AMD puts out a 32GB GPU called the S9170

Compute needs memory and DP, this has both

AMD Radeon Logo 2013AMD today is putting out a server oriented GPU called the S9170 with 32GB of GDDR5. This level of memory would be slightly overkill for 8K gaming but it is only closer to adequate for some HPC tasks.

On the spec side we can’t say much because the press release we have on it was basically info free. We can say the S9170 has a 512b GDDR5 interface and sports 320GBps of bandwidth, both strongly suggesting it is based on Hawaii or its Caribbean Islands equivalent called Granada. If this is true the claimed 5.24TFLOPS of SP compute suggests a clock hovering around the 930MHz mark, down from 1050MHz in Grenada. DP is half rate on this one or a claimed 2.62 TFLOPS, a number that easily obliterates anything else on the market from AMD or Nvidia.

One reason for the clock drop is power, 32GB of GDDR5 is going to suck a lot of energy. Since the S9170 has a 275W TDP, the same as a 1050MHz consumer Granada, that gives you an idea of the tradeoffs on clock vs GPU energy vs GDDR5 draw. In short the S9170 is nothing radical, just about what you would expect it to be. On the record front AMD now holds the crown for the largest GPU memory space on a single or dual card, the fastest DP performance on a single or dual card, and the only GPU named after the island of Granada. That last one isn’t all that important to the HPC set but we would be remiss if we didn’t mention it.

We can’t say how much it costs, how the memory is arranged, or other technical details yet, but we hope to bring those, and a picture, to you soon. More when we get it.S|A

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Charlie Demerjian

Roving engine of chaos and snide remarks at SemiAccurate
Charlie Demerjian is the founder of Stone Arch Networking Services and SemiAccurate.com. SemiAccurate.com is a technology news site; addressing hardware design, software selection, customization, securing and maintenance, with over one million views per month. He is a technologist and analyst specializing in semiconductors, system and network architecture. As head writer of SemiAccurate.com, he regularly advises writers, analysts, and industry executives on technical matters and long lead industry trends. Charlie is also available through Guidepoint and Mosaic. FullyAccurate