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Rumor: AMD Updating R9 280 with Efficient Tonga GPU

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  • Graphics Cards
  • AMD
  • Components
Last response: in News comments
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June 30, 2014 1:27:28 PM

"AMD" and "efficient" usually don't go together.
Score
-26
June 30, 2014 1:33:10 PM

I don't understand why they wouldn't call it something new? It's not like the 280/280X's respective positions in the graphics card market are in danger, AMD is dominating pretty hard now. Things like this always end up confusing your average consumer, for no real reason. The only thing that I can think of is that the 20nm process is delayed and they just want to fill the space with a new product, but that still doesn't really explain the brand new gpu (not to mention, what happened to hawaii?). I don't really understand what the point of this is, but I'm certainly not going to complain if it works the way it should
Score
3
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June 30, 2014 1:36:09 PM

Quote:
"AMD" and "efficient" usually don't go together.


Yeah, especially when you consider the HD 5000 and 6000 series only trumped their Nvidia counterparts in power efficiency for that generation.
Score
24
a b U Graphics card
June 30, 2014 1:38:45 PM

Ironic, isn't it? Manufacturers have so little new technology to launch that they re-brand old architectures once or twice between genuinely new launches and then, because not enough time passed since the last dummy-launch, they end up reusing old (or old-looking) model numbers to slip new products in the market because it is too soon to launch an entirely new line.
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3
a b U Graphics card
June 30, 2014 1:42:12 PM

Treynolds416 said:
I don't understand why they wouldn't call it something new?

My guess is because they do not want people to quit buying the old version.

If they branded it the R9-281(X), tons of people would now consider the R9-280(X) completely obsolete even though it should perform practically the same.

Yes, it seems silly and unnecessarily confusing. If they are so concerned with people shunning all the stock of 280-based products out there, they could have released the new chips as 281 and tacked a significant premium on it for the time being so card manufacturers and retailers can flush their old inventory.
Score
-1
a b U Graphics card
June 30, 2014 2:01:58 PM

Quote:
AMD is dominating pretty hard now.


AMD only has a tiny bit over 4% more market share than Nvidia. Don't know that I would call that dominating. Note that AMD's market share includes the integrated GPU on it's A-series CPUs, so when it comes down to actual discrete GPUs, Nvidia probably has more market share than AMD. If anything, Intel is dominating by having 63% of the market share due to all of the pcs out there with it's integrated graphics.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2014/02/19/p...
Score
7
a b U Graphics card
June 30, 2014 2:15:09 PM

Under ATI, they used to change the last number, like 280 to 285, to note a manufacturing change. Miss those days. Now they change the chip completely, change the architecture, etc, and note it where?
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10
a b U Graphics card
June 30, 2014 2:16:35 PM

RCguitarist said:
Note that AMD's market share includes the integrated GPU on it's A-series CPUs, so when it comes down to actual discrete GPUs, Nvidia probably has more market share than AMD.


Last time the Discrete Market share was 62% for Nvidia and 38% for AMD.
Score
1
June 30, 2014 2:56:00 PM

Quote:
RCguitarist said:
Note that AMD's market share includes the integrated GPU on it's A-series CPUs, so when it comes down to actual discrete GPUs, Nvidia probably has more market share than AMD.


Last time the Discrete Market share was 62% for Nvidia and 38% for AMD.

Last time I checked, which was sometime in Q1, Nvidia had a 65% share of the discrete grahics market, AMD was 35%. When you look at the professional GPU market Nvidia was at ~79% while AMD was ~20%.

As of Q1 AMD still technically maintains a slight advantage in the overall GPU market compared to Nvidia when you include iGPUs, but in that case Intel is far and away dominating everything with ~66% market share. Nvidia was at 16.6%, AMD was at 16.7%.
Score
4
a b U Graphics card
June 30, 2014 2:59:01 PM

dragonsqrrl said:
Last time I checked, which was sometime in Q1, Nvidia had a 65% share of the discrete grahics market, AMD was 35%.


Well probably, I just couldn't find Q12014 results...
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1
June 30, 2014 3:35:36 PM

AMD has 100% of the market in PlayStation 4 graphics ...
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1
June 30, 2014 3:48:00 PM

22nm*

TSMC isn't ready for 22nm processes yet, they were delayed into next year for delivery as the yields are incredibly low right now. So I seriously doubt anyone will be shipping 20nm, not in any meaningful capacity, you won't see any improvements in performance or power management this year at 22nm - straight from the horses mouth.
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2
June 30, 2014 4:33:54 PM

Quote:
....straight from the horses mouth.


