At CES 2019, AMD says it has a graphics card in store that can go toe-to-toe with Nvidia's RTX 2080, and it's called the Radeon VII.
If nothing else, this shows that the company is taking a leap forward in the arms race of graphics technology.
A Powerful GPU
Dubbed as the "world's first 7nm gaming GPU," the Radeon VII houses a GPU named Vega 20. According to Ars Technica, it's built on TSMC's (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) 7nm process. Thanks to that, its clock rate is capable of going up to 1.8 GHz.
It's rated to be 29 percent faster than its predecessor the RX Vega 64, but on that note, it does have fewer compute units in comparison at 60 (3,840 stream processors) as opposed to the latter's 64 (4,096 stream processors). At any rate, it inches closer to what the RTX 2080 can deliver.
"AMD Radeon VII is the highest-performance gaming graphics card we ever created. It is designed for gamers, creators and enthusiasts who demand ultra-high quality visuals, uncompromising performance and immersive gaming experiences," Scott Herkelman, corporate vice president and general manager of AMD's Radeon Technologies Group, said in a press release.
A Compelling Buy
Through its "Raise the Game Fully Loaded" program, AMD says that each purchase of the graphics card comes with free copies of three games: Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry 5, and Tom Clancy's The Division 2. This also applies to gaming rigs that's equipped with it, one of which is the Alienware Area-51 Threadripper.
Here's a breakdown of the Radeon VII technical specifications culled from its product page and the press release:
• 7nm technology process
• 60 compute units (3,840 stream processors)
• 16 GB of HBM2 memory
• 1 TB/s memory bandwidth
• 4,096-bit memory interface
• AMD FreeSync2 HDR technology
The Radeon VII is expected to start rolling out on Feb. 7 with a price tag of $699, which is the same cost as other RTX 2080 variants.
