New AMD desktop cards in 2H 2013

A part of AMD’s next graphics update mentioned here is that AMD wants to make its Radeon HD 7000 series perform even better on the market and that it plans to continue selling these cards for a while. The company feels confident that a combination of good value and attractive bundles such as Never Settle Reloaded is the way to go. [We bet it will work better than Matrix Reloaded. Ed.]

AMD went on record telling the world that Radeon HD 8000 mobile series is indeed the Sea Islands series and that the same master code name is currently also used for the desktop cards.

Sea Islands ahoy

A part of AMD’s next graphics update mentioned here is that AMD wants to make its Radeon HD 7000 series perform even better on the market and that it plans to continue selling these cards for a while. The company feels confident that a combination of good value and attractive bundles such as Never Settle Reloaded is the way to go. [We bet it will work better than Matrix Reloaded. Ed.]

AMD went on record telling the world that Radeon HD 8000 mobile series is indeed the Sea Islands series and that the same master code name is currently also used for the desktop cards. Darren McPhee, Director of Product Marketing, AMD Graphics, never said it but it’s safe to assume that desktop Sea Islands will end up with Radeon HD 8000 branding.

The desktop version of Sea Islands cards will come in 2H 2013 and we didn't get any better date than that. In the normal world second half of the year starts with July 1st and ends with the December 31th 2013, so the cards should appear over this six month period.

In case AMD wants to hit back to school, Radeon HD 8000 series needs to be out by late July, but this is just common sense while the actual production and distribution depend on many factors that are not known to us at this time.

AMD announced a much more eventful 2013 in graphics and back at CES 2013 we heard some of the top names in AMD that the company wants to point out that it is better in graphics than people think they are. AMD has vastly superior graphics to Intel and even Haswell with GT3 graphics is no match for AMD. However, not too many mainstream consumers have been paying close attention and AMD failed to communicate this for a while.

Obviously this is about to change. Nvidia is still competitor number one, but we are sure that a frontal attack is coming in Intel’s direction as well.

Source: fudzilla.com

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7990 stays the fastest AMD card till end of 2013

Just now we listened in on AMD’s graphics update conference call and we heard some new info, but nothing surprising.

The call featured Darren McPhee, Director of Product Marketing, AMD Graphics and Devon Nekechuk, Product Manager, AMD Graphics, Dave Baumann Manager, Product Management - Performance & Enthusiast Desktop GPU Graphics Division, AMD and the very charismatic Roy Tailor, Corporate Vice President Global Channel Sales at AMD all ready to talk about graphics. They are certainly not ready to settle.

AMD execs on the record

Just now we listened in on AMD’s graphics update conference call and we heard some new info, but nothing surprising.

The call featured Darren McPhee, Director of Product Marketing, AMD Graphics and Devon Nekechuk, Product Manager, AMD Graphics, Dave Baumann Manager, Product Management - Performance & Enthusiast Desktop GPU Graphics Division, AMD and the very charismatic Roy Tailor, Corporate Vice President Global Channel Sales at AMD all ready to talk about graphics. They are certainly not ready to settle.

AMD was quick to point out that the Asus Ares 2 HD 7990 is currently the world’s fastest graphics card, and that it believes it will stay that way. AMD has been asked many times about Titan, but it maintains that this is a Tesla GK110 based product not meant for gaming. AMD believes it will stay the fastest and we very much doubt that. AMD was also very clear that Never Settle Reloaded had an excellent impact on the high end graphics market and boosted AMD graphics sales, especially in the USA.

These chaps also confirmed that Radeon HD 7990 1GHz Edition remains the fastest card from house of AMD and that there won’t be any new cards to replace this one anytime soon. There will be a graphics update in 2H 2013, but not in the dual-chip high performance market segment.

There will also be some new bundles to come, Mr Taylor was very clear that he wants to poke Nvidia, his previous employer, and try to seize some market share from the green team. Let the fun begin.

Source: fudzilla.com

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Nvidia Reports Best Year Ever, Shipping Tegra 4 in July

During a conference call after its financial results report for annual and fourth quarter fiscal 2013, Nvidia said that revenue shipments of the Tegra 4 "Wayne" SoC will start in July. Because of this, the first commercial devices to utilize the new chip won't be seen on the market until sometime between August and September.

