Skip to main content

AMD attempts to defuse controversy around RDNA 3 GPUs and ‘broken’ feature

AMD’s new RDNA 3 graphics cards have run into some controversy post-release, and the company has directly addressed a point of criticism raised by the rumor mill.

Namely that Team Red released Navi 31 with non-functional shader pre-fetch hardware (on A0 silicon – we’ll come back to what that means), a theory put forward by hardware leaker Kepler_L2 on Twitter (among others).

AMD told Tom’s Hardware: “Like previous hardware generations, shader pre-fetching is supported on RDNA 3 as per [gitlab link]. The code in question [highlighted by Kepler_L2] controls an experimental function that was not targeted for inclusion in these products and will not be enabled in this generation of the product.

“This is a common industry practice to include experimental features to enable exploration and tuning for deployment in a future product generation.”

In other words, there’s nothing broken here as the hardware leaker suggested, but the relevant code is for an experimental feature that isn’t supposed to be enabled yet (but will be used down the line with a future generation of Radeon graphics cards).


Analysis: Getting it right first time – but what about the graphics driver?

In short, what AMD is saying is that there’s nothing to see here, move along.

This controversy has also been mired in the suggestion that there’s something wrong with the (purported) A0 silicon used in these initial RDNA 3 boards, with ‘A0’ meaning it’s the initial physical version of the silicon from the fab. A1 would be the next (minor) revision (to correct issues found with the first outing), then A2, and so on (with a switch to B for bigger changes, and then C, etcetera – more versions may appear as time rolls on, and honing or additional fixing is applied).

There are a couple of points to note here. Firstly, that AMD hasn’t confirmed that the RDNA 3 cards use the A0 version (this comes from industry sources and chatter on the grapevine; so we must be careful there). And the second point is that the A0 silicon can be – and is – used by chip makers with finished products, it just means that the silicon works fine and doesn’t need a further re-spin – which is actually an impressive thing (the engineers got it right first time, in other words).

Of course, you could argue that AMD might’ve wanted to get the mentioned shader pre-fetching feature working in RDNA 3, but it failed to make the cut, and so now Team Red is calling it experimental, and some folks have indeed asserted this – but obviously we can’t know what’s happened behind the scenes, and this is pure speculation.

Aside from this controversy, there still remains the issue of apparently wonky clock speeds with big variances on the RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT as highlighted by some other folks on Twitter (and reviewers), as we discussed recently. According to those reports, clocks can vary from something like 2.4GHz to 2.9GHz from game to game.

This could be related to power usage going up, and clocks being lessened as a result, but some observations have been made about similar power draw between these much higher and lower speeds (oddly). It’s difficult to judge what’s going on here, then, at this early stage of the game. AMD has stated that it's investigating the issue with the help of the user who originally discovered it.

And at any rate, broadly speaking, game benchmarks indicate a strong performance in the case of the 7900 XTX compared to its rival, Nvidia’s RTX 4080 – and driver fixes could well smooth out larger clock frequency variations, perhaps. Still, concerns around power usage and boost speeds remain something of a worry, but hopefully, anything wonky is fixable enough on the software front.

Indeed, there’s more than a bit of chatter on the grapevine about how AMD might have rushed out RDNA 3 to meet its long-held end-of-year launch timeframe, in order to prevent Nvidia from dominating holiday sales, and to keep its investors happy. So, it’s entirely possible that polishing the Adrenalin drivers might add a considerable chunk of performance in the near(ish) future.

Releasing a product without the drivers being fully on point is hardly a new situation, of course, but it’s hardly ideal, either; far from it. That said, we suppose the (kind of) good news for RDNA 3 buyers is that their cards could get faster in the next month or two, and maybe even considerably faster. This might lead to a situation where the 7900 XTX really muscles past the RTX 4080, and more ably rivals the 4090 (for rasterization, meaning non-ray tracing performance); but we’re getting ahead of ourselves here.



Source: TechRadar

Popular posts from this blog

The hidden cost of food delivery

Noah Lichtenstein Contributor Share on Twitter Noah Lichtenstein is the founder and managing partner of Crossover , a diversified private technology fund backed by institutional investors, technology execs and professional athletes and entertainers. More posts by this contributor What Studying Students Teaches Us About Great Apps I’ll admit it: When it comes to food, I’m lazy. There are dozens of great dining options within a few blocks of my home, yet I still end up ordering food through delivery apps four or five times per week. With the growing coronavirus pandemic closing restaurants and consumers self-isolating, it is likely we will see a spike in food delivery much like the 20% jump China reported during the peak of its crisis. With the food delivery sector rocketing toward a projected $365 billion by the end of the decade, I’m clearly not the only one turning to delivery apps even before the pandemic hit. Thanks to technology (and VC funding) we can get a ri

Cyber Monday Canada: Last-minute deals for everyone on your list

Best Cyber Monday Canada deals: Smart Home Audio Phones, Tablets & Accessories Wearables Laptops & PC Components Amazon products Gaming Televisions Cameras Lifestyle & Kitchen Toys & Kids Cyber Monday Canada is here, and retailers are rolling out the red carpet for customers who want to shop for everything from tech to kitchenware to games and everything in between. Unlike years past, Cyber Monday Canada deals look a bit different than normal. Instead of retailers trying to pack their stores with as many shoppers as possible, we're seeing tons of online deals that you can take advantage of from the comfort of your home. We've rounded up our favorites below, so feel free to browse through the best of what Canada Cyber Monday has to offer! This list is being updated with new Cyber Monday deals all the time, so check back often. Spotlight deals It's a Switch Nintendo Switch Fortnite Edition bundle $399.95 at Amazon It's a Switch.

Slack’s new integration deal with AWS could also be about tweaking Microsoft

Slack and Amazon announced a big integration late yesterday afternoon. As part of the deal, Slack will use Amazon Chime for its call feature, while reiterating its commitment to use AWS as its preferred cloud provider to run its infrastructure. At the same time, AWS has agreed to use Slack for internal communications. Make no mistake, this is a big deal as the SaaS communications tool increases its ties with AWS, but this agreement could also be about slighting Microsoft and its rival Teams product by making a deal with a cloud rival. In the past Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield has had choice words for Microsoft saying the Redmond technology giant sees his company as an “existential threat.” Whether that’s true or not — Teams is but one piece of a huge technology company — it’s impossible not to look at the deal in this context. Aligning more deeply with AWS sends a message to Microsoft, whose Azure infrastructure services compete with AWS. Butterfield didn’t say that of course

iPhone 13 Pro vs. iPhone 15 Pro Buyer's Guide: 50+ Differences Compared

The iPhone 15 Pro brings over 50 new features and improvements to Apple's high-end smartphones compared to the iPhone 13 Pro, which was released two years prior. This buyer's guide breaks down every major difference you should be aware of between the two generations and helps you to decide whether it's worth upgrading. The ‌iPhone 13‌ Pro debuted in 2021, introducing a brighter display with ProMotion technology for refresh rates up to 120Hz, the A15 Bionic chip, a telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, Macro photography and photographic styles, Cinematic mode for recording videos with shallow depth of field, ProRes video recording, a 1TB storage option, and five hours of additional battery life. The ‌iPhone 13‌ Pro was discontinued upon the announcement of the iPhone 14 Pro in 2022, but it is still possible to get hold of it second-hand. Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two iPhone models is best for you and serves as a way to c