AMD Announces next gen Fire Pro W4300

[RexinOridle]

That's a mid range firepro. BUt I love firepros.

[PlayStation 2]

next gen ?!? they use GPUs based on GCN 1.0 and 1.1 architectures

tha' faq!?

but nvidia sells 9 year old gpus and no one calls them out on it

[Guest]

So you can slap a water block on it with 3 others and still have plenty of room for expansion cards.

Or put it inside of one of those tiny cashier-sized PC's. 

[RagnarokDel]

I dont get why anyone would buy a workstation card... I dont know shit but I look at the specs and I'm like: why is it so expensive?

[carolkarine]

I dont get why anyone would buy a workstation card... I dont know shit but I look at the specs and I'm like: why is it so expensive?

 

it's got ECC memory on board (and more than normal) and is validated with a lot professional software - something you won't get with consumer hardware.

[AnnoyedShelf]

I wonder how well it'll to against Nvidia's options, not only in performance, but real world adoption.

AMD needs to gain a strong foothold in the commercial/corporate space if they have any kind of hope of survival.

AMD FirePro cards outperform the corresponding Quadro cards in almost every application.  OpenCL is a lot better than CUDA.

[patrickjp93]

I dont get why anyone would buy a workstation card... I dont know shit but I look at the specs and I'm like: why is it so expensive?

double VRAM counts, ECC VRAM, validation to run at 100% load at 100*C 24/7, ability to support 6 displays at once, and a whole bunch of software validation.

[patrickjp93]

AMD FirePro cards outperform the corresponding Quadro cards in almost every application.  OpenCL is a lot better than CUDA.

Yeah, no. Mining is about the only application, and that's pretty much because there is no CUDA version of the algorithm.

 

If that was remotely true, the Server FirePros would be wiping the floor with Teslas, and yet, they don't. Go look at the Linpack benchmarks if you don't believe me.

[trag1c]

I dont get why anyone would buy a workstation card... I dont know shit but I look at the specs and I'm like: why is it so expensive?

When you have an application like Autodesk Maya or similar rendering for a week straight you will want something that is pretty much guaranteed to run flawlessly as well as have appropriate hardware that can correct minor memory corruption issues.

[AnnoyedShelf]

Yeah, no. Mining is about the only application, and that's pretty much because there is no CUDA version of the algorithm.

 

If that was remotely true, the Server FirePros would be wiping the floor with Teslas, and yet, they don't. Go look at the Linpack benchmarks if you don't believe me.

Fair enough.  Although I've seen FirePros wipe the floor with Quadros when it comes to video editing.

[patrickjp93]

Fair enough.  Although I've seen FirePros wipe the floor with Quadros when it comes to video editing.

Crappy algorithms or only OpenCL implementations, something Nvidia is notably weak on since it's so much more invested in CUDA.

[scottyseng]

I dont get why anyone would buy a workstation card... I dont know shit but I look at the specs and I'm like: why is it so expensive?

 

The GPUs are binned for 24/7 workload and the addition of ECC. The major importance is the certifications with industry applications, like Autodesk 3DS Max, or in my case, Revit.

 

I used to use a gaming Radeon card as my main GPU, but I got these strange artifacts and elements that didn't exist that would display with it. For example, a wall going through a roof when it didn't exist. If you printed the view out, it would look correct, but not on the screen. It does suck that my Firepro v7900 pretty much costs double what the comparable gaming card did. It's worth it for the lack of headaches. In 3DS Max, the Firepro eats the Radeon alive on geometry display.

 

Nvidia may have better drivers, but man, they cost even more than Firepros. I'm unsure if I will go quadro or firepro for my next GPU upgrade. The comparable mid range firepro is faster than comparable mid range quadro at the same price point. Still debating though.

[RagnarokDel]

When you have an application like Autodesk Maya or similar rendering for a week straight you will want something that is pretty much guaranteed to run flawlessly as well as have appropriate hardware that can correct minor memory corruption issues.

ok I didnt know about that but I do have to wonder with the price tag put on those cards if it wouldn't be better to just buy 2 insane top end enthusiast cards to do the job instead?

