AMD has unveiled 2 Polaris GPUs and will deliver "The most revolutionary jump in performance so far"

[ivan134]

I would be impressed if that Polaris 10 demo showing off the low power usage vs. the 950 was using GDDR5 instead of HBM, as the former is significantly more power hungry. 

 

There does appear to be a huge gap between Polaris 11 and 10.  Hopefully it will be possible to buy a Polaris 11 chip with HBM part without selling a kidney.  The only rebrands that are of any interest to me are the Fury and Fury X. 

 

This has the makings of a great year in the PC space with the move to 14nm on the graphics side and a new CPU architecture in Zen.  Really looking forward to it.

All R9 400 and Pascal cards are going to be 14/16nm so there aren't going to be any rebrands. All cards from both are going to support dx 12_0 and 12_1, so there isn't going to be any transfer of architecture to a smaller node. Also, the likelihood of seeing HBM/HBM2 on anything other than their flagships and their cutdowns is very low imo. Everything will most likely use GDDR5(X).

[marldorthegreat]

@alluminiumtech http://www.overclock3d.net/articles/gpu_displays/amd_has_two_polaris_gpus_coming_this_year/1 

"While talking to PCPER AMD's Joe Macri stated that they expect FinFET to bring a 50-60% drop in power consumption for the same performance or a 25-30% performance boost with the same power consumption, which are both very large numbers to consider. 

With such a large reduction in power consumption at the same level of GPU power AMD will see a drastic improvement in their performance per watt, especially for their mobile products. 

Remember that this was talking about FinFETs alone, so hopefully AMD's architectural improvements will allow AMD to deliver an even greater increase in GPU performance. "

[TheRandomness]

Finally able to see some AMD GPUs in more laptops c:

[Nena Trinity]

I hope they make some good Linux drivers before the Polaris release!

[ivan134]

I hope they make some good Linux drivers before the Polaris release!

Just move to Windows for your sanity, or at least dual boot. I would like competition too, but Linux gaming seems like a pipe dream at this point. Lord GabeN was our last hope, but he dropped the ball.

[Nena Trinity]

Just move to Windows for your sanity, or at least dual boot. I would like competition too, but Linux gaming seems like a pipe dream at this point. Lord GabeN was our last hope, but he dropped the ball.

I do dual-boot but Windows is so crap also I have limited room on my Windows drive...

[Bob Jim]

I do dual-boot but Windows is so crap also I have limited room on my Windows drive...

Aside from the price, what advantages does linux have that the average every day user would actually want (so not servers or whatever)

[Nena Trinity]

Aside from the price, what advantages does linux have that the average every day user would actually want (so not servers or whatever)

More stable less spying and viruses? (in some cases games run better it depends on CPU or GPU bound the latter normally run worse...)

[escape093]

I typed something stupid here and I couldn't delete it and I couldn't think of anything else to put here and I really need to do some work right now and I have dinner and I needed to right something so I wrote this.

[flipped_bit]

Aside from the price, what advantages does linux have that the average every day user would actually want (so not servers or whatever)

 

Advantages:

 

- free

- more customizable (e.g. choose your GUI)

- no spying/privacy invasion by OS vendor (at least that we know about, and some distros have no doubt taken steps in this direction)

- more secure/safer (in part due to system architecture, also because the attack surface is much smaller due to relatively small installed base)

 

That said, although I use Linux frequently and really like it, I can't recommend the average home user switch from Windows.  Linux has the same problem Blackberry has/had with BB10 OS: no apps/ecosystem.  If you're a software developer Linux is a great platform (but even then you'll probably need a Windows VM for certain software). 

 

If a person just uses their PC for web browsing, e-mail, and basic office productivity, Linux is great.  But want to prepare your taxes?  Software doesn't run on it?  Want to play that new game?  Odds are it doesn't support Linux.  Want access to advanced productivity functions?  LibreOffice is great for 95% of use cases, but for some stuff it's Excel or bust - and Excel doesn't run on Linux.  Hopefully initiatives like SteamOS increase its popularity and we get more momentum from software publishers to support the platform. 

[Sauron]

Well, it had better be 60% faster than fiji then ^^

[MoonSpot]

What evidence is there that all ATI's new cards are going to be on their latest and most costly process node?  That seems like some seriously out to lunch wishful thinking to me.

 

I expect RTG lineup to remain the same with Polaris simply being injected as an additional offering until such a time that radeon says otherwise.

[Bob Jim]

What evidence is there that all ATI's new cards are going to be on their latest and most costly process node?  That seems like some seriously out to lunch wishful thinking to me.

 

I expect RTG lineup to remain the same with Polaris simply being injected as an additional offering until such a time that radeon says otherwise.

Every time AMD has had a die shrink, the entire lineup has shrunken - bar APUs. Look at the Wikipedia Radeon article.

[SteveGrabowski0]

Aside from the price, what advantages does linux have that the average every day user would actually want (so not servers or whatever)

 

It's easier to get things done with the BASH shell. If I want to download a bunch of pictures off a webpage it's easy to write a BASH script to do so. If I want to rename every video file on my hard drive to a different naming format I can do that easily by writing a BASH script. If I want to download a bunch of streaming video to my hard drive I can write a BASH script to call mplayer and rip it. The BASH shell makes Linux much more user friendly if you take the time to learn BASH scripting. If you like programming at all the BASH shell is a really powerful way to get normally mundane things done. That to me is by far the biggest advantage Linux has.