"We ship Tegra 4 starting in Q2 [of fiscal 2014]. We are ramping production now and we will have full production release. […] [The second quarter] is when we ship to customers. Q2 is also when we ship the Tegra 4 based Shield device. […] Although it is in the latter part of Q2, it is going to be in Q2," said company CEO Jen-Hsun Huan.

Devices sporting the new Tegra 4 SoC won't appear on the market until August or September.

During a conference call after its financial results report for annual and fourth quarter fiscal 2013, Nvidia said that revenue shipments of the Tegra 4 "Wayne" SoC will start in July. Because of this, the first commercial devices to utilize the new chip won't be seen on the market until sometime between August and September.

"We ship Tegra 4 starting in Q2 [of fiscal 2014]. We are ramping production now and we will have full production release. […] [The second quarter] is when we ship to customers. Q2 is also when we ship the Tegra 4 based Shield device. […] Although it is in the latter part of Q2, it is going to be in Q2," said company CEO Jen-Hsun Huan.

The July date is based on Nvidia's second fiscal quarter which spans from May to July. As stated, Nvidia's own Project Shield handheld Android gaming console will be the first out the door to feature the new SoC, and may be accompanied by tablets offered by Asus and HP. Toshiba is also reportedly signed on to use the Tegra 4 chip whereas Acer is currently undecided.

Nvidia's new SoC features four ARM-15 general purpose cores and a second-generation "battery saver" core for low power during standard use. Also packed into the 28-nm chip are 72 custom GeForce stream processors and Prism 2 display technology to reduce backlight power. There's also an optional chipset that enables worldwide 4G LTE voice and data support.

"This Variable SMP architecture invented by Nvidia, enables four performance cores to be used for max burst, when needed, with each core independently and automatically enabled and disabled based on workload," the company said. "The single battery-saver core handles low-power tasks like active standby, music, and video playback, and is fully transparent to the OS and applications."

On Wednesday Nvidia said its full-year revenue increased 7.1-percent to a record $4.28 billion USD, up from $4 billion USD. Its quarterly revenue decreased 8.1-percent sequentially to $1.11 billion, but the revenue year on year revenue was up 16.1-percent. The company also repurchased $100.0 million of stock and paid a dividend of $0.075 per share, equivalent to $46.9 million, during the fiscal fourth quarter.

"This year we did the best work in our company's history," Jen-Hsun Huang said. "We achieved record revenues, margins and cash, despite significant market headwinds. We grew our GPU and Tegra Processor businesses. We are sampling production silicon of the Tegra 4 platform which includes our 4G LTE modem. And we created new pillars for long term growth with Project Shield and Nvidia Grid -- first-of-their-kind devices that will extend our leadership in visual computing into mobile and the cloud."

Project Shield will serve as both a Tegra 4-powered handheld Android gaming console, and a receiver for local cloud-based PC gaming. To stream games directly from a PC to the gadget, customers will need at least one Kepler-based GeForce GTX 650 (Desktop) or GTX 660M (Notebook) GPU, an Intel Core i5 or equivalent CPU, 4 GB of RAM, Windows 7 and the GeForce Experience app. A dual-band Wireless-N router is also suggested.

Nvidia said that during the fourth quarter it continued to drive the streaming of gaming from the cloud by signing deals with six middleware providers that will supply Grid gaming technology to service operators worldwide. The company also launched the Tesla K20 family of GPU accelerators, making the technology behind the world's fastest supercomputer, Titan, available to all.

Source: tomshardware.com

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Report: Nvidia GeForce Titan Might Outperform GTX 690

Rumors indicate that the upcoming GeForce Titan might outperform the GTX 690, and that it won't be called the GeForce GTX 780.

Earlier we showed you the upcoming GeForce Titan, and explained that the performance would be at around 85 percent of that of the GeForce GTX 690. In light of new rumors, according to WCCF, this might not be the case, and the GeForce Titan might actually exceed the performance of the GTX 690.

