AMD partners up with companies for FreeSync monitors, due in Q1 2015

Anthony Garreffa | Displays & Projectors | Sep 21, 2014 2:24 AM CDT

NVIDIA is finally entering the market with multiple G-SYNC monitors, with 1080p, 1440p and 4K-powered G-SYNC monitors, but AMD is nowhere to be seen with its Project FreeSync technology. The company has just announced it is collaborating with MStar, Novatek and Realtek to build the scalar units that are required by the FreeSync-powered monitors.

Where NVIDIA's G-SYNC technology requires propietary licensed hadware in your monitor, as well as a GeForce GPU, AMD's FreeSync technology has no communications overhead, as it "does not need to poll or wait on the display in order to determine when it's safe to send the next frame to the monitor". AMD will be building FreeSync support into specific Radeon GPUs, with the new FreeSync-powered monitors hitting the market early 2015.

According to AMD's CVP of Graphics Business Unit, Matt Skynner, the FreeSync monitors will arrive with "lower prices and wider adoption" than its competitors' gaming monitor technology. Vice President of Realtek, Yee-Wei Huang, has said that customers in the channel are "really excited about AMD's FreeSync technology" and reiterates that "adopting the DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync industry standard by VESA is the best approach" in order to provide gamers with smooth, stutter-free gaming experiences. We should expect the first wave of FreeSync-powered monitors to be offered in three resolutions, with multiple display sizes, featuring 1920x1080, 2560x1440 and of course, 3840x2160 or 4K.

Continue reading: AMD partners up with companies for FreeSync monitors, due in Q1 2015 (full post)

AMD teams with Synopsys IP for 14/16nm APU/GPU products, teases 10nm

Anthony Garreffa | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Sep 21, 2014 12:47 AM CDT

AMD has announced a new multi-year agreement with Synopsys IP that will see the chipmaker receiving a slew of Synopsys DesignWare intellectual property on its advanced 16/14nm technologies, as well as its upcoming 10nm FinFET technology. AMD will be handing over specific IP and engineering resources to the company. Considering NVIDIA just catapulted it's more-than-impressive GeForce GTX 900 series, there's never been a better time for AMD to partner up with someone who can handle the move to smaller processes.

The agreement sees AMD securing interface, memory compiler, logic library and analog IP from Synopsys, where it will use these technologies to create future generations of its chips on the 14nm and 16nm FinFET manufacturing process, eventually moving onto the 10nm process down the track. Synopsys will reportedly hire around 150 of AMD's IP & R&D engineers and receive access to AMD's leading interface and foundation IP. AMD will be saving money with this deal, but provides some holes in its resources, while Synopsys is only gaining from this deal.

If you've never heard of Synopsys, they are a leading power in silicon-proven IP for advance process technologies, with the company helping chip designers on a broad range of high-end IP for integration into system-on-chips, or SoCs, as well as delivering expert technical support. This power allows companies like AMD to come to them, in order to save money on pumping into their own R&D. But, AMD still packs a punch when it comes to the complex IP used in advanced microprocessors and GPUs. AMD will gain silicon-proven IP for its chips over the coming years, while handing over interface and foundation IP, as well as engineers to Synopsys, something the company explains will give it the ability to "focus its valuable engineering resources on its ongoing product differentiation and IP reuse strategy".

Continue reading: AMD teams with Synopsys IP for 14/16nm APU/GPU products, teases 10nm (full post)

Oculus unveils Crescent Bay VR headset, 360-degree tracking, and more

Oculus Connect is currently underway in Los Angeles, with Oculus VR announcing the latest prototype of the Rift, known as Crescent Bay. Crescent Bay features numerous improvements and new tricks even over the just-released, and still-shipping Rift DK2 unit, such as 360-degree head tracking.

Not only do we have 360-degree head tracking (which is done by having sensors on the back of your head, something completely new), but we have a higher resolution screen (no exact numbers, but most reports and hands-on use point to it being better than Samsung's Gear VR which uses the QHD or 2560x1440 panel from the Galaxy Note 4), lower latency, and a built-in headset.

