AMD Is On The VR Offensive With Radeon Pro Duo

A couple of days ago, AMD invites us on a conference to hear their plans for the future of VR Gaming, specifically about the exciting things that they have unveiled at GDC 2016. Since GDC 2016 is now at full swing, and if you missed AMD’s live announcement earlier this week, let us quickly note what AMD just did at the GDC 2016 Capsaicin Event, featuring the Radeon Pro Duo and how are they trying to change the landscape of the Virtual Reality battlefield.

AMD Radeon Pro Duo Unveiled

First off, AMD unveiled the Radeon Pro Duo – which is essentially, a dual AMD Fiji GPU based graphics card slapped in one PCB. Think of it as a Dual R9 Fury X. The card features 16 TFLOPS of compute performance, with 8GB HBM (4+4GB), with 4096-bit bus memory. The card is liquid cooled similar to that of the Fury X with its 120mm radiator, with price to top it off at 1, 500 USD.

It ain’t cheap, and so does VR development. Thus, AMD stated that it is specially made for the VR content development. There’s no mistake though, as this is the fastest Dual GPU based graphics card to date, toppling the R0 295X2 and the Titan Z on the 3DMark Fire Strike’s presets at 1080P, 1440P, and 4K UHD.

Based on the bare PCB layout below, the Radeon Pro Duo features a PLX chip connecting both the HBM equipped Fiji GPUs, with separate power delivery systems tailored specifically to fit within the profile of a water-cooled system. The card appears to feature 3 8-pin power connectors, which in theory could supply the card with 525W of power together with the 75W capable PCI-E slot. AMD stated that the card has a TBP of 350W which is reassuring.

Based on the images, we could see that AMD put a lot of effort into the cooling of this card – with cold plates running along the power delivery system which are connected via a series of pass through tubes. It’s worth noting that the Radeon Pro Duo is cooled by Two separate pumps from Cooler Master.

83% Market Share As of Date

AMD is also happy to announce that they’ve estimated around 83% of market share around the globe when it comes to VR capable systems. That of course includes the Play Station 4, and Xbox One consoles, which are literally powered by AMD. With that said, it’s also easier for AMD to continue their support for VR development via better VR optimized graphics, and technologies that could be otherwise hard to achieve should they gain just a fraction of the market share. To learn more about AMD’s initiative, check out the PR below.

Drivies Leading VR Experiences for Consumers and Developers

Manila, Philippines — March 14, 2016 —AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) announced today at the 2016 Game Developer Conference that the company will underscore its dominance of the global virtual reality systems market. It revealed new advances in hardware and software to further the reach of VR, and unveiled its new GPU certified program that simplifies adoption of VR technology for consumers and content creators.

“AMD continues to be a driving force in virtual reality,” said Raja Koduri, senior vice president and chief architect, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. “We’re bringing the technology to more people around the world through our efforts to expand the VR ecosystem with VR i-Cafés in China, new Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets, and a wide variety of content partners in gaming, entertainment, education, science, medicine, journalism and several other exciting fields.”

AMD is also making VR more easily accessible to consumers and content creators with its GPU certified program featuring the new “Radeon VR Ready Premium” and “Radeon VR Ready Creator” tiers. Its forthcoming Polaris GPUs and award-winning AMD LiquidVR™ technology will simultaneously advance groundbreaking VR-optimized graphics.

