AMD Launches the World’s Fastest Graphics Card for Machine Learning Development and Advanced Visualization Workloads, Radeon Vega Frontier Edition, Available Now

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Radeon Vega Frontier Edition fuels pioneers with the power to pursue new frontiers in AI, advanced game design and photorealistic visualization

SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 27, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) today unleashed the first product based on its highly anticipated “Vega” graphics processing unit (GPU) architecture: Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition. Radeon Vega Frontier Edition is the world’s first graphics card designed to empower the next generation of data scientists, game designers and visualization professionals, with up to 172 percent faster rendering performance than the comparable competitor card1. Through its disruptive High Bandwidth Cache Controller, the cornerstone of the world’s most advanced GPU memory architecture – HBM2 – Radeon Vega Frontier Edition expands the capacity of traditional GPU memory to 256TB, allowing users to tackle massive datasets with ease, and scored up to 33 percent faster than the competition in the DeepBench benchmark that measures the performance of basic operations involved in training deep neural networks2.

“We’re dedicating Radeon Vega Frontier Edition to all the visionaries and trailblazers who embrace new technologies to propel their industries forward to help solve mankind’s greatest problems,” said Ogi Brkic, senior director and general manager, Radeon Pro business, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. “With this powerful solution, we’ve brought the full weight of our new ‘Vega’ GPU architecture to bear, offering unmatched3 performance in the most demanding design, rendering, and machine intelligence workloads so that the world’s top creators, data scientists and game developers can reach new frontiers in their fields.”

Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Board Design

“AMD did a stunning job on the industrial design of the Radeon Vega Frontier Edition. The blue-anodized brushed aluminum shroud and lit Radeon inlays are downright elegant,” said Kelt Reeves, president of Falcon Northwest. “The high-airflow I/O bracket and vented anodized backplate are a beautifully executed example of how form can follow function and still make for a beautiful product.”

Unmatched2 Performance and TCO in Machine Learning Applications

Together with AMD’s open-source, fully scalable ROCm software platform, Radeon Vega Frontier Edition paves the way for pioneers to continue pushing boundaries in fields like artificial intelligence (AI). Developers can now use the power of the “Vega” architecture for machine learning algorithm development on the Radeon Vega Frontier Edition faster than with any other GPU on the market2, before deploying it out to massive servers equipped with Radeon Instinct accelerators. This powerful new solution also delivers a disruptive performance per dollar equation, solidifying AMD’s leadership in compute total cost of ownership (TCO).

Advanced Photorealistic Rendering Performance

Radeon Vega Frontier Edition delivers the horsepower required for design and manufacturing firms to drive increasingly large and complex models and to deploy real-time visualization and physically-based rendering. The Radeon Vega Frontier Edition’s revolutionary memory engine also allows professionals to achieve photorealistic detail in computer-generated imagery. A visualization powerhouse, the Radeon Vega Frontier Edition GPU offers exceptional multi-GPU scaling, with 91 percent faster rendering using two Radeon Vega Frontier Edition GPUs4.

Accelerating Game Design and Immersive Workflows

The Radeon Vega Frontier Edition graphics card simplifies and accelerates game creation by providing a single GPU that is optimized for every stage of a game developer’s workflow. This includes everything from asset production to playtesting and performance optimization.  With the Radeon Pro Settings user interface, users can seamlessly switch between “Radeon Pro Mode” and “Gaming Mode” to alternate between development on animation applications like Autodesk® Maya and performance optimizations with free, open source tools available through AMD’s GPUOpen initiative.

The compute power in Radeon Vega Frontier Edition and its support for an open software ecosystem also give a new breed of developers and filmmakers the ability to break new ground in virtual reality (VR) and 360-degree video content. AMD’s fastest Radeon VR Ready Creator graphics card ever, Radeon Vega Frontier Edition achieves the maximum possible score in the SteamVR benchmark, up to 21 percent higher than the multi-GPU Radeon™ Pro Duo solution5. Combined with Radeon™ Loom, AMD’s revolutionary 360-degree video stitching technology, creators can stitch high-resolution video in real time.

Radeon Vega Frontier Edition Availability

Radeon Vega Frontier Edition graphics cards are available from etailers in select regions today with an SEP of $999 USD for the air-cooled edition. The water-cooled edition is expected to launch in Q3 with an SEP of $1499.

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About AMD
For more than 45 years AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics, and visualization technologies ― the building blocks for gaming, immersive platforms, and the datacenter. Hundreds of millions of consumers, leading Fortune 500 businesses, and cutting-edge scientific research facilities around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work, and play. AMD employees around the world are focused on building great products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) website, blog, Facebook and Twitter pages.

