The AMD GPU14 Tech Day Event, held in Hawaii on the 25th, was all about the new series of graphics processors from the technology company. Unfortunately, this was more of a large announcement instead of a full showcase or release event. In fact, there wasn't even an exact release date given! Still, the show had some interesting takeaways.
One of the cooler points was the progress AMD has made over the years with their GPUs, specifically with regards to the teraflop barriers they have broken:
- In 2008, AMD was the first to cross the 1 TFLOP barrier with the Radeon 4000 series.
- In 2009, AMD was the first to cross the 2 TFLOP barrier with the AMD Radeon 5000 series.
- In 2011, AMD was the first to cross the 3 TFLOP barrier with the Radeon 7000 series.
- In 2012, AMD was the first to cross the 4 TFLOP barrier with the Radeon 7970 Ghz Edition
What are they bringing to the table in 2013? A GPU that will cross the 5 TFLOP barrier!
AMD Radeon R7 and R9 Series
AMD announced a set of five GPUs to appeal to PC gamers with various preferences and wallet sizes. The R7 series includes GPUs for those who don't wish to spend too much on PC hardware, and the R9 series includes GPUs for big-budget hardcore gamers. The information for each GPU only highlighted the amount of memory it had, the price point, and the score it received in 3DMark Firestrike. For reference, Nvidia's Geforce GTX Titan and GTX 780 sport scores between 5,000 and 15,000 (The Record).
AMD Radeon R7 250
- VRAM: 1GB GDDR
- Price: 2000
AMD Radeon R7 260X
- VRAM: 2GB GDDR
- Price: $139
- 3DMark Firestrike: >3700
AMD Radeon R9 270X
- VRAM: 2GB GDDR
- Price: $199
- 3DMark Firestrike: >5500
AMD Radeon R9 280X
- VRAM: 3GB GDDR
- Price: $299
- 3DMark Firestrike: >6800
AMD Radeon R9 290X
- VRAM: 4 GB GDDR
- Price: TBD
- 3DMark Firestrike: See below
As you can see, full specs were not available for the R9 290X, AMD's next top-of-the-line GPU. According to the chart they were showing off, it should have a score above 8000 on 3DMark Firestrike. There are also a number of rumors going around that it will cost $599, have a 512-bit memory bus, and possibly beat Nvidia's GTX Titan in performance.
As far as prospective release dates, many believe these GPUs will be available sooner rather than later. A special pre-order bundle will be available starting on October 3rd for the AMD Radeon R9 290X. This special Battlefield 4 Edition will include the game at no extra charge, and seeing as the game is currently slated to release on October 29th, it should be safe to assume the 290X will release sometime before then.
The event went into further detail on AMD's ace-in-the-hole. Here's the rest of what they had to say:
- The R9 290X will use the GCN (Graphics Core Next) Architecture
- It's enhanced to support DirectX 11.2
- It has more than 6 Billion Transistors
- It has over 300 GB/sec Memory Bandwidth
- It can compute over 5 TFLOPS
- It can render more than 4 Billion Triangles/sec
This new GPU will also support Ultra HD 4K Monitors and multi-monitor displays. Most of the time, setting up your GPU on high resolution monitors must be done manually. However, AMD's Catalyst Drivers will perform automatic configuration on select popular displays. The Panasonic Viera will be one brand to support this standard out-of-the-box.
AMD TrueAudio Technology
The GPU14 Tech Day Event didn't focus solely on graphics. AMD has been working hard on a new tech called "AMD TrueAudio." This is a fully programmable audio engine for developers to play with, similar to programmable shaders in graphics. It will allow players to hear more real time voices and channels in-game. It's designed to work great with both 7.1 channel surround sound systems and 2.0 audio channels for those with headphones or simple stereo speakers. AMD TrueAudio Technology will be available on the R7 260X, R9 290, and the R9 290X.
Mantle
Another technology that was showcased was something called Mantle. Mantle is a new low level application programming interface for PCs. It serves two main purposes:
1. Optimizing games to run on AMD Hardware. This is a bit of a simplified explanation. It will allow games to have better access to the hardware (CPUs and GPUs) to run better and faster.
2. Assisting game developers when porting games to other platforms (PC, Xbox One, PS4)
AMD Gaming Evolved App
The final tidbit was the new AMD Gaming Evolved App powered by Raptr. It can be downloaded right now at Raptr.com/AMD, and has three basic functions:
1. The app supports 28 select games for auto-optimization based on your current PC rig, with more games coming soon.
2. You will be rewarded just for playing games with this app, just like when using Raptr to play console games.
3. You can broadcast live video via Twitch, watch streams, take screenshots, and share them on Raptr, Facebook, and Twitter without ever leaving your game.
Several games built on AMD technology were also played throughout the show, including Battlefield 4, Thief, Lichdom, and Star Citizen. If you haven't heard of any of them, I suggest checking them out today!
