AMD have begun shipping Polaris GPUs - 2 different Polaris chips and 4 different GPUs spotted

[Fetzie]

outdated!?!?

the link you posted is nothing more than AMD PR, and it refers to Polaris as 4th gen

AMD has never used the terminology "GCN 1.x". They always say "2nd/3rd/4th generation of GCN" or "The latest GCN Architecture". A "generation" is not a "revision". "GCN 1.2" is something that the press made up to describe the GCN generations, not AMD.

 

Polaris is the 4th generation of GCN. It is thus "GCN 4". Not "GCN 1.3".

 

[MoonSpot]

outdated!?!?

the link you posted is nothing more than AMD PR, and it refers to Polaris as 4th gen

---

the fact that AMD's PR confuses (intentionally or not) generation with revision, should scare the shit out of AMD's fanboys

 

Didn't you yourself make a news post here about AMD stating that it's the press that started GCN 1.X stuff and AMD doesn't?

 

EDIT No.  It was HKZeroFive that I was thinking about now that I found the thread

 

Huh, I didn't know that GCN 2.0 and 3.0 versions existed....

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/519932-update-amd-announces-polaris-architecture-4th-generation-gcn-arriving-in-mid-2016/

[zMeul]

AMD has never used the terminology "GCN 1.x".

AMD?! don't you mean AMD's PR?!?!

because, as I said, AnandTech and the rest of the relevant outlets that reported on GCN architecture didn't invented the GCN naming nomenclature

no one ever posted a retraction after calling GCN 1.0, 1.1, 1.2

---

one fact remains for existing GCN GPUs on the market - AMD never moved from GCN1

what Scott Watson, from The Tech Report, had to say back in 2014 about the R9 285

Tonga's dilemma

So you can understand my reticence. Tonga looked to be nothing more than a dreary re-spin of AMD's existing technology, based on the same Radeon DNA as the Hawaii GPU introduced one year ago—and the Bonaire chip first outed in March of 2013. Those chips weren't that different from the Tahiti GPU that debuted at the end of 2011.

you know Scott Watson, the guy that now works for AMD

[zMeul]

Didn't you yourself make a news post here about AMD stating that it's the press that started GCN 1.X stuff and AMD doesn't?

no I did not, find my exact quote if you please

[MoonSpot]

no I did not, find my exact quote if you please

 

Fixed.  My bad.  Still same discussion though.

[Fetzie]

AMD?! don't you mean AMD's PR?!?!

because, as I said, AnandTech and the rest of the relevant outlets that reported on GCN architecture didn't invented the GCN naming nomenclature

no one ever posted a retraction after calling GCN 1.0, 1.1, 1.2

 

I am referring to AMD official press releases, not the press or community forums.

 

ABout the source of the "GCN 1.x" thing:

There are a number of subsidiary technologies included in the Polaris brand-name, alongside the GPU architecture itself. Hopefully this will help avoid confusion over which products belong to which family. When it launched GCN, AMD attempted to avoid various model numbers, instead referring to families of products (Tahiti, Hawaii, Tonga, etc). The problem with this approach is that it didn’t translate well to AMD’s model numbers. The press and public coined its own nomenclature of GCN 1.0, GCN 1.1, and GCN 1.2 to describe AMD’s feature sets, partly because the company’s previous approach wasn’t very clear.

 

My emphasis.

 

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/220302-amds-next-generation-polaris-gpu-architecture-unveiled

So yes, the press DID invent the GCN 1.x nomenclature. AMD's press releases always talk about a generation of GCN. Other websites call it a revision, they are wrong.

[Sakkura]

outdated!?!?

the link you posted is nothing more than AMD PR, and it refers to Polaris as 4th gen

---

the fact that AMD's PR confuses (intentionally or not) generation with revision, should scare the shit out of AMD's fanboys

 

Yes, outdated. It still uses the old placeholder names invented by the press, before AMD was explicit about the GCN versions. The press was thinking about the next gen being "GCN 1.3" but now it's officially GCN 4th gen.

 

And yeah it's AMD PR, which is the authoritative source with regard to the names of AMD products.

 

You still haven't addressed your mistake regarding Polaris being the architecture, rather than just a GPU.

[zMeul]

You still haven't addressed your mistake regarding Polaris being the architecture, rather than just a GPU.

no, that's not a mistake

Polaris is just a GPU, GPU that will probably arrive in two variants: PRO and XT - PRO being a cutdown version of the full chip, the XT

save this thread and put a reminder on it - we'll talk again in ~6+ months

over and out

[ivan134]

outdated!?!?

the link you posted is nothing more than AMD PR, and it refers to Polaris as 4th gen

---

the fact that AMD's PR confuses (intentionally or not) generation with revision, should scare the shit out of AMD's fanboys

Wait, what? Lol, scared why? What's the meaning behind it?

