Graphics Cards - Page 195

NVIDIA made quite the splash with its Turing GPU architecture a couple of months ago now, unveiling a family of Quadro RTX graphics cards with Turing GPUs as well as a new range of GeForce RTX graphics cards, with both families continuing to grow.

The company has just announced during the annual Autodesk University Conference its new Quadro RTX 4000 graphicws card that will join the ranks of the Quadro RTX 5000, RTX 6000, and flagship RTX 8000. The new Quadro RTX 4000 has quite a few highlights: there's 40% more memory bandwidth than the previous-gen Quadro P4000 card, with 36 RT cores for some real-time ray tracing content.

Inside, the Quadro RTX 4000 features Turing TU106 which has 2304 CUDA cores, 288 Tensor Cores, 36 RT cores, and 7.1 TFLOPs of FP32 performance. NVIDIA using 8GB of GDDR6 on the Quadro RTX 4000, pricing it at $900. The TDP is just 160W, 25W lower than the GeForce RTX 2070 which also packs the TU106 and 8GB GDDR6. This is because the GPU clocks on the Quadro RTX 4000 are lower than the GeForce RTX 2070, saving precious power consumption (and thus, less heat).

NVIDIA might have three graphics cards on the market that handle real-time ray tracing with their GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 2080, and RTX 2070... but there are no games on the market that support RTX right now. Everyone has asked 'where is AMD in all of this' and we might finally have an answer.

AMD's freshly minted Senior VP of Engineering for Radeon Technologies Group, David Wang, has said that the company will not be using DXR (DirectX ray tracing) until all of its Radeon graphics cards are capable of driving it. Wang told 4Gamer: "For the time being, AMD will definitely respond to Direct Raytracing, for the moment we will focus on promoting the speed-up of offline CG production environments centered on AMD's Radeon ProRender, which is offered free of charge ..... utilization of ray tracing games will not proceed unless we can offer ray tracing in all product ranges from low-end to high-end".

We're still waiting for games to have their RTX abilities turned on for some real-time ray tracing on GeForce RTX graphics cards, but that day hasn't come. We're days away from the official launch of Battlefield V which was one of the shining stars of NVIDIA's GeForce Gaming Celebration event where it unveiled the RTX series cards in Germany in August.

I have been pretty much offline from work for the last two weeks over a death in the family, and haven't been able to function at 100%. So some of the news has passed me by, but there was one story I wanted to cover in more detail and that's the reports of GeForce RTX graphics cards DYING.

There have been posts on NVIDIA's own forum as well as Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, and various other places of GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards dying within a few weeks. Gamers have experienced crashes, black screens, BSODs, artifacts, you name it. Some of them are outright dying, and it seems to be the RTX 2080 Ti more so than the RTX 2080.

NVIDIA is reportedly handling RMAs for customers by sending them a new card, but then that card has failed and some have had to return the RMA'd card. There are doomsday posts saying it's an "architectural defect" but I think that is way too Alex Jones for me, next thing we'll hear is that NVIDIA's logo is green and we all know what Jones thinks about frogs.

NVIDIA silently launched its refreshed GeForce GTX 1060 with GDDR5X memory not too long ago now, and now Palit has become the second AIB partner to unveil a GDDR5X-based GTX 1060.

Palit's new GeForce GTX 1060 GamingPro OC+ graphics card, with its 6GB of GDDR5X clocked at 8.8Gbps, which is 800MHz more than the GDDR5-based GTX 1060, and 200MHz slower than the GTX 1060 with GDDR5 at 9Gbps (there was at least one model like this, but it wasn't super popular).

The GPU itself is slightly overclocked, with 1531/1746MHz for base and boost GPU clocks, respectively. All you'll need is a single 6-pin PCIe power connector for the Palit GeForce GTX 1060 GamingPro OC+ graphics card, but we don't have a price or ETA as of yet.

Apple announced its new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops with the latest refresh of their popular laptop line configurable with AMD Radeon Pro Vega graphics for the MBP and its flagship options.

The company is promising up to 60% additional GPU performance over the previous-gen MacBook Pro using an AMD Radeon Pro 560X in things like video editing, rendering tasks, and more. This is also not the first time Vega has been inside of an Apple product, with the hotly-debated GPU architecture finding its way into the flagship iMac Pro last year.

