Architecture Overview
GCN 2.0 (second-generation Graphics Core Next) arrived in 2013 with the R9 200 series. Hawaii (R9 290X / R9 290) was the flagship die, a large 28nm chip delivering competitive performance against NVIDIA's Kepler at high resolutions. GCN 2.0 refined the original GCN design with improved compute throughput, doubled FP64 throughput on professional variants, and added TrueAudio DSP hardware on certain SKUs.
Quick Facts
- Architecture name
- GCN 2.0
- Launch era / years active
- 2013 to 2015
- Predecessor
- GCN 1.0
- Successor
- GCN 3.0
- Process nodes
- 28nm (TSMC)
- Important chips
- Hawaii (R9 290X / R9 290), Tonga (R9 285 / 380), Bonaire (R7 260X), Hainan
- Memory technologies
- GDDR5
- CUDA / RT / Tensor generation
- GCN 2.0 Stream Processors; DirectX 11.2; OpenCL 2.0 (Tonga); TrueAudio DSP on select SKUs
- Consumer series
- Radeon R9 290X, R9 290, R9 285, R7 260X, R7 260
- Workstation / professional series
- FirePro W9100 (Hawaii-based, 16 GB HBM — actually GCN 3?), FirePro W8100
- Data center series
- FirePro S9150 (Hawaii compute)
- Source review status
- Source review complete for primary consumer product line.
What this architecture changed
Hawaii die: largest GCN die to date at launch with 2816 Stream Processors and 512-bit GDDR5 memory bus.
Improved geometry throughput and tessellation performance over GCN 1.0.
Doubled FP64 compute rate on Hawaii versus GCN 1.0 at the same clock (relevant for workstation/HPC variants).
TrueAudio: dedicated audio DSP on Tonga/Bonaire for hardware-accelerated 3D audio effects.
OpenCL 2.0 support on Tonga (first GCN chip with OpenCL 2.0 compliance).
Why it mattered
GCN 2.0's Hawaii die was a direct, competitive response to NVIDIA's GK110 (GTX780 Ti), trading performance points across the benchmark stack at similar prices. The generation reinforced GCN's viability as a compute platform and kept AMD relevant at the high end of the discrete GPU market through the mid-2010s. Hawaii variants remained in AMD's professional lineup for several years after consumer retirement.
Related GPUs
Popular GPU entries
| GPU | Architecture | Launch Date | Shader Processors | Memory | Bus Width | TDP/TBP | Segment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radeon R7 360 | GCN 2.0 | 2015-06-18 | 768 | 2 GB GDDR5 | 128-bit | 100 W | Gaming |
| Radeon R9 290X2 | GCN 2.0 | 2014-06-24 | 2,816 | 4 GB GDDR5 | 512-bit | 580 W | Gaming |
| Radeon R9 295X2 | GCN 2.0 | 2014-04-29 | 2,816 | 4 GB GDDR5 | 512-bit | 500 W | Gaming |
| Radeon R9 390 X2 | GCN 2.0 | 2015-09-03 | 2,560 | 8 GB GDDR5 | 512-bit | 580 W | Gaming |
| Radeon R7 360E | GCN 2.0 | 2015-12-30 | 768 | 2 GB GDDR5 | 128-bit | 75 W | Gaming |
| Radeon R9 390X | GCN 2.0 | 2015-06-18 | 2,816 | 8 GB GDDR5 | 512-bit | 275 W | Gaming |
| Radeon R9 360 OEM | GCN 2.0 | 2015-05-05 | 768 | 2 GB GDDR5 | 128-bit | 75 W | Gaming |
| Radeon R7 260 | GCN 2.0 | 2013-12-17 | 768 | 2 GB GDDR5 | 128-bit | 95 W | Gaming |
| Radeon HD 8770 OEM | GCN 2.0 | 2013-09-02 | 896 | 1 GB GDDR5 | 128-bit | 85 W | Gaming |
| Radeon R7 360 896SP | GCN 2.0 | 2015-06-18 | 896 | 2 GB GDDR5 | 128-bit | 85 W | Gaming |