AMD Says Grenada PRO and XT Are Not Rebrands of Hawaii, and They're Right... Sort Of.

[Alurit]

I think it would have made more sense around $370 as that is the going rate for 8 GB 290x's it seems, I do expect they are going to charge a little more for it though based on the minor improvements they did. So I guess $400 would have been a better price ($30 less than currently).

 

That being said you can find 4 GB 290x's for like, $300, so that is really what people should buy.

 

 

EDIT: @ Alurit. Actually the 280, based on the Tonga, sells for $200 and beats the 960 (which has the same price at best) in pretty much every benchmark I've seen. The 370 also beats the 750 Ti meaning that AMD has the entire mid range segment under their control, which is likely where most GPU sales happen. So they are winning in the largest market segment.

then I guess the prices in our countries are different. where I live the 960 is 15% cheaper then a 380.

[79 Potatoes]

this has a more robust memory controller 

And power power management, so it's some more in depth changes... Dunno how to explain it...

[LukaP]

And power power management, so it's some more in depth changes... Dunno how to explain it...

Its definitely not a rebrand. Thats for sure.

[Popingheads]

then I guess the prices in our countries are different. where I live the 960 is 15% cheaper then a 380.

 

Yes I've heard that is more commonly the case outside the US, I'm not sure why but Nvidia seems cheaper in a number of countries.

[Swndlr]

Why do people call Devil Canyon a "refresh", while 390x is a "rebrand"?

Because Haswell Refresh actual had good changes made, like TIM.. Although you can argue that 8GB VRAM is a change, Id agree, seems nice.

[winningsince1337]

TLDR: It's an 8GB 290x with a new memory controller and a binned 290x chip that uses less power because it's binned. Is it actually a new chip? Not in my opinion unless you consider G1 cards from Gigabyte to be different than others because they too run binned chips. GG AMD

[PudgyAstronaut]

Why do people call Devil Canyon a "refresh", while 390x is a "rebrand"?

4770k to 4790k does represent the real changes better than 290X to 390X would be my guess

[spartaman64]

r9 380 is only a year old too, it's r9 285, a failure from last year.

r7 370 (r9 270x, 7870) and below is tragedy.

I mean when 7870 came out it was golden, such a hit. But rebranding it 2 times is just sad. Even r9 270 wasn't that bad because price dropped. And R9 280 was okay because it had much lower price than 7950. But this time prices increased, which just blows my mind.

they didn't drop a rank because amd capped on a new one called fury

[ZetZet]

they didn't drop a rank because amd capped on a new one called fury

still stupid and misleading.

[PopReference]

still stupid and misleading.

Would you want yearly edition labels, like " Radeon 7970 2015" or something?

[ivan134]

still stupid and misleading.

You have an amazing talent for grasping at straws.

[ZetZet]

Would you want yearly edition labels, like " Radeon 7970 2015" or something?

No. 7970 to r9 280x rebrand didn't hurt, they reduced price, it pushed the card to lower tier because r9 290/290x came out.

This time r9 290x went to r9 390x, which is stupid, it should have been r9 380x.

 

I like how nvidia did rebrand once. 670 became 760 and 680 became 770. With a new 780 on top.

 

 

You have an amazing talent for grasping at straws.

Just like amd with their performance gains. 

 

 

 

[PopReference]

 

No. 7970 to r9 280x rebrand didn't hurt, they reduced price, it pushed the card to lower tier because r9 290/290x came out.

This time r9 290x went to r9 390x, which is stupid, it should have been r9 380x.

 

I like how nvidia did rebrand once. 670 became 760 and 680 became 770. With a new 780 on top.

 

Meh, just wanting a lower number because it "should be smaller," to you, doesn't matter. Intel, AMD, and Nvidia don't have naming that's any kind of standard, let alone make sense.

[HalGameGuru]

TLDR: It's an 8GB 290x with a new memory controller and a binned 290x chip that uses less power because it's binned. Is it actually a new chip? Not in my opinion unless you consider G1 cards from Gigabyte to be different than others because they too run binned chips. GG AMD

No, as AMD said, they redesigned the power delivery micro-architecture. Makes sense it took a year, that is an involved process. 

 

While I would have loved to have seen a new GPU Arch this is AMD, they don't have the money to create a new architecture every go around. So they made some improvements to the one they had, which was still competitive. Are we butthurt that AMD's old arch is still competing on performance? Is the power difference a big enough stumbling block we are going to poo-poo their competitive performance because of it? That kind of issue has been around for both companies in the past, why is it a deal breaker now? AMD can now put more resources into further future architecture and improvements.

[Bouzoo]

well what it means is that the chip is much more robust now, meaning potentially much better overclocks, and with a more mature process, less power usage at those clocks

Its definitely not a rebrand. Thats for sure.

