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2016 nMP

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koyoot

koyoot

macrumors 603
Jun 5, 2012
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Because it is Polaris related information and that is important information for next Mac Pro.

As a side note, how about this:
FirePro G300: 2560 GCN cores 4 GB of VRAM GDDR5
FirePro G500: 3584 GCN cores 8 GB of HBM2
FirePro G700: 4096 GCN cores 16 GB of HBM2
 
pat500000

pat500000

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Jun 3, 2015
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koyoot said:
LOL Wut? When I did said that? :D

In order to maintain backwards compatibility with PS4 PS4K must use similar binary code for the architecture, without software emulation, of the previous version of GCN, IF Sony will use Polaris chip in the PS4K. It was confirmed by PS4 game developer, who had the GPU on his hands, and it was confirmed by person who is responsible for Linux drivers.
Polaris is not backwards compatible with previous generations of GCN, without software emulation of them - drivers.

Thats why they cannot use Polaris in PS4K IF they want backwards compatibility with PS4.

Melodist, Nvidia pretty much did 1.9x more performance in the same thermal envelope for their midrange GPU.
Click to expand...
Yeah I mis read that
 
S

Stacc

macrumors 6502a
Jun 22, 2005
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koyoot said:
Guys, the words I am saying to you about PS4K are coming from PS4 game developer, who had in hands both GPUs.

They are not compatible on software side. Binary code will be different on Polaris, therefore backwards compatibility with previous generations of GCN arch has to be emulated. Sony would need exact binary copy for Polaris GPU. But the arch. is different. PS4 OS does not have capabilities to do this.

There is no coincidence that today, day after debunking of rumors, there is another rumor about performance of mobile Polaris GPUs. What is worth noting is that GTX 1080M will have 2048 CUDA cores, and 1.3 GHz core clocks...

AMD yesterday played smart. They had to get rid of rumors, without disclosing anything. Today a lot of concrete news came about. There no coincidence in this.
Click to expand...

Why would games need to be recompiled for a new GPU? When a game ships for windows it doesn't ship with binaries for every GPU possible. Its all handled by the driver. Sure PS4 games may be optimized for GCN 1 but if Polaris is fast enough than it won't matter if its GCN 4. As long as they keep the CPU architecture the same then it shouldn't matter.


koyoot said:
Because it is Polaris related information and that is important information for next Mac Pro.

As a side note, how about this:
FirePro G300: 2560 GCN cores 4 GB of VRAM GDDR5
FirePro G500: 3584 GCN cores 8 GB of HBM2
FirePro G700: 4096 GCN cores 16 GB of HBM2
Click to expand...

Then I guess we are waiting for Vega for the next mac pro...
 
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ManuelGomes

macrumors 68000
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koyoot, that was my assumption the other day. Polaris 10 as the entry card, Vega 10 on the 2 higher levels. That would be awesome.
[doublepost=1463165836][/doublepost]If Vega is indeed coming in October, that's inline with what's expected. You wouldn't see it before anyway, most likely. And it might be worth the wait.
Maybe by then there is an updated spec for TB3...
 
koyoot

koyoot

macrumors 603
Jun 5, 2012
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Stacc said:
Why would games need to be recompiled for a new GPU? When a game ships for windows it doesn't ship with binaries for every GPU possible. Its all handled by the driver. Sure PS4 games may be optimized for GCN 1 but if Polaris is fast enough than it won't matter if its GCN 4. As long as they keep the CPU architecture the same then it shouldn't matter.
Click to expand...
Well, It is EXACTLY what I have written ;).

You need drivers to keep binary code backwards compatible with previous generations of GCN. Sony OS is not capable of handling that. On PC level - no problem. But not for PS4K.
 
S

Stacc

macrumors 6502a
Jun 22, 2005
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ManuelGomes said:
koyoot, that was my assumption the other day. Polaris 10 as the entry card, Vega 10 on the 2 higher levels. That would be awesome.
[doublepost=1463165836][/doublepost]If Vega is indeed coming in October, that's inline with what's expected. You wouldn't see it before anyway, most likely. And it might be worth the wait.
Maybe by then there is an updated spec for TB3...
Click to expand...

