Graphics Cards - Page 138

Intel's new Arc Alchemist desktop graphics card has been pictured once again, with Tom from Moore's Law is Dead showing us actual, real photos of the flagship Intel Arc Alchemist graphics card.

These new pictures of the Intel Arc Alchemist graphics card could be in pre-production state, or it might be the final design of the reference card we'll see in 2022, or we might not see it at all and this is all smoke and mirrors and free marketing for Intel and its Arc GPUs.

However, since we now have both rumored pictures, renders and now real photos of the Intel Arc Alchemist, comparisons can be made. The new photos of the card here today have a black PCB and silver shrout, compared to the previous teases with a green PCB and black shroud. No power changes have been made, with a single 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe power connector setup.

NVIDIA has released its new GeForce 496.49 WHQL drivers which are Game Ready for some of the very latest, and greatest games for the last few months of the year.

The new GeForce 496.49 WHQL drivers have Game Ready support for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, Battlefield 2042 Early Access, Call of Duty: Vanguard, Chivalry 2, Forza Horizon 5, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition, Jurassic World Evolution 2, and Riders Republic.

NVIDIA is also adding in support for 6 new G-SYNC Compatible displays that provide VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) support. These monitors include 2 from AOC 24G2W1G4 and AOC AG274QS3R1B+, 3 from ASUS in the XG27AQM, VG32AQ1LA, and XG249CM, and then 1 from MSI with the MPG321QRF-QD. All of these monitors now have VRR between 60-165Hz on the MSI, 48-270Hz depending on the ASUS model, and 48-170Hz depending on the AOC model.

AMD has announced its new Accelerated Data Center Premiere Virtual Event for November 8, 2021 -- barely 2 weeks away, where we should be introduced to the next-gen Instinct MI250 accelerator, and new EPYC Milan-X processors.

We should be introduced to the first multi-chip module design (MCM) GPU which will come in the form of the new AMD Instinct MI250X and MI250 accelerators, rocking the codename Aldebaran GPU. We only heard a couple of days ago that the Instinct MI250X would feature an MCM GPU with 110 Compute Units (CUs) and 128GB of super-fast HBM2e memory.

Not only will AMD introduce the MCM-based Aldebaran GPU, but also the next-gen EPYC Milan-X CPU which will reportedly offer up to 64 cores and 128 threads on the Zen 3 architecture. 64C/128T on Zen 3 + 280W TDP and a gigantic, mind-blowing 768MB of L3 cache.

Intel is still at least 6 months away from releasing its Xe-based Arc Alchemist graphics card, but with no idea on pricing, we have to go by their competitors' hyper-inflated alternate-reality GPU pricing that we are having to, unfortunately, get used to.

Anyway, Intel's new Arc Alchemist GPU pricing was teased during the Xe-HPG Scavenger Hunt, where prizes in the scavenger hunt include 2 x graphics cards based on the "Premium" and "Performance" tiers of Intel's new Arc graphics cards. These cards are priced with an estimated value of $800 and $600, which gives us an idea of MSRP pricing for at least 2 of Intel's upcoming Arc GPUs.

Intel's new flagship Arc Alchemist GPU is expected to pack 512 Execution Units and 4096 Shading Units, joined by 16GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit memory bus and GPU clocks of around 2.2GHz to 2.5GHz and a 225-250W TDP. We should see the premium Intel GPU it's eluding to here in the Xe-HPG Scavenger Hunt to be the Intel Arc a170, while the Performance tier GPU would be the Arc a150.

If you want the craziest crypto mining GPU then you should have your sights, and credit card, set on NVIDIA's new flagship CMP 170HX.

NVIDIA's new CMP (or Crypto Mining Processor) range is led by the flagship CMP 170HX, which has just popped up for sale by Dubai retailer Vipera, which has 238 of NVIDIA's new CMP 170HX crypto mining GPUs in stock and costs $4695. NVIDIA's flagship CMP 170HX was also spotted on a Yahoo auction in Japan, where it was even more expensive: $5285.