Quote:
...straight from the horses mouth.


TSMC has no 22nm on their roadmap. You might be thinking of Intel. TSMC jumps directly to 20nm.
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5
June 30, 2014 4:38:23 PM

waiting on the R300 series with DirectX 12
Score
3
a b U Graphics card
June 30, 2014 5:05:50 PM

SteelCity1981 said:
waiting on the R300 series with DirectX 12

Not much point in "waiting for R300" when half the models will simply be rebadged R200s so you need to check chip models down to revision numbers if you want to make sure you got an actual R300-generation chip of any model.
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-7
June 30, 2014 6:42:52 PM

"report does indicate that they will still come with
the same 2 GB of GDDR5 memory"
2gb!!!!!!!
Score
1
a b U Graphics card
June 30, 2014 6:51:34 PM

I'ma say it cause no one else seems to. What about crossfire? Will the new 280(x) crossfire with the old 280(x)? If they do, same name, if not, time for a new name.
Score
5
June 30, 2014 6:55:47 PM

Why even make a article about AMD when everyone here loves to bash on it? Nvidia die hard fans i suppose... Waiting for the ASUS STRIX R9 280 iv seen what a hd 7950 could do so i cant wait to get my hands on it.
Score
0
a b U Graphics card
June 30, 2014 6:59:08 PM

RCguitarist said:
Quote:
AMD is dominating pretty hard now.


AMD only has a tiny bit over 4% more market share than Nvidia. Don't know that I would call that dominating. Note that AMD's market share includes the integrated GPU on it's A-series CPUs, so when it comes down to actual discrete GPUs, Nvidia probably has more market share than AMD. If anything, Intel is dominating by having 63% of the market share due to all of the pcs out there with it's integrated graphics.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2014/02/19/p...


To take it a step further, NV owns 65% discrete, while AMD has 35. The money is made on discrete, so I don't really count APU's and those are useless for gamers unless you like 1366x768 with details down. They might become useful at 20nm maybe for 1080p but even then I doubt it and you'll still be jacking around settings on a per game basis. I prefer a gpu I can set it at max and forget it for my chosen res. Integrated stuff is a few die shrinks away from that even for 1080p (my real guess here is 14nm with a large cache like IRIS or 10nm for Intel as I doubt they even catch AMD APU with broadwell in the gpu dept). That may be ok for some (casual), but for the serious gamers the same people that buy them keep buying them for the same reason (better game visuals and speed).

As more casual realize the gpu potential (now that you can actually game semi-ok on APU) I think you're going to see them move to discrete in at least some numbers. I'm not saying all obviously, but I expect discrete growth as they want more power and see what they're missing or the pain in the neck of trying to get this or that game to run without fps going to crap. They will find it is easier to just go discrete and get way better visuals and less screwing with settings. We've already seen some growth which is why NV's revenue records came during PC slowdown of ~12%. This quarter will be an anomaly due to AMD stocking to much and bitcoin etc dying for gpus vs. asics (wow, just as I predicted, party over in june). We'll have to see how much it hurts NV since nobody was really buying their cards for mining. I also think many of us are waiting on 20nm at this point but maybe that's just me. The mining crap will hurt AMD more than NV for sure, but I really hope it isn't the 30-40% rumors are claiming as that would be a HUGE hit for AMD to take.
Score
0
a b U Graphics card
June 30, 2014 8:01:50 PM

Quote:
"report does indicate that they will still come with
the same 2 GB of GDDR5 memory"
2gb!!!!!!!