Expanding the VR ecosystem

• Leading market share – AMD is powering the overwhelming majority of home entertainment VR systems around the world, with an estimated 83 percent market share.¹ This share is driven in part by AMD technology powering VR-capable game consoles installed in millions of homes globally.
• Powering the premium VR headsets of 2016 – AMD is partnering with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive Pre headset manufacturers to ensure the Radeon™ ecosystem is ready to take advantage of their hugely anticipated launches this year.
• Collaborating to develop new form factors – AMD is working with Sulon Technologies Inc. on the Sulon Q™ headset, the world’s first and only all-in-one, tether-free, “wear and play” headset for virtual reality, augmented reality, and spatial computing. Powered by Radeon™ graphics and leveraging AMD’s LiquidVR™ technology for smooth and responsive AR and VR experiences, the Sulon Q™ headset allows users to effortlessly enhance the real world through augmented reality applications, and seamlessly transitions from the real world to virtual worlds.
• Powering premium VR experiences beyond gaming – AMD is collaborating with leading organizations to illustrate the power of VR outside of gaming, working with companies in healthcare, entertainment, education, media, training and simulation, among others. AMD is already seeing fruits of the efforts in projects including General Electric’s “The Neuro VR Experience” experience simulating brain activity, The Smithsonian Museum’s “First: The Story of Orville and Wilbur” experience, and incredible storytelling in VR through a recently announced collaboration with the Associated Press.

Advancing technology to power premium VR experiences

• Showcasing next-generation VR-optimized GPU hardware – AMD today demonstrated for the first time ever the company’s forthcoming Polaris 10 GPU running Valve’s Aperture Science Robot Repair demo powered by the HTC Vive Pre. The sample GPU features the recently announced Polaris GPU architecture designed for 14nm FinFET, optimized for DirectX® 12 and VR, and boasts significant architectural improvements over previous AMD architectures including HDR monitor support, industry-leading performance-per-watt 2, and AMD’s 4th generation Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture.
• Growing adoption of GPUOpen’s LiquidVR™ technology – AMD LiquidVR™ technology helps address obstacles in content, comfort and compatibility that together take the industry a step closer to true, life-like presence in VR games, applications and experiences. Today AMD LiquidVR™ technology is being used across the VR software stack by headset manufacturers, including Oculus, HTC, game engine developers and content creators.

Simplifying VR adoption for consumers and content creators

AMD will today announce its new GPU certified program for VR, allowing OEMs, system builders, and AIB partners to instantly communicate to consumers which certified Radeon™ products can be used to deliver exceptional VR experiences with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets.

• “Radeon™ VR Ready Premium” solutions for exceptional VR experiences –Certified Radeon™ R9 290-class graphics cards and higher, and systems built using those cards, are now eligible for the “Radeon™ VR Ready Premium” seal.
• “VR-optimized systems like the HP ENVY Phoenix is specifically configured with the quality, performance and computing power to enable amazing virtual experiences,” said Kevin Frost, vice president and general manager, consumer personal systems, HP Inc. “HP is working with AMD to deliver the VR-ready HP ENVY Phoenix tower for a seamless out-of-the-box experience. With the Radeon™ VR Ready Premium program, it will help customers to take the guess work out of selecting the right VR capable graphics.”
• “Radeon™ VR Ready Creator” solutions for VR professionals, experience designers, and developers –The “Radeon™ VR Ready Creator” seal signifies unprecedented performance and industry-leading innovation that empowers VR content creators and experience designers with incredibly powerful and capable development tools. Featuring an upcoming graphics card with AMD’s LiquidVR SDK (software developer kit), the “Radeon™ VR Ready Creator” designation signifies the ultimate performance for both content creation and consumption for VR professionals.

Supporting Resources

• See how AMD is working with the top content creators in VR in this video
• Learn more about AMD LiquidVR™ technology and download the SDK at GPUOpen.com here
• The Sulon Q™ headset
• Read about the Radeon™ VR-Ready Premium and Radeon™ VR-Ready Creator programs here live at 8:30 p.m. EDT (5:30 p.m. PDT)
• Become a fan of AMD onFacebook
• Follow AMD onTwitter
• Learn more aboutRadeon™ graphics
• Learn more aboutGaming with AMD

About AMD

For more than 45 years, AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics, and visualization technologies ― the building blocks for gaming, immersive platforms, and the datacenter. Hundreds of millions of consumers, leading Fortune 500 businesses, and cutting-edge scientific research facilities around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work, and play. AMD employees around the world are focused on building great products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ: AMD)website, blog, Facebook and Twitter pages.

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