Graphics Cards - Page 248

Today NVIDIA announced a partnership with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment that will give those who purchase new NVIDIA GeForce-based GPU's the highly acclaimed Batman: Arkham Origins video game. The new title in the Batman series features an expansive Gotham City, and introduces a new original prequel storyline set several years before the events that took place in Batman; Arkham Asylum, and Batman Arkham City.

"The Batman: Arkham games are visually stunning and it's great that we are able to continue building upon the amazing graphics with Batman: Arkham Origins," said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Production and Development, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "With NVIDIA's continued support, we are able to deliver an incredibly immersive gameplay experience."

And if you're attending PAX PRIME this weekend, anyone attending the sneak peek of Batman: Arkham Origins will also have the chance to purchase a bundle package at the special kiosk inside the NVIDIA booth, and will receive a limited-edition Batman lithograph. Eligible GPU's include the GeForce 660, 660TI, 670, 680, 760, 770 or 780 high-end graphics cards.

Now this is some exciting news from VideoCardz.com, who is reporting that NVIDIA is working on two new video cards that we should see in the very near future. The first of which brings back the Ultra moniker, something I've been missing for years, and a dual Kepler GPU.

The two GPUs in question would land as the GeForce GTX Titan Ultra, and the dual-GPU GeForce GTX 790. The GTX Titan Ultra would be a GK110 part, which is the same silicon found in the GTX Titan and GTX 780, but it would have all of those 2880 CUDA cores enabled for some serious graphics bench pressing. RIght now, the GTX Titan has 2688 CUDA cores enabled, and the GTX 780 has just 2304 CUDA cores enabled. This should give the GTX Titan Ultra a nice boost over its predecessor.

NVIDIA isn't stopping there though, as we should expect a GeForce GTX 790 sometime in the future. This would pack in two GK110 cores, but we don't know how many CUDA cores NVIDIA would enable per GPU. We should expect two fully-enabled GPUs on the GTX 780, as they'd need to be cut down to not leap over the 300W threshold.

If you've ever stared at your multiple graphics cards set up and thought to yourself "man that SLI bridge sure is ugly," then a fresh announcement from EVGA is sure to put a smile on your face. Earlier today, EVGA announced what amounts to a cosmetic upgrade for enthusiasts who run multiple NVIDIA graphics cards.

The EVGA Pro SLI Bridge is an aesthetically pleasing replacement for the typical ribbon cable-based SLI bridge that comes with all NVIDIA SLI compatible graphics cards. While it offers nothing in terms of better performance, it should really clean up the look of multiple GPU setups and give enthusiasts just a little more bragging rights about the bling in their case.

The bridge appears to be made out of plastic and features brushed aluminum panels on top with the EVGA logo front and center. Things are accented by backlighting that is provided by small LEDS shining through EVGA logos on each panel. This backlighting will only work when the bridges are used on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 700-series or later graphics cards, including the GeForce GTX Titan. EVGA says that the bridges are compatible with all brands of NVIDIA graphics cards and will be available in the coming weeks.

You can always count on NVIDIA to release something that gets your wallet craving an emptying, and today is no different with the announcement of their new professional-grade GPU, the Quadro K6000.

NVIDIA are calling their new Kepler-based, professional GPU "the fastest and most capable GPU ever built." It has replaced the Quadro 6000, and features an insane 12GB of DDR5 RAM, 2880 streaming multiprocessor cores, ultra-low latency video I/O and the ability to pump graphics out to four simultaneous monitors at 4K resolutions. Yeah, nice, isn't it?

Just how fast is NVIDIA's Quadro K6000? Well, Nissan have said they can nearly load almost-complete vehicle models using NVIDIA's new GPU. Impressive. It's actually not too badly priced either, comign in at $2250.

It looks like AMD could be jumping right into the HD 9000 series, skipping the HD 8000 series altogether, and this new next-gen GPU would be launching as soon as October.

The first HD 9000 series parts are set to be Curacao and Hainan, both 28nm-based chips on the GCN 2.0 architecture. The new architecture features an improved front-end with 4 asynchronous computing engines (ACEs) and 3 geometry engines, as well as more stream processors crammed in.

The reason for skipping the HD 8000 series is most likely because AMD are already re-badging HD 7000 series GPU's as HD 8000 series parts to OEMs. We should expect the Curacao XT to feature 2304 stream processors (36 compute units) 144 texture units, 48 render back ends and a 384-bit memory controller. The Hainan will be less powerful, featuring 1792 stream processors (28 compute units) 112 texture units, 32 render back ends and a 256-bit memory bus.

