Video Cards & GPUs News - Page 5

GALAX has launched beefy Hall of Fame (or HOF) versions of both the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and the GeForce RTX 4090, and now it's the GeForce RTX 4080's turn for some extreme HOF overclocking action. And GALAX is introducing three models based on the AD103 chip, and with boost speeds of up to 2640 MHz, they represent some of the fastest GeForce RTX 4080 models in the market.

GALAX GeForce RTX 4080 HOF OC LAB

GALAX GeForce RTX 4080 HOF OC LAB Plus-X: with 2640 MHz boost, HOF Panel III

GALAX GeForce RTX 4080 HOF OC LAB Plus: with 2640 MHz boost

The latest GeForce Game Ready Driver driver is here, and it officially adds DLSS 3-enhanced support to the recently released Atomic Heart. With DLSS 3 4K performance on the GeForce RTX 4090 is boosted by an incredible 90% - taking the in-game fps from 97 up to an impressive 184 fps using NVIDIA's new Frame Generation technology. It even allows the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti to push its performance from around 63 fps up to 113 fps, impressive stuff.

Atomic Heart DLSS 3 benchmarks, credit: NVIDIA

But the support for the upcoming Closed Beta for The Finals from Stockholm-based Embark Studios excites us. This is a new game created by a team of ex-Battlefield developers, and it takes environmental destruction to crazy new heights - which you can see in the latest GeForce RTX-powered trailer for the game.

The game is set to support NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Reflex, and even hardware ray-tracing with RTXGI for lighting. The Closed Beta for The Finals is set to kick off on March 7 and run for two weeks, and you can sign up for it now via the game's Steam page. NVIDIA has provided some hardware requirements for the game's RTX features, where a GeForce RTX 3070 is recommended for RTX, and a GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is recommended for "UItra RTX."

NVIDIA has finally launched its video upscaling tech that adds a bit of DLSS magic to watching YouTube videos within Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge called RTX Video Super Resolution (VSR). It uses the AI-based Tensor Core hardware found inside GeForce RTX 30 and 40 Series GPUs to make video content that streams at 1080p or lower look much better than the basic upscaling techniques used by modern browsers.

NVIDIA's RTX Video Super Resolution

Like with DLSS, the goal is essentially to make 1080p video look like a native 4K stream without having to use a lot more bandwidth. NVIDIA notes that the AI removes blocky compression artifacts while improving sharpness and clarity. RTX VSR is available now as part of the latest GeForce Game Ready Driver that dropped today.

"Just like putting on a pair of prescription glasses can instantly snap the world into focus," writes NVIDIA. "RTX Video Super Resolution gives viewers on GeForce RTX 40 and 30 Series PCs a clear picture into the world of streaming video."

AMD's Radeon RX 7900 XT GPU is getting cheaper across the globe, as first we heard the news of substantial price falls in China (over the past weekend), and now the same is happening in the US, too.

ASRock's Phantom Gaming RX 7900 XT graphics card, which is also pictured above (Image Credit: ASRock)

Leading the charge in the States is the ASRock Phantom Gaming RX 7900 XT graphics card over at Newegg, which has now been reduced to US$830, a pretty significant drop from the MSRP of US$900.

Indeed, that's 9% off the recommended price, although the cost reductions in China comfortably exceed that kind of discount, amounting to nearly 20% being lopped off the price tag.

Pricing for graphics cards is continuing to drop in China, which extends to new models, with the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT now being listed for a price 19% lower than its original launch MSRP. This is a massive reduction for what is seen as the least popular model of AMD's new RDNA 3-based graphics cards.

Granted, there are only two RDNA 3 models, with more on the way, but even the flagship AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is now being sold at a price point around 5% lower than its launch-day MSRP.

AMD's new GPUs have been more aggressively priced than NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 40 Series line-up, but even Team Green's cards are now available for prices lower than their launch MSRPs. This starkly contrasts what we saw back in 2020 and 2021 with the Ampere-based GeForce RTX 30 Series, where it seemed like prices would increase every week or two. In China, even the popular GeForce RTX 4090 is now being sold at a price 7% lower than its MSRP, with the GeForce RTX 4080 seeing a more significant drop with a price 15% lower than its launch MSRP.

