Ask Me Anything - Official AMD Radeon Representatives

[monstercameron]

what about VCE support, what applications support it?
Will AMD have a geforce experience like program for recording on screen footage?

 

[Someguy316]

Another question from me; I remember there was something on the GPU 14 event that mentioned anti-aliasing support with deferred rendering / lighting. I was wondering if this included super sampling anti-aliasing as well.

 

[g-unit1111]

Does AMD have any plans to beef up its' mobile graphics department for laptops and tablets or are you going to concentrate more on the APU department? And is AMD working on anything to counter NVIDIA's Tegra 3/4 platform for tablets and mobile phones? With tablets like the Surface Pro 2 pushing the limits of what a tablet can do, would putting powerful Radeon graphics cards in them be the next logical step for AMD?

 

[ejb222]

Can you give an indication the performance gain of Mantle? Will it be purely in FPS or will it be visual...i.e. better graphics, more eye candy, improvements to tress-fx. Is it used in conjunction with D3D or by itself?

Mantle can be used to increase raw FPS, or to increase image quality while maintaining the same FPS.

It is a complete and standalone graphics API, meaning Mantle must be capable of coding and rendering all the in-game effects you see today. But Mantle also needs to be sufficiently extensible so that we can collaborate with game studios to create the effects of tomorrow—and it is extensible to do so!

Thanks for that.
I would assume that Mantle carries all the same graphic rendering abilities that other current APIs carry? Or are capable of rendering all the same effects or more or less?
Are they any graphical distinctions between Mantle and other APIs? Like for example, Tress FX in a way. Something that differentiates itself or sets it above other APIs?

 

[ksarex]

Cpus from intel seem to perform better when gaming.
a)Does AMD sometimes sacrifices quality to ensure lower and more competitive price, or is it intel's hardware fetching better?
b)When developing a new GPU do you cooperate with other AMD departments to ensure maximum performance when using amd products together?

 

[Thracks]

What is a single tech that AMD is currently working on that you don't feel there is enough buzz about? Something possibly overlooked or overshadowed but to which we should really be paying attention?

My favorite is the new implementation of PowerTune on the 290X and 290. There's a lot of doom and gloom around the 95C temperature, because people are used to a world where the product is designed to run as cold as possible... but that's not the world we're living in with these units. The doom and gloom is based on an old viewpoint.

95C is the optimal temperature that allows the board to convert its power consumption into meaningful performance for the user. Every single component on the board is designed to run at that temperature throughout the lifetime of the product.

If you throttle the temperature down below that threshold, then the board must in turn consume less power to respect the new temperature limit. Consuming less power means lowering vcore and engine clock, which means less performance.

You want to take full advantage of product TDP to maximize performance, and that is accomplished with a 95C ideal operating temperature for the 290 and 290X.

Even with a third-party cooling solution, like the Accelero 3 some users have started deploying, the logic of PowerTune will still try to maximize TDP by allowing temperatures to float higher until some other limit is met (voltage, clock, fan RPM, whatever).

It's so bloody smart and it kills me that more people don't fully understand it.

 

[Thracks]

Cpus from intel seem to perform better when gaming.
a)Does AMD sometimes sacrifices quality to ensure lower and more competitive price, or is it intel's hardware fetching better?
b)When developing a new GPU do you cooperate with other AMD departments to ensure maximum performance when using amd products together?

I cannot comment on A as I don't work in the CPU division.

With respect to B, we design our GPUs to have the same level of compatibility with whatever CPU the user has. We do not optimize graphics hardware or drivers for any CPU architecture over another.

 

[Fredrik Aldhagen]

Is AMD planning any 6 or 8 core processors based on Steamroller or future technology?

Any plans to use EDRAM in future APUs? (like Intel's Crystalwell)

 

[lunaticwoda]

So heres a question. And maybe I have this backwards so bare with me.. On the latest architecture AMD uses for CPU's (bulldozer piledriver etc) Why did you opt to have half the execution cores? In my mind it would seem to cause a internal latency in high CPU use situations.

And based on previous commends by Mr. Reed. Will there be any plans to try to get back in the enthusiast space? IE a solution that can beat out a i7 (k) series?

