AMD is going to be in a tough spot at the high bc of the 980ti

[dalekphalm]

Meh I think Nvidia are sweating hence the 980ti release. 390X / Fury is going to bring the beatdown on Nvidia.

Even if this were 100% true, that only affects a single pricepoint for NVIDIA - one that they don't even make that much money on. Consider - how many Titan X cards will they sell compared to GTX 970's?

 

If AMD can rule the top - great! Always good to push technology and innovation. But if the rest of their lineup doesn't make sense compared to NVIDIA's, then it will be a problem.

[Aphala]

Even if this were 100% true, that only affects a single pricepoint for NVIDIA - one that they don't even make that much money on. Consider - how many Titan X cards will they sell compared to GTX 970's?

 

If AMD can rule the top - great! Always good to push technology and innovation. But if the rest of their lineup doesn't make sense compared to NVIDIA's, then it will be a problem.

Well since AMD seem to be beast at pricing and the upcoming series will hopefully be an upgrade albeit a lot of rebranding I would concider AMD victorious if R9 390X / Amds curious Fury card can top the boards in performance and pricing then Nvidia don't have much to sell for the next 6 months unless they crack out another Dual GPU card like 2x980s or 960ti/50ti they really need to  pull some magic to get 2015 in their bag since AMD have until Christmas to make a move on the R9 395X2.

 

But Nvidia have been doing exceptional for the early portion of 2015 but personally I think AMD have this one. 

 

It's anyones game at this point, love when AMD and Nvidia get there fingers out and start getting aggressive like this really gets the tech race running.

[MEC-777]

I doubt there will be a big price drop for the 980, and Ive at least read rumors AMDs 290x rebrand will indeed give higher performance and lower TDP, although Ill have to actually see that to believe it.

 

They have to and have already announced price cuts on the 980. The 980Ti is too powerful to have the 980 priced close to it, so they have to reduce it to create incentive for people to continue buying them. There will likely be sales on 980's at various retailers when the Ti drops as well. It's all about moving product and making profit. 

 

For the 390x (290x rebrand/refresh) to compete more directly with the 980, they'll have to push quite a bit more performance from the Hawaii chip. They're not big OCer's so I'm curious to see how they pull that off (if they can). And I hope they do. 

 

Regardless, 290/290x's are going to get stupid-cheap very soon. AMD will remain king of performance per dollar in that respect. 

 

Frankly, I'm getting more and more confused as to what AMD's strategy is for this round of GPU's.

 

Even if the "Fury" or Titan grade card absolutely wrecks NVIDIA, if the rest (Including 390/x) are rebrands, I just don't see how they're going to properly compete with NVIDIA.

 

The 290/x in it's current form mostly competes with the 970, occasionally edging it out and reaching 980 specs, but rarely.

 

So if we look at the current rumoured lineup:

Fury/Titan-esque - Fiji

390/x - rebrand Hawaii 290/x

380x - unknown - possibly rebrand 280x

380 - rebrand Tonga 285

 

This is a problem. At the very top, no issues. The Fury is expected to match or beat the Titan X. There will likely be a cut down version, which perhaps might compete with the 980 Ti as well (Since AMD generally releases a full-bore GPU with a cut down version, akin to 280 and 280x).

 

However, once you reach the 390/x series, the 980 and 970 are already beating them. So you're going to have a very top heavy AMD lineup with Fiji, then a huge power vacuum until you reach Hawaii. Even if Fiji is totally kickass, there's still a huge price gap that people will fill by buying NVIDIA cards.

 

The only thing I can think of, is that the rumours (especially the latest ones) are completely wrong. Either that, or AMD simply didn't have enough money to create more than one or two new GPU's.

 

All I can say honestly is that the closer we get to the new 300 series GPU's, the more confused I get.

 

I agree and I'm really curious to see what AMD does next. 