AMD, the AMD Arrow, Radeon, Radeon Instinct, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other product names used in this publication are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective companies.

This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) including the features, functionality, availability, timing and expected benefits of Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition products, which are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are commonly identified by words such as "would," "intends," "believes," "expects," "may," "will," "should," "seeks," "intends," "plans," "pro forma," "estimates," "anticipates," or the negative of these words and phrases, other variations of these words and phrases or comparable terminology. Investors are cautioned that the forward-looking statements in this document are based on current beliefs, assumptions and expectations, speak only as of the date of this document and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. Such statements are subject to certain known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond AMD's control, that could cause actual results and other future events to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. Material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, without limitation, the following: Intel Corporation’s dominance of the microprocessor market and its aggressive business practices may limit AMD’s ability to compete effectively; AMD has a wafer supply agreement with GF with obligations to purchase all of its microprocessor and APU product requirements, and a certain portion of its GPU product requirements, from GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc. (GF) with limited exceptions. If GF is not able to satisfy AMD’s manufacturing requirements, its business could be adversely impacted; AMD relies on third parties to manufacture its products, and if they are unable to do so on a timely basis in sufficient quantities and using competitive technologies, AMD’s business could be materially adversely affected; failure to achieve expected manufacturing yields for AMD’s products could negatively impact its financial results; the success of AMD’s business is dependent upon its ability to introduce products on a timely basis with features and performance levels that provide value to its customers while supporting and coinciding with significant industry transitions; if AMD cannot generate sufficient revenue and operating cash flow or obtain external financing, it may face a cash shortfall and be unable to make all of its planned investments in research and development or other strategic investments; the loss of a significant customer may have a material adverse effect on AMD; AMD’s receipt of revenue from its semi-custom SoC products is dependent upon its technology being designed into third-party products and the success of those products; global economic uncertainty may adversely impact AMD’s business and operating results; the markets in which AMD’s products are sold are highly competitive; AMD may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service its debt obligations or meet its working capital requirements; AMD has a large amount of indebtedness which could adversely affect its financial position and prevent it from implementing its strategy or fulfilling its contractual obligations; the agreements governing AMD’s notes and the Secured Revolving Line of Credit impose restrictions on AMD that may adversely affect its ability to operate its business; AMD's issuance to West Coast Hitech L.P. (WCH) of warrants to purchase 75 million shares of its common stock, if and when exercised, will dilute the ownership interests of its existing stockholders, and the conversion of the 2.125% Convertible Senior Notes due 2026 may dilute the ownership interest of its existing stockholders, or may otherwise depress the price of its common stock; uncertainties involving the ordering and shipment of AMD’s products could materially adversely affect it; the demand for AMD’s products depends in part on the market conditions in the industries into which they are sold. Fluctuations in demand for AMD’s products or a market decline in any of these industries could have a material adverse effect on its results of operations; AMD’s ability to design and introduce new products in a timely manner is dependent upon third-party intellectual property; AMD depends on third-party companies for the design, manufacture and supply of motherboards, software and other computer platform components to support its business; if AMD loses Microsoft Corporation’s support for its products or other software vendors do not design and develop software to run on AMD’s products, its ability to sell its products could be materially adversely affected; and AMD’s reliance on third-party distributors and AIB partners subjects it to certain risks.  Investors are urged to review in detail the risks and uncertainties in AMD's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to AMD's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 1, 2017.

1 Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition delivers up to 172% faster performance in Maya 2017 GPGPU tests than NVIDIA GeForce Titan Xp. Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of May 12th, 2017 on a test system comprising of Intel E5-1650 v3 @ 3.50 GHz, 16GB DDR4 physical memory, Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit, Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition / NVIDIA GeForce Titan Xp, AMD graphics driver 17.20/NVIDIA graphics driver 382.05 and Samsung 850 PRO 512G SSD.
Benchmark Application: AMD Internal Benchmark for Autodesk Maya 2017. Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition score: 10.38. NVIDIA GeForce Titan Xpscore: 3.81. Performance Differential: (10.38-3.81)/3.81 = ~172.44% faster performance on Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. RPVG-008.

2 Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of May 15th 2017 with the Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition graphics card, Intel® Xeon E5 2640v4 2.4Ghz 10C/20T, Dual Socket, 32GB per socket, 64GB Total, Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, ROCm 1.5, and OpenCL™ 1.2.  The Nvidia Tesla P100, was tested on a system comprising of Intel® Xeon E5 2640v4 2.4Ghz 10C/20T, Dual Socket, 32GB per socket, 64GB Total, Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with CuDNN 5.1, Driver 375.39 and Cuda version 8.0.61. When using the DeepBench Benchmark, Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition completed in 88.7 ms and the Nvidia Tesla P100 completed in 133.1 ms. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. VG-9.