This morning, NVIDIA released the highly anticipated GeForce GTX 760 to the world. The 760 is a mid-range GPU that is said to be about 12% faster than its predecessor the GeForce GTX 660 Ti. Like it's GTX 770 and GTX 780 brethren, NVIDIA says that the GTX 760 features all the latest hardware and software features.

"For gamers seeking insanely fast performance and smooth frame rates for their favorite games, the choice is clear: NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPUs," said Scott Herkelman, general manager of the GeForce GPU business at NVIDIA. "At a starting price of only $249, the GeForce GTX 760 ushers in a new level of performance, features and affordability, so gamers can experience today's most graphically demanding titles with all the eye candy turned high. It's a great time to be a PC gamer!"

Powered by an NVIDIA Kepler architecture-based GPU with an incredible 2.3 gigaflops of processing horsepower, the GeForce GTX 760 is already dramatically more powerful than the next-generation game consoles expected by the end of the year. To satisfy gamer demands for greater customization and overclocking options, the GeForce GTX 760 includes NVIDIA GPU Boost 2.0 technology, which automatically increases the GPU's clock speed for enhanced performance, while adding temperature target and fan controls, as well as extra over-voltage headroom and optimizations for advanced water-cooling solutions.

Normally next-gen video cards get me all excited, but to tell you the truth folks, the HD 8970 isn't that exciting. First off, we should expect a refresh and nothing that is architecturally new, and normally that is ok - but I want boundaries being pushed.

There's new circling that AMD's Radeon HD 8970 has been pictured, with some specs attached to this boat that is barely being kept together out at sea. We should expect a 1000MHz Base Clock, 2304 Stream Processors, 48 RO's, 3GB of GDDR5, a 384-bit memory bus and a 250W TDP. So we're talking a slight bump on what we have with the HD 7970 - nothing exciting. The other issue is the HD 8970 actually already exists, with AMD selling it as an OEM-only product.

There are specs on AMD's website about it, which put it on level with their HD 7970. So while this video card could be the HD 8970, there's no real reason to care. I think we should expect something great from AMD toward the end of the year, considering they are the ones powering all three next-gen consoles...

Computex Taipei 2013 - We took a closer look at Sapphire's beautiful Atomic HD 7990 GPU in their room at Computex, and wow does it look great. Not only does it feature two Tahiti XT2 cores, but the cooling system on it is really something else.

There's six miniDisplayPort outputs, for some serious multi-monitor work and the power going into it is quite insane: 12 Phase/50 amp per phase to provide 600 amps total. This is provided by three 8-pin PCI Express power connectors. The water cooling on the Atomic HD 7990 is great, too, with a full copper water block on offer, with an ultra low noise pump and for the reservoir we have a front 5.25-inch reservoir with one pump pre-installed with the option of upgrading to a dual pump system.

The radiator is 240mm and fan wise we have two 120mm fans capable of 1200 RPM.

Computex Taipei 2013 - With new video cards being released over the recent weeks from NVIDIA we get a chance to sit down and check out the latest offerings from EVGA to find out just what they're doing with the new high-end single GPU models from NVIDIA.

As you'd expect the focus was on the new GTX 700 series and EVGA showed off four of its main models which starting from the left included the new EVGA GTX 780 Hydro Cooler which of course carries with ti that massively mean looking water block.

Moving across to the right we found ourselves looking at one card that extremely excites us; the upcoming GTX 780 Classified. Designed in house the new Classified model is due to offer some extreme performance and even more extreme overclocking capabilities with improvements in a number of areas. While final clock speeds for the model haven't been set yet, It's safe to say that most users of the upcoming model will probably be firing up EVGA Precision and trying to get even more performance out of the card.

Computex Taipei 2013 - Some of you may know how much of a multi-monitor and high-resolution fanboy I am, well, I had to stop at AMD's booth at Computex to check out their 5-screen Eyefinity rig, which just looked amazing.

The five monitors were in portrait mode, another favorite of mine, and had Tomb Raider ready to play. I didn't play it myself, but I did take some video of another show-goer playing it and it looked incredible. The rig running it was powered by an AMD FX 8350 processor, 8GB of AMD Radeon DDR3 RAM, a Radeon HD 7990 dual-GPU graphics card, and the five monitors, pumping out a resolution of 5400x1920. Now that is my kind of setup!