 

For clarity, the 380 will be the rebranded Tonga (285) and the 380x will be a new uncut full Tonga chip. The old Tahiti based 280/x chips have been retired after a very long impressive lifespan.

 

So we'll have the following:

 

Fury - Fiji (pro/xt?) (new GPU with HBM) - Titan X/980Ti

390/x - Tweaked Hawaii pro/xt (rebranded 290/x) - 980/970

380/x - Tonga pro/xt (rebranded 285/fully unlocked Tonga) - 960/960Ti 

 

Meh I think Nvidia are sweating hence the 980ti release. 390X / Fury is going to bring the beatdown on Nvidia.

 

The 390x and Fury will be two different cards. Fury is the new GPU and 390x will be a tweaked 290x.

 

Well since AMD seem to be beast at pricing and the upcoming series will hopefully be an upgrade albeit a lot of rebranding I would concider AMD victorious if R9 390X / Amds curious Fury card can top the boards in performance and pricing then Nvidia don't have much to sell for the next 6 months unless they crack out another Dual GPU card like 2x980s or 960ti/50ti they really need to  pull some magic to get 2015 in their bag since AMD have until Christmas to make a move on the R9 395X2.

 

But Nvidia have been doing exceptional for the early portion of 2015 but personally I think AMD have this one. 

 

It's anyones game at this point, love when AMD and Nvidia get there fingers out and start getting aggressive like this really gets the tech race running.

 

Again, 390x and Fury, two different parts.

 

At the moment, Nvidia is in a really good situation with regards to pricing of their cards. Thought I would never say this about Nvidia, but they actually aren't gouging us this time with pricing, aside from the Titan X. AMD is really going to have to "bring it" this time if they want to charge more for their cards. 

 

The next couple weeks with be very interesting to say the least...

[maizenblue]

They have to and have already announced price cuts on the 980. The 980Ti is too powerful to have the 980 priced close to it, so they have to reduce it to create incentive for people to continue buying them. There will likely be sales on 980's at various retailers when the Ti drops as well. It's all about moving product and making profit. 

 

For the 390x (290x rebrand/refresh) to compete more directly with the 980, they'll have to push quite a bit more performance from the Hawaii chip. They're not big OCer's so I'm curious to see how they pull that off (if they can). And I hope they do. 

 

Regardless, 290/290x's are going to get stupid-cheap very soon. AMD will remain king of performance per dollar in that respect. 

 

 

I agree and I'm really curious to see what AMD does next. 

 

 

The 290X aren't great overclockers BUT from what Ive read they do respond better to overclocking than Nvidias Maxwell cards. A minor overclock in a 290x results in greater frame rate increases than a bigger overclock in Nvidias 900 cards, so I can see how its possible they substantially increased the performance of the 290x rebrand by making it more efficient.

 

In terms of raw horsepower the 290x is still a very powerful card. In some ways it SHOULD still be more powerful than a 980, at least on paper. Maybe(hopefully) AMD has figured out how to unlock this raw power and have the card live up to its potential.

[FLUFFYJELLO]

.

[MEC-777]

The 290X aren't great overclockers BUT from what Ive read they do respond better to overclocking than Nvidias Maxwell cards. A minor overclock in a 290x results in greater frame rate increases than a bigger overclock in Nvidias 900 cards, so I can see how its possible they substantially increased the performance of the 290x rebrand by making it more efficient.

 

In terms of raw horsepower the 290x is still a very powerful card. In some ways it SHOULD still be more powerful than a 980, at least on paper. Maybe(hopefully) AMD has figured out how to unlock this raw power and have the card live up to its potential.

 

Yeah, I have a 290 and can confirm there is a significant performance increase with not much of an overclock. I'm running mine at just +150mhz on the core clock (and stock memory clocks) - this is considered a modest OC for a Hawaii chip, but the difference in in-game performance is easily 10-15+ fps increase.

