New AMD Radeon "Polaris" GPU Details Revealed

[L_A_G]

Well it was about time for one of the two big dedicated GPU vendors to officially confirm them moving to a node smaller than the 28nm TSMC one they've both been using since 2011.

Not holding my hopes up about better Linux support, but progress is always good no matter how far behind you are and Vulkan/Direct3D12 could to some extent reset the scales the same way Direct3D10 and Vista did on Windows.

[oleid]

The important question to be asked here is how many of these features and functionality will actually reach Linux users within 2016?

They can list all the best looking and highest buzzing words for new features, but if none of it reaches us in a timely and usable manner then there is no point to get excited.

I really doubt the performance-per-Watt will improve for us Linux users at all. My hopes are for marginal gains at least, and hopefully not regressions. We already consume more electricity and get less performance in the Linux driver compared to the Windows driver.

Performance/Watt improvement will be due to hardware improvements. Since the Linux driver uses the same hardware as the windows driver (doh!), obviously you'll get a better ratio on Linux as well.

The other features mentioned are hardware improvements as well. Since the amdgpu driver will be matured by the summer, when this hardware will be released, I wouldn't be surprised if even the video acceleration would work at/shortly after release.

[DarkCloud]

The important question to be asked here is how many of these features and functionality will actually reach Linux users within 2016?

They can list all the best looking and highest buzzing words for new features, but if none of it reaches us in a timely and usable manner then there is no point to get excited.

I really doubt the performance-per-Watt will improve for us Linux users at all. My hopes are for marginal gains at least, and hopefully not regressions. We already consume more electricity and get less performance in the Linux driver compared to the Windows driver.

Why would the performance-per-watt not improve for Linux when it is at the physical layer. The new 14mm FinFt process cuts down on leakage, so it has nothing to do with the OS

[shmerl]

Just ahead of CES, AMD/RTG is allowing more details on their next-generation Polaris GPU architecture to be revealed.

Where exactly did they publish those details?

[chithanh]

I wonder whether we will see mid-range cards and APUs with HBM this year. Or how long it will take at all until in APUs come with Polaris graphics.

Still no VP9 support? That's quite disappointing.

VP9 is a proprietary Google format. Of course supporting it is better than not supporting it, but lack of VP9 is not a drama IMO.

Where exactly did they publish those details?

Presumably they provided documents under NDA to the tech websites, and now lifted part of that NDA.

[shmerl]

VP9 is a proprietary Google format.

No, it's a free codec (BSD license). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VP9

[raonlinux]

Well the best part that show of the video, is the power use is very interesting against a nvidia GTX 950. Also they use a intel cpu for the testing.

[Dukenukemx]

Wow, an actual improvement. It's been a while.

However, you know that Nvidia at 14nm will outperform AMD at 14nm. AMD needs the process reduction to improve performance per watt, Nvidia will just pull ahead when their 14nm appears that has the same technology which served Maxwell so well. Both technologies in unison will no doubt outdo AMD.

I will buy AMD for Linux when there's a good reason because of open source, but my Windows machine will be staying with the green team.

Except DX12 is faster on AMD, which has Async Compute. No doubt Vulkan will perform the same. AMD's issues on Linux is their lack of giving a sh*t with their drivers.

[Nille_kungen]

Where exactly did they publish those details?

Good question i only seen "leaks".

http://wccftech.com/amd-polaris-gpu-architecture-leaked/

[remm]

So announce this month, release next month, reasonable performance in the OSS driver in 2018, reasonable stability in Catalyst never.

From my experience as a buyer of one of the first GCN cards, this sounds 100% accurate ... Let's hope they do better this time.