AMD AMA Points To Nearing GlobalFoundries 14 nm FinFET Polaris GPU

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By Michael Justin Allen Sexton
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AMD’s Robert Hallock participated in an AMA on Reddit yesterday, and he gave some interesting details on the company’s upcoming products.

As the launch of AMD’s upcoming Polaris- and Zen-based products are still a ways off, Hallock was limited in the amount of information that he could disclose, but he was able to give us an update on the expected release dates for these components. Polaris is expected to launch first, sometime in mid 2016, with Zen following later this year.

With Zen, Hallock pointed out that AMD will be changing its processor release strategy. Starting with the Trinity APUs, AMD has been focused primarily on its APU products. Trinity used the Piledriver architecture, which was an updated form of Bulldozer, and subsequent FX CPUs used Piledriver as well. Since then, AMD has released APUs using several other architectures, including an improved Piledriver architecture (Richland), Steamroller (Kaveri) and Excavator (Carrizo), but it has not pushed a new core in the desktop FX product line.

When Zen comes, however, it will first be released in the FX product line starting sometime in late 2016. APUs using Zen will arrive later. Hallock also commented that all of the CPUs and GPUs coming from AMD in the near future will use GlobalFoundries 14 nm FinFET transistor technology, which in and of itself should help AMD to significantly improve its power consumption and performance and become more competitive against Intel and Nvidia in addition. That is, of course, in addition to whatever architectural enhancements AMD is able to make.

As the year rolls on, we should be seeing more about these upcoming products soon.

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Michael Justin Allen Sexton
Michael Justin Allen Sexton is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers hardware component news, specializing in CPUs and motherboards.
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38 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Sowel Hung
    AMD has been releasing some quality APUs over the past 2 years. No longer are they releasing product just for the sake of releasing product. If AMD just moved their newest mainstream APUs and AM1 based APUs to a 14nm process, that in itself would be a very compelling product even without a new CPU core.

    I think the biggest risk ahead for next gen products is the GF 14nm process and not anything that has to do with AMD itself.
    Reply
  • Kahless01
    they dont have to beat them, just make it interesting again.
    Reply
  • IInuyasha74
    17609818 said:
    they dont have to beat them, just make it interesting again.

    That is very true. They at least need to try and get up to Core i5 performance to do that though, otherwise are limited to a fairly small portion of the market and are still going to have problems.
    Reply
  • nillion99
    I love when people say just up to core i5 performance. You don't get much of a jump going from a core i5 to a 7. I know, I own both. That is a very tall order.
    Reply
  • g-unit1111
    17609818 said:
    they dont have to beat them, just make it interesting again.

    I agree. The sad thing is AMD's best CPU in years has been the X4-860K. Not that that's a bad thing necessarily but if they want to get serious about competing with Intel they need to step up their game in the mid range - high end department. I think just the fact that they're finally ditching AM3 is interesting in and of itself. I'll be due for a CPU upgrade next year and if the 14nm processors are anything worth buying over the Intel equivalent I'll definitely give it a shot.
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    i am actually more interested in their Zen APU's. will they be able to crossfire with their polaris GPU's for additional speed bonus? that would be a real kick in intel and nvidia's balls. and if the zen apu can function as fast as haswell, it would be a hit.
    Reply
  • g-unit1111
    17610048 said:
    i am actually more interested in their Zen APU's. will they be able to crossfire with their polaris GPU's for additional speed bonus? that would be a real kick in intel and nvidia's balls. and if the zen apu can function as fast as haswell, it would be a hit.

    You really think an APU would be able to compete with an i7-6800K? Think about the target market for APUs and then get back to me.
    Reply
  • Martell1977
    If AMD can deliver with some truly compelling and competitive products, they need to find some money for advertising. This has been a huge issue for them for a LONG time. If you say something about Intel to someone, they will instantly know what you are talking about. You say AMD and you either get a blank stare or the attitude that they are a cheap Intel knock-off.

    Their GPU's are pretty good and are competitive, but I really hope that they can contain the marketing department and not over-promise, like they have so many times before. I understand the need to hype a product, but they go too far, and the products, even if good, can't live up to the hype.
    Reply
  • turkey3_scratch
    17610324 said:
    If AMD can deliver with some truly compelling and competitive products, they need to find some money for advertising. This has been a huge issue for them for a LONG time. If you say something about Intel to someone, they will instantly know what you are talking about. You say AMD and you either get a blank stare or the attitude that they are a cheap Intel knock-off.

    Their GPU's are pretty good and are competitive, but I really hope that they can contain the marketing department and not over-promise, like they have so many times before. I understand the need to hype a product, but they go too far, and the products, even if good, can't live up to the hype.

    I do see Intel commercials every so often on TV. I think I was one yesterday where some dinosaur was chasing some guy with his HP laptop, and then they threw in the 3-second Intel clip at the end.
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    17610048 said:
    i am actually more interested in their Zen APU's. will they be able to crossfire with their polaris GPU's for additional speed bonus? that would be a real kick in intel and nvidia's balls. and if the zen apu can function as fast as haswell, it would be a hit.

    You really think an APU would be able to compete with an i7-6800K? Think about the target market for APUs and then get back to me.
    i said haswell, not skylake. and haswell has a range of CPU's, so yes, it's possible. and it's geared towards smaller systems and budget gamers, as they oft show the capabilities of their integrated graphics when it comes to video games.
    Reply