Video Cards & GPUs - Page 438

CES 2013 - AMD's new Radeon HD 8000M is something special for mobile computing, as its the first mobile GPU that is based on the Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture. These GPUs are built on the 28nm process and feature DirectX 11.1 support, as well as the cool AMD tech found in ZeroCore and Enduro.

The Radeon HD 8000M lineup will include 8500M models (384 stream processors, 650/1125MHz), 8600M series models (384 stream processors, 725/1125MHz), 8700 series models (384 stream processors, 850/1125MHz) and a higher-end 8700M that will feature 640 stream processors, 700MHz core and only uses GDDR5.

AMD have pulled their rubber rebadging stamp out of the 'why aren't we over this yet' cupboard, and are currently stamping rebrands of the HD 7000 family into the HD 8000 family to OEMs from top to bottom. Even the Radeon HD 8970 is a damn rebadge of the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition which sports 2048 stream processors, 1GHz core clock and 3GB of GDDR5 clocked at 6GHz, all sprinkled on a 384-bit bus.

CES 2013 - ASUS released the latest edition of its ARES Graphics Card line today and it, as usual, is a beast. The ROG ARES II is the fastest most powerful GPU available to date, and it looks almost as good as it preforms!

The ARES II features exclusive ASUS DIGI+ VRM and Super Alloy Power technologies for greater stability and product longevity. This GPU Monster is powered by two AMD Radeon HD 7970's, 6GB GDDR5, and is water cooled from the factory. Clocks are set at 1050MHz Base, 1100MHZ Boost, and 6600MHz Memory. Max resolution is set at 2560x1600 through a DVI connection.

ASUS has only manufactured 1000 of these beauties and each one is numbered for collect-ability. No word yet on pricing for the ARES II but with the previous ARES and MARS cards selling in the $1500 range, it is not far fetched to think the ARES II will be in that same range, if not higher.

Just days before the world reportedly ends, leaked details of AMD's upcoming Radeon HD 8000M "Solar System" range of mobile GPUs have made their way onto the shores of the Internet.

The new mobile GPUs are set to launch for CES 2013, and will be based on the new Graphics CoreNext (GCN) micro-architecture. GCN supports DirectX 11.1, Enduro Technology and AMD ZeroCore power technology. Enduro is an NVIDIA Optimus-like tech which switches between discrete and integrated GPUs while the ZeroCore tech can completely power down GPUs when they're not needed.

Peering over the slides, we can see there is a new ASIC which covers three product lines - HD 8500M, HD 8600M and the HD 8700M. The sure-to-be-sweet silicon sports 384 GCN stream processors, a 128-bit memory interface that supports both GDDR5 and DDR3. The HD 8500M series sports GPU clock speeds of up to 650MHz, with the 8600M cranking it up to 775MHz. The 8700M series goes one better and sees clock speeds hitting 850MHz.

I'm sure you didn't see this one coming, did you? Neither did I, don't worry. Spanish site BitDreams.se has posted what they are claiming to be the specs on AMD's upcoming next-generation dual-GPU, the Radeon HD 8990.

The leak reports that we should expect the HD 8990 in Q2 2013, meaning it is not far away at all. The leaked roadmap unveils that there are two Radeon HD 8800 series GPUs to be shipped this quarter, and with just weeks left, if it did happen, it's most likely going to be a paper launch - if it happens at all.

Now that we've got the lower-end gear out of the way, let's get straight to that succulent GPU meat - the Radeon HD 8990 "Venus XTX" which will see two Radeon HD 8970s bound onto the single GPU. The card is teased as sporting a whopping 5.1 billion transistors, 5210 stream processors and 160 texture units per core. The HD 8990 is listed as featuring 48 ROPs per core, and two 384-bit buses. Memory should reach the dizzying heights of between 6GB and 12GB and should come factory clocked at 1250MHz. The GPU cores should be set at 950MHz if the leaked roadmap holds truth to it.

We've been sitting on the AMD Radeon HD 7000 series for a while now, and like anything else, that is set to change in the coming months. DigiTimes' latest report is that AMD plans to release their next-gen HD 8000 series in Q2 of 2013.

