APRIL 2020 PCWorld 7News
TECH NEWS AND TRENDS THAT WILL
AFFECT YOU TODAY AND BEYOND.AMD talks PC GPU ray tracing
as it looks to the future of
Ryzen and Radeon
At long last, its next-generation RDNA 2 graphics architecture will include
hardware ray tracing. BY MARK HACHMANA
MD confirmed recently that its
next-generation RDNA 2
graphics architecture will be its
first to include hardware ray
tracing, and that it will advance performance-
per-watt improvements by an additional 50
percent over its current designs. The
company also plans to add a compute-
specific version of its GPUs, dubbed
“CDNA.”
AMD has traditionally used its financial
analyst meetings to provide insight into itsfuture strategy in the CPU and GPU markets,
especially with regard to the PC, mobile, and
server spaces. It’s the latter market in which
AMD is driving hard, as enterprise and
scientific markets are willing to pay top dollar
for a high-margin Epyc processor—the sort of
boon financial analysts like to hear about.
AMD habitually offers more insight into its
server road maps as a way of building
credibility with customers, chief marketing
officer John Taylor said in advance of the call.
In this case, however, the company is sharingIMAGE: AMD