Inside, the NVIDIA CMP 170HX has a GPU built on the 7nm process, 4480 CUDA cores, 280 TMUs, and 128 ROPs. There's 8GB of HBM2e memory on a 4096-bit memory bus, with an insane 1.493TB/sec of memory bandwidth. But when it comes to crypto mining, the NVIDIA CMP 170HX is a beast that offers 164MH/s of ETH mining performance, all from a single GPU.

AMD is working on some next-generation Instinct accelerators with the new MI250 and MI250X, which will both be based on the new Aldebaran GPU and the new CDNA 2 architecture.

Well, we have some new details on the new Aldebaran GPU and the MI250X which will feature an MCM GPU (multi-chip module) with 110 Compute Units (CUs) and a huge 128GB of super-fast HBM2e memory. The news is coming from leaker ExecutableFix on Twitter.

AMD's new Instinct MI250X will have its MCM GPUs made on the 7nm process node by TSMC and offer GPU clocks of up to 1.7GHz and some truly crazy compute performance numbers. We're looking at 383 TFLOPs of FP16 compute performance, which is compared to the 185 TFLOPs of the previous-gen CDNA 1-based Instinct MI100 accelerator.

NVIDIA has just introduced a new GeForce NOW cloud gaming membership tier, which joins the Free and Priority memberships as the new RTX 3080 membership.

The new RTX 3080 membership unlocks up to 1440p resolution and 120FPS refresh rate on the PC and Mac, and even up to 4K HDR at 60FPS through the SHIELD TV. You will of course need a 120Hz-capable display to enjoy the 120FPS fed to you over the cloud, but if you've got it... NVIDIA can now give it to you: up to 1440p 120FPS on GeForce NOW.

NVIDIA is using GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards to power the new streaming service, with each GeForce NOW SuperPOD packing over 1000 x GPUs that have 39 petaflops of performance. For those who sign up for the new GeForce NOW RTX 3080 membership, each of the RTX 3080 cloud gaming PCs are powered by an AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO CPU, 28GB of DDR4-3200 RAM and PCIe 4.0 SSDs.

AMD and Microsoft revealed their collaborative limited edition graphics card, with the introduction of the awesomely-styled Radeon RX 6900 XT Halo Infinite Limited Edition graphics card.

But now Razer has announced they have a legendary giveaway during their Razer Con 2021 event, with their partners in Xbox, AMD, and Halo giving away 10 of the new AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT Halo Infinite Edition graphics cards. There are only 117 of the cards being made, so Razer having 10 of them to give away is actually a big deal.

Razer explains in a follow-up tweet: "Prepare for battle and get a chance to win simply by sharing and tuning in to our stream now. From now till November 15, be sure to keep a lookout at https://rzr.to/halo-giveaway for daily opportunities to score yourself one of these super exclusive graphics cards and more".

NVIDIA is no stranger to custom graphics card releases with the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Cyberpunk 2077 Edition graphics card, but now AMD is joining the fray with a collaboration with Microsoft on the new Radeon RX 6900 XT Halo Infinite Limited Edition graphics card, check it out:

The new AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT Halo Infinite Limited Edition graphics card was an engineering partnership between AMD and Microsoft, with Microsoft working with AMD to get performance optimizations for older, right through to ultra-high-end systems.

When it comes down to the new Radeon RX 6900 XT Halo Infinite Limited Edition graphics card, AMD engineers worked closely to optimize performance on AMD Ryzen CPUs, as well as letting Halo Infinite -- Microsoft's new flagship game for Xbox -- shine on the Radeon RX 6900 XT. The engineers at AMD have "developed incredible driver updates that deliver massive improvements in frame time performance throughout areas of the game's campaign mode".

NVIDIA is expected to unleash the new performance champion GPU in Q1 2022, with the introduction of the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti or GeForce RTX 3090 SUPER graphics card... with some new rumors to join the pile.