[AnnoyedShelf]

Fuck yeah AMD! Can't wait to see some GPU's blow Nvidia out of the water.

[flipped_bit]

It's easier to get things done with the BASH shell. If I want to download a bunch of pictures off a webpage it's easy to write a BASH script to do so. If I want to rename every video file on my hard drive to a different naming format I can do that easily by writing a BASH script. If I want to download a bunch of streaming video to my hard drive I can write a BASH script to call mplayer and rip it. The BASH shell makes Linux much more user friendly if you take the time to learn BASH scripting. If you like programming at all the BASH shell is a really powerful way to get normally mundane things done. That to me is by far the biggest advantage Linux has.

 

He asked about the "average everyday user" though.  That user doesn't know a lick of programming.  For an intermediate to advanced user, the ability to write BASH scripts is a big plus.   

[Delicieuxz]

AMD confirms high-end Polaris GPU will be released in 2016 / details performance targets

 

Excerpt:

 

AMD is working on two versions of its upcoming Polaris graphics architecture: Polaris 10 and Polaris 11. In an interview with VentureBeat, graphics chief Raja Koduri explained that one of those GPUs is aimed at thin-and-light laptops and entry-level desktops, while the the other is a larger, high-performance GPU designed to take back the premium graphics card market currently dominated by rival Nvidia.

 

...

 

"When we set to design this GPU, we set a completely different goal than for the usual way the PC road maps go," explained Koduri. "Those are driven by 'the benchmark score this year is X. Next year we need to target 20 percent better at this cost and this power.' We decided to do something exciting with this GPU. Let's spike it so we can accomplish something we hadn't accomplished before."

 

...

 

Aside from Polaris, Koduri also told VentureBeat about AMD's VR ambitions. According to Koduri, current VR implementations (unsurprisingly?) have image quality that is "lower quality than a simple hand mirror... [which] has much better contrast, much better pixel resolution, infinite pixel resolution."

 

"Our goal, the path we're on, is to get to that mirror-like quality. What the eye can see in a display today is a small fraction of what it can see in the outside world."

 

As for the future, Koduri said that AMD's next goal was to reach "photorealism in VR," something that's currently achieved by "rendering a frame for several hours."

 

So, with 4K gaming, 120 Hz monitors, and VR, it looks like newer tech's greater graphics power needs are going to be reflected in the capabilities of the upcoming generation of graphics hardware. Even if Polaris and Pascal are 6 or so months away from release, this probably is not an ideal time to be upgrading graphics hardware for anyone on a budget, as the next generation GPUs are going to create a bigger difference to current GPUs than typically occurs, and it sounds like AMD's price / power targets are going to be notable just like their overall performance increase targets are.

 

Such a move would make a big statement of presence for AMD in the gaming hardware market, to coincide with AMD's renewed focus on high-end hardware. It could provoke Nvidia to also push for more than they normally do, so this sounds like an overall great-for-gamers and for technology standards development.

[marldorthegreat]

Well, it had better be 60% faster than fiji then ^^

It better be atleast %60 faster.

 

Fuck yeah AMD! Can't wait to see some GPU's blow Nvidia out of the water.

Doubt they will blow nvidia out of the water

[marldorthegreat]

Nothing new, its in this post. its kind of a repost.  http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/528975-amd-has-unveiled-2-polaris-gpus-and-will-deliver-the-most-revolutionary-jump-in-performance-so-far/page-1. 

[Memories4K]

I love the guy man.

This is good stuff and i'm really excited for Polaris 11 and Greenland.

[Memories4K]

Just move to Windows for your sanity, or at least dual boot. I would like competition too, but Linux gaming seems like a pipe dream at this point. Lord GabeN was our last hope, but he dropped the ball.

Yeah, Linux on desktop just seems like a lost cause at this point.

Anywhere else and Linux seems to be able to do more than just hold it's own.

[SteveGrabowski0]

He asked about the "average everyday user" though.  That user doesn't know a lick of programming.  For an intermediate to advanced user, the ability to write BASH scripts is a big plus.   

 

True. It's pretty much just price then, as there is so much good free software for Linux. Some free equivalents are shitty though, I can't get used to the horrible UI in GIMP and run Photoshop in a VM instead when I'm on Linux, for example. Though thankfully there is lots of great pay software on Linux too, like MATLAB for instance. So you don't always have to settle like with GIMP vs Photoshop.

[Delicieuxz]

Nothing new, its in this post. its kind of a repost.  http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/528975-amd-has-unveiled-2-polaris-gpus-and-will-deliver-the-most-revolutionary-jump-in-performance-so-far/page-1. 

I would have posted it in that thread, but the subject of discussion is different. Here there are specific performance barometers being detailed. A mod can move it if they think otherwise.

[MoonSpot]

@Delicieuxz please edit op for night theme.  It's difficult to read.

[marldorthegreat]

I would have posted it in that thread, but the subject of discussion is different. Here there are specific performance barometers being detailed. A mod can move it if they think otherwise.

I was unsure, so Ill ask.