Video Cards & GPUs News - Page 315

CES 2015 - SAPPHIRE didn't have anything new to show off at CES 2015, so instead it was just showing off a handful of their most popular products.

We went in and talked to a few of the executives at the company, teeing up some new projects going into the New Year that you will have to check back with TweakTown in the near future to check out. All we can say is: it'll kick ass. Until then, here are some images of video cards that you can check out, starting with the Radeon R9 290X 4GB and R9 280X 4GB.

Here's the SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon R9 4GB.

CES 2015 - Over the last year or two ZOTAC has been making strides when it comes to the GPU market, with some truly great cards that not only look great, are featured packed, but they perform like champions. We knew the company was going to be showing off its new GeForce GTX cards at CES 2015, so here we are!

Let's start off with the GTX 980 AMP! Omega Edition, with its dual fan system, and much more. We have a base clock of 1202MHz, and boost clock of 1304MHz. The usual 4GB of RAM is found on a 256-bit memory bus, while the memory clock is at 7046MHz. We have three DisplayPort outputs, one HDMI 2.0 and one DVI-I.

The GTX 980 AMP! Edition is also another great card from ZOTAC. We have 1165MHz base clock, 1266MHz boost, and 7010MHz memory. 4GB of RAM once again, and the same three DisplayPort, one HDMI 2.0 and one DVI-I output.

CES 2015 - If you're still searching for a GeForce GTX 970 card, Zotac will be showing their new AMP! Extreme and AMP! Edition models in Las Vegas very soon at CES 2015.

Quoted as "designed for enthusiast gamers" in their recent press release, these two new graphics additions to the Zotac family will be focused around extended features and performance capabilities.

ZOTAC will be displaying these cards in an SLI configuration, showcasing their stellar 4K gaming capabilities to the public. One system each will be displaying their AMP! Edition and AMP! Extreme Edition cards.

We only reported a couple of weeks ago that NVIDIA was rumored to launch its GeForce GTX 960 in January, but now some more information is coming through, including a price. At the time, I said that if the company launched the GTX 960 with a $199 price, it could be a hit. Well, this price could end up being true.

Various sources have confirmed that the GTX 960 will rock the GM206 core, but we could end up seeing NVIDIA use a cut down GM204 core, too. We have heard previously that the GTX 960 would feature 4GB of RAM spread across a 256-bit memory bus, but now we're hearing that the GTX 960 could feature a 128-bit bus.

Speculation is starting, where we could also see a GTX 965 or GTX 960 Ti arrive, where we could see the GTX 960 feature a 128-bit bus while the GTX 960 Ti version could throw things up to a 256-bit memory bus. We are still expecting one 6-pin PCIe connector and a total of 150W TDP, which will have mid-range systems enjoying a low-power, but high performing GPU.

Prepare for sadness: AMD and NVIDIA's upcoming next-gen GPUs could be delayed, at least the 16nm or 20nm based versions of them, according to a new report from WCCFTech.

The site is reporting that TSMC may be rolling out its 20nm technology, but TSMC is busy filling orders for Qualcomm and Apple. Flagship GPU dies are much, much larger than the likes of system-on-chips (SoCs) that Qualcomm and Apple require, so that leaves Apple and NVIDIA with a very limited supply of 20nm dies.

What does this mean for AMD and NVIDIA's future GPUs? NVIDIA is already sailing quite well with its efficient Maxwell architecture, where even on the now ageing 28nm it is pulling some seriously good numbers in both camps: performance and power efficiency. AMD is most likely the next up for a GPU refresh, but it looks like the company is going to have to side on the 28nm fence, which should mean its upcoming next-gen architecture should be quite impressive.

It looks like we're seeing the beginnings of SAPPHIRE's new GPU, which is going under the guise of 'Project NFC.' What is Project NFC? Well, NFC stands for Not From Concentrate, which is a term used in the food industry for when water hasn't been extracted from the juice of a fruit. In SAPPHIRE's tease, it is more of a pure and unaltered version, which could be a liquid cooled video card - exciting.

The company hasn't coming out and said that Project NFC is an actual liquid cooled AMD card, but SAPPHIRE did hint at it on its video on YouTube. We have possible drawings of a GPU block, and water vapor as you can see below.

The next question is, is this the Radeon R9 380X? Or would SAPPHIRE liquid cool one of its existing cards? Whatever happens, it's SAPPHIRE: which means we know it's going to be good, very good.

According to "AMD_Chris" on various forums, AMD is working on an impressive new feature dubbed "Dynamic Frame Rate Control". DFRC would allow gamers to put a lock on the total frame rate their video card can render, which can result in a huge amount of power savings.

The feature would most likely see AMD variably adjusting the clock speeds of the cards in order to hit the desired frame rate, such as 60FPS. It might sound like V-Sync, but it's nothing like it as DFRC stops your GPU from cranking things up internally to render 100FPS, when you're only receiving as much as your monitor can put out, which is 60Hz, or 60FPS most of the time.

DFRC will underclock your GPU once you hit 60FPS (or whatever frame rate you choose), allowing the card to not pull as much power from the wall. AMD_Chris says that "the power savings were mind blowing" and we would agree, if your card is rendering 120FPS+ in a more basic game and you've got DFRC set to 60FPS, the power savings would be fairly large. We can't wait to test this new feature, that's for sure - what about you?

According to the latest rumors, the upcoming NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan II has been benchmarked against the Radeon R9 380X and R9 390X. These are just rumors right now, as all three of these cards have not been announced yet. Even the name Titan II could change to Titan II, or Titan Extreme. AMD on the other hand could change their cards to 399X, or 400X or anything out of the norm from what to expect.

The details on the cards from the poster on Chiphell state that the Fiji XT and Bermuda XT (380X and 390X respectively), will be manufactured on Globalfoundries' 20nm process. The Titan II on the other hand will arrive as the GM200, which will supposedly come in two flavors: a cut down version with 21 MM units and a total of 2688 CUDA cores. A "full fat" version will arrive at a later date with an increased amount of SMMs and CUDA cores.

When it comes to performance, the GM200-powered GPU from NVIDIA will be 34% faster than the GeForce GTX 980. On the AMD side of things, the R9 390X will be a huge 65% faster than the R9 290X, which will feature liquid cooling that was rumored all those months ago. Performance wise, the next-gen GPUs are packing a massive punch.

GIGABYTE surprised the world with its super impressive GeForce GTX 980 WaterForce 3-Way SLI Kit, but now it is finally beginning to sell the best Christmas present ever. The kit is listed on Newegg, with a price tag of $2999.

For $3000, you get three NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 GPUs, and an external liquid cooling box (with three 120mm radiators and fans). Breaking it down, the GPUs are around $550 each or $1650 for three. This means that the external liquid cooling box and all of the associated work GIGABYTE has pumped into this product, is costing a $1350 premium. This is a massive ask, but for some people who want the ultimate in 3-way SLI, it's a nice option.

We've just reported that AMD has launched its new Catalyst Omega driver suite, where we've written up an overview on the slew of new features and technologies it has unleashed, and a look at performance at 1080p, but what about Eyefinity?

AMD increased the abilities of Eyefinity with the new drivers, which now allow 24 monitors to be supported on Windows. You don't need any third-party software, or hardware, with the company providing a new GUI for setting up your new 24 monitor Eyefinity rig. You'll need four Radeon GPUs with six DisplayPort outputs per card, but it can be done.