TSMC and AMD have apparently managed to refine and optimize the 28nm process

Sep 20, 2012 08:10 GMT  ·  By

AMD is getting ready to launch its second generation of video cards that feature the evolved graphics core next (GCN) architecture. We reported here on the technical details of the two mainstream cards that are supposed to be powerful enough to leave Nvidia’s GTX 680 behind.

AMD has been focusing on optimizing and tweaking each generation of cards for an optimal ratio between the performance, power consumption and die size.

This has been the company’s strategy during the past few years and it seems to have suited them just fine.

The second GCN generation seems to be no exception, and therefore AMD is using an approach similar to the way Radeon HD 6870 and HD 6850 were designed and launched.

The company’s goal was to be able to equal or even surpass the previous top performing graphics adapters while using considerably less transistors.

Moving from Radeon HD 5870 to HD 6870, we could say they were close, but the HD 6870 is not clearly superior to the HD 5870. It is close, but it has considerably less transistors.

With Radeon HD 8000 “Oland” GPUs, AMD has surprisingly managed to design an architecture that will actually have 21% more transistors than its predecessor but still 26% less than Tahiti while being able to match or ever surpass the latter on performance.

We’re comparing “Oland” with “Pitcairn” not only because these are mid-range cards, but also because they have comparable power consumption.

This is very different from what happened with the transition from Radeon HD 5770 mid-range to the new Radeon HD 6870 mid-range.

Back then, the HD 6870 GPU had roughly 70% more transistors than Radeon HD 5770, but also had a 40% greater power consumption.

Now, AMD’s “Oland” has only 21% more transistors than the previous mid-range, but boasts a surprising 9% lower power consumption.

In Part 2 of our AMD Radeon HD 8000 “Oland” Report, coming this week, we’ll discuss about how AMD’s mid-range cards have evolved during the past few years and what’s different about the HD 7870 to HD 8870 transition.

AMD Radeon HD 8000 “Oland” Is 33% More Efficient than Radeon HD 7000 “Tahiti” – Part 2