NVIDIA says TSMC is still primary partner for 16nm, 10nm production

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | May 10, 2015 8:36 PM CDT

Back in February, we wrote a story about NVIDIA reiterating that TSMC was its 'very important' foundry partner as it heads into the world of 16nm manufacturing.

Well, NVIDIA is back to reiterate once more that it still loves TSMC, and that it's working with the Taiwanese manufacturer on not just 16nm technology, but 10nm. Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA's CEO and co-founder said: "We are constantly evaluating foundry suppliers, ... [but] we largely purchase from TSMC, the vast majority of our wafers we buy from TSMC. We are in 20nm, we are expecting to ramp 16nm. We are deeply engaged with TSMC for many, many nodes to come, including 10nm".

This could be happening as Samsung is kicking ass with its 14nm FinFET production, but with the current legal battles between NVIDIA and Samsung, could NVIDIA be deflating the rumor balloon that it will ditch, or at least shift some production over from TSMC to Samsung in the near future? NVIDIA has added that it's not "too obsessed about the process technology", which is an interesting statement from a company that pushes the boundaries of GPU technology with each successive release.

Continue reading: NVIDIA says TSMC is still primary partner for 16nm, 10nm production (full post)

DICE announces that future Battlefield 4 DLC will be free for all

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | May 10, 2015 7:29 PM CDT

Battlefield: Hardline is out and while most of the servers are empty, Battlefield 4 is still DICE's most-played first-person shooter. Well, the developer has said that all future DLC for Battlefield 4 will be free, and not just for Premium users, but for everybody.

DICE's David Sirland has confirmed that all future content for Battlefield 4 will be free, which includes the upcoming new maps and the new Gunmaster game mode and new weapons. With a Spring patch on its way, something that will bring on the new Gunmaster game mode, five new weapons, and more, this is great news for Battlefield 4 players.

Later in the year, DICE will release a new community map which only recently entered production. Not only that, but the developer has an unannounced map remake from a previous Battlefield game that is being worked on right now, something we should hear about in the near future.

Continue reading: DICE announces that future Battlefield 4 DLC will be free for all (full post)

NVIDIA teases next-gen Pascal-based GeForce with HBM2, 14nm and more

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | May 10, 2015 1:06 AM CDT

We might be enjoying a time of total NVIDIA dominance in the VGA market with the GeForce GTX 960, GTX 970, GTX 980 and Titan X giving gamers everything they wanted, and more, but the future of GPUs is nearly upon us.

AMD is ready to launch its new Radeon R9 390X which will arrive with HBM1 technology, but NVIDIA is beginning to talk about their Pascal architecture, which should arrive sometime in 2016 as the PK100 and PK104 GPUs. Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA's CEO and co-founder, said during their latest financial report that the Pascal-based GeForce products will be arriving with HBM2, which should increase the available memory bandwidth from the ~300GB/sec or so right up to a huge 1.2TB/sec.

We have reported that AMD's next, next-gen Radeon R9 490X would use HBM2 with over 1TB/sec memory bandwidth, too. NVIDIA should be tapping some of that sweet 14nm FinFET technology by then, so the future GeForce cards will be radically smaller, cooler and insanely fast. NVIDIA is only starting to tease them now, with Huang saying: "I cannot wait to tell you about the products that we have in the pipeline. There are more engineers at NVIDIA building the future of GPUs than just about anywhere else in the world. We are singularly focused on visual computing, as you guys know".

Continue reading: NVIDIA teases next-gen Pascal-based GeForce with HBM2, 14nm and more (full post)

iPhone 7 rumored to feature 14nm A9 processor, DSLR-like rear camera

Now that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been out for close to a year, it's time to start the rumor mill on the next generation iPhone. We don't know if it will arrive as the iPhone 6S, or the iPhone 7, but from our industry sources, we are expecting the iPhone 7 to arrive later this year.

Now, onto what we will find in the iPhone 7. The next iPhone will reportedly feature an edge-to-edge display, taking up that valuable bezel that made the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus feel far, far too big. As for resolution, I think Apple will keep it at 1080p, and the screen size and physical dimensions of the iPhone 7 will also shrink.

Inside, we should find Apple's new A9 processor, which will be made by their main competitor: Samsung. Samsung will use their new 14nm FinFET technology to make Apple's custom processor, so we should expect a seriously fast dual- or quad-core processor from Apple in the iPhone 7. On the rear, rumor has it Apple will cram in a dual-lens snapper into the iPhone 7 that will provide 'DSLR-like' images. The rear-facing camera in the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge is already damn impressive, so it should be interesting to see what Apple can do.

Continue reading: iPhone 7 rumored to feature 14nm A9 processor, DSLR-like rear camera (full post)

KFA2 (Galaxy) showcases a new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 EXOC in white

Chris Smith | Video Cards & GPUs | May 9, 2015 9:12 PM CDT

KFA2 has announced its new white NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 EXOC video card to the public, boasting this new color scheme covering the shroud, fans and back plate, but not on the PCB.

Featuring a factory overlocked core at 1279 MHz, 1367 MHz GPU Boost and 7 GHz of memory, this provides a little extra boost when compared to reference speeds of 1127 and 1187 MHz respectively.

