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Sources with knowledge of Advanced Micro Devices’ roadmap have revealed that the company plans to introduce its new family of Radeon R9 300-series graphics cards closer to Computex than CeBIT, as originally planned. AMD had hoped to push out one or two new cards in March and then re-brand many others to refresh the range. That is no longer the plan.
The challenge for Advanced Micro Devices is that it needs to achieve two rather different (and sometimes opposing) tasks in the first half of this year. It must significantly reduce inventory in the channel and it has to try and boost its dropping market share. If AMD does not ship anything new, its own sales and market share will decline. However, if AMD ships brand-new offerings, older hardware stalls in the channel, impacts prices and makes it difficult to sell new products.
FOLLOW UP: AMD demonstrates unannounced flagship Radeon R9 at GDC.
According to sources from the Far East, AMD originally wanted to unleash at least one of its all-new Radeon R9 300-series graphics card at the CeBIT trade-show in early March. These new cards would feature the company’s latest high-end GPU and high-bandwidth memory (HBM). If AMD’s engineers have done a good job, then this Radeon R9 290-series replacement would be the company’s fastest card ever, especially with the latest games running ultra-high-definition resolutions like 4K or 5K. If that happens, then the launch would significantly disrupt sales of all other Radeon R9 series products, so the company decided not to unveil its new top-of-the-range graphics boards this month.
Once AMD has a new Radeon R9-class product ready, it could change the schedule again, but it seems that the company does not want to launch its new product as soon as possible. In the wake of the GeForce GTX 970 memory allocation issue for Nvidia, a new launch might have helped AMD capture market share, but it now seems to be taking other factors into account.
The sources with knowledge of AMD plans revealed to KitGuru that Computex has been targeted as the launch timeframe for AMD’s upcoming graphics adapters and a “full line up” was demanded from senior management and engineers. Instead of launching just one new graphics solution and a load of re-brands, AMD intends to roll-out a whole new range of graphics cards at Computex in early June. At present details about the lineup are not clear, but expect several all-new graphics solutions to be unveiled, whereas some re-branded products will likely show up in the following months.
While AMD does not comment on reports about product plans and launch schedules, the company indirectly confirmed that its new graphics processing units will be out rather later than sooner during the Morgan Stanley Technology, media and telecom conference this week. Apparently, AMD considers second half of this year as a time when it will try to regain lost market share from Nvidia.
“We are confident that as we get into the second half of 2015 with the launch of that [new graphics] product, we will gain back the market share which is low from my standpoint and historically,” said Devinder Kumar, chief financial officer of AMD. “We need to be significantly higher than where we are right now.”
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KitGuru Says: The reason why AMD prefers to delay introduction of new graphics processing units seems could be rather simple: sales dynamics of Radeon R9 280- and 290-series is not very good in the first quarter and AMD’s partners need additional time to get rid of them. Still, while AMD’s plan regarding launch timeframe seems to be clear now, the details about the exact lineup will probably remain in doubt until the last moment. KitGuru will continue to investigate AMD’s intentions in the coming weeks.
Interesting, they will still rebrand the 285 and its unreleased x version (hopefully as a 4gb only version).
They need to figure out what they want to do. I’m about to build a pc that has amd or nvidia in it. I want to play 4k with freesync or gsync.
That CFO needs to be fired. AMD you had a huge opportunity during the GTX 970 fiasco. All these enthusist pc gamers are waiting for Nvidias GM200 and the R9 390X. Well Nvidia just announced Titan X and is set to release it in two weeks at GTC. If it and a possible 980 TI are released a full 3 months before the release of the R9 390X then you have just lost the entire high end enthusiast market. I wanted to buy a 390X and help save AMD but it seems they don’t want to save themselves.
We’ll see how much truth there is to this after AMD’s final GDC presentation today on DX12. If they’re going to do any announcements for the 300 series, it’ll be there. Until then, I’m reserving judgment.
I’m looking at upgrading my GPU. I’m sitting here waiting for this announcement to see which way to go. I’m hoping for prices drops on Nvidia 9xx cards and competitive pricing on R9 3xx cards. If I have to wait until June, I’m gonna be pretty upset. I have a 7950 now so it’s not like I’m struggling to play things. I just want to upgrade before my son is born.
I was under the assumption that they were doing an actual announcement session. But I’m hoping you’re right.
From what I understood they were only going to release the specs of the Titan X in two weeks not release it. I may be wrong but that’s what I got from the announcement but either way I am upset with AMD at this point cause I was looking forward to having some idea of when they were going to release their 300 series so I could finish my AMD build. Looks like I will have to forgo the full AMD build and go with Nvidia. I do agree with you that by doing this they are hurting themselves more then they realize.
Take the lose on the inventory that’s out there and start making a come back ny rolling out new cards even if they are rebrands. They will have to come up with something really big to be able to beat that titan x at this point.
Interesting. Somehow it makes sense, but why not clear the channels with more price cuts? Release one 3xx series card that beats the 980 at/or 50$ below the 980 price. Most users arent gonna spend over 500$ on a video card anyway, so at least take the performance crown and gain some forward momentum back rather than mystery and speculation.
You’re an idiot. You’re fired.
You idiots keep speculating and putting in illogical opinions on AMD vs Nvidia.
Heh, me too. Mostly since I’d really like them to release sooner rather than later, and I can’t imagine them wasting all this time.
He’s absolutely right. Whoever decided to stall a new release just to “keep old product sales up” needs to be fired.
As someone who is waiting on the R9 300 series for quite a while, I’m ready to go to the competitors as of this article. This is a cheap, sleazy way to keep sales on older products that they WILL NOT see a rise in sales from. If anything, this is going to deter potential buyers more, and they’re going to pay the same amount in inventory costs as they do now with no exceeding sales.
