The HD 7750 is a performance-level graphics card that doesn’t need a separate power connector operating at under 75 W. Both new GPU’s use the 28nm process AMD has been building GPUs on most recently. The 7700 series GPUs use AMD Graphics Core Architecture for performance and efficiency. The GPUs also support PCI Express 3.0, AMD ZeroCore Power, PowerTune, AMD Eyefinity 2.0 and AMD App technologies.

The new 7700 series graphics cards are both available today the retailers and online sellers globally. Some versions of the AMD Radeon HD 7770 GHz edition with 1 GB of RAM will start at $159 with the HD 7750 1 GB cards starting at $109. The video cards sound like they will offer very impressive performance at a low price that should be appealing to gamers on a budget.

“We were first to 40nm, first to 28nm and now we offer the world’s first GPU at 1GHz; this is a milestone for the graphics industry,” said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, GPU Division, AMD. “AMD continues to deliver superior performance, rich features and world-class power efficiency – we never stop innovating.”

In fact, MSI claims that you get 37.5% higher overclocks using its special cooling solution. The card uses the special cooling solution is called the R7950 Twin Frozr 3GD5/OC. The other two graphics cards use traditional cooling systems and are called the R7970-2PMD3GD5/OC and the R7950-2PMD3GD5/OC. The cards all use similar hardware components.

The components used on the Twin Frozr video card are military class III for performance and stability. The components also passed military standard 810G. The line uses Hi-c capacitors with eight times the lifespan of solid-state capacitors. These cards should be good for people that like to overclock.

What is known is the prices, which units these CPUs are replacing, and the frequency, core number and thread number, and L3 Cache of each. You’ll find your current Core i5250 K, 2400 and 2320 being replaced by 2550K, 2450P, and 2380P respectively. They each remain quad-core, frequency 3.4, 3.2, and 3.1 down the list, and prices sit at $225, $195, and $177 as the power lessens. Prices have been reduced slightly in what we, again, expect is due to the GPU core being modified.

The Celeron models are similar in their changes, with the B710 being replaced with the B720, the 857 replaced by the 867, and prices ranging from $70 all the way up to $134. These units will use their low-voltage ways to sit in lower power machines and will be bringing you up to speed in the sub-superpower notebook category across the board. You can check out the full price list for everything in the Intel world in this pdf file straight from Intel, and it’s VR-Zone that says the point above on P might mean a GPU-less SoC, they too our source for this information.

[via VR-Zone]

“What’s really striking is how badly Tegra 2 performs relative even to simple APs using licensed Imagination Technologies (TI and Apple) or ARM Mali (Samsung) graphics” Upton says. “To summarise, BCM2835 has a tile mode architecture – so it kills immediate-mode devices like Tegra on fill-rate – and we’ve chosen to configure it with a very large amount of shader performance, so it does very well on compute-intensive benchmarks, and should double iPhone 4S performance across a range of content.”

Strong words, but we’ve already seen some of what the low-cost computer is capable of. As well as playing Quake III and Full HD video it’s also – with some unofficial software – able to stream AirPlay video from an iPad. That makes it an ideal home entertainment box, but also positions it pretty strongly as a games console alternative.

Unfortunately it seems what Raspberry Pi won’t be able to do is run Windows 8. Despite Microsoft’s Windows-on-ARM project, Upton says, talks between the companies have confirmed that Windows 8 will require an ARM7 Cortex chip at the least, whereas the $25 board runs a 700MHz ARM11. “Perhaps a future version might go there” Upton concludes,”we certainly get a lot of people asking if they can run Windows applications on the device.”

[via Geek]

The sources claim that NVIDIA is looking at holding off until the power consumption and manufacturing process of the new chips is perfected. If NVIDIA actually sticks to that April launch, it will put the new GPU on the market at roughly the same time as the 22nm Intel Ivy Bridge processors. There will reportedly be several GPUs that come from NVIDIA using the 28nm process.

Sources are claiming there will be a GK104 to replace the current GTX 560Ti GPU, a GK107 for the entry-level market, and a GK106 for the mid-range to entry-level shoppers. The GK110 will pack in a pair of the GK104 GPUs and the high-end will be the GK112. The GK112 is tipped to land in Q4 2012 or even early 2013.

[via DigiTimes]

The new IP cores are based on the PowerVR Rogue architecture that uses a scalable number of compute clusters. These compute clusters are arrays of programmable computing elements designed for high performance and power efficiency and minimal bandwidth requirements. The first two PowerVR Series6 cores are the G6200 with two compute clusters and the G6400 with four clusters.

