Graphics Cards - Page 239

We're getting closer and closer to the release of the Radeon R9 390X, but we've been hearing some rumblings from within the industry. Our sources have said that AMD will have two Radeon R9 390X cards to launch: one of them will be the Radeon R9 395X2 (a dual-GPU version) with 8GB of VRAM. The second card will be a 4GB version that won't beat the GeForce GTX Titan X.

The dual-GPU will beat the GeForce GTX Titan X, but the normal 4GB won't be capable of beating NVIDIA's GM200-based beast. Our industry sources also tell us that there are some hurdles with yields on HBM, which will see a very limited supply of Radeon R9 390X and Radeon R9 395X2 cards right through to the end of the year.

We're expecting AMD to launch their Radeon R9 390X and R9 395X2 at Computex 2015, which kicks off in the first week of June. With NVIDIA having some 74% of the discrete GPU market, AMD needs to sell as many cards as they can, and these yield issues are something we don't need to hear about right now.

One of the downsides of the GeForce GTX Titan X is that NVIDIA didn't allow add-in board (AIB) partners to modify the card with a non-reference cooler. This should all change with the GM200-powered GeForce GTX 980 Ti, with NVIDIA reportedly greenlighting custom variants of the GTX 980 Ti.

But it gets better: the current rumors have NVIDIA announcing the card sometime in late May or early June, which is right around the time of Computex. It's also the time frame in which AMD will reportedly announce its new Radeon 300 series, led by the flagship Radeon R9 390X. This could be NVIDIA's way of taking some of that thunder away, and if the GeForce GTX 980 Ti is as powerful as it should end up being (thanks to it being powered by the same GPU as the GTX Titan X), we should expect some fierce competition in terms of pricing from both camps.

The alleged specifications of the GTX 980 Ti has it powered by the GM200 core, with the same specifications as the GTX Titan X, but with a reduced framebuffer. The GTX 980 Ti should feature 6GB of VRAM, but with higher clocks than the Titan X. With custom variants, we should expect the GeForce GTX 980 Ti to be one of the fastest video cards on the market when it's released. That is, until we know what makes the Radeon R9 390X tick.

We have previously reported that AMD would be unveiling its next generation GPUs in Q2 2015, which ends on May 31st, but we've just heard some news during AMD's Q1 2015 conference call directly from AMD CEO Lisa Su herself.

During the call, Su said that AMD will talk about their upcoming graphics products launches "later this quarter", with Su reiterating that the company "would like to see some regain of share in both the desktop and the notebook business". As for AMD's plans for 2H 2015, Su had the following to say: "In the second half of the year, I think we would like to see our products take a strong position as well as hopefully the market gets stronger as well".

GALAX is back, and in a big way lately, but it's not stopping with its handful of GeForce GTX 980s. The company has just added two more to its list of five, which is now a list of seven, with the new GALAX GTX 980 HOF TecLab Edition, and GTX 980 HOF DUCK Edition.

Starting with the GALAX GTX 980 HOF DUCK Edition, which is currently second place in the official 3DMark Fire Strike competition (with 10,580 points). We don't know the clock speeds of the card, but we do know it has been cranked all the way up to 2123MHz (but obviously not with its aftermarket cooler). We have a custom-made white PCB and triple-fan cooler that is sure to impress.

Next, we have the GALAX GTX 980 HOF TecLab Edition, which is a 2.5-slot card with a new color scheme. We have a backplate on this card too, as well as an OC button on the rear of the card next to its display outputs. The GALAX GTX 980 HOF TecLab Edition should be the fastest GTX 980 in the GALAX lineup.

We know it's coming, but it's just a matter of when. NVIDIA is preparing the GeForce GTX 980 Ti that should better counter the upcoming Radeon R9 390X from AMD, with a full GM200 core.

