AMD has just announced a new graphics card — the Pro WX 8200 — along with a few updates to Radeon ProRender. Here’s what you need to know about both:
Pro WX 8200 graphics card
The Pro WX 8200 is based on the advanced “Vega” graphics architecture. This should increase productivity according to AMD. For instance, the graphics card can allow you to render a model in the background and still work on another design simultaneously. AMD claims the WX 8200 delivers “the best workstation graphics performance for under $1000.”
This graphics card is set to include HBM2 memory, up to 512 GB/s memory bandwidth and 4x DisplayPort 1.4 HDR Ready outputs. It can also support up to four 4K displays or a single 8K display. Plus, according to the press release, this card should be able to handle some demanding workloads such as VR and photorealistic rendering.
According to a study cited in the press release, AMD claims the WX 8200 proved to be 20% faster at rendering than the P5000. “When it comes to performance, the Radeon Pro WX 8200 workstation graphics card is no slouch. There are several instances where this card beats out the competition, including the more expensive Nvidia Quadro P5000,” says AMD.
The Pro WX 8200 will be out September and is up for pre-order. To learn more, go to pro.radeon.com.
Radeon ProRender Updates
At SIGGRAPH 2018 this year, AMD also announced a few new updates coming to Radeon Pro Render. This includes new features, plug-ins and updated integrations.
Accelerated Workflows
The Uber Shader will now support diffuse backscattering and will have a simplified caustics option and an improved clear coat appearance. Also, AMD’s added an Ambient Occlusion node that can — for instance — make textures look dirty. Lastly, Camera Motion Blur has been added, Adaptive Subdivision has been added to the 3ds Max and Maya plug-ins, and the 3ds Max plug-in has been updated to support 3ds Max 2019.
New Integrations
Additionally — in a recent press release — AMD announced that Foundry’s Modo will be the next application to natively integrate Radeon ProRender.
Pixar USD and PTC Creo plug-ins
For those looking to integrate Pixar’s USDView — which is part of the company’s USD toolset — AMD is planning to release the code for an open-source Radeon ProRender USD Hydra render delegate plug-in on GitHub. AMD claims that will add “path-tract rendering designed for more accurate previews when compared to the default OpenGL renderer.
Also, the new PTC Creo plug-in is out now as a beta. The plug-in enables exporting to Unreal Engine for VR visualization when used with the ProRender Game Engine Importer and has the same feature set as the SOLIDWORKS add-in. You can download the beta on the Radeon Pro website.