 

So yes, there is definitely more potential and life in Hawaii and I'm very eager to see how AMD improves on them. As long as they can be paired with efficient coolers, they still certainly pack a punch.

[Nena Trinity]

390X is not gonna be Fiji, they make it like Titan and make up some fancy name for it!

 

BUT! 390X better not use MORE POWER!!!

[Aphala]

I'm more interested in Fury as I hope it's going to be THEE game changer for AMD since they already had a Fury card way back in 2003 I think it was, I don't know Nvidia have in a proverbial sence "blown there load" and basically tried to Royal flush AMD with a cheeky 980ti but if I know AMD they aren't ones to lay down and take it.

 

Praise base Gaben that AMD will release soon. June is going to be a wild month!

[Badger906]

I was all fired up to buy a 980ti this morning. but I'm trying my hardest to hold off and wait to see what amd have to offer.

even if the 390x/fury is a titan beater it would have to be at a very good price.

the 980ti is in some tests 98% the same as a titan.. and at £550 it's much much cheaper than I expected. I'd budgeted £700.

thats £150 more towards the rest of my upgrade. could be the difference between an z97 and an x99 platform for me

[GrimNeo]

Ehh not really the r9 295x2 performs almost the same as the gtx980 tiand has 2 gb more of vRAM. Not a fanboy though I actually am not a fan of AMD.

Though AMD is know for there budget cards

As of right now the r9 295x2 is only 4Gbs of vRAM. Crossfire and SLI don't stack vRAM right now. Also that card relies on crossfire.

[MEC-777]

I was all fired up to buy a 980ti this morning. but I'm trying my hardest to hold off and wait to see what amd have to offer.

even if the 390x/fury is a titan beater it would have to be at a very good price.

the 980ti is in some tests 98% the same as a titan.. and at £550 it's much much cheaper than I expected. I'd budgeted £700.

thats £150 more towards the rest of my upgrade. could be the difference between an z97 and an x99 platform for me

 

390x and Fury are two different cards.

[Badger906]

390x and Fury are two different cards.

I'll agree when amd have announced 2 separate cards until then it's speculation.

last week on several occasions I argues with people who claimed their would never be a 980ti look what we today..

[dalekphalm]

I'll agree when amd have announced 2 separate cards until then it's speculation.

last week on several occasions I argues with people who claimed their would never be a 980ti look what we today..

To a point I agree with you. To be fair, we've had just about every kind of rumour surrounding AMD 300 series GPU's that I won't fully believe any of it until we receive official confirmation.

Heck, in the span of about a week, we had a rumour that they were ALL brand new cards (no rebrands) with all HBM memory, then that ALL were rebrands (which is where we are now essentially with the rumour mill).

 

However, if the speculation that the 380x is a fully unlocked Tonga, then the rumours saying all rebrands aside from Fiji would actually be false (at least in part), since we've never had a fully unlocked Tonga desktop GPU before.

 

We'll see. Should be this week that we know the details.

[MEC-777]

I'll agree when amd have announced 2 separate cards until then it's speculation.

last week on several occasions I argues with people who claimed their would never be a 980ti look what we today..

 

I'm 99% sure the 390/X and "Fury" are two separate cards. Fury is the new Fiji GPU with HBM and the 390/X is the tweaked and rebranded Hawaii 290/X GPUs.

 

We know the 380/X will be Tonga (285 and the new unlocked Tonga xt). We also know Fiji will be the "Fury". So it only logically follows that 390/X will be the new 290/X.

[Badger906]

I'm 99% sure the 390/X and "Fury" are two separate cards. Fury is the new Fiji GPU with HBM and the 390/X is the tweaked and rebranded Hawaii 290/X GPUs.

 

We know the 380/X will be Tonga (285 and the new unlocked Tonga xt). We also know Fiji will be the "Fury". So it only logically follows that 390/X will be the new 290/X. 

if that is the case i wonder what that means for a 395x2 because of the popularity of the 295x2. If fury has such gains over the 390x which "will" be a rebrand then a 395x2 doesnt make much sense, unless it gets a considerable clock boost and vast amounts more ram at a very competitive price.