Nvidia's GeForce Titan will be based on the GK110 GPU, a GPU previously only found on Nvidia's Tesla cards, the K20 and K20X.

Rumors indicate that the upcoming GeForce Titan might outperform the GTX 690, and that it won't be called the GeForce GTX 780.

Earlier we showed you the upcoming GeForce Titan, and explained that the performance would be at around 85 percent of that of the GeForce GTX 690. In light of new rumors, according to WCCF, this might not be the case, and the GeForce Titan might actually exceed the performance of the GTX 690.

Nvidia's GeForce Titan will be based on the GK110 GPU, a GPU previously only found on Nvidia's Tesla cards, the K20 and K20X.

The rumors haven't been verified since PCOnline has not named their source, but claim that it is a reliable source. Their source says that the GeForce Titan scores X7107 points in 3DMark11, in extreme mode, a massive jump above the GTX 690. The GTX 690 alone already scores just shy from X6000 points with the same benchmark under the same conditions. The most staggering part though is that the Titan, a single GPU part, outperforms the GTX 690, a dual-GPU part.

Another leak indicates that the GeForce Titan's PCB is similar to that of the GTX 680, but will carry 6GB of 384-bit memory.

Other reports suggest that the upcoming GeForce Titan will also not be called the GeForce GTX 780, nor will it take a GTX 600 series name. It will simply be called the GeForce Titan, likely inspired by the by the Cray Titan supercomputer, which houses nearly 19 thousand Nvidia Tesla K20X cards.

Availability is rumored to be around the end of February with a hefty MSRP of $899.

Source: tomshardware.com

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NVIDIA GeForce R313.95 Beta Drivers Available

It seems ironic that after years of their monthly releases when AMD/ATI has now switched to a "when it's necessary" release schedule--something NVIDIA has been doing via official beta releases for a similar time--that the cadence of official releases from both AMD and NVIDIA seems unphased. In fact, as usual the holiday season only increased the pace of updates. The second half of 2012 and beginning of 2013 for instance gives us the following drivers:

Note the increase in NVIDIA's releases as the holiday games came out, with two or three driver updates each month for the past four months.

It seems ironic that after years of their monthly releases when AMD/ATI has now switched to a "when it's necessary" release schedule--something NVIDIA has been doing via official beta releases for a similar time--that the cadence of official releases from both AMD and NVIDIA seems unphased. In fact, as usual the holiday season only increased the pace of updates. The second half of 2012 and beginning of 2013 for instance gives us the following drivers:

Note the increase in NVIDIA's releases as the holiday games came out, with two or three driver updates each month for the past four months. In contrast, AMD had five beta releases in June (which were all similar and mostly looked to fix bugs not addressed in the initial beta) along with a WHQL driver, the 12.8 WHQL in September along with another beta, 12.10 WHQL in October, the 12.11 beta in December, and now the 13.1 WHQL and 13.2 beta in January. Basically, we're looking at similar total number of readily available driver releases during the same seven months, but AMD had a lot of betas early in the cycle (many related to Enduro and WIndows 8 support).

NVIDIA's latest update primarily looks to address performance issues with Crysis 3, though there are a few other recent titles like Assassin's Creed III, Black Ops II, and Far Cry 3 that may also see performance improvements. NVIDIA's release notes claim improvements of up to 65% in Crysis 3 and 24% in Assassin's Creed III, though that's with the ultra-high-end GTX 690 desktop GPU so those with lower class GPUs should temper their expectations accordingly. Interestingly, we're still seeing potential performance improvements (albeit minor) in some older titles like Civilization V, DiRT 3, Far Cry 2, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. You can read the full release notes on NVIDIA's site, with the following downloads currently available (and yes, Windows XP is supported as well, but I figure few enough gamers are running that with high-end hardware that it's not worth the extra four links):

Update, 1/29/2013: There was apparently an issue with the installer on international non-English systems; NVIDIA has released a new version (313.96 instead of 313.95) to fix the problem:

313.95 Desktop Beta 64-bit Windows Vista/7/8
313.95 Desktop Beta 32-bit Windows Vista/7/8
313.95 Notebook Beta 64-bit Windows Vista/7/8
313.95 Notebook Beta 32-bit Windows Vista/7/8

Source: anandtech.com

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AMD Catalyst 13.2 Beta 3 Drivers Released

As promised alongside last week’s release of the Catalyst 13.1 WHQL drivers, AMD has shipped out the first public beta for the next version of their drivers this week, Catalyst 13.2 Beta 3.

