Graphics Cards - Page 215

This time last year, NVIDIA had over 80% of the GPU market - but things have changed in the last 12 months. AMD launched their successful Radeon RX 400 series graphics cards, powered by Polaris - while NVIDIA launched an onslaught of GTX 10 series cards.

AMD was sitting with just 18.8% of the GPU market share last year, but now they've climbed up to 29.1% - while NVIDIA has fallen from 81.1%, down to 70.9%. GFXSpeak reported from Jon Peddie's data: "New market data from Jon Peddie Research shows that graphics add-in board (AIB) sales are on an upward trend. Shipments during the third quarter of 2016 (ending September 30) increased from the second quarter of 2016 by 38.2%; this is considerably above the ten-year average of 14.3%. On a year-over-year basis, JPR found total AIB shipments rose 9.2%. By comparison, total shipments of desktop PCs fell 17.1% in the same period".

There were also some quick highlights that are worth looking at:

It looks like AMD is preparing to launch a next-gen graphics card, where the company should unveil its new Vega architecture soon - it's looking like we can expect the Radeon RX 490 to be unveiled soon.

The new Radeon RX 490 will be AMD's new 4K-ready flagship graphics card that will fight against NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080, and hopefully at a lower price point. AMD has said that we aren't to expect a faster Polaris graphics card than the RX 480, so I don't see why they would announce an RX 490 when they should jump to the RX 590 with a card that can beat NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080 (which will only be replaced with a GTX 1080 Ti soon enough).

But, there's some exciting things to expect, according to WCCFTech:

Just as I was laying down to hopefully fall asleep after a massive 18-hour work day, I read a story over at TechPowerUp sourced from German tech site Heise.de, that AMD Radeon graphics cards were limited in their HDR abilities... well, click bait can be bad sometimes, and we now know the truth.

The original story can be read here, which claimed that Radeon graphics cards were reducing the color depth to 8 bits per cell (16.7 million colors) or 32-bit, if the display was connected to HDMI 2.0, and not DisplayPort 1.2 - something that spiked my interest.

10 bits per cell (1.07 billion colors) is a much more desired height to reach for HDR TVs, but the original article made it out to seem like this was a limitation of AMD, and not that of HDMI 2.0 and its inherent limitations. Heise.de said that AMD GPUs reduce output sampling from the "desired Full YCrBr 4: 4: 4 color scanning to 4: 2: 2 or 4: 2: 0 (color-sub-sampling / chroma sub-sampling), when the display is connected over HDMI 2.0. The publication also suspects that the limitation is prevalent on all AMD 'Polaris' GPUs, including the ones that drive game consoles such as the PS4 Pro," reports TPU.

AMD has released their new Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.11.4 drivers, a new set of drivers that add support for Civilization VI, and fix some problems with graphical corruption on the R9 Fury graphics cards in Titanfall 2. Grab them here.

Here's a full list of what the RSCE 16.11.4 includes and fixes:

Support For:

NVIDIA released their new GeForce 375.86 drivers, and as usual millions of gamers will manually update or have GeForce Experience update for them - but this time around, NVIDIA is seeing some pretty serious issues in their new Game Ready drivers.

NVIDIA has posted to their own forums advising GeForce owners of Pascal-based GeForce graphics cards in the GeForce GTX 1060, GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 having issues with the new GeForce 375.86 drivers, where the memory speed is capped at 810MHz. NeoGAF forum users have posted t hat Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare are also experiencing issues with the new drivers.

We'd recommend not updating your GeForce graphics card (at least if you've got a GTX 10 series card) to the latest drivers just yet, and if GeForce Experience has automatically downloaded the drivers, don't install them.

NVIDIA has launched a massive offensive onto gamers with their GeForce GTX 10 series graphics cards, while AMD has been hitting the lower/mainstream markets with their Radeon RX 400 series cards - so how are the numbers for Q3 2016? Really good, actually.

Jon Peddie Research has broken down the numbers, reporting that NVIDIA's market share increased 2.2% from the previous quarter, while AMD's overall market share dropped 0.6%. JPR notes: "NVIDIA did particularly well in Q3'16, fueled by their Pascal-based product line and the rash of new AAA graphics-demanding titles". JPR also noticed a 0.3% increase in year-to-year total GPU shipments of GPUs, while GPU shipments increased 20% from the previous quarter.

They also had some highlights that are worth noting:

We know it's coming, but we don't know when or what the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti will end up as - but now we have a report that teases the GTX 1080 Ti with 10GB of RAM.

10GB of RAM you ask? Weird, isn't it? Not when you consider the GTX 1080 has 8GB of RAM, and the Titan X features 12GB of RAM - the GTX 1080 Ti will sit in the middle with 10GB of RAM, so that it doesn't take many customers away from Titan X, and it doesn't lure gamers into spending more on the GTX 1080 Ti over the GTX 1080.