AMD is providing Vega 20 and Vega 16 designs to Apple for the new MacBook Pro, but if you are in need of more grunt Apple provides the option of using an external GPU on the new laptops. The external GPU solutions support Radeon RX 400/500 series graphics cards, and even up to Radeon RX Vega cards as well as other professional-grade Radeon GPUs.

NVIDIA has utterly controlled the high-end graphics space for a few years now, with AMD getting further and further away from NVIDIA's upper echelon of cards as time went on - especially the TITAN range of cards.

This has increased in strength with the release of the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti in March 2017, and the mess that was the release of the Radeon RX Vega 56/64 cards in August 2017. Since then, NVIDIA released a new TITAN Xp graphics card, and then just a few months ago the new GeForce RTX range of cards that has the flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti priced at $1199.

NVIDIA has the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, TITAN Xp, RTX 2070, RTX 2080, and RTX 2080 Ti all ahead of the fastest card AMD has in the Radeon RX Vega 64. AMD has been absent from the high-end graphics card space for quite a while, but in the CPU space they've absolutely dominated against an unstoppable and unlimited resources of Intel. In the graphics card space however, AMD has been absent from the enthusiast cards.

AMD's purported Radeon RX 590 graphics card will launch on November 15 according to the latest rumors, with the refresh of a refresh (Polaris 10 = RX 480, Polaris 20 = RX 580, Polaris 30 = RX 590) to be priced at $299.

Polaris 30 will be on the new 12nm node with higher GPU clock speeds of the 14nm GPU used in Polaris 10 and 20, as well as increased power efficiency. We should expect a cheaper price than $299, but I'd say that's the ceiling of this card given the RX 580 is still priced at around $250 and can be purchased cheaper when deals are on or in second hard markets.

This isn't the first new mid-range card with NVIDIA silently launching a new GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card with the same 6GB of VRAM but uses GDDR5X instead of the older/slower GDDR5 memory technology. The refreshed Radeon RX 590 is expected to still be using 8GB of GDDR5, however.

It seems the vast majority of people that worked on Radeon GPUs is over at Intel now, or so it seems... with Intel's discrete GPU marketing department securing Darren McPhee who used to work for ATI before, and after they were acquired by AMD.

McPhee joined ATI in 2003 as their Senior Product Manager, climbing up to a Senior Marketing Role with Gaming and then onto Graphics in the end. Die hard Radeon fans will remember AMD's great marketing video in 'The Fixer' which was close to the launch of the Radeon 'Never Settle' bundle for the first GCN-based Radeon graphics cards like the Radeon HD 7970. Those were the days of AMD!

He later left AMD in 2015, and how now recently joined Intel's discrete GPU marketing team that Chris Hook (formely of the RTG marketing team) as well as GPU architect Raja Koduri and CPU lord Jim Keller. Intel is slowly growing out an amazing team of people leading into their first discrete graphics card launch, which seems more exciting than the stand still action of AMD and Radeon with gamers right now.

AMD is reportedly preparing a 'new' Radeon RX 590 which seems to be imminent, with our first look at a branded card being in the form of the ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 590 graphics card, and now a new one from PowerColor.

PowerColor's purported Radeon RX 590 Red Devil has hit the Eurasian Economic Union certficate office, with a new product listing for the RX 590 Red Devil graphics card. The product listing is: AXRX 590 8GBD5-3DH/OC. This is virtually identical to the product listing for the RX 580 Red Devil 8GB GDDR5 which is AXRX 580 8GBD5-3DH/OC.

If this information is correct, the Radeon RX 590 is indeed a refresh of a refresh of a refresh with the Polaris 30 GPU reportedly powering the RX 590, while the RX 580 used the Polaris 20 GPU and the Polaris 10 GPU debuted with the Radeon RX 480.

AMD has already teased its upcoming Vega 20 GPU that will be the very first GPU on the fresh new 7nm node will be fully unveiled later this year, but there have been no firm benchmarks of it yet as it's so new.

