'We're performance leaders at every price point'
HEXUS was invited on a conference call with AMD's Graphics Product Marketing Group a few days' ago. The purpose of the call was for AMD to provide press with a general overview of the desktop GPU landscape for the first half of 2013. We believe the call was probably catalysed by nebulous reports circulating the web of AMD's de-focus from Radeon graphics.
We then submitted a few topical questions into AMD PR, and Darren McPhee, Director of WW Graphics Product Marketing, was kind enough to provide a detailed response. We've also taken the liberty of analysing the responses and making our own brief comments. We believe there's enough substance in the answers to warrant publishing his responses verbatim. Should you so wish, you can follow Darren on Twitter. If HEXUS Community readers have any burning questions they'd like answering we'd be happy to put them to AMD on your behalf.
HEXUS: AMD’s Radeon HD 7000-series GPUs have headlined the discrete GPU range for over a year now. Certain reports in the media, sourced from comments made by company representatives, appear to indicate that AMD will not be refreshing high-end desktop GPUs until at least Q4 2013. Is there any validity to these claims?
DMcP: The AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series remains our primary focus for the first half of 2013, though we are working on robust product additions to the HD 7000 series you will see in that same timeframe. We’re also committed to continuing to enhance the value of the HD 7000 series through software updates, as well as adding value through programs such as “Never Settle: Reloaded”. We continue to execute on our graphics roadmap and we remain on track to begin introducing a new product series to the channel by the end of 2013.
Editor's note: Reading between the lines, no retail HD 8000-series desktop parts until 2014.
DMcP's counter: To reiterate, HD 8000 series is already available for OEM. We have already stated that we'll announce a new product series for channel by 2013.
HEXUS: When are we likely to see enthusiast-quality desktop Radeon HD 8000-series parts? What is the hold-up from transitioning from a mature, strong GCN architecture into something better?
DMcP: Graphics Core Next has already proven itself to be the most versatile and fully featured architecture presently available. AMD is the only vendor to provide the fully up to date DirectX functionality, DirectX 11.1, via GCN Architecture. Additionally, as benchmarks clearly highlight, GCN has the best balance of graphics and compute prowess, something that will only become more important as the next generation of game titles are developed and the use of DirectCompute techniques become even more ubiquitous and embedded in the rendering engines. We know this is the direction that developers are taking, and that is why we believe fundamentally there is no better architecture than GCN already. It will continue to evolve in future products, but as we have said this is the foundation of our graphics products going forward.
Editor's note: Following on from the first answer, GCN will be optimised further this year; we're likely to see more software-related performance improvements.
HEXUS: Coming back to the present, is it fair to say that AMD truly believes it has performance leadership at every key price point as far as discrete desktop GPUs are concerned?
DMcP: Yes. The latest benchmarks and game titles using new technologies highlight that we have compelling positioning across our entire product stack. This is even further enhanced when you consider the added value of the Never Settle: Reloaded bundle that adds up to $120 worth of AAA game titles.
Editor's note: Better at 'every' price point? We'll have to fire up the test rigs and confirm this presumed top-to-bottom performance hegemony.
DMcP's counter: Looking forward to seeing these, particularly considering recent 3DMark updates.
HEXUS: The launch of the GeForce GTX TITAN beats your best single-GPU card, the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, right? Is it important to you to have undisputed leadership for cards bearing a single GPU?
DMcP Our historical strategy has been to address the ultra-enthusiast, highest performance card with multi-GPU solutions, such as HD 4870 X2, HD 5990, HD 6990. This is still the case today and we are still delivering the highest card performances with AMD Radeon HD 7990 solutions and even more so with the ASUS ARES II.
Editor's note: Darren dodged the question, really. We're therefore very unlikely to see a TITAN-beating single-GPU from AMD this year.
DMcP's counter: Let me be clear – we look at things from a card vs. card perspective; we have a superior high end solution and still have the world’s fastest graphics card with the AMD Radeon HD 7990 and Asus Ares II.
HEXUS: Will your gaming-grade desktop GPUs be faster than the NVIDIA (price) equivalents in the much-anticipated Crysis 3?
DMcP: As you’re aware, Crysis 3 is partnered with AMD via Gaming Evolved and we are continuing to work with Crytek to ensure the best possible performance for our products on Crysis 3, and this will not stop just at launch. We’re confident that we have the best solutions to play this and upcoming major titles.
Editor's note: Darren also dodged this question to a minor degree. We'll put it to the test later.
DMcP's counter: Definitely put it to the test, but not just later. As I said, we are continuing to work with Crytek to optimize our performance and provide the best playable gaming experience so look for more improvements going forward as well. If you look at our track record over the past year with our other AMD Gaming Evolved titles, you’ll see that this has been a goal that we’ve met each time.
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