AMD has started sending out parcel's to several reviewer's hinting at the upcoming Radeon R9 290X2 Dual-Chip Hawaii based graphics card. The 'Top Secret' parcel received by reviewers is an interesting scheme which has also been used by NVIDIA in the past during the launch of the GeForce GTX 690 graphics card.

Image is courtesy of PCPerspective!

AMD Teaser Hints At Radeon R9 290X2 Dual Hawaii GPU

PCPerspective's Ryan Shrout and Scott Wasson from Tech Report have received the package which is labeled 'Top Secret' and comes with a photograph of the receiver that follows with two lines, "Wouldn't you agree that two is better than one?". The first thing that comes to my mind is AMD's upcoming Radeon R9 290X2 (Naming isn't yet official) which will feature Dual Hawaii GPU cores.

The naming of the card isn't official at the moment and we may see a different naming scheme for the GPU itself but from earlier leaks, we do know that the card is codenamed Vesuvius which a is a stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples, Italy. The next generation AMD Dual-Chip Hawaii graphics card will feature two Hawaii XT cores, each featuring 2816 stream processors, 176 texture mapping units and 64 ROPs. This equates to 5632 cores followed by a 8 GB GDDR5 memory buffer (possibly 16 GB GDDR5) and power would be fed through dual 8-Pin connectors since the card will feature a reference PCB design compared to the rumored ASUS ARES III which will get topped with better VRM components and DIGI+ supply.

AMD Radeon R9 290X2 Dual Hawaii Graphics Card Comparison Chart:

Radeon HD 6990 Radeon HD 7990 Radeon R9 290X2 GPU Codename Antilles New Zealand Vesuvius GPU Process 40nm 28nm 28nm GPU Cores 3200 SPs 4096 SPs 5632 SPs Memory 2 GB GDDR5 x 2 3 GB GDDR5 x 2 4 GB GDDR5 x 2 Memory Bus 256-bit x 2 384-bit x 2 512-bit x 2 Cooling Dual Slot Single Fan (Blower Type) Dual Slot Triple Fan Dual Slot Hybrid Cooler Power Connectors 8+8 Pin 8+8 Pin 8+8 Pin TDP 300W 375W 500W Price $699 US $999 US ~$1499 US

Image is courtesy of HotHardware!

The teasing scheme can be related to NVIDIA's tease of their GeForce GTX 690 two years ago when they sent out large wooden containers and prybars to several tech sites which contained their GeForce GTX 690 Dual GPU card boasting two Kepler GK104 cores. NVIDIA is now expected to launch their GeForce GTX 790 graphics card in the upcoming weeks featuring dual GK110 cores and we may see a clash of the dual chip beasts once again. AMD was late with their HD 7990 in the last generation but they can take the lead with a volcanic islands power monolithic card that features unparalleled performance, power and stability. Specifications of the GeForce GTX 790 are also mentioned below for comparison sake:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 790 / GeForce GTX Titan Black Edition Specifications: