Information leak reveals more details in AMD’s roadmap
While all eyes are focused on AMD’s upcoming ‘Summit Ridge processors’ and VEGA graphics cards, which are all set to be launched in 2017, there is a chance the company might release three versions of the latter instead of two (Vega 10, Vega 11, and Vega 20), according to the latest information leaks. AMD’s roadmap has been pointing to a potential 2018 launch for the next-generation “Navi” graphics chips. However, the leak has pointed out that the AMD’s Navi cards might not arrive into the market until sometime in 2019.
Now we know that it’s a leak, but if the information is correct, this would mean that AMD has pushed Navi back a whole year. It is speculated that AMD wants these graphics cards to roughly launch in the same window as its first “Summit Ridge” processors (based on the latest Zen core architecture).
Quite recently, however, AMD has also made a decision to push Vega product releases all the way back from 2016’s second half to 2017 with no explanations or apparent reasons.
While we can’t wait for AMD bringing ‘high-end’ back to enthusiasts with the Summit Ridge FX CPUs, the company currently offers two variants of its current graphics chip Polaris (named Polaris 10 and Polaris 11).
The Polaris 10 graphics chip is used by Radeon RX 480/Radeon RX 470 cards, and the Polaris 11 model is implemented in the Radeon RX 460.
Now first off is the Vega news. In 2017, there will be products based on Vega 10, Vega 11, and Vega 20. So let’s talk about these a little bit.
Vega 10
- Products set for arrival: First quarter of 2017
- Technology: AMD’s 14nm GFX9 graphics core
- Compute units: 64
- Shader processors: 4,096
- Power requirement: Expected to be 225W
The Vega 10 will be providing enthusiasts up to 12 TFLOPS of single-precision floating point performance. This will be compensated by 8 or16 gigabytes of local next-generation “stacked” HBM video memory. These products will be going toe to toe with Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1070/GTX 1080 graphics cards in the market. Right now, it is speculated that AMD will provide a graphics card with two Vega 10 chips, demanding a power of approximately 300 watts to run.
The next thing AMD plans to go after is the Nvidia’s GeForce GTX Titan X card (now updated), and the go-to artillery for this one will be a Vega 11 product. However, The Vega 11 is more or less a mid-range chip that has been designed to replace the Polaris 10 from AMD’s product stack. Primarily, it will provide users with a slightly higher overall performance at a vastly better performance per Watt of power.
Vega 11
- Products set for arrival: First half of 2017
- Shader processors: 6,144
Now the highlight of this information leak is the mention of the Vega 20. This graphics chip may include 32GB of “stacked” HBM2 video memory, a smaller form factor, and will be based on the 7 nm GF9 that is being developed by GlobalFoundries. The latter will allow AMD to go ahead and pack some more cores into the Vega 20. It’s also rumored to have PCI Express 4.0 support. This is what else is rumored about the Vega 20.
Vega 20
- Set for arrival: 2017
- Technology: 7nm process technology, GFX9 core
- Shader processors: 4,096
- Power requirement: 150W
Next, up, we have Navi, arriving in two variants (Navi 10 and Navi 11). At this time, the technical specifications of these are unknown. AMD has said that Navi will support next-generation video memory (likely the HBM3), so that’s something to look forward to. These variants will also be more ‘scalable.’ But given AMD’s Vega products being pushed back into 2017 without no explanations, don’t be surprised if Navi gets delayed as well.
Leave a Reply