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geekhack Community => Other Geeky Stuff => Topic started by: yookwh on Wed, 01 June 2016, 09:38:01
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http://www.wsj.com/articles/amd-prices-3-d-cards-to-spur-virtual-reality-market-1464725394
Text: Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is angling to lower the cost of virtual reality, targeting the field with a new line of graphics hardware priced at $199—half or less the cost of comparable products.
AMD said the first chips based on its new Polaris design are expected to arrive in graphics cards for personal computers at the end of June. The company aims to help push the starting cost of PCs that can deliver VR experiences as low as $799 from above $1,000.
Consumers also face the cost of the latest generation of VR headsets—$599 for the Oculus Rift from Facebook Inc. ’s Oculus VR unit, for example, or $799 for HTC Corp. ’s Vive.
But the need for a PC with an add-in card that includes a beefy 3-D graphics chip is another barrier that stands in the way of widespread adoption of VR. An online survey conducted in April by the Advanced Imaging Society found that 68% of respondents said VR equipment was too expensive.
“Less than 1% of PC users have systems that are capable of doing VR,” said Raja Koduri, senior vice president and chief architect of AMD’s Radeon technologies group. “The entry point is very, very high.”
AMD said its new Radeon RX cards, certified for use in VR by HTC and Oculus VR, deliver performance equivalent to that of $500 graphics cards used for VR.
Patrick Moorhead, an analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy briefed on AMD’s strategy, estimated that the current minimum price on cards comparable to AMD’s new models is $399. He said the $199 pricing comes as a surprise.
“It’s great for getting more people into VR,” said Kelt Reeves, president of Falcon Northwest Computer Systems Inc., a boutique maker of gaming PCs that serves the market.
AMD competes with Nvidia Corp. in the chips known as graphics processing units, or GPUs. Mercury Research estimates that Nvidia had 70.6% of shipments in the first quarter of 2016 to 29.4% for AMD, though the latter’s share is up three percentage points from the fourth quarter.
Standard practice in the GPU business has been to start new product lines with high-end cards that command hefty prices and profit margins. Mr. Koduri said AMD hoped that breaking from tradition by starting with a lower-cost model could have a bigger impact. For one thing, he said, computer retailers prefer to stock machines for less than $999.
Nvidia on May 7 introduced a new flagship model called the GTX 1080 at a $599 price tag that is expected to succeed a $1,000 model called the Titan X. Nvidia also introduced a $379 model called the GTX 1070, which is likely to be seen as competition to the new AMD model.
“It’s up to Nvidia to come up with a lower-priced card,” Mr. Moorhead said.
An Nvidia spokesman had no immediate comment.
AMD, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., plans to formally announce the new chips early Wednesday at the Computex trade show in Taiwan.
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What are your guys' thoughts on this? I think it's absolutely huge. To have performance of a card like the 390-390x in the $200 price point is insane. I can only imagine what the performance to dollar ratio will be... Of course there have not been any benchmarks, but I think AMD is making the right steps to gain some steam in the GPU market.
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Probably a good business move for AMD. They sell most of their GPUs to system builders anyway. Pre-built PCs tend to include lower-cost cards like the GTX 950...
Do I want one? No, I think I'd rather spend a little bit more for something that will be able to keep up longer with future games.
BTW. It is the 4GB model that will cost $199. The 8GB model will cost more, probably $230.
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Probably a good business move for AMD. They sell most of their GPUs to system builders anyway. Pre-built PCs tend to include lower-cost cards like the GTX 950...
Do I want one? No, I think I'd rather spend a little bit more for something that will be able to keep up longer with future games.
BTW. It is the 4GB model that will cost $199. The 8GB model will cost more, probably $230.
Agreed. I think the 480 will be the king of cards for 1080p gaming. I'm looking to purchase a new PC, and targeting 1440p, so it will not be my card of choice. But I think it's good to have the option, as well as to have it at such a low price.
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Aagh, the timing on this is terrible for me.
I'm in the market for a new GPU in the $200 range (without GPU at the moment, since my 7870 died), but due to an impending change in life circumstances, I can't wait until the end of the month. I'm probably going to wind up with just a 380X...
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I think that if anything can kill off non-portable consoles, it'll be this thing.
The sad part about it is that AMD doesn't seem to be interested in Linux, especially seeing that they let M$ advertise on the stage during their break.
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Um..... I don't really think that Rx 480 will be that big an upset to the market..
970 is already around $200 on ebay... they're comparable..
If they're looking for an upset.. Release rx 490 @ $350-400
That would Headshot Nvidia..
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AMD is really targeting the entry level consumers and first time builders who can't afford to spend a little more on a card.
Furthermore, for 1080p this is all you will need and only those with expensive 144hz monitors and high resolution displays will need more.
To conclude, for anyone tight on cash and for those using regular single monitor 1080p setups it doesn't make much sense to go any further.
Though if someone does want to go further the 490x will likely be that nail in the coffin.
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I have yet not seen anything to indicate that there would be any architectural improvements in Polaris over the previous generation. All so far has been numbers: process shrink, clock-speed up, price down.
With Pascal, NVidia announced new features especially for multi-screen and stereoscopic rendering and claimed to have optimized scheduling and texture compression under the hood.
The sad part about it is that AMD doesn't seem to be interested in Linux, especially seeing that they let M$ advertise on the stage during their break.
"Raise your hands if you like Windows 10"
I would have raised two middle fingers...