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Although it was expected that Advanced Micro Devices would launch its new single-GPU flagship graphics solution already this year, a new market rumour suggests that the forthcoming Radeon R9 390X graphics card is only due in 2015.
In summer it transpired that AMD had taped out (the point at which a customer sends photomask of a chip to the manufacturer) two graphics processors – a 350mm² chip and a 500mm² chip – that would be manufactured using 28nm HPM [high-performance mobile] process technology at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Since then AMD has released its Radeon R9 285 graphics cards based on the code-named Tonga GPU (which has ~350mm² die size). However, nothing is clear about the bigger graphics processing unit.
Earlier this month a web-site published a picture of a hybrid liquid cooling system presumably designed for AMD’s new high-end single-chip graphics solution, which is likely to be called AMD Radeon R9 390X.
Typically images of new graphics boards emerge no more than two or three months ahead of a new product launch, when partners of AMD or Nvidia receive samples of the cards. Images of cooling systems can transpire a lot earlier. It should be noted that there are no schedules for unofficial leaks and anything can be published at almost any time.
DigiTimes web-site reports that AMD’s Radeon R9 390X will not emerge on the market until the first half of 2015, a bad news for AMD. If the graphics board is more than three months away, it explains why an unknown partner of AMD could only picture a prototype of its cooling system.
It is expected that AMD’s new flagship graphics processor is based on the GCN 1.2 architecture and is considerably faster than the current-generation Radeon R9 290X “Hawaii” offering. Unfortunately, even the code-name of the new GPU is unclear. Different sources indicate that the new chip is called either “Maui”, “Fiji” or “Iceland.”
AMD did not comment on the news-story.
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KitGuru Says: Keeping in mind that virtually all GPU launches are preceded by loads of leaks and considering the fact that so far we have seen only a new cooling system for an unknown AMD Radeon graphics card, it is unlikely that the Radeon R9 390X is around the corner. Still, AMD could formally launch its new high-end GPU in calendar 2014 and ramp it in calendar 2015.
I sure as hell hope AMD releases something quickly to compete with the GTX980 so a price war will begin and hopefully kncok the prices down a bit more. But if they do wait and not release a chip until later in 15 then they will have a lot of catching up to do in Nvidia sales. Lets face it the GTX980 is a beast at its price point so lets hope they do something quick before we spend all our money before xmas…
The 970 which I chose over a 980 is an even bigger beast honestly. You can get a stable oc with no to little voltage adjustment. I’ve put 20mV into my one 1400MHz core clock and a 500MHz boost to memory clock so now 8GHz effective. Getting within 5 FPS of my old 670 SLI Setup. So pretty much getting 980 performance for £150+ less temps max of 70c and that is at absolute worst temp. Damn impressive. Especially given it’s incredibly low power draw and noise too.
i think nvidia nailed pricing spot on.
All amd can do is fuel a price war the 290x is a brilliant card just not at it’s current price.
I’ve always had bought amd or former ati gpus but one have to be honest and tell that amd has fall back. Nvidia has made big leap in consumption or better to say efficiency of their gpu. And even better fact is that can be overclocked very high. R9 and 7 were great card for the buck, but nvidia always managed to stay side by side and now totally outperform them with much lower consumption. Eagerly waiting for response from AMD. Hope it will be fierce
Don’t forget you can overclock the 980 too, and this bitch goes high!
Indeed that is true but a 980 in performance for £280 is a better price performance ratio to be honest. £280 vs 430+ for what an extra 15% at absolute best. Not really as worth it as a 970. 970 SLI £560 and that is more than enough for 2k. Only around £100-130 more than a single 980. The 970 is the best card out of the 2 because of this imo
And I agree. The 970 is the best VGA for the money today, but let’s see what AMD unveil tomorrow.
