AMD Isn’t Sampling Its Radeon Pro Duo To Reviewers – But It Has A Good Reason

When AMD introduced its latest-gen graphics cards last summer, it left little to the imagination. Right from the get-go, we knew that the 300-series would include at least four models, and that the Fury line would include a Fury, Fury X, Fury Nano, and a dual-GPU option. At that time, that dual-GPU offering didn’t have a name, but most assumed it would be called the “Fury X2”, given previous nomenclature.

Well, as we discovered last month, the “Fury X2” is actually the Pro Duo, and while it’s officially a Radeon product, its target audience isn’t strictly a gaming one. Remember NVIDIA’s TITAN Z? That enormous three-slot GeForce that came out two-years-ago? I think it’s safe to say that the Pro Duo falls into the same category, as it’s a card that targets professionals more than gamers. It just happens to be powerful for gaming, too.

In a recent partner training email AMD sent out, it calls the Pro Duo “a powerful merging of AMD FirePro and Radeon capabilities into a single graphics card”. That message is hard to confuse, but the problem is, AMD hasn’t communicated that message too well to third-parties – namely, gamers.

The confusion stems from the fact that this dual-GPU Fury was revealed at the same time as the rest of the gaming lineup. Naturally, anyone who watched the announcement was led to believe that the product could become the ultimate gaming card (which it still could be). Since AMD has kept somewhat quiet between then and now, it’s not hard to understand why some are now baffled at the fact that AMD isn’t going to be sampling the cards to websites like ours.

AMD’s FirePro workstation lineup is primarily focused on content creators

AMD’s conundrum, quite simply, is this: few reviewers are going to be able to wrap their head around what this product is all about. The result is that the company doesn’t want to send samples out and have the card projected in an improper light. NVIDIA didn’t send review sites samples of its TITAN Z, either, and I’m guessing it was for the same reason.

The lack of samples being sent out should also tell you something: if you’re a gamer, you should research the card before you commit. Most enthusiasts are going to be better off going with dual high-end Radeons in CrossFire.

Finishing up the thought started earlier, AMD says that its Pro Duo is “specifically designed for gamers who create and creators who game” – note the emphasis on “create”. While the Pro Duo is undoubtedly going to be a powerful gaming graphics card, AMD sees it as being much more useful in the hands of those who create the content that the rest of us play.

VR content creation is a huge focus of the Radeon Pro Duo

I’m not up to speed on how the Pro Duo has some FirePro infusion, but I’d have to guess that it’s tied to certifications with the drivers. One of the greatest benefits of AMD’s FirePro line (and likewise, NVIDIA’s Quadro line) is that the drivers undergo intense R&D to make sure that the hardware perfectly complements industry design tools, such as Autodesk’s 3ds Max. While performance and feature optimizations are nice, though, FirePro cards (and drivers) are designed with extra stringent rules, as stability is of paramount importance. While a Radeon driver will need to be installed for the Pro Duo, it could very well flag additional resources to be installed that are shared with the FirePro line.

Ultimately, those who purchase a Pro Duo should feel confident that the card will deliver huge power to their creative workloads, and likewise huge power to testing and playing their (or other) creations.

As touched on above, I still believe AMD hasn’t done the greatest job in promoting the target of this product. As of the time of writing, the Radeon Pro Duo is listed under the “Desktop” section on its website, rather than “Professional”, which flies in the face of what it’s trying to accomplish. It could be that AMD thought “FirePro Pro Duo” would sound a little redundant, but nonetheless, it’s hardly a surprise why people are confused.