HBM 3D Stacked Memory is up to 9X Faster Than GDDR5 – Coming With AMD R9 390X and R9 380X 20nm

A recent presentation of the AMD and SK Hynix co-developed 3D stacked High Bandwidth Memory standard HBM has made its way to the web. This new leak gives us a very good idea of what to expect from the new technology in terms of performance and market availability.

HBM Memory :

HBM was originally developed in tandem by both SK Hynix and AMD to replace GDDR5 as the new standard for bandwidth hungry processors such as GPUs. GDDR5 performance scaling has slowed down dramatically and grown exponentially more expensive in the last few years. Faster GDDR5 modules and wider memory interfaces were only going to take us so far, a new standard had to replace the aging technology.

[imt558]

Xbone's secret sauce???

[ninjahunter]

Oooh, could this be the creation of good AA that doesnt murder framerate?

[Dasteru]

AA hasn't been murdering framerates for quite a while now. Mid-high end PC GPUs have been providing near free AA since around 2008.

[Volkama]

Nah, good AA is still taxing. Post processing AA is cheap, but also compromises the image quality.

[Dasteru]

I wasn't talking about post processing (FXAA). I was talking about standard MSAA/CSAA. I can run 8x MSAA on any game that i normally get a steady 60fps on, and it only drops about 5fps.

Modern GPUs, atleast from Nvidia, are designed to provide nearly free AA.

[AndrewLB]

Dasteru- Try enabling 8xMSAA while playing Project Cars, heavily modded Skyrim, Crysis 3, or even an older game like The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition. I guarantee you'll see more than 5fps drop. I do and i'm running a GTX 780 ti.

[Dasteru]

It is actually a heavily modded Skyrim that i tested it on before replying back with the amount of frames lost. I am using SMC with all 4k options. That is over 250 texture mods, almost all 4k, full paralax mapping, new meshes, Project ENB, grass fields, a couple dozen ini tweaks including a ugrids of 13. 8x MSAA, 16x AF, etc. I get 60fps with no AA and 54 average with 8x.

I have also tested it on Crysis 2 and 3 and Farcry 3 which also loose between 5-7fps average.

[PCBOX]

Those GPUs have simliarities with XO's architecture. I always knew that MS did something very good. Now and and see

[Volkama]

Normally when I see people type "smh" I vomit in my mouth a bit, but this comment?

smh....

[madjedi]

The similarities are they both have transistors and are both made from silicon, beyond that pretty much nothing.

[VJGenova]

Still getting GTX 970. If these are released early next year and are as good as they claim, I may pick one up with a UHD TV. No need for this much power for 1080p.

[Volkama]

2. Pick up 2 if you want 4k at a good frame rate on modern games. And do your research on the TV, as it seems there are some HDMI 2.0 teething problems being exposed by these cards.

[VJGenova]

It's crazy how many UHD TVs are locked at 24hz at 2160p. I look every 3 months or so. The prices for the ones I want are still a bit too steep though.

[Volkama]

Usually 30hz, but a lot of the 60hz ones are having trouble with 4:4:4 chroma at that refresh. Even the ones that can do it according to spec are a bit hit and miss.

Personally I have a 2013 Samsung f9000 with the 2014 sek-2500 breakout box, so hdmi 2.0 capable. I would sidegrade my way to 2 new cards if I knew I'd get 4k60 full chroma, but it is not conclusive.

4k30 l/r 3D is phenomenal though ;-)