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Captain_Tom on 12 May 2014
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JEMC said:
Captain_Tom said:
JEMC said:
All sounds good until the part where they say that it will still be a 28nm chip.

The chip on the 290X is already a very power hungry one, make it bigger and faster and it's a recipe for a disaster.


I thought this at first, but then really think about it:  

-The 1024 HBM VRAM won't use any more power over their current memory configuration

-Using 3072 SP's instead of 2816 would use more power, but not a ton more (Like 5%).

-Clocking it at 1100 MHz wouldn't necessarily make it use a ton more power either if it was binned correctly.

Honestly I think we are looking at a 275-300w part instead of a 250-270w part.  IMO that really isn't a big deal as long as they use a proper cooler!!!!  Also keep in mind the GTX 480 used 303-350w, and Nvidia thought was ok.  Makes anything sub-300w look tame in comparison.

While the stacked RAM won't use more power per se, AMD will probably go and add more of it so instead of 4GB the cards could have 6 or 8GB (whatever the bus they go with) so in the end it will use more power.

Binned chips also mean less of them and therefore, a higher price.

The biggest problem with volcanic islands hasn't really been its power draw, Nvidia's cards use about the same power, but heat. Yes, that's because of their shitty cooler but also because they are designed to run hot (the guy who codenamed them that way was really spot on) and as long as they go with that architecture, heat will still be a problem.

Yes, the GTX 480 was a disaster even bigger than what the 290X has been as it was going against the 5870, which was a fantastic card.

On a side note, a sub $400 card that is 4 times stronger than a 7970? You'll have to wait a looong time.


It's really fun to look up old GTX 480 reviews imo.  It usually used more power than a 5970 (A double card!) while only being 20% stronger for like 30% more money.  Quite a joke!

 

As for when I upgrade.  I am fine waiting, but I don't thing it will be more than 2 years.  The 390X will most likely be twice as strong as a 7970, and once the 20nm 4000+ SP 490X comes out it will easily be 3-4 times stronger.