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Ever since AMD debuted the R9 285 more than than a year ago, there's been speculation about whether or not the fleck, codenamed Tonga, was a "total" implementation. Its die size and ability consumption have always hinted that there might exist more GPU horsepower under the hood, specially after AMD acknowledged that the fleck had an additional four compute units that weren't enabled on the original carte du jour. Now, "Fat Tonga" has supposedly been spotted in the wild, courtesy of Expreview in Japan and early shots of an XFX GPU.

R9-380X-Hypothetical

If accurate, it implies that AMD has 1 more refreshed part to launch. Currently, the R9 380 (1792 cores, 112 TMUs, 32 ROPS) is a $199 part with 2GB and 4GB of RAM, while the R9 390 is a 2560:160:64 GPU with 8GB of RAM and a $329 cost tag. It'due south not hard to meet where a refreshed R9 380X would fit. A 2048:128:32 configuration would combine the original Hd 7970 / R9 280X's GPU firepower with Tonga's bandwidth compression and slightly improved performance-per-watt. The major questions are how big the memory interface would be (AMD has simply admitted to a 256-bit interface on Tonga, only 384-chip has always been rumored) and how AMD would set the clock speeds. AMD could theoretically drop vi-8GB of RAM on the card if it wanted to offer a unique option, but since the price indicate is likely below $300, nosotros're betting on a 4GB SKU.

Our hypothetical R9 380X should be moderately faster than the old R9 285 or electric current R9 380, but it'south unlikely to suspension speed records or blow anyone's doors off. At $249, the most likely cost, the R9 380X would be a bit faster than the GTX 960 and R9 380, which are mostly evenly matched. It'south all the same well below the ~$329 level of the R9 390 or GTX 970, nevertheless, and of course these prices can fluctuate depending on which sales and specials are running at various retailers.

One time the R9 380X launches (bold that's what this is), AMD's 300 serial is likely consummate. A number of you lot have asked if AMD volition bring HBM lower in the product stack this twelvemonth, but the reply to that is probably not. HBM and GDDR5 require dissimilar retentivity controllers, and AMD would have to rework its chips to brand that happen, without whatever guarantee of higher sales. With xiv/16nm GPUs expected next yr, the benefits of launching HBM1 parts at present as opposed to waiting for HBM2 in a year or less are very modest.

If AMD has held on to the 384-bit four-6GB version of Tonga for this long, information technology's likely considering the visitor wanted 1 more ace up its sleeve to respond with. Hopefully in 12 months nosotros'll exist proverb hello to GCN 2.0, as opposed to 1.iii.