WCCF: AMD’s Flagship ‘Fiji XT GPU’ Debuts Radeon’s Titan Equivalent Branding

[csbin]

http://wccftech.com/fiji-xt-gpu-series-equivalent-titan-branding-part-radeon-r9-300/


The well known publication Sweclockers.com recently posted something that was very interesting and seemed to confirm the suspicions we have been having as of late. The publication alleges that the AMD Fiji GPUs are not going to form the flagship models of the Radeon R9 390X series, rather form their own separate niche of ultra high end, luxury products from AMD. Basically, the Titan-equivalent of Radeon.

As with any post tagged as ‘rumor’ – this news is far from confirmed. However, it is also worth pointing out that 1) Sweclockers has a good track record of breaking leaks and 2) it actually makes sense. AMD revealed all the Radeon R9 300 series upto the R9 380 at the Analysts Day Conference. Surprisingly however, the R9 380 is actually the Tonga chip. That basically leaves only two slots: the R9 390X and the R9 390 GPU. Since we know that the Hawaii GPU is making a comeback in a more efficient revision that leaves no space for the Fiji GPU in the R9 300 series. A very slim possibility is the use of the R9 395X nomenclature but that is pure speculation.

 

[crisium]

AMD Radeon Zeus

They really need to kill the fallacy that Nvidia is a premium brand. As long as the Fiji non-XT (5850, 7950, 290 equivalent) remains cheaper it will be fine. They need to demonstrate that their top product is very premium.

 

[Noctifer616]

I believe it when I see it, just like all the other rumors. We should know more soon.

 

[exar333]

It worked for AMD with the original 'FX' branding, when they were going against Intel back in the A64/AX-2 days.

If the performance and features are there, it could very well work. This rumor does sound a bit odd though, because it would be difficult to have such a large gap in products between the current 290X and the AMD 'titan'. Either its just that, a rumor, or we may have more HBM products lower in the AMD SKU stack. Definitely interesting.

 

[TemjinGold]

So... their marketing will take on Titan with 4gbs of vram?

 

[Rvenger]

AMD R9 395xtx Rage Fury Pro All in Wonder

 

[Kenmitch]

It worked for AMD with the original 'FX' branding, when they were going against Intel back in the A64/AX-2 days.

If the performance and features are there, it could very well work. This rumor does sound a bit odd though, because it would be difficult to have such a large gap in products between the current 290X and the AMD 'titan'. Either its just that, a rumor, or we may have more HBM products lower in the AMD SKU stack. Definitely interesting.

Unless the 390(x) are no longer the top dogs. Possibly they are just tweaked Hawaii cores with 4GB HBM? Competition for 970/980's.


The alleged new offering could possibly be hybrid memory? 4GB HBM cache like with 8GB GDDR5?

More rumors mean more silly Debbie Downer comments!

 

[Noctifer616]

Unless the 390(x) are no longer the top dogs. Possibly they are just tweaked Hawaii cores with 4GB HBM? Competition for 970/980's.


The alleged new offering could possibly be hybrid memory? 4GB HBM cache like with 8GB GDDR5?

More rumors mean more silly Debbie Downer comments!

Wouldn't that mean the chip would have both a GDDR and HBM memory controller? Seams unlikely if true.

 

[Glo.]

Fiji is Vulcanic Island. Bermuda was always thought as a Pirate Island .

If you know what I mean .

 

[Despoiler]

Wouldn't that mean the chip would have both a GDDR and HBM memory controller? Seams unlikely if true.

No. The logic die is the memory controller for HBM. The GPU die no longer houses the memory controller. Hybrid memory is just a silly idea. Why would anyone use HBM just to throw away all of the benefits of using HBM?

 

[redzo]

AMD Radeon Zeus

They really need to kill the fallacy that Nvidia is a premium brand. As long as the Fiji non-XT (5850, 7950, 290 equivalent) remains cheaper it will be fine. They need to demonstrate that their top product is very premium.