As for cooling, an aluminum fin-stack heat sink combined with 8mm thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes ensures your card stays cool. The display options include one DisplayPort 1.2 port, two DVI and a single HDMI 2.0 option.

Continue reading: KFA2 (Galaxy) showcases a new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 EXOC in white (full post)

Ubisoft calls in reinforcements for The Division from another studio

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | May 9, 2015 7:13 PM CDT

Since its inception, The Division has had three studios working on it. Massive Entertainment are leading development, while Red Storm and Reflections have been putting their long weeks and months into the open world RPG. Massive Entertainment has now partnered up with a fourth studio, Ubisoft Annecy, which will help out on all things The Division.

Managing Director of Massive Entertainment, David Polfeldt, has talked about this collaboration, where he said: "We are very happy that Ubisoft Annecy is part of The Division's family. They are highly experienced and talented developers, adding much value to the project. Being able to work with other studios offers fantastic creative opportunities during development and, in the end, strongly benefits the overall quality of the game".

Studio Manager at Ubisoft Annecy, Rebecka Coutaz, said: "The team in Annecy is delighted to be collaborating with Massive, Red Storm and Reflections on Tom Clancy's The Division. We are bringing our previous experience in multiplayer online games and this project is allowing us to build our technical knowledge in other areas and become experts on this incredible brand. The collaboration with the other studios is going very smoothly, and we're working together to ensure we meet and exceed the high expectations players have for this new title".

Continue reading: Ubisoft calls in reinforcements for The Division from another studio (full post)

Samsung releases the new Gear VR for the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge

With the Oculus Rift not shipping until the first quarter of 2016, the VR game is up in the air until HTC and Valve can get their Vive headset to the market. That is, however, unless you go for mobile VR thanks to Samsung's Gear VR headset.

The mobile giant has released its new Gear VR headset that works with the new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge handsets, versus the old Gear VR which was locked to the Galaxy Note 4 smartphone. The new Gear VR is said to be much better than the previous iteration, with a smaller 'tunnel vision' experience in some apps courtesy of the smaller 5.1-inch display found on the new S6 handsets.

The new Gear VR can be purchased from Samsung's website, or from Best Buy starting on May 15.

Continue reading: Samsung releases the new Gear VR for the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge (full post)

The PS4 and Xbox One versions of GTA V will get the Rockstar Editor

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | May 8, 2015 10:31 PM CDT

After they said that it would be a PC exclusive feature, it looks as though Rockstar Games will be releasing the Rockstar Editor for Grand Theft Auto V on the consoles.

The Rockstar Editor will not be reaching the Xbox 360 or PS3 consoles, but it will be released for the Xbox One and PS4. Rockstar is hoping to have the Editor ready this summer, or as they've put it: "as soon as it is ready", which could mean 2018. Are you excited for the Rockstar Editor? Or have you been enjoying the PC version of the game, which has it baked in already.

Continue reading: The PS4 and Xbox One versions of GTA V will get the Rockstar Editor (full post)

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter rumored for a remake

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | May 8, 2015 9:42 PM CDT

One of my biggest memories of being a younger gamer was when Turok: Dinosaur Hunter was released on the Nintendo 64 and PC back in 1997, as it had some of the slickest graphics at the time, with a huge fog of war to hide it all and get the performance up to relatively normal numbers.

Well, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is being remade by Level Designer Samuel Villarreal. Villarreal has designed levels for games like FEAR: Perseus Mandate, Section 8, Aliens: Colonial Marines (I wouldn't want that on my resume...) and he has reportedly been working on rebuilding Turok: Dinosaur Hunter in his free time.

Villarreal talked with TechRaptor, where he said: "I was originally working on remaking N64 Turok (called Turok EX) but it got put off to the side. Since now Night Dive Studios has picked up the rights to re-release it, Turok EX will resume development later this year".

Continue reading: Turok: Dinosaur Hunter rumored for a remake (full post)

Fake renders of the Radeon R9 390X tease a smaller, next-gen VGA card

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | May 8, 2015 7:04 PM CDT

According to our sources, AMD will be announcing its new Radeon R9 390X at E3 2015 in mid-June, while some of our other sources have told us that HBM yields are extremely low, so the Radeon R9 390X that features HBM will be in extremely limited availability. We have been told that AMD has some "surprises" in store for the Radeon R9 390X, which is exciting. But what about these leaked photos of the HBM-powered Radeon R9 390X? Well, let's talk about that.

The above image is reportedly photoshopped, with WCCFTech reporting that the image is "completely fake and are essentially a Photoshop recreation of the image by an artist on Chiphell forums". But for me, I don't think it's as "fake" as people think.

With AMD using High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) it will save so much room on the PCB that the usual GDDR5 takes up, and thanks to it running cooler than GDDR5, it will remove much of the last third of the PCB and associated cooling, VRMs, and more. This could give AMD the opportunity to make a shorter VGA card, but will the shorter card just be the HBM version? With our sources teasing multiple Radeon R9 390X models being released, with one being the premium HBM model, and another running GDDR5. If this happens, it's going to be good, and very bad for AMD.

Continue reading: Fake renders of the Radeon R9 390X tease a smaller, next-gen VGA card (full post)