Crescent Bay has been working out, dropping a little weight, with Oculus providing improved ergonomics so it feels better when wearing it, and with the integrated audio, 3D audio can now be something big thanks to Oculus' collaboration with licensed technology from the University of Maryland, and RealSP. Oculus' Brendan Iribe explains: "We're working on audio as aggressively as we're working on the vision side". For the various reports on the latest VR headset from Oculus, most have said that it is much closer to what is expected from CV1 (the first consumer, or retail Rift).

Continue reading: Oculus unveils Crescent Bay VR headset, 360-degree tracking, and more (full post)

Microsoft throws another 2100 employees out the window

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Sep 19, 2014 5:24 AM CDT

Microsoft has announced today that it is cutting 14% of its total workforce, or 2100 jobs. From those 2100 employees who are now out of jobs, 747 of them are from the Washington state, with the remaining jobs lost from Microsoft's other locations across the world.

It was only a few months ago that the Redmond-based giant cut a total of 18,000 jobs, with 12,500 of those jobs being cut from the recently-acquired handset and services division from Nokia. At the time, CEO Nadella said that he wanted to get Microsoft in better shape, with the reductions required in order to properly integrate Nokia's services and devices teams into the company. The cuts were to both professional, and factory workers.

We should see Microsoft feeling pre-tax chargers of $1.1 billion to $1.6 billion over the next year, with $750 million to $800 million for severance and related benefit costs, and then $350 to $800 million for asset-related charges.

Continue reading: Microsoft throws another 2100 employees out the window (full post)

Amazon shells out $4.5 million to purchase .buy domain, beats Google

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Sep 19, 2014 2:36 AM CDT

As soon as new top level domains (TDLs) are created, the massive Internet giants jump on them instantly, throwing millions of dollars in order to own them. This has just happened with a bidding war between Amazon and Google, fighting for the rights of new TDLs, including .buy, .tech, and .VIP.

Google bet on all three of the new TDLs, but Amazon beat them for .buy, throwing up $4.5 million. Dot Tech paid $6.7 million for the .tech domain, with .VIP going to Minds + Machines for $3 million. Google walked away with nothing, but the company is showing interest in as many as 100 TDLs, so their time will come.

ICANN auctions off the domains, with the organization responsible for coordinating and maintaining the domain names. ICANN is set to throw up a slew of new domains before the end of the year.

Continue reading: Amazon shells out $4.5 million to purchase .buy domain, beats Google (full post)

NVIDIA is powering Far Cry 4 with HBAO+, God Rays, Fur and much more

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Sep 19, 2014 12:00 AM CDT

NVIDIA Editor's Day 2014 - Ubisoft is a very close partner of NVIDIA, with the hardware giant helping the software giant in most of its games, including the soon-to-be-released Far Cry 4. In Monterey Bay last week, we were greeted with an early peek at the GeForce GTX 980, as well as a slew of games, one of which was Far Cry 4.

We found out that Far Cry 4 will be utilizing a bunch of NVIDIA technologies, with an injection of features that will ensure that the PC version of Far Cry 4 will stand far and away from the console versions, current-generation consoles included. We have HBAO+, PCSS, TXAA, God Rays, Fur, and Enhanced 4K Support, as well as NVIDIA's just-announced MFAA, DSR and much more.

Starting with HBAO+ or horizon-based ambient occlusion, a technology that improves on ambient occlusion, which provides a much more realistic shadow around objects that occlude rays of light.

Continue reading: NVIDIA is powering Far Cry 4 with HBAO+, God Rays, Fur and much more (full post)

The Matrix meets FEAR in Epic Games' VR demo 'Car Flip'

NVIDIA Editor's Day 2014 - There were two stations to play with the Oculus Rift and Maxwell-powered GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 GPUs at NVIDIA's Editor's Day 2014, with the first being the EVE: Valkyrie station, and the second Epic Games' "Car Flip" VR demo. It's hard to explain, so watch the video below.