The latest beta makes a couple of additions that will be of particular interest to hardcore gamers. On the application support side, like NVIDIA’s beta release yesterday these are the first drivers that specifically target Crysis 3, itself having just been released in beta form as a multiplayer beta. AMD is citing up to a 15% performance improvement here in scenarios with high degrees of MSAA, while promising further improvements as the game and the drivers both march towards a final state.

As promised alongside last week’s release of the Catalyst 13.1 WHQL drivers, AMD has shipped out the first public beta for the next version of their drivers this week, Catalyst 13.2 Beta 3.

The latest beta makes a couple of additions that will be of particular interest to hardcore gamers. On the application support side, like NVIDIA’s beta release yesterday these are the first drivers that specifically target Crysis 3, itself having just been released in beta form as a multiplayer beta. AMD is citing up to a 15% performance improvement here in scenarios with high degrees of MSAA, while promising further improvements as the game and the drivers both march towards a final state.

Meanwhile these drivers are also the first driver set from AMD to address some of the frame latency issues Tech Report’s Scott Wasson has turned up over the last couple of months. His own testing of an earlier version of these drivers found that frame latency was significantly reduced in a few different games he tested, including Skyrim, Borderlands 2, and Guild Wars 2.

As always, these latest drivers are available directly from AMD’s site.

Source: anandtech.com

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Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 Game Benchmarks

A collections of real-world gaming tests using Nvidia GeForce GTX 660, listed alphabetically.

A collections of real-world gaming tests using Nvidia GeForce GTX 660, listed alphabetically.

• anandtech.com
• bit-tech.net
• benchmarkreviews.com
• hardocp.com
• hardwarecanucks.com
• hothardware.com
• neoseeker.com
• pcper.com
• tech-kings.net
• techreport.com
• techspot.com
• tomshardware.com
• hardware.info

"Many were hoping that Kepler would finally hit the $199 price point but that hasn't quite happened, nor will it happen anytime soon unless the GTX 660 receives a price cut. But until then, the GTX 660’s accessible price, relatively high performance and wide-ranging feature set should have a profound impact upon the PC gaming market. " -hardwarecanucks.com

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Nvidia's GeForce Experience PC game optimizer enters open beta

Nvidia has opened the doors on its GeForce Experience after letting thousands of users hammer on it over the last month. Announced last April and introduced as a closed beta in December, the PC game optimizer aims to help players get the most out of their machines by automatically adjusting in-game settings for their hardware.

When the initiative was first revealed, Nvidia cited a survey that suggested more than 80% of users play PC games in their default configuration

Nvidia has opened the doors on its GeForce Experience after letting thousands of users hammer on it over the last month. Announced last April and introduced as a closed beta in December, the PC game optimizer aims to help players get the most out of their machines by automatically adjusting in-game settings for their hardware.

When the initiative was first revealed, Nvidia cited a survey that suggested more than 80% of users play PC games in their default configuration, presumably because they're either intimidated by the myriad of quality settings or they simply don't care to invest the time necessary to find a decent configuration for their particular system.

When the closed beta began last month, the GeForce Experience only supported 32 games, and while that number hasn't increased by much, Nvidia has added nine more titles to its database, including Far Cry 3, Mechwarrior Online and Hawken. You'll still need a Fermi or Kepler-based graphics card, though the software now offers limited support for Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors, which weren't backed before.