Before the company even released its then-new Radeon RX Vega 56/64 graphics cards, my sources told me that Vega was in trouble and that the refresh (in whatever form it arrived in) wouldn't be that great, and that Navi would be "just as bad" as Vega. The same sources said that it would be the refresh of Navi that will put AMD into a better position to compete. This is a couple of years away as Navi isn't due until the second half of 2019, before it gets refreshed and replaced with something that isn't based on the GCN architecture... and that's the purported next-gen Arcturus GPU architecture which will succeed Navi.

So all we have between now and Navi is a new Radeon Instinct graphics card that will be the world's first to use a 7nm GPU in the form of Vega 20, which should just be Vega 10 with some small improvements. Most of the good stuff that will come from Vega 20 will be simply thanks to the 7nm node, with power savings and increased GPU clock speeds alongside up to 32GB of HBM2.

AMD stock has dropped significantly following their Q3 2018 report, and even though it showed a 4% increase from this time last year. But, lowered sales of its Radeon graphics cards is an issue, with stock prices dropping by a hefty 28% after the report was released.

Before the markets closed there was a 9% drop in AMD stock, but after-hours trading was even worse with a 28% slice from Team Red stock. AMD explained to investors in a teleconference call that lowered GPU sales hit them hard, all blamed on the cryptocurrency mining craze from the first half of 2018.

But there's no new Radeon cards that have been released this year, while NVIDIA has released a next-gen Turing-based line up in the GeForce RTX series with the release of the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 2080 and the just-released RTX 2070. AMD has... well... absolutely nothing from Radeon Technologies Group this year, at all.

NVIDIA revealed their next-gen GeForce RTX series graphics cards in Germany during Gamescom 2018 and their own GeForce Gaming Celebration event, with a huge showing of Battlefield V running with RTX abilities.

It looked out of this world, and even at the time I was talking to other tech press, YouTubers and friends over Messenger, etc that Battlefield V with real-time ray tracing is going to open up completely new gameplay situations. Being able to see real-time reflections will see you noticing enemies reflections in windows, or shooting out a window so they can't see YOUR reflection. I can't wait.

NVIDIA has released its full stack of GeForce RTX series graphics cards in the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 2080, and the latest RTX 2070... all while AMD has nothing. Well, there's rumors of the Radeon RX 590 which is a 12nm refresh of the RX 580, but nothing new, new.

AMD's new Radeon RX 590 might be waiting in the wings but it's not official, and without trying to steal its thunder, NVIDIA has with the quiet release of a new GeForce GTX 1060. The new GeForce GTX 1060 has the same 6GB of VRAM but it has been upgraded to GDDR5X versus the GDDR5 used on all current GTX 1060 graphics cards.

The first GeForce GTX 1060 included 6GB of GDDR5 at 8Gbps, while a newer model was made available with the 6GB of GDDR5 cranked up to 9Gbps. This new GeForce GTX 1060 has seen NVIDIA upgrade the 6GB of framebuffer to 10Gbps with the faster GDDR5X memory. The same 120W TDP applies, as does the single 8-pin PCIe power connector.

It looks like AMD is working on a new Radeon RX 590 graphics card, something that was teased a few days ago and is now hitting the news cycle again from VideoCardz.

The site has reportedly "just received word" from their "spies at ASUS HQ" about a new Radeon RX 590 ROG STRIX Gaming graphics card that be a refresh of the current Polaris 20 GPU. We should expect 8GB of GDDR5 at 8Gbps, but the Polaris 20 will be put on the smaller 12nm node versus the 14nm node used on Polaris 10 and 20, as well as Vega 10.

AMD releasing a refresh of its Radeon RX 580 makes little sense, other than a new power efficient sub $250 card that runs everything on the market at 1080p 60FPS. The new 12nm node will let AMD stretch its legs on the 12nm node for consumer Radeon while professional Radeon will be dipping its toes in that sweet 7nm technology in the coming months with Vega 20.

ZOTAC has just unveiled its latest MEL ULTRA gaming PC with some beefed up internals now that NVIDIA has unveiled its new GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics card.

The new ZOTAC MEK ULTRA can be configured up to the Intel Core i9-7900X processor (10C/20T) on a X299 motherboard, with ZOTAC's custom GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics card, and up to 32GB of DDR4-3200 (upgradable to 128GB). ZOTAC offers a wide variety of storage options with a 500GB NVMe M.2 SSD and 32GB of Intel Optane mixed with a 4TB 3.5-inch HDD.

