So I'm looking at getting a new GFX card at the beginning/middle of 2018?? Something that might have 32gb of HBM-?...? I am just happy that my system is still trading punches with the big dogs out there. 4k 100+ FPS all the way.

Lots of people know. HBM and 2.5D in general is the next necessary step. AMD is using it because they dont have as many GPUs as Nvidia, and because when properly used its much better than any GDDR SGRAM. GDDR5 is based on ancient DDR3, and really isnt that efficient. Reducing communication to save power is partially the hardware's responsibility and partially software's. This is something that AMD knows and has been working on for years.

Yes, but that is the whole point. While HBM is potentially better, nothing takes advantage of it yet. Bit ahead of the times. Eventually I'm sure. GDDR5X and even possibly GDDR6 will be well enough for PC's. You would need just about every PC game and app developer to agree to switch and program for HBM before its worth using in more and more PC parts. AMD hasn't been saving much power though, their power draw almost always keeps going up. Despite HBM or not.

So I'm looking at getting a new GFX card at the beginning/middle of 2018?? Something that might have 32gb of HBM-?...? I am just happy that my system is still trading punches with the big dogs out there. 4k 100+ FPS all the way.

I wouldn't upgrade my cards if I had 4 of those in Quad. Id hold off till you can't do 4k anymore and end up with something better down the road.

Yes, but that is the whole point. While HBM is potentially better, nothing takes advantage of it yet. Bit ahead of the times. Eventually I'm sure. GDDR5X and even possibly GDDR6 will be well enough for PC's. You would need just about every PC game and app developer to agree to switch and program for HBM before its worth using in more and more PC parts. AMD hasn't been saving much power though, their power draw almost always keeps going up. Despite HBM or not. I wouldn't upgrade my cards if I had 4 of those in Quad. Id hold off till you can't do 4k anymore and end up with something better down the road.

If youre only talking about video games, then there is a huge range in how well they utilize hardware and how much memory bandwidth affects their frame rate. What exactly do you mean when you say "program for HBM"? The memory controller on the GPU handles addressing the memory. Im curious what you mean by that.