Want to decrease the competitors income and significantly raise your own? Release the product – showing it does not have the same flaw as your competitor AND has better specs, release it with a price easily comparable, then not only decrease prices on your own older products & market them, the competition will have no choice but to decrease their prices on older products as well. People who can’t afford or won’t afford this video card are easily going to wait for a price drop on other cards either way, and this way you aren’t deterring any future customers (like myself) from jumping ship due to some poor, wanna-be clever marketing ploy to try and wring out as much sales as possible from older products.
Soooo AMD doesn’t want my money this year?
You don’t understand channel partnerships.
AMD isn’t after your $300 sale, they’re after maintaining their multi-million dollar contracts. This type of mentality is a leftover from Rory Read. It’s the best shot AMD has at keeping their company in the black, and it’s the right move.
I too want new technology, but I understand the need to clear out backlogs of inventory and to maintain good partnerships with your volume partners. AMD’s eyes are on the prize so to speak. They follow the money now.
So if you were AMD you would be fine with losing money just by releasing a new product and forgetting about the old?
The
R9 2xx series is selling well as of late, so why should they release
something that’s going to hurt them? They won’t make as much money and
they certainly don’t make as much as Nvidia or Intel as it is. They’re a
smaller company, they can not take any risks like this.
So you expecting something new for all the wrong reasons anyway is just ignorant and stupid.
Actually no, they don’t want to lose money or waste money releasing a product that is going to hurt their current lineup.
Your first point, why not more price cuts? Well, that’s an easy solution, IF your channel has a small amount of inventory in it… In AMD’s case, they may have a much larger volume of older product in the channel. AMD knew they had something good with the R9 2xx series, so they probably pumped out a lot of it. Now, it would be ignorant to say AMD didn’t know the GTX 9xx series was coming, because they did. They probably just misjudged the price/performance and efficiency gains that NVIDIA pulled off with the GTX 9xx, now AMD is sitting on excess of rapidly depreciating goods. They’ve given price cuts already, but any deeper and they face a harsh reality of lost money. This isn’t something they’re able to do, so their options are to cut prices further, or to wait extra time. If the performance gap between the GTX 9xx series and the R9 3xx series is large enough, AMD can afford to WAIT and they aren’t putting anything in jeopardy by doing so.
If they cut prices, they risk going into the red for a quarter or two and losing share price. They don’t want to lose the gains they just had off of last year’s momentum. Thank goodness they do good work for the shareholders.
# I have a negligible position in AMD, though I really like their company and hope they succeed. #
This should be a good example to those who utterly comment speculation and opinionated babble like idiots.
At least we have some who can actually wait and see the actual outcome of the situation before jumping the gun. Kudos mate.
Sales have already been disrupted no one is buying where all holding out on your new lineup or have already jumped ship to Nvidia. These chips have not sold in there proper price bracket in nearly 6 months. Remember it’s not AMD that drooped prices it’s the channel partners that have done so again & again.
From a gamers point of view sales have been disrupted for over 12 months as the only people buying AMD for at least 6 months were coin miners & those customers are now gone. It went from inflated prices to no sales with heavily slashed prices. You should have saturated the channel with cards during the mining craze but you never supplied enough to allow the gamers to buy at a decent price. The gamers that did need cards went & brought 780s instead & now 980s instead.
–
The only way I can see you reducing cards in the channel further is if sellers start selling cards in bundles buy 2 290/290X & get say $100 off. Buy 3 & get $200 off ect… then some budget minded people that are looking at 4k might snap them up.
For this to work on the lower end cards you’ll probually want to up the GDDR5 onbaord as well.
Come on, AMD, really? You’re killin’ me, man.
I have money for you AMD but I’m not buying 290s.. I’m building a new 4k gaming rig this year if you hurry up it will have at least 2 390X GPUs in it. Maybe a 3rd later on…
To be fair there losing money anyway they really do need something to compete with the 980/970. Arguably the 960 can be counted with existing products a 280 being the best bet. You say there selling well but they are not even maintaing market share at the moment.
Market share is probually more important then anything else & right now AMDs is lower then it’s been in a long time.
–
At one point the former ATI had more earnings then the whole of AMD dose today. Someone has stuffed up pretty badly.
Seeing how you’re not even in the market for the cards I’m talking about I don’t feel like you have any business commenting (based on your fx 6300 and r9 270). But it seems like anyone here who is you’ve called an idiot. Jealous, insecure internet tough guy?
Well in all honesty… they could just launch the absolute highest card possible, the 390x and maybe the 395×2 too to show all who’s boss. If the 2 would be the absolute best cards in single and dual gpu configs it would generate a huge halo effect and pull all the old 2xx throughsales as they would generate a lot of talk and many who were on the fence will say i want an amd but i’m not going to pay 700 or 1500$ for these cards and go with the 290x for 330 or the 295×2 for 660$
My fear however is the low -mid… those will be really hard to move, as apus eat into their teritory quite heavily
Just recall them out of the channel slap a new sticker on them & call them 370X/360X ect then send them back out to the channel. Give us our new cards already. Some of these cards a over 3 years old now rebanded from the 7000 series. No one wants to buy 3+ year old architecture.
I’d place 90% odds on
1126Mhz.baseclock
3072:192:64 config,
6GB GDDR5 1752.5Mhz
384bit bus
250TDP
They should make there next gen as quick as they can and as good as they can then launch it the moment it is ready. The sooner they get new better products out the longer they will have the advantage over Nvidia for which means more sales. Learn to react to the market better so you don’t have back logs of old product that is not selling.