[VagabondWraith]

You're right. I've seen many performance vids from Digital Foundry at 1440p where the Fury X struggles to get marginally higher performance than even the 390x. It makes sense because the DX11 API can't take advantage of what the fury X has to offer so it ends up being a cripple and not an advantage. 

I think AMD can (and will) make improvements to the Fury X. That's what I don't like about AMD though, at least in this case. You have to wait for performance. nVidia offers that performance here and now. I certainly hope AMD will improve under the GCN 4.0 architecture. Hopefully its just driver overhead and they can sort things out under DX11. DX12 does seem promising but I won't proclaim anything yet as there's not enough evidence to extrapolate from. I would never be opposed to buying an AMD GPU as long as the performance is there day 1. I want to see them be more consistent with their drivers and become more active in getting their tech in games. Battlefront is the exact thing I'm looking for from AMD. I want to see more and more of that from them. That's a great baseline and I hope AMD becomes more aggressive in pursuing devs and get their advertising on par with nVidia. Sometimes I feel like AMD just sits there and takes it while nVidia is out there and aggressive.

 

I sincerely hope that AMD succeeds with Polaris. Nice to see a brand new architecture from them and I really hope they deliver. If they can match nVidia with day 1 drivers, support and make more efficient GPU's, I will not think twice in going for AMD. I'm just so entrenched in nVidia because of their support and it simply works. In the 2 years I've been using them, I've only had ONE driver crash. And it happened when I had just installed windows 10.

 

I would love to be able to grab a flagship Greenland GPU and a Freesync monitor. Its simply a cheaper option. But I'm staying with nVidia until I see AMD step up their game on par with their rivals. (Sorry for the long post. I got a little carried away.) :lol:

[Sakkura]

no, that's not a mistake

Polaris is just a GPU, GPU that will probably arrive in two variants: PRO and XT - PRO being a cutdown version of the full chip, the XT

save this thread and put a reminder on it - we'll talk again in ~6+ months

over and out

 

Are you for real? Dumbest claim I've seen on this forum, and that's saying something.

 

[Fetzie]

no, that's not a mistake

Polaris is just a GPU, GPU that will probably arrive in two variants: PRO and XT - PRO being a cutdown version of the full chip, the XT

save this thread and put a reminder on it - we'll talk again in ~6+ months

over and out

AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) provided customers with a glimpse of its upcoming 2016 Polaris GPU architecture, highlighting a wide range of significant architectural improvements including HDR monitor support, and industry-leading performance-per-watt. AMD expects shipments of Polaris architecture-based GPUs to begin in mid-2016.

AMD’s Polaris architecture-based 14nm FinFET GPUs deliver a remarkable generational jump in power efficiency. Polaris-based GPUs are designed for fluid frame rates in graphics, gaming, VR and multimedia applications running on compelling small form-factor thin and light computer designs.

“Our new Polaris architecture showcases significant advances in performance, power efficiency and features,” said Lisa Su, president and CEO, AMD. “2016 will be a very exciting year for Radeon™ fans driven by our Polaris architecture, Radeon Software Crimson Edition and a host of other innovations in the pipeline from our Radeon Technologies Group.”

The Polaris architecture features AMD’s 4th generation Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture, a next-generation display engine with support for HDMI® 2.0a and DisplayPort 1.3, and next-generation multimedia features including 4K h.265 encoding and decoding.

 

http://www.amd.com/en-us/press-releases/Pages/amd-demonstrates-2016jan04.aspx

 

 

The press release says that it is an ARCHITECTURE seven times in as many lines. Heck, look at its title.

 

AMD Demonstrates Revolutionary 14nm FinFET Polaris GPU Architecture

 

Again. "Polaris GPU Architecture".

 

It is the name for the architecture.

[zMeul]

@Sakkura + @Fetzie
AMD's PR blah blah blah blah

as I said, we'll talk again in 6+ months when actual products are on reviewer's hands

---

I totally expect a case of cubans from each of you when this turns out to be right  :lol:

[afyeung]

 

 

 

He's right that there is a Pro(cut down) and XT(full version) for architectures like Hawaii(290 and 290x). But we probably won't care much about Polaris anyways since it looks like it's geared to the low end market. 

[afyeung]

Nice to see that even though you have 980ti you're not an Nvidia elitist lol. We're all consumers and just want the best possible stuff for our money. That's why being a fanboy makes no sense(in general, not guided towards anybody). 

[Fetzie]

@Sakkura + @Fetzie

AMD's PR blah blah blah blah

as I said, we'll talk again in 6+ months when actual products are on reviewer's hands

 

AMD PR is a damn sight closer to the project than you are.

 

Nobody except you is saying that the GPUs will be called "Polaris XT" and "Polaris Pro". You are wrong. The cards will be the R9 490 and R9 490X. The GPUs (the chip on the cards) will be something like "Greenland Pro" and "Greenland XT".

