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Today AMD is debuting its Tonga architecture with a mid-range GPU dubbed the Radeon R9 285 that is designed to deliver mainstream performance at a competitive price. The "Tonga" GPU is essentially a newer, cheaper to produce version of the tried and true "Tahiti" GPU, with features such as DirectX 12 support and next-gen CrossFire...
The Radeon 200 series has exploded with a multitude of graphics cards this year and today yet another joins the crew. However this one is a little different to most of the 200 series, as it’s not a direct rebadge of a HD 7000 series card.
Codenamed ‘Tonga Pro’ the new Radeon R9 285 takes the latest technology from the R9 290 series and brings it to a more affordable price range. This new GPU is based on the latest incarnation of the GCN (Graphics Core Next) architecture. This means the R9 285 supports DirectX 12 capabilities, Eyefinity, TrueAudio, Project FreeSync, next-gen Crossfire technology, next-gen PowerTune technology and 4K H.264 decode support. As a mid-range GPU the Radeon R9 285 is not intended to deliver leading-edge performance, rather it is designed to provide mainstream performance at a competitive price. The ‘Tonga’ GPU is essentially a more modern but cheaper to produce version of the tried and true ‘Tahiti’ GPU that has been used by a multitude of graphics cards. For the Radeon R9 285, Tonga has been configured in a similar manner to the way Tahiti was for the Radeon HD 7950, which is the same configuration used by the Radeon R9 280. However Tonga does have an inferior memory controller to Tahiti, which is what makes it cheaper to produce. Therefore it is not surprising that the Radeon R9 285 is replacing the R9 280, given the similar name and specifications. This means the R9 280 had a relatively short life span of just 6 months. The Radeon R9 280 debuted with an MSRP of $249 and this is the exact price point that the R9 285 is being introduced at. This means the R9 285 is being placed directly between the R9 270X ($200) and R9 280X ($300). Unfortunately the naming of the Radeon R9 285 doesn’t make much sense right now, as it’s slower than the R9 280X, though you would be forgiven for assuming otherwise. It is expected that AMD will phase out the R9 280X shortly with a R9 285X version based on the Tonga XT’ which should feature the same 2048 stream processors, 128 texture units with higher clock speeds than the R9 280X. |
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