And all of those monitors require some conversion, from miniDisplayPort that is provided on the back of the HD 7990 to DisplayPort.

Computex Taipei 2013 - You know what? This is the kind of technology that I live for; Sapphire are back in the spotlight once again with an insane new dual-GPU card, the Sapphire Atomic HD7990 6GB.

As you can see from the product name, we have 6GB of RAM which will be announced later (probably some insanely fast gear) and two Tahiti XT2 GPU's. Sapphire's Atomic range always goes crazy, so we have six miniDisplayPort outputs for some crazy multi-monitor goodness, something that gets the blood flowing through my body. Now, none of this is possible without some power, and just how much does the Atomic HD7990 6GB require?

Three 8-pin PCIe power connectors, yes, three! Sapphire have gone as far as offering water cooling with the Atomic HD7990 6GB, and it's quite the setup. We have a full copper water block, front 5.25-inch reservoir with one pump pre-installed with the option of upgrading to a dual pump, a 240mm radiator, and 2 x 120mm fans to keep it all going. Some full specs are below:

This morning, Palit released its version of the GeForce GTX 770 and unlike other GPU manufacturers, Palit chose to toss away the reference design cooler and add their own JetStream cooler into the mix. The result is said to be a 10 percent gain in overclockability as well as some snazzy good looks!

The Palit GeForce GTX 770 JetStream 2GB ships with a 10 percent higher core clock, which Palit says equates to 10 percent higher gaming performance. Like other video cards in Palit's JetStream line, the GTX 770 comes equipped with the company's signature JetStream 80mm,90mm,80mm triple fan bank that cools the GPU by 15 Celsius lower, and is 9dB quieter than the reference design.

Palit attributes these performance gains to several upgraded features on the GTX770 JetStream 2GB. These include:

Things are looking good for NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce GTX 770 this morning as new specifications and pricing information has leaked. The GTX 770 appears to be identical to the GTX 680 in hardware but will feature higher clocks and faster memory frequency. The leak comes from retailers located in Tokyo's Akihabara shopping district in the form of photographs taken of the sales sheet on a monitor.

The chip is said to be clocked at 1046MHz and will feature a massive 7GHz memory clock. If these specifications are true, then the GTX 770 will be the highest clocked GPU ever made, albeit with a power draw of 230 watts. The card will feature the same cooling solution used on the GTX 780 and GTX TITAN. Combining the speed with good looks and topping things off with a pricing point of $400 makes the GTX 770 the best bang for your buck GPU on the market.

Details of the next-gen GeForce GPU from NVIDIA are here, as well as a release date: May 23. Fudzilla were privvy to some leaked slides, which points to the GTX 780 featuring 2304 CUDA cores and an 863MHz base GPU clock. The GeForce GTX 780 will feature NVIDIA's GPU Boost 2.0 that will ramp the GPU clock speed up to 900MHz.

We should expect the GTX 780 to come with 3GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 6000MHz coupled with a 384-bit memory bus. Power wise, the GTX 780 is going to require both 6- and 8-pin PCI-Express power connections and has TDP of 250W. Connectivity options include two dual-link DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs.

The GeForce GTX 780 reference card will use the same cooler that is featured on the GTX Titan, and should keep noise levels down to around 40-45 dBA. This means the reference GTX 780 will be much quieter than the GTX 680. We should expect the GeForce GTX 780 to be around 25% to 50% faster than the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, except for Tomb Raider, where the AMD will excel against most GeForce GPU's.

NVIDIA is set to release their next-generation GPUs in the form of the 700-series next month, with some sources stating that you can flash your GeForce GTX 680 to a GeForce GTX 770 with a BIOS flash.

If this is true, this means that the GTX 770 is going to be a simple rebrand of the current GTX 680, but we should be used to this by now. There's a post on Reddit with someone saying that they've uploaded a BIOS (.bin) file and the required driver information (.inf) file which will have a GTX 680 owner get a GTX 770 card, all for nothing. The post states: "The upcoming GTX 770 is a GTX 680 in disguise. NVIDIA has gently revised the GK104 architecture, mostly with process improvements, but the 770 is basically the same beast! Which is good for us enthusiasts".

