AMD HD8000 Series [Or: Here we go again...]

[digitaldurandal]

Well. ok, but if you guys haven't noticed. No game developers has the resources to take advantage of even current generation hardware.

Even if they could, it wouldn't be a prudent investment. :'(

Try gaming at 5760x1200. See the thing is that this card is not marketed to you. You don't need it because you probably game at 1080p and you are okay with medium settings or no AA sometimes.

These top of the line cards are marketed for people running 1440p+.

Also what you have stated isn't even really that true. Skyrim with all the mods, AA, and increased draw distance does a pretty good job - and that engine is basically ancient.

Max Payne 3? Metro2033 (although I do agree with the statement below that some of the options are small improvements at a high cost), Battlefield 3, these are some games that can put a hurting on a single high end card even at 1080p currently.

Now try using 3 of those screens and see if the next generation hardware is necessary or not.

 

[Grooveriding]

Bring it on if true.

Big roasting die with big roasting performance. :thumbsup:

 

[hjalti8]

Well. ok, but if you guys haven't noticed. No game developers has the resources to take advantage of even current generation hardware.

Even if they could, it wouldn't be a prudent investment. :'(

Thats BS. If we had the hardware we would have the games.

 

[boxleitnerb]

Why do you guys even listen to the "we don't need more powerful stuff"-whiners? They are on the wrong side of history and they know it. Nobody forces anyone to buy new stuff.
I for one would like to play my games in all their glory with SSAA at a constant 60fps. Go figure

 

[videogames101]

none of that is true. Name one game that a gtx 670 can't handle @ 1080p?

I want 1080p and 120 fps. There isn't a card on the market which even comes close.

 

[The|Hunter]

Bring it on if true.

Big roasting die with big roasting performance. :thumbsup:

This.


Imo both 7970 and GK104 are mid-range, this AMD 8900 and hopefully full NV GK110 chip with HyperQ, Dynamic Parallelsim are those real high-end 28nm gpus.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

If 7970 is mid range then back in 2010 6970 was probably low end.

And if 8970 is 40% faster, then it is within 10% of a water cooled 7970 oc

 

[Homeles]

Imo both 7970 and GK104 are mid-range

They're mid sized chips. They are high end for their generation. Be aware of the distinction.

 

[The|Hunter]

They're mid sized chips. They are high end for their generation. Be aware of the distinction.

Maybe, but compared to last-gen 40nm high-end a 20-30% boost is nothing, imo not worth high-end price premium.

Both GK110 & AMD8970 will have that significant jump compared to 580gtx, AMD6970 and this is how it should have been from the start.. But both companies got greedy and postponed their flagship for 1 year lol

Also because NV GK110 wasnt ready yet (still isnt, but its getting there), so AMD didnt feel the need to rush ahead.


Yep things have shifted this time @ 28nm, GCN could have been that 6970, but 28nm fab wasnt ready back in early 2011, while NV was still struggling with 28nm testing samples...


Anyway i cant wait to get my hands on either 8970 or GK110 to play some real next-gen CGI like games (U4E, Lumnious - Square enix)

 

[Homeles]

Maybe, but compared to last-gen 40nm high-end a 20-30% boost is nothing, next-gen mid-end with high-end prices.

Both GK110 & AMD8970 will have a significant jump compared to 580gtx and 6970. And this is how it should have been from the start, but both companies got greedy and postponed their flagship for 1 year lol

AMD continued with their small die strategy, and switched from a graphics focus architecture to a more versatile one. This is why it wasn't a huge boost over the 6970 in gaming. In compute however, the difference was enormous. I think it's a bit silly that you seem to think that gamers are the only people that use GPUs.

Nvidia's original flagship GPU outright failed. Thus, they were left with GK104 as their high end instead of their GK100 chip -- unless you think that millions of dollars of R&D were thrown away without good reason.

In both instances, neither company "postponed their flagship" in the sense you speak of. AMD gained compute at the expense of gaming, while Nvidia's chip was faulty.

Compute has now become especially important now that Intel has entered the HPC market on the GPGPU side of things. The clash between GK110, Venus XTX (if that does end up being the codename) and Intel's MIC is going to be huge.

Yes, the prices this generation are outright absurd, but this is largely an issue on two fronts: TSMC's inability to keep up with demand on 28nm with all of its partners, and Nvidia's failure to launch competitors to AMD's 7700 and 7800 series. Also, it seems like AMD's change in management may have had a hand in high prices as well.

So no, your position is completely erroneous. You are pointing your finger in the wrong direction. This was not the result of AMD and Nvidia "postponing their flagships." It's really just a "perfect storm" -- lots of negative factors affecting consumers at the same time. With any luck, TSMC's supply issues will be resolved by the end of the year, we'll have GTX 660 launched this month (and it will hopefully be competitive), and the large die chip(s) we've been waiting for will surface at the beginning of next year.