Nvidia says other changes since the closed beta include enhanced game detection logic, support for optimizing games played on 2560x1440 displays, better Chinese, Danish and UK English translations, improved client startup, billboard display, game scan and communication with Nvidia's servers, as well as with various bug fixes. The company previously outlined its six-step game testing process and we'll list that again:

1. We start with expert game testers that play through key levels of the game (indoors, outdoors, multiplayer etc.) to get a feel for the load and how different settings affect quality and performance.
2. The game tester identifies an area for automated testing. This area will be from a demanding portion of the game. We don’t always select the absolute worst case since they tend to distort the results.
3. As part of the game evaluation, the expert game tester will identify an appropriate FPS target. Fast paced games typically require higher FPS. Slower games lower FPS. We also define and test against a minimum FPS to minimize stuttering. The average framerate target is typically between 40-60 FPS, the minimum 25 FPS.
4. The most difficult part of OPS is deciding which settings to turn on and which to leave off in a performance limited setting. This is done by analyzing each setting and assigning them quality and performance weights. The game tester compares how each setting (eg. shader, texture, shadow) and each quality level (eg. low, medium, high) affects image quality and performance. These are stored as weights which are fed to the automation algorithm.
5. From here on the testing is automated. The GeForce Experience supercomputer tests the game by turning on settings until the FPS target is reached. This is done in the order of maximum bang for the buck; settings that provide the most visual benefit and least stress on the GPU (eg. texture quality) are turned on first; settings that are performance intensive but visually subtle (eg. 8xAA) are enabled last.
6. Finally, the GeForce Experience supercomputer goes through and tests thousands of hardware configurations for the given game. Unique settings are generated for each CPU, GPU, and monitor resolution combination.

Source: techspot.com

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AMD Radeon HD 7950 Boost Game Benchmarks

A collections of real-world gaming tests using AMD Radeon HD 7950 Boost, listed alphabetically.

A collections of real-world gaming tests using AMD Radeon HD 7950 Boost, listed alphabetically.

• anandtech.com
• bit-tech.net
• hardwarecanucks.com
• hexus.net
• pcper.com
• pureoverclock.com
• techpowerup.com
• techreport.com
• tweaktown.com

"The 7950B’s performance boost is free from a price perspective, but the tradeoff that comes with it is anything but. A 6% jump performance for a 10% increase in power consumption and notable rise in load noise will certainly be acceptable to some users, but it’s difficult to argue that this is a good tradeoff overall." -anandtech.com

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Nvidia said to be readying $899 GK110-based GeForce Titan card

Preparing for the upcoming launch of AMD's Radeon HD 8000 series, which will presumably kick off with a single-GPU flagship leading the charge, Nvidia is reportedly hoping to steal some of its rival's thunder by releasing a new card that will exist between today's GeForce GTX 680 and the dual-GPU GTX 690.

According to several sources speaking with SweClockers, Nvidia's newcomer will appear late next month for $899 as the GeForce Titan

Preparing for the upcoming launch of AMD's Radeon HD 8000 series, which will presumably kick off with a single-GPU flagship leading the charge, Nvidia is reportedly hoping to steal some of its rival's thunder by releasing a new card that will exist between today's GeForce GTX 680 and the dual-GPU GTX 690.

According to several sources speaking with SweClockers, Nvidia's newcomer will appear late next month for $899 as the GeForce Titan -- a neat reference to the Titan supercomputer built by Cray at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is comprised of 18,688 nodes equipped with Nvidia's Tesla K20X GPU.

Instead of using the GTX 600 series' GK104 GPU, the Titan will be armed with the GK110, which powers Nvidia's enterprise-class Tesla range, though the Titan's chip will have at least one SMX unit disabled from the top configuration, leaving it with 2688 CUDA cores (still over a thousand more than the GTX 680 has).

It's also said that the Titan will have a clock rate of 732MHz (200 to 300MHz lower than the GTX 680 and 690), while its 6GB of GDDR5 VRAM will run at 5.2GHz and have 384-bit bus (50% wider than the GK104 offers. All told, the card will supposedly be 15% slower and at least 10% cheaper than the GTX 690.

Assuming those figures are accurate, such a value discrepancy would probably be justifiable when you consider the fact that the GTX 690 has a 300W TDP, while the Titan should consume less given that the Tesla K20X is rated at 235W -- not to mention the reduced hassle of not dealing with a SLI-based card.