According to the very latest rumors from Tom @ Moore's Law is Dead: "most of my best sources: yeah, it exists right now (the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, or GeForce RTX 3090 SUPER) but I can't believe they're going to launch this". But now Tom has another source that has confirmed the existence of the new GeForce RTX 3090 Ti.

This new source has revealed that NVIDIA is indeed planning to launch a new GeForce GPU with 450W of power at the ready in Q1 2022. Tom says that OEMs are preparing the new GeForce RTX 3090 Ti or GeForce RTX 3090 SUPER as a "direct competitor" to AMD's highly-binned Navi 21 XTXH-based Radeon RX 6900 XT Liquid Cooled Edition graphics cards.

SK hynix has just announced that it is the first in the industry to successfully develop HBM3 -- or High Bandwidth Memory 3 -- the world's fastest DRAM.

HBM3 will have vertically connected DRAM chips that will have up to 819GB/sec of memory bandwidth, up from the 460GB/sec on HBM2E and 410GB/sec from HBM2. SK hynix will also have the largest capacity VRAM with 16GB and 24GB HBM3, with SK hynix noting that its engineers ground the height of a DRAM chip to approximately 30 micrometer, which is the "equivalent to a third of an A4 paper's thickness" before vertically stacking 12 chips using through-silicon via (TSV) technology.

Note: TSV is an interconnecting technology that links the upper and lower DRAM chips with electrode that vertically passes through thousands of fine holes on DRAM chips.

Intel is well aware of the GPU shortage right now, sitting on the sidelines and seeing AMD and NVIDIA suffer what they know is an inevitability in 2022: graphics cards being hard, or impossible to find.

We know that AMD is expecting silicon shortages until the second half of 2022 at the least, with more expensive CPUs and GPUs than ever before unfortunately. NVIDIA hasn't said much about their GPU supply moving into 2022, but we should expect it to suck just as bad as it does now.

Intel is now talking about GPU supply, with chief architect and senior vice president of Intel's architecture, graphics and software division Raja Koduri explaining: "We'll be coming in as a third player. I'll always be very cautious, when the demand is so high and when the market is so hard. I can always use more supply. So I'm not going to say I have enough supply in this high-demand market. I think every one of my competitors will say the same thing right now".

A very hot fresh new rumor has me scratching my head, with NVIDIA reportedly preparing a new GeForce RTX 3080 refresh with a tweaked GPU and more VRAM.

NVIDIA is reportedly refreshing the GeForce RTX 3080 with a new model that uses the GA102-220 GPU, and 12GB of GDDR6X memory. The original GeForce RTX 3080 has 10GB of GDDR6X and the upgraded GeForce RTX 3080 Ti has 12GB of GDDR6X, so the new GeForce RTX 3080 with 12GB of GDDR6X is going to find itself in an interesting position.

First off, what will it be called? NVIDIA already has the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, so maybe we'll see this card become the GeForce RTX 3080 SUPER.

NVIDIA has just released its new GeForce Game Ready 496.13 WHQL drivers, which include Game Ready support for a few of the very latest and greatest games.

The new GeForce Game Ready 496.13 WHQL drivers include Game Ready Driver support for Back 4 Blood, which when used with DLSS will super-boost your performance by up to 46% when gaming at 4K. You'll also receive the very latest support for the Crysis Remastered Trilogy, and Buldar's Gate 3, both of which have DLSS.

There's also Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider updates for DLSS, providing the latest version of DLSS that will both increase the graphics quality and performance.

We have been through all of this crypto mining gimp debacle with NVIDIA, which resulted in what we have now: Lite Hash Rate (LHR) cards with crypto mining gimps built in.

Well, Intel isn't playing that game -- the company has come out and said that its first Arc series GPUs will not be gimped for crypto mining. Intel's own Roger Chandler said that the company will not be gimping their Arc GPUs out of the box for crypto mining.

Handler explained: "As far as like software lockouts and things of that nature, we're not designing this product or building any features at this point that specifically target miners. As far as actions we're taking to avoid or lock them out, it's a product that will be in the market and people will be able to buy it. It's not a priority for us".