 

[SirPauly]

Why do you guys even listen to the "we don't need more powerful stuff"-whiners? They are on the wrong side of history and they know it. Nobody forces anyone to buy new stuff.
I for one would like to play my games in all their glory with SSAA at a constant 60fps. Go figure

I agree. There are indeed improved experiences out there if gamers choose. Welcome much more performance moving forward from AMD and nVidia.

 

[Agenesis]

40% faster than HD7970GE

Lol.

 

[Homeles]

Lol.

It's not out of the question.

 

[The|Hunter]

AMD continued with their small die strategy, and switched from a graphics focus architecture to a more versatile one. This is why it wasn't a huge boost over the 6970 in gaming. In compute however, the difference was enormous. I think it's a bit silly that you seem to think that gamers are the only people that use GPUs.


So no, your position is completely erroneous. You are pointing your finger in the wrong direction. This was not the result of AMD and Nvidia "postponing their flagships." It's really just a "perfect storm" -- lots of negative factors affecting consumers at the same time. With any luck, TSMC's supply issues will be resolved by the end of the year, we'll have GTX 660 launched this month (and it will hopefully be competitive), and the large die chip(s) we've been waiting for will surface at the beginning of next year.

Well yea in reality TSMC failed to deliver, that's why AMD made a mix of GCN and old VLIW. And obviously VLIW prevailed, but still it made a clear diff between 5870... lol Fermi was a tough mofo


And yes i do think AMD would have brought this "8000" as 7000 but NV didnt have a chance, so they kinda waited.

 

[Homeles]

And yes i do think AMD would have brought this "8000" as 7000 but NV didnt have a chance, so they kinda waited.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Seems trivial compared to the 7.1 billion what just happened transistors of gk110 doesn't it?

GK104 is as fast with 3.5 billion, as AMD current 4.5 billion.

I can't wait to unleash that with some WC wooooo weee.

 

[Homeles]

Seems trivial compared to the 7.1 billion what just happened transistors of gk110 doesn't it?

GK104 is as fast with 3.5 billion, as AMD current 4.5 billion.

I can't wait to unleash that with some WC wooooo weee.

GK110 is going to be throwing balance out the window for the sake of better compute. 90% more shaders with only 50% more ROPs and a 50% wider memory bus? Don't expect miracles.

Still, it'll be fast as heck. Probably expensive as heck too.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Shouldn't take too much since it's only a tweek to GCN, basically we're seeing a 460 compete directly with a more power hungry 5870. I can't imagine GK110 will have the benefit of low perf/watt that Nvidia is enjoying right now, but I'd assume when GK110 arrives, and gets huge overclocks and crushes AMD cards we'll be talking about perf/watt perf/nm/ perf/tran once again.

Cycle of tech sites.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Buying a card to max out the most demanding game is stupid. Sure it would take two or three 7970s to run 8x AA with Max Payne 3 at 1600p but who cares when one will max out 99.9% of everything.

Reminds me of people years ago building systems to max out Crysis while everything else runs at 100+ fps.

 

[Homeles]

Shouldn't take too much since it's only a tweek to GCN, basically we're seeing a 460 compete directly with a more power hungry 5870. I can't imagine GK110 will have the benefit of low perf/watt that Nvidia is enjoying right now, but I'd assume when GK110 arrives, and gets huge overclocks and crushes AMD cards we'll be talking about perf/watt perf/nm/ perf/tran once again.

Cycle of tech sites.

Well to the majority of the market, stock performance is what matters, and really is what matters for AMD and Nvidia's pockets.

GK110 should look beautiful under water, that is unless Nvidia continues to lock down their cards with the ridiculous implementation of boost they introduced with the 600 series. MSI Lightnings or bust, eh?

 

[The|Hunter]

Why confused, AMD is one steep ahead @ 28nm, that's all there is to it., even if it doesn't look this way. I saw this news about AMD 28nm process ~2-3years ago and its still on track.


Anyway I hope it owns, because GK110 will be a killer - HyperQ and Dynamic Parallelism look deadly lol

 

[OCGuy]

I thought AMD was going to save the world with the small die strategy?

 

[Homeles]

I thought AMD was going to save the world with the small die strategy?

Intel's jumping into the market. Times have changed.

 

[lopri]

It sounds totally bogus to me. That's simply 20% more/bigger of Tahiti. 40% performance increase is, while reasonable, not going to stand a chance against GK110 (which is anywhere between 50~100% over GK104)

 

[Homeles]

It sounds totally bogus to me. That's simply 20% more/bigger of Tahiti. 40% performance increase is, while reasonable, not going to stand a chance against GK110 (which is anywhere between 50~100% over GK104)

GK110 is going to be incredibly memory bandwidth/ROP bound. It's strongly focused on compute at the expense of gaming.