We should expect the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti to use the GP102 GPU, the same used on the Titan X - but a 384-bit memory interface is interesting, and it's needed for multi-monitor and 4K gaming. We've done testing between the GTX 1080 and Titan X and that wider memory bus comes into play in a very, very big way.

AMD announced their new Radeon Pro range of workstation graphics cards during SIGGRAPH 2016 earlier this year, but now the Polaris-based cards have launched.

The new Radeon Pro WX 7100, WX 5100, and WX 4100 workstation graphics cards are now shipping. The higher-end WX 7100 and WX 5100 are powered by the Polaris 10 GPU on the 14nm LPP process, both with 8GB of RAM on a 256-bit memory bus. The WX 7100 has 2304 stream processors at 1.24GHz, while the WX 5100 has 1792 stream processors at 1.09GHz.

AMD's lower-end Radeon Pro WX 4100 uses the Polaris 11 GPU with 1024 stream processors at 1.17GHz, with 4GB of RAM on a 128-bit memory bus. The power consumption on these new Polaris-based workstation cards is also low, with the WX 7100 using up to 130W, the WX 5100 hits 75W and the WX 4100 with 50W.

AMD has released its 16.11.1 driver just in time for the launch of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Modern Warfare Remastered.

Apart from including optimizations for both titles, it grants a DirectX 11 CrossFire profile for Titanfall 2 and fixes numerous game and system issues. Most notably there are CrossFire fixes for Battlefield 1 and The Division, and a fix for OBS stuttering when capturing while accessing video content in your browser.

As always, hit the source for the full notes and download, or just grab the new set directly from Radeon Settings in your system tray.

MSI has countless GTX 10 series graphics cards, and aren't stopping with the announcement of their new GeForce GTX 1070 Quick Silver 8G graphics card, rocking a new 'ice-cold' silver look. It looks great, with a tweaked Twin Frozr VI cooler, and overclocked GPU.

MSI has two models of its new Quick Silver graphics cards, with the GTX 1070 Quick Silver 8G OC and the GTX 1070 Quick Silver 8G graphics card. The overclocked model has higher GPU and RAM clocks, which we'll break down now.

The overclocked GTX 1070 Quick Silver 8G OC cranks up to 1607/1797MHz (base/boost, respectively) under its OC profile, while the Gaming profile sits at 1582/1771MHz for base/boost, respectively. MSI overclocks the 8GB of GDDR5 up to 8108MHz on the Gaming/OC profiles, up from 8008MHz on the Silent profile.

EVGA has been in the headlines for a few days over issues surrounding its GeForce GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 graphics cards catching fire over voltage regulation modules inside of EVGA's dual fans on the cards that supposedly overheat.

There have been multiple posts on EVGA's own forums, Reddit, and more - and now we have a video of an EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW catching fire. But note: the card had no PCIe power connectors plugged in, so it could've been excessive power consumption through the motherboard, or it could be the card itself - it is hard to know right now.

Michael Duncan took the video, saying that his GTX 1080 FTW graphics card had been working for around a month without any issues before the card caught fire. He came home one day to find that his PC wouldn't boot up when it pressed the power button.

Apple unveiled its new 15-inch MacBook Pro today, something that includes AMD's new Polaris-based Radeon Pro 400 series graphics, available first inside of the new 15-inch MBP.

AMD's new Radeon Pro 400 series graphics is explained perfectly on the Radeon Pro website, which details the new Polaris GPU as the best choice for creators.

Radeon Technologies Group SVP and Chief Architect, Raja Koduri, explains: "We couldn't be more proud to have Radeon Pro 400 Series Graphics launching in the new 15-inch MacBook Pro, a notebook designed for performance and creativity".

ZOTAC has been releasing some of the best high-end GeForce graphics cards over the last few years, with the GeForce GTX 1080 AMP! Extreme one of the best GTX 10 series cards, period. Now the company is back, celebrating its 10-year anniversary with a massive event at the Mira Hotel in Hong Kong.

During the event, ZOTAC unveiled their new GeForce GTX 1080 ArcticStorm Thermaltake 10 Year Anniversary Edition graphics card, which the company teases has a "completely new PCB which delivers 16 power phases (instead of the traditional 8+2 power phase) on the board, enabling significantly greater power regulation at higher speeds. Another feature that gives more control into user's hands is the innate ability to support dual BIOS, and enabling BIOS switching via FIRESTORM".

The default BIOS on the watercooled GTX 1080 from ZOTAC has slightly increased clocks than the normal GTX 1080 ArcticStorm, hitting base/boost clocks of 1657/1797MHz, respectively. I'm sure it'll be capable of much more, and those building custom PC rigs are going to be in love with the design.

