AMD Hawaii remains at 28 nanometers

A new generation Radeon is approaching and mainly in the line is the graphics processor Hawaii with a new revision of the architecture Graphics Core Next. In an interview with the financial magazine Forbes, AMD’s graphics manager Matt Skynner now reveals some of the details behind the new flagship circuit.

Another thing I can tell you is about the process node: this GPU is in 28nm. Some have speculated that it was 20nm and it’s not for a specific reason: At 28nm for an enthusiast GPU, we can achieve higher clock speeds and higher absolute performance.

First of all, Skynner puts an end to the rumors that the next generation will take the step to 20 nanometers. Instead, Hawaii stays on today’s 28 nm technology. Although the semiconductor manufacturer TSMC is working on a new process node, this should mainly be adapted for low-power circuits and probably does not fit a performance-oriented graphics processor with several billion transistors.

At the same time, it is revealed that Hawaii does not go up against the most expensive graphics cards, what Skynner calls “ultra enthusiast”, which includes models around 999 dollars. AMD does not think very many people are willing to shell out that much money for a graphics card, even though they normally place graphics cards with dual graphics processors in this price range.

Last but not least, Skynner suggests that AMD is working on its own equivalent of Nvidia’s optimization tool Geforce Experience, which automatically adjusts the quality settings in games according to the user’s computer system. However, he does not reveal when such a program may be available.