Today AMD re-re-re-released the Dual Fury card now called the Radeon Pro Duo. The interesting part at the moment is the fact that it is not a consumer card but a prosumer one.
So what is it? Once again, it is still a dual Fiji card but it has changed a bit since the last time it was shown. Actually it changed quite a bit, there is now a dual Coolermaster closed-loop water cooling loop, an external radiator, and three rather than two 8-pin PeG links. Take a look at the shots below and note the PLX PCIe switch between the GPUs, quite impressive packaging for a 270mm long card.
The new bare board
Coolermaster did right on this one
On the spec side the Duo runs at ‘Up to 1000MHz’, a number we once again didn’t’ have time to ask questions about because of idiotic release timing. We would guess that this means peak turbo of 1GHz vs the clock of 1050MHz for the FuryX, but it could be different. At this point 17 launches in, we really don’t care anymore. This is mainly enabled by the third 8-pin PeG which allows for the board’s 350W TDP. Normally we would bitch about this draw but since it includes the water cooler, that isn’t a bad top line number.
The specs in full sort-of
Other than that it is just two Fijis plus 2x 4GB HBM stacks on a black PCB. It still looks good but unlike its predecessors it is aimed at a very different market, content creation. AMD is all hot on VR with new acronyms and initiatives every release, we can’t honestly tell you why any of it matters though. This card is aimed at VR creators, not users, hence the prosumer label and the Pro in the Radeon Pro Duo. AMD was up front about this and in a very refreshing change also notified press that there would be no sampling, we consider this to be a good step forward for the company.
So in the end the long trickle of dual Fiji cards is mercifully at an end. It ended with a whimper and not a bang if you are a gamer, but a nice surprise if you make games. The card itself changed significantly over the last 9 months since the first release-like thing, but those changes seem to be for the better. At least it is finally over.S|A
Charlie Demerjian
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