Incoming: AMD 9970M

Be sure to keep your eyes open in October. That is the month when AMD will be unleashing their new GPU architecture in to the market.
They chose this month because that is when Battlefield 4 is released which is an AMD evolved title.

Volcanic Island is the codename of the new series of graphic card and is said to be much better than the old GCN. Nobody knows yet if it is built on existing 28nm or the next step, 20nm, but they are sure to put a damper on the party Nvidia is having now with being virtually alone with the high end.

AMD chose to ditch 8000 family and rather start naming them in the 9000 series instead to avoid confusion with the 8000 cards that was just rebadges for OEM partners.

Just recently an invitation from AMD to the industry popped up. With that we learned that the new mobile Graphic cards is part of the "Crystal family"



What is even more interesting, is that the french website of Clevo is listing 9970M on the newest models.

http://www.clevo.fr/shop/catalogsearch/result/index/?SID=nkqikrt5emadli3niscsp2gaa2&cartevideo=206&q=ubuntu

Something is coming soon

 

, and I just ordered a Clevo P370SM with GTX780M .

 

Well we dont know how powerful the 9970M will be. If its built on 20nm then it will be both powerful and pretty cool. If its still built on 28nm, it all depends on how much better this architecture is against GCN (7970M)

 

I wonder how much it will outperform the nvidia counterparts if at all and if it will force nvidia to put out a card with bumped clocks to compete.

 

I have heard that AMD has been ahead in their 20nm process optimization and the new desktop parts would be made available by March with an announcement in October/November. There was also some news that no mobile graphics would be released this year ceding the market to nVidia in the process. And nVidia is going to delay their Maxwell products by at least 6 months after AMD's cards. This is completely out of the blue.

AMD Jaguar Based Beema And Mullins APUs Confirmed For 2014 - Feature HSA Enhancements
AMD Volcanic Islands "Hawaii" GPU Confirmed Through AMD's Training Course Website
AMD Crystal Series Is Next-Generation Mobility GPU Lineup - Feature Volcanic Islands Architecture
AMD Tahiti Graphic Cards To Last Till Mid-2014 - Not Going To Be Discontinued Prior To Next-Gen Launch
Report: AMD's Volcanic Islands GPUs Launching in October Without HD 8000 Branding
AMD to erupt Volcanic Islands GPUs as early as Q4 2013? | PC Perspective
http://semiaccurate.com/2013/05/20/nvidias-volta-gpu-raises-serious-red-flags-for-the-company/

 

I guess "soon" does means 3-4 months away nowadays

It would be interesting to see AMD come out of the gate with a flagship product for their 20nm chips, but that would be breaking precedent with the past couple die shrinks where the low-mid range came first i.e. where the real volumes are.

 

Well this is crazy if true.
Something is definitely happening as 8970m is non-apparent.

And if it is built on 20nm fab then this will be da bomb!
BF4 will be huge and for amd to release new card would make sense.
Hope it all comes true.

 

Could this be AMD's version of an "efficient" family of GPU's? It doesn't make sense to me that they would release the 8970M and a few months later make their own GPU obsolete by releasing a better product.

It's definitely something I am curious about. I literally ordered an Alienware 17 a few hours ago, so, hopefully the 780M can hold its ground.

 

Rebrands cost nothing to make really so releasing a product soon after is not that odd.

 

I dunno if it'll be 20nm. if it is, I think it'll play out like the 28nm launch, where AMD releases first at a high price and Nvidia follows with a slightly faster card a couple months later.

 

The 8970M scores about 7,900 in 3DMark 11. That's not really a rebrand of the 7970M. If AMD releases an even better card, NVIDIA may do the same.

This is interesting... Is AMD trying to get a jump on NVIDIA? Hope that doesn't bite them in the butt down the road.

Edit: I found that number on GPUBoss.

 

"Rebrand" usually refers to a GPU being given a different model number (usually) by increasing its core and/or memory clocks in factory. The 8970m is a 7970m with higher clocks.

 

But what can nVidia really release? 780m is pretty much the limit of mobile Kepler unless they want to significantly increase TDP. If AMD does release this, they may be king of the heap until next July/August when nVidia Maxwell comes out. Good for AMD. Good for all of us! Competition is good.

 

I've always thought the performance was part of that, lol. Oops...

Maybe the 9970M will be a rebrand of the rebrand of the brand.

 

That number for the 8970m is not correct, svl7 has a real one and it does marginal over the 7970m proving that it is a rebrand.

 

I agree. If AMD does release this, they'd have to go over another architecture change when releasing the next line up because that would be competing with Maxwell which should be pretty good if designed well. Technological progress!

 

Keep in mind that if AMD chooses to announce their 20nm cards in October, it will likely be the desktop cards. The mobile cards coming several months after.

 

any word on whether there will be a 9870m or some sort of successor to the 8870m?

