What we know about the Radeon R7 and R9 series (as well as speculation)

[Roland00Address]

These are screen caps from the GPU 2014 Tech Day Event that occured on 9/25/2013

You can view the livestream here even though the event is over. This is where I got the screencaps I will show below

Everything I post in this post is known information.

AMD radeon is doing a new naming scheme
R9 is for Enthusiast (aka customers who want the best performance)
R7 is for Performance (aka cost conscious customers)

This is the only indication we got of the r9 290x performance. The graph makes the card look like it is getting almost/near 8000 in fire strike or at least in the higher 7000 numbers.

Runs on bus power (thus the card power consumption is less than 75w)

Runs on 1x6 pin (thus the card power consumption is less than 150w)

Runs on 2x6 pin (thus the card power consumption is less than 225w)

Runs on 1x8 and 1x6 pin (thus the card power consumption is less than 300w)

Recap
R7 250, Firestrike >2000, <75w power consumption
R7 260X, Firestrike >3700, <150w power consumption
R9 270X, Firestrike >5500, <225w power consumption
R9 280X, Firestrike >6800, <300w power consumption
R9 290X, Firestrike almost 8000

 

[jpeyton]

R9 290X, Firestrike almost 8000

I thought it was over 9000, no?

 

[Roland00Address]

Speculation Post
Known: We also know that some of these new R7 and R9 cards are going to be rebrands and some are going to be new silicon. We have a good idea what cards are going to be new silicon based off the new audio features. These cards are getting the new audio features

These are firestrike scores for current video cards on the market, all the cards are at stock speed I list the clock speeds so it easier for you to compare these scores to oc scores.
7970 GHz Edition__7597, 1000 mhz
7970 ___________6622, 925 mhz
7950 Boost Edition_6033, 850 mhz
7870 GHz Edition__5024, 1000 mhz
7850 ___________4184, 860 mhz
7790 ___________3636, 1000 mhz
7770 GHz Edition__2744, 1000 mhz
7750 ___________2069, 800 mhz
Source of all numbers besides 7790
Source of 7790 number
Speculation: Based off the firestrike scores.

R7 250, Firestrike >2000, <75w power consumption, Renamed 7750, Cape Verde PRO (75w TDP for the 7750)
R7 260X, Firestrike >3700, <150w power consumption, Renamed 7790, Bonaire XT (85w TDP for the 7790)
R9 270X, Firestrike >5500, <225w power consumption, Renamed 7870 GHz Edition, Pitcairn XT (175w TDP for the 7870 GHz Edition)
R9 280X, Firestrike >6800, <300w power consumption, Renamed 7970, Tahiti XT (250w TDP for the 7970)
R9 290X, Firestrike almost 8000, Something new based off the Hawaii

Speculation: Based off the firestrike score I believe the R7 260x is based off the same gpu as the radeon 7790. Now the radeon 7790 is based off Bonaire configuration of GCN, unlike the other radeon 7700 series which is based off Cape Verde configuration of GCN. Now Bonaire was custom silicon that came a year later than the rest of the 7000 series of graphics. Bonaire uses GCN 1.1 instead of GCN 1.0. It is possible that this is the same silicon we will see with the R7 260x but with the new audio features turn off with the 7790. Similar to how the 5770 and 6770 were the same card but the 6770 supported fast hdmi.

Speculation: Note these 5 cards I listed (R7 250, R7 260x, R9 270x, R9 280x, R9 290x) are probably not going to be the only new R7 and R9 series cards. There will also be variants of these cards with features disabled or different clock speeds. In the AMD slides they list both a r9 290 and a r9 290x. Furthermore in the new catalyst drivers there are 6 different model numbers listed for the Hawaii gpu (which r9 290x is one of).

 

[cmdrdredd]

Doesn't the GTX 780 go to 8600 on firestrike and the 770 is around 7400? I'm waiting for a side by side comparison. Cause that's what matters IMO. It should be beating their older cousins, that's not surprising.

 

[Attic]

Not nearly as excited as I was before 3pm est today.

The rebadging, after this much time since 7xxx debuted, is a kick to the nuts.

The 200 dollar space looks essentially unchanged, and possibly worse. A 7870 goes for as low as 150 after rebate today.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Not nearly as excited as I was before 3pm est today.

The rebadging, after this much time since 7xxx debuted, is a kick to the nuts.

That just means 20nm is taking longer.

 

[StrangerGuy]

I didn't read up on anything, but my bet is a Keplerish aggressive removal of compute capability for better gaming perf.

 

[Roland00Address]

Doesn't the GTX 780 go to 8600 on firestrike and the 770 is around 7400? I'm waiting for a side by side comparison. Cause that's what matters IMO. It should be beating their older cousins, that's not surprising.

You are correct the gtx 780 and gtx 770 gets around that score. Remember 3d mark is a benchmark, and that benchmarks performance does not correspond necessarily with final gaming performance. It is a limited tool, don't expect too much out of it, we will have to wait for reviews to get final gaming results.

That said AMD did release enough information (via releasing the fire strike scores) for us to make educated guesses on which gpus are rebrands/or slight tweaks.

 

[yacoub]

One slide shows a 290 between the 290X and 280X, which is probably how they'll manage to shove $200 between the 290X and 280X prices, despite the rest of the X line from the 280X on down being $100 or less apart.

