It seems Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) not only wants the central processing unit (CPU) throne but the graphics processing unit (GPU) throne too, as the CPU and GPU company is poised to release it Navi GPU architecture line next year.
Following the success of Ryzen Threadripper CPUs, the next generation of AMD's GPUs called Navi has been announced for an August 2018 launch. Not much has been revealed by AMD regarding Navi regarding specifications. The company only said that it would be utilizing a 7-nanometer (nm) model, which impressive since its previous generation GPU called Vega had a 14-nm architecture.
Of course, the standard generational GPU improvements are also expected from the Navi, such as performance increases and improved performance-per-watt gains, meaning that the Navi could be significantly more efficient than the Vega or Polaris generations of GPUs. Beyond those, the Navi architecture is still in its infancy stage, so PC owners looking to upgrade their systems to Navi may have to wait indefinitely for new announcements from AMD.
Despite AMD making a comeback in the CPU market, placing itself on equal footing against Intel's Skylake processors, it has yet to disturb the success of NVIDIA, its competitor in the GPU market. AMD's previous GPU generations are comparably lacking in power and are in short supply. WCCF Tech also stated that NVIDIA would be releasing GTX 1070 Ti for the holiday season as an answer to AMD's Vega 56 GPU. If AMD does not have any contender for the said Nvidia GPU, its Vega line of GPUs may fall short in the market.
The tech website also suggested that AMD should forgo the refresh of its Vega generation and merely aim straight for an earlier Navi release to have a fighting chance against NVIDIA. This advice was given because Vega is still outmatched by NVIDIA's Pascal generation of GPU, even if both are to be refreshed into a new line of GPUs.
Still, people looking to build a new computer for either gaming or mining will have a long wait ahead of them, as AMD has not announced anything yet regarding a Vega refresh or updates about the Navi generation.