 

You are in a minority of one. Everybody from AMD to TechReport to OC3D to Anandtech and ArsTechnica is saying that Polaris is the architecture, not the GPUs. I don't know where you got this information from, but maybe you want to choose your sources more wisely in the future.

 

Actually, who DID you get this information from? Care to share a link to it?

 

He's right that there is a Pro(cut down) and XT(full version) for architectures like Hawaii(290 and 290x). But we probably won't care much about Polaris anyways since it looks like it's geared to the low end market. 

 

Yes, there will be a Pro and an XT version. But they will NOT be called Polaris.

[Sakkura]

He's right that there is a Pro(cut down) and XT(full version) for architectures like Hawaii(290 and 290x). But we probably won't care much about Polaris anyways since it looks like it's geared to the low end market.

Hawaii is a GPU, not an architecture. Polaris is an architecture and should span the whole range eventually.

[ivan134]

I think AMD can (and will) make improvements to the Fury X. That's what I don't like about AMD though, at least in this case. You have to wait for performance. nVidia offers that performance here and now. I certainly hope AMD will improve under the GCN 4.0 architecture. Hopefully its just driver overhead and they can sort things out under DX11. DX12 does seem promising but I won't proclaim anything yet as there's not enough evidence to extrapolate from. I would never be opposed to buying an AMD GPU as long as the performance is there day 1. I want to see them be more consistent with their drivers and become more active in getting their tech in games. Battlefront is the exact thing I'm looking for from AMD. I want to see more and more of that from them. That's a great baseline and I hope AMD becomes more aggressive in pursuing devs and get their advertising on par with nVidia. Sometimes I feel like AMD just sits there and takes it while nVidia is out there and aggressive.

 

I sincerely hope that AMD succeeds with Polaris. Nice to see a brand new architecture from them and I really hope they deliver. If they can match nVidia with day 1 drivers, support and make more efficient GPU's, I will not think twice in going for AMD. I'm just so entrenched in nVidia because of their support and it simply works. In the 2 years I've been using them, I've only had ONE driver crash. And it happened when I had just installed windows 10.

 

I would love to be able to grab a flagship Greenland GPU and a Freesync monitor. Its simply a cheaper option. But I'm staying with nVidia until I see AMD step up their game on par with their rivals. (Sorry for the long post. I got a little carried away.) :lol:

I don't see the Fury(X) getting any better than they are now. AMD's current drivers are as good as they can get. They are badly designed cards with only 64 ROPs and inability to overclock. Dx12 doesn't even look like a saving grace for them since preliminary dx 12 benchmarks for Ashes of the Singularity and Fable Legends also show very little performance gains over the 390x, especially for the amount you pay for them. AMD dropped the ball on Fiji. I'm suspecting that HBM is the reason they're such bad overclockers, which is why I'm not as excited as everyone else for HBM2. I'd like to be proven wrong though.

[Prysin]

Neat

[Trixanity]

snip

I'm quite certain what he's trying to say is that Polaris will only find its way into two SKUs and that the rest will be rebranded models. Or in other words: he's trolling.

This is despite AMD stating they'll release new stuff from top to bottom.

[dragosudeki]

I don't see the Fury(X) getting any better than they are now. AMD's current drivers are as good as they can get. They are badly designed cards with only 64 ROPs and inability to overclock. Dx12 doesn't even look like a saving grace for them since preliminary dx 12 benchmarks for Ashes of the Singularity and Fable Legends also show very little performance gains over the 390x, especially for the amount you pay for them. AMD dropped the ball on Fiji. I'm suspecting that HBM is the reason they're such bad overclockers, which is why I'm not as excited as everyone else for HBM2. I'd like to be proven wrong though.

I really hope the reason Fury is a bad overclocker because it was such an early, quick push for the HBM technology. While we did see improvements in fps, Fury didn't really blow any minds with the amazing memory improvements. I think we will only see HBM2's potential in the next generation of cards, otherwise it doesn't seem like the technology is a good option. Hopefully there are high end GDDR5 cards in the next lineup to further compare whether HBM is needed right now.

[afyeung]

Hawaii is a GPU, not an architecture. Polaris is an architecture and should span the whole range eventually.

Yep. So Polaris encompasses all of 4th gen GCN? Like the Hawaii and Bonaire chips are GCN 1.1

[Starelementpoke]

Lol. No. Just no. I pay as much attention as the next person yet I don't spread misinformation.

Says the man who's title literally is Intel/Nivida enthusiast. You don't come off as the most unbiased person you know.

[afyeung]

 

You're right for now. Honestly who knows how this will all turn out. We're all giving AMD a good chance and I think they deserve it. 

[Sakkura]

Yep. So Polaris encompasses all of 4th gen GCN? Like the Hawaii and Bonaire chips are GCN 1.1

Yeah. We'll have to wait and see how many GPUs will be built on that architecture.