Graphics Cards - Page 212

The cryptocurrency craze is hitting yet another couple of waves with Bitcoin reaching a record $2900 USD in value, while Ethereum is climbing up as it doesn't require ASIC specific graphics cards. I've personally just written an article where I'm using 4 x different PCs with 11 x GPUs between them and it's estimated to make me $900 this month alone.

Secondly, AMD Radeon RX 400 and RX 500 series cards are flying off the shelf so fast that the RX 580 is being listed on Amazon for as high as $900. This is absolutely insane, as a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti costs less than $700, but loses to the RX 580 in cryptocurrency mining, especially Ethereum.

Now there's rumors that both AMD and NVIDIA are working on cryptocurrency-specific graphics cards that would not include display connectors, so you could just buy a handful - or boxes of them, and throw them into mining rigs. These cryptocurrency mining cards would ship with a much smaller 90-day warranty, and will be sold by AIB partners, and should be a little cheaper than traditional GeForce and Radeon graphics cards.

HP is teasing their next-gen Omen gaming PC, which can be configured with a single, or even GeForce GTX 1080 graphics cards in SLI - but you can opt in for AMD's upcoming Radeon RX Vega as well.

HP says on its own advertisement for the new Omen gaming PC that you can configure it with 1 or 2 x GTX 1080, 1 or 2 x RX 480/580, or a single AMD Vega 10 with "timing/pricing TBC, late 2C17". Inside, you can configure the new HP Omen gaming PC with Intel's new Core i5/i7 processors on the H270/Z270 chipsets, or go the AMD Ryzen route with the Ryzen 5/7 CPUs.

Up to 32GB of RAM can be installed, with an optional PCIe-based NVMe-capable SSD and even dual HDD configurations if you need some serious storage. HP has designed the Omen as a beast, with a "machine-like, battle armor inspired design", with HP offering an optional see-through door with internal lightning and an integrated handle on top of the case so that you can take your Omen desktop gaming PC to a LAN even easier than before.

The cryptocurrency game is stepping up to a new level with Bitcoin hitting a new record $2900 point, but now there's Ethereum, a new distributed public blockchain network. It's similar to Bitcoin, but there are major technical differences between the two that make Ethereum very good for graphics card owners.

Ethereum isn't ASIC specific, so you don't need specifically made graphics cards to run it, meaning you can use any GPU you have right now. Without going into its own story, AMD Radeon graphics cards are far superior to anything NVIDIA has with Ethereum mining, with a Radeon RX 580 beating the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti with one hand tied behind its back. Even the Radeon R9 295X2 and its dual-GPU prowess destroys everything, and is the current champion graphics card for Etherium - but maybe not for power consumption, though.

We're now at the height of Ethereum, which is currently selling for around $260 right now, riding an insane 2800% increase in the last 12 months. This has driven the price of graphics cards through the roof, with the MSI Radeon RX 580 Gaming X 8G listed on Amazon for an insane $899.99. Considering NVIDIA's much faster for gaming GeForce GTX 1080 Ti costs $700 or less, the price of the RX 580 is bonkers.

Apple has just unveiled their impressive new iMac Pro all-in-one desktop that can be configured with up to an 18-core Intel Xeon CPU, and even the new AMD Radeon Pro Vega graphics card with 16GB of HBM2, but AMD also slid in the announcement of their new Radeon Pro 500 series graphics cards, too.

The new Radeon Pro 500 series cards are available in Apple's newly updated 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac systems, with up to 5.5 TFLOPs of compute performance - perfect for Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop, After Effects, and more. In AMD's press release, they explain: "It is incredibly satisfying to see the capabilities of Radeon Pro 500 series in elegant form factors and enabling amazing content creation, gaming and VR experiences".

Senior VP and Chief Architect of Radeon Technologies Group, Raja Koduri, said: "Radeon Pro 500 Series graphics are enabling new generations of makers with compute-accelerated creative tools and new APIs, bringing their imaginations to life in ways like never before".