NVIDIA's gaming revenue for Q2 FY23 is down 46% year-on-year, but its USD 1,831 million in this sector is up 16% over the previous quarter. Despite the downturn, advances in AI acceleration and data center sales have seen the company's stock surge over the past week.

NVIDIA's earnings report, with gaming revenue.

Still, the more interesting thing we've learned is that when it comes to overall gaming revenue, NVIDIA and AMD are close - with NVIDIA's USD 1,831 million in gaming revenue being only 10% more than AMD's USD 1,644.

It's no secret that NVIDIA's GeForce hardware dominates the PC gaming market in terms of overall market share. The most recent Steam Hardware Survey results back this up, showcasing that pretty much all the top discrete GPU options come from Team Green (over 75%), and it's a list that even includes the recently released GeForce RTX 4090 and other high-end GPUs from the company.

It's safe to say that the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti looks fantastic in white. MSI's Gaming X Trio GPUs have been a mainstay for years, with improvements and tweaks arriving alongside new GPU architecture releases and models. And now we've got two models in funky white, the MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti GAMING X TRIO WHITE and the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 GAMING X TRIO WHITE.

MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Gaming X Trio White

But it's not a simple color change, as the physical design and look of the Gaming X Trio are carefully tweaked and adjusted to suit the new color. This means you've got silver or grey flourishes above and below the white fans and on the metallic backplate. The mix of hard angles and the MSI Gaming X Trio style is amplified here, with the MSI logo, dragon, and GeForce branding all popping in surprisingly cool ways. There's also RGB action around the middle fan to add flair when you've got it in a case.

Cooling-wise, this card benefits from the advanced we've seen with the GeForce RTX 40 Series, with MSI's TRI FROZR 3 thermal design being the main reason this is a triple-slot beast. The new TORX FAN 5.0 blades are designed to improve airflow, with MSI noting a 23% increase in that department compared to standard axial fans. The MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti GAMING X TRIO WHITE is also silent; with a Silent mode, you can toggle for some quiet gaming. The Dual BIOS also features a GAMING mode for performance, which can be tweaked further via MSI Center or the brilliant MSI Afterburner GPU tweaking app.

AMD's RX 7800, RX 7700 and RX 7600 - which will represent more affordable RDNA 3 graphics cards - could still be some way off launching, if a new rumor is right.

An RX 7900 XT graphics card from GIGABYTE (Image Credit: GIGABYTE)

This speculation comes from the MyDrivers forum in China, a regular source of leaks, but one that must be treated cautiously (it's not always the most reliable, so bear that in mind).

But the theory advanced by Kuai Technology on MyDrivers is that the RX 7000 GPUs to follow the high-end RX 7900 cards (which have been the only RDNA 3 models to hit shelves thus far) won't turn up until June 2023.

NVIDIA DLSS continues to grow, and the AI-based rendering for GeForce RTX GPUs has been one of the most important and impressive additions to PC gaming in the last decade-a sizable performance bump while minimizing the impact on visual fidelity.

Atomic Heart and Returnal have launched with DLSS support.

And with the arrival of the new GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs and its beefed-up AI hardware, DLSS 3's Frame Generation goes one step further by using AI to create entire frames and push performance to even crazier heights.

The only downside is that DLSS 3 is limited to the new NVIDIA GPUs, but any game with DLSS 3 also supports DLSS 2 (DLSS Super Resolution). And with that, we've got an updated list of DLSS-enabled games, with February featuring the following titles.

After a bit of turmoil regarding new GPU drivers for AMD Radeon graphics cards, it looks like Team Red is back on track. Its latest AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 23.2.2 Driver is a unified driver release covering AMD Radeon RX 7000, Radeon RX 6000, and older GPUs. Primarily it adds support for two new PC game releases - Atomic Heart and Company of Heroes 3.

Atomic Heart and Company of Heroes 3

For Company of Heroes 3, AMD notes that the new drivers deliver a decent performance boost - up to 13% for the Radeon RX 7900 XT at 4K and up to 9% for the Radeon RX 6800 XT at 4K. The update also fixes a few issues relating to video encoding, with a few game fixes coming to Hitman 3 and when using the Valve Index VR headset.

Unfortunately, the high idle power issue for the Radeon RX 7000 series is still listed as a known issue - so hopefully, that fix will come soon.