Anyone that regularly reads TweakTown and my GPU content will know that I'm a big fan of DLSS, and while it wasn't perfect with DLSS 1.0, it sure as hell is a great addition to GeForce RTX graphics cards with DLSS 2.0 and its improvements after v2.0 hit.

But now, now we have NVIDIA and its Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology powering over 120 games and apps, with 10 more games coming in October 2021 alone. One of the big ones is Back 4 Blood, which has DLSS support and adds up to 46% more performance.

DLSS is also super-powering Baldur's Gate 3 that was just launched, with an astonishing 88% increase in performance at 4K which can see the mid-range GeForce RTX 3060 Ti pushing 4K 60FPS+ in Baldur's Gate 3 thanks to DLSS. On top of that, we have the Crysis Remastered Trilogy which launches on October 15, which will have NVIDIA DLSS and ray-traced reflections, as well as enhanced textures, models, lighting and environments that will ensure the PC versions of the games are the best.

GPU prices are pretty crazy right now and I'm sure you know all about it, but they've hit 6-month highs according to the latest pricing data.

The folks over at 3DCenter have compiled some considerable pricing and availability on AMD Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards in Europe, with prices up big time. NVIDIA GeForce GPU pricing is up 70% while AMD Radeon GPU pricing is up over 74% MSRP.

GPU prices have been steadily coming down in Europe and other parts of the world since May 2021, but this is pushing into an upward trend right now and sees GPU pricing at a 6-month high. GPU supply is also looking healthier this month than it was in September, which is nice to see.

PCIe 5.0 is right around the corner with it debuting on Intel's new Alder Lake platform, with the new 600-series motherboards led by the Z690 chipset rocking PCIe 5.0 slots and DDR5 memory support.

We're now hearing about a new PCIe 5.0 power connector that would be quite the leap from what we have now, with a new PCIe Gen5 power connector teased. The new PCIe 5.0 power connector would offer up to a huge 600W of power, up quite significantly from the 150W offered over the current 8-pin PCIe power connector.

The new PCIe 5.0 power connector has 16 lanes (12 power, 4 signal lanes) and is a totally new connector. You can see the 12 power lanes, but the strange new 4 signal lane position underneath the 12 power lanes is new. This new connector has smaller spacing than current connectors, down to 3.0mm from 4.2mm. The new connector is 18.85mm wide, making it much smaller than dual and especially triple 8-pin PCIe power connector setups.

AMD has just pushed out a new Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.10.1 driver, which packs support for Microsoft's just-released Windows 11, as well as some of the biggest games that were just released.

The new Radeon Software Adrenalin drivers pack Windows 11 support, as well as optimizations for Ubisoft's also-just-released Far Cry 6 and EA DICE's big Battlefield 2042 Open Beta. In Far Cry 6 we have up to 10% more performance on the Radeon RX 6700 XT at 1080p Ultra graphics with RT enabled, while at 4K Medium settings the Radeon RX 6800 XT is up to 12% faster, and at 1440p Medium settings the Radeon RX 6600 XT is up to 13% faster -- all with ray tracing enabled.

AMD provides built-in support for the Battlefield 2042 Open Beta, Naraka: Bladepoint, and gives up to 11% more performance in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds at 4K Ultra settings in DX12 mode on the Radeon RX 6800 XT. Not bad all-around, I'd say... especially if you're wanting to play Far Cry 6 or the Battlefield 2042 Open Beta.

I'm sure we all know someone who is still waiting for a GeForce RTX 30 series graphics card, with a gamer in Poland waiting over a year... and celebrating this in style.

A bakery in Poland called E-Torty posted a story to their Facebook page, explaining that a customer of theirs ordered an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card in September 2020 and has still not received it. The gamer asked E-Torty to make a 1-year anniversary cake, and then sent it to the retailer... to thank them for the year that they've spent together.

E-Torty said it was one of the funniest orders they've ever had, and once the cake was made and sent to the retailer, the Polish gamer received his GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards days later. Waited a year, sent a cake, received it days later... maybe the gamer should've gotten a cake in return?