As you can see, it's an on-rails VR demo that plays out in slow motion, with a blend of 'The Matrix' meets 'F.E.A.R.'. It was one of the more impressive demos I've witnessed, and while there's nothing you can do during the game with it being on-rails, the experience is like nothing else. Watching bullets fly past you makes you feel like you're in The Matrix, and watching the explosions take place in front of you while the car flips over you, is simply awesome, there's no other word to explain it.

Continue reading: The Matrix meets FEAR in Epic Games' VR demo 'Car Flip' (full post)

EVE: Valkyrie shown off on the Oculus Rift with GeForce GTX 980 SLI

NVIDIA Editor's Day 2014 - After the top press in the world heard about the new GeForce GTX 900 series, and its more-than-impressive Maxwell architecture, the demo room was open for a few hours for us to all go have play around in. One of the demos that I simply had to try was EVE: Valkyrie, on the Oculus Rift DK2, powered by NVIDIA's new Maxwell-powered GeForce GTX 980 GPUs, in SLI.

You can see the video above, a tour of the various demos, toward the end we check out the EVE: Valkyrie setup - with four PCs running GeForce GTX 980 SLI, and the Oculus Rift DK2.

The four PCs filled with various media playing around in the deep space of EVE: Valkyrie.

Continue reading: EVE: Valkyrie shown off on the Oculus Rift with GeForce GTX 980 SLI (full post)

NVIDIA has over 200 million gamers using its GeForce products

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Sep 18, 2014 10:30 PM CDT

NVIDIA Editor's Day 2014 - NVIDIA has now officially launched its new Maxwell-based GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 GPUs, but at its Editor's Day event last week in the beautiful Monterey Bay, California, the company reiterated its stance on PC gaming.

The company has said that out of the 330 million or so PC gamers in the world, around 200 million of those game on GeForce GPUs, which is a huge number of gamers on NVIDIA hardware. One of the driving forces behind this, is that PC gaming is now considered a sport, thanks to eSports titles like League of Legends, StarCraft and many more.

The amount of eSports tournaments has grown considerably from 2000, where only 10 tournaments took place, to 279 in 2008. Between 2008 and 2012, that number has grown exponentially, to 1151 eSports tournaments last year. Professional eSports gamers are making some serious cash, and there are more people than ever tuning into live streams, with 40,000+ in live attendance at some of these events.

Continue reading: NVIDIA has over 200 million gamers using its GeForce products (full post)

ZOTAC unveils a slew of new GeForce GTX 900 series GPUs

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Sep 18, 2014 10:07 PM CDT

NVIDIA has officially launched its Maxwell-based GeForce GTX 900 series, with ZOTAC out of the gate with a bunch of new GTX 980 and GTX 970 GPUs. First off, we have three versions of each: Standard, AMP! Omega, and AMP! Extreme.

Starting with the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 980 Standard, we have the stock Core and Boost Clocks of 1126MHz and 1216MHz, respectively. The 4GB of GDDR5 RAM is clocked at 7010MHz, with the reference cooler, and the usual three DisplayPort outputs, one HDMI 2.0 and dual-link DVI port. Moving onto the AMP! Omega edition, which cranks the Core Clock to 1202MHz, and Boost to 1304MHz.

We have the Memory clock up to 7046MHz, the same 4GB of GDDR5, identical display outputs, but the "Dual-fan IceStorm" cooler. Finally, the AMP! Extreme which doesn't have Core, Boost or Memory Clock speeds revealed yet, but we do know it comes with a sexy-sounding "Triple-fan IceStorm" cooler, so expect the clocks on this GPU to be much higher. All three cards have the same number of CUDA cores, sitting at 2048.

Continue reading: ZOTAC unveils a slew of new GeForce GTX 900 series GPUs (full post)

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