Aye, I don’t expect AMD to reveal much at all. They have always been bad in energy consumption and heat. Apart from a solution that requires both water and air cooling…. If they want to compete they need competitive pricing with low noise thermal and power draw. Not their strongest field.
more than likely AMD is just giving them time to refine and tweak their card, first to market means your competitor can beat you easier because they know what you have. they are probably going to be working on an answer that may even beat Nvidia
if AMD doesn’t launch something new really quick Nvidia will rise the prices sky high, so buy now till they have normal prices.
AMD has been competitive of late… though they need to work on the heat aspect of things. I wonder if they will have something in time for Xmas spending.
No they just need raw power.
If they release a beast of a card then who gives a monkeys about noise and power usage? I don’t I want moar POWER!!!!!!!!
Stop scaremongering. The price will only go down from here on. Wait for it..
Nonsense, AMD have always been better on performance/watt and price. Its only since Kepler AMD are 10%/20% behind in performance/watt, and price or heat since Maxwell GTX 970.
Exactly, they dont remember how fermi was when it first came out? It will only get better i.e Tonga 285
LOL name says I should not respond but here goes Nvidia have always been ahead in drivers, heat and power consumption the GTX 670 was also a beast of a card for the money £190 for what you got was ridiculous. Also that 10-20% is more 20%+ at stock clock speeds, let alone the OC which everyone is doing as it still stays at 70C max without even adjusting voltages for most people.. AMD have been good for cheap cards that are inefficient in power usage, heat and Noise. I hope AMD come up with something as there needs to be competition, AMD have been lacking for some time though. I remember hearing the 290 a frigging tractor is what it sounded like and it was still getting mega hot…
Also remember when everyone was bitching about the 900 series then when the benchmarks came out the AMD fanboys came out saying kitguru must be lying… YEAAAAAA about that.
yes, just wait a few years……
AMD fanboys are silent right now…
Wrong, AMD always had the performance per watt efficiency until nVidia got it with the GTX600 series as AMD lost it with the HD 7000 series.
i hope you ‘re right
It is going to be monumentally difficult to compete with the price to performance standards Nvidia just laid down. I am very hopeful for AMD’s success at doing so. I would actually rather see them produce a shift away from incremental increases for top tier cards, as we just observed with the GTX 980, and deliver a card that can actually handle high res/refresh gaming. At the 4K and multi-monitor level, the current cards, including the GTX 980, do not differentiate themselves in any meaningful way.
See heres the thing. I just want a price war to happen but on the low end for a change. Nvidia releasing these monsters for the price they did is gonna make AMD come back with some monster of a card with probly less power efficiency but same frames hopefully of the new gm200 series of cards but AMD also has said they will be releasing a smaller nm tech than what Maxwell is so maybe we are under estimating what AMD is trying to do. But I personally own a 6950 2gb card and a gtx570 1.3gb card and they both are great performers so I wouldnt say Im a fanboy. because right now Im steering towards a gtx970 sli setup if AMD doesnt hurry up and at least bring something to the table before christmas
Even if they do come back, the poor driver support has me kept with GeForce.
it better beat nvidia otherwise they are in deep s**t.
hi, in case you haven’t noticed the GTX 970 is only $330 an can overclock by as much as 40% on air cooling with no volt mods and beats the r9 290x which was retailing for over $600 just 2 weeks ago.
2x GTX 970 at stock speeds match the R9 295x and murder it when overclocked while using less power and generating less heat.
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_970_SLI/images/perfrel_3840.gif
This is why you can’t follow or study AMD products/Road Maps, it’s always changing. I’ am sick of hearing about TSMC, AMD and Nvidia on 28nm well over two years and we still have the same Architecture. Sure a Tick-Tock upgrade, but really that ant enough. Nevertheless the new features on Nvidia GTX 980 and 970 graphics are worth investing in a new card if your rocking something older then the 600 series.
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Not just AMD. We all are. If AMD falls prices of pc components wil go higher. There would be huge monopol in that case, and no one wants that. I admit that i like AMD. But they really need some fast and effiecient architectures on both fields. CPU and GPU.