AMD has officially unveiled the Radeon Pro Vega, a new Vega-based graphics card that is destined for Apple's new iMac Pro all-in-one desktop PCs. The new Radeon Pro Vega is the third entry in the Vega family, following the professional Radeon Vega Frontier Edition and consumer Radeon RX Vega graphics cards.

The new Radeon Pro Vega comes in two flavors, with 8GB and 16GB variants using HBM2 providing 400GB/sec of memory bandwidth. AMD is using the Vega 10 GPU, with 256 TMUs, and 64 next-gen Vega NCUs, each with two compute engines. Each of the compute engines have two separate compute clusters each with 512 stream processors and 32 TMUs, so in total Radeon Pro Vega has 4096 stream processors and 256 TMUs.

There are 64 ROPs and 16 distinct render back ends that are slapped into the 2048-bit memory bus with HBM2, in both 8GB and 16GB versions.

I've just sat down at my desk in the GPU lab here in Australia, after an exhausting but awesome Computex 2017, and one of the first things I see is that AMD has released the die shot for the Vega GPU. STAHP.

The new Vega GPU die shot teases that the new GPU is divided into 8 clusters, each packing 8 Next Generation Compute Units. Each of these new NCUs features 64 stream processors, providing a total of 4096 FP32 cores. The difference between the previous-gen compute units and the new Vega NCU ones is that Vega packs 16-bit processing with doubled throughput.

Isn't it beautiful? Radeon RX Vega launches at SIGGRAPH 2017 which takes place in California between July 30 and August 3.

We're still two months away from the launch of Radeon RX Vega, with AMD announcing at Computex 2017 that it will launch Radeon RX Vega at SIGGRAPH 2017 which takes place between July 30 and August 3.

But the bigger story for AMD right now is that their Radeon RX 400 and RX 500 series graphics cards are flying off the shelves... but why? Cryptocurrency mining, that's what. The cards are either selling out, are sold out, or they're being sold for ridiculous prices in the second hand market.

It feels like it's 2013 all over again, but between then and now ASIC hardware dedicated to cryptocurrency mining went crazy. Efficiency was king, beating consumer graphics cards... until Ethereum, a new cryptocurrency that can be mined liked a Bitcoin.

AMD is set to launch its HBM2-based Radeon RX Vega graphics card sometime in August, but Micron is now promising mass production of GDDR6 memory in early 2018, primed and ready for what I think will be a refreshed GeForce GTX series from NVIDIA.

Micron has confirmed it will be entering mass production of GDDR6 in early 2018, with NVIDIA set to use it on new graphics cards expected in 2018. Better yet, Micron added that it hit 16Gbps on GDDR5X, up from the 11Gbps found on the GDDR5X on the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti.

Micron added: "I am excited to announce that our Graphics design team in Munich has achieved 16Gbps data rates in our high speed test environment-another first for memory industry. The left picture shows the data eye opening at 16Gbps based on a critical PRBS pattern sequence, with great timing and voltage margin. The right image below shows stable data timing margin (horizontally) versus data rate (vertically), from our base sort speed of 10Gbps up to an unprecedented 16Gbps. This result is based on measurements on a meaningful sampling size of our mass production G5X silicon - not theoretical simulation data.

AMD was slowly but surely clawing back discrete GPU market share from NVIDIA over the last 6-12 months, but according to the latest report from Jon Peddie Research, graphics board shipments dropped 29.8% quarter-over-quarter, and 19.2% year-over-year.

NVIDIA now sits with 72.5% of the discrete GPU market to itself, their highest in months. NVIDIA has saturated the market with their GeForce GTX 10 series products, as they continue to release cards - and I'm sure they still have more right around the corner as a response to Radeon RX Vega from AMD.

