AMD’s most powerful GPU to date is said to debut by the end of this year with Vega 11 to follow in early 2017. AMD also has a new board code-named “Magnum” that will be shown off at SC 2016 in November. It has not been made clear if Vega 10 will makes its debut alongside “Magnum” in November, but many sources have confirmed that we will see Vega 10 before the end of the year.
Magnum
Magnum is a name most of you probably have not heard of. It is a very unique chip, featuring a matrix of logic blocks that can be configured and programmed individually for any desired application or program. It will be the company’s first ever FPGA and their biggest attempt to expand their business into the high performance embedded market.
Vega 10
Vega 10 is of course the GPU you are most interested in. Vega 10 will be the first GPU released from AMD based on their GCN architecture. This architecture has been extremely overhauled. With Vega 10 we will see AMD have offerings for gamers as well as professionals. All configurations will second generation high bandwidth memory (HBM2). Radeon Pro Vega 10 will features the highest configuration with 4069 stream processors and 16GB of HBM2 memory. The board will have a TDP of ~230W and be powered by eight and six pin PCIe power connectors. Radeon Pro will also be available in active and passively cooled options.
Radeon Pro Vega 10 will be announced by the end of the year with expected availability soon after (professional). Gaming graphics cards based on Vega 10 are expected to be available in the first quarter of 2017.
Vega 11
Vega 11 is aimed for for the mid-range desktop and high-performance notebook markets. Vega 11 will effectively replace Polaris 10 and will feature 8GB of HBM2. The GPU is expected to be faster than Polaris 10 and will use less power. It will also come in mini-ITX small form factor sizes in addition to the standard form factor. The better performance comes from the updated graphics architecture in addition to higher clock speeds. AMD is expecting to hit the same price target of ~$250.
Graphics cards based on AMD’s Vega 11 GPU are expected to be available in 2017, likely around summer.
