Thursday, August 1st 2019
AMD Could Launch New Navi GPUs Soon
AMD's president and CEO Dr. Lisa Su was talking during AMD's Q2 earnings Q&A conference and got asked a very interesting question. When prompted about high end Navi GPUs, Dr. Su answered with "I would say they are coming. You should expect that our execution on those are on track and we have a rich 7 nm portfolio beyond the products that we have already announced in the upcoming quarters."
This answer gives us hope to see more powerful Navi GPUs possibly by the end of the year, meaning that AMD's answer to Turing is almost ready. As we saw earlier in the rumors, we might get additional higher end GPU models in form of alleged RX 5800 and RX 5900, with XT variants available for both of those models. The RX 5800 is supposed to utilize a new GPU core called Navi 12, while the core for RX 5900 is still unknown.
Source:
VideoCardz
This answer gives us hope to see more powerful Navi GPUs possibly by the end of the year, meaning that AMD's answer to Turing is almost ready. As we saw earlier in the rumors, we might get additional higher end GPU models in form of alleged RX 5800 and RX 5900, with XT variants available for both of those models. The RX 5800 is supposed to utilize a new GPU core called Navi 12, while the core for RX 5900 is still unknown.
92 Comments on AMD Could Launch New Navi GPUs Soon
Every thing I have seen says that TSMC expected N7 (7NM DUV) customers, which Zen 2 and Navi are, to transition to 6NM (N6) when they move to EUV. N7 and N6 use the same design rules, while N7+ (7NM EUV) and N7P (7NM High Performance DUV) use different design rules.
As far a I understand, it would take more than a respin to go from 7NM DUV to 7NM EUV, due to the different design rules.
My guess is that big Navi will be 7nm DUV, just like current Navi. The delay is due to trying to work the kinks out of a new process on larger die and accumulating enough chips that meet specs. I don't think we will see 7nm EUV until Zen 2+ (or whatever the refresh is called). I think and I hope, considering how expensive new nodes are, that they wait till a new GPU to move nodes.
For me it's the small Navi's, what can RTG provide if they stay on GloFlo 12nm using to 1200-1500 Cores, 80-90 TMU's, 32 ROP's with 4/8Gb DDR6? I think they don't need 7nm to show what a Navi can offer in 75-120W packages. Holding to a very cost effectively node, could we see high side performance bettering RX 590 for <$150 MSRP? That still leaves a 7nm variants to com in and bust the 1660 and 1660Ti at MSRP's that are like $200 and $250.
A much larger Navi will run into problems with energy consumption and have to sacrifice some clock speed to stay within reasonable power consumption.
And it seems that everyone knows there is a "big navi" coming, and it may very well be coming, but do we actually have any solid indicators about what a bigger navi would offer? It seems like everyone assumes it will offer more shader processors. I just want to remind people that many had the same assumption about Vega 20. Oh, the mathematician in me cringes when people uses equality that way. :(
These words by Lisa Su is probably very intentionally chosen to leave any ambiguity they would need in case plans changes, and makes it sounds like she is saying something, when she is actually revealing absolutely nothing. There is no reasoning that would lead this to meaning exactly two quarters. What she really said is that they will refresh the lineup within the next ~1.5 years or so, which we would expect anyway, so there is nothing new here.
I don't doubt there may be something coming soon, but I would expect a smaller Navi first.
In other news, Intel could get 10nm on track soon. :D See what I did there
Intel's 10nm DUV node isn't dead or broken, and the yield issues are solvable, but the "bigger" problem is achieving high enough production volume. This is the reason why Intel probably will not transition completely to 10nm, assuming 7nm isn't delayed of course.
My money's on the latter, but it's just a hunch.
Really, AMD can try all they are able to and they're still not going to break 30% market share for years. Navi is looking good for the new consoles, though. That should make everyone happy as Polaris ended up holding up game design a bit in the last few years.
What they have done so far between the "disastrous" Cannon Lake and the "okay" Ice Lake-U/-Y is probably mostly tweaking the design to fit the characteristics of the node. These experiences has been used to develop the 10nm+ node.
"We are well positioned for growth in the second half of the year as we continue to ramp our Radeon 5000 GPU family."
I just dislike loud cards because they clutter up the market. I really don't understand why that is so difficult to fathom, and also I don't understand why AMD has such a hard time designing properly good cooling. Sometimes it happens, but it seems to me they for quite a while now has used exactly the same design for many of their cards and all of those are loud.
I'm not quite sure that AMD's main goal is to release something to counter NV. Well of course they will have to counter it somehow but AMD is bringing new GPUs to the market cause it is also GPU company not CPUs only. They need to move forward. I think they are more concerned about customer expectations more and new release cause they are GPU producers. They are obligated to release something and if it counters NV that's a bonus. :)
We will have to see what AMD will come up with. I dont think they are releasing Ray Tracing card with NAVI. Maybe a refresh later on with RT based on NAVI but this NAVI launch will be without RT for sure. Console first with RT to see how things go and then focus on PC. Besides they still need to catch NV with the performance and adding RT feature, is not going to accomplish this.
Amazing fake and 1-2 punch by AMD imo.