The 280 and 280X (as well as their 7950 & 7970 siblings) have 3GB of VRAM. MSI actually has a 6GB version of the 280X. If these new Tonga-equipped cards are only going to have 2GB of VRAM, that would be a mistake and a big step backwards.
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0
June 30, 2014 8:08:27 PM

I'm waiting to have money and AMD to release something I can afford.
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0
a b U Graphics card
a b À AMD
June 30, 2014 9:47:14 PM

Um... could ya please not do that, AMD? You could call it the R9 285X or maybe the R9 280XT... or hell, you could call it the R9 280X-Super-Boosted-1000-Arcade-Retro-Extreme-Megaton-Edition-Turbo-99 for all I care but could you please do something so that consumers don't have to stand there scratching their heads wondering if their purchasing the right version of their GPU?
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0
a c 177 U Graphics card
a b À AMD
June 30, 2014 10:28:04 PM

call 280x rev 2.
Score
0
a b U Graphics card
July 1, 2014 12:12:37 AM

My undervolted 7970 ran on 135w at 950/1375 clocks in furmark. I could easily see them get this card to use 100w and perform as well as a 7970 as long they clock the memory at 7000 MHz effective. They would also save a lot of money only using 2GB of RAM and a less complex memory bus.
Score
0
a b U Graphics card
July 1, 2014 1:41:17 AM

InvalidError said:
SteelCity1981 said:
waiting on the R300 series with DirectX 12

Not much point in "waiting for R300" when half the models will simply be rebadged R200s so you need to check chip models down to revision numbers if you want to make sure you got an actual R300-generation chip of any model.


Pretty much this. I'm calling it now, the 290X and 290 will become the 380X and 380.

Graphics card manufactures are boooooorrriiiinnnggg nowadays. We really need a decent third party to give Nvidia and AMD a kick up the arse.
Score
0
July 1, 2014 2:40:37 AM

The mining craze made it difficult for non-miners to buy Radeons, and its fall from grace means it's cheaper to get a hold of one. I suppose it could hurt AMD but it depends on how much they ramped up production to compensate for the rush. In any case, whenever the next series of cards comes, AMD will want to offload the remaining Rx 2xx series cards.
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0
July 1, 2014 3:28:59 AM

Quote:
Um... could ya please not do that, AMD? You could call it the R9 285X or maybe the R9 280XT... or hell, you could call it the R9 280X-Super-Boosted-1000-Arcade-Retro-Extreme-Megaton-Edition-Turbo-99 for all I care but could you please do something so that consumers don't have to stand there scratching their heads wondering if their purchasing the right version of their GPU?

A bit like NVIDIA and their three versions of the GT 730.
Score
2
July 1, 2014 4:16:16 AM

My question is, will it be crossfire compatible with Tahiti 7950/70 280/X? I seriously doubt it will but given that I want to crossfire a 280x with my 7970 in the future, I would be interested to know. If it did offer identical performance and lower power consumption, I might consider picking one of these up but that's assuming there are 3GB models and that architecture doesn't cause problems.
Score
0
July 1, 2014 6:22:32 AM

amd vs nvidia is pretty simple

AMD wins in Price vs Performance
Nvidia wins in Performance per Watt.

Amd does it cheaper, but uses more power and creates more heat. that's why nvidia and intel dominate mobile gpu's
Score
0
July 1, 2014 7:25:23 AM

The specs of 2048 steaming processors with only 256bit bus would suggest is less powerful than the 280X but possibly as powerful as the 280. I think AMD is going to call this new gpu the r9 275 and price it around $199. This would be a nice little gpu if it only requires a single 6 pin. My question tho is could this new design be completely dx12 compatible?
Score
0
a b U Graphics card
July 1, 2014 9:15:01 AM

elbert said:
The specs of 2048 steaming processors with only 256bit bus would suggest is less powerful than the 280X but possibly as powerful as the 280.

A narrower memory bus did not prevent the Maxwell 750 from competing against the R7-265. If AMD reduced their GPU's memory bandwidth dependence in a similar way, they could bring 280-class performance down to 256bits memory width.
Score
0
a b U Graphics card
July 1, 2014 9:44:14 PM

jasonelmore said:
amd vs nvidia is pretty simple

AMD wins in Price vs Performance
Nvidia wins in Performance per Watt.

Amd does it cheaper, but uses more power and creates more heat. that's why nvidia and intel dominate mobile gpu's


Comic you got rated down for the truth. I'd add also that NV/Intel own the top because they usually win period more often than not, and that is also why there's a "surcharge" so to speak. That surcharge doesn't just get perf claims it also comes with more R&D all around (drivers etc). Everyone makes mistakes, but these two make less of them and charge you for it. You don't see many complaining about compatibility, failures etc on INTEL boards (chipset and board intel I mean), which is why business builds a crapload of systems around them (reliability) in enterprise. They can more easily afford to pay for that "feature" (is WORKING properly really a feature? LOL). It's quite amazing AMD does as well as they do considering they don't make anywhere near what the other two do, and I hope that changes soon. But it won't until AMD stops pricing themselves to death. I think this year is shot though, as they appear to be about to take a 30-40% hit on cards due to build-up hoping mining would continue.