There's plenty of connectivity with on-board 7.1-channel audio, 1GbE network, Killer AC 1550 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5, and a PS/2 port for old school keyboards and mice. There's also 2 x USB 3.1 (Type-C), 6 x USB 3.0 and 4 x USB 2.0 offering a plethora of connectivity. ZOTAC uses a 80+ Gold rated 1000W PSU that will keep all of your components fed with power.

AMD has been rumored to be preparing a refresh of Polaris 20 and it has many names in the rumor mill, but now there's another leak and another purported name, this time the Polaris refresh has turned up as the Radeon RX 590.

VideoCardz reports from TUM APISAK noticing the Radeon RX 590 used on the 3DMark database, with the site reporting that the RX 590 would be the same Polaris 20 GPU that was made on the 14nm node for the Radeon RX 580, but on the new 12nm node. The shift to the smaller 12nm node would provide AMD with headroom to overclock the GPU and improve power efficiency.

The new listing on 3DMark has the Radeon RX 590 sporting a GPU clock of 1545MHz, which is 205MHz higher than the boost GPU clock on the Radeon RX 580.

We have all heard about fake news but did you know there's fake graphics cards going around as well? Yeah, it's a thing and it was happening during the huge crypto mining boom with scammers selling fake graphics cards to people.

There's no way to tell if a graphics card is "fake" from a photo online or even from holding it in your hands most of the time, it's only when you plug it in and start testing or using it that you discover you've purchased a lemon. Well, now there's something that will help you: TechPowerUp has updated GPU-Z with the ability of detecting graphics cards that are faked or old relabeled parts.

A bunch of fake NVIDIA GPUs can be detected, including: G84, G86, G92, G94, G96, GT215, GT216, GT218, GF108, GF106, GF114, GF116, GF119, GK106. With that many GPUs being faked, you can only imagine how many people have been scammed this year on fake graphics cards alone. Sigh.

NVIDIA is expected to unveil the GeForce RTX Max-Q series of mobile graphics cards sometime in Q1 2019 according to the latest rumors from WCCFTech. As always, this requires a bucket of salt as nothing here is confirmed whatsoever.

The sources of WCCFTech said they expected availability of the new Turing-based Max-Q designs in Q1 2019 and not later this year, I don't think anyone thought NVIDIA was close to capable of making Max-Q designs this year since they have their hands full getting Turing GPUs and mass amounts of GDDR6 right now. The first to be unveiled will reportedly be the GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q, and will find its way into next-gen 15-inch and 17-inch gaming notebooks.

Apart from the RTX 2080 Max-Q there will be the RTX 2070 Max-Q while the rest of the GeForce RTX graphics cards will fill out a yet-announced GeForce RTX Mobility line of offerings. This will include:

AMD is rumored to be refreshing the refresh of their Radeon RX 500 series with PCOnline reporting that AMD is preparing Polaris 30 to launch in mid-October which is strange, considering that's only days away.

Polaris 30 will first power the Radeon RX 570 successor which I'm guessing will be the Radeon RX 670, with 2048 stream processors on the new 12nm node. We should expect higher GPU clocks thanks to the shrunken node, with Polaris 10 and 20 being made on the 14nm process.

This card would feature 8GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit memory bus and should be somewhere in the $200-$250 price range and will reportedly launch on October 12-15.

NVIDIA has released their new GeForce 416.16 WHQL drivers, a new set of drivers that the company says offers the "optimal experience" for Microsoft's new Windows 10 October Update that ushers in the DXR (DirectX Raytracing) API. You can grab the new GeForce 416.16 drivers right here.

The new GeForce 416.16 drivers also include optimizations for games as well as improved or added SLI profiles. Battlefield V is included in the list so you can be sure I'll be putting our GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics cards in NVLink under some pressure when DICE releases their game next month. The Game Ready side of these new GeForce 416.16 drivers is the Windows 10 October Update side of things, while we have new/updated SLI profiles for the following games:

You can grab the new GeForce 416.16 drivers right here.