The new Polaris GPU architecture promises great performance improvements for AMD cards

During today's Consumer Electronics Show AMD had a rather big announcement to make, that of a completely new GPU architecture they've titled Polaris.

Compared to the current standard of 28nm that both AMD and Nvidia used the new Polaris architecture will move to a much smaller 14nm FinFET technology that promises a historic leap in performance per watt. Here's the full announcement video and some more information:

 

The new Polaris based GPUs will deliver better performance and power efficiency as well as smoother frame rates to everything from the top end of gaming machines to VR technology and powerful but light notebooks.

As an example for their claims about power efficiency they've showcased two identical systems running Battlefront at 1080p and medium settings, one with AMD's new Polaris GPU and the other with Nvidia's GTX 950. The Polaris GPU's power consumption was an impressive ~86 watts while the GTX 950 was around ~150 though they've put ~140 in the fine print, in either case its a rather big difference.

I might not be much of a hardware buff but I am more than receptive towards some great competition once again springing up between Nvidia and AMD because at the end of the day, we the customers end up benefiting the most from it.

As for further details we'll need to wait a little while longer because the first Polaris GPUs are set to ship mid-2016 and more information will be available closer to launch.