AMD Radeon’s SSG technology combines a 1 TB SSD with a GPU, capable of rendering 8K videos at 92 FPS.
At the Siggraph 2016 even, AMD’s Radeon Technology Group, has announced its newest innovation, the development of SSG technology (solid state graphics) which manages to combine a high-capacity SSD with a high-performance GPU. The result is AMD’s Radeon Pro SSG graphics card with an unprecedented 1 TB of memory.
This announcement was quite unexpected but still very welcomed because of the ever increasing size of various types of files. Recently videos have seen a drastic size increase because of the new 4K resolution and 360 degrees cameras needed to create VR experiences. This, in turn, leads to users requiring more memory and storage on GPUs for fast processing and excellent graphics.
The new SSG technology is even more innovative considering that the highest amount of memory in a GPU currently in AMD’s portfolio is only 32 GB. This imposes limits on the processing of large amounts of data. With its new 1 TB SSD, the Radeon Pro SSG will allow large files to be easily stored,processed and displayed in a short amount of time.
According to Radeon Technology Group’s chief architect and most senior executive, Raja Koduri, the SSG technology will drastically change the architecture of workstations suggesting that it will also be a huge leap forward in film production as the GPU is designed to handle the workloads specific to video editing.
The live demonstration of the GPU’s capabilities included the rendering of an 8K video on two computers, both equipped with the fastest components available with the only difference between them being that one PC was using the new Pro SSG GPU. The standard machine managed to render the 8K video at a decent 17 FPS while the SSG station was able to render it at a maximum of 92 FPS, at a processing speed of 4.5 GB/s.
The technology’s capacity to process 8K videos is incredible, but it won’t be in high demand for some time. Currently, 4K and VR videos have only just started to become more popular, while most movies still use standard technology.
AMD themselves have said the hardware is very early in development, but they will be selling a development kit for $10,000 to select parties that can provide feedback and help develop the final product.
What do you think about Radeon’s SSG technology? Are you curious to see how it will benefit VR and videogame production?
Photo credit: AMD
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