The PowerVR Series 6 GPU cores promise 20 times better performance than current generation GPU cores and 5 times the efficiency. Performance is said to exceed 100gigaFLOPS and even reaches the teraFLOPS range. There are already eights licensees for the PowerVR Series 6 cores, including ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments.

The folks at Google have of course not commented on the matter as if such a thing were true, they’d drop the good news like an atom bomb upon the industry. Then again it is CES 2012 week, and we’ve not yet truly begun. Google could sneak in here with a bunch of fun in their own time, chip smashing all the way home.

What do you think about this? Could Google be creating a new batch of hardware for use in their own future products? Android works with a majorly large swath of manufacturers, their hardware spanning from the very awesome to the very terrible. Google very well may be once again be taking steps toward solidifying its platform again.

[via Android Guys]

Alternatively you can just use AMD Eyefinity and string a number of displays off of a single card. GCN, to boil down AMD’s parlance, is basically a way to turn GPUs to general computing, with 32 compute units (2048 stream processors), each containing a scalar coprocessor, and being able to turn their hands to the sort of tasks a CPU might normally be expected to handle.

DirectX 11 tessellation is improved, huge background texture files can be managed with little in the way of lag, and automatic overclocking by up to 30-percent is supported; however AMD says that idle power draw has also been reduced with the new GCN system. In short, the promise is a faster, more efficient card with none of the downtime penalties in power and heat that previous performance cards might have forced on gamers.

Systems using the AMD Radeon HD 7970 are available to order from today.

GPUs were originally found in desktop PCs, but have since moved on to use in mobile phones and video game consoles. Their popularity rose partly because of their efficiency in handling an intense amount of sequencing data in a timely manner. This, coupled with their very low cost, makes them a great processor over standard CPUs. The result BGI saw from the heavy reliance of a GPU was huge, but where do geneticists go from here?

Geneticists are still unraveling the finer details of the human genome. Although scientists are now able to retrieve the data at a quicker rate, they are still unsure what to do with it, according to Kevin Davies, editor-in-chief of Bio-IT World. The human genome is so dynamic with many varieties, that it takes researchers a great deal of time to determine which variety is medically significant. However, this is definitely a stepping stone of what is to come in the medical field.

[via Wired]

As long as it beats the competition in the NVIDIA GTX 580 while not being too power hungry and heating the entire house like the dual-GPU GTX 590 I’ll be happy — and I’m sure the enthusiast gaming crowd will be too. Below are a few of our favorite reviews for the new AMD Radeon HD 7970 for everyone to enjoy. We’ll start with the all popular Anandtech.

AnandTech’s Ryan Smith says at the end of the day this graphics card is geared to be a gaming workhorse — but being their new flagship GPU I wouldn’t expect anything different from AMD. He goes on to mention in most gaming scenarios the power consumption was lower than the competing GTX 580 while offering 20% better performance and sometimes more. He does mention being priced much higher than the last-gen 6970 could be a potential drawback for some.

Tom’s Hardware explains that this is a big improvement and a step in the right direction with the new, smaller 28 nm fabrication and called it “Fast, Forward-Looking, But Not Fully Baked.” Saying that NVIDIA’s upcoming Kepler GPU is still months off so they’ll still retain the fastest single-GPU title for now, but without further testing they didn’t want to give a recommendation just yet.

HardOCP is known for breaking things down very thoroughly and have came up with some decent overall numbers. Claiming the 7970 is at least 30% or more faster than the previous generation while offering 10%+ performance increases over the current GTX 580 competition making this definitely worth the price for giving increased performance across all available games.

Bit-Tech said the HD 7970 by AMD “has certainly thrown down the gauntlet. The HD 7970 3GB is a huge improvement over the HD 6970 2GB and GTX 580 1.5GB” They also mention overclocking — something many enthusiasts and water-cooling fans do daily was a huge surprise. Squeezing around 20% more performance from the card without even tweaking the voltage.

While you are at it don’t forget to check out the review from HotHardware, and Hexus who claim it’s a great graphics card but wont win and Bang4Buck awards. Guru3D also mentions the huge overclocking potential before and after overvolting — making this a great graphics card with plenty of potential.

So the question is: Will you be buying the AMD Radeon HD 7970? And if so will you be tossing this bad boy under a DangerDen waterblock or going all out with some LN2?

AMD also noted they’d continue their strong ties to gaming developers through 2012, this on top of supporting (in one way or another) all gamers, not just those working with AMD products. They spoke of the current state of gaming rigs there much higher resolution displays cost much less than previous lower-end models, and how according to their sources (Steam Hardware Surveys), high-definition monitors are the more common of the two display categories in gaming today. They spoke of power efficiency, reduced cost of ownership, and the thinning out of devices allowing for easier transport and daily storage.