It’s always better to have the best product out.
Coming out with a new card two months AFTER GTA 5 is nuts. I respected the guys at AMD, especially the engineers, but this is really embarrassing (if true). Whoever made the decision is simply an idiot.
Nvidia is fucking ready for the spring season. Meanwhile, AMD has nothing.
AMD is going miss:
– Grand Theft Auto V
– Battlefield Hardline
– Project CARS
– The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
etc.
Yeah, let’s release the cards in the summer when nothing’s coming out and nobody gives a shit about games. What a brilliant, BRILLIANT idea!
AMDead. Jump ship while you can.
Really AMD needs to strike with a whole new lineup. Last time they got soundly beat at the high end at least because the jump from Fermi – Kepler was so big but going from Kepler – Maxwell is a lesser jump it’s time for AMD to catch up.
On the mid range they did well against Kepler but the Mid range cards need to be refreshed to take on Maxwell properly. It’s going to get real ugly for AMD if Nvidia launches a 960TI before AMD replaces the 280X with something much newer.
my new build is around gta v release. I was going to wait for 390x til april 20th if need be.. but im not waiting ******** 2 months.
This is official.. getting 980 now. AND 390x when it comes out to replace 980 and put it in the trash can because itll be so outdated.
yep, pretty much the same here…
That’s funny I thought their current lineup was hurting anyway condsidering their cards are years old now and with their competitor releasing yet another card within the next month most likely I’d say holding off even on rebrands is going to hurt them more. Also saying they are waiting to sell off stock that they are holding on to is a little hard to believe because look at all the cards that are still in inventory of cards that are even several years older then their newest cards. If they were so worried about selling off stock before releasing a new card why didn’t they do it in the past. I unsderstand its not AMD’s stock directly but if their current stock isn’t moving now then how do know it’s going to move between now and June without another drop in price which is going to hurt their bottom line anyway. I go to a lot of electronic stores here in Dallas and I don’t see much stock for any of the Radeon 200 series. Where is all this stock they are talking about?
I think you are forgetting that if AMD goes under what is going to stop Intel and Nvdidia from becoming a monopoly and charging obscene amounts of money for a single GPU. Just like old times. IDK about you but I would not be happy to pay $1000 for a card that if Nvidia wasn’t the only company making GPUs would only be worth $550. The Titan is a test to see how quickly some people will buy it. If AMD goes under, those prices won’t just be for the Titan, it will be excessive for every GPU
You might be anyway given how many times GTA V has been pushed back lol.
AMD ..you do know it’s tax season in the USA right ? WTF such conflicting reports from the Red team. Just talked to someone at Sapphire a few days ago who said their ready to go but AMD is holding them back from launching. -I guess there’s a reason for them being the worlds 2nd best gpu maker afterall.
This is a ploy from amd, they’re waiting for nvidia to release the titan x before making any moves. It was just a month ago we were seeing reports of amd’s partners complaining about not moving inventory and looking forward to amd’s 300 series so they can compete with maxwell and get sales. Amd have been very good about keeping rumors at a minimum, this sounds like something they intentionally fed to the rumormongers.
They already confirmed 12 GBs of Vram. I’m guessing the 980 Ti will have 6
Where is the evidence saying the older series sales are doing great? Right now they have nothing to compete with top of the line series (as of GTX 980, not even counting the new Titan), and they expect sales to blast. Isn’t marketing ploys like this the reason they lost so much money last year from the expected sales? They aren’t a smaller company, they were huge. Now, they’re just shrinking.
How would they lose money from this? you do understand what inventory costs are, right? they clearly have the 300 series finished, now what are they doing? They’re sitting in stock waiting for release, i.e. higher inventory costs, aside from the products they don’t sell from this cash grab attempt.
Want to know the most simplistic, profitable answer? They can sell off the majority of their inventory and still see a much more viable profit if they released a card that can both compete and defeat the GTX 980, then market the older graphics cards at 10-25% off. The older cards will clear off the shelves because people who can’t or do not want to afford the newest card will gladly take a reduced priced previous generation card, while the people awaiting a new top of the line card will dive in to the new product.
Am I the only one happy that AMD isn’t wanting to rebrand and wants to launch a full line up of GPU’s?
It just makes more sense to me, it’s far more competitive than producing 2 GPU’s and simply rebranding everything else, I personally don’t mind waiting. Robble Robble
They could at least release their top two flagship cards( 390, 390X). They wouldn’t be competing with the 290 and 290x because those cards are a tier down and much cheaper until the new 380x and 380 are released.
Welp, so much for that. Back to playing the waiting game.
Although this is the most likely and probably answer, I still don’t see why (with sales as low as they have been) they would assume sales would just “be better than before” on what is quickly becoming outdated products. This new card is supposed to be the one that creates competition vs Nvidia’s GTX 980’s, and to make matters even higher in AMD’s favor as this articles and many others point out – right when a major flaw in those cards are coming out.
Take into consideration the money they would be making with a price reduction on the older products – they would easily still make a quota if they are in a desperation play to try and create a figure now, this would increase profits, but reduce the maximum profit potential, which, let’s face it, they aren’t going to make either way.
i thought the 980ti was heavily postponed
Well it will be made from the same chip as the Titan X and its good to go.
>”what is going to stop Intel and Nvdidia from becoming a monopoly and charging obscene amounts of money for a single GPU.”
Besides various consumer protection acts as well as profiteering and price fixing being illegal? The communities outrage and disapproval towards said prices would be a huge factor. Reading the news on the new Titan Z, it was revealed and release just yesterday and we’re already seeing a second price cut on it. Is that because the company figures “let’s cut them a break, they deserve this”? No. It’s because the community replied to these prices with uproar, and Nvidia knows that they will not see a profit if they keep the price as is.