 

[Rimon Cho]

Hi,

I am a big fans of AMD over the years. There's 1 thing Nvidia GPU is attracting me which is PhysX. So far for me i felt PhysX better than TressFX. Is there any plan for your competitor PhysX? I cant see any improvement on TressFX for your new released card

Thanks

 

[lunaticwoda]

Opps didnt realize only the Radeon side... In that case...

What was the influence to do something like Mantle when we have seen other projects like it "GLIDE" fail? What do you think will make your solution better or more enduring? Especially since the console market didn't want it? (Granted will say my 7970 works amazing max settings in BF4)

 

[WarWolverineWarrior]

Has AMD considered about making Downsampling software for high end cards? As you guys have stated before, the 290 is meant for 4k monitors but currently the standard for monitors and TVs is 1080p. It has been proven and tested that downsampling improves image quality. (I think it will be a great feature for SteamOS)

 

[Thracks]

Another question from me; I remember there was something on the GPU 14 event that mentioned anti-aliasing support with deferred rendering / lighting. I was wondering if this included super sampling anti-aliasing as well.

You're referring to Forward+. I want to give some background on Forward+ so other people know what it is:

Forward+ not only allows for the efficient utilization of thousands of light sources, but also performs an accurate simulation of their interactions with objects in the world. Forward+ also resolves the developer’s choice between a “forward” or “deferred” rendering engine for their game, which can have serious implications for the look, feel and features of a title.

For example, a “forward” rendering engine supports anti-aliasing, texture transparencies (like leaves and chainlink fences), and a wide variety of texture types (e.g. cloth and metal). Meanwhile, a “deferred” engine supports a large number of light sources, efficient rendering effects (“shaders”), and works well on game consoles. Thanks to Forward+, all of these technologies can efficiently coexist.

Forward+ further extends its leadership over forward and deferred engines by substantially increasing the diversity in the material types that a game may render. Whereas lighting on cloth and metal textures might look very similar on a game with a deferred engine (e.g. old gen consoles or console ports), Forward+ can render the distinct and realistic lighting differences between them.

Because of the way Forward+ is designed, it's suitable for use with both MSAA and SSAA.

Can you give an indication the performance gain of Mantle? Will it be purely in FPS or will it be visual...i.e. better graphics, more eye candy, improvements to tress-fx. Is it used in conjunction with D3D or by itself?

Mantle can be used to increase raw FPS, or to increase image quality while maintaining the same FPS.

It is a complete and standalone graphics API, meaning Mantle must be capable of coding and rendering all the in-game effects you see today. But Mantle also needs to be sufficiently extensible so that we can collaborate with game studios to create the effects of tomorrow—and it is extensible to do so!

Thanks for that.
I would assume that Mantle carries all the same graphic rendering abilities that other current APIs carry? Or are capable of rendering all the same effects or more or less?
Are they any graphical distinctions between Mantle and other APIs? Like for example, Tress FX in a way. Something that differentiates itself or sets it above other APIs?

Yes, Mantle is a complete graphics API capable of doing anything you see today. And more. The primary advantage, however, is that it can speak directly to the hardware in a unique way that other APIs cannot.

 

[nathanoakes]

Hi, I haven't seen any answers with regards to your CPU department yet, just your GPU department. Is this being done on purpose because of some news being released on the 11th Nov or have you just overlooked the questions?
If it is the latter, are there any Steamroller FX-CPUs coming out or was the 9000 series the end of the FX line? I'd rather know now because I'd rather have a strong CPU and GPU separate than have a Weaker CPU and GPU sitting together.

 

[078211x]

I don't know if you have taken a look at your competitor's website, the "GeForce" brand image is really strong, from their website, forum, to their Geforce Experience software, everything is polish and consistent. I think you guys really need an overhaul in terms of the "face" and product image you want to present to your customers, rather than fragment of places and visual themes that it is right now. What do you think?

And I think you need actual support staff from AMD to answer some questions, who can assist politely and professionally. When I go there, I don't see the kind of lively discussions that your competitor has enjoyed in their forum, and what is worse is some regulars who appear to be helpful but sometimes give out rude comments and even be paranoid and accuse your customers who posted technical problems.

Thanks for reading my concerns.

 

[Thracks]

Opps didnt realize only the Radeon side... In that case...

