In the game of to-and-fro that is the graphics card market Nvidia's newest Maxwell architecture, spearheaded by the impressive GeForce GTX 980, remains a thorn in AMD's side. As we progress into the new year AMD is aiming to retain competitiveness through a combination of aggressive pricing and software updates. However, the question that many want answered is what comes next?
According to reports, which have a mostly-reliable track record for AMD leaks, there will be a two-part response. First, AMD will launch a faster revision of its GCN Hawaii architecture that takes advantage of a matured manufacturing process, and this is slated for an early 2015 release. Then, during summer of 2015, AMD will, if predictions hold true, launch a new series of GPUs with the codename 'Caribbean Islands.'
The launch window for Caribbean Islands is subject to change at this early stage, of course, though a launch between June to August is most likely. Other details about Caribbean Islands graphics cards, such as whether they will make use of a 16 or 20nm process, are not known. AMD may reveal more information during its investor relations conference in February 2015 but between now and then the descent into the speculation quagmire begins.
What are you hoping for from the so-called Carribean Islands GPU?