The upcoming AMD Radeon RX 490 is said to be Vega-based. (Photo : YouTube/AdoredTV)
There is little doubt that AMD's upcoming Radeon RX 490 is the chipmaker's direct answer to NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080 and the former is convinced that beginning with the flagship graphics card it will be a parity match with NVIDIA in due time. And AMD's soon-to-rise market share will be brought about by the Vega 10 architecture introduction and better customer dealings.
AMD CEO Lisa Su is looking to increase the company's share of the global discrete graphics market to 50 percent or equal to that of the current leader - NVIDIA, according to WCCFTech. The projection will mean that AMD intends to snatch sizeable market territories currently by its chief rival.
Part of the game plan, Su said, is to satisfy AMD followers. "The key thing is enhancing our relationships with customers, because we believe that it's also important to have a very sticky business going forward," the company chief was reported by WCCFTech as saying.
And to realize further growth while improving customer relations, Su is convinced that the high-end market is the way, which AMD intends to conquer with its premium offerings. "As we go into more of the higher-end markets with our next generation Vega architecture what you will find is the hardware is very, very competitive," the AMD big boss said.
Per the known details on Vega and the rumored card it will power so far, the RX 490, it seems that Su's confidence is not misplaced at all. Vega itself is "a significant architectural leap in performance and power efficiency," according to WCCFTech, adding that if indeed the card will turn out as a Vega 10 GPU it will boast of twice the graphics horsepower that AMD fans have seen with the RX 480.
As the RX 490 is tipped to utilize the high bandwidth memory technology of HBM2, the card is expected to fully meet the high bar set by gaming enthusiasts. Leaks in the past have also indicated that the GTX 1080 rival is all set for 4K and virtual reality or VR gaming when released.
And the best part, the Radeon RX 490 will hit the market with a sticker price that is likely cheaper compared to the GTX 1080, which NVIDIA retails starting at $600.
While the Vega architecture is only expected to be ready in early 2017, the same report said AMD is likely to introduce the Radeon RX 490 on December 13, coinciding with the unveiling of the Zen-based Summit Ridge family of processing chips - the SR3, SR5 and SR7. The actual release date is set to follow soon after.
