AMD shows Radeon Pro card with connections for two m2 SSDs

AMD has shown a video card from the Radeon Pro line with two connections for m2 SSDs at the Siggraph fair. This should make it possible to provide the card with additional memory, up to a few terabytes.

AMD reported that the technology, which is still in beta, is known as ‘solid state graphics technology’, or ssg. This makes it possible to connect a NAND SSD to the video card via an m2 connection, Anandtech and PCWorld write in response to the AMD event at the fair. Anandtech writes that it is still unclear whether the card is directly connected to the SSD and that additional details are still missing.

Speaking at the event, David Watters, head of industry alliances at AMD, said this technique could bring benefits when processing video files. For example, the company showed in a demonstration that the card could play an 8k video file with a resolution of 7680×4320 pixels at 90fps, while a ‘regular’ card could play the file at 17fps, PCWorld said.

Cards currently make occasional use of a system’s working memory, which causes delays and the CPU has to process requests. With the ssg technology, the cpu would be completely bypassed, which should provide speed gains. AMD plans to make devkits for the card available on demand this year. Availability should then increase in 2017. The price of a devkit would be about 10,000 euros at the moment.

AMD’s Raja Koduri shows off an ssg card with 1TB of memory, image via PCWorld