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Q&A SESSION WITH JAMES PRIOR FROM AMD / OcUK STREAMED TOMORROW, ASK QUESTIONS!

Soldato
Joined
31 Oct 2002
Posts
9,864
Why have AMD wasted money, resources and time using HBM memory on gaming cards when NVidia are quite happy to use GDDR5X even on their Titan Xp.

This answer has been known for a long time, I'm surprised you haven't read the various articles/interviews explaining it.

AMD doesn't have enough money to create multiple SOCs like NVIDIA. Nvidia have GP100, GP102, GP104.
Vega10 has to compete with the three above mentioned SOC's - thus why it's power consumption is very high, since it has to pack in professional use features to compete with GP100
NVIDIA can strip out all the non gaming features with GP102, GP104 etc, making a dedicated gaming SOC, which is extremely difficult for AMD to compete with
AMD use HBM/HBM2 as it reduces their power consumption over a 384/512bit bus by 30-50W or so, meaning they can clock the GPU higher to get close to NVIDIA

TLDR - NVIDIA is richer than AMD, so can make separate Gaming and compute SOC's. AMD is poor to have to make a jack of all trades SOC, which drives up power consumption massively, requiring HBM2 to reduce power a little.
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Feb 2006
Posts
29,263
Location
Cornwall
Just being salty because I called you out on talking rubbish.

290X was the high end and it launched at 400 ish.

480s started at 200 for the 4gb iirc.

That second number there will give you a clue as to where it sits in the product tiers.
1. You're still ignoring the fact that the Fury/FuryX were the previous top end. You're pretending that the 480 was the generation after the 290X. It's nonsense. By the time the 480 was released the 290X was 3 YEARS OLD!!!
2. The 290 was available for ~£240 for 2 years before the 480 released.
3. The 390 was available for ~£240 for a full year before the 480 released. The 8GB variant. This wasn't EOL pricing.
4. The 480 8GB launched between £250 and a massive £300. It didn't offer any more perf than a 390/290.

It's great that you're happy to ignore reality in order to tell us we're all just ungrateful. Back in the real world, mid-range stagnation is an epic problem and doesn't look like being solved any time soon.

Heck, I bet you right now that AMD's 480 successor will offer ~480 perf for ~480 prices, because AMD doesn't seem capable of moving the mid-range forwards. Whether through technical/design issues or the base cost of materials being too high, we're stuck with a mid-range that hasn't moved forwards for 2-3 years now.

As I said, I'm a mid-range buyer and I keep a closing eye on the mid-range market. It's where I spend my hard-earned and I don't spend if I don't think it's worth it.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
21 May 2012
Posts
31,940
Location
Dalek flagship
This answer has been known for a long time, I'm surprised you haven't read the various articles/interviews explaining it.

AMD doesn't have enough money to create multiple SOCs like NVIDIA. Nvidia have GP100, GP102, GP104.
Vega10 has to compete with the three above mentioned SOC's - thus why it's power consumption is very high, since it has to pack in professional use features to compete with GP100
NVIDIA can strip out all the non gaming features with GP102, GP104 etc, making a dedicated gaming SOC, which is extremely difficult for AMD to compete with
AMD use HBM/HBM2 as it reduces their power consumption over a 384/512bit bus by 30-50W or so, meaning they can clock the GPU higher to get close to NVIDIA

TLDR - NVIDIA is richer than AMD, so can make separate Gaming and compute SOC's. AMD is poor to have to make a jack of all trades SOC, which drives up power consumption massively, requiring HBM2 to reduce power a little.


I think I would like AMD to answer this rather than listening to people guessing.
 
Permabanned
Joined
23 Jan 2014
Posts
465
Location
Beerwah, QLD Australia
God, that was ordinary. Didn't ask a goddamn thing about MGPU following MCPU on package ala TR (which he would have known about and not commented but not denied potentially thus giving an indication) but could ask an asinine question about "poor volta" to which as I said would not get a bite and was a retarded and childish thing to be asking him anyway.

I want the last 5 minutes back (fast fwd) & next time get someone that can sit still and have a conversation with the interviewee. Thought the guy was going to pee his pants or something. Awkward.