The GM200-powered GeForce GTX 980 Ti should be released in September, a couple of months after AMD's launch of the Radeon R9 390X which is expected to happen during Computex in June. There are some suggestions that NVIDIA would spoil AMD's fun during the R9 390X launch, so we could see a big announcement before, during or after Computex from NVIDIA.

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 980 Ti should be close to identical to the behemoth that is the GeForce GTX Titan X, but knock down its VRAM from 12GB to 6GB. We should also see AIB partners free to slap on aftermarket coolers, which didn't happen with the Titan X, which is going to open up a can of whoop ass on the market.

The first shots of the purported XFX Radeon R9 390 Double Dissipation have arrived, featuring a dual-slot cooler with two 100mm spinners, and a large aluminum fin-stack heat sink.

The card rocks a 6-pin + 8-pin PCIe power configuration, and a bridgeless Crossfire system, just like the Radeon R9 290 series. We should see this card, if it's real, positioned below the R9 390X with its "Fiji XT" core, with the R9 390 featuring the "Fiji" GPU. We don't know what the GPU itself will be, but we should see 4096 stream processors, a 4096-bit HBM memory interface with between 4GB and 8GB of RAM that provides a huge 640GB/sec of memory bandwidth.

ASUS has only just unveiled the super-fast, but also deliciously beautiful GeForce GTX 980 20th Anniversary Edition video card, but now we're being introduced to the GeForce GTX 970 Turbo.

The new ASUS GeForce GTX 970 Turbo features a slick white-and-red color scheme that features a blower-style cooler which blows the hot air through the back of your case. The new GeForce GTX 970 Turbo has a short PCB similar to what is used in the GTX 970 DirectCU II Mini from ASUS, but features a "longer lateral-flow cooling solution", reports TechPowerUp.

ASUS is providing a factory overclock on the card, with a Core Clock of 1088MHz and Boost Clock of 1228MHz. We should expect a single 8-pin PCIe power connector, or two 6-pin PCIe power connectors. We can also expect two dual-link DVI ports, one HDMI 2.0 and one DisplayPort 1.2 connector.

This is a super-juicy rumor, but let's get on with it: NVIDIA could be preparing a watercooled GeForce GTX Titan X that could be released as the Titan X Ultra.

This purported Titan X would see a hybrid AIO cooler that would allow for some serious overclocking of the GM200-powered Titan X, and see those performance numbers jump up even more. We could see NVIDIA or AIBs increase the Core Clock by 250-300MHz (or more) but that would see the Titan X getting even hotter, which would require the increased efforts on the cooling front.

This is where we would see the company using an AIO liquid cooling unit that would keep the card nice and cool, even under all of that increased pressure. This would be the perfect counter to the impending release of the Radeon R9 390X from AMD, which should be here any week now.

We heard the rumors, but ASUS has just made its new GTX 980 20th Anniversary Gold Edition official: the world's fastest GeForce GTX 980 video card. The company has used its impressive DirectCU cooler with 0dB-fan technology that allows for games like League of Legends and StarCraft to be played in total silence.

The all-important fact here is that it has a Boost Clock of 1431MHz, which is 215MHz above the reference Boost, providing an additional 15% performance. 4GB of GDDR5 is splashed on top, with three DisplayPort outputs, one HDMI and one dual-link DVI. One of the more unique parts of the VGA card is that it has a beautiful gold and black cooler, which is going to look incredible in gamers' PCs.

ASUS has told us that the GTX 980 20th Anniversary Gold Edition is a "short run, exclusive limited edition card", with its clock speeds beating even the best GTX 980s on the market from EVGA and its Kingpin GTX 980 and GALAX HOF 980 cards. We have reached out to our contact at ASUS to try and secure a sample, so check back for a review here at TweakTown soon.

