Video Cards & GPUs News - Page 1

AMD's Radeon RX 6500 XT is an entry-level budget option for those looking to get into PC gaming without breaking the bank. The card and model are a few years old now, and with reference specs of 4GB of GDDR6 memory at 18 Gb/s on a 64-bit interface, it's not exactly something we could recommend in 2024.

That is, until now. Sort of. ASRock has launched a brand-new Radeon RX 6500 XT variant with the ASRock Radeon RX 6500 XT Phantom Gaming 8GB OC (RX6500XT PG 8GO). As the name suggests, this variant increases the VRAM capacity to 8GB, making it far more useful for playing modern titles at 1080p with low to medium settings.

Outside of the memory, you've got the same Navi 24 GPU, albeit with a boost to the out-of-the-box Boost Clock to 2825 MHz. Double the memory and an overclocked GPU? It sounds great for a GPU that retails for $169.99 USD (which is substantially lower in price than the entry-level GeForce RTX 3050 from the same generation). However, there is a catch.

AMD is running a new promotion for those who pick up a new MD Radeon RX 7800 XT or Radeon RX 7700 XT graphics card before August 17, 2024. The 'Why We Game' promo offers new Radeon GPU owners their pick of two games from a solid list of blockbuster titles: Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Starfield, Lies of P, and Company of Heroes 3.

AMD notable a promotion last year for the launch of Starfield, so being able to pick up two complimentary games with an eligible GPU purchase does add value to both the Radeon RX 7800 XT and Radeon RX 7700 XT - to the tune of around $100 USD when you factor in the cost of two games.

The promotion kicked off this week, so if you've been on the fence about what mid-range GPU to buy for 1440p gaming, this could make that decision much easier. Several models for both Radeon GPUs are sold at or slightly below MSRP. The Radeon RX 7700 XT probably presents the best value, as it can be picked up for under $400 USD.

NVIDIA's next-generation flagship GeForce RTX 5090 has some new leaked specs, with the GB202 GPU configuration being leaked onto X by kopite7kimi:

GB202 is going to be an absolute freaking beast, offering 33% more CUDA cores than the AD102 GPU inside of the GeForce RTX 4090, with GB202 rumored to pack in an incredible 24,576 CUDA cores. AD102 has just 18,423 CUDA cores in comparison. GB202 will power the new ultra-enthusiast flagship GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card, which is rumored to have a monster 512-bit memory bus with ultra-fast, next-generation GDDR7 memory.

SK hynix is far ahead of its HBM competitors, but they're simultaneously behind their GDDR7 memory competitors, where the South Korean memory giant won't have GDDR7 memory ready until Q1 2024.

The last time we heard about SK hynix's GDDR7 memory was back at NVIDIA's GTC 2024 event (GPU Technology Conference) where we saw GDDR7 modules at 16-24Gb, up to 40Gbps speeds, and up to 160GB/sec memory bandwidth per module. The baseline of GDDR7 memory is 32Gbps and 128GB/sec bandwidth per module, so SK hynix has a rather nice 25% bandwidth improvement for future variations of GDDR7 memory.

Last week at Computex 2024, SK hynix said that its GDDR7 memory will enter mass production in Q1 2025, which should be after NVIDIA launches its GeForce RTX 5090 and GeForce RTX 5080 graphics cards. If mass production is coming in Q1 2025, then we should expect that SK hynix is already sampling customers (namely NVIDIA) right now.

NVIDIA has a fleet of next-gen Blackwell-based GeForce RTX 50 Laptop GPUs on the way, with new leaks suggesting we'll see 6 different variants, codenamed GN22.

The new leaks are coming from a hacking group that is interested in Clevo laptops, leaking out 6 x RTX 50 Laptop GPU variants codenamed X11, X9, X7, X6, X4, and X2: from fastest, to slowest. The two boards are being designed by Clevo as "GN22 Board 1" and "GN22 Board 2" which will house 3 individual SKUs of RTX 50 Laptop GPU.