JPR explains: "The attach rate of AIBs to desktop PCs has declined from a high of 63% in Q1 2008 to 42% this quarter, a decrease of 9.0% from last quarter which was negative. Compared to this quarter last year it decreased 12.9% which was negative. The overall GPU shipments (integrated and discrete) is greater than desktop PC shipments due double-attach-the adding of a second (or third) AIB to a system with integrated processor graphics-and to a lesser extent, dual AIBs in performance desktop machines using either AMD's CrossFire or NVIDIA's SLI technology improved attach rate".

Computex 2017 - AMD had a tiny little whimper of Radeon RX Vega at Computex this year, revealing that it would detail Radeon RX Vega at Siggraph 2017 - which takes place between July 30 and August 3. For our entire Radeon RX Vega coverage, I have a big article on it here.

But since I'm on the ground in Taipei, I talked with some friends in the industry and we had an interesting discussion to say the least. First off, I exclusively revealed that AMD will have less than 16,000 units of Radeon RX Vega in the months after its launch, and this seems to be something that is forming into a solid fact.

Then there's the fact that AMD promised a Q2 2017 launch of Vega, and while they met it by making Radeon Vega Frontier Edition available on June 27 - that's the professional card, not the consumer RX Vega. On top of that, the enthusiast level cards will launch in Q3 - while the mainstream cards are supposedly being pushed back to Q4 2017 at the earliest, but it could spill into Q1 2018.

Computex 2017 - GALAX had its super awesome GeForce GTX 1080 Ti HOF OC Lab Edition graphics card at Computex 2017, but there was also the new GTX 1080 Ti HOF Limited Edition - you know, the one with the LCD display.

GALAX has clocked the GPU at 1645/1759MHz for base/boost, respectively.

As you can see on the left NVIDIA has forced its GEFORCE GTX branding, while the middle is graced with the LCD display.

Computex 2017 - The very first graphics card that I ran towards at Computex this year was MSI's new GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Lightning Z, something we got some more hands-on time now that it was in a PC and turned on.

The beautiful Mystic Light RGB goodness comes out to play, and it really does look freakin' slick in person.

MSI requires 8+8+8 pin PCIe power connectors, but will the additional 8-pin PCIe power connector help GPU clocks that much? I doubt it.

Computex 2017 - MSI teased us last week with a reveal of its GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Lightning Z graphics card, but now we have all of the details we need to start getting excited.

MSI's upcoming GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Lightning Z will feature a triple-fan cooler, and its GPU clocks in 3 different settings: Silent Mode, Gaming Mode, and Lightning Mode.

Silent Mode: 1480/1582MHz

Computex 2017 - TweakTown has descended on Taipei, Taiwan for yet another year of technology fun with Computex 2017 - and one of the biggest rumors is that NVIDIA will unveil a new graphics card... tomorrow.

NVIDIA is hosting its Computex 2017 keynote with NVIDIA CEO and founder Jen-Hsun Huang to take the state to talk about everything from artificial worlds, to artificial intelligence. But, we've been hearing different things: NVIDIA will unveil a new graphics card - we just don't know what.

I've had a couple of my industry sources tell me it's definitely a graphics card of some sort, but that doesn't mean it isn't a new laptop graphics card, or a new desktop GeForce graphics card. If it is a new desktop card, could we expect NVIDIA to trump AMD with an early reveal of a Volta-based GeForce card? It would make sense, since AMD is so late to the game with Vega.

Computex 2017 - EVGA is now officially showing off their super-custom GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Kingpin graphics cards, something that's not for mere mortals, but those who want the absolute best GTX 1080 Ti that money can buy - oh, and serious overclockers who use extreme cooling like LN2 to break world records.

EVGA's upcoming GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Kingpin features a fully custom multi-layer PCB with the 'KINGPIN' logo on the front of the PCB. But it's the rear of the GTX 1080 Ti Kingpin where all of the action is, with 8+8 pin PCIe power connectors on the end of the card (thank you, EVGA) and much more power that will be delivered across the overclocked GPU, GDDR5X VRAM, and electrical components.

