Mysterious AMD Vega 12 GPU info leaks out, plus Vega 20 AI features

The codenames for the upcoming Vega 20 and Vega 12 GPUs were mentioned in the latest LLVM and Clang compiler patches. Codenamed GFX906, the Vega 20 will support native AI instructions and the patch information reveals that it will benefit from the 7 nm tech, while the Vega 12 codenamed GFX904 is rumored to be replacing the Polaris series (Radeon RX 580 and co.) later this year.

by Bogdan Solca, 2018/05/07

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Without much pressure from AMD’s gaming GPU offers, Nvidia shifted considerable focus towards the Volta-based products specifically designed for AI and machine learning purposes in late 2017. Now that AMD has finally managed to get its financial problems in order thanks to the record selling Ryzen CPUs, the company can work on combating Nvidia more efficiently.

A few weeks ago, some new tidbits leaked on the upcoming Vega 20, which is rumored to be AMD’s answer to Nvidia’s Volta AI GPUs, and a few days after, the Vega 20 3DMark benchmark leaks presented some solid performance numbers that could easily rival Nvidia’s cards. Meanwhile, the latest LLVM and Clang compiler patches leaked additional info, including the codenames of Vega 20 and a mysterious Vega 12 GPU.

According to the leaked compiler info, Vega 20 is referred to as GFX906 and the unannounced Vega 12 is known as the GFX904. Vega 20 will support double precision compute instructions such as fdot2, sdot2, udot2, sdot4, udot4, sdot8 and udot8. Furthermore, the compiler patch mentions that AMD’s AI GPU is a 7 nm one, so this almost confirms that the Vega 20 is the GPU referred to when AMD CEO Lisa Su said the company is testing 7 nm Vega (aka Radeon Instinct) variants.

As for the Vega 12, everything is pretty much shrouded in mystery. It is not clear if the GPU will itself be manufactured using the 7 nm process, but it is rumored that it could be replacing the Polaris series (Radeon RX 570/580 series). It could as well be the Navi series that are expected to be released in late 2018.