The company are currently going through a business reorganization in order to help their poor performance from the quarter just gone, according to DigiTimes' sources from the "upstream supply chain". DigiTimes reports that AMD were set to unveil their Radeon HD 8000 series at the end of the year to compete with NVIDIA, but pulled back.

The Chinese market is huge, and both companies want it - obviously. AMD's market share in the country has dropped to just 30%, and they're hoping that the launch of the next-gen GPUs will swell those numbers up considerably.

The thrifty among our readers will be happy to hear that the AMD Radeon HD 7850 has seen another price cut, bringing the retail price for the 2GB version down to $189. Along with that cut, the rest of the product line continues to trend downwards as the series ages, the process matures, and competition heats up between AMD and NVIDIA.

Anandtech has produced the nice chart you see above. The chart shows how the prices of AMD's offerings have declined continually since launch by comparing launch price, spring MSRP, late summer MSRP, and fall retail price. AMD has changed from quoting MSRP to quoting retail price as that usually is $10 lower than MSRP.

While the prices on the HD 7000 series started out really high, as of late they've become extremely reasonable due to the continual price cuts that AMD has been implementing. With the HD 8000 series due out early next year, prices will likely continue to fall on the HD 7000 series, though probably not until the holidays or just past.

NVIDIA have pushed forward something called the Green Light program, which is a certification process that is designed to ensure that GPUs meet specific requirements, reports the Bright Side of News.

The Green Light program requires vendors to send in their board designs to NVIDIA, where they wait for their approval from the GPU maker. NVIDIA will check that the design meets their noise, power, voltage and heat numbers - and if it meets them, the card is approved. If not, it is declined and they'll have to resubmit.

What happens if a partner doesn't submit their card for approval? Well, they can have their GPU warranty and BIOS support removed, or worse - they could have their allocation of GPUs from NVIDIA cut down, or stopped completely.

Here I was thinking we wouldn't see much toward this time of the year on the GPU landscape, but AMD are already close enough to the launch of their Radeon HD 8800 series with sources now leaking out some information on silicon that is codenamed "Oland".

Oland is built on the same 28nm process, throwing in 3.4 billion transistors onto a die-area of around 270 mm². If the news is solid, we're looking at the Radeon HD 8870 "Oland XT" outperforming its predecessor, the HD 7870 in both performance per watt, and cost-performance ratios.

If the chart is right, the HD 8870 could begin offering performance close to that of today's high-end offerings, which would really shake up the market. The HD 8870 clocks in at 1050MHz, with 1100MHz PowerTune Boost frequency, with its little brother the HD 8850 clocked at 925MHz with 975MHz boost frequency. Both SKUs have memory clocking in at 6GHz, providing an insane 192GB/s of memory bandwidth - even at a proposed $199 price for the HD 8850.

NVIDIA has had to push back its launch schedule due to troubles with the manufacturing processes. Originally, Kepler was supposed to launch in 2011, however, it is still being launched to this day and we've almost hit 2013. No new architecture will be produced until Maxwell in 2014.

Maxwell is an interesting animal. It will be a 20nm chip, which isn't a big deal. However, it is being designed so that it can be manufactured at GlobalFoundries, IBM, Samsung and TSMC. This should allow NVIDIA to ensure a large enough supply, or make a change if one of the fabs is having process issues.

The GTX 700 series should be a similar launch schedule to what has so far occurred with the GTX 600 series. This means we won't see anything until March 2013 or later. But the good news is that the new chip should between 25-30% higher performance and power efficiency. The Kepler refresh will have to compete with AMD's Sea Islands, so the real battle will take place in 2014 with Maxwell taking on Sea Islands.

It's about time that someone went and made a 7990. We've been hearing that AMD has them coming for a long time now, but they have failed to deliver. That is, until today. PowerCooler has announced the world's first dual-Tahiti GPU and is calling it the 7990. Does this mean that we may finally start seeing them from other manufacturers?

For right now, PowerCooler is billing this card as the first and only 7990 in the world. The specifications are pretty beefy and really provide what everyone was expecting. The Devil 13 HD7990 has default settings at 925MHz engine clocks and 1375MHz memory clocks and sports 6GB of GDDR5.