AMD R9 300 Series of Cards is Full of Surprises

We’ve had quite a few leaks and rumours for some time when it comes to AMD’s new Radeon R9 300 series graphics cards, ranging all the way back to the first possible cooler shroud that could be a hybrid cooling system. But now sources tell TweakTown that AMD’s newest generation of graphics cards won’t arrive as they are portrayed in the current rumours and leaks.

The source didn’t want to go into too much detail when talking to our friends at TT, but did say that “the new Radeon R9 390X will arrive with specifications and possibly features that are different to what the rumors currently suggest.” The most interesting part of the source’s comment is that the new HBM1 memory will actually provide the performance in real-life as it does on paper. If that is true, then Nvidia could be in some serious trouble down the road – at least until they can adapt their own processes and parts to match.

To summarize HBM, the first version to be released will have around 640GB/s bandwidth and the second generation will double that up to 1.2TB/s. Current cards provide an average of 300GB/s bandwidth, so even the first generation of HBM will double that.

There hasn’t really been much change on the memory side of graphics since the introduction of GDDR5 memory, so I can see how this could become a game changer and it’s hopefully something that will get AMD back on track so we see some more competition on the market. Competition is the best thing for us as consumers as it results in more effort in the R&D department as well as lower prices.

Thank you TweakTown for providing us with this information.