 

 

 

The GPUs are binned for 24/7 workload and the addition of ECC. The major importance is the certifications with industry applications, like Autodesk 3DS Max, or in my case, Revit.

My 7990's been mined/boinc'd upon almost 24/7 (I stop it when I game but then I play game so it's still on load) for the past 3 years and it's still going strong.

[dizmo]

i'm quite excited to see how this CUDA thing works out for AMD... if it catches on, they got a HUGE "winner" on their hand. As their hardware is flat out superior to any current Quadro or even Tesla on the market. Their drivers and OpenCL reliance however, hurts their performance A LOT

I thought CUDA was an Nvidia thing?

 

AMD FirePro cards outperform the corresponding Quadro cards in almost every application.  OpenCL is a lot better than CUDA.

Performance is irrelevant if you can't gain market share.

[trag1c]

ok I didnt know about that but I do have to wonder with the price tag put on those cards if it wouldn't be better to just buy 2 insane top end enthusiast cards to do the job instead?

 

My 7990's been mined/boinc'd upon almost 24/7 (I stop it when I game but then I play game so it's still on load) for the past 3 years and it's still going strong.

Its not a question of whether or not it works. Pretty much anything will work but when you have mission critical applications running especially for long periods of time its better to be safe than sorry. Rendering a small movie in Maya, 3DS Max, or Blender can take hours or sometimes days to render a single frame. Now multiply that by the number of frames in your film and you start to see why you invest in hardware that is proven for this kind of task. These parts are typically also pinned at full throttle for this entire time as well.

 

Edit: You also have things such as 10 bit color support for monitors that have a bigger color palette. The price tag is also high because its intended to be used by businesses which they assume have tons of money for things like this.

[zMeul]

but nvidia sells 9 year old gpus and no one calls them out on it

call me when they call it "next gen"

[AlTech]

I thought CUDA was an Nvidia thing?

 

Performance is irrelevant if you can't gain market share.

They are licensing it to AMD now. And it seems as though AMD will have better performance than Nvidia's solutions.

 

Wth regard to Market share, AMD is where most professionals go. E.g. The fire pro series. I've seen and spoken to some animators who are also nerds and boy do they love AMDs professional products. 

[Sauron]

I've never really understood the point of half height GPU's.

 

If you need a GPU, you are probably a heavy enough user to want the cooling of a full sized cooler.

 

small form factor workstations that have a pcie slot but not the width to accomodate a full size card. These are not for games.

[Curufinwe_wins]

Just reminding everyone that amd sits with ~10% of the market when it comes to firepro vs quadro.

So obviously they are a better "value"

[Real_PhillBert]

small form factor workstations that have a pcie slot but not the width to accomodate a full size card. These are not for games.

 

Still didnt answer any questions...

 

No one said anything about games, games are not the only way to load a GPU

[Megahurt]

You said it yourself on how it qualifies for next gen... Is the R7 360 not next gen? Plus, it's a new card coming out after a pause of a year, I think they're allowed to call it next gen.

It's GCN 1.1, like the 290/290X, while the 285/380/Fury are GCN 1.2, it's already a few years old.

[Sauron]

Still didnt answer any questions...

 

No one said anything about games, games are not the only way to load a GPU

 

for graphical work this may very well be enough. What it really needs is 10-bit colour depth, multiple dp outputs, lots of vram and if all that can fit in a small form factor, all the better.

[The Benjamins]

They are licensing it to AMD now. And it seems as though AMD will have better performance than Nvidia's solutions.

 

Wth regard to Market share, AMD is where most professionals go. E.g. The fire pro series. I've seen and spoken to some animators who are also nerds and boy do they love AMDs professional products. 

 

Most CAD software runs better on AMD from my experience, mostly because they use OpenGL.