AMD Radeon Pro SSG flash-based memory to boost graphics performance

AMD unveiled its new Radeon Solid State Graphics Technology to help speed the performance of workstation graphics. AMD reported that the technology, (still in a beta phase) is called solid state graphics technology, or SSG . 

SSG  makes it possible to connect a NAND SSD on the video card through a m2 connection, it is still unclear whether the card is connected directly to the SSD as details are missing. At the event, said David Watters, head of industry alliances at AMD , stated the technique can generate benefits in the processing of video files. The company in a demonstration showed that the card could play an 8k video file with a resolution of 7680x4320 pixels at 90fps , while an ordinary card could display the file with 17fps. Starting at a full terabyte of Radeon Solid State Graphics (SSG), this Radeon Pro technology will provide more than an order of magnitude greater memory capacity compared to existing GPU memory implementations.

The new solution is ideal for the next wave of demanding use-case scenarios including real-time post-production of 8K video, high-resolution rendering, VR content creation, oil and gas exploration, computational engineering, medical imaging and life sciences.

During the world's first demonstration of a Radeon Pro SSG solution, 8K raw video timeline scrubbing was accelerated from 17 frames per second to a stunning 90+ frames per second. As content creators rapidly adopt 8K resolution to future-proof their content, a 5X performance boost will improve quality of life, productivity and efficiency in the editing process.

State of the art content creation, scientific and engineering visualization applications require the processing of big datasets, far larger than can be contained within the capacities of existing GPU memory. Current limitations require slices of data to be processed individually and later merged by software, and often incur significant latency for fetching additional data from system memory. These big data problems discourage developers in these domains from leveraging the advantages of the GPU. Radeon Pro SSG memory addresses the big data problem for GPUs, paving the way for improved performance and dramatically increased user productivity.

"One of the most challenging constraints faced by GPU computing applications is the inability to access terabytes of data," said Raja Koduri, senior vice president and chief architect, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. "Radeon Pro SSG is poised to not only speed-up processing for many applications with very large datasets, but also to enable new application experiences by utilizing data persistence of non-volatile memory. This will be a disruptive advancement for many graphics and compute applications."

"AMD has a long history of memory technology innovations, and Radeon Pro SSG is the latest example," said Patrick Moorhead, Founder and Principal Analyst, Moor Insights & Strategy. "Larger local memory on the graphics card can speed-up processing for many applications with very large datasets, and should also allow for results with finer granularity and resolution. This will be a notable advancement for many graphics and compute applications."

Memory architecture
When needed information is not available in GPU memory, typical memory architecture requires the GPU to send a request to the CPU. The CPU then retrieves the needed content from CPU memory, or if not there then from a hard drive. This entails considerable overhead that limits GPU performance. With this new GPU technology, a one terabyte extended frame buffer is dedicated to support the GPU. This enables much larger datasets to be loaded locally, connected over a dedicated PCIe bus. When the GPU requests content, it looks first in the local frame buffer and only needs to involve the CPU if the data is not already in the extended frame buffer.

Lineup

• Radeon Pro WX 4100 is designed for small form factor (SFF) workstations and provides amazing performance in a half-height card.
• Radeon Pro WX 5100 is ideal for real-time content engines and immersive real-time design and manufacturing, including CAD and CAM.
• Radeon Pro WX 7100 is fully capable for design engineering and media and entertainment, whether video editing or image creation, and is AMD's workstation solution for professional VR content creation.

Availability
Applications for developer kits are now being accepted. These are available for $9,999. Full availability is planned for 2017.