It looks like AMD's Radeon 300 series is beginning to take better form, where we're learning that the new cards will be filled with a bunch of rebrands, something that has been discovered hiding in the Catalyst 15.3 Beta drivers. Here's the run down of what is found in the Catalyst 15.3 Beta drivers:

One of the stand out GPUs from this is the "Pitcairn" GPU, which, if these rumors are correct, will see its fourth use in AMD's line up. Pitcairn was introduced in 2012 as the Radeon HD 7870 and has been rebranded ever since. The mobile side of AMD's Radeon line up will also reportedly be rebranded, which you can see below:

An early April Fools joke is appearing online, so we're going to make it clear: this will probably not happen. But, OverclockersUK and BFG are teasing a new GeForce GTX Titan XXX, which has a huge 24GB of VRAM, double the framebuffer of the GeForce GTX Titan X, which has 12GB.

Most of the specs are identical to the reference GTX Titan X, except it has 24GB of VRAM and higher clock speeds. We have two 8-pin PCIe power connectors which use up to 300W of power in "300W OC mode" or 250W at its stock settings. The RAM has been overclocked to 8600MHz, up from 7000MHz on the reference card.

We have a Base Clock of 1268MHz and Boost Clock of 1493MHz, versus the 1002MHz and 1072MHz of the reference GTX Titan X. These overclocks are mammoth, but it would be very interesting to see this become a real card. The price? A huge $2400+, compared to the $999 pricing of the GeForce GTX Titan X.

GTC 2015 - We didn't expect to see HBM 2 shown off in person here at NVIDIA's GPU Technology Conference, but here we are - SK Hynix has a HBM 2 wafer on the show floor, and it's beautiful.

Here it is, in all of it's glory.

A closer shot of the wafer itself.

GTC 2015 - NVIDIA has just started providing many more details on its next generation GPU architecture, known as Pascal. Pascal is going to be a giant leap from Maxwell, where it will be "10x faster than Maxwell" according to co-founder and CEO of NVIDIA, Jen-Hsun Huang.

Pascal will feature NVLink and 3D Memory which will provide some impressive performance and bandwidth, where we can expect 3x the memory bandwidth of Maxwell, which is quite the leak. On top of that, we have 400% more mixed precision, but the Pascal architecture itself is a huge leap for NVIDIA, even compared to the already impressive Maxwell architecture.

We have NVLink which has 5x the bandwidth of PCI Express, which is quite the jump in terms of available bandwidth. NVLink will provide the ability of having 8 GPUs, up from the 4-way limit of SLI right now.

GTC 2015 - NVIDIA has made its GeForce GTX Titan X official at the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, based on the full GM200 core. The GeForce GTX Titan X packs quite the performance punch with 8 billion transistors and 12GB of VRAM.

The new GeForce GTX Titan X is the most powerful GPU from NVIDIA yet, with the full GM200 core compared to the 'cut down' GM204 that makes the GTX 980 tick. The new Titan X is a powerhouse VGA card, with 30-50% additional performance of the GTX 980, and in some cases, much more. That's without taking into consideration the 12GB of framebuffer, too.

We have 3072 CUDA cores, 7 TFlops of performance and the huge 12GB framebuffer. We will have more details on the Titan X shortly. NVIDIA has also announced a price of just $999.

Hours before NVIDIA takes the veil off of its GM200-based GeForce GTX Titan X at GTC 2015, there are leaked details on specifications and performance for AMD's upcoming Fiji-based Radeon R9 390X.

According to the latest leaks, the new Radeon R9 390X with HBM memory will be up to 60% faster than the Radeon R9 290X with its 4GB of GDDR5 RAM. The leaked specs see the Fiji XT model featuring 4096 stream processors, a 4096-bit memory bus with up to 8GB of HBM memory, something that will provide 600GB/sec+ of memory bandwidth.

Comparing this to the R9 290X, we have 8.6 TFlops of performance on the R9 390X, which is a huge leap on the 5.6 TFlops that the R9 290X is capable of. HBM is said to be "leaps ahead" when it comes to video memory technology, where we have "drastically increased power efficiency" compared to GDDR5, and so much more. The R9 390X has full support for DirectX 12 and Mantle, with "new dual-GPU modes with upcoming drivers" being teased, as well as an "immersive VR experience with AMD LiquidVR".

