AMD shows off next-generation Polaris 10 GPU, architecture roadmap at GDC 2016

[Scorpus]

During AMD's GDC 2016 keynote, the company showed off a next-generation GPU from their upcoming Polaris line. Known as the Polaris 10, this new GPU is built using a 14nm FinFET manufacturing process, and fully supports emerging technologies like DirectX 12 and virtual reality.

The showcase at GDC involved Hitman running at 1440p, 60 FPS, although quality settings weren't mentioned. For comparison, a top-end Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Ti is able to run Hitman at just below 60 FPS at 1440p on maximum quality settings, so it seems Polaris 10 is quite powerful.

AMD claims their Polaris architecture has "industry-leading performance-per-watt", and they've backed that up with some statistics. An unspecified Polaris GPU running Star Wars Battlefront on medium settings at 1080p 60 FPS consumed just 86W, compared to Nvidia's Maxwell-based GeForce GTX 950 which used 140W at the same settings.

AMD also revealed their roadmap for future GPU architectures, including "Vega" in early 2017 with HBM2 (expected to be an extension to Polaris), and "Navi" in 2018 with next-generation memory. As the main focus for AMD at present is Polaris, the company isn't detailing either of these architectures just yet.

Also today: AMD announces Radeon Pro Duo graphics card alongside more VR initiatives

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https://www.techspot.com/news/64106-amd-shows-off-next-generation-polaris-10-gpu.html

 

[DKRON]

Fooled us once AMD!

 

[VitalyT]

Fooled us once AMD!

Perhaps you meant they told truth once and fooled us ever since? AMD is a chronic lair.

Look at their fancy road-map, they are gonna take us to another galaxy,... just as they crawl out of the cave that is.

 

[Lionvibez]

Fear not brothers the industry has been stuck at 28nm for ages now.

14nm FinFET is gonna be good for everyone.

 

[dividebyzero]

Fear not brothers the industry has been stuck at 28nm for ages now.
14nm FinFET is gonna be good for everyone.

I'll feel better when something better than a mainstream GPU gets spec leaked/benchmarked. All the talk from both Nvidia and AMD at the moment tends to point towards mobile parts.
Globalfoundries past record tends to bring to mind the adage "Don't count your chickens until they've hatched".

That top slide is a hoot. Aside from dubious scaling and the changing nature of the baseline for any given market segment, they seem to have just shrunk the die shot of the RV770 numerous times

Spoiler

 

[sasat]

Fooled us once AMD!

Perhaps you meant they told truth once and fooled us ever since? AMD is a chronic lair.

Look at their fancy road-map, they are gonna take us to another galaxy,... just as they crawl out of the cave that is.

Totally agree, AMD is the last company you would wanna trust

 

[mrcrunch08]

Fooled us once AMD!

Perhaps you meant they told truth once and fooled us ever since? AMD is a chronic lair.

Look at their fancy road-map, they are gonna take us to another galaxy,... just as they crawl out of the cave that is.

Totally agree, AMD is the last company you would wanna trust

In a world without Nvidia or Intel I would agree. Unfortunately they exist so I have to give that nod to Nvidia. I'm not going to lie and say I'm not a fan of their 900 series cards but they take the cake for untrustworthy company.

 

[Raoul Duke]

Part of this is a propaganda war, they (AMD) run a company, to keep the analysts and investors going they have to present something lest the market gets worried, the money runs away and they collapse into financial ruin.
C'mon, we're living in a place where even though a company can make record profits, if they fall short of analysts expectations their stock takes a hit.
So get the company name out there, make it look like they've got something coming that rivals the invention of indoor plumbing and toilet paper and they survive for the moment.

 

[NahNood]

Exciting new hardware always sounds great, but we all know it's all about the drivers! That always seems to be where we''re let down an awful lot.

 

[EEatGDL]

Fooled us once AMD!

Perhaps you meant they told truth once and fooled us ever since? AMD is a chronic lair.

Look at their fancy road-map, they are gonna take us to another galaxy,... just as they crawl out of the cave that is.

Totally agree, AMD is the last company you would wanna trust

In a world without Nvidia or Intel I would agree. Unfortunately they exist so I have to give that nod to Nvidia. I'm not going to lie and say I'm not a fan of their 900 series cards but they take the cake for untrustworthy company.

Let's see, not being thrutful or not meeting -their own set- expectations during the same time period:
AMD: Bulldozer, Piledriver, Sea Islands, Fury X [everyone was wondering about their testing and comparison methodology here]
NVIDIA: GTX 970 [still meeting performance expectations]

The point is AMD has a big mouth and that's where those comments are coming from; not exactly about corporate honesty. To be fair, this time I believe them with some reservations since we know the key people behind the next architectures in both CPUs and GPUs; I just find that perf/watt graphic shady since there are no values on the vertical axis and the next architectures may be any value even supposing it follows a semilog pattern.

 

[dividebyzero]

I just find that perf/watt graphic shady since there are no values on the vertical axis and the next architectures may be any value even supposing it follows a semilog pattern.

There is also the matter of what "28nm" GPU they are using as their baseline. The horizontal points towards Q4 2014, and the only release in that timeframe is the abysmal (from a perf/watt point of view) R9 285.

Anyone else notice that during the presentation that the system running the demo stayed frozen on the "Mission Failed" screen from Hitman for all the subsequent 90 minutes of the presentation after the demo ran. Not the best subliminal advertising I've ever witnessed Hardly seemed worth the effort considering the demo ran for what seemed like a minute or less.