AMD to release 12nm Polaris graphics cards in the coming weeks/months
AMD rumoured to release 12nm Polaris graphics cards in the coming weeks/months
PConline has reported that AMD plans to release a new 12nm graphics card with 2048 stream processors later this month, offering a similar core layout to AMD’s RX 570. In this case, AMD’s use of 12nm is expected to increase power efficiency and deliver increased performance, making the graphics card more competitive within today’s marketplace. Â
PConline sources “AIB vendors” and lists a release date between October 12-15, also stating that a higher-end graphics card with RX 580-like specifications will release in November.Â
Recreating Polaris on 12nm is expected to offer AMD a performance uplift of up to 10-15%, delivering similar gains to what is seen on AMD’s Ryzen 2nd Generation processors, which use Globalfoundries 12nm node. The disadvantage with this move is that AMD will abandon the architectural advantages that are ffered by their Vega technology, such as support for Rapid Packed Math and Radeon’s latest rasterisation technology.Â
It is also possible for AMD to deliver other small design tweaks that will enable enhanced performance on Polaris, similar to AMD’s Ryzen 2nd Generation processors, perhaps by introducing a new Turbo clock/boost system or by lowering the latencies of some of Polaris’ internal caches. While AMD could use TSMC to create a 12nm Polaris part, the company is more likely to use Globalfoundries thanks to 12nm’s physical similarities to their existing 14nm node.   Â
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Creating a new Polaris series graphics card will allow AMD to offer higher performance levels at a low price point, creating what is likely to be an excellent mid-range graphics card that will juxtapose Nvidia’s costly RTX series. The disadvantages of using Polaris over Vega are obvious, given Vega’s support for Rapid Packed Math and other hardware features like DSBR, though using Polaris will make the transition to 12nm simpler and cost-effective, assuming that AMD plans to create a GPU that has a design that is similar, almost identical, to Polaris 10/20, rather than an entirely new product. Â
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