Over the past week several bits of news emerged regarding a new upcoming GPU from AMD – the R9 295X. Rumours suggested that it would be based on a fully utilised Hawaii GPU die because apparently the current R9 290X does not use all the cores available to it. This rumour gained traction when professional UK overclocker 8Pack stated that the R9 290X was not a fully utilised chip .8Pack later redacted his online comments and now new evidence suggests the R9 295X does not exist – all the speculation has been a lot of hot air. Of course the removal of the comments by 8Pack could mean that he was wrong and has withdrawn his comments to reflect that, but it could also mean there are issues with his NDA that required him to take the post down – so that swings either way: it could still exist or it may not.
A second piece of evidence suggesting it doesn’t exist is the recently release AMD FirePro W9100 graphics card. If AMD’s Hawaii GPU had 48 compute units, compared to the current 44 on the R9 290X, then surely AMD’s flagship FirePro graphics card would be the GPU that gets 48 CUs? For those of you who don’t know AMD released the FirePro W9100 with 44 compute units, so there’s another mark against the R9 295X’s existence. AMD is being very quiet about all of this which is because AMD is in its Quiet Period as mandated by the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission. This requires AMD to not make announcements that could change normal investor behaviour on AMD stocks, AMD discussing the existence of a new product, irrelevant of whether they deny or confirm it, would change investor behaviour. Therefore it seems unlikely we’ll here any confirmation in the near future from AMD, but expect the rumours and discussions to keep rolling out.
Source: BlackHoleTec, Via: WCCFTech
Images courtesy of AMD