Given what we know about Polaris 10, that its targeted for 125 - 150 W and that it has a good double precision ratio (1:3), it seems tailor made for the mac pro. If it can hit 6 TFLOPS on the high end that compares favorably to the D700 at 3.5 TFLOPS.
 
koyoot

koyoot

macrumors 603
Jun 5, 2012
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This is no coincidence that after yesterday's debunking of negative rumors of Polaris being postponed to October, today there is a leak of information of mobile Polaris parts. Important to note: GTX 1080M also has 2048 CUDA cores, and 1.3 GHz core clocks. Interesting, isn't it?

Both companies are looking at hands of each other ;).
 
koyoot

koyoot

macrumors 603
Jun 5, 2012
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Guys, that was only my speculation :D. I thought that Apple could simply double the core count of the GPUs. It also would make sense for few reasons.
Release the G300 in June, it will be upgrade anyway for people who owned already Mac Pro 2013, and let the G500 and G700 as a built to order option with availability in October or wherever it will be possible.
 
Z

Zarniwoop

macrumors 65816
Aug 12, 2009
1,038
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West coast, Finland
I was still thinking, that with nMP v2 Apple would go with
  • Tonga Pro (same part as M395, but cut-price) GDDR5 TDP 125W 2GB (3 TFLOPs)
  • Ellesmere Pro GDDR5 4GB (4.5 TFLOPs)
  • Ellesmere XT w GDDR5/X 8GB (6 TFLOPs)
I put Tonga there, because Apple always tries to make the entry machine less attractive. And because after Polaris, it will be cheap.

And that fleet is ready for sell directly after WWDC.
 
fuchsdh

fuchsdh

macrumors 68020
Jun 19, 2014
2,028
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koyoot said:
Guys, that was only my speculation :D. I thought that Apple could simply double the core count of the GPUs. It also would make sense for few reasons.
Release the G300 in June, it will be upgrade anyway for people who owned already Mac Pro 2013, and let the G500 and G700 as a built to order option with availability in October or wherever it will be possible.
Click to expand...

Has Apple ever updated its BTO options without a corresponding hardware refresh? Only thing that seems to qualify would be the 2012 update to the Mac Pro, but given that the Mac Pro was in single-config CYO mode at that time it doesn't seem to quite count.

Zarniwoop said:
I was still thinking, that with nMP v2 Apple would go with
  • Tonga Pro (same part as M395, but cut-price) GDDR5 TDP 125W 2GB (3 TFLOPs)
  • Ellesmere Pro GDDR5 4GB (4.5 TFLOPs)
  • Ellesmere XT w GDDR5/X 8GB (6 TFLOPs)
I put Tonga there, because Apple always tries to make the entry machine less attractive. And because after Polaris, it will be cheap.

And that fleet is ready for sell directly after WWDC.
Click to expand...

I'd buy some more cut-down chip as the entry level as well, just because even with the dual-GPU focus there are some people who just don't need GPU power. Might as well max out the stuff they care about, especially if you get a lower entry-level price.
 
S

Stacc

macrumors 6502a
Jun 22, 2005
888
353
Zarniwoop said:
I was still thinking, that with nMP v2 Apple would go with
  • Tonga Pro (same part as M395, but cut-price) GDDR5 TDP 125W 2GB (3 TFLOPs)
  • Ellesmere Pro GDDR5 4GB (4.5 TFLOPs)
  • Ellesmere XT w GDDR5/X 8GB (6 TFLOPs)
I put Tonga there, because Apple always tries to make the entry machine less attractive. And because after Polaris, it will be cheap.

And that fleet is ready for sell directly after WWDC.
Click to expand...

This looks reasonable but it would be a shame to see a 2 GB card offered on the low end. If they could manage 16 GB of GDDR5X then we could see 4/8/16 GB options. The other thing I could see is Polaris 11 as the low end option. That way Polaris is standard across the lineup.
 
Z

Zarniwoop

macrumors 65816
Aug 12, 2009
1,038
760
West coast, Finland
But that horse is going to be a bit late from this summers fight.

Anyway, Polaris 10 is 30% smaller chip than GP104, so for Nvidia it's more difficult to compete with GTX1070's' price.. and lower yields. Polaris is going to be cost/performance king.

Update: AMD has put some M400 series data on their web site: http://www.amd.com/en-gb/products/graphics/notebook/r9-m200

R9 M485X 32CU 8GB GDDR5 1250MHz 256bit
R9 M470X 14CU 4GB GDDR5 1500MHz 128bit
R9 M470 12CU 4GB GDDR5 1500MHz 128bit

Update2: Are those rebranded?
 
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