Update from December 29, 2021: We reported on the new one for the first time almost a month ago Fantasy One
Graphics card series from the Chinese manufacturer Innsilicion. There are two versions of Fantasy One: Type A
and Type B
. Type A delivers a theoretical computing power of 5.0 teraflops and is thus roughly on the level of a Geforce GTX 1660. Type B houses two Fantasy One GPUs and thus brings it to 10.0 teraflops.
The twitterer Stewie @Stewrandall filmed one of the two graphics cards in action as part of a current, unspecified event. However, it is not known whether this is Type A or Type B:
Link to Twitter content
The video material shows a scene from GFXBench. Unfortunately, no performance metrics are displayed, which is why it is not possible to classify the performance at this point. However, the video proves that the development of the Fantasy One series is apparently quite advanced.
Original message from November 30, 2021:
Like among other things Videocardz reported recently at a press conference the new Fantasy One
-Graphic cards presented. In addition to product images that are reminiscent of current GPUs from AMD and Nvidia (perhaps with the exception of the choice of color for the fans, see also the image above), some technical details have been published.
The most important information in advance: The PCI-Express graphics cards (PCIe version 4.0) master the latest interfaces such as DirectX and Vulkan and have modern connections such as HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4. This means that crucial minimum requirements are met in order to be relevant in the gaming environment at all.
Theoretical performance compared to Nvidia
| Geforce RTX 3080 | Geforce GTX 1660 | Fantasy One |
|---|---|---|
| Computing power: 29,7 TFLOPS (FP32) | 5 TFLOPS (FP32) | 5 TFLOPS (FP32) |
| Storage: 10 GB GDDR5X (19 Gbps) | 6 GB GDDR5X (8 Gbps) | 16 GB GDDR6X (19 Gbps) |
| Storage interface: 320 Bit | 192 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Storage bandwidth: 760,3 GB/s | 192,1 GB/s | 304 GB/s |
The technical data mentioned allow a rough comparison with current graphics cards such as the popular Geforce models from Nvidia. In terms of theoretical computing power in the form of teraflops, Fantasy One is roughly on par with one Geforce GTX 1660, but with better memory equipment. At AMD, the RX 5500 XT is in a similar teraflop region.
The distance to current high-end cards like that Geforce RTX 3080 is very big at the same time. It is noteworthy that Innosilicon, like Nvidia, relies on GDDR6X memory with the RTX 3080 and other Geforce top models. So far, this was reserved exclusively for Nvidia.
In order to better classify the performance of the GTX 1660 with a view to AMD models and older graphics cards, our large GPU comparison at the following link helps. In it we sort over 50 GPUs from AMD and Nvidia into different performance classes:
more on the subject
Over 50 player graphics cards in a performance comparison
By the way, after many years of planning, chip giant Intel is expected to advance into the performance region of an RTX 2080 Super, which reaches 11.2 teraflops, with its first dedicated graphics cards. Absolute high-end performance like an RTX 3090 or RX 6900 XT will only be available from the two well-known top dogs AMD and Nvidia for the time being, even in spite of Intel.
Fantasy One is just meant to be the beginning
The data mentioned in the table above refer to the Type A of the Fantasy series, which is intended, among other things, for end customers. Type B, intended for cloud and AI calculations, with up to ten teraflops, combines two GPUs on one chip, reminiscent of technologies such as SLI (Nvidia) and Crossfire (AMD).
Successors in the form of the series Fantasy Two and Fantasy Three (or Fantasy 2 and Fantasy 3) have already been confirmed. More information on this is to be announced next year.
Possible stumbling blocks in practice
Technical key data alone do not allow any reliable conclusions to be drawn about the actual (gaming) performance in practice. For example, AMD’s Vega 64 has significantly more teraflops than the Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080 (12.6 vs. 8.8), but they still achieve a very similar performance in games.
Before buying, it is therefore always important to read appropriate test reports on graphics cards such as the one on GameStar.de. How to find out whether you need a new GPU at all and what to consider when choosing a new graphics card can be found in our guide:
more on the subject
When is it really worth upgrading?
In addition to the exact architecture of a gaming graphics card, the mandatory (Windows) software in the form of the drivers is also very important. Show how difficult it is to do a good job here first tests of Intel’s DG1 graphics card from January 2021.
It is also questionable how good the graphics cards will be to buy in this country – and at what prices. When they appear in China and at what cost cannot be taken from the current reports at the same time. Appropriate information does not seem to be available yet.
Our conclusion: It is definitely exciting to see new graphics cards with respectable technical key data that do not come from AMD or Nvidia. But there are good reasons to remain skeptical for the time being, especially with a view to the local GPU market.
How do you assess the situation? Can Innosilicon become a serious competitor for Nvidia and Co, and possibly even at significantly better prices? Or will we continue to rely only on the usual suspects for graphics cards in Europey, even in the lower performance regions? Feel free to write it in the comments!
