Vega, also known as RX Vega, is a microarchitecture for GPUs and APUs manufactured by AMD. It is the fifth generation of AMD’s GCN (Graphics Core Next) microarchitecture.

Vega features

  • Support for HBM2 (second-generation High Bandwidth Memory), a stacked memory technology similar to 3D XPoint. HBM2 can double the bandwidth per pin of first-generation HBM.
  • NGU (Next-Gen Compute Unit), a processor capable of performing multiple logical operations on data of varying bit lengths in a single clock cycle. For example, the processor can perform 512 8-bit operations, 256 16-bit, 128 32-bit, or 64 64-bit operations in a clock cycle, depending on the needs of the application.
  • “Primitive shader” technology, a programmable single-stage geometry shader that is more efficient than traditional multi-stage shader pipelines.
  • Manufactured using a 14 nm fabrication process, which results in faster processing speeds and greater energy efficiency.

Announcements and releases

Vega was announced on January 5, 2017. The first Vega GPUs, the Radeon RX Vega56 and RX Vega64, were launched in August 2017.

In June 2018, AMD announced the Vega Instinct, the first GPU manufactured with a 7 nm fabrication process.

Hardware terms, Microarchitecture, Video card terms