Video Cards & GPUs News - Page 69

Yesterday we got an impressive video and breakdown of the new Cyberpunk 2077 Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode, which brings full path tracing to the game on April 11 as part of a technical preview.

The "technical preview" wording there is key, as it takes the already technically demanding (and visually impressive) Cyberpunk 2077 and gives it a cinematic makeover thanks to full ray-traced lighting. From Global Illumination (GI) to shadows, full-resolution reflections, to every direct and indirect light source in the neon-soaked Night City given the RT treatment. Shader Execution Reordering (SER), Real-Time Denoisers (NRD), and RTX Direct Illumination (RTXDI) are all being leveraged here.

As per the video, in addition to a brand-new unified pipeline to make path tracing possible in Cyberpunk 2077, the Overdrive Mode also uses DLSS 3 and Frame Generation on the GeForce RTX 40 Series to make it more than a tech demo meets slideshow. And with that, native 4K rendering for the Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode on the GeForce RTX 4090 drops to as low as 16 frames per second.

The Intel Arc range of discrete GPUs released by Intel may have had a rocky launch. Still, recent driver updates have now positioned the Intel Arc A750 as an affordable entry-level option for high-performance 1080p gaming. And with only two players in the GPU space until now (NVIDIA and AMD), a third means more competition, especially when it's a company as large as Intel.

And speaking of large, a new report at the Taiwan-based publication Commerical Times (via Tom's Hardware) notes that Intel is placing large orders for silicon for next-generation Intel Arc graphics cards at TSMC. The follow-up to the current Alchemist range is dubbed Battlemage, and these GPUs will use the TSMC 4nm process, with the next-next-gen Celestial architecture GPUs set to use the cutting-edge TSMC 3nm process.

Though, the planned launch for these GPUs will arrive later than expected, with Battlemage set to arrive in the second half of 2024 and Celestial in the second half of 2026.

Over at Videocardz.com, a leaked slide, presumably from a presentation for the new GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, confirms several things about the GPU. One of the most interesting bits of info comes under the 'Average Gaming Power' header that lists 186W as the power draw for the GeForce RTX 4070.

We can only assume this number comes from a specific set of games running at one or multiple resolutions. Still, it points to the latest GPU in the Ada Lovelace-powered GeForce RTX 40 Series being incredibly power efficient.

Although there's no performance data with this info, the slide features comparisons between the GeForce RTX 4070 and the RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3070. And with that, the RTX 4070 is presumably a higher-performing GPU alongside being more efficient. For comparison, the 'Average Gaming Power' for the RTX 3070 Ti is 240W, and for the RTX 3070, it's 215W.

Based on the current state and feedback surrounding the PC port of the iconic PlayStation title The Last of Us Part I on PC, the game will need more than an "optimized" driver release to get it into shape.

Still, AMD Software Adrenalin Edition 22.40.43.05 has been released, offering game optimizations for The Last of Us for Radeon GPU owners. The driver release looks to have been pushed out early, with AMD noting in the release notes that a subsequent AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 23.4.1 driver will be made available in the future.

And with that, optimizations for this one game look to be the extent of the latest Radeon driver update - but that makes sense. Currently, AMD is offering a free copy of The Last of Us Part I for new Radeon buyers, so it's unfortunate that the game's poor state on PC is outside of its control.

NVIDIA's RTX 4070 graphics card, which is expected to debut in April (likely in a couple of weeks), will be priced at $599 in the US, or so the latest rumor holds.

While that's not exactly affordable - far from it, really, you can still buy a whole (budget) PC for that - it's a lot less than previous speculation contended.

The GPU grapevine has been rife with mutterings about the RTX 4070 being priced as high as $750, or maybe $699, with those hoping for a $599 price tag being on the most optimistic end of the spectrum.

It looks like NVIDIA is prepping to release a range of new GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs soon, covering everything from mid-range to entry-level. With the non-Ti GeForce RTX 4070 set to arrive next month, the RTX 4060 Ti will release before the end of May, with the RTX 4060 and even the GeForce RTX 4050 set to follow.

The latter is news today, with MEGAsizeGPU stating that the desktop RTX 4050 is on track for a June release. Even though previous reports have noted that the RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4060 would launch in May, this new info puts the date for the RTX 4060 as "undecided."

The GeForce RTX 4050, like the RTX 3050 before it, will represent the entry-level model for the current Ada Lovelace generation. But, regarding the VRAM question, MEGAsizeGPU responded to a query by stating that the RTX 3050 will ship with 6GB. A step down from most Ampere-based RTX 3050 models available with 8GB, so this will undoubtedly be a point of contention if true.

A new report at Wccftech citing sources states that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti and the GeForce RTX 4060 are expected to launch in May. This follows several rumors that the GeForce RTX 4070 launch is happening on April 13. So we're only a month or so away from the bulk of the GeForce RTX 40 Series - including mainstream models - being available to purchase.

The info doesn't stop there, as the report also includes some information relating to the GPU specs, with the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti set to use the AD106-350-A1 GPU, which features 4352 CUDA Cores and 8GB of GDDR6 memory running at 18 Gbps on a 128-bit bus offering 288 GB/s of bandwidth.

The latter may sound like a massive step down over the high-end models, but the addition of 32MB of L2 cache presents a massive increase over the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti. Regarding performance, the numbers point to RTX 3070 Ti-like numbers for the RTX 4060 Ti.

The PowerColor Liquid Devil Radeon RX 7900 XTX is now available with a steep MSRP of USD 1499. But, with that, you've got AMD's flagship RDNA 3 offering with high-end water cooling designed for extreme overclocking.

And that's precisely what renowned overclocker Roman "der8auer" Hartung has done, with his latest video putting the PowerColor Liquid Devil Radeon RX 7900 XTX to the test. And yeah, as per the headline, the GPU clocks can be pushed as high as 3.2 GHz - though the result is a power draw of 650W.

As a custom GPU the PowerColor Liquid Devil Radeon RX 7900 XTX features three 8-pin connectors, a new 14-layer high TG PCB, a 17-phase VRM design, and a 2+2 phase for the 24GB VRAM. It's the sort of build designed not only for extreme overclocking without the need to go the liquid nitrogen route but also unlocking the full potential of Navi 31 and the flagship RDNA 3 GPU.

Intel is releasing new Game On Drivers for its Intel Arc range of graphics cards at a steady clip, with the latest release adding support for the Resident Evil 4 Remake on PC.

With its low price point, the Intel Arc A750 is positioned as an affordable GeForce RTX 3060 competitor. With that, the new driver update Intel showcases the 1080p and 1440p performance in Resident Evil 4 with the Arc A750 using the game's "High" settings outperforming the RTX 3060.

Even though internal benchmarks should always be taken with a grain of salt, Intel adds that at 1440p, you're looking at an impressive 74% more performance per dollar with the Intel Arc A750, and it does so with a very solid 78 frames per second.

We've all lived through the GeForce RTX 30 Series generation, where the rise of cryptocurrencies and mining drove prices up and increased scarcity for GPUs. So this new interview with The Guardian is interesting in that it sees NVIDIA publicly distance itself from something that has negatively affected the PC gaming space.

Speaking with Michael Kagan, Chief Technology Officer at NVIDIA, he explicitly states that the whole crypto boom didn't "bring anything useful for society." Of course, this statement is also born from the current AI boom where NVIDIA hardware sits at the heart of AI technology like ChatGPT.

Even though crypto led to large volumes of sales for NVIDIA and increased scarcity and availability in most markets, the company attempted to minimize the impact on desktop sales by introducing LHR or "Lite Hash Rate" technologies in models like the GeForce RTX 3060.