AMD launches Polaris-powered Radeon Pro Duo graphics card, packing twin GPUs and 32GB of GDDR5 RAM

$999 graphics card for heavyweight 'creatives' and engineers

AMD has launched a no-nonsense, $999 professional graphics card, the Radeon Pro Duo, which features dual GPUs and 32GB of GDDR5 RAM.

However, the device will be based on the company's fourth generation Polaris micro-architecture rather than the long-awaited Vega micro-architecture, which ought to be launching this year.

For those who can't wait for Vega, it is intended to handle large data sets, highly detailed 3D models, and high-resolution videos, as well as being able to drive multiple monitors at ultra-HD.

The aim of the dual-GPU set-up is to enable users to work on multiple graphics intensive applications at a time, with the Radeon Duo offering up to twice the performance of the Radeon Pro WX 7100, according to AMD.

Not surprisingly, the company is primarily pitching the Radeon Pro Duo at 4K-resolution virtual reality (VR) development workloads, and not just animation studios, and mundane (but very important) design and engineering applications.

"[The] Radeon Pro Duo leverages the power of two GPUs to render out separate images for each eye, increasing VR performance over single GPU solutions by up to 50 per cent in the SteamVR test," AMD claimed.

Nevertheless, for the engineers, AMD adds that it is capable of processing 11 billion triangles per second - twice as many as the Radeon Pro WX 7100.

"Today's professional workflows continue to increase in complexity, often demanding that creators switch between a wide variety of applications to progress their work, pausing efforts in one application while computing resources are focused on another," said Ogi Brkic, general manager, professional graphics, Radeon Technologies Group, at AMD.

"We designed the Radeon Pro Duo to eliminate those constraints, empowering professionals to multi-task without compromise, dedicating GPU resources where and how they need them."

The Radeon Pro Duo will also drive as many as four 4K monitors at a time, or one 8K monitor at 60Hz using a dual cable solution. Operating at a maximum of 250 watts it will harness up to 4,608 stream processors, offering 11.45 teraflops of computer performance.

"In developing 4K 360-VR content, the biggest hurdle is the tech, because as an artist, I just want to create and not worry about limitations of the hardware, said Jonathan Winbush, founder and creative director of design and animation studio Winbush.tv.

"Faced with raw, un-optimised content, VR creators need a lot more horsepower than VR consumers. With the new Radeon Pro Duo… I immediately saw a speed difference of up to two-times, allowing me to push the boundaries of my projects without having to compromise on creativity or productivity."

And the price for all this graphical goodness? $999, according to AMD, and the cards will be available from then end of May. AMD is also promising quarterly updates for "features, performance and stability".

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