Ask Me Anything - Official AMD Radeon Representatives

[jpishgar]

Tom's Hardware Ask Me Anything - AMD
Ever wanted to ask one of the big hardware or software giants something directly? Why’d they do that? Where’d the idea come from for that last product? What’s in store next? Well, now you have the chance!

Tom’s Hardware is proud to announce a follow-up of our brand new community features – ASK ME ANYTHING.

On Wednesday, November 6th, we’ll be hosting the next in a series of Tom’s Hardware Ask Me Anythings, and our guests will be official representatives from AMD!

This thread will be unlocked, open and live for 24 hours starting at 12:00 p.m. eastern on November 6th, and questions will be moderated and supervised by Tom’s Community Manager, Joe Pishgar, and a full team of Senior Moderators.

Ask Me Anything Rules
• No tech support questions, as these require in-depth personal follow-up and diagnostics.
• All Rules of Conduct apply.
• Keep questions direct and to the point.
• Avoid opinion bias - ie: "Why are all your products awesome/bad/smelly?"
• Be respectful of our guests, no insults, no leading questions.
• Do not post duplicate questions, or repost your question multiple times.
• Not all questions may be answered. Questions may not be answered in the order in which they are received or posted.

Only registered users will be able to ask questions, so if you haven’t yet, be sure to register now for your chance to participate!

The official representatives will reply periodically over the time the AMA is active using a recognized and verified account.

Please join us on this date to throw your questions into the mix and ask AMD what you've always wanted to ask!

What: Ask Me Anything – AMD
When: Wednesday, November 6th, 12:00 EDT
Where: This thread itself!
Who: AMD's Robert Hallock (username:Thracks) will be relaying responses live from the AMD Team

Our Guests from AMD are-

• Robert Hallock, PR Manager for Enthusiast GFX and Gaming
• Ritche Corpus, Director of our ISV Relations & Alliances Team
• Devon Nekechuk, Product Manager for Enthusiast dGPU
• Dave Nalasco, Senior Technical Marketing Manager
• Shane Parfitt, Technical Marketing Manager for the Display & Power Technologies Domain
• Roger Quero, Senior Technical Marketing Manager

This thread and the AMA is now LIVE! You may ask your questions immediately.

 

[overclocked_enthusiasm]

What is the rationale for AMD using stock cooling solutions on enthusiast cards at launch when more robust and effective cooling solutions have been demonstrated by your partners and other 3rd parties resulting in superior acoustics, better heat dissipation, and potentially higher benchmarks?
Thank you for taking the time to talk with us on the forums!!

 

[starjet]

Will Mantle support all GCN GPUs, including the low-end ones such as the HD 7730 and HD 7750?

 

[overclocked_enthusiasm]

With Kavari being the 3rd generation APU from AMD, what are the major improvements that we will see? How potentially disruptive is this technology to the historic relationship of CPU/GPU and system resources in a desktop environment and how does AMD plan to leverage this potential disruption into higher market share since Nvidia and Intel don't fully compete in this APU space?
Thanks!!

 

[Thracks]

What is the rationale for AMD using stock cooling solutions on enthusiast cards at launch when more robust and effective cooling solutions have been demonstrated by your partners and other 3rd parties resulting in superior acoustics, better heat dissipation, and potentially higher benchmarks?
Thank you for taking the time to talk with us on the forums!!

Using a 100% reference design at launch ensures that AMD can control every facet of the initial production. It minimizes the number of variables that can "go wrong."

Will Mantle support all GCN GPUs, including the low-end ones such as the HD 7730 and HD 7750?

Anything with Graphics Core Next. Anything!

 

[emad_ramlawi]

Hi AMD,

hope you answer all my following questions, but feel free to skip silly ones.

1) Regarding motherboard sockets, i know you use on the server side (Socket G34,Socket C32,Socket F), Land grid array CPU sockets , while on the desktop you remain using
pin grid array socket just like(FM1,FM2,FM2+,AM3+), why ? and how much difference does it make ? is the server Land grid array superior ?

2) Any news on the GDDR5M side ? what is your target audience for it ? if there will be GDDR5M available in the future, what should we expect regarding latency and frequency ?

3) Why did you ended the HD 7750 ? i love it alot ? and its sad that the newer generation does have huge gap between the R7-250 and the R7-260, in Cape Verde language, were
talking about HD 7730 and HD 7790, there is huge GAP in between, will we ever see R7-250X or any other filling, and will it be powered by PCI express alone ?

Thanks very much in advance.

 

[Thracks]

With Kavari being the 3rd generation APU from AMD, what are the major improvements that we will see? How potentially disruptive is this technology to the historic relationship of CPU/GPU and system resources in a desktop environment and how does AMD plan to leverage this potential disruption into higher market share since Nvidia and Intel don't fully compete in this APU space?
Thanks!!

I can't say much on our next-generation APUs, as today's AMA team is from the Radeon side of the business. But what I can say is that your question will be answered in its entirety on November 11-13 at the AMD Developer Conference in San Jose.

 

[starjet]

Will Mantle support all GCN GPUs, including the low-end ones such as the HD 7730 and HD 7750?

Anything with Graphics Core Next. Anything!

Great. Thank you for the response.

 

[COLGeek]

Recently, users have been speculating on whether AMD would continue to release CPUs or go the APU only route. There are also concerns over the fate of any AM3+ upgrade options. Please advise on both of these concerns. Thanks.

 

[ffleader1]

One of the best AMA ever
OK, straight to the point
-Do you have any plan for CPU, not APU?
-What will you do to compete with Nvidia Maxwell next year? Newer architecture, GHz edition GPUs, better models…? And when will you plan to release them?

 

[Dandalf]

I have saved up and am waiting for Steamroller-based desktop FX chips. Nothing else will do, Piledriver, APU's, or Intel. There are rumours these will now never appear, and we've heard no confirmation one way or the other. Will they be available?

 

[monstercameron]

Will AMD be delivering drivers for mir/wayland anytime soon?
What of android driver support?
Will AMD be bringing more developers onboard for developement of the opensource graphics driver?
Why were temash/kabini not built with hsa features?

 

[Thracks]

Hi AMD,

hope you answer all my following questions, but feel free to skip silly ones.

1) Regarding motherboard sockets, i know you use on the server side (Socket G34,Socket C32,Socket F), Land grid array CPU sockets , while on the desktop you remain using
pin grid array socket just like(FM1,FM2,FM2+,AM3+), why ? and how much difference does it make ? is the server Land grid array superior ?

2) Any news on the GDDR5M side ? what is your target audience for it ? if there will be GDDR5M available in the future, what should we expect regarding latency and frequency ?

3) Why did you ended the HD 7750 ? i love it alot ? and its sad that the newer generation does have huge gap between the R7-250 and the R7-260, in Cape Verde language, were
talking about HD 7730 and HD 7790, there is huge GAP in between, will we ever see R7-250X or any other filling, and will it be powered by PCI express alone ?

Thanks very much in advance.

Hello. I'm not privy to the GDDR or socket questions, but I can answer your last one!

The HD 7750 is still shipping in the market for precisely the reason you've identified. Its performance falls between that of the R7 250 and the R7 260X.

 

[coloradoleo76]

How come we never saw the 17-19W Trinity/Richland parts in the 11.6" form factors like the HP DM1? I loved my e450 in that chassis, and really wanted to see the better APUs in that format.

I also see a huge opportunity to use those parts in fanless HTPC boxes, as NUC competitors. I use the Arctic MC001 as an HTPC, without an optical device, and would LOVE to see this fanless form factor with an A8.

I'm guessing that none of your product alliance partners think these would be viable product lines?

 

[ryan222h]

Are there any plans for a new enthusiast CPU as a successor to the FX8350 and FX9590?

 

[overclocked_enthusiasm]

Let me rephrase my stock cooler question. Why not use a more robust "reference design" incorporating some of the brilliant solutions proven out by your card partners and other 3rd parties in regards to noise and greater heat dissipation...especially at the high end?

 

[alanim]

Are you capable of answering questions about Kaveri if it's solely about the GPU segment of the APU?

