AMD Vega GPU release date, specs rumors update: Next-gen graphics cards with HBM2 arriving in early 2017

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) recently released an image teasing the arrival of their next-generation graphics processing unit (GPU) architecture, Vega. The Vega-based Radeon RX graphics cards are expected to launch in the new year and will go head-to-head with NVIDIA's Pascal products.

While technical specifications for the Vega GPUs have yet to be announced, speculations suggest that there will be HBM2 and GDDR5/X variants. It will support up to 16 GB of HBM2, produce a peak compute performance of 12.5 teraflops, and have a memory bandwidth of 512 GB/s. The Vega GPU with 8 GB of HBM2 is said to deliver performance comparable to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card. It is expected that the first graphics card to be released will be the Radeon RX 490.

Vega 10 and Polaris 12 GPUs were recently revealed to have received their certification from South Korea's Radio Research Agency (RAA). The organization requires that all silicon products be tested before it is released to the market. This certification seemingly suggests that the next-generation GPUs are well on their way to consumers.

Earlier this month, during the New Horizon tech summit that introduced the Zen-based high-performance processors, Ryzen, AMD also demonstrated the Vega GPU architecture for the first time. It was revealed that the Vega-based graphics cards will allow gaming at 4K resolution and at a frame rate of 60 frames per second (fps) at the highest settings.

Tweaktown predicts that the entry-level Vega GPU with 8 GB of GDDR5 will be priced at $399 and it will be comparable to the NVIDIA GTX 1060 and GTX 1060 Ti.

Meanwhile, the top-end Vega with 16 GB of HBM2 is expected to come with a premium price tag of about $1,199. It will become a fierce rival to NVIDIA's flagship GeForce Titan X graphics card.

The AMD Vega graphics cards are expected to arrive in early 2017.