The fact that you’ve posted here many times simply insulting everybody shows you know absolutely nothing. If you want to undermime the people in here making statements, why don’t you back up your opinion with factual evidence, or at the very least theory as to why your opinion is correct?
Don’t worry GTA V release will still be postponed until the AMD releases the 300 series 🙂
You’re clearly not an enthusiast.
I just downloaded Unreal Engine, I can’t even think about getting something without DX12 and the framerates at certain price points make thinking about the 2xx series a waste of time due to heat, energy consumption. It’s old tech.
You shouldn’t even be talking about this card if you’re going to compare it to R9, which is what we’re saying.
Holding back this tech for crap hardware that isn’t selling for a damn reason is 2x the stupid. I’m moving to NVIDIA if AMD doesn’t consider their market more carefully. Maybe they’ll keep fools like you who prefer to justify consumers who want old hardware. There’s a market for everything, they say -____-
You think I or any other business cares about comments made on a website like this?
No. Also your comments just prove how conceited and dumb you are.
Also you believe that the hardware I currently hold (Actually based on a set budget and proper research unlike your clowning around on your college fund) holds no weight because you choose the opposition? That’s just beyond retarded.
Get rekt kid.
Aww so you’re one of those people who just go online bragging about hardware you can’t afford. Good one.
Good for you, no one cares.
“I unsderstand” -Typos really speak volumes.
Don’t just go for the “top of the line” crap every time.
That again is just isn’t enough. You’re not thinking in a business standpoint nor are you making any logical sense.
Oh yeah, 6GB of Vram you don’t need nor never use for anything, ever.
This comment section just about every time something AMD related comes up:
1. Illogical agenda about why they think Nvidia is better.
2. Comments that outright prove they’re moronic fantards (Go back to COD you moron).
3. Nothing of value what so ever, low IQ and just general douchebaggery.
You think overspending on your dads credit card makes you an enthusiast?
You’re a douchebag.
How much do you get paid? you AMD shill.
Shill [cit]
“What conspiracy theorists like to call people who don’t believe in their wacky conspiracy theories because they’re a part of the ignorant masses and who ignore the so called ‘evidence’ of their theories.”
Nice opinion, kid.
Go back to your Nvidia blogs, neckbeard.
Don’t forget to go back on that diet your parents talked about too. It’s really important to exercise instead of following a monopoly of a company that doesn’t care about its customers.
I think they care about my $600 – $1000 that me and many others may or may not give them. I’m 29 by the way and I have disposable income not a college fund. “kid”
Nice, projecting dude.
NICE
EPIC
I LIKE IT
PLEASE KEEP UP US UPDATED
Wank, wank.
I bet you have 8 chins and a stomach the size of a stadium.
Really this is what you’ve reduced this to. I’m 6′ 174lbs i guess i could tone up a bit though. you have a good one buddy.
At least I don’t brag about things I don’t have, can’t afford or at least have anything other than dickwad value.
“hurrr look at my awesome flame sticker on my iGPU from Intel, it’s an intel HD” -You in a nutshell (that is if you could fit in one, fatty).
What did i brag about? and what’s wrong with my awesome flame sticker lol. I have no idea what you’re on about by the way.
Jesus Christ, you’re almost becoming an Internet Bambi.
What a way to show your immature mentality and age. What are you like 8? It takes a lot of balls going through a forum bashing other people for their opinions. Yeah so what I misspelled a word at least I had something intellectual to say. Why don’t you go back to your third grade class tomorrow and leave the adults to talk.
Do you need a hug? are you having a bad day? Everything is gonna be ok bud.
Since when does age excuse your lack of making a respectable comment? When does age even apply to maturity? It doesn’t.
Also, what’s with the sad sobbing life story? Did your parents not give you your favorite flavor of Doritos this morning? Not enough hot pockets, Twinkies and Pop-tarts?
You’re a tart, a Pop-tart.
LOL ok
A simultaneous price cut announcement for the entire R9 200 series along with the major PR headline grabbing R9 300 top dog launches would almost have same effect. There are many buyers out there who simply look at which camp has the fastest card outright and go ahead to buy the midrange/maintsream product merely thinking it’s also coming from the winning side, Reviews and product specifics don’t matter much to them in the end.
There is another reason and probably more accurate, the new R9 300 family will be majority new chips (not re-brands) with prices that are going cannibalize current R9 200s for the entire range. This means R9 200s need to be cleared because the new cards are going to take their place in terms of cost range. The performance bumps offered will be good, in some cases too good like say something like the R9 380X.
If this proves to be true it won’t matter what Nvidia pulls out of the bag since AMD has the winning hand while keeping their AIB partners happy.
with the company at such a low point currently they need to be more careful with their current stock alongside ensuring the new stock can be released cleanly, so pushing the release out by a month or two allows the current stock to clear out more while the new stock can be fully prepared and polished to be all released in one hit, give or take some distribution.
So a small delay from what was speculated is no surprise at all really.
Battlefield Hardline is an AMD-title game. EA is partnered with AMD.
Cool story.
I think AMD is making a big mistake on this one. When your biggest competitor announces their biggest product and you show up empty handed, that’s not going to look good for thir investors, or customers! I think they need to fire someone ASAP! I mean sure, they may have overstocked GPU’s, but sometimes sacrifices have to be made on rare occasions where a company can gain a competitive edge with yet to be released products from competitors PR mishaps. If there was any time to announce a new product, the GTX970 fiasco was the time to do it! PR disasters like that are quite rare in the tech industry, let alone the general processing market, not even making a official paper launch is going to cost them that edge in the very least!
