Posted on Tuesday, March 15 2016 @ 10:56 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Some time ago NVIDIA launched a GeForce GTX VR Ready badge for PCs and now AMD is doing the same thing by rolling out a Radeon VR Ready Premium badge. The firm also claims it's the leader in the virtual reality market, but it seems it's using its presence in the console market to twist these statistics:
Leading market share – AMD is powering the overwhelming majority of home entertainment VR systems around the world, with an estimated 83 percent market share.1 This share is driven in part by AMD technology powering VR-capable game consoles installed in millions of homes globally.
At the Game Developer Conference (GDC), AMD showed off a virtual reality demo on its upcoming Polaris 10 GPU and revealed the technologies it has in store for premium VR experiences:
Advancing technology to power premium VR experiences
Showcasing next-generation VR-optimized GPU hardware – AMD today demonstrated for the first time ever the company’s forthcoming Polaris 10 GPU running Valve’s Aperture Science Robot Repair demo powered by the HTC Vive Pre. The sample GPU features the recently announced Polaris GPU architecture designed for 14nm FinFET, optimized for DirectX® 12 and VR, and boasts significant architectural improvements over previous AMD architectures including HDR monitor support, industry-leading performance-per-watt2, and AMD’s 4th generation Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture.
Growing adoption of GPUOpen’s LiquidVR™ technology – AMD LiquidVR™ technology helps address obstacles in content, comfort and compatibility that together take the industry a step closer to true, life-like presence in VR games, applications and experiences. Today AMD LiquidVR™ technology is being used across the VR software stack by headset manufacturers, including Oculus, HTC, game engine developers and content creators.
Simplifying VR adoption for consumers and content creators
AMD will today announce its new GPU certified program for VR, allowing OEMs, system builders, and AIB partners to instantly communicate to consumers which certified Radeon™ products can be used to deliver exceptional VR experiences with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets.
“Radeon™ VR Ready Premium” solutions for exceptional VR experiences –Certified Radeon™ R9 290-class graphics cards and higher, and systems built using those cards, are now eligible for the “Radeon™ VR Ready Premium” seal.
“VR-optimized systems like the HP ENVY Phoenix is specifically configured with the quality, performance and computing power to enable amazing virtual experiences,” said Kevin Frost, vice president and general manager, consumer personal systems, HP Inc. "HP is working with AMD to deliver the VR-ready HP ENVY Phoenix tower for a seamless out-of-the-box experience. With the Radeon™ VR Ready Premium program, it will help customers to take the guess work out of selecting the right VR capable graphics.”
“Radeon™ VR Ready Creator” solutions for VR professionals, experience designers, and developers –The “Radeon™ VR Ready Creator” seal signifies unprecedented performance and industry-leading innovation that empowers VR content creators and experience designers with incredibly powerful and capable development tools. Featuring an upcoming graphics card with AMD’s LiquidVR SDK (software developer kit), the “Radeon™ VR Ready Creator” designation signifies the ultimate performance for both content creation and consumption for VR professionals.