 

[ubercake]

I like what AMD is doing with regard to mantle and the R9 290x and am entertaining the prospect of buying a couple, but I am reluctant to do so until the runt/dropped frame issue has been completely addressed for single GPU, crossfire setups and Eyefinity systems. Can you tell us what progress AMD has made with regard to this and what AMD is still working on to address any existing issues?

 

[Dandalf]

This is one I've always wondered, how come graphic card makers (like yourselves) don't release a legacy AGP card on the newest technology? You could saturate the bandwidth available in AGP with a GCN card that's probably so efficient it'd be single slot! I know at least two people (and I reckon there are many more) who are forced to look at the second-hand market for older cards and it's not ideal.

Thanks for doing the AMA by the way! Made me so happy when I heard you guys were coming on lol

 

[jpishgar]

Just a reminder, folks, not to address any specific technical support questions to our representatives from AMD. They are here to answer your questions, but not walk you through fixing your rig.

Thanks for your cooperation!

-JP

 

[Thracks]

Tom's Hardware Ask Me Anything - AMD
Ever wanted ASK ME ANYTHING.

My question is about changing from one Radeon card to another new Radeon card. I have gotten different descriptions of the steps to go through as far as removing old software or not, and about using the CD with the replacement card to install Radeon Catalyst software and the vendor's software.

I did not find a good instruction for remove old Radeon and install new Radeon on AMD's site. Many instructions assume starting with a new install.

I-7 860 Win 7 64bit Pro, HP HPE590e computer from 2010.
Radeon 5770 OEM from factory order.
Replacement card Gigabyte Radeon 7950.

Steps recommended for me to go through, please? And thank you for being willing to do this service.

With Windows 7, this is the procedure I have always followed in one form or another:

1) Fully uninstall the driver with the AMD Catalyst uninstaller tool: http://www2.ati.com/drivers/amd_cleanup_util_1.2.1.0.exe

2) Reboot your PC!

3) Install the new driver. Reboot your PC!

4) Done!

I've never had a problem following this approach.

 

[NeoForever]

Thanks for being here today.

1) Any news on XDR memory? If it is not being considered, why?

2) How much does the stock cooling solution on the 290X add to the BOM?

 

[Thracks]

Let me rephrase my stock cooler question. Why not use a more robust "reference design" incorporating some of the brilliant solutions proven out by your card partners and other 3rd parties in regards to noise and greater heat dissipation...especially at the high end?

Our reference solutions are designed to accommodate every system that fully complies with the ATX and PCIe mechanical and electrical specifications. Further, we have OEM and system integrator customers that prefer a blower-style assembly. In order to accommodate all parties interested in purchasing a reference GPU, our hand is guided in the direction of the designs you see.

This is one I've always wondered, how come graphic card makers (like yourselves) don't release a legacy AGP card on the newest technology? You could saturate the bandwidth available in AGP with a GCN card that's probably so efficient it'd be single slot! I know at least two people (and I reckon there are many more) who are forced to look at the second-hand market for older cards and it's not ideal.

Thanks for doing the AMA by the way! Made me so happy when I heard you guys were coming on lol

Glad to be doing an AMA. I think it's mostly because AGP is a fully dead standard across the industry. The ROI would likely be negative.

 

[Traciatim]

Do AMD have plans to battle Intel in the high performance gaming CPU market again or have AMD conceded that crown to Intel and are instead staying with budget and entry-mid level CPU's?

 

[Thracks]

I like what AMD is doing with regard to mantle and the R9 290x and am entertaining the prospect of buying a couple, but I am reluctant to do so until the runt/dropped frame issue has been completely addressed for single GPU, crossfire setups and Eyefinity systems. Can you tell us what progress AMD has made with regard to this and what AMD is still working on to address any existing issues?

1) Frame pacing was 100% resolved on single-GPU systems in early 2013.

2) Frame pacing for multi-GPU systems, at any resolution (e.g. Eyefinity/4K), is fully resolved in hardware on the 290 and 290X.

3) Frame pacing for the R9 270, R9 280 and HD 7000 Series systems will require a software solution. Our engineers are working on that right now, and we intend to release a driver this quarter to resolve the issue.