About the only thing AMD can hope for is that Nvidia doesn’t release the Titan X for about the same as the original Titan, but hearing about the recent rumors, they may be a little at ease, but generally when your biggest competitor is releasing their biggest product in two weeks Vs three month’s it will take for thiers, you have to wonder if they are making the right decision…..
High resolution texture packs, UDK (game development), etc
Games are already using 3.0-3.7GB, it will increase to 4GB+ very soon. Battlefield 4, a 2013 game already uses 3GB+, it’s 2015 now.
well that’s interesting. can I get a source on that though?
I was looking through some articles about the delay you speak of. One was rumored because of a 16nm transition for GM200 which isn’t the case. The other said it might be delayed due to production problems of the new Titan. Its speculation though. I think what would delay it would be Nvidia not wanting it to cut into sales of the new Titan X. We should find out more on the 17th.
Don’t bother to reason with bitter internet douchebags who troll threads in hopes to start arguments out of sheer enjoyment. Be the better adult and let them type away angrily waiting for a flamebait reply.
The way I see it, a new chipset in general! Nothing re-branded. This will immensely help amd! And if the specs are right and DX12 has an impact (which it seems the release of dx12 and amd’s new line are close in times, btw) they might just regain a good 19% of the market after losing, what 14%? or something like that. (just making example numbers for percentages)
Wish there was a third competitor a chinese one and only then we would see top gpus with low prices
that would actually be perfect. However ill prolly have to get 970 and wait til 390x comes out.
so thats what amd fanboi looks like. Sad loser. Well i dont like either nvidia or amd but what choice do i have. lol
Just by calling someone a fanboy you’re basically stating that you’re a fanboy.
I didn’t say anything about AMD, I’ve just said things about you and those other clowns who think they’re hot shit.
I waiting til R9 400 series for my next upgrade along with Zen Fx chips but I’m really interested in seeing how good the r9 390x performs.
That’s nonsense. There’s no need to rebrand. Use the Nvidia model, i.e. release the 390/390X in April and the rest of the lineup in June. Everyone’s happy.
Lol. Emotional child. I’m an enthusiast because I work for my money while you project about parental dependency. So stupid. As if 50 of people even had a dad at all. Lol. What a poor thinker. “You’re a douchebag” good job, underachieving kid with no prospects.
why would you assume the person isn’t using their own money, srsly stahp
11/10 excellent trolling.
alright then. what happens on the 17th?
The GTC (GPU Technology conference) that Nvidia is holding where they will be unveiling the Titan X and possibly more In full detail
Its at 9pm and will be streamed so you can watch it.
He didn’t say it was a good thing, just a quite possible reality.
No, if they show off a card based on the new tech, no matter it’s segment, it will hurt ALL of their existing channel sales. R9 2xx inventory won’t move if customers on the end think that R9 3xx is around the corner.
I understand they have to get rid of current stock to minimize loss but why haven’t they been doing that already? The 900 series has been out for almost 6 months at this point and AMD knew that their own 300 series would be coming in short time so why wouldn’t they have drastically reduced production? Especially considering that they can’t be making tons of profit with the 200 series with the prices cut nearly in half. They had to have thought about the fact that releasing new hardware sooner could only help them and they should try to have their 200 series inventory minimized when they were ready to launch the new ones. The thought process just doesn’t connect for me.
I think the 980ti definitely won’t be a full chip this time. I think it’ll be more like the 780 of last gen so the enthusiasts with money to burn will still by the top of the line Titan for absolute best performance and make the 980ti a slightly lesser performing card in the $700 range
At this point AMD isn’t competing against Nvidia. They’re more on saving their own financial worries. Which i can understand. There are more FreeSync monitors are on the horizon and more games these days are dependent on more powerful hardware. New titles such as the Witcher 3 will require the high end cards to play at even the most optimum of settings, since most games these days are so horribly optimised.
If there’s any hint on the new AMD cards coming out soon, would be a driver update. AMD hasn’t released anything since the OMEGA driver.
It’s really a shame AMD isn’t marketing their new cards right. I will be moving to Nvidia if they don’t release their cards before the new Titan X or the 980TI (who knows? Nvidia might do a sneaky and release it ahead of schedule)
Wow we have the exact same name spelt exactly the same. I think you may be right on the 980 Ti being cut down.
rumors are 980 ti is coming out in april… if its something like 800 ill take one. More than that f it.
the only 300-series with GCN 1.3 will be the 390 and 390x. the other one will be “rebranded” hawaii cores with GCN 1.2
Did you not read the article? You should try reading it.. Before replying. Robble Robble
“AMD had hoped to push out one or two new cards in March and then re-brand many others to refresh the range. That is no longer the plan.”
“The sources with knowledge of AMD plans revealed to KitGuru that Computex has been targeted as the launch timeframe for AMD’s upcoming graphics adapters and a “full line up” was demanded from senior management and engineers. Instead of launching just one new graphics solution and a load of re-brands, AMD intends to roll-out a whole new range of graphics cards at Computex in early June.”
You’re one of those guys who goes online and talks about another male masturbating, for attention.
Eww, that’s disgusting. Get help you freak
Moron.
It makes sense except that it’s a means to the wrong end.
true that. I was hoping to sell my gtx 970 and get the new 300 series. But considering they are delaying for so long, I can probably wait for GTX 1070 maxwell later this year.
This guy….
The high end enthausast market will jump on what is fastest even if that card launches 3 months later that’s what we do. The 980Ti comes out tomorrow we all run out & buy it. In 3 months time the 390X comes out we all run out & buy it to… we have to have the best of the best all the time.
