AMD apparently set to introduce 'Never Settle Space Edition' promotion

[MrJim]

With the introduction of the R9 285 cards, AMD are apparently introducing a new game bundle imaginatively called 'Never Settle Space Edition', which is set to include the upcoming titles 'Alien Isolation' and 'Star Citizen'. Definitely worth considering if, like me, those are two games which are of interest

More about the R9 285 & the Never Settle bundle here:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8422/a...-september-2nd

[Millennium]

I bought Star Citizen back in the kickstarter days. Hmm I really should fire up the alpha I downloaded it yesterday or so .....

[arsenalfan]

I'm planning on buying an R9 280x soon. It currently comes with the free games from amd never settle forever promotion so as of September 2nd will I be able to download these games when they come out or is it only for the R9 285?

[jigger]

Just been reading about the R9 285 and it looks like it will be great cards for the money, but one article says it's 280mm2.
The R9 280 is 365mm2 and the R9 285 280mm2. That can't be right can it?

[kalniel]

The R9 280 is 365mm2 and the R9 285 280mm2. That can't be right can it?

Why not?

[Millennium]

It's a newer core Tahiti variant I think, they save (or I assume, they save) "a lot " of money with smaller die sizes. Maybe that's something investors take into account too, it's really well placed for pleasing investors. I liked it, but I sort of caved and am hoping for a reply on a silly cheap 290x I found sort of locally. . I'd then have a 6970 and 5870 to sell, and they'll prolly be going on here. Lovely cards the lot of them, I bet.

I hope AMD keep going strong. They really need to keep on Intel's asse. I feel like firing up my athlon 1900+, only now does this intel chip (almost) feel as snappy in a bloody browser. I'll post the tweaks I did some time soon. Buying ATI was a great idea, and their APUs are going strong. Mantle BF4 on a current AMD APU is apparently strangely good value too, there's a youtube video about it.

edit: it was an athlon xp, heavily optimized i read for current windows 32bit workloads. Feed it 1t DDR and it was really happy.

[jigger]

Why not?

Well it's got the same number of pipes as the R9 280, plus it has the TrueAudio chip and all the other bits and pieces added to it.

It is still a 28nm TSMC chip isn't it?

[kalniel]

Well it's got the same number of pipes as the R9 280, plus it has the TrueAudio chip and all the other bits and pieces added to it.

It is still a 28nm TSMC chip isn't it?

They're smaller 'pipes' as you put it, with a very much smaller memory controller. But yes, still 28nm.

[jigger]

They're smaller 'pipes' as you put it, with a very much smaller memory controller. But yes, still 28nm.

Hmmm not sure. The memory controller would save some space. But I can't see how making the pipe "smaller" as you put it, is possible without a die shrink.

[kalniel]

Hmmm not sure. The memory controller would save some space. But I can't see how making the pipe "smaller" as you put it, is possible without a die shrink.

The cores are redesigned compared to GCN1.0 and should be more space efficient, and the designs are more densely packed, but most of the saving is the memory controller as previewed in the 290 class.

[jigger]

However it's been done I'm impressed that AMD have added to the chip and shrunk it down to 280mm2. It will be even more impressive if the R9 285 can out perform an R9 280.