AMD confirms that the RX Vega will be showcased at Computex

  

We’ll be showing Radeon RX Vega off at Computex, but it won’t be on store shelves that week. We know how eager you are to get your hands on Radeon RX Vega, and we’re working extremely hard to bring you a graphics card that you’ll be incredibly proud to own. 

 

On the topic of HBM2 memory, many users have feared that AMD would be struck by supply issues, though Raja was quick to lay these issues to rest, confirming that the RX Vega and Radeon Vega Frontier Edition would both be using dual HBM2 stocks and not the same 4-way configuration as the R9 Fury X. 

This combined with increased HBM2 supply since unlike HBM1 it is manufactured by several suppliers and has been available in one form or another for over a year. It looks like AMD has been taking HBM2 supply from several vendors like Samsung and SK Hynix, so the combination of using less HBM chips per GPU and using a wider range of suppliers should make the RX Vega much easier to produce. 

 

On HBM2, we’re effectively putting a technology that’s been limited to super expensive, out-of-reach GPUs into a consumer product. Right now only insanely priced graphics cards from our competitors that aren’t within reach of any gamer or consumer make use of it. We want to bring all of that goodness to you. And that’s not easy! It’s not like you can run down to the corner store to get HBM2. The good news is that unlike HBM1, HBM2 is offered from multiple memory vendors – including Samsung and Hynix – and production is ramping to meet the level of demand that we believe Radeon Vega products will see in the market.

 

When asked if there will be a 16GB version of the RX Vega, Raja Koduri stated that the Radeon Technologies Group “will definitely look at that”, confirming that most RX Vega GPUs will be 8GB models, which is good news as that would make the HBM2 memory used more affordable. 

The use of 8GB of memory should not be a major issue for the RX Vega, given its ability to use external memory to create an expanded frame buffer using it’s High Bandwidth Cache Controller, though at this time the performance changes when using this feature are unknown. 

 

  

Raja Koduri has also hinted that there will be aftermarket designs of their RX Vega GPU, stating that there will be several “flavours of RX Vega”, though this could also be hinting at several RX Vega SKUs that will bridge the gap between the RX Vega and the RX 580. 

Gamers will have to wait for Computex to see what AMD’s next flagship gaming GPU will offer, though ti remains to be seen whether or not it will be enough to dethrone Nvidia’s current GTX 1080 Ti as the word’s premiere GPU. 

 

You can join the discussion on AMD’s RX Vega arriving at Computex on the OC3D Forums.