The 8870m was interesting because it seemed to be AMD's answer to the 765m, as it was available in a few slim form factor laptops.

 

They may call themselves "official Clevo distributors" but Clevo apparently didn't want anything to do with them: Important Notice: Unauthorized websites

Still, nice to finally get a whiff of fresh rumours

 

Seems like everything is amd branded. Seems they are taking over the entire gaming market from NVIDIA.. Interesting..

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

 

If the next mobile offerings from AMD are on 20nm architecture what exactly can we expect? Obviously more performance but lower power consumption and heat?
I'm hoping I can run the 9970m in my M15x without undervolting and it run at a cool 60 degrees

 

Yeah that french Clevo site is a joke, they charge waaaay to much, they are even more expensive than Alienware in most cases, anyways in France if you want a Clevo you have to order from Germany or UK otherwise you are getting ripped off...

 

MSI GX70 gaming laptop - TressFX demo with Tomb Raider - YouTube

Tomb Raider on HD8970M + benchmarks.

 

I do not mean to be rude or anything but 9970m was being discussed here not 8970m

 

Oops, my bad. Still, I think it was pretty interesting to share.

 

I would venture to say that IF this info is indeed true, then it is a Marketing move that AMD desperately needs right now to help save them. They made a lot of splash in the Spring with their recent Executive hires, and this news is needed to get them some additional and even better publicity in the GPU gaming world, due to their continued bad press about their inability to fix Enduro that has hurt them considerably.

AMD needs a boost right now, and this should help somewhat.

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The only reason AMD is still getting bad press is because forum threads keep talking about Enduro problems long after they are fixed.

 

The 7970M fiasco really shook my confidence with AMD; the 9970 better have sufficient driver support.

 

Enduro has been "fixed"?
Since when?
No, it hasn't. It's still a problem, as Jared Walton on Anandtech showed that it was in June in the tests he ran, particularly with DX9.
It's been slightly improved since last October when the first patches came out, but it is still not completely fixed as of yet in it's entirety after 16 months of being out.
The hope for me and others that are still having Enduro problems, is that the SUPPOSED July 31st driver release might have some fixes to it that could help with the single GPU configurations, other than the reported CF fixes that were talked about throughout the Spring.
AMD is A LOT riding of these new drivers coming out, because they have lost a great deal of faith and confidence from those of us who have
waited patiently too long for this Enduro nonsense to be fixed completely via their slow driver releases and support.
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Sort of turned me off completely from mobile AMD GPU's - I'll use their CPU's and GPU's for budget builds in desktops for friends, but personally I'm completely gone to Nvidia for my own use.

 

^ agreed. 10chars

 

The only reason I am an AMD 7970/8970 card because of its multipurpose use(Open CL rendering and gaming) compared to higher end Nvidia's

I hope 9790 pleases me.

 

Good for you! Enjoy your 760M GTX.

The rest of us look forward to 9970M's release :thumbsup:

Forgot to mention my 4 year old system with the 7970M trounces your GPU with no issues since I upgraded over a year ago LOL don't troll please!

 

Lol! Our 4 year old system is close to or even beats the new AW 17 with gtx 770m in 3dmark11! Scored P6400!

I'd love to see AMD come in at a very aggressive price point for 9970M and possibly a 9950M.

 

Bring on the 20nm, daddy's had an upgrade itch that this summer didn't scratch! I promise I'll wait for the green 20nm before making a decision this time, but someone make me a good game please.

 

Let's hope it won't be delayed by ~6 months like the 7000M series was (I think? Don't exactly remember). Pretty excited to see its release.

 

The 7000 series was delayed 6 months? Lol, I had no idea. That makes the 680m's lateness to the market even more pathetic for nVidia.

 

There were some problems with Clevo's 7970ms. Something to do with the voltage regulator on the board (not sure if this part is accurate though). The Dell 7970ms were available on schedule as were other 7000 series GPUs.

The 680m was not late either. The 7970m released late May, the 680m late June.

 

680m was announced in june, not released. At least they did try to release it to some vendors in June. It was more widespread available in September. It felt like forever between 7970m and 680m because users could get a hold of the 7970m GPUs since april, to which point nvidia didn't even have proper news for a 680m except a weaker GPU announced.

It all changed in June though

And yeah there were some issues with clevo 7970m but the real issue was the whole Enduro fisco

 

The anticipated release was Q2 2013. It happened right at the end of Q2, so, it technically wasn't late. It just happened at the latest possible time.

 

To be blunt, I don't see much of a reason to get the 9970m from AMD either, regardless if it is a GCN II or not, because the issues with Enduro on that will still be a problem on Clevo machines, as they have been on the 7970m.
As Jared showed, the only way to go with any AMD GPU is with Alienware, but with what Dell charges extra for it, it's just not worth it.

