AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) has unveiled a new range of graphic processors called as Radeon Pro 400 series. The range spans the Radeon Pro 450, the Radeon Pro 455 and the Radeon Pro 460. The Radeon Pro 450 and Radeon Pro 455 are available in the newly launched 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro models.
AMD says that the Radeon Pro 400 Series has been specifically designed for artists, designers, photographers, filmmakers, visualizers and engineers, that shape the modern content creation era. However, those hoping to do a bit of gaming on their shiny new MacBook Pro will probably struggle. All the GPUs are based on AMD’s latest 14nm FinFET Polaris architecture, as used in desktop gaming cards like the RX 480, and all have a thermal envelope of less than 35W.
AMD claims that the Radeon Pro 400 series features most powerful ultra-thin graphics processor. The company has also implemented a technology called ‘die thinning’ to reduce the thickness of the processing unit from 780 microns (0.78mm) to just 380 microns (0.38mm), that reduces each wafer of silicon used in the GPU.
We couldn’t be more proud to have Radeon Pro 400 Series Graphics launching in the new 15-inch MacBook Pro, a notebook designed for performance and creativity. The Radeon Pro 400 Series Graphics are a powerful and versatile creative technology that gives makers entirely new ways to create the art of the impossible no matter where they are.
– Raja Koduri, Senior Vice President & Chief Architect, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD.
As far as specs are concerned, the Radeon Pro 450 has up to 1 teraflop peak performance, 10 compute units (640 stream processors) and 80GB/s memory bandwidth. The next step up is the Radeon Pro 455, with up to 1.3 teraflops peak performance, 12 compute units (768 stream processors), and 80GB/s memory bandwidth. The most powerful of the new cards is the Radeon Pro 460, with up to 1.86 teraflops peak performance, 16 compute units (1024 stream processors), and also 80GB/s memory bandwidth.
AMD also announced a new program called “Meet the Creators” that will bring the creators together from different fields to share their work and collaborate with others. The program will also showcase how the new Radeon Pro 400 Series GPUs will enhance the creative process. One of the program’s highlighted tools is called Radeon ProRender, a rendering engine that will go into open source before the end of the year.