AMD Vega GPUs to come in both HBM2 and GDDR5/X versions

AMD is preparing for a massive GPU push in 2017 with their Vega GPU architecture, with our good friends at Fudzilla reporting that there will be "top to bottom designs based on Vega architecture arriving soon".

AMD will utilize HBM2 technology to power its high-end cards that will compete against the likes of NVIDIA's current flagship GeForce GTX 1080 (and possibly even Titan X), as well as the waiting-in-the-wings GeForce GTX 1080 Ti. But the news that AMD will use GDDR5X and GDDR5 on its Vega graphics cards is interesting, something I've been saying for a while now. We've already seen Vega 10 with 8GB of HBM2 running DOOM at 4K 60FPS+ on Ultra/Nightmare settings, which is awesome.

HBM2 is too expensive to use on all Vega graphics cards, and the yields aren't perfect yet - so the use of GDDR5X with its 10Gbps bandwidth makes sense, while GDDR5 is an obvious choice for the lower- and mid-range cards based on the Vega architecture.

Prediction on pricing of AMD's next-gen Vega graphics cards:

• Dual Vega with 16/32GB HBM2 - $1499 (please!)
• Vega with 16GB HBM2 - $1199 (Titan X competitor)
• Vega with 8GB of HBM2 - $899 (GTX 1080 Ti competitor)
• Vega with 8GB of GDDR5X - $699 (GTX 1080 competitor)
• Vega with 8GB GDDR5X (less GPU cores) - $499 - GTX 1070 competitor)
• Vega with 8GB GDDR5 - $399 (GTX 1060/1060 Ti competitor)