But, don't get your hopes up just yet, as a post on TechPowerUp has said that the BIOS supplied to the Reddit user isn't a GTX 770 BIOS, but a "modified GTX 680 BIOS" that has increased clock speeds and the .inf file has been edited to change the card's descriptor string to 'GTX 770'.

We've been hearing a lot about the upcoming NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 and GTX 770. Just within the past day, we posted about a CPU-Z validation that listed the GTX 780 as the card being used. So we have a feeling the card exists. And what do you know, pictures have leaked out!

Take a look at what is purported to be the GTX 780 and GTX 770. These cards share similar styling to the recently released GTX Titan and the GTX 780 is said to be positioned just below the Titan. It relies on the same GK110 silicon as the Titan and will likely feature a similar PCB. The GTX 770, however, is based upon the GK104.

We still don't have full confidence that these are the cards, but there are some signs that point to a legitimate leak. For instance, differences near the PCIe interface suggest that the picture is not a fake. As with all rumors and leaks, take it with a grain of salt until official information is released.

CPU-Z validations is great for a few things, first and foremost for validating your extreme overclock, but sometimes there are some leaks through the cracks and we find out some juicy goss on the upcoming next-gen GPU.

As you can see above, there's a tease of NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce GTX 780 GPU, and while that should be enough to satisfy those GPU urges you feel, there's something else that is intriguing. Under the 'GPU Type' is 'DirectX Version', which states '12.0', or DirectX 12. Currently even Windows 8 is still in DirectX 11, and we have no news of a next-gen DirectX right now.

This is where we tumble down the rabbit hole, let's fantasize that this is real - DirectX 12 is coming. Why are AMD saying DirectX 12 isn't coming, considering they're working with all three big consoles makers - Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony - with Radeon GPU's in their consoles. AMD are working on the next-gen Xbox, which could feature DirectX 12, and Microsoft and AMD don't want to talk about it.

AMD are back yet again with the monster of Radeon GPUs, the dual-GCN rocking Radeon HD 7990. The Radeon HD 7990 features a number-busting 8.6 billion (that's with a B) transistors, 4096 stream processors and a total of 8.2 TLOPS of compute power.

6GB of GDDR5 is baked onto the HD 7990, four miniDisplayPort connectors and a dual-link DVI connector back it up to provide five monitor support through AMD's EyeFinity technology. There's three fans on the front of the HD 7990 to keep those two GraphicsCore Next GPUs cool, which it does so without making too much noise at all - 37.8dBA compared to NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 690 (NVIDIA's dual GPU) which cranks along at 47.5dBA (tests used with sound pressure at 50cm running Furmark).

AMD's ZeroCore power technology is at play, where it switches off the second GPU when not in use to save power (and heat). You can check out our own review on the Radeon HD 7990 right here.

Yesterday I reported on a leak that showed off two new additions to NVIDIA's Titan line of video cards; the Titan LE and Titan II. This morning we are learning a little more about the Titan LE, as well as two other new video cards for 2013.

According to Bright Side of News, it appears that the Titan LE name will be tossed out in favor of the GTX 780 5GB, which follows the traditional NVIDIA naming scheme. The 780 is the consumer version of the Tesla K20C and sports 2496 CUDA cores and 5GB of GDDR5 memory.

We have also came across info on two other NVIDIA boards, the GTX 770 and GTX 760 Ti. The 770 is based off a GK104-425 die, which makes it nothing more than a higher clocked GTX 680. It is expected to perform 20-25% better than the GTX 670 and be on par with a GTX 680.

This morning rumors of two new NVIDIA GeForce Titan GPU's have made their way to our ears. Website 3DCeter.org is reporting that NVIDIA is planning to launch two revisions of its flagship Titan GPU, the Titan LE and Titan II.

The new models will bring the Titan lineup to three different units that all share the same GK110 processor with the Titan LE being a slightly underclocked model, that uses marginal chips that didn't make the grade for full-fledged Titan performance. The LE will feature 2,495 CUDA cores across 208 texture mapping units, 5GB of GDDR5, and a peak power consumption rate of 190W, according to the leak.

The GTX Titan II is an upgraded model to the now famous GTX Titan and unlocks more of the GK110's power than the stock Titan. The Titan II name is said to change to Titan Ultra on launch and will feature 2,880 CUDA cores across 256 texture mapping units. Clock speed is boosted to 950MHz with RAM staying the same as the stock Titan at 6GB.