Guru3D.com
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • Channels
    • Archive
  • DOWNLOADS
    • New Downloads
    • Categories
    • Archive
  • GAME REVIEWS
  • ARTICLES
    • Rig of the Month
    • Join ROTM
    • PC Buyers Guide
    • Guru3D VGA Charts
    • Editorials
    • Dated content
  • HARDWARE REVIEWS
    • Videocards
    • Processors
    • Audio
    • Motherboards
    • Memory and Flash
    • SSD Storage
    • Chassis
    • Media Players
    • Power Supply
    • Laptop and Mobile
    • Smartphone
    • Networking
    • Keyboard Mouse
    • Cooling
    • Search articles
    • Knowledgebase
    • More Categories
  • FORUMS
  • NEWSLETTER
  • CONTACT

New Reviews
MSI X470 Gaming M7 AC review
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X review
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X review
NZXT Kraken X72 Review
HP EX900 500GB M.2. SSD review
be quiet! Dark Rock PRO 4 review
be quiet! Dark Rock 4 review
ASUS ROG STRIX B360-F Gaming review
HP EX920 1 TB M.2. SSD review
MSI B360 Gaming Pro Carbon review

New Downloads
Corsair Utility Engine Download (iCUE) Download v3.1.133
Corsair Utility Engine Download (CUE) Download v2.24.50
Corsair Link Download v4.9.7.35
HWiNFO64 Download v5.82
PCMark 10 Download v1.0.1493
Display Driver Uninstaller Download version 17.0.8.5
Intel HD graphics Driver Download Version: 15.65.5.4982
AIDA64 Download version 5.97
GeForce 391.35 WHQL driver download
AMD Radeon Adrenalin Edition 18.3.4 Driver download


New Forum Topics
Review: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X processor Review: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X processor COD Black Ops 4 might not have a SP campaign G.SKILL Offers New Memories for AMD Ryzen 2000 Series Processors and X470 Platform Google Simplifies Two-Factor Authentication in Gmail Radeon FanController - tool for AMD GPUs The AMD Ryzen All In One Tread /Overclocking/Memory Speeds & Timings/Tweaking/Cooling 8GB RAM with NO PAGEFILE CLUB or TOPIC (lol) [OFFICIAL] Windows 10 RS4 - Build 17133.1 RTM Radeon Adrenalin Edition 18.3.4 Drivers Download & Discussion




Guru3D.com » Review » ASUS Radeon R9-290X DirectCU II OC review » Page 6

ASUS Radeon R9-290X DirectCU II OC review - The graphics engine (GCN) architecture

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 12/18/2013 01:23 PM [ 5] 63 comment(s)

Tweet

 

The Graphics Engine Architecture

Alright, as always I keep the most complex stuff for last in the technology overview. If this seems a little too techy, then you probably want to skip this page please.

AMDs latest graphics core architecture is now marketed as GCN, which is short for Graphics Core Next architecture and the architecture building block has changed significantly to remove certain inefficiencies seen in the VLIW architecture. GCN is in its essence the basis of a GPU that performs well at both graphical and computing tasks. For the compute side of things, the GCN Compute unit model has been introduced, it is designed for better utilization, high throughput and multi tasking. E.g. performance, performance, performance. Each CU, has building block, for Hawaii it is identical towards the previous model used in the 7000 series.
 


Your basic Shader cluster is called one GCN Compute Unit, again these unites are 100% similar to the ones used in the 7000 series and feature:

  • Non-VLIW Design
  • 16 wide SIMD Units
  • 64 KB registers / SIMD Unit

Now if we take 4 of these SIMD Units, they will form the basis of one Compute Unit (CU). 4x4=16 so each SIMD unit is 16 units wide, times four per compute unit means that each CU unit has 64 shader processors. Here we learned that one shader cluster has 64 Shader processors. So far you are with me yeah?

  • AMD R9-290X has 2816 shader processors

So if one CU cluster has 64 shader processors then a 290X has 44 Compute units meaning 64SIMDs x 44 CUs = 2816 Shader processors (for the R9-290X).

  • Engine has two Dual Geometry engines / Asynchronous Compute engines
  • 16 render backends / 64 color ROPs per clock cycle / 256 Z/Stencil ROPs per clock
  • Engine ties to 1024 KB R/W L2 cache (Upto16 64 KB L2 cache partition)
  • Hawaii GPU has up-to 44 Compute Units
  • 4 Geometry processors (4 primitives per clock cycle)
  • 64 Pixel Output/clock

The Graphics Core Next Compute Unit (CU) has about the same floating point power per clock as the previous one (i.e. Cayman). It also has the same amount of register space (for the vector units). Each CU also has its own registers and local data share. The GCN architecture has 16-wide vector processors, again for a total of 4x16=64 operations per clock. GCN also has a scalar processor.
 


So the theoretical floating point power stays more or less the same per CU, but GCN will be more efficient since it does not require instruction level parallelism. GCN is all about creating a GPU good for both graphics and computing purposes. At the end of the pipeline, we see eight memory-controllers each 64-bit, accumulated towards a 512-bit wide bus. Combined with GDDR5 at 5.0 Gbps this will deliver the 290 series with 320 GB/sec of memory bandwidth.




29 pages « < 5 6 7 8 next »



Related Articles
ASUS Radeon ROG RX Vega 64 STRIX 8GB review
We review the ASUS Radeon ROG RX Vega 64 STRIX 8GB Gaming. ASUS finalized it's all custom product, we'll take you through the product, its architecture and the performance numbers. Will custom cooli...

ASUS Radeon RX 580 STRIX review
We review the ASUS Radeon RX 580 STRIX with 8GB graphics memory. This three fan cooled mainstream graphics card series will allow you to play your games in both the Full HD 1080P range as well as gam...

ASUS Radeon RX 460 STRIX Gaming 4 GB review
We review the ASUS Radeon RX 460 STRIX Gaming 4GB. The graphics card is positioned in the budget range and will perform at entry level gaming wise. ...

ASUS Radeon RX 470 STRIX Gaming 4 GB review
We review the ASUS Radeon RX 470 STRIX Gaming 4GB, based on the second ASIC based of Polaris 10, the Radeon RX 470 with 4GB graphics memory is bound to impress for the money. Join us in this article w...

© 2018