Graphics Core Next

In computer graphics and integrated circuit design, the Graphics Core Next (GCN) is the a series of microarchitectures for graphics processing units developed by AMD, as the successor to its TeraScale microarchitecture. The first product featuring GCN was launched on January 9, 2012. While both the GCN and TeraScale's instruction sets are single instruction multiple data (SIMD), GCN processors are reduced instruction set computers (RISC), contrasting its predecessor's very long instruction word (VLIW)-based design. The switch to RISC mandates a considerable increase in transistor count than TeraScale, but alleviates the complexity involved in generating VLIW instructions that takes fuller advantages of hardware resources, allowing for simpler compilers and easier software optimization. The RISC design also allows GCN processors to perform general-purpose computing (GPGPU). GCN graphics chips were fabricated with CMOS at 28 nm, and with FinFET at 14 nm (by Samsung Electronics and GlobalFoundries) and 7 nm (by TSMC), available on selected models in AMD's Radeon HD 7000, HD 8000, 200, 300, 400, 500 and Vega series of graphics cards, including the separately released Radeon VII. GCN was also used in the graphics portion of Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), including those in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. GCN was succeeded by the RDNA microarchitecture and instruction set architecture for consumer GPUs in 2019, and the CDNA microarchitecture for data center GPUs in 2020.