AMD Confirms GDDR5 for ATI Radeon 4 Series Video Cards
 

AMD today announced the first commercial implementation of Graphics Double Data Rate, version 5 (GDDR5) memory in its forthcoming next generation of ATI Radeon graphics card products. The high-speed, high-bandwidth GDDR5 technology is expected to become the new memory standard in the industry, and that same performance and bandwidth is a key enabler of The Ultimate Visual Experience, unlocking new GPU capabilities. AMD is working with a number of leading memory providers, including Samsung, Hynix and Qimonda, to bring GDDR5 to market.


Today’s GPU performance is limited by the rate at which data can be moved on and off the graphics chip, which in turn is limited by the memory interface width and die size. The higher data rates supported by GDDR5 – up to 5x that of GDDR3 and 4x that of GDDR4 – enable more bandwidth over a narrower memory interface, which can translate into superior performance delivered from smaller, more cost-effective chips. AMD’s senior engineers worked closely with industry standards body JEDEC in developing the new memory technology and defining the GDDR5 spec.

“The days of monolithic mega-chips are gone. Being first to market with GDDR in our next-generation architecture, AMD is able to deliver incredible performance using more cost-effective GPUs,” said Rick Bergman, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Graphics Product Group, AMD. “AMD believes that GDDR5 is the optimal way to drive performance gains while being mindful of power consumption. We’re excited about the potential GDDR5 brings to the table for innovative game development and even more exciting game play.”

The introduction of GDDR5-based GPU offerings marks the continued tradition of technology leadership in graphics for AMD. Most recently AMD has been first to bring a unified shader architecture to market, the first to support Microsoft DirectX 10.1 gaming, first to lower process nodes like 55nm, the first with integrated HDMI with audio, and the first with double-precision floating point calculation support.

AMD expects that PC graphics will benefit from the increase in memory bandwidth for a variety of intensive applications. PC gamers will have the potential to play at high resolutions and image quality settings, with superb overall gaming performance. PC applications will have the potential to benefit from fast load times, with superior responsiveness and multi-tasking.

“Qimonda has worked closely with AMD to ensure that GDDR5 is available in volume to best support AMD’s next-generation graphics products,” said Thomas Seifert, Chief Operating Officer of Qimonda AG. “Qimonda’s ability to quickly ramp production is a further milestone in our successful GDDR5 roadmap and underlines our predominant position as innovator and leader in the graphics DRAM market.”

GDDR5 for Stream Processing
In addition to the potential for improved gaming and PC application performance, GDDR5 also holds a number of benefits for stream processing, where GPUs are applied to address complex, massively parallel calculations. Such calculations are prevalent in high-performance computing, financial and academic segments among others. AMD expects that the increased bandwidth of GDDR5 will greatly benefit certain classes of stream computations.

New error detection mechanisms in GDDR5 can also help increase the accuracy of calculations by indentifying errors and re-issuing commands to get valid data. This capability is a level of reliability not available with other GDDR-based memory solutions today.

Source: AMD

Man, cool and all, but its getting hard to keep up. Specs are getting so dated sooo fast, what happened to the 6 months and your good rule.

Now i am confused, Should i get the a 8800 series card like a 8800 GT or get one of the 4 series cards? I have a 680i SLI SE motherboard so i don't know if an ATI will work so good on my motherboard :confused:. Still can't wait for GDDR5:)
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Damn I was thinking doing CF with current 38 series. May be just one 48 series will do if the price is right. Damn should I keep the Asus?

As far as i know, any 1 card (except 3870x2, i believe) will work with your motherboard. It's when you want crossfire or SLI that you have to worry about.

the 3870x2 will also work, should.. the crossfire bridge is onboard

Well it looks like atleast one of the rumors about the 4 series cards are true. Hopefully the GDDR5 doesn't make things too expensive though.

I think the 3870 works in crossfire, even though it's only 1 board. Therefore, it shouldn't work in SLI only boards. I could be wrong, though!

ATI's always better on paper - faster memory, clocks, DX 10.1 support... yet nvidia cards are still better.

I'm pretty sure the 3870x2 doesn't need a crossfire board in order to work.

edit- its not listed under requirements on the ati website. There is no work on the motherboards part to make the dual gpu's work together.

Good point, That the only problem i have with PC hardware. I could get a 8800 GTX at launch and in the next two days a rumor about the 9 series is leaked. I just wish they had longer life spans instead of dropping from highend to second best in a matter of days or weeks.:shadedshu

yet another Fanboy.

Fanboy or not, NVIDIA cards are still faster right now. They have the fastest card and best bang for the buck card at the moment.

Lets hope these will clock better than the current 3k offerings.

Careful dude, that post is a potential fanboi war starter :p

Anyway, back on topic: I'm looking forward do both nVidia's 9900 and ATI's 4870, the battle should be a close one! Competition is good. That something we almost forgot it existed until the 38x0 vs 8800/9600 GT battle :)
Who knows, by the end of this year, someone might be able to play Crysis maxed out! :p

hows that the case, the 2900XT and 3870 looked great on paper, but they came out and didnt stand a chance.

The x1800XT didnt have a fight agasint the 7800GTX 512 and the 1900XTX tied it and was again beaten a few weeks later by the 7900GTX and then the 7950GX2. When the 1950XTX showed up the 8800GTX arrived 1 month later. ATI hasnt been putting up a good showing for awhile. Heck look at the x1600 or hd2600 cards compared to there direct compititon

I personally don't care. The only reason i have a Nvidia card is becuase i have a 680i SLI motherboard. But if ATI come out with something really good(maybe the 4 series) then i would have know problem upgraded to a ATI card.

The same is true if it were the other way around!

+1

nv launched the g80 (gtx, ultra) in 2006. Now is mid 2008, and the fastest (single gpu) card is still the 8800 ultra.

the 9800GTX is faster than the ultra in alot of situations

yes, faster with bribed developers and publishers behind nvidia...

Me neither! I wouldn't care if some new company came out called Goobledygoobledy, and realeased the fastest card, I'd buy that too!:)

Thats true but it's not generally the fastest anymore. Also,the 8800 GTX and Ultra is still expensive on Newegg.com.

Not bribed, what I don't get is why ATi isn't getting together with developers a little more? Can Nvidia's "The way it's meant to be played" program really be leagal? It would be like Ford getting together with OPEC and formulating a gasoline that only works well with Ford cars. Sure, it's smart of Nvidia to do it, however it hurts competition. The end result is that it hurts the consumer. Oh, and I'm glad that Ati is at least using GDDR5, and furthering thier advancement. Hopefully this will pay off well in the performance department.