Question Speculation: RDNA3 + CDNA2 Architectures Thread

Page 259 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

uzzi38

Platinum Member
Oct 16, 2019
2,746
6,655
146

coercitiv

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2014
7,448
17,754
136
Meanwhile, in Windows land:
1763019050870.png

This Microsoft's president for Windows + Devices. The replies to his tweet were brutal, comments are disabled now. This type of announcement is just the cherry on top, MS has been incredibly aggressive with AI crap everywhere in their software and service stack, to the point where I actively avoid their software and have began experimenting with a modified Windows version (MicroWin).

I think there's a high chance SteamOS will become a place of refuge for PC gamers, so I can only hope Valve does a great job with this round of hardware.
 

RnR_au

Platinum Member
Jun 6, 2021
2,810
6,346
136
Meanwhile, in Windows land:
View attachment 133831

This Microsoft's president for Windows + Devices. The replies to his tweet were brutal, comments are disabled now. This type of announcement is just the cherry on top, MS has been incredibly aggressive with AI crap everywhere in their software and service stack, to the point where I actively avoid their software and have began experimenting with a modified Windows version (MicroWin).

I think there's a high chance SteamOS will become a place of refuge for PC gamers, so I can only hope Valve does a great job with this round of hardware.

idk... there are games that just won't work in SteamOS... the ones that have a fair amount of cheaters and so require an anticheat. Destiny 2, although its dying, still refuses to work on SteamOS. I think there are reports of folk getting banned a while back because the anti-cheat gets terribly confused.

BF6 won't work. etc etc
 

coercitiv

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2014
7,448
17,754
136
idk... there are games that just won't work in SteamOS...
I understand that, but I'm thinking more long term here. SteamOS is a slow burn effort, more than a decade old. If any real transition will happen, it won't be overnight. Maybe eventually Microsoft wakes up from their AI nightmare and they fix their OS, but I'm not holding my breath. They're already pushing Copilot in the Xbox ecosystem:

1763026136163.png

Maybe I'm just imaging things, but ATM I expect that next year one of your gaming sessions will be interrupted by Copilot, asking you if you need help with your gaming.
 

Heartbreaker

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2006
5,229
6,857
136
My impression they're trying to hit a low price point and create the "entry-level" Steam box. It needs to show what's possible while also catering to a low-cost crowd that no other OEM would be willing to address. IMHO there's a big difference between the console and the controller / VR glasses, those seem to be midrange+ hardware.


Yeah, people can build something more powerful for $700, but that requires effort and know-how. There's a large audience out there who would rather buy the ready-made product, with software installed and years of support. This type of convenience has a price sticker too.

If I had to guess, I think the price will fall somewhere close to where the DYI crowd would rather build their own. In the case of the tweet you quoted, that would be $549. DOA for the tinkerer, good value for the living room gamer. I expect they're still working on the price, especially considering how volatile RAM and NAND prices are right now. I do think they'll try to aim low though, no other reason to cut so many corners in terms of hardware.

If that's your impression. I don't think you paid attention to what Valve has been saying. Multiple times they told different people it won't be console price. And every interpretation of that from people that actually talked to valve, was that it would cost more than consoles not less. Consider that even XBox Series X is $650 now:

“Steam Machine’s pricing is comparable to a PC with similar specs,” Valve told The Verge when it asked it if would cost more than PS5 Pro. Designer Pierre-Loup Griffais elaborated a bit more. “We intend for it to be positioned closer to the entry level of the PC space, but to be very competitive with a PC you could build yourself from parts,” he said.

I expect about $700. Yes you can build something faster for that, but it's hard to build a PC cheaper than $700. Try to meet that price with ITX and really small SFF case.

This is more like a sleek small boutique SFF build, than the cheapest mATX case/MB and parts. Look at even the price of just sub 10L SFF case...
 
  • Like
Reactions: luro and marees

Heartbreaker

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2006
5,229
6,857
136
Probably even $699. :D

I just think they are pretty clear that it's more than console pricing. So $500 is a pipe dream.

Then they also said it would cost around what it would cost to build it yourself, which is around $700 (even if you could spend another $20 and get a much better GPU).

People looking for it to be the best perf/dollar are NOT going to be happy.

But those that want a decent, very small SFF build probably will be.
 
  • Like
Reactions: luro and marees

MrMPFR

Member
Aug 9, 2025
155
314
96
This needs to be like $500 at most. But even at that price...like why not spend $200 more and build a 9060 XT pc that will run 50% faster and 100% faster in RT?

This product makes no sense to me. I think it's gonna be yet another Valve hardware L.
Unless Valve just wants to cannibalise mini-PC and SFF niche then this has to undercut everything including prebuilts. 499 for the 512GB option won't be that disruptive. But IDK how much people value convenience.

Or maybe its supercheap which could be a winner in a cost-of-living crisis and high console prices.
Only to be ruined by DRAM and NAND supercycle. But if it undercuts everything else significantly then it might still make a splash.

Valve is the most favorably viewed company among PC gamers. That branding will help. Also, should have no problem stealing sales from similarly priced mini PCs.

Perhaps these have the iGPU fused off because it was nerfed? If so, that probably lowered costs further. Even at 30W if it is boosting to 4.8GHz it'll be as fast as a 7400f.
No it's HP2 based. 2 Zen 4 + 4 Zen 4C and 16MB L3. You can google Ryzen 5 220 for example. Even 8400F should beat it.

idk... there are games that just won't work in SteamOS... the ones that have a fair amount of cheaters and so require an anticheat. Destiny 2, although its dying, still refuses to work on SteamOS. I think there are reports of folk getting banned a while back because the anti-cheat gets terribly confused.

