg

290x  = 36 fps avg

980    = 41 fps avg

980G1= 45 fps avg

295x2= 67 fps avg

Mantle vs. DX 11. Not remotely valid. When BF4 goes DX 12 we can discuss that.

[patrickjp93]

Tom's Hardware is a joke of a source (you should know that by now) and I don't browse around just to look at benchmarks. Also overclockers.uk is not a valid domain. Just paste the direct links to them here to make it easier on everybody that's interested.

It's a better source than almost anything. Who would you put above them? Anandtech is about the only one which adheres to a higher standard.

[Opcode]

It's a better source than almost anything. Who would you put above them? Anandtech is about the only one which adheres to a higher standard.

Anandtech is where I validated my previous claims.

[patrickjp93]

Anandtech is where I validated my previous claims.

1) You validated nothing as you did nothing to prove bandwidth was an issue in gaming (it isn't). You quoted the Async compute pipeline, not the async shading pipeline which, omg, has 32ms delay just like the standard!

 

2) HBM will do nothing for most people outside the scientific computing field. Games are currently choked on the shaders, not what's feeding them.

[Opcode]

1) You validated nothing as you did nothing to prove bandwidth was an issue in gaming (it isn't). You quoted the Async compute pipeline, not the async shading pipeline which, omg, has 32ms delay just like the standard!

 

2) HBM will do nothing for most people outside the scientific computing field. Games are currently choked on the shaders, not what's feeding them.

Bandwidth is not an issue per-say as long as the shaders are kept fed. I hinted at the benefit of poking twice as many registers there's a difference and a similarity.

 

The graph if for Tomorrows Children that utilizes asynchronous shading (computing) just like Thief does cutting out 6-10ms on the graphics stack.

[Dabombinable]

 

1. 60 FPS at 4k is perfectly possible with most high tier cards, maxed out in-game settings is not a valid argument.
2. The GTX 980 only performs roughly around 3-8 FPS better than the R9 290X at 4k resolution.

 

That's their decision to go with the minimum memory bandwidth biting Nvidia in the ass. 

[Swndlr]

holy snot, EIGHT?

most gamers could probably get away with 6.

if this is true, WP amd

[patrickjp93]

Bandwidth is not an issue per-say as long as the shaders are kept fed. I hinted at the benefit of poking twice as many registers there's a difference and a similarity.

 

The graph if for Tomorrows Children that utilizes asynchronous shading (computing) just like Thief does cutting out 6-10ms on the graphics stack.

It's well within margin of error for 5 tests. Bull to the shit.

[farhanorakzai]

do you guys think this will make nvidia cut the price of the titan x, or release a 980 ti cheaper than the 390x?

[NAP51DMustang]

do you guys think this will make nvidia cut the price of the titan x, or release a 980 ti cheaper than the 390x?

a 980ti would probably be comparable to a 390x in both price and performance imo. (full disclosure: entire speculation on all point just made)

[Opcode]

do you guys think this will make nvidia cut the price of the titan x, or release a 980 ti cheaper than the 390x?

Nvidia will likely re-brand the TITAN X as the GTX 980 Ti and shave off half of its VRAM to cut costs along with raise its reference clocks to compete with Fiji.

[farhanorakzai]

Nvidia will likely re-brand the TITAN X as the GTX 980 Ti and shave off half of its VRAM to cut costs along with raise its reference clocks to compete with Fiji.

That's what I'm hoping they're going to do