Say Hello to AMD's New Generation of Graphics
Are you ready for Hawaii?
The rumors were true, folks. We heard whisperings of an October 8 release/NDA expiration and it looks like those rumors were true. The reviews are here and announcements from graphics cards makers are coming thick and fast. Already we've seen press releases from Asus, MSI, Club 3D, VTX3D, Sapphire, and PowerColor, and that list is only set to grow.
Announced two weeks ago, AMD's Hawaii silicon not brings new cards but a new naming scheme. The company is ditching its old Radeon HD XXXX series naming structure and instead adopting a new one that will focus on 'families' of cards (in this case the R7 and R9) sub-divided into three digit models representing performance levels.
If this sounds a bit familiar, it's because Nvidia did the exact same thing back in 2008. The company revealed plans to simplify its product range so that people who weren't as familiar with its range could better understand what they were buying.
New naming scheme aside, AMD's Hawaii silicon brings the R7 250, R7 260X, R9 270X, R9 280X, R9 290, and R9 290X to market. Today's review covers all but the R9 290 and R9 290X, which, as our own Chris Angelini points out in his review, all employ GPUs already found in the Radeon HD 7000-series line-up.
"Take that R9 270X, for example. With 1280 shaders spread across 20 compute units, it employs the same Pitcairn GPU introduced on the Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition in March of last year," Chris writes. "Or how about the R9 280X? Its 2048 shaders, 1 GHz engine frequency, and 384-bit memory bus should remind you of the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, sporting the Tahiti GPU."
To read Chris' full review, hit up AMD Radeon R9 280X, R9 270X, And R7 260X: Old GPUs, New Names.
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It was my understanding that 290s were a new chip and not a refresh like the other 200 series.
From the first paragraph of Chris' review of the lower cards:
"...upcoming Radeon R9 290 and 290X, based on fresh silicon..."
It was my understanding that 290s were a new chip and not a refresh like the other 200 series.
From the first paragraph of Chris' review of the lower cards:
"...upcoming Radeon R9 290 and 290X, based on fresh silicon..."
Go with something that makes sense..why r7 and r9? whats the r for? what does 7 relate to, or 9 for that fact? (People that are tech savvy can figure out what card is what pretty easy, but ask my wife which is better a R7 250, R9 290, and R9 290X and get a blank stare).
Why not codes like B,G and E (budget, gaming, and enthusiast or such)
THEN ask my wife 'which is more powerful, a B250 or a G290" after 5 seconds of telling her what B,G, and E stand for, even she could tell you which is better.
With the slow improvements to their drivers as far as micro stuttering go I think anyone would be mad to buy into AMD GPUs right now.
I have had many ATI GPUs in the past but really this is an incredibly dull launch and we have waited nearly 2 years for this.
then the body says... "AMD's Hawaii silicon not brings new cards but a new naming scheme."
My head ache.
I by my self am a "little" bit dissappointed that the naming was not:
R9 290X
R9 290
R9 180X
R9 180
R9 170
R7 160X
and so on, so that the first number after gategory number would mean the generation of the GPU... Because 290X and 290 are new generation, thats why 2XX name.
280 and so on are previous generation, so the name should have starter with 1xx, but that would have made too much sense... would it?
Go with something that makes sense..why r7 and r9? whats the r for? what does 7 relate to, or 9 for that fact? (People that are tech savvy can figure out what card is what pretty easy, but ask my wife which is better a R7 250, R9 290, and R9 290X and get a blank stare).
Why not codes like B,G and E (budget, gaming, and enthusiast or such)
THEN ask my wife 'which is more powerful, a B250 or a G290" after 5 seconds of telling her what B,G, and E stand for, even she could tell you which is better.
Either way you're explaining. Besides explaining 9 is higher than 7 is more straightforward than letters that seem arbitrary until they are explained. Ignoring the 'R' because it's a brand designation nothing more, and saying "7 and 9 are two families, and the higher the number, the better the card" isn't that difficult. Not sure the importance of the X yet though, so I can't speak to how that complicates things.
Either way you're explaining. Besides explaining 9 is higher than 7 is more straightforward than letters that seem arbitrary until they are explained. Ignoring the 'R' because it's a brand designation nothing more, and saying "7 and 9 are two families, and the higher the number, the better the card" isn't that difficult. Not sure the importance of the X yet though, so I can't speak to how that complicates things.
True, and they still leave the mystery of whats an old chip, or new chip in there either way.
Seems if a company is smart enough to make video cards, they could come up with a simple naming that doesn't require a spreadsheet and slide ruler to figure out which is actually newer faster generation chip by its numerical name vs a last model rebranded as budget in the new lineup with the same number scheme but now labeled a r7[something](which was an r9[something] last year to start with)
It was my understanding that 290s were a new chip and not a refresh like the other 200 series.
From the first paragraph of Chris' review of the lower cards:
"...upcoming Radeon R9 290 and 290X, based on fresh silicon..."
Your right the 290 and 290x are the only cards using the new Hawaii silicon the others are the same last gen "Tahiti" silicon.
Umm, no...We are just reading 7970ghz with new names. Hawaii is NOT HERE, and there are NO REVIEWS here of Hawaii...ROFL. Get back to me when a HAWAII REVIEW is up.