Update: As noted by dividebyzero in the comments, the specs striked above are for the Tesla K20X, while the GeForce Titan's configuration hasn't been revealed yet unfortunately. For whatever it's worth, the estimate about the new card being roughly 15% slower than the GTX 690 still seems to be relevant.

Source: techspot.com

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AMD to Refresh Radeon HD Family, Introduce New Game Bundle Deals in First Half of 2013

Advanced Micro Devices said on Tuesday that it would refresh its AMD Radeon HD family of graphics processors in the first half of the year as well as launch new “Never Settle” free video game bundles program in the first quarter of 2013. Both initiatives are designed to revive sales of AMD’s graphics cards that dropped substantially in the fourth quarter of 2012.

“We are introducing strong new APU and graphics offerings in the first half of 2013 that will accelerate our AMD business with the ultimate goal of returning AMD

AMD Preps New “Never Settle” Free Video Games Promotion This Quarter, New Radeon HD 8000 "Sea Islands" in First Half

Advanced Micro Devices said on Tuesday that it would refresh its AMD Radeon HD family of graphics processors in the first half of the year as well as launch new “Never Settle” free video game bundles program in the first quarter of 2013. Both initiatives are designed to revive sales of AMD’s graphics cards that dropped substantially in the fourth quarter of 2012.

“We are introducing strong new APU and graphics offerings in the first half of 2013 that will accelerate our AMD business with the ultimate goal of returning AMD to profitability and positive free cash flow in the second half of this year,” said Rory Reach, chief executive officer of AMD, during a conference call with financial analysts.

AMD’s graphics solutions business showed mixed results in Q4 2012. Graphics segment revenue was $326 million, down 5% sequentially and 15% year-over-year, mainly due to a decline in GPU unit volume shipments, partially offset by a seasonal increase in game console revenue and record revenue in workstation graphics. Graphics segment operating income was $22 million, up $4 million from the prior quarter primarily due to higher game console revenue.

At the same time, the company managed to increase unit shipments and revenue for its high-end AMD Radeon HD graphics cards in the channel, primarily due to the “Never Settle” promotion, which included free video games bundled with graphics cards in addition to a new driver that enabled higher performance of AMD’s graphics solutions.

“To help accelerate desktop GPU sales in the channel and reinforce our long term strategy to be a leader in gaming, we launched the “Never Settle” campaign in the quarter. This promotion was well-received by partners and consumers as we bundled some of the season’s hottest games with our highest-performing graphics cards. […]We will launch a follow-on promotion this quarter pairing our highest-performing graphics cards with some of the most anticipated game titles of 2013,” added Mr. Read.

The head of AMD did not elaborate on details, but it is logical to expect AMD to release its high-end Radeon HD 8000-series “Sea Islands” graphics cards later this quarter and in Q2 2012 to boost demand from performance enthusiasts. The higher performance difference between the premium Radeon HD 7000 family and Radeon HD 8000 family will be, the higher demand from gamers AMD will see for the new products.

Source: xbitlabs.com

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AMD Catalyst 13.1 WHQL Drivers Available

Having refined their 12.11 beta drivers, AMD has recently released their Catalyst Software Suite Version 13.1 update. This WHQL update includes all the performance improvements found in the previous AMD Catalyst 12.11 Beta 11 update while resolving a variety issues for Windows 8 and Windows 7 users.

The Catalyst Control Center has also gained a new design for its 3D application settings page, which is designed to allow uses to adjust their 3D settings individually per application.

Having refined their 12.11 beta drivers, AMD has recently released their Catalyst Software Suite Version 13.1 update. This WHQL update includes all the performance improvements found in the previous AMD Catalyst 12.11 Beta 11 update while resolving a variety issues for Windows 8 and Windows 7 users.

The Catalyst Control Center has also gained a new design for its 3D application settings page, which is designed to allow uses to adjust their 3D settings individually per application.

Here are the direct links to the various drivers:

AMD Catalyst Software Suite 13.1 for Windows Vista/7/8 32-bit
AMD Catalyst Software Suite 13.1 for Windows Vista/7/8 64-bit

Source: anandtech.com

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