3 Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of May 12th, 2017 on a test system comprising of Intel E5-1650 v3 @ 3.50 GHz, 16GB DDR4 physical memory, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, Radeon™ RX Vega Frontier Edition / NVIDIA Geforce TitanXp, AMD graphics driver 17.20/NVIDIA graphics driver 382.05 and LITEON 512GB SSD.
Benchmark Application: SPECViewperf 12.1 catia-04 viewset, Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition score: 135.78 and NVIDIA GeForce Titan Xp score: 107.29 for  ~26.55% faster performance on Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition;
Benchmark Application: SPECViewperf 12.1 creo-01 viewset, Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition score: 83.94 and NVIDIA GeForce Titan Xp score: 65.20 for ~28.74% faster performance on Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition;
Benchmark Application: SPECViewperf 12.1 sw-03 viewset, Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition score: 114.88 and NVIDIA GeForce Titan Xp score: 67.75 for  ~69.56% faster performance on Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition.
Benchmark Application: SPECapc Siemens NX  10, Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition score: 4.08 and NVIDIA GeForce Titan Xp score: 2.93 for ~39.25% faster performance on Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition.
Benchmark Application: Cinebench, Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition FPS: 183.28 and NVIDIA GeForce Titan Xp FPS: 169.72 for ~7.99% faster performance on Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition. Scores are estimates based on AMD internal lab measurements/modelling and may vary. SPEC® and the benchmarks named SPECviewperf® and SPECapc℠ are registered trademarks or service marks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. For more information about SPECviewperf or SPECapc, see www.spec.org. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. RVFE-001.
Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of May 15th 2017 with the Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition graphics card, Intel® Xeon E5 2640v4 2.4Ghz 10C/20T, Dual Socket, 32GB per socket, 64GB Total, Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, ROCm 1.5, and OpenCL™ 1.2.  The Nvidia Tesla P100, was tested on a system comprising of Intel® Xeon E5 2640v4 2.4Ghz 10C/20T, Dual Socket, 32GB per socket, 64GB Total, Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with CuDNN 5.1, Driver 375.39 and Cuda version 8.0.61. When using the DeepBench Benchmark, Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition completed in 88.7 ms and the Nvidia Tesla P100 completed in 133.1 ms. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. VG-9.

4 2x Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition is up to 91% faster rendering than 1x Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition when using Maya with the Radeon™ ProRender plug-in. Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of May 26th, 2017 on a test system comprising of Ryzen™ 7 1800X @3.60 GHz, 32GB DDR4 physical memory, Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit, Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition, AMD graphics driver 17.20 and Samsung 850 PRO 512GB SSD.
Benchmark Application: Maya Radeon ProRender plug-in GPU rendering option. Measurement: Render time for the Helmet scene with 8x AA, HD720 output and 100 pass limit. 2 x Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition render time (seconds): 135. Single Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition render time (seconds): 258. Performance differential: (258-135)/135 = ~91.11% faster rendering on 2 x Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition. Scores are estimates based on AMD internal lab measurements/modelling and may vary. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. RPSW-002.

5 Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of May 24th, 2017 on a test system comprising of Intel E5-1650 v3 @ 3.50 GHz, 16GB DDR4 physical memory, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition/Radeon™ Pro Duo (Polaris)/ Radeon™ Pro WX 7100, AMD graphics driver 17.20 and LITEON 512GB SSD.
Benchmark Application: SteamVRPerformance Test/VRMark. Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition SteamVRPerformance Test Score: 11. Radeon™ Pro Duo (Polaris) SteamVRPerformance Test Score: 9.1. Radeon™ Pro WX 7100 SteamVRPerformance Test Score: 6.4. Radeon™ Vega Frontier Edition VRMark–Orange Room Score: 8157. Radeon™ Pro Duo (Polaris) VRMark–Orange Room Score: 6596. Radeon™ Pro WX 7100 VRMark–Orange Room Score: 6588. Scores are estimates based on AMD internal lab measurements/modelling and may vary. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. RPVG-009.

Contact Information
Chris Hook
AMD Communications
512-578-9727
chris.hook@amd.com

Investor Contact
Laura Graves
408-749-5467
laura.graves@amd.com

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Source: Advanced Micro Devices

Released June 27, 2017