BF6 won't work. etc etc
Maybe Valve's Steam Machine push is high enough volume to force them to fix anti-cheat on SteamOS but that's prob just hopium.
 
  • Like
Reactions: marees

Vikv1918

Member
Mar 12, 2025
71
194
66
Why do you think AMD has, thus far, refused to release an official FSR4 for RDNA3 and RDNA2?

I'd like to hear people's theories. Based on the leak, we see that FSR4 INT8 is usable and much better than FSR 3.1. There seems to be really no technical reason to avoid releasing it.

Is Sony stopping them? Is it about pushing casual RDNA3/2 users who dont know about optiscaler to upgrade? Is it to avoid bad press about performance loss compared to DLSS3 on RTX 40 and 30?
 

marees

Platinum Member
Apr 28, 2024
2,093
2,702
96
Why do you think AMD has, thus far, refused to release an official FSR4 for RDNA3 and RDNA2?

I'd like to hear people's theories. Based on the leak, we see that FSR4 INT8 is usable and much better than FSR 3.1. There seems to be really no technical reason to avoid releasing it.

Is Sony stopping them? Is it about pushing casual RDNA3/2 users who dont know about optiscaler to upgrade? Is it to avoid bad press about performance loss compared to DLSS3 on RTX 40 and 30?
RDNA 2 is not worth the bad press for AMD

RDNA 3 has more TOPS, so doable but AMD's priorities in order
  1. Release redstone for RDNA 4
  2. Improve PSSR for PS5 pro with FSR 4 enhancements
  3. Rog xbox ally X update for FSR 4
  4. RDNA 3 cards with FSR 4
 

Vikv1918

Member
Mar 12, 2025
71
194
66
RDNA 3 has more TOPS, so doable but AMD's priorities in order
  1. Release redstone for RDNA 4
  2. Improve PSSR for PS5 pro with FSR 4 enhancements
  3. Rog xbox ally X update for FSR 4
  4. RDNA 3 cards with FSR 4
But there's nothing to prioritize. They already have a working version of FSR4 available for RDNA3, and its been available for months.
 

Ranulf

Platinum Member
Jul 18, 2001
2,898
2,561
136
How much better is a 8640HS with a radeon 760m than a 7730u with Vega8? Bestbuy has a near 50% off deal on a Inspiron for sub $400 with the 760m. Costco has a the Vega8 system for $20 more, costco extra warranty etc.. Really tempting when my current basic laptop is randomly refusing to shut down or work properly.
 

poke01

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2022
4,631
5,946
106
How much better is a 8640HS with a radeon 760m than a 7730u with Vega8? Bestbuy has a near 50% off deal on a Inspiron for sub $400 with the 760m. Costco has a the Vega8 system for $20 more, costco extra warranty etc.. Really tempting when my current basic laptop is randomly refusing to shut down or work properly.
I would go for 8640hs system. It’s Zen4 and better graphics
 

ToTTenTranz

Senior member
Feb 4, 2021
820
1,332
136
How much better is a 8640HS with a radeon 760m than a 7730u with Vega8? Bestbuy has a near 50% off deal on a Inspiron for sub $400 with the 760m. Costco has a the Vega8 system for $20 more, costco extra warranty etc.. Really tempting when my current basic laptop is randomly refusing to shut down or work properly.
The 8640HS will be substantially faster in games (up to 2x faster) and single-threaded workloads. For multithreading you're looking at 8 cores Zen3 vs 6 cores Zen4 so it'll depend on the workload.


Here's a comparison table in a bunch of games:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphics-Cards.13849.0.html?type=&sort=&gpubenchmarks=0&professional=2&dx=0&multiplegpus=1&showClassDescription=0&deskornote=0&series_uid=0&archive=1&condensed=0&id=0&perfrating=0&or=0&itemselect_11566=11566&itemselect_10313=10313&condensed=0&showCount=0&showBars=0&showPercent=0&settings_class_array[]=1&settings_class_array[]=2&settings_class_array[]=3&settings_class_array[]=4&settings_class_array[]=6&settings_class_array[]=7&gameselect%5B%5D=1098&gameselect%5B%5D=1096&gameselect%5B%5D=1094&gameselect%5B%5D=1092&gameselect%5B%5D=1090&gameselect%5B%5D=1088&gameselect%5B%5D=1086&gameselect%5B%5D=1083&gameselect%5B%5D=1084&gameselect%5B%5D=1081&gameselect%5B%5D=1076&gameselect%5B%5D=1075&gameselect%5B%5D=1078&gameselect%5B%5D=990&gameselect%5B%5D=974&gameselect%5B%5D=742&gameselect%5B%5D=554&gameselect%5B%5D=540&gameselect%5B%5D=532&gameselect%5B%5D=404&gameselect%5B%5D=332&gameselect%5B%5D=329&gpu_fullname=1
 

Vikv1918

Member
Mar 12, 2025
71
194
66

randomhero

Member
Apr 28, 2020
196
300
136
Turns out ML-based FG does indeed work for RDNA3 : https://videocardz.com/newz/modder-gets-redstone-fsr-4-frame-generation-running-on-rdna-3-gpus


Via the same FP8 emulation method used to get FSR4 upscaling running on RDNA3.

The radio silence from AMD on this is annoying, to say the least. Just say outright whether you're not gonna bring support for these features or not.
I believe they will as part of steambox release as PR stunt. You know how those things work .
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tlh97