AMD APU Display Architecture to remain VEGA, phase out in 2022, mention of Rembrandt
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Kaarme
Inconceivable if true. I actually hope Intel's Xe iGPUs will leave AMD's ancient Vega based offerings to eat the dust. Sometimes bitter medicine is what people need to move forward.
It's all the weirder when you keep in mind that AMD developed the APUs for the next gen consoles a while ago. They most certainly won't be based on any GCN anymore. So, AMD has already basically done the work, but still refuses to let go of GCN in their own products.
sbacchetta
The reason behind this is probably because the GPU part of an apu, especially on laptop are used mainly for compute task, with the majority of gaming worload (even on laptop) being done on a discreet GPU (except obviously for Ultrabook like devices). Probably when RDNA (2?, 3?) will become clearly better than GCN (perf by Watt, and without pushing it out of efficient widow) for compute task the switch will be made...
Silva
PrMinisterGR
Vananovion
asturur
CPC_RedDawn
Could this be a license deal with Sony and/or Microsoft? That the RDNA APU design is exclusive to the consoles and can't be used within desktop APU's? Or do I have my tin foil hat on? :P
Regardless, it costs a lot of time, money and resources to implement a new architecture such as RDNA into an APU design and these chips need to be around the sub £150 mark. Like others have said, majority of these will be inside a laptop, which for 90%+ users is basic tasks like video encoding, hw acceleration in browsers, and maybe casual gaming.
Why change something that works, and is currently dominating in its market. AMD obviously has a roadmap like every other company, and they obviously see more potential within the VEGA design when used in these parts. Not only that it should help keep prices low and profits high.
rl66
rl66
Fox2232
icedman
6C/12T with let's say 20 Vega CUs or RDNA/2 equivalent, it would be really nice gaming APU. (HBM2 on interposer with APU.)
If amd made such a thing i could slot into my media pc I would buy that right away. I just hope with them keeping vega for so long they can at least beef up the memory controller and maybe loosen up some of the power restrictions on the APU's at least for the desktop side. currently sing the 2400g with the cpu underclocked and igpu/ram overclocked it can actually game decently.
schmidtbag
It's very much worth pointing out that at least for AM4 it might not be possible to use a new architecture. Remember, much of the socket was purpose-built to have an on-die GPU. The electrical infrastructure behind that likely revolved around Vega, and doesn't have much wiggle room.
Overall, the Vega GPU is actually pretty good for APUs. I wouldn't call it great, but it's a solid processor. The part where it really crumbles is memory bandwidth. There just isn't anywhere near enough. As you increase memory frequency or tighten timings, the performance is almost perfectly proportionate no matter how far you go. That shows how much the GPU is severely starved for bandwidth. The only reason Vega should be replaced is because of how it really isn't optimized at all for DDR4. AMD desperately needs to have a toggleable option for more aggressive memory compression.
Granted, anything gamers can do to lower VRAM would help performance. For example in modern AAA titles, you might as well lower texture detail to medium, because high texture detail in today's games are really meant for 4K and let's face it, you're not going to get a good 4K experience on an APU.
WoenK
Since when was Vega RDNA and Navi RDNA2?
Vega is GCN and Navi RDNA...somebody should correct that in the report.
And concerning Vega and APUs...Vega may not be that great for gaming and its a powerhungry beast, but for business apllications, office and multimedia it is good enough.
And since the likes of Dell and HP really need quite a lot of time till they bring out notebooks, laptops and desktops for professionals, Vega is the better choice to rake in some cash for AMD.
Almost feels as if Navi was a bit rushed...maybe they wanted that RDNA2 but saw they could not deliver the raytracing part in time and used Navi as a stop-gap?
From personal experience Navis is not that good in compute...my Vega64 eats a 5700 for supper in FaH, while on medium and underclocked and undervolted.
schmidtbag
user1
Kaarme
Fox2232
user1