That’s because AIBs had put in the order for a certain number of GPU dies and AMD has already serviced those orders. Now the AIBs want more time to clear their inventories. Piss them off and AMD stands to lose a valuable partner(s), which means less reach, less partners to spread AMD’s chips, less market share, less marketing etc you get the picture.
Now you could ask why can’t these AIB’s forecast things better?, well it’s tough to forecast what your competitor might launch and how it will perform. The 900s are performing at a record breaking standards, consumers just got swayed to buy nvidia for a multitude of reasons.
Long story short would be, AIB and AMD didn’t expect such strong sales for the 900s but when the AIB screws up AMD can’t dictate terms and tell them to go forth and multiply, AMD doesn’t have the market share or the commanding powers nvidia might enjoy to pull such moves so they are going to have to swallow whatever bitter pills that come their way like helping clear inventories for the AIBs when really it was the AIB’s fault to overestimate the market demand/market trends.
Anton Shilov is right to some degree in claiming price cuts wont have the desired effect in drastically reducing inventory very quickly. Let’s just look at it from the casual gamer’s perspective. Honestly how many people actually research and find out what are the ‘real’ benefits between AMD or Nvidia GPUs? Not many are that tech savvy enough to understand why they really need something. Nvidia markets power efficiency and higher performance when really what we see with the 900s is that more or less similar performance to the previous generation but at substantially lower power draw. The gain in power draw means a world of things for notebook dGPUs but on desktop it is nothing more than a marketing slide point to profit on the green revolution. It really doesn’t save much in terms of electricity bills at the end of the month and it’s really debatable how much of a gain it actually makes in one year. In some countries the AMD option despite drawing more power will actually be 2+ years ahead of the more expensive nvidia option before it breaks even in-terms of electricity usage gains, am talking average play time per day for the regular gamer, if you aren’t that regular then the gains nvidia can offer is wasted. Many buyers will buy the nvidia card regardless because marketing and reviews show it is the power efficient card, it doesn’t matter if the performance jump is not alot cross the board with the odd game offering substantial increases. The buyer thinks they are getting the better deal when really if they actually made some real calculations they would realize going with the cheaper AMD options, post rebates and price cuts, is the better deal. Plus there is FUD about heat reducing the life span of these chips, their worries would be legitimate if they can use a normal card for 7-8 years before any of that becomes an issue. These gamers like to crank up everything and the moment they see the dips in performance from excessive eye candy they are in the market to buy a new card, say every 2-3 years?. Some even learn about easy to use tools to overclock and go that way, there goes the ‘lifespan’ fears’ they so cared about when it comes to AMD R290s for instance.
Nvidia has played the game well, they have the market share, they have the right marketing, the right FUD at the right time. Price cuts will only hurt AMD more but they have no choice really and they also have to help out their over optimistic AIBs who placed all those extra orders.
I think he was… and Lisa Su was put in his place. Was Rory the one saying lets go cheap and easy not spend money… take the easy way out in the channel by just keep packing it with rebrands that does little to upset the margins? AMD (the non-bean counters) need to be more in the trenches, honestly focus on the mainstream. Sales at the enthusiast level while supposedly “win hearts and minds”, it’s the mainstream that captures/secures profit. Great product at between $150-300 is the market AMD need more now, let Titan X have sales, I’m not sure too many will fall for that again! Especially as AMD has their enthusiast part (Fiji) it’s not like completely unknown and a year away like Hawaii had been.
So now it’s been known such time has been spent reducing inventory in the channel (that’s a good thing business-wise) even if it hurts them in the eyes of their consumers/fans. Then, if such time has been used to give Engineering opportunity to produce real chips with some “new mojo”, I say good move!
They got into a problem… too much of 200 series (rebrands) now up non-competitive with the several newer Nvidia products. If the remedy was another round of rebrands, again sold at not great margins; dumping more in the channel would’ve been the same “ring-wash-repeat” and disastrous move if nothing better is slated for a year or more out.
Perhaps there were folks who woke up and said “no” to the Rory model, I say that was good. Bite the bullet take the time now, to get on a competitive footing while still having to hold to the 28nm. As bad as it seems, I believe had to happen to be “flexible” once AMD has the opportunity to move to the 14/16 Finfet process. Sure it takes cash/risk to “tape out” new designs, while hopefully some of the mojo is from architecture improvement slated for the next node shrink, but now who knows what/when TSCM or GloFo can will offer-up.
Perhaps the Rory model was looking to gamble the improved GCN, and node shrink all at once, but the timeline for the shrink has been known to be slipping. Moving some of that risk to prove-out on 28nm has been a traditional step, but Rory didn’t like seeing that expense put on the books and others overruled him.
What I thought AMD will be competing or beating the new Titan X?
Yeah just lower prices on old stock…allot if you have to. They’ll sell. Bad strategy.
It makes perfect sense…mr. business man.
Titan is out:
http://www.geforce.com/geforce-gtx-titan-x/buy-gpu
Price fixing is illegal between MULTIPLE companies, not if you’re the only game in town. Even still, some companies are above the law, when they’re owned by Illuminati insiders.
Thanks mate, always trying to keep it legit and always trying to make sure that what I say isn’t biased dribble.
Alright there crazy. There’s a difference between price fixing and price setting. The “Illuminati insiders” you speak of that are the only competition set prices that people WILL pay for, as they do, and sales revenue generates for these companies, that’s why these prices do not adjust right away. The Titan price has been adjusted multiple times due to lower than expected sales, I assume after Radeon’s knew gpu lineup is out, the price will take another dent.