[MEC-777]

if that is the case i wonder what that means for a 395x2 because of the popularity of the 295x2. If fury has such gains over the 390x which "will" be a rebrand then a 395x2 doesnt make much sense, unless it gets a considerable clock boost and vast amounts more ram at a very competitive price.

 

They may not bother making a 395x2. In fact I'd put money on it that they won't. Perhaps we might see a dual Fiji card sometime in the future... Imagine that.

[Briggsy]

There will likely be a fiji pro to match the 980ti, and fiji xt to tackle the titanx.

[dalekphalm]

There will likely be a fiji pro to match the 980ti, and fiji xt to tackle the titanx.

That would certainly make sense. The real question is this: Can they pump up Hawaii to actually be competitive with the 970 and 980, to fill that gap? Hawaii XT (290x) barely keeps up with the 970 as it is. But if they can squeeze enough juice out of it, then maybe the new lineup will make sense. Hopefully they've also beefed up Hawaii tessellation performance too, since that's severely lacking compared to 970/980.

[Briggsy]

That would certainly make sense. The real question is this: Can they pump up Hawaii to actually be competitive with the 970 and 980, to fill that gap? Hawaii XT (290x) barely keeps up with the 970 as it is. But if they can squeeze enough juice out of it, then maybe the new lineup will make sense. Hopefully they've also beefed up Hawaii tessellation performance too, since that's severely lacking compared to 970/980.

 

yeah, severely lacking tessellation performance with Hawaii is an understatement for sure.

 

As far as performance, the rumors say memory clocks will be bumped up to 6000mhz, which does increase framerates by a lot with Hawaii. But, unless they've somehow refined the manufacturing process for Hawaii, the core clocks aren't going anywhere without hybrid cooling, or something better than the stock AMD leaf blower. I know few 970's that can beat my hybrid cooled 290's in Valley benchmark, but that's a single benchmark which doesn't quantify much. With a memory clock increase and a modest core clock bump I would expect a 290x rebadge to snuggle up close to a 980 in the standard benchmarks, as long as tessellation isn't involved. The regular 290x is already pretty close to the 980 in 4K benchmarks, so there's always that.

[Badger906]

what if they make the 295x2 the new 390x?! just an air cooled version, that would pip all the cards upto the titan.

[dalekphalm]

what if they make the 295x2 the new 390x?! just an air cooled version, that would pip all the cards upto the titan.

That would be a horrible decision. Dual-GPU cards have their own set of complications and drawbacks. Single GPU is always better.

[FmPhenom]

All this talk of new $650+ cards and benchmarks makes me love my 290x xfire setup that cost $550. Matches a $1000 titan and if I need more performance I can drop another $275 card. This generation of cards seems meh.

[JustCallMeVlad]

Amd Rage Fury would be nice for 699.99 but I'm thinking more like 799.99

[gilang01]

All this talk of new $650+ cards and benchmarks makes me love my 290x xfire setup that cost $550. Matches a $1000 titan and if I need more performance I can drop another $275 card. This generation of cards seems meh.

Some people do care about power consumption. Having one 290x is bad enough for the electricity here

[Nishizumi]

That would certainly make sense. The real question is this: Can they pump up Hawaii to actually be competitive with the 970 and 980, to fill that gap? Hawaii XT (290x) barely keeps up with the 970 as it is. But if they can squeeze enough juice out of it, then maybe the new lineup will make sense. Hopefully they've also beefed up Hawaii tessellation performance too, since that's severely lacking compared to 970/980.

A Fiji Pro wouldn't have to be much different to XT to beat the 980 Ti. Maybe they're selling a water cooled Fiji XT to beat the Titan X at around $750, and an air cooled Fiji Pro to fit right between 980 Ti and 980 at around $600?