AMD Radeon R9 290 and R9 290X Specs Revealed

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Tomb Raider is an AMD title (Tress FX) but BF3 runs just fine on my SLi'd 660TI's so I don't know what problems you are getting but I'm not seeing them.
 

InvalidError

Titan
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Nvidia also had a couple of bad runs where they fudged up thermals on their GPU dies, GPU substrates, BGA balls, etc. causing tons of premature failures from thermally induced BGA ball fractures. Nvidia blamed just about every one of their suppliers to avoid eating the replacement cost themselves but there were no problems with the suppliers' materials themselves; Nvidia simply failed to make sure the materials they chose actually could put up with the stresses Nvidia's GPUs were going to put on them.
 

InvalidError

Titan
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AMD's explanation does not make much sense... unless AMD is buying itself a bunch of GCN-only exclusives but then they are going to have some seriously PO'd gamers once GCN no longer is the newest kid on the AMD block and likely no longer compatible with Mantle-exclusive titles unless those titles support both Mantle and DX. But if titles support both, that would INCREASE costs and time-to-market rather than reduce it as AMD claims.

Looks like it is time to wish I could pretend I never heard of it.
 


I doubt that Mantle will be exclusive to GCN, rather it will be designed for AMD's RISC SIMD architecture which has been in use starting with the HD 7700-7900 series GPUs. By comparison, AMD used a variety of VLIW MIMD architectures before that from the poorly performing HD 2000 series through the lovely HD 6900 series.

As long as AMD keeps the GPU's front-end render command processors compatible and retains a RISC SIMD style of processing, Mantle should retain its functionality through future families of GPUs.

As for NVidia and Intel, they'll be SOL and game designers will have to fall back to Direct3D/OpenGL.
 

somebodyspecial

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I don't really think your statement is accurate. HP etc paid a few hundred million (partly because I think they KNEW they hadn't built laptops to NV's thermal designs). I'd say that's accepting partial blame right there and that was one of the things NV said caused problems. On top of that can you really blame the person who isn't FABBING the bad chip? I've seen people claiming NV chose the wrong solder (Charlie mostly...LOL), but are they 100% responsible for that decision or what was used? A soldering issue is not done by NV right? If bumpgate is happening, it isn't because NV soldering a bunch of crap wrong. They only design the chip, not manufacture it, place it on cards, boards or in laptops. It's a little confusing when it's only happening in a few brands laptops and not others to say the least. Maybe they are totally to blame for which solder is chosen, but that doesn't explain failures at only a few manufacturers.

If NV was pumping out the chips that were using cheapo solder, you could say it was NV's fault directly, easily I think. But they don't make ANY chips themselves. TSMC screws that up for them (and AMD). Also I'd call a company quite nice, when they pay to replace your cards/chips etc when they don't have to.
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2047089/nvidia-offers-low-laptop-replacement-bumpgate-victims
"Last year Nvidia came to a settlement in which it agreed that it would repair or replace computers that were affected by bumpgate, where some of its GPUs overheated and failed due to semiconductor packaging defects."

Does Nvidia make packaging? NO. So who owns the packaging DEFECTS in reality?...Ummm....wait for it....TSMC who actually manufactured the DEFECTS! Is ARM to blame when someone using their IP has a chip running hot in a tablet or phone? Don't we put that at the manufacturer's doorstep usually? While NV gets all the bad PR, I'm sure TSMC had to give them a really good deal on the next few years worth of chips, which may explain why they are making profits and AMD isn't...LOL. Or it's just better drivers getting higher returns etc ;) Whatever. TSMC paid something, we just don't know what (money, terms etc). I believe smart people KNOW it isn't NV who made the chips or at least doesn't lay all blame with NV only. Which is probably why it hasn't hurt them at all, as they still own 65% discrete. If it hurt, AMD would own 65% :)

Also don't forget HP and Dell offered extended warranties for bad machines. You don't normally do that if you don't think you're at fault, you'd say "call NV, they did it". Apple did the same for 2yrs from purchase date no matter if it was IN or OUT of warranty (and i think upped it to 4yrs on some at some point). Again though, how is NV responsible for anything OUT of warranty? You should have bought a 3-5yr warranty if that is what you wanted, not the 1yr or 90day right?...LOL. It was nice of them to do anything for these people, and in some cases gave new laptops.

Why didn't it affect millions of desktops? Why only a few manufacturers laptops? I'd say NV was at least partially correct when they said they ignored the thermal design recommendations of NV. I'd also say TSMC shares some blame along with at least partially manufacturers/NV. Not saying NV isn't to blame at all, but you get the point. There's a lot more people involved.

When your drivers suck, that's NV/AMD's fault directly. Cards or chips though, or worse computers with them inside? That can't be laid at NV or AMD's door completely if much at all.

http://www.techpowerup.com/165707/tsmc-gives-nvidia-priority-for-28-nm-manufacturing.html
Why do you think TSMC gave them 28nm priority? Only a year after the settlement...LOL. Umm, a little blame at TSMC I'd guess and some agreement afterward. Remember, Jen said he'd go after people AFTER it was all settled. I can't sue or go after TSMC until I find out how big the bill is people will put at my own doorstep right?
http://gizmodo.com/5406415/laptop-reliability-study-asus-and-toshiba-come-out-on-top
Then consider data like that, showing they are not caring as much as they should about thermals in ALL their laptops (HP, Dell, Gateway, etc). Asus & Toshiba were best, but 15% is still pretty dang bad. Over 31% will fail in under 3yrs? WOW. So all your laptops suck across all vendors...OK. Clearly on the edge of producing JUNK in most cases no matter what gpu is in them. JUNK all around right?
 

InvalidError

Titan
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There were several bad runs of desktop GPUs too.

While Nvidia does no manufacturing themselves, they are still the ones who design the chips, design the thermal limits, decide the IO and power BGA distribution, choice of substrates, choice of BGA ball material, choice of under-fill material, etc. and in one of their bad runs, their die design was simply drawing too much current per BGA ball, causing the bonds between the BGA and substrate to fail. In another case, Nvidia's chips were simply drawing a lot more power than Nvidia's specs said they were supposed to and subsequent drivers simply reduced clocks and voltages to reduce the likelihood of more chips failing prematurely.

If Nvidia messes up layout and material choices, the mistake is still ultimately their fault there - the chip and packaging fabs are simply assembling chips to Nvidia's specifications using Nvidia-specified materials.

BTW, if Nvidia is "not responsible" for packaging-related stuff, why did they hire a "Director of Packaging Technology" in 2008 to finally fix bumpgate incidents that plagued Nvidia from 2005 to 2008?
http://semiaccurate.com/2009/08/21/nvidia-finally-understands-bumpgate/

ATI/AMD chips manufactured by the same chip foundries at around the same time did not suffer the sort of mass defects Nvidia's parts did.

As for "Nvidia being nice", I do not see what you mean. They were on the losing end of a 319M$ class-action lawsuit and decided to settle by giving people whose machines were damaged beyond repair a new laptop to settle the lawsuit... not exactly a philanthropic action.

And for the number of desktops affected, that's probably because most people do not buy the hottest-running high-end GPUs for their mid/low-end casual gaming PCs. One of my enthusiast gamer friends who is an Nvidia fanboy running $1000+ SLI setups blew through a dozen warranty replacements back then. There aren't millions of people pushing things that hard.
 


And then all of that gets ignored by whoever actually does the manufacturing, like the motherboard makers did with the 680i chipset.
 
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