No they don't have to.
Alright, so let's assume for a second that this rumor is right.
What does it mean?
It means that amd is being led by incompetent managers. What do you do? You bet it all on pure marketing and a luxury high end product win. You should improve on parity with gtx980 class products and bellow. 99% of the market does not care about Titan. AMD product X vs Nvidia GTX Titan will not do AMD any good even if it will end up wiping the floor with nvidia's Titan. Gpu customers are not that appleish. The market screams for competitiveness below gtx980 and you(AMD) are more concerned with which one has bigger balls. This strategy seems too stupid and I find it hard to believe that they went this road.

 

[Kenmitch]

No. The logic die is the memory controller for HBM. The GPU die no longer houses the memory controller. Hybrid memory is just a silly idea. Why would anyone use HBM just to throw away all of the benefits of using HBM?

The 8GB's of DDR could be used as a buffer while the HBM does the dirty work?

Not sure if a penalty would apply or not.

Us mortals don't really have an idea of what's possible in the end.

 

[Stuka87]

So...

Zeus (or whatever) = Figi

390X = Respun/updated Hawaii, or a cut down Fiji?

 

[TemjinGold]

Ahh well... looks like my next gpu is a 980Ti...

 

[monstercameron]

Ahh well... looks like my next gpu is a 980Ti...

why?

 

[Stuka87]

Ahh well... looks like my next gpu is a 980Ti...

Really, based on an unconfirmed rumor? You are going to buy an as yet unannounced/unrumored card?

Wow....

 

[crisium]

No they don't have to.
Alright, so let's assume for a second that this rumor is right.
What does it mean?
It means that amd is being led by incompetent managers. What do you do? You bet it all on pure marketing and a luxury high end product win. You should improve on parity with gtx980 class products and bellow. 99% of the market does not care about Titan. AMD product X vs Nvidia GTX Titan will not do AMD any good even if it will end up wiping the floor with nvidia's Titan. Gpu customers are not that appleish. The market screams for competitiveness below gtx980 and you(AMD) are more concerned with which one has bigger balls. This strategy seems too stupid and I find it hard to believe that they went this road.

The Halo effect is real. Also Nvidia have shown people paying massive premiums for a card just one step up. No reason Fiji XT cant be $849 and Fiji be $549. Smart people will buy the regular, which history shows will be 15% slower at stock and 5% when both are OC'd. Proportionally, that price difference would be less than the gap between the 980 and 970. Gets you your Halo effect, and puts pressure on Nvidia to lower 980 assuming Fiji is faster.

 

[thilanliyan]

As long as it performs, I don't have a problem with them charging like nV does for Titan. I just won't buy it, and will hope there is something maybe 15% slower for a lot less.

 

[Despoiler]

The 8GB's of DDR could be used as a buffer while the HBM does the dirty work?

Not sure if a penalty would apply or not.

Us mortals don't really have an idea of what's possible in the end.

I must not be mortal then or you didn't read or understand what I wrote. All of the information you need is available with the HBM information released today and in the past.

 

[sm625]

There will have to be something slower for less money, because there are going to be bad HBM dies or interconnects as well as the normal defects all gpus get. Which basically means 3GB SKUs with less compute cores.

 

[Head1985]

i cant believe they want rebrand hawaii"290w TDP" as 390/390x.Thats crazy.
nobody buying them now and they want rebrand them and sell them again?
How old is that GPU?From 2013?:'(

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Aren't we pretty close to DX12 why buy a card now or are these DX12 cards?

 

[psolord]

I don't care how they will name them, or how will they stack their line up.

All I want is good vfm. If they want to charge 1000 as well, then they are not adsressed to me, plain and simple.

Something 50% faster than a 970 at 400 would be nice. If not I will wait for the next series, etc.

 

[el etro]

Radeon XTX edition.

Good times.

 

[RussianSensation]

So $799-849 for single chip flagship with 4GB of VRAM or will this be a $1500 295X2 successor with dual Fijis?

Either way, for me this looks like an easy generation to skip - overpriced cards and very poorly optimized PC console ports (GTA V, TW3). No next gen PC graphics to be found anywhere but demands on GPUs skyrocketed. Meh, sign me up for 14nm gen. GTX970/R9 290 level $399-449 priced successor should tie or beat the Titan X/Fiji XT, while using 40-50% less power.

Hopefully 2nd tier Fiji and GM200 deliver 20-25% more performance than a 980 for $549-599.