AMD Radeon Rx 300 series rumored to include many rebranded cards

[Scorpus]

Hidden in the latest AMD Catalyst 15.3 beta drivers, released alongside FreeSync last week, are a few pieces of information that hint at what might be in store for the upcoming Radeon Rx 300 series. Specifically, we might be in for another season of GPU re-brands.

While we're expecting the Radeon R9 380 and above to feature brand new GPUs, the Radeon R9 370 appears to be a straight rebrand of the Radeon R7 270X, which itself was a rebrand of the Radeon HD 8870, a further re-brand of the Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition. Yes, that would make the R9 370 a fourth-generation rebrand of a card first released in early 2012.

The R9 360, with its 'Tobago' GPU, is reportedly a rebrand or new iteration of the Bonnaire GPU used in the Radeon R7 260, R7 260X and the HD 7790. The upcoming R7 350X, R7 340 and R5 340X all allegedly use Oland GPUs, making them rebrands of the R7 250, R7 240 and R5 240 respectively.

Mobile GPUs from the R5 M320 to the R9 M375X are also thought to be rebrands of previous generation cards, with higher end discrete cards using new GPUs, similar what we're expecting for the desktop line.

The cards were discovered to be rebrands by matching device IDs listed in Catalyst 15.3 with known device IDs for existing GPUs. This understandably isn't the most concrete confirmation, and should be taken with a grain of salt, but it could well give an insight into AMD's plans for the upcoming Rx 300 series.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/60128-amd-radeon-rx-300-series-rumored-include-many.html

 

[SirDigby]

It saves money on R&D and manufacturing as you don't have to research anything new or get in/ change any equipment which is good for the business as it's saving costs, but it is poor for technology and comes across as incredibly lazy. It's 2015 and they're still releasing cards produced in 2012, at least Nvidia cards offer some improvements, even if they are a rebrand.

 

[madboyv1]

I don't pay attention enough, but how often does NVidia rebrand cards? I find the whole concept damning, akin to trying to sell an old car with new paint. For how much I hear of it occuring from AMD's bench, I just want to make sure my disgust of the practice is properly allocated.

 

[Spykezxp]

Re-branding once is one thing, but when you get to two/three/or more times.... That's when you need to think about switching "Game Plans". Only thing that pops into my head when I read this article was that AMD still has a lot of left over video cards that did not sell. If they really want to make money, they should lower the prices down more (just enough that they are making a small profit). The cards will sell faster and they can get rid of the cards they are trying to "Re-Brand".

 

[madboyv1]

If they really want to make money, they should lower the prices down more (just enough that they are making a small profit). The cards will sell faster and they can get rid of the cards they are trying to "Re-Brand".

That does not particularly make any profit (lots of other variables that would marginalize that profit), but it does clear inventory if the demand @ lower cost is there. Compared to NVidia, AMD's cards are pretty inexpensive already, not sure how much farther they can go.

 

[wiyosaya]

I am not saying that I agree with it, but I'll speculate on what is going on. My guess would be that AMD manufactured far too many of the chips they are rebranding and instead of throwing them out, which would be a complete waste of money, they are rebranding them in an effort to sell their existing stock.

If I am wrong and these are new silicon, then my guess is that AMD simply does not have the funding to develop new chips at that price point. Enthusiasts with deep pockets will jump all over the new chips in the line, and as long as there is enough advancement in the new chips to keep them competitive with nVidia, then I am sure that it will not hurt AMD.

 

[Adhmuz]

It's one thing to re-brand cards, it's another to keep them in the same performance category as the previous iteration, 7870 GHz to 8870, 8870 to 270x is bad, it should of been the 260x and now they want to reuse it again as the 370, which again, being a previous gen card should be knocked down the totem poll for newer, faster cards, it should be something like a 350 or 350x. The whole numbering/naming scheme has been design to mislead and confuse people in to thinking they're getting new technology but instead they're just getting ripped off.

 

[Seventh Reign]

I don't pay attention enough, but how often does NVidia rebrand cards? I find the whole concept damning, akin to trying to sell an old car with new paint. For how much I hear of it occuring from AMD's bench, I just want to make sure my disgust of the practice is properly allocated.

Nvidia has done it quite a few times. It is definitely not a rare occurrence.

 

[Puiu]

Something that was to be expected. I haven't seen new generation cards without rebrandings. in general only high end cards get new GPUs while lower end just get an updated version. I'm more interested in seeing what updates they make to the rebranded cards.

 

[theBest11778]

I suspect the fact that we're still using a 28nm process is the real issue here. AMD expected to be at 20nm last year, and 16nm this year, but production on 20nm never really happened, and 16nm is being used up by Apple at the moment. Nvidia saw the writing on the wall and were able to shift Maxwell with the GTX 750ti being a test run. After that GPU succeeded they went on producing larger Maxwell GPUs. I'm guessing AMD didn't want to gamble, or their latest architectures just didn't work properly on a 28nm process. Either way the rebrand scheme is fine as long as a new top tier is produced, and all other tiers are knocked down a level (7870 originally an upper midrange card, should be replaced by a 7970, as the R9 290's should replace the low highend spectrum, with the new GPUs taking the top spots.)

It should all work out in the end.

 

[Kibaruk]

In the end the naming scheme won't affect you if you do your research, take benchmarks into consideration and whatnot, you'll still end up getting the best on your budget. This might be a problem for those who have more money than sense, and even then not by that much.

 

[amstech]

Both companies do it but my gut feeling says red do it more, although that may not be true. That being said you can only go to the well so many times.

The other way of looking at it is; if gamers know for sure this is another rebrand they will be expecting something new next time around, and on top of that, these companies will know users/gamers are expecting something new next time around.

 

[Guest]

Rerebranded

 

[Evernessince]

It saves money on R&D and manufacturing as you don't have to research anything new or get in/ change any equipment which is good for the business as it's saving costs, but it is poor for technology and comes across as incredibly lazy. It's 2015 and they're still releasing cards produced in 2012, at least Nvidia cards offer some improvements, even if they are a rebrand.

Yeah, lying straight to your face always yields results. 3.5 Gbs of ram isn't an improvement.

 

[Guest]

I'd take a rebranded 7950 any day as long as the price is right.

Still I think AMD should innovate in it's top tier vidcards and some time later get that tech down to lower tiers.

 

[CaptainTom]

Most of the Low-end GPU's are rebrands? When the hell was this ever a new thing lol.

 

[veLa]

No big deal since they're the low end cards. Nvidia did this with the GTX 680/770 last generation, and that was an uppet high end card being rebranded as an upper mainstream/lower high end card.

 

[Guest]

So I just read essentially the same article over wccftech and this one makes more sense and is less suprising, as th rebrands are essentially getting bumped down a product spot. Fine by me, nvidia spends more on r&d then AMD by a bit and all they really do is gpu architecture, where AMD has its processors to think about as well, which is what makes the mistakes of their great maxwell architecture so glaring. Im willing to cut AMD at least a little slack on that piont alone, unless the new R9's just plain suck.

 

[pieceofSchmitt]

Performance per dollar is all that matters