AMD promises doubled energy efficiency with 2016 graphics card

In the not-too-distant future, AMD will launch a new Radeon family of graphics cards, where the Fiji graphics circuit will be the upcoming flagship. While it is expected to take place in the top performance layer, rumors speak of a 28-nanometer technology and not least water cooling for a current-thirsty story.

During Financial Analyst Day, AMD reveals that next year’s graphics card will take a real step forward in that regard. The transition to a Finfet process, ie production of 14 or 16 nanometers with 3D transistors, is said to double energy efficiency compared to today. This would mean that AMD can increase performance twice without increasing power consumption.

AMD also confirms that the company will already this year be the first with the new memory technology High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) from SK Hynix. The technology will deliver three times higher performance (bandwidth) per watt compared to GDDR5, which in practice will provide energy savings of at least 50 percent.

Another advantage of the technology is that memory and graphics processor are placed on the same substrate, compared to today where GDDR5 memory takes up a large part of the circuit board. This enables small form factors even in the performance segment, something AMD claims will result in “interesting” ready-made systems.

The AMD Radeon 300 series is expected to be shown to the media behind closed doors at Computex in early June, to be made public shortly thereafter.