Wait wait wait, are you actually into these cards and defending them? Because I remember when you said, and I'll quote

Its a rebrand with added fancy lights and effects. Hardly interesting to anyone but 12 year olds.

[Gunjob]

r9 380 is only a year old too, it's r9 285, a failure from last year.

 

r7 370 (r9 270x, 7870) and below is tragedy.

 

I mean when 7870 came out it was golden, such a hit. But rebranding it 2 times is just sad. Even r9 270 wasn't that bad because price dropped. And R9 280 was okay because it had much lower price than 7950. But this time prices increased, which just blows my mind.

Actually Pitcairn has been 7850,7870,8870,270,270x,370,7970m,8970m,m290x.

[patrickjp93]

All AMD had to do to avoid this outcry was upgrade all the architectures to GCN 1.2. Even if the core counts and memory interface widths remained what they are, this would have been enough. Their architecture is already built to be modular. Planning 2-3 dies of GCN 1.2 with various cuts should have been easy. AMD, honestly, what are people supposed to think?

[Mujteba]

Rebrands or not

8GB VRAM is tastier than 4GB VRAM

Doesn't matter because the human eye can't see more than 3GB VRAM anyway.

[Texhnlyze]

Doesn't matter because the human eye can't see more than 3GB VRAM anyway.

 

Blame gameworks man.

[Dive5885]

The R9 300 Series is not a Rebrand. 

 

Its a Refresh.

 

Learn what the word Rebrand means before you go and use it.

[sms1202]

Doesn't matter because the human eye can't see more than 3GB VRAM anyway.

Detecting GTX 700 series user(770 or 780 or 780 ti ?)

[winningsince1337]

No, as AMD said, they redesigned the power delivery micro-architecture. Makes sense it took a year, that is an involved process. 

 

While I would have loved to have seen a new GPU Arch this is AMD, they don't have the money to create a new architecture every go around. So they made some improvements to the one they had, which was still competitive. Are we butthurt that AMD's old arch is still competing on performance? Is the power difference a big enough stumbling block we are going to poo-poo their competitive performance because of it? That kind of issue has been around for both companies in the past, why is it a deal breaker now? AMD can now put more resources into further future architecture and improvements.

You have missed the point. Power delivery micro-architecture is no different than Evga or MSI making a K|ngP|n, Classified, or Lightning card. All of which have custom power delivery. The deal is that they swapped a memory controller, threw in a binned chip into a 290x 8GB and tada! It's a more expensive 390... Having a higher binned chip that can run at a slightly lower voltage accounts for the slightly lower power consumption. Throw in a few driver tweaks and we have a souped up card from 2013. 

 

Is it competitive? Yes, and no. Honestly, buying an nvidia card at the same price point would be a better deal given the state of drivers these days. If they drop the price, then it'd be more than good enough to forgive the drivers.

 

So no, AMD has done nothing, besides swapping a memory controller, that AIB partners don't do with every single card made. This is not something new or ground breaking that they've done its just same ol, same ol.

[HalGameGuru]

You have missed the point. Power delivery micro-architecture is no different than Evga or MSI making a K|ngP|n, Classified, or Lightning card. All of which have custom power delivery. The deal is that they swapped a memory controller, threw in a binned chip into a 290x 8GB and tada! It's a more expensive 390... Having a higher binned chip that can run at a slightly lower voltage accounts for the slightly lower power consumption. Throw in a few driver tweaks and we have a souped up card from 2013. 

 

Is it competitive? Yes, and no. Honestly, buying an nvidia card at the same price point would be a better deal given the state of drivers these days. If they drop the price, then it'd be more than good enough to forgive the drivers.

 

So no, AMD has done nothing, besides swapping a memory controller, that AIB partners don't do with every single card made. This is not something new or ground breaking that they've done its just same ol, same ol.

I  think you are conflating micro-architecture with VRM, two separate things so far as its been explained to me.

[Mujteba]

Detecting GTX 700 series user(770 or 780 or 780 ti ?)

GTX 660. Too poor for anything else 

[alphaproject]

Well, assuming you never bought any card brand new that was refreshed/rebranded it's not so bad to own one.

 

For example.

 

I went from the 7850 (Bought Brand New) to the GTX 770 4 Gb card. (Used)  I have seen a big difference in games. Obviously.

 

I certainly did not want to go to the 680 though because it's not as good as the 770. The kicker is that I paid no where near retail prices and the card was about 4 months old. That's practically brand new to me...really.  Any card less than 6 months old but NOT brand new is almost better than new because it's been tested and used so it works.  If someone never owned the 290X and say upgraded in 6 months to a used 390X....say for $250 that's a good deal.  So the 390X is not 100% pointless but it is pointless to buy it for $429 brand new is all.