Video Cards & GPUs News - Page 61

When NVIDIA lifted the lid on the new GeForce RTX 40 Series of GPUs - and so far, the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti is already available starting from USD 399 - we got word that the baseline mainstream GeForce RTX 4060 was set to launch sometime in July 2023.

NVIDIA is changing its plans, with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB now set to launch in late June 2023, as per insider leaks. The information comes via MEGAsizeGPU, a well-known and established leaker in the GeForce space, who said to expect the GeForce RTX 4060 in June.

The good news is that the GeForce RTX 4060 is set to launch with a price-point of USD 299, cheaper than the GeForce RTX 3060's launch price of USD 329. As far as performance is concerned, NVIDIA has already provided information noting that it will deliver a raw 20% or so bump over the GeForce RTX 3060 with the added benefit of being considerably more power efficient thanks to the new Ada Lovelace architecture as well as making full use of cutting-edge techs like DLSS 3 and Frame Generation.

When Intel introduced its new line-up of discrete Intel Arc graphics for PC gamers, it also introduced the AI-based Intel Xe Super Sampling, which is similar to NVIDIA's DLSS and AMD's FSR in that it's all about upscaling and boosting performance with minimal impact to visual fidelity.

Today comes word that XeSS (which is also compatible with non-Intel GPUs though tests showcase that it works best when leveraging Intel Arc's dedicated AI hardware) is now available in over 50 games.

The good news is that adoption for XeSS covers many popular PC titles, including the recently released Diablo IV from Blizzard and other high-profile releases like Hogwarts Legacy, Call of Duty Modern Warfare II, Returnal, and others.

Sales for discrete PC graphics cards or GPUs are in a dire state, with a new report from Jon Peddie Research stating that total AIB shipments decreased by 38.2% in Q1 2023 compared to the same quarter from last year. According to the report, this still equates to roughly 6.3 million units, down from the previous quarter's 7.16 million units.

But with new GPU releases from NVIDIA and AMD, in the form of cards like the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, the report indicates that the demand for new GPUs is historically low. Jon Peddie Research cites inflation worries, layoffs, and people buying up last-gen graphics cards sold at a discount to clear out inventory.

With the prices we've recently seen for cards in AMD's Radeon RX 6000 series, discounts in the hundreds of dollars compared to their original MSRPs, it's no wonder people are snapping up bargains. We'd wager that the overall price increases for new high-end GPUs like the GeForce RTX 4080, GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, and Radeon RX 7900 XTX have factored into lower volume.

NVIDIA's DLAA, or Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing, is an impressive bit of tech that draws on a lot of the same technology that sits at the heart of DLSS - that thing we all enable if it's an option to boost performance.

DLAA isn't about boosting performance; it doesn't take a lower-resolution image as the input. Instead, it's about leveraging AI to improve image quality at your native resolution as long as you've got the frames to spare. And in the process, it makes PC games look sharper and more detailed compared to standard anti-aliasing techniques like TAA and MSAA.

DLAA is a feature already available in several games, and like DLSS, requires GeForce RTX hardware and its AI Tensor Cores to enable - but currently, it is a separate option. Today we've got word that a DLSS update for Unreal Engine, the 3.1.13 SDK, has a new DLAA mode that will sit alongside the existing Ultra-Performance, Performance, Balanced, and Quality Modes. Apparently, it will be called 'Performance Quality Mode', which admittedly is a little confusing.

Intel Arc Graphics added a couple of new professional graphics cards to their line-up with the Intel Arc Pro A60 and Pro A60M combo for workstations. Both expand the PCIe lane usage to 16 compared to other Arc Graphics products, and they support up to 12GB of VRAM with 384 GB/s of memory bandwidth - another step up over the current Arc line-up.

They're not only the fastest Arc workstation solutions that Intel offers, and the Intel Arc Pro A60 is single-slot slim too. Specs-wise the Arc Pro A60 features 16 Xe Cores, 256 EUs, 16 RT units, 256 matrix engines, and 12GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus. The mobile-focused Pro A60M reduces memory capacity to 8GB on a 128-bit bus.

Compared to the consumer-based Arc graphics, these new workstation models increase the dedicated AI Xe Matrix Extensions (XMX) engines and even the hardware ray-tracing units. Like their discrete desktop counterparts, they support full AV1 encoding, high dynamic range (HDR), and Dolby Vision output support.

AMD's RX 7600 graphics card is outperforming NVIDIA's RTX 4060 Ti in terms of sales, and by a good margin, if the latest gossip from the grapevine is right.

Well-known YouTube leaker Moore's Law is Dead (MLID) has a new video out that will not make pleasant viewing for NVIDIA, claiming that the RTX 4060 Ti is floundering out there right now. (Something early price cuts point to, as well).

One of the leaker's most trusted sources, who is apparently 'deep' within the supply chain, informed MLID that overall, this mid-range GPU head-to-head was a relatively modest launch globally for both AMD and NVIDIA.

An RTX 4060 graphics card has been spotted at Computex, with this model coming from MSI.

It's the first sighting of an RTX 4060 that we've been treated to - the vanilla version due to debut in July, as opposed to the RTX 4060 Ti, which is already out - although it doesn't bring any surprises.

By which we mean that the MSI Ventus 2X Black OC looks pretty much like the same take on that model with the RTX 4060 Ti (it's a compact board with dual fans, designed to fit well in a smaller PC case).

Walking through the halls, meeting rooms, and off-site presentation suites at Computex 2023, one thing was made clear - at least in the world of DIY gaming PCs - all-white components are hot right now. Like, so much so that you'd think that's all there is now.

From the chassis to the system fans to the motherboard, memory, and of course, the GPU.

Sitting down with Inno3D, we immediately noticed a wall full of brand-new white GPUs on the way from the company, from the flagship GeForce RTX 4090 X3 OC WHITE edition to the brand-new GeForce RTX 4060 Ti X3 iCHILL WHITE and GeForce RTX 4060 Ti TWIN X2 OC WHITE.

NVIDIA has joined the growing club of tech companies that are worth over $1 trillion.

Reuters reports that the company is the first chipmaker to hit this valuation, driven forward by its progress on the AI front, and the fact that artificial intelligence has become such a massive focus for, well, pretty much everyone of late.

The sting in the tail, as Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, points out, is that there will be 'significant pressure' to live up to this valuation, and likely a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the share price to come if NVIDIA stumbles at all.

Look at any high-end GPU release for the past four or five years and have undoubtedly noticed that they got bigger, thicker, and heavier. GPU sag has become such a thing that brackets usually come packed in with brand-new GPU releases as standard.

This is something that hardware makers have noticed too, and MSI has heard the feedback loud and clear; people would like to see thinner, sleeker, and more GPUs that can fit in smaller form-factor cases and on desks with limited space. And with that in mind, it's creating a new range of GeForce RTX 40 Series cards based on its popular and critically acclaimed Gaming X series, called the Gaming X Slim.

Starting with the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Gaming X Slim (which is available first), the new Gaming X Slim range will cover the entire 40 Series line-up - including the GeForce RTX 4080, 4090, 4060 Ti, and the upcoming 4060. All are on track for release this year too, and we had the opportunity to look at the new RTX 4070 Ti Gaming X Slim at Computex 2023.