I doubt they were surprised at all. Isn’t RDNA3 very similar to RDNA2? They could have fixed it there, and they decided on minor improvements instead.
Wasn’t RDNA2 designed with Sony and Microsoft having an input on its features? I’m sure Sony and MS knew what was coming from Nvidia years in advance. I think Mark Cerny said developers even wanted a 16 core originally, and they were talked out of it, because they had die area restrictions. RT hardware area on those consoles probably would have equaled an extra 8 CPU cores in area if they wanted Nvidia-like RT. All just seems like cost optimization to me.
Microsoft told Digital Foundry that they had locked the specs of the Xbox Series consoles in 2016. In 2016 they knew the console would have an SSD, RT capabilities etc.
I doubt they were surprised at all. Isn’t RDNA3 very similar to RDNA2? They could have fixed it there, and they decided on minor improvements instead.
Wasn’t RDNA2 designed with Sony and Microsoft having an input on its features? I’m sure Sony and MS knew what was coming from Nvidia years in advance. I think Mark Cerny said developers even wanted a 16 core originally, and they were talked out of it, because they had die area restrictions. RT hardware area on those consoles probably would have equaled an extra 8 CPU cores in area if they wanted Nvidia-like RT. All just seems like cost optimization to me.
RDNA3 is up to 60% faster than RDNA2 equivalent in epath tracing
Microsoft told Digital Foundry that they had locked the specs of the Xbox Series consoles in 2016. In 2016 they knew the console would have an SSD, RT capabilities etc.
They could already have in mind the next console