Sorry for the harsh nature of this but FFS get someone with personality and that can have an engaging conversation to do this stuff.
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Feb 2006
Posts
29,263
Location
Cornwall
Heck, I bet you right now that AMD's 480 successor will offer ~480 perf for ~480 prices, because AMD doesn't seem capable of moving the mid-range forwards. Whether through technical/design issues or the base cost of materials being too high, we're stuck with a mid-range that hasn't moved forwards for 2-3 years now.
LOLs, I'd mentally blocked out the 500 series. So yeah, this prediction is already come true :p I should say that I expect the AMD 680 -or- the 670 (if they release ANYTHING next year) to be the same perf as the 480/580 for the same price.

Frankly from reading various articles it seems much more likely AMD will not release ANY new gpu in 2018, because they have nothing up their sleeve. A barely worthwhile "14nm" to "12nm" shrink is as good as it gets. Vega 56 and 64, along with Polaris, are going to have to compete with nV's next-gen Ampere cards until AMD *maybe* has something new for 2019. I can't see that going too well for them.

Since Vega 11 (etc) are now confirmed for APU only, and no new desktop AMD GPUs are known or even rumoured.
 
Associate
Joined
31 Jan 2012
Posts
1,983
Location
Droitwich, UK
Heck, I bet you right now that AMD's 480 successor will offer ~480 perf for ~480 prices, because AMD doesn't seem capable of moving the mid-range forwards. Whether through technical/design issues or the base cost of materials being too high, we're stuck with a mid-range that hasn't moved forwards for 2-3 years now.

AMD are incapable, Nvidia are entirely unwilling.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Dec 2010
Posts
3,163
Location
Solihull
1. You're still ignoring the fact that the Fury/FuryX were the previous top end. You're pretending that the 480 was the generation after the 290X. It's nonsense. By the time the 480 was released the 290X was 3 YEARS OLD!!!
2. The 290 was available for ~£240 for 2 years before the 480 released.
3. The 390 was available for ~£240 for a full year before the 480 released. The 8GB variant. This wasn't EOL pricing.
4. The 480 8GB launched between £250 and a massive £300. It didn't offer any more perf than a 390/290.

It's great that you're happy to ignore reality in order to tell us we're all just ungrateful. Back in the real world, mid-range stagnation is an epic problem and doesn't look like being solved any time soon.

Heck, I bet you right now that AMD's 480 successor will offer ~480 perf for ~480 prices, because AMD doesn't seem capable of moving the mid-range forwards. Whether through technical/design issues or the base cost of materials being too high, we're stuck with a mid-range that hasn't moved forwards for 2-3 years now.

As I said, I'm a mid-range buyer and I keep a closing eye on the mid-range market. It's where I spend my hard-earned and I don't spend if I don't think it's worth it.

High end, not top end. A new tier was created for the fury. In the same way Nvidia did for the original Titan. You wouldn't expect the 480 to have fury performance.

If that's your expectation, then it's just too high and you should know better from experience.

The 7850 was a bloody good card though. Bought the cheapest vtx3d, installed an aftermarket beefy cooler, flashed the bios and clocked it 1150+ on the core. Served me well for a long time.
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Feb 2006
Posts
29,263
Location
Cornwall
AMD are incapable, Nvidia are entirely unwilling.
Don't worry, I'm not giving nV a free ride.

Since my GTX 460 my last 3 cards have been AMD. So I'm not partisan.

But I absolutely will not hold back from criticising either of them. Being a "fan" of companies like AMD or nVidia I consider to be some kind of emotional dysfunction :p The relationship extends only as far as: 1- They want to sell us a product & 2- We want a product that's worth buying. Anybody who thinks AMD or nV care about anything other than their profitability is deluding themselves. And anybody who forms an emotional attachment to either is a mug.
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Feb 2006
Posts
29,263
Location
Cornwall
High end, not top end. A new tier was created for the fury. In the same way Nvidia did for the original Titan. You wouldn't expect the 480 to have fury performance.

If that's your expectation, then it's just too high and you should know better from experience.

The 7850 was a bloody good card though. Bought the cheapest vtx3d, installed an aftermarket beefy cooler, flashed the bios and clocked it 1150+ on the core. Served me well for a long time.
So you're happy that the 1180 is a new tier and can cost more than the 1080.

You're happy that the Vega 65 and 57 are a new tier and can cost more than the Vega 56/64.

Or does it have to have a fancy name to qualify as a new tier?

OK, nV call their new 1180 "Titan" and their new Titan "Titan MAXXXXX".

Therefore it's then OK to sell the new new Titan for £1500, the new 1180 (now called Titan) for £999, the new 1170 (now called 1180) for £700.

And it's all OK because they've been "clever" enough to "invent" a new pricing tier.

Do you not see how bogus this line of reasoning is? If not then there is no hope for you. You've been sucked in by (not so) clever marketing.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Dec 2010
Posts
3,163
Location
Solihull
So you're happy that the 1180 is a new tier and can cost more than the 1080.

You're happy that the Vega 65 and 57 are a new tier and can cost more than the Vega 56/64.

Or does it have to have a fancy name to qualify as a new tier?

OK, nV call their new 1180 "Titan" and their new Titan "Titan MAXXXXX".

Therefore it's then OK to sell the new new Titan for £1500, the new 1180 (now called Titan) for £999, the new 1170 (now called 1180) for £700.

And it's all OK because they've been "clever" enough to "invent" a new pricing tier.

Do you not see how bogus this line of reasoning is? If not then there is no hope for you. You've been sucked in by (not so) clever marketing.

You like putting words in my mouth and inventing ridiculous scenarios that you think I'd agree to. It doesn't really matter what you think of me.

The 480 is an 8. It performs like an 8 and it costs like 8.

We all want more performance for less money. Just my expectations are more in line with reality and based on past experience.
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Feb 2006
Posts
29,263
Location
Cornwall
You like putting words in my mouth and inventing ridiculous scenarios that you think I'd agree to. It doesn't really matter what you think of me.

The 480 is an 8. It performs like an 8 and it costs like 8.

We all want more performance for less money. Just my expectations are more in line with reality and based on past experience.
I'm sorry but if you can't see the facts because you're blinded by the naming convention, then nobody can help you.

The 290 was available for 2 FULL YEARS at £240.

Yes the 480 is an "8" card. When it released it had the same perf as a 3 YEAR OLD "9" card. But it also had the same price.

Not "release price", no. But the 290 had been sold for £240 for two full years before the 480 came out.

I can't make this any more plain English than I have done above.

e: Also no, £250-£300 is not "costs like an 8". The 6870 was £180; 7850 was £150. The 285 was £180, the 380 was £200.

And do you know why they couldn't be more expensive? Because just above them, the 290 was £240 for several year. LOL.

The "8" cards being "up to £300" is not "normal service".
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Dec 2010
Posts
3,163
Location
Solihull
I'm sorry but if you can't see the facts because you're blinded by the naming convention, then nobody can help you.

The 290 was available for 2 FULL YEARS at £240.

Yes the 480 is an "8" card. When it released it had the same perf as a 3 YEAR OLD "9" card. But it also had the same price.

Not "release price", no. But the 290 had been sold for £240 for two full years before the 480 came out.

I can't make this any more plain English than I have done above.

e: Also no, £250-£300 is not "costs like an 8". The 6870 was £180; 7850 was £150. The 285 was £180, the 380 was £200.

And do you know why they couldn't be more expensive? Because just above them, the 290 was £240 for several year. LOL.

The "8" cards being "up to £300" is not "normal service".

Bold and capitalisation, just for me?

Its expected that a product will go down in cost during it's lifecycle. Only the launch prices are really comparable. You can pay less for ageing tech. that's not really a shocker is it.

It's a shame that mining has inflated prices and kept them high this time around though.

£200 for the 4gb 480 is about right. And those who grabbed them and flashed to get another 4gb for free got a real bargain.

Compare this to the £200 you quoted for the 380, which is going to be for the cheapo 2gb version.

The £250 for the 8gb is more inline price wise with the 4gb 380X.
 
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