AMD’s Next GPU architecture will be called Polaris

AMD’s Next GPU architecture will be called Polaris

 

AMD’s Next GPU architecture  will be called called Polaris and promises to be AMD’s most efficient GPU architecture and the first big leap in terms of GPU design since the reveal of their GCN architecture in late 2011. 

This new graphical architecture will be AMD’s first Post-GCN architecture and will be built on the new 14nm processing node, promising some great performance and power/ watt characteristics, especially when compared to some of AMD’s current GPU lineup.

Right now AMD is in a position where their current GPU lineup is running on different versions of their GCN architecture, with many parts of their lower product stack being made up of GCN 1.0 silicon, giving Nvidia a distinct advantage in terms of performance per watt.  

The graphics card designers over at AMD have already started teasing the new architecture on Twitter, hinting that an announcement may be coming soon at CES.

 

 

For the Polaris name AMD looked up to the stars, naming the architecture after the north star, which seems very appropriate given the fact that previous terms we have heard for upcoming AMD GPUs have been Arctic Islands. 

 

     Our guiding lights is to power every pixel on every device efficiently. Stars are the most efficient photon generators of our universe. Their efficiency is the inspiration for every pixel we generate.

 

 

The past few months have been very bis for the Radeon Technologies group and it looks like 2016 will be even more important as AMD promises to deliver us a new GPU architecture, more WHQL drivers and a lot of new monitor tech, which includes DSR and bringing FreeSync to HDMI. 

 

 

With an HDR, High Dynamic Range, monitor AMD GPUs will be able to deliver a higher range of colour and much more realistic visuals than ever before, better still is that this will have no impact on your GPUs performance. 

 

     

 

DSR is supported in AMD’s R9 300 series of GPUs or newer and will be able to be used on existing HDMI 1.4B or DisplayPort 1.2 cables, though sadly DSR at 4K 60Hz will be limited to only AMD’s upcoming 2016 lineup of GPUs due to cable bandwidth limitations. 

 

  

 

HDMI is the most common standard that is used in low end monitors, TVs and gaming consoles, which makes it the next logical step for AMD’s FreeSync, allowing FreeSync to be used by more users and potentially bring variable refresh rates to future consoles. 

Bringing FreeSync to HDMI may be what brings FreeSync into mainstream use, as DisplayPort is uncommon outside of high end displays. AMD already had 6 partners for FreeSync over HDMI, which includes the 3 biggest monitor scalar vendors in the industry. 

AMD has also implemented FreeSync Low Framerate Compensation (LFC) technology, allowing FreeSync to be much more versatile and work from framerates of 1-Max Refresh if the monitor’s standard Minimum FreeSync Refresh rate is at least 2.5x less than it’s max refresh. 

 

       

 

2016 is set to be one of the biggest years in AMD’s history, with big performance and efficiency leaps promised on both CPUs and the GPUs. Let’s hope that next year will be a great year for hardware, as a competitive market is a great thing for consumers. 

 

You can join the discussion on AMD’s Polaris GPU architecture on the OC3D Forums.