Home Gaming AMD have revealed Vega and Navi – their new GPUs for 2017 and 2018

AMD have revealed Vega and Navi – their new GPUs for 2017 and 2018

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AMD reveal Vega and Navi architectures

The GPU race is well and truly heating up thanks to the sudden urgency VR has injected into the industry. Memory demands are skyrocketing in the gaming sphere (and even more so in super computing) and both AMD and Nvidia are rushing to make sure they’re ahead of the curve. While Nvidia focuses on tapping a brand new type of memory standard, AMD is already settled into their plans for the next two years. And they include both Vega and Navi.

Vega, to the AMD watchdogs, isn’t exactly new. It’s been rumoured as the next step for AMD architecture for a while now, with AMD finally confirming it last night. Vega is the next logical step for AMD, even if it will still use the same 14nm chip from the Polaris series launching this year. It will, however, benefit from enhancements to the architecture which will boost performance. But most notably Vega will ship with HBM2 – a newer iteration of high-bandwidth memory that AMD is already integrating into its cards.

If you recall from yesterday, Nvidia seems to be hesitant on implementing even simply HBM with their Pascal cards, as they pursue a new form of memory with Samsung for use in their super computing cards. AMD, on the other hand, is driving full steam ahead, but is completely aware of the Memory Crisis that is looming over the market. Right now even HBM is a short-term solution to the rising power demands of computing, and that’s where Navi comes in.

Vega and Navi being produced by AMD

Navi is the architecture AMD has pencilled in for 2018, and there’s little known about it. In fact, the only real piece of information AMD left slip about the card was that it wouldn’t be making use of HBM2 at all. Instead, Navi will be shipped with what AMD is calling Nexgen Memory. There’s no information on how it works or what AMD is tackling, but they are partnering up with SK Hynix instead of Samsung. So the two solutions Nvidia and AMD arrive at might be drastically different.

Either way, it’s good to note again how you can’t really be expected to keep up with GPUs on an annual basis anymore. With AMD drastically shaking up memory architectures during the next 365 days, it seems that HBM isn’t even the silver bullet it might have seemed like last year. But with Polaris and Pascal going head to head this year, it will be interesting to see how the two different strategies work out for both Nvidia and AMD.

Last Updated: March 15, 2016

18 Comments

  1. FFS. Now this? Sigh, how am I meant to decide what to buy this year to upgrade? 🙁

    Reply

    • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

      March 15, 2016 at 12:09

      It seems Vega will only be released next year, so when you’ve finished blinking it should be released, otherwise Polaris seems like a good investment for now, at least until Vega releases, unfortunately this depends on how patient you are and whether they’re prices will still be worth chasing within the next few months…

      Reply

      • Pariah

        March 15, 2016 at 12:15

        See, I don’t want to buy now and buy again next year. I don’t have budget for both, but I want this year, because I really need to replace my GTX 560. Yup, not even the ti. I don’t meet min requirements for new releases these days, and I really don’t want to keep missing out on gems like Ark (which I already own).

        Reply

        • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

          March 15, 2016 at 12:24

          Aah, I see what you mean, I had a GTX 580 until 2014 November, to which I upgraded to the 970, which still runs everything nicely, but when I bought it, it retailed at R5 700, which is the same price I paid for the 580 actually, but more to the point, I myself wouldn’t be able to justify an upgrade past that price bracket at the moment, the leap from what used to be a R2500 card and what is now a R4500 “mid ranged” GTX 960(I can’t believe those words, truth be told) is almost not worth it, simply because the next step up in green terminology is another 2k… Where the R9 390 retails for around R500 cheaper then the 970, which is still a rather expensive card, I’d go for red…

          Reply

          • Pariah

            March 15, 2016 at 12:32

            Ok so I was looking at the R9 390 quite seriously, but since I’ll only be able to put the card on my credit card in July or thereabouts, I was waiting for the new cards to release. AMD were looking promising with the hopes of HBM2, but I guess I’ll have to compare the performance of their offerings during the year now that they’re not. I was looking at the 6k-7k price range for a new card.

          • HvR

            March 15, 2016 at 12:33

            Some grey bush wisdom: never be the first/early adopter.

          • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

            March 15, 2016 at 12:44

            I feel your pain, at this point and time, it’s a crapshoot, there’s a little too much in the grey areas w.r.t. the next releases, but that price bracket is excellent though, and like you, I’d wait just that little bit longer to see what they bring out, unfortunately, there is never a good time to buy electronics, unless of course someone made a mistake on a pricelist and you managed to get everything you’ve ever dreamt of for R20 and fifteen cents…

          • Pariah

            March 15, 2016 at 13:19

            hahaha yeah one can dream, right?

            Either way, will wait for reviews and performance charts before I buy.

    • Tiaan Pat

      March 15, 2016 at 12:12

      Feel the same! Was waiting to see what nvidia’s card will do but now this. Should i rather just wait till 2017 for a massive gpu upgrade?

      Reply

      • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

        March 15, 2016 at 12:16

        I think it largely depends on what your requirements are, for instance, if you are looking at a 1080p resolution for the next five years, you should be fine with the R squiggly woggly -I struggle to keep track of AMD’s numbering conventions- series card, where as if you are looking at a screen/VR upgrade -and have the Billions of Randelas available to buy said config- then a upgrade to the new series of cards might just be what you need…

        Reply

        • Tiaan Pat

          March 15, 2016 at 12:21

          Well like @ToshZA:disqus I need to upgrade my GTX 460 :/ and also don’t want to upgrade now and then next year again

          Reply

          • Greylingad[CNFRMD]

            March 15, 2016 at 12:29

            Aah, ok, well to summarise, if you want the best solution for a 1080p screen, with no intention to go 4k, then I’d squarely place my money on either a 970 or the R9 390, these cards should keep everything on high for the time being, but at the price they go for, it’s a hard pill to swallow… Even if you look at the 960…

          • Tiaan Pat

            March 15, 2016 at 12:32

            I agree, would rather save that money and add extra for when the new cards come in. But yes its a hard pill to swallow…

    • HvR

      March 15, 2016 at 12:29

      Jip seems, HBMv2 is having implementation teething problems. Nvidia wouldn’t have switched last minute without good reason.

      Maybe good 2nd hand deal from someone upgrading this year. Push upgrade to 2018 or even 2019 when they’ve settled on the next-gen GPU memory solution.

      Reply

      • Jeffrey Byers

        May 16, 2016 at 02:05

        NVidia would not have switched at the last minute. Design and tape-out takes a long time. They can’t easily redesign the memory interface on the GPU.
        If there is any delay at all (most is just rumor) then it would be the release date of the high-end parts like GTX1080Ti which are probably designed with HBM2 from the start.

        Reply

    • chimera_85

      March 15, 2016 at 15:42

      3dFX

      Reply

  2. Ghost In The Rift

    March 15, 2016 at 15:14

    Love hearing about new GPU’s, HATE it when i have to guess that 15 000 and up price tags.

    Reply

  3. Jeffrey Byers

    May 16, 2016 at 02:02

    Any chance he meant “magic bullet” instead of silver bullet?
    Unless of course the analogy is that NVidia cards are like werewolfs.

    Reply

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