NVIDIA isn't far away from the launch of its GeForce GTX 1050 and GTX 1050 Ti graphics cards, with AMD dropping the "suggested e-tail price" of its Radeon RX 460 and Radeon RX 470 graphics cards. We exclusively reported that the price drops were on their way, and now it has officially happened.

Here's the new pricing structure:

AMD is now directly competing against the GTX 1050 with the new price on the RX 460, while the RX 470 is more expensive than the GTX 1050 Ti, an overclocked model will come very close to the performance of the faster, and more expensive RX 480.

NVIDIA has unleashed its new GeForce 375.57 WHQL drivers, optimized for the just-released Battlefield 1 and the upcoming Titanfall 2, as well as Civilization VI, and more. You can grab the new GeForce 375.57 WHQL drivers right here.

The new GeForce 375.57 WHQL drivers also add an SLI profile for Lineage Eternal: Twilight Resistance, and new 3D profiles for Titanfall 2 and Civilization VI. Some of the flickering issues in Mirror's Edge Catalyst on Ansel have been fixed, and the system crashes and signal lost problems that users were experiencing when they changed the refresh rate from 144Hz to 240Hz on their BenQ ZOWIE gaming monitors.

Here's the full changelog on the GeForce 375.57 WHQL drivers:

AMD is ready for the latest games with their new Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.10.2 drivers, which include support for Battlefield 1, Titanfall 2, Civilization VI, Serious Sam VR Early Access and Eagle Flight VR. Grab the new drivers right here.

Not only that, but we have a new CrossFire profile for Civilization VI, fan issues on the Radeon RX 400 series graphics cards have been fixed, updates for the CF profile for BF1 have been provided, and some crashes in Gears of War 4 have been fixed - especially when using high resolution and quality configurations in specific maps. Here's the full changelog for RSCE 16.10.2:

Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.10.2 Highlights

NVIDIA is looking to really secure the mid-range graphics card market with the impending release of its GeForce GTX 1050 and GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, priced at $109 and $139, respectively... but AMD isn't taking the mid-range battle sitting down.

AMD is reportedly preparing a most cost effective Polaris 10 GPU that will handle the fight against the GTX 1050 Ti, but with the Radeon RX 470 priced at $179... what will the price of the new card be?

VideoCardz is reporting that AMD is readying a Radeon RX 470D, which will rock 1792 stream processors. The first AIB partner to tease their RX 470D is XFX, with their new RX 470D Black Wolf graphics card, which looks pretty slick. XFX's website teased: "Brand new Polaris graphics Radeon RX470D non-public version, take you into the VR new horizons!"

AMD is reportedly preparing a monster graphics card for 2017, with WCCFTech reporting that the company is working on a $10,000 graphics card - yes, you read that right, a $10K graphics card.

The new $10K graphics card is reportedly called Dracarys, which translates to "dragon fire" in High Valyrian, a language used in HBO's mega-hit TV show 'Game of Thrones'. The new graphics card is reportedly already in prototyping stages and is expected to be unveiled at the Supercomputing 2016 event next month. As for what's inside, it is shaping up to instantly make its mark in history with some beefy specs.

AMD will reportedly have over 1TB of on-board graphics memory, similar to how its high-end professional Radeon Pro SSG works, but Dracarys is "far more integrated" and a lot "closer to the metal" compared to the Radeon Pro SSG. There is 20TFLOPS+ of FP16 performance thanks to the Vega 10 GPU on Dracarys, providing twice the GPU horsepower than the Radeon Pro SSG.

PowerColor's new Devil Box eGPU desktop graphics enclosure is now available, allowing users to supercharge their laptops with full desktop-grade video cards.

The Devil Box is very similar to the Razer Core eGPU in terms of functionality, and is built on AMD's XConnect technology utilizing a zippy 40Mbps Thunderbolt 3 connection. Using the Devil Box, users can hook up a powerful desktop video card to their laptop in order to boost graphics and game performance.

PowerColor's Devil Box can house any modern video card as long as its dimensions are 310 x 140 x 50mm and pulls up to 375W power draw. Supported video cards include AMD's new RX 480 and NVIDIA's entire GTX 10-series graphics cards, as well as most air-cooled variants of AMD's Radeon R9 300 and Fury series GPUs.

NVIDIA has unveiled its new mid-range Pascal offerings with the GeForce GTX 1050 and GTX 1050 Ti, with both cards based on the GP107 GPU, and both priced at under $150 each.

The GeForce GTX 1050 Ti will cost $139, featuring 768 CUDA cores, 4GB of GDDR5 RAM and a 75W TDP while the GTX 1050 will cost $30 less at $109, but knock the CUDA core count to 640, the VRAM down to 2GB, and still include the 75W TDP - both cards will be available on October 25, according to VideoCardz.

There will be a bunch of GTX 1050 Ti cards unveiled from AIB partners, with: