AMD has unveiled the most powerful platform for virtual reality (VR), the Radeon Pro Duo. The dual-GPU video card is capable of consuming and creating VR content.
On Monday, the chipmaker revealed that the Radeon Pro Duo with its LiquidVR SDK is a platform, which is aimed at most of the aspects of VR content creation. AMD suggests that the new Radeon Pro Duo is a powerful and advanced dual-GPU board, which delivers high performance needed by VR consumers, VR content creators and VR designers.
"More powerful computing platforms are rapidly leading to greater immersive experiences. This is most evident with VR, which demands ever higher compute performance with rock-solid consistency," says Raja Koduri, senior vice president and chief architect of Radeon Technologies Group at AMD. "Our new AMD Radeon Pro Duo with our LiquidVR SDK is the world's fastest platform for both content creation and consumption, enabling a world-class graphics and VR experience."
AMD announced that the anticipated cost of the Radeon Pro Duo will be about $1,500, which is the same as AMD's last dual-GPU card - the Radeon R9 295X2. Many customers may find the price steep but it is worth noting that the latest AMD offering has a significantly low price when compared to Nvidia's dual-GPU GeForce Titan Z, which was launched at $3,000.
The Radeon Pro Duo has a closed-loop liquid cooling solution, which is also found on the Radeon R9 295X2. The AMD offering is the first from the company that features 8-pin PEG connectors. Nvidia has not developed one yet.
Market analysts such as the International Data Corporation believe that the VR industry will witness a massive growth in 2016 and in the coming years. Market research firm Digi-Capital estimates that the VR market will be worth $30 billion by 2020.
VR is becoming very popular in the gaming industry but other industries such as infotainment, education and more are also expected to benefit from the technology. AMD is investing heavily in VR as the company believes that the future of VR is not in just gaming but in other fields as well.
AMD has already partnered with the Associated Press for developing a VR app for news-gathering. AMD has also entered into partnership with Fox Studios for a VR experience that will be based on the upcoming "Assassin's Creed" film that will be released this winter.
The company is also working with Sulon Technologies for the development of a VR and Augmented Reality headset called Sulon Q.
AMD confirmed that the Radeon Pro Duo will hit the shelves in Q2 2016.