We've heard that the Radeon R9 390X will arrive in both a 4GB and 8GB version, but the latest rumor is that AMD will release a Water-Cooled Edition as the Radeon R9 390X WCE.

The news is coming from a leaked slide which shows the R9 390X featuring 4096 shader units, DirectX 12 support, "optimized for 4K gaming & beyond", and it will arrive in a "special enthusiast water-cooled edition" with up to 8GB of ultra-high bandwidth HBM video memory. The more we hear about the R9 390X, the more we want to see it.

We've only been introduced to the GeForce GTX Titan X, but now we're hearing about the GeForce GTX 980 Ti which will also reportedly be based on the GM200 core, but cut down. Not only that, in some leaked benchmarks both of those cards are being compared against the upcoming AMD Radeon R9 390X.

According to the benchmarks, the new Radeon R9 390X looks like quite the force to be reckoned with at 4K, where it beats the R9 290X by 49%. It even beats the new Titan X and the cut down GM200 or GTX 980 Ti. Keep in mind that the above benchmarks are not in FPS, but in relative % to the Radeon R9 290X. We also have an unreleased GTX 96* GPU (GTX 965 or GTX 960 Ti) that you'll find lower on that list.

The same can be said for 2560x1600, where the Fiji-based R9 390X continues to dominate with a 40% jump on the R9 290X. It beats the Titan X by 3%, and the GM200-based GTX 980 Ti by just over 10%. But what about one of the more important aspects of the new architecture: power consumption? This is where, according to the leaked benchmarks, it looks like AMD has done something incredible: increased the horsepower of the 390X over the 290X, but kept to the same TDP.

NVIDIA has already teased its GeForce GTX Titan X which should arrive next week at the company's GPU Technology Conference next week, but now we're hearing about the new Fiji-based Radeon R9 390X, and that it will come in two variants: one with 4GB of VRAM, the other with 8GB.

Because AMD will be using High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) on these cards, the 8GB version will not have the numbers to go mainstream compared to its 4GB counterpart. The 8GB version will require eight 8Gbit chips (1GB per chip) that will provide a huge 1024MB/sec of bandwidth. This card will be quite the force to be reckoned with, but considering the GeForce GTX 980 already performs super well at 4K with its 256-bit memory bus, the 1024-bit memory bus and this next-gen HBM RAM should usher in some 4K numbers we haven't seen before.

We are expecting the new Fiji-based R9 390X to be unveiled at Computex in June.

Inno3D has had some interesting VGA cards in the past, but their new iChill GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 Black Series Accelero Hybrid S cards are looking like some of their highest-end solutions yet.

As you can see in the pictures above and below, they sport an integrated air and liquid cooling solution made by Accelero. This all-in-one solution provides up to 200% better cooling performance, and 9x quieter than the stock cooler. It is maintenance free, which is a huge bonus. As for the insides of the cards, we have the Maxwell-powered GTX 980 and GTX 970. Detailed specs are below:

iChill Black GeForce GTX 980:

It was less than 24 hours ago that we provided the best look at the GeForce GTX Titan X yet, but without drivers we can run anything on it, so performance numbers right now are a total secret. We can do guess work, where I said to expect 30-50% additional performance on top of the GTX 980, which it looks like we have in the Titan X.

VideoCardz has some very early performance numbers, where it really trounces everything else in its path. The tests performed, 3DMark 11, show us that it demolishes the GTX 980, Radeon R9 290X 8GB, GTX Titan Black, and so much more. It swings punches with the dual-GPU Radeon R9 295X2, but gets awfully close in successive benchmarks.

They ran the Titan X in 4-way SLI, which would just be so great to see in person, where the performance reaches 427% that of the single Titan X - some impressive SLI scaling.