The best advice, is to just completely steer clear of any AMD offering- 7970m or 9970m GPU in the near and distance future until Clevo offers an "OFF SWITCH" for Enduro.

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So you know enduro how works in conjunction with the 9970m, and how it's going to be a flop. teach me your ways...

tbh, the 7970m isn't that bad now, though it did take them time to get their stuff together.

But the thing is, im doubtful that amd will make the same mistake twice, there is no reasoning to why they would?
heck, i woudln't doubt that they mainly focused on the hardware and drivers supporting the muxless design, rather the power the card can pump out(8970m).

 

Amd likely to adopt new naming scheme for HD-9000 series. R9-XXXX

Amd likely to adopt new naming scheme for HD-9000 series - R9-XXXX

 

If you read the post you have quoted more carefully, you will see the use of past tense. That problem exists no more. If you have the money to purchase nvidia's flagship AND think that your extra ~$200-300 is well spent, please go ahead with that upgrade. However, I would suggest you be more up to date before discrediting something (or some one).

 

To be blunt, AMD offered a superior and cheaper product to any of nVidia's offerings a full 5 months before nVidia started really shipping their flagship on the market.
That product was crippled in certain machines, due both to the fault of AMD for inferior driver products AND the manufacturers (Clevo) for their retarded design. People hoping for the best or buying with their lower brains suffered unless they were lucky to buy certain machines. Eventually the vast majority of those issues were solved. In fact, compared to the initial release of the 7970m, driver improvements over the following year increased overall performance of the cards for an average of over 20% at the same clocks.

Sure, one can make the argument that "herpderp those drivers should have been done right from the start" but here's the rub: They really shouldn't have.

That was the card, those were the drivers, that was the price, that was the offer. Any subsequent improvements have been a bonus over the product purchased. Sure, these improvements have been done for competitive reasons, but for the consumer, that is something good.

And I'll be damned if I ever swallow the "nvidia drivers are superior" bull. I've used GeForce MX-440, GeForce FX5200, GeForce FX5600, the 6600 Ultra, the GTX-8800 Ultra, the GT-9800, the GT-220, the GTX-460, the GTX-285M, both solo and SLI, the GTX 460m, the GT-540m, the GTX-480m and the GTX-660m. The drivers always sucked. I've used 17 laptops out of which around 7 were nVidia-equipped. The drivers always sucked. A new driver would break what worked in previous drivers, and a new one would fix it sacrificing other stuff. I'd have to download specific and old beta drivers just to run one game. That would switch around with new games, new cards, new drivers and new machines. It was HELL.

For me, the 7970m has been PURE MANA. Dirt cheap (cheaper than the 7870 desktop card second-hand in my country), extremely stable, very powerful, low power consumption, low heat, when compared to any other high-performance card I'd used before (285M, 4870m, 480m).

I've also used 7970m across the following machines: MSI GX660R (in a rebranded version - no problems), Clevo P150EM (no problems), Alienware m17x-R2 (no problems for the card currently in the machine - waiting for a second card tomorrow).

By this time tomorrow I will have paid a grand total of 550 EUR for a pair of 7970m's crossfired.
Bring me a competitive offer from nVidia, I dare you.

The real advice is to NEVER BUY A PRODUCT THAT IS KNOWN FAULTY IN CERTAIN CONFIGS. How hard can it be? Due diligence.

I have no mercy for anyone not having done their due diligence and then whining and spouting bull.

I also can invoke the mystical "nVidia cards are trash, nobody should buy them because I used a couple of cards and they died on me". In fact, I'm a fervent AMD supporter for exactly that reason, but even then, i know that no two cards are the same, no two generations are the same, no two machines are the same.

Now, were I to upgrade to a more powerful solution (supposing by some miracle I could get two 780m's to SLI in the m17x-r2), I would effectively pay 1300 euro for a maximum of 30% performance upgrade, minus the price I'd be able to sell my cards at. So I'd probably have to shell around 700-800 eur for a 30% performance upgrade over my 550 EUR cards. Hahahahaha not gonna happen.

Yes I mad.

You do your own due diligence and then you buy. If Maxwell is all it's hyped up to be (and it might), and if it will sell at a reasonably competitive price (and it most likely won't) then I'll buy it (we'll see). No fanboy-ism about it. In fact any fanboy one way or the other is begging to get screwed over, because it's all about COMPETITION. If the two companies can compete, they'll improve, the customer will be happy. If one of them can't compete, they'll leave the market, and we'll be left with a monopoly of higher prices and lower performance.

May the best company win... until next gen.

 

My my first docrock with his crock of nonsense and now this guy!! ROFLMAO

He can't read carefully because he is a troll!