According to the leaks, we can expect "GN22-X11" with 16GB of GDDR7 memory and "GN22-X9" also featuring 16GB of GDDR7 memory, while "GN22-X7" will sport 12GB of GDDR7 memory. Each of these RTX 50 series Laptop GPUs will be made onto Clevo's upcoming "GN22 Board 1".

NVIDIA's next-generation GeForce RTX 50 series "Blackwell" GPU configurations have been leaked: we now have the skinny on the GB202, GB203, GB205, GB206, and GB207 GPUs.

In a new post on X by leaker "kopite7kimi" we're learning that the flagship GB202 GPU -- the one that will power the GeForce RTX 5090 flagship graphics card -- will reportedly have a massive 512-bit memory bus, powered by ultra-fast, next-generation GDDR7 memory. GB202 will reportedly have 24,576 CUDA cores, which is a 33% increase of CUDA cores inside of AD102, the GPU that powers the RTX 4090.

AMD didn't talk about its next-generation RDNA 4 GPU architecture at Computex 2024 last week, but we know it's coming... and now we've got some Navi 48 XTX graphics cards that have been spotted in a new shipping manifest.

NVIDIA will have its powerful next-gen Blackwell-based GeForce RTX 5090 and GeForce RTX 5080 graphics cards later this year, which will be the new flagship gaming GPUs to buy... but the market under that, is what AMD is aiming at this generation. RDNA 5 will hopefully mark the return to the high-end GPU business for AMD, for now... Navi 44 and Navi 48 are coming.

Sure, we didn't get any official confirmation on when we can expect to see the GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5090, but word around Computex was that NVIDIA's next-gen GPU hardware was on track for an end-of-2024 launch. This is worth remembering because even though we got to see two very cool and unique GPU designs for the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER and RTX 4090 from MSI, odds are these designs are for next-gen cards.

First, there's the new GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT FUZION, which looks like the brand-new Founder Edition-style GPU we reviewed earlier this year when NVIDIA launched the RTX 4080 SUPER. It's a fantastic all-metal and minimal design. In EXPERT FUZION form, it's a little thicker (not by much) as it features an integrated 'Liquid-cooled Hybrid System' with a low-profile AIO-style pump.

Paired with the push and pull design of the new EXPERT Series from MSI, aluminum shell, custom fans, and copper baseplate, it's all about offering the benefit of liquid cooling without the need for a waterblock and external radiator. It's an impressive design that we assume will become part of the GeForce RTX 50 Series.

The switch to the new 12VHPWR or 12V-2X6 power connector standard for modern GPUs (specifically NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 40 Series) was a rocky transition, to say the least. For the high-end flagship GeForce RTX 4090, which draws up to 450W (that can be pushed higher), a steady stream of reported melted power connectors fusing with a GPU's PCB led to multiple investigations and even a redesign of the connector for the SUPER Series.

The cable melting issue might not be in the headlines every single day like it was back when the GeForce RTX 40 Series launched, but it's still an issue and something to be concerned about.

This makes the new WireVew PRO device we saw at Computex 2024 one of the most innovative little gadgets (especially for enthusiasts, reviewers, and overclockers). It's a simple monitoring device designed to mitigate issues relating to 12VHPWR or 12V-2X6 power connectors.

AMD might not have unveiled its next-gen RDNA 4 GPU architecture at Computex 2024 last week, but Radeon AIB partner PowerColor had an awesome concept Radeon graphics card with a built-in AI NPU that reduces power consumption by up to 20%.

The NPU (Neural Processing Unit) is something we've seen on Intel's current-gen Core Ultra 100 series "Meteor Lake" CPUs, a growing amount of AMD Ryzen CPUs -- and their upcoming Zen 5-based CPUs and APUs -- but now we're seeing graphics cards that will eventually have an NPU inside using AI to do their magic.

PowerColor was using a custom AI NPU chip on a concept graphics card at Computex 2024, separate to the GPU itself, which is capable of adjusting power consumption and fan profiles on-the-fly, reducing power consumption by up to (an impressive) 20% without much of a performance hit (not that you'll notice it at super high FPS, anyway).