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AMD's next-gen GPUs to feature GDDR5

by Parm Mann on 21 May 2008, 16:21

Tags: AMD (NYSE:AMD)

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Details regarding both NVIDIA's and AMD's forthcoming next-gen GPUs are beginning to pour in thick and fast.

Today, AMD has officially confirmed that it's next-generation Radeon graphics products, namely the HD 4800 series, will feature Graphics Double Data Rate version 5 (GDDR5) memory.

AMD, tooting its own horn somewhat, states its implementation of GDDR5 to be yet another of its industry firsts, alongside being "first to bring a unified shader architecture to market, the first to support Microsoft DirectX® 10.1 gaming, first to lower process nodes like 55nm, the first with integrated HDMI with audio, and the first with double-precision floating point calculation support."

According to AMD's internal testing, GDDR5 has been found to support data rates at up to five times that of GDDR3 and four times that of GDDR4.

Rick Bergman, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Graphics Product Group at AMD, said:

"The days of monolithic mega-chips are gone. Being first to market with GDDR5 in our next-generation architecture, AMD is able to deliver incredible performance using more cost-effective GPUs. AMD believes that GDDR5 is the optimal way to drive performance gains while being mindful of power consumption. We’re excited about the potential GDDR5 brings to the table for innovative game development and even more exciting game play."

We're expecting to see next-gen cards from both NVIDIA and AMD at COMPUTEX in early June, and product launches should follow shortly after.

Official press release: AMD Continues its Technology Leadership Employing GDDR5 to Fuel Next Generation ATI Radeon™ Graphics Solutions



HEXUS Forums :: 16 Comments

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But will it make a difference? I doubt it… Most cards still use GDDR3
Means they can up memory bandwidth for the same sized interface… but unless their ROPs/texture units are up to scratch it won't do a huge amount.

Good news for GPGPU stuff though.
It might not make as big a difference as AMD would want you to believe but with lower power consumption its a green feather in there cap.

I think the reason nVidia have kept to GDDR3 is because its heavily optimised and cheaper to produce. GDDR4 was slightly better than GDDR3 but not enough to make a statement but I do hope that GDDR5 is that much better than GDDR3 because we need some sort of advancement in that area as its been almost static for years.

I do want a solid stand from AMD to bring a bit more balance to the market because as it stands nVidia monopolise the GPU market and Intel the CPU market which although isn't currently a bad thing it could turn out to be in the future if no-one is able to rival them.
when they release this, depending on the reviews, it could be the first time in 4 years where i may even consider buying an ATI card.

what's interesting is the HDMI output… if it has audio too, does that mean this new graphics card will be a soundcard too?
they don't have a sound card, but they automatically pass through audio… even my hd 2600 pro can do that :)