I'll say it again management is KILLING AMD, how dumb are these people running their great tech into the ground with bad business decisions? If management would quit doing stupid stuff they might make some real cash. Anyone reading about asics for scrypt etc should have known the party started ending in april and would be completely over in June (here we are!). Management made a stupid ATI deal (3x what should have been paid), made stupid WSA with GF over and over after being forced to give up their fabs (due to ATI stupid deal), completely missed the ball on ARM by 4-5yrs (should be on R5 like Tegra), blew it again now on mining, went console instead of CORE tech like cpus and gpus (drivers mostly got shafted, product ok but drivers for last gen still are not done, dx9/10 users appear screwed forever) etc. In the process they now have less R&D spending than NV (not even in the race with intel), and have 30% less engineering to come up with great products for next year etc. AMD has great employees, and amazingly they come up with some great products. But they get screwed by lack of resources to HELP their great stuff and end up having to sell for lower pricing vs. Intel/AMD. The layoffs happened over the last 3 years, and it takes about that time or more to come up with this stuff so we're about to see how bad it has hurt them probably at 20nm. Hawaii and the current APU's, etc were probably mostly done before those people left. I don't know how their going to compete with less people and now less R&D for this next wave of APU or GPU.

I don't see how AMD digs themselves out of this yet. Intel is coming for the GPU on the apu just to fight off ARM's advance on the low end (can't have ARM desktops take 21% like chromebooks already have, they have to stop this), and NV clearly did their homework on power for Maxwell so even if AMD has a decent answer NV has a lot of power to amp things up if needed to get a perf crown at higher wattage/heat at 20nm. They have a very tough road ahead, especially if management keeps attacking their profits in one way or another which will cause further drops in R&D (has been dropping for 4yrs) or worse the engineers getting cut again that actually make the stuff they can sell to begin with. They really need to get bought and in a hurry, backed by someone that can put more engineers and R&D cash to work. Otherwise, I fear AMD will end up losing the small pies they do have now to NV/Intel/ARM armada. The low-end (where AMD lives in apu) is ARM/Intel's new battleground and the bulk of revenues come here. GPU is never an easy race and isn't making tons of cash even now (with a huge hit seemingly looming in two weeks at the Quarter), so what will the be able to pile up serious profits with soon? Intel is willing to price AMD to death (accidentally) to slow ARM's progress on the low-end (practically giving away mobile chips at a Billion loss yearly now). NV has the R&D/profits/cash on hand (~3.7B - not counting the loan they took for new building that got delayed, assuming they'll just give that back or something, temporarily showing more debt and more cash than is real) to fight for a LONG time in GPU, so where will AMD get a 500mil profit surge from? Lots of competition in ARM servers hence samsung/NV giving it up for a bit (maybe Denver can serve that also, so no need for boulder? who knows), calxeda already belly up etc. That won't be a profit stream you can count on. What else is there? Consoles already both off 50%+ only after a quarter, probably worse this Q.

We should all be praying for them to get bought at this point so they can put out a LEADER product backed with the best drivers/support etc to help whatever product that is.
Score
-1
a b U Graphics card
July 2, 2014 10:13:32 AM

I've been considering getting a R9 280x for some-time now. If they release a more efficient version that's under 200W TDP, I will definitely jump ship and upgrade my EVGA GTX660. I just hope they won't charge a ridiculous premium for it.

Coffee
Score
0
July 8, 2014 1:32:59 AM

Quote:
Why even make a article about AMD when everyone here loves to bash on it? Nvidia die hard fans i suppose... Waiting for the ASUS STRIX R9 280 iv seen what a hd 7950 could do so i cant wait to get my hands on it.


I don't get the whole concept of "fanboyism". We're all consumers. I know we don't all make our purchasing decisions with our heads (or else Ferrari wouldn't have a market) but on the whole, having 2 or more elite companies providing competing products is good for the average consumer. Saying that ATi is inefficient (as a generalisation) does not make me an NVidia fan (even though I do own one of their old cards). It just means that I've noted from MANY sources that ATi is less efficient than Nvidia on the whole. That's called a fact. I'm not a fan of either, I like them both as friends. ;) 
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0
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