It'll probably be:
$199 for 270X (which is gypped on the RAM, having only 2GB. A 7950 can get you 3GB for that price now)
$299 280X (which should have 4GB of RAM for that price, not just 3GB.)
$399 for the mystery 290-sans-X, probably a cut down 290X, probably cut down enough to be overpriced.
and $499 for the 290X, which might otherwise be $399 which would make the pricing actually interesting for a change.

They did the crappy pricing thing with the 7900s series. I was really hoping they'd go back to more aggressive pricing like they used to have. Probably going to stick with ordering a 7950 after all.

 

[Roland00Address]

All 126 Slides are posted here
https://amd.app.box.com/GPU14publicpreso

R7 250, R7 260X, R9 270X, R9 280X, R9 290, R9 290X
https://amd.app.box.com/GPU14shots

 

[Sohaltang]

Unless the pricing on the flagship card is very aggressive I'm going to skip this series. Might try to find another 7950 for 150$ again. Seems I'm set for the next 10+ months. Maybe I'll order a 3rd 1440 120 HZ qnix monitor.

 

[HurleyBird]

According to Charlie, the 290 and 290X don't have crossfire connectors but still support Multi-GPU, which is one of the more interesting bits people have overlooked in all of the Mantle hype.

 

[Roland00Address]

According to Charlie, the 290 and 290X don't have crossfire connectors but still support Multi-GPU, which is one of the more interesting bits people have overlooked in all of the Mantle hype.

Interesting you are correct the picts lack crossfire bridges, the picts of the cards also lack dvi-i connections being digital only

 

[Subyman]

Not very exciting on the graphics front. The audio stuff they were talking about sounds interesting though.

 

[yacoub]

Not very exciting on the graphics front. The audio stuff they were talking about sounds interesting though.

But apparently only fully relevant if you're running WinXP or Win8? Supposedly Vista and Win7 went all software for sound processing?

 

[nitromullet]

With the price/performance ratio AMD offers with the 7950, what else can they really do but re-badge Tahiti? At the price point those cards are at already, putting R&D into a replacement on 28nm would probably just increase the price. I think we're going to have to see a node shrink before anything gets better in the $150-300 range from either side.

 

[gx_saurav]

I just purchased a Radeon HD 7850 last month so I think R7 260X is going to give similar performance to it. R9 270X is what I wanted to buy next but considering it is the same chip as a Radeon HD 7870 (which is available far cheaper now), I think it is wise to skip it. It makes more sense to buy the one with new chip architecture with TrueAudio etc

 

[grant2]

Speculation: Based off the firestrike scores.

R7 250, Firestrike >2000, <75w power consumption, Renamed 7750, Cape Verde PRO (75w TDP for the 7750)

I was hoping for an improved low-end card, but I guess it makes sense they're just going to rebadge and drop the price a little bit.

 

[wrbt]

R7 260X, Firestrike >3700, <150w power consumption, Renamed 7790, Bonaire XT (85w TDP for the 7790)

This speculation pleases me, thank you.

I wanted to wait until this new generation but due to a card dying went ahead and picked up a 7790 awhile back. The card has been fine and price/performance is great especially considering the Bioshock Infinite bundle, but I've had this nagging regret that I couldn't last until this next generation that we've been speculating about forever finally came out.

Feel far better about holding onto the 7790 until a truly new lower-mid card appears.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Lemme see if I've got this right. Slight changes in performance levels. No price movement. No changes in performance per watt. A new sound arrangement. A new naming convention.

Get your 78xx and 79xx cards while they are hot boys and girls!

 

[ShintaiDK]

Lemme see if I've got this right. Slight changes in performance levels. No price movement. No changes in performance per watt. A new sound arrangement. A new naming convention.

Get your 78xx and 79xx cards while they are hot boys and girls!

Thats what happens without node shrinks. Same applies for nVidia. Its gonna be a long year to wait for 20nm cards.

 

[96Firebird]

What happened to those who claimed they new about the new GPUs? How accurate were they? :hmm:

 

[Roland00Address]

I was hoping for an improved low-end card, but I guess it makes sense they're just going to rebadge and drop the price a little bit.

It could possible be the 384 GCN 1.1 Shader card called Oland. This is currently being used in laptops as a low end graphic card. Furthermore it is an OEM only part with the 8570 (730 mhz with ddr3) and 8670 (1000 mhz with gddr5) graphic cards in desktop. I can't find any fire strike benches for the 8670, but the 8570 only gets about 1300 in fire strike. I can't tell if this low score is due to the ddr3 or the low clock speed. That said if the R7 250 is based of Oland then they need to substantially increase clock speeds for the difference between a 2000 and 1300 score is 54%.

Once again this is speculation, I can be wrong. I think Cape Verde Pro is more likely but it could be something else.

This is what Ryan Smith and Anand stated in the live blog.

05:07PM EDT - Wild guess based on AMD's specs and features listed so far. 290 = New GPU. 280 = Tahiti. 270 = Pitcairn. 260 = Bonaire. 250 = Cape Verde or Oland

 

[Skurge]

What happened to those who claimed they new about the new GPUs? How accurate were they? :hmm:

Sushiwarrior was pretty damn accurate about 290X.

 

[Stuka87]

05:07PM EDT - Wild guess based on AMD's specs and features listed so far. 290 = New GPU. 280 = Tahiti. 270 = Pitcairn. 260 = Bonaire. 250 = Cape Verde or Oland

This would make sense. Basically what nVidia did. Titan came out before the 700 series. But they basically re-badged everything (Slight tweaks), and then put a new GPU up top.

But I would bet that they are tweaked to be more GCN 1.1 than just GCN 1.0 straight rebrands.