There's even an EVBOT connector and points that can be used for PCB voltage reading, showing that EVGA has put everything including the kitchen sink into the GTX 1080 Ti Kingpin.

ZOTAC is preparing for Computex 2017 by announcing its new GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Mini graphics card, which comes in at just 8.2 inches (21cm) long.

The company is releasing the new GTX 1080 Ti Mini in two flavors: air-cooled, and watercooled.

The watercooled version features ZOTAC's ArcticStorm full cover water block, while the air-cooled version features a dual-fan cooling solution. Both versions are dual-slot, which is great to see in something so compact.

MSI is stepping into some interesting territory with the tease of its upcoming GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X 11G with a USB Type-C port, making it the world's first graphics card with a USB Type-C port. The reasoning? I really don't know.

MSI explains: "MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GAMING X 11G features Pascal-powered graphics and MSI's exclusive TWIN FROZR VI Thermal Design to deliver cool and quiet gaming graphics with unprecedented performance and power efficiency. With a revolutionary USB Type-C, the interface support is even more flexible".

I really don't know what MSI is going for here, but the only reason I can think of is that it's just one of those 'because we can' moves. I don't see the point of a USB Type-C connector on my graphics card, but there would be some prosumers that might use the USB Type-C connector on it, especially if their motherboard didn't have one on-board - so maybe I could charge my Galaxy S8 on it? Yay?

It was only two months ago that I asked MSI where their GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Lightning graphics card was, and it seems my wish has been granted. Enter the upcoming GeForce GTX 1080 Ti LIGHTNING Z graphics card, which will be debuted next week in Taipei at Computex 2017.

MSI will be deploying a new triple-fan TriFrozr cooler on the GTX 1080 Ti LIGHTNING Z graphics card, which will also feature MSI's awesome Mystic Light support. Thanks to the RGB LEDs and the black theme, gamers will be able to enjoy whatever color they want on the GTX 1080 Ti LIGHTNING Z graphics card.

MSI explains: "Evolving from the Lightning Series and built to be perfect, the MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Lightning Z graphics card combines groundbreaking new technology with proven features such as TriFrozr, TORX 2.0 Fan, Military Class 4 components and Mystic Light".

AMD recently took the wraps off of its Radeon Vega Frontier Edition, a new professional graphics card based on the Vega GPU architecture, sporting 16GB of HBM2 technology. The consumer Radeon RX Vega (RX = consumer) is coming "very soon thereafter" the late-June launch of Radeon Vega Frontier Edition, according to Lisa Su, CEO of AMD.

During the 45th annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, Su said: "We're very excited about Vega. Vega is a brand new architecture and actually has really the world's most advanced memory architecture for GPUs. What we did announce at our analyst day was that the first shipping Vega will be the Frontier Edition which will ship with 16GB of memory and will ship towards the latter half of June. You will see the enthusiast gaming platform, the machine learning platform, the professional graphics platform very soon thereafter. And so we will be launching Vega across all of the market segments over the next couple of months".

Now, let's dissect this statement. Su has said that Radeon Vega Frontier Edition will launch in the "latter half of June" while the "enthusiast gaming platform" will launch "very soon thereafter". Finishing up, Su said that AMD will be "launching Vega across all of the market segments over the next couple of months".

NVIDIA unveiled its next-gen Volta-based Tesla V100 at GTC 2017 a couple of weeks ago, but now we could be looking at their new Volta-based TITAN Xv graphics card.

There was an image posted to Facebook from a NVIDIA intern, but there's nothing else known about the card. We don't know if it's real or not, with the image posted over at Overclock3D.net forums. If it's a real card, take note of the lack of SLI connector and instead, the purported TITAN Xv has NVLink connectors.

I don't think this is the TITAN Xv, but at the end of the day it could be... and NVIDIA could be preparing TITAN Xv to combat AMD's upcoming Radeon RX Vega. What do you think?