AMD highlighted historic leaps in computing, gaming and visualisation technologies expected in 2019 based on a combination of leading-edge 7nm technology. During her CES 2019 keynote presentation, AMD President and CEO Dr Lisa Su announced the world’s first 7nm gaming graphics processing unit (GPU), AMD Radeon VII; detailed the world’s fastest processor for ultrathin laptops, 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen Mobile processors; and provided the first public demonstration of the upcoming 7nm 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen desktop processor.
Su was joined by a number of industry luminaries including Microsoft Executive Vice President of Gaming Phil Spencer, Massive Entertainment Managing Director David Polfeldt, and FNATIC Co-Founder and Chairman Sam Mathews.
Su’s keynote focused on solving the world’s toughest and most interesting challenges through high-performance computing and graphics innovation. From bringing a storyteller’s vision to life through digital characters, to helping communities come together through a shared love of gaming, to solving some of our toughest challenges in the realms of education, healthcare, climate change and energy solutions, AMD sees incredible opportunities to apply more powerful computing technologies to solve some of society’s toughest problems.
‘This is an incredible time to be in technology as the industry pushes the envelope on high-performance computing to solve the biggest challenges we face together,’ said Su. ‘At AMD, we made big bets several years ago to accelerate the pace of innovation for high-performance computing, and 2019 will be an inflection point for the industry as we bring these new products to market. From our 7nm Radeon graphics chips to our next-generation 7nm AMD Ryzen and AMD EYPC processors, it’s going to be an exciting year for AMD and the industry.’
AMD Gaming Graphics Updates
Reinforcing its commitment to next-generation gaming leadership, AMD announced the world’s first 7nm gaming GPU, AMD Radeon VII, designed to deliver exceptional performance and amazing experiences for the latest AAA, esports and Virtual Reality (VR) titles, demanding 3D rendering and video editing applications, and next-generation compute workloads. The AMD Radeon VII graphics card provides 2x the memory and 2.1x the memory bandwidth, up to 29 percent higher gaming performance on average and up to 36 percent higher performance on average in content creation applications compared to the AMD Radeon™ RX Vega 64 graphics card, enabling maximum settings for extreme framerates at the highest resolutions. It also provides seamless, high-refresh HDR gaming at 1080p, ultrawide 1440p and 4K, and powers the next-generation photo and visual creation applications on razor sharp, vibrant 8K monitors.
AMD Radeon VII graphics card is expected to be available beginning February 7, 2019.
AMD High-Performance Desktop Updates
For the several thousand keynote attendees and the record-size CES keynote livestream audience, AMD performed the first public demonstrations of the upcoming 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen desktop processor. The 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen processor is based on the new AMD ‘Zen 2’ x86 core built using world-leading 7nm process technology. It is expected to deliver new levels of performance and will be the world’s first PC platform to support PCIe 4.0 connectivity. The new AMD Ryzen processors will offer better gaming, creating and streaming experiences than ever before with a faster and quieter PC.
The live demonstration showed a 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen desktop pre-production processor vs. an Intel Core i9-9900K processor in a real-time rendering demonstration using Maxon Cinebench R15. The AMD Ryzen processor offered comparable performance at approximately 30 per cent lower power. Additionally, Dr Su showed the power of AMD technology working together with a live gaming demonstration of a 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen desktop processor in an AMD socket AM4 platform paired with an AMD Radeon VII graphics processor.
The 3rd Gen Ryzen desktop processor is planned for introduction in mid-2019.
AMD Server Updates
The AMD EPYC datacentre processor had a tremendous first year, winning in the biggest cloud environments, and amassing more than 50 EPYC-based platforms shipping from leading server providers.
Su showed the world’s first 7nm datacentre CPU, codenamed ‘Rome’, based on the ‘Zen 2’ x86 core. Su revealed the real-world power of the next generation of AMD EPYC by demonstrating a step-function increase in datacentre processor performance using the scientific application NAMD, which simulates large bio-molecular systems. The demonstration compared a single pre-production EPYC ‘Rome’ processor to two high-end Intel Xeon Platinum 8180 processors, and the single next-generation EPYC processor delivered approximately 15 per cent higher performance. By using EPYC-based systems, AMD is helping scientists to advance their research and get closer to finding the next big solutions. The AMD EPYC ‘Rome’ processor is on track to start shipping in mid-2019.
AMD Mobile Computing Updates
AMD launched the 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen Mobile processor with Radeo Vega Graphics, delivering the world’s fastest processor for ultrathin laptops. With up to 12 hours of general productivity and 10 hours of video playback battery life, 4K HDR video capability and Microsoft Modern PC features, the 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen Mobile processors deliver the ultimate entertainment experience for the modern laptop buyer.
A record number of AMD Ryzen-based notebooks powered by the 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen Mobile processor with Radeon Vega Graphics are expected to be available in 2019 from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Huawei, Lenovo and Samsung.
