If you ask me about my next PC build, I typically mention my affinity for the folks at AMD and what it has provided me over the years. Particularly, in the CPU space. I’ve had my hands on AMD since I left my P4 chip many years ago. But when it came to graphics cards (GPU), I could never pull the trigger on making the jump to AMD. Nvidia had my attention because of gaming and creative application performance. But today, AMD is doing a good job of opening my eyes to a dollar-for-dollar value in its latest Radeon GPU offering. The Radeon Pro VIII
About The Radeon Pro VII
This is a graphics card that’s not one the average gamer or hobbyist would desire to have. It’s ideal for those which are dealing with high res video footage (8K), complex motion graphics, 3D rendering and CAE applications. With that said, it’s not going to be a cheap graphics card, but it’s definitely comparable to other cards in the same space. Specifically, the Nvidia Quadro line of GPUs.
image by AMD
Some of the tech specs include 16GB of HBM2 RAM clocking in at 1TB/second bandwidth. This is faster RAM compared to GDDR6 RAM. The output ports are six mini DisplayPort to support up to 8K resolution displays. It connects to the computer via PCIe 4.0. Pushing 8K displays require a LOT of horsepower. AMD says this Pro VII easily handles this.
The Ideal App Space
Use this GPU for your high-end creative tasks. Apps such as Cinema 4D, After Effects, and Maya. There’s also support for the powerful color grading tools of Davinci Resolve Studio as well as the awesome video composite app Nuke. Based on the numbers, this GPU should definitely be looked into. The price point will scare off the average consumer or hobbyist, but it’s truly a fair price and comparable coming in at $1899 as mentioned in a recent virtual press conference held by AMD. Compare that to the price of Nvidia’s GP100 at over $5000 on Amazon.
Again, this is looking like great competition. I look forward to seeing the next offering from AMD on this front. I’ve enjoyed being a fanboy of its CPU technology, will GPU tech be next for me? Let me know your thoughts. Check out more regarding the new card via the AMD press release.