Skip to main content

PC gamers, rejoice! AMD and Nvidia rumored to announce new video cards at Computex 2016

pc gamers rejoice amd and nvidia rumored to announce new video cards at computex 2016 nvidiapascal
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Man the cranks, it’s time to spin up the rumor mill again. This time it’s about Computex, where we are expecting to see the very first gamer-orientated graphics cards from both Nvidia and AMD’s next-generations. Although we’ve had a sneak peak at an enterprise focused Pascal graphics processing unit (GPU) from Nvidia, nothing consumer grade has shown up so far – so this year’s Computex could be an exciting time.

Both Polaris and Pascal, AMD and Nvidia’s new, respective GPU technologies, are expected to offer vastly improved performance and much higher efficiency per watt, thanks to a die shrink to 16nm and implementation of new memory standards.

Just how much in either respect, is anyone’s guess, but there has been talk of AMD’s cards being vastly more efficient than previous generations of Nvidia’s GPUs, which in itself would be a news worthy story.

The latest rumors about these new cards come from HardwareBattle and Digitimes. While they agree on both graphics card firms showing off their new generations of GPUs at Computex, the latter suggests that AMD won’t have its Polaris cards available quite as early as Nvidia’s Pascal units.

Pascal, it says, will begin shipping out in July, with the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 leading the charge. AMD’s Polaris though, will come later it claims – which if true, might be the reason that AMD held off on showing off its Radeon Pro Duo, the dual-core Fiji XT card which it debuted just a few weeks ago and should be available at some point in Q2.

All of these rumors and hearsays point to a slightly rocky next few months for both Nvidia and AMD. Projections suggest hype for the next-generation could cannibalize sales of both companies’ graphics cards, as consumers hold off on buying anything new in the hope that the new cards will be powerful and affordable.

And gamers have waited a long time already. Nvidia’s last major new architecture, Maxwell, first appeared in early 2014. AMD has used an architecture called Graphics Core Next (GCN) since 2011, with small but frequent updates over time, the last of which was in the summer of 2015. Polaris will continue the tradition, as it too will be based on GCN.

The near-simultaneous debut of Polaris and Pascal will make for an interesting holiday season. It’s been a long time since we’ve new architectures from each released within the span of a couple months, and the competition is sure to be intense.

Editors' Recommendations

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is the Evergreen Coordinator for Computing, overseeing a team of writers addressing all the latest how to…
AMD accidentally revealed a killer new feature to rival Nvidia’s RTX Voice
Promotional image of an AMD Radeon RX 6000-series graphics card.

AMD has just quietly announced a new feature on its YouTube channel, but before many people managed to catch a glimpse of it, the video was set to private and it cannot be viewed anymore.

Although AMD chose to take down the announcement, a teaser version of the video was preserved by a user on Reddit. The new feature, which is meant to be added to AMD's Adrenalin drivers, is dubbed "AMD Noise Suppression." This just might be AMD's response to Nvidia's RTX Voice -- but the question is what's going to happen to it now?

Read more
AMD’s new tool compares its GPUs to Nvidia’s, but there’s a catch
An AMD Radeon RX 6000-Series graphics card in front of a black and red background.

AMD has just launched its new GPU Comparison Tool, which is aimed at being a quick and easy way to determine which graphics card might be best for you based on your gaming needs.

The tool gives you insight into the performance of nearly all of the best GPUs from both AMD and Nvidia. However, a closer look at the tool raises questions as to how legit it is.

Read more
Nvidia’s upcoming RTX 4000 cards get new specs, and it’s not all good news
An Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics card seen from the side.

Nvidia's upcoming Ada Lovelace graphics cards just received a new set of rumored specifications, and this time around, it's a bit of a mixed bag.

While the news is good for one of the GPUs, the RTX 4070 actually received a cut when it comes to its specs -- but the leaker says this won't translate to a cheaper price.

Read more