The new specs on the 300 series are great, but that’s what I’m currently saying, they haven’t released the products that will be competing or beating the new Titan X.
They have nothing to compete with the Titan, let alone GTX 980 (280+ specs are okay, but it’s brand loyalty if you still want them over the GTX’s). They’re holding back the only products that are up to par with current line cards, thinking they can generate further sales beforehand. Most the people looking to buy a new card are looking for the best up-to-date they can afford, it’s just been Christmas and the money flew in for most these shoppers.
http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jasonevangelho/files/2015/03/unnamed.png
This alone proves just how bad these marketing gimmicks are for AMD. They need to get their shit together and start pushing products, to hell with the old.
Problem with the power consumption is not only the electricity bill but the power supply as well. If you don’t have a big power supply, chances are getting a high end AMD GPU will require you to buy a new power supply as well. Those are not so cheap too… And currently even for the Titan you can go on with a 500-550 W power supply. And that’s kind of a standard PSU in a system.
R9 200 series are selling well second hand. Not from shops. And that doesn’t generate money for AMD.
If I was in the strategy team at AMD I would reduce further prices of the R9 200s and release the R9 300s. People that are just looking for cheap cards will grab the deals and clear more of the leftover cards, while the people looking for the new gen will be satisfied too and have alternative products to nVidia’s current gen.
You should never go with the mean power draw of a card but with the max spikes…. and 290x and 980 both spike up into the 300w area… this means without a good psu you’ll get bsods or if you’re lucky artifacts from this. So going with a sub 500w sustained psu withe either solution is just pushing your luck for some nice bsods or even system restarts… so that argument is ribbish.
They make more money tgen nvidia… just saying, obviously looking at revenue
Plus there is this buyer behavior: I’ll just wait for yhe new line to launch to get the best of the old line at a discount. Many people waited for the iphone 6 to launch just to get the 5/5s at s huge discount… i really hope amd makes a move quite soon…
Good PSU’s go beyond what they are rated for. A good Seasonic 550W PSU will never give you a BSOD on a Titan. Also 290x doesn’t compare to a Titan… 295×2 does. And it’s spikes are at 700w. So there you’ll need a 1000w PSU.
But the problem is that this is already the case. I started contemplating upgrading my GPU and getting a higher resolution monitor a year and a half ago, and I’ve been holding off because I’ve been hearing that the 300 series is right around the corner for most of that time. AMD can’t prevent a problem when the problem already exists. Another part of it is that the pressure to upgrade has dropped drastically in the last decade. I went from a one-year cycle in the late 90s to a two-year cycle in the early 00s to… when did the HD 7970 come out? That’s what I’m running, and I can still play everything I want at 1080p with maxed settings and additional postprocessing like SMAA and AO through RadeonPro (killing RadeonPro by poaching the developer was also a huge mistake, as it beats the snot out of nVidia’s advanced config tools). Higher resolutions continue to be pointless IMO as developers continue to target consoles first, with consoles struggling to do even 30 fps at 720p in many cases. So they use texture resolutions that are abysmally low to help consoles, and then the visual quality boost of higher resolutions is minimal. Without the pressure to upgrade, gamers are able to wait for major architecture updates instead of minor refreshes, leaving AMD to try to clear its market pipeline mostly through entirely new builds with only minimal sales for upgrades. But since a major advantage to PC gaming is piecemeal upgrades, this cuts out a major segment of the market.
Microsoft has been making similar blunders by completely misreading its market. These companies should be hiring anthropologists or sociologists or social psychologists instead of MBAs and economists to determine product roadmaps, because the latter are trained to use a model of human behavior that has nothing to do with reality, while the former are trained in analyzing and predicting behavior of actual groups of people, like a consumer base, using reality-based evidence.
But the entire reason there is excess stock is that the cards are over a year old (with the exception of the only GCN 1.2 card, the R9 285 – GCN 1.1 went live early Q4 of 2013, a full year and a half ago as of four days from now), and there’s no market for them. Who is going to buy old tech in the next several months with a new release this year and recent releases from the competition?
The R9 series (excepting the R9 285) is tech that’s a year and a half old – it’s not “depreciating”, it’s already depreciated. That money is already gone. All they’re doing by waiting is ceding the high-end market to nVidia, compounding the existing problem.
‘Who is going to buy old tech in the next several months with a new release this year and recent releases from the competition?’
silly question, a lot of people will be, especially considering that on the release of the next generation the previous will drop in price drastically, allowing many people on tight budgets to purchase good/great hardware as either direct upgrades or to add to existing hardware in crossfire setups. I if I saw a 290X at only 300 bucks (they’re still 500-600 AUD here) I’d be willing to snag another to add to my existing one.
A lot of people don’t even consider what generation they’re buying either, just as long as its got good value.
If you know how to do research, PSUs are dirt cheap today.
Antec TruePower Classic 750W Gold (SeaSonic built) is $50 on Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371073&cm_re=antec_750W_gold-_-17-371-073-_-Product
SeaSonic X650 (650W) Gold Modular – $78 on Newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088
You don’t need a 1000W PSU for a 295X2 and for sure not a 390X. A high quality 550W PSU will run any single chip GPU today. R9 295X2 with an overclocked i7 4930K @4.7Ghz uses less than 700W in total at the PSU level. You need to do better research:
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/65973-amd-radeon-r9-295×2-performance-review-18.html
295×2 requires 1000w PSU. Titan requires 550w PSU.
