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AMD might launch Polaris R9 490X and R9 490 in June

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AMD could launch Polaris in June

With GTC taking place this week, many people expected Nvidia to come storming out of the gates and reveal Pascal for consumer gaming GPUs. They did reveal Pascal’s architecture and several cards for Deep AI learning, but the anticipated next generation of their gaming cards were absent. Surprising given that AMD have been speaking about their Polaris architecture for a while now, which may have its own range of gaming cards as early as June.

AMD has stated in the past that they plan to launch Polaris sometime in the middle of 2016, but a new rumour suggests the Team in Red will be aiming for a late June launch. This just a few weeks after the cards, the R9 490X and R9 490, are formally revealed at Computex at the beginning of June. An event where Nvidia is expected to reveal Pascal too (and supposedly launch consumer grade cards too).

Polaris will be AMD’s crack at 14nm FinFET processing, which should provide a decent performance jump from the previous R9 390 series. The rumour suggests that the omission of the Fury labelling that AMD has used in the past to denote their enthusiast GPU series means that these two cards might not be the flagship pieces of tech that AMD has in store. It is suggested that both R9 490X and R9 490 will reach the same highs as the Fury range, with better, faster cards coming later in the year.

That’s probably similar to the Nvidia approach, who usually tend to release a Ti version of the most powerful cards a few months after the main release. That means June is still exciting, but it might be a little bit of a wait if you’re trying to wait for the best of the best in 2016. Either way, June is going to belong to Polaris and Pascal it seems.

Last Updated: April 8, 2016

13 Comments

  1. Dude … my wallet is just about to strangle me – with my bank-account standing close by with what seems to be a machete … Don’t be telling me these types of things so early in the year 😐

    Reply

    • CypherGate

      April 8, 2016 at 10:14

      My bank account has been on strike for a few years now. Will be for the next 2 – 3 years unfortunately.

      Reply

    • Kromas untamed

      April 8, 2016 at 10:49

      I always try to be spontaneous but my wallet always smacks in the the face and tells me to “Calm the F**k down”

      Reply

    • HairyEwok

      April 8, 2016 at 10:57

      If you’re short on cash take the public’s money and say sorry afterwards. If our president can do it, why can’t we?

      Reply

      • Deceased

        April 8, 2016 at 11:22

        I’m rather thinking that if I keep up with this pace, that I’d have to do something drastic, like take the public’s money …

        Also – these don’t sound like flagship cards – considering that there’s no Fury – is it possible that these are like R9 390x and R9 390 cards – with something more potent being released later? ( similar to what nVidia does with Ti cards? )

        Reply

        • HairyEwok

          April 8, 2016 at 11:29

          R9 490 and 490X is being made with FinFet 16nm. So i doubt it’s a rehashed 300 series card. I’m actually curious to see if they’ll continue using water cooling or moving back to air cooling to cater for the less money fortunate.

          Reply

          • Deceased

            April 8, 2016 at 12:11

            Wait, no, that wasn’t my thought train – I was more thinking that something bewilderingly wild is coming later – but I don’t know 😐

            Also – the water cooling is fucking sweet man 😛

          • Cat

            April 8, 2016 at 13:52

            The AMD cards are being made with FinFet 14nm, it seems they have moved away from TSMC and are either using Global Foundries Fabs or Samsung’s Fabs or both to make them on 14nm. Nvidia is building their Cards on FinFet 16nm are therefore using TSMC as they have done previously.

          • Kheigen

            April 10, 2016 at 06:29

            No it is not, AMD confirmed Polaris is being made with 14nm not 16nm. Nvidia is releasing their cards with 16nm. However that excluded, you are correct. These will not be refreshes of existing cards.

  2. Admiral Chief in New York

    April 8, 2016 at 09:38

    This makes me happy in front of pants, but not at back, since wallet in ass pocket

    Reply

  3. Admiral Chief in New York

    April 8, 2016 at 09:38

    #TEAMRED

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      April 8, 2016 at 09:50

      #TEAMPINK – I’ll bring my Rhino P(ink)

      Reply

  4. Ghost In The Rift

    April 8, 2016 at 12:29

    I just hope my GTX960 is up to par for the year, after that i can start thinking about bank robberies for Pascal, Cannonlake and so on.

    Reply

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