His post is laughable especially when he says "my advice is to steer clear of any future AMD card until they offer Clevo enduro off switch"

Let me guess. He owned a 7970M clevo machine before the enduro hotfix, had no patience and moved on. Spent a whole new wad of cash on a new laptop/card and now wants to dish the dirt on AMD.

One word: PATHETIC, amusing as you are for us, please move on. This thread is for 9970M speculation only.

 

LOL.
Enduro STILL is a current problem on Clevo machines. That's not an opinion. It's a fact, if you care to do your research before jumping to unwarranted conclusions as you have done here.
If you care to look at recent tests done by Jared through Anandtech, you will see that Enduro still HAS (not had) issues with it on Clevo-based machines, but not with Alienware. Enduro still has NOT been fixed. The numbers and results speak for themselves and are glaring.
Since Enduro is AMD's present and future, it won't be going away, and will also be present in their 9970m offering as well.
To believe that it somehow won't be a problem in the near future with Clevo machines is just naive.
AMD has tried to tweak or game here or there to "fix" the problem, but it hasn't worked. They need a global solution to the problem, instead of shooting for individual titles, and even then that hasn't worked as you can see from the test results.
If you bother to look at the latest test results done using Alienware machines- one with Enduro on, and the other off, you can see a HUGE disparity between the two on quite a few games tested. On AMD's own titles, the FPS number differences were staggering- especially with Sleeping Dogs and Bioshock Infinite. At lower resolution testing, Sleeping Dogs was shown to be almost as much as 50 FPS faster with Enduro OFF as opposed to Enduro ON with the AW machine. GRID 2 was almost 35 FPS faster.
That's huge and indicative right there.
Some games were closer, but results speak for themselves as to still how much Enduro plays a negative role in limiting FPS scores in all games tested at lower resolutions under Enthusiast level. In all but one game tested, having Enduro OFF consistently was better in gaming than having Enduro ON.
Same machines, but with in many cases, large and disparate results merely due to Enduro being on or off.

If the AMD fanboy wants to continue to deal with them and their slow and lousy driver support, along with Enduro, then the only option that remains is to get a Laptop that comes from Alienware, and not Clevo.
At present, without an off-switch built within the Clevo-based machine, Enduro is going to continue to be a problem- especially at lower resolutions. Until that happens- if ever, then the only other option for those of us with AMD GPU machines, is to ditch AMD in the future, and get Nvidia instead.
Must less hassle that way, and far better overall gaming performance, faster and better driver support, and better battery life as well.

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Nice try, but you are wrong once again AMD Fanboy.
The only pathetic TROLL here is YOU.

I own BOTH AMD and Nvidia machines, so I have a much better perspective on this than probably you do.
Yes, this thread is about the 9970m, but since the topic was brought and broached in relation to Enduro, the topic is just as
relevant and important to the buying decision of the 9970m as it is with the 7970m WHICH I CURRENTLY OWN, btw.
Enduro STILL is a problem, whether you teenage AMD fanboys care to admit or not.
The "hotfix" as you use so flippantly, did NOT solve the problem, if you had bothered to do your research into this issue, before
you jumped to silly and unwarranted conclusions. It helped a little, but the problems with Enduro STILL remain today.
Since you FAIL to have any kind of reading comprehension, I will make another suggestion for you- learn to read and do your research, if you can...


Additionally, since this deals with Clevo-based machines, it IS an important topic, as it relates to the choice that people will have to make
now if they want to continue to deal with AMD's long-term issues with poor and SLOW driver support AND now Enduro.
The ONLY way around 1/2 the problem with AMD's issues, is to get an Alienware, wherein the Enduro problems can be taken care of.

Even if the 9970m is that much faster than the 7970m, it STILL is going to have the same problematic issues in 2014 as the 7970m has had for close to 18 months now, not to mention poor driver support.

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All this junk and yet you do not link the actual thread. "Jared Anandtech Enduro" on Google came up with nothing. I read two Enduro reviews on Anandtech post fix and they both suggested that Enduro had made massive improvements and the Clevo machines worked just fine. If you have "advice" you can go to the WNBSIB sub section and advice against AMD GPUs wherever you can. No one cares about your advice here and you aren't going to make your case if you are going to come back with a huge dump of lame TLDR posts. You aren't important enough for people to read two 200+ word posts and then comment. You want to know how to make a good point? Post credible articles.

 

I don`t want to be a part of this discussion since there seems to a pretty bad vibe here.

The fact is that Enduro have actually mostly been fixed by all the driver optimzations AMD brought out. The only problem that remains is fixing DX9 games, but everything else is working great.

As for Enduro, Anandtech just recently tested Alienware M17x R4 with 7970M and tested with Enduro and without Enduro. Out of 7 games, Enduro gave 5% less FPS than running without. I`m sure Optimus is no better than that.


And to just answer future questions: No that 780M score is not real. It is from their GT70 review where they had huge CPU throttling due to a bad paste job.