That NV slide is grossly misleading and doesn’t capture what’s really happening and why NV’s market share went up so much. Since Q2 2014 AMD stopped shipping R9 200 series cards into channels/OEMs to clear inventory. If you look at the overall GPU market, it has actually dropped to 11.5-12.4 million but NV’s sales are still roughly the same at 9 million. That means NV didn’t steal AMD’s sales but rather AMD on purpose didn’t ship more products into the channel to its partners because they have overstock of old inventory that they want to clear.
http://i.imgur.com/LQ5kb7Y.jpg
Also, AMD could care less about a $1K Titan X. That comprises about 0.05% of the entire GPU market. Once R9 300 series launches, AMD will gain market share automatically no matter what NV does and AMD will establish new price/performance benchmarks in the $200-700 segments. Remember last time a $400 R9 290 made $650 GTX780 obsolete overnight. Even after NV desperately tried to save face and drop the 780’s price by $150 to $499, it was still not worth buying as it was slower than the R9 290. Think about it, AMD could easily unleash a $550 R9 390 non-X that gives nearly 90% of the Titan X’s performance. AMD has a history of making NV’s cards look crazy overpriced once it unleashes a brand new series line-up.It has happened with 4870, 5870 and R9 290.
Market share matters less than earnings/cash flow. Granted in NV’s case they have awesome 55%+ gross margins and 76% market share but that’s not the point. AMD needs to just focus on its products, drivers, reference cooling and they’ll be fine. The 970/980 brought HDMI 2.0, and good perf/watt but in terms of moving the performance bar they didn’t do much against the 10-months-old R9 290/290X.
At high resolutions, GTX980 SLI is barely faster than the nearly HALF as expensive R9 290 CF.
http://www.sweclockers.com/recension/20216-nvidia-geforce-gtx-titan-x-i-sli/16#pagehead
Once R9 390 series launches, it will squash GTX980 in price/performance.
Wrong. You don’t know what you are talking about. An entire system with an R9 295X2 + i7 4930K @ 4.7ghz uses less than 700W of power. Either bring facts to the table or start educating yourself before posting. Professional reviews confirm I am right:
Intel Core i7-4960X @ 4.2GHz + R9 295X2 = 686W
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7930/the-amd-radeon-r9-295×2-review/17
A SeaSonic 750W PSU is enough for that. If you are running i5 4690K @ 4.5Ghz or i7 4790K @ 4.8Ghz, a high quality 650w PSU is enough.
Antec 750W Gold made by SeaSonic is $50 on Newegg today. If you can afford a $600 videocard, you can afford a $50 750W Gold PSU.
R9 290/290x supports DX12. I don’t know where you got this info that it doesn’t. Early tests actually show R9 290X having a lower DX12 API overhead than GTX980:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9112/exploring-dx12-3dmark-api-overhead-feature-test/3
The biggest problem for R9 290/290X series is the power draw at load. In terms of price/performance, they are unbeatable. You can buy R9 290 cross-fire for $500 and R9 290X cross-fire for $600. Look at the benchmarks of where both of those setups land against $660 GTX970 SLI or $1100 GTX980 SLI:
http://www.sweclockers.com/recension/20216-nvidia-geforce-gtx-titan-x-i-sli/16#pagehead
We are probably just 2.5 months away from R9 390 series launch (mid-June) and it’s not a question of IF but by how much will the R9 390/390X destroy the $550 GTX980.
Right but sometimes you have to be smart with your $. Like all those gamers who paid $1300 for GTX780 at launch or even worse $2000 for the original Titans ate crow when R9 290 launched for $400 ($800 CF). Also, 780Ti SLI $1400 but 12 months later you could buy R9 290 CF for $650 or GTX970 SLI for $660 with similar performance. Sure, there are those gamers who simply don’t care and we’ll have people with 3-4 Titan Xs in SLI. For the rest of us, we have other hobbies too which means waiting 2-3 months to save $200-300 per card is a big deal.
Right because from June 15, 2015 to September 1, 2016 doesn’t count (the earliest we can expect 14nm/16nm cards to come out), right? Also, you are making the assumption that everyone buys these games you listed on day 1. You realize a lot of people game less in the summer as they travel, participate in outdoor activities/sports, take vacations, renovate their house, etc. A lot of gamers will be upgrading come fall 2015 and gaming over the colder months from September 2015-March 2016. Just because AMD will not have cards ready in April/May 2015 doesn’t mean much. Remember Fermi? That was 6 months late and it took NV 9 months to even match an HD5850 with a $199-229 GTX460 768mb/1GB versions. Yet, despite 9 months late, NV gained a shitload of market share. It’s not just about when you launch but how good of a product you have.
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/R9_295_X2/images/power_maximum.gif
With a videocard peaking at 650 watts you’d need at least 850 watt power supply for your system, unless you want to get BSODs ;d
Don’t tell me to educate myself since you can’t handle a simple discussion well. When talking about facts you should look at multiple reviews and prepare for the worst case scenario, not for the best case scenario. Your system should stay stable whatever you run on it, not stable only in most cases and BSODing in others.
you got completely rekt and look like a fool responding like this
Responding like what? Can you elaborate? 🙂
Fair enough although I always thought for the more budget concious you’d upgrade along the lower path. My TitanX/390X is your 1080/480X. or maybe your 1170/570X.
In which case you get a similar card maybe with less power consumption for alot less. Just next year or the year after. You might also upgrade once every 2 or 3 years instead of every generation or more often like we do.
Why so salty?
The reason I don’t buy AMD/ATI is because the cards run much hotter, use up alot more electricity and are humongous compared to NVIDIA’s. Fix that and I’ll be back ATI…
You’re so right! They did miss out. IF they had the next gen cards ready they would of banked! Even now I think they could of banked because a lot of NVIDIA fans are still pissed for being misled but because of their cards are still better, they won’t get a chance to beat them.