What was the influence to do something like Mantle when we have seen other projects like it "GLIDE" fail? What do you think will make your solution better or more enduring? Especially since the console market didn't want it? (Granted will say my 7970 works amazing max settings in BF4)

Game developers requested Mantle themselves. That's the key difference. The industry told us they want it.

Has AMD considered about making Downsampling software for high end cards? As you guys have stated before, the 290 is meant for 4k monitors but currently the standard for monitors and TVs is 1080p. It has been proven and tested that downsampling improves image quality. (I think it will be a great feature for SteamOS)

We are not considering any such software.

 

[ejb222]

You say that developers requested Mantle. How so?
And what is your favorite color?

 

[htapocysp]

"You want to take full advantage of product TDP to maximize performance, and that is accomplished with a 95C ideal operating temperature for the 290 and 290X. "

So there is no benefit in performance if the card could run cooler? Wouldn't you be able to get more performance before you hit 95c?

 

[Thracks]

Hi, I haven't seen any answers with regards to your CPU department yet, just your GPU department. Is this being done on purpose because of some news being released on the 11th Nov or have you just overlooked the questions?
If it is the latter, are there any Steamroller FX-CPUs coming out or was the 9000 series the end of the FX line? I'd rather know now because I'd rather have a strong CPU and GPU separate than have a Weaker CPU and GPU sitting together.

No answers have been provided on CPUs as all members of AMD in attendance today are from the Radeon business in Markham, Ontario. We cannot comment on products I don't intimately know!

I don't know if you have taken a look at your competitor's website, the "GeForce" brand image is really strong, from their website, forum, to their Geforce Experience software, everything is polish and consistent. I think you guys really need an overhaul in terms of the "face" and product image you want to present to your customers, rather than fragment of places and visual themes that it is right now. What do you think?

And I think you need actual support staff from AMD to answer some questions, who can assist politely and professionally. When I go there, I don't see the kind of lively discussions that your competitor has enjoyed in their forum, and what is worse is some regulars who appear to be helpful but sometimes give out rude comments and even be paranoid and accuse your customers who posted technical problems.

Thanks for reading my concerns.

I invite you to check out the new www.amd.com, which was just updated for a uniform look and feel. I also invite you to interact with us on Twitter and Facebook, which are monitored 24 hours a day by individuals like myself who enjoy interacting with customers/fans/etc. I like taking the time to reach out to people.

 

[COLGeek]

I would suggest a second AMD AMA for the CPU/APU side of things. Lots of questions here on the subject(s).

 

[Thracks]

You say that developers requested Mantle. How so?
And what is your favorite color?

Johan from DICE sat across the table from Matt Skynner, the GM of our graphics business, and explained how he wanted a close-to-metal graphics API. Matt said "we can do that," and the rest was history.

Other devs are very excited when they learn about what Mantle is capable of, and how Mantle can help them bring their game to life on the PC.

//edit: my favorite color is eminence: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shades_of_purple#Eminence

"You want to take full advantage of product TDP to maximize performance, and that is accomplished with a 95C ideal operating temperature for the 290 and 290X. "

So there is no benefit in performance if the card could run cooler? Wouldn't you be able to get more performance before you hit 95c?

A better cooler increases the watts of heat that the product can emit before the 95C equilibrium temperature is reached. In turn, this raises the maximum permissible clockspeed (within the limit of product TDP) the board can sustain.

Users with the Accelero coolers are finding they're reaching the clockspeed limit of the product at a lower temperature limit than 95C. So you can see how the experience is very customizable and interesting for enthusiasts.

 

[sumludus]

What are the chances of your marketing department creating a video of Jim Keller and Raja Koduri preforming the Fusion Dance from Dragonball Z in order to promote Kaveri and HSA?

 

[anxiousinfusion]

With the industry's newfound focus on integrated graphics solutions, where do you see AMD's graphics card division in the future?

 

[Thracks]

What are the chances of your marketing department creating a video of Jim Keller and Raja Koduri preforming the Fusion Dance from Dragonball Z in order to promote Kaveri and HSA?

Such a dance would take 10 conferences to complete, and may require the use of a Potara Earring.

 

[pokerapar88]

We all want to know:

- How much performance increase are we looking at with mantle enabled games?
- Is there any graphical improvement/options unlocked while using mantle?

- Are we going to see more FX series processors competing in the mid and high-end market?