AMD noted that they’ve now got word that over 200 applications are accelerated by AMD GPUs specifically at this very moment, this pointing towards the fact that GPUs aren’t just working for gamers as they once essentially were. They spoke of how awesome they were in that they were the first to work with 28nm processes, how they were the first to PCI-E Gen 3, and how they worked with DirectX 11.1 first as well.

Then came the talk of what was code-named Southern Islands. In this project came three islands: Tahiti, Pitcairn, and Cape Verde. The first of these three, Tahiti, contained Enthusiastic Gamers and the “World’s Most Powerful and Advanced GPU.” Then there’s Pitcairn where all the Hardcore Gamers live and the “sweet spot” for hardcore gamers must also reside. Lastly there’s Cape Verde where Performance Gamers sit with their “new paradigm of performance and power.” What does this all mean? It means AMD is getting specific with their hardware, seeking each different kind of user for precise computing for all!

Thusly they break this project down again into Graphics Core Next, AMD Eyefinity 2.0, and AMD App Acceleration. Here you’ll find their many pinpoints of power including the lovely 28nm Process tech, PCI-E Gen3, custom resolutions, the ability to work with 5 x 1 landscape, and a whole mess of new software partnerships for the very near future.

All of this leads up to the AMD Radeon HD 7970, with stream processors adding up to 2,048, Graphics Core Next shader architecture, 3GB GDDR5 memory and 384-bit bus, 6 pin and 8 pin power connectors, DVI, HDMI, and two mDP outputs, and yes, yes indeed, up to 6 displays working on this same bit of hardware at once. It’s got a whole mess of fabulous display configurations for you to work with aside a full slot for better cooling than ever before – and the fan up back of the hardware has the most advanced cooling and silent acoustics an AMD bit of hardware has ever had.

Matching up against their biggest competitor NVIDIA this AMD Radeon monster out-does it in every benchmark they’ve set up, and their AMD CrossFire Technology is laid out to look rather impressive against the same GPU with no such scaling in place. A whole pack of power-saving technologies are visualized as well such as ZeroCore Power Technology with AMD CrossFire as well as AMD ZeroCore – idle out!

They launch into AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series codename “Tahiti” details, speaking about how inside you’ll find up to 32 compute units, 8 render back-ends with 32 color ROPs per clock and 128 Z/stencil ROPs per clock. Here you’ve got a 384-bit GDDR5 memory interface with over 264 GB/sec memory bandwidth and 4.3 billion 28nm transistors. That’s a lot of little pieces of graphics magic! AMD rolls out details on how they’re about to change the whole earth with their first ever GPU with the ability to simultaneously output multiple independent audio streams, one for each screen you’ve got if you like! Be sure to check out Anand’s benchmarks and review of this GPU for starters, then pick one up for yourself at the start of 2012 and rock it all night long.

The integrated graphics on the single APU chip can also be bolstered by a standalone AMD Radeon graphics card, delivering up to 144-percent more performance when the A-Series is paired with an HD 6500 Series GPU. There’s also Internet Explorer 9 integration for Steady Video, offering smoother streaming video playback.

As for unlocked models, the AMD A8-3870K and A6-3670K APUs can be overclocked by up to 500MHz for the CPU and 200MHz on the GPU.

AMD’s first new A-Series desktop APUs will begin showing up in commercial systems and as standalone components from today, the company tells us. The A8-3870K has an RRP of $135 while the A6-3670K has an RRP of $115.

AMD A-Series Desktop APUs

A8-3870K: Four CPU cores, 3.0 GHz CPU base (unlocked), 100W TDP, 400 Radeon cores, 600 MHz GPU base (unlocked), 4 MB L2 cache
A8-3820: Four CPU cores, 2.5 GHz CPU base (2.8 GHz Turbo Core), 65W TDP, 400 Radeon cores, 4 MB L2 cache
A6-3670K: Four CPU cores, 2.7 GHz CPU base (unlocked), 100W TDP, 320 Radeon cores, 600 MHz GPU base (unlocked), 4 MB L2 cache
A6-3620: Four CPU cores, 2.2 GHz CPU base (2.5 GHz Turbo Core), 65W TDP, 320 Radeon cores, 4 MB L2 cache
A4-3420: Two CPU cores, 2.8 GHz CPU base, 65W TDP, 160 Radeon cores, 1 MB L2 cache

AMD A-Series Notebook APUs

A8-3550MX: Four CPU cores, 2.0 GHz CPU base (2.7 GHz Turbo Core), 45W TDP, 400 Radeon Cores, 4 MB L2 cache
A8-3520M: Four CPU cores, 1.6 GHz CPU base (2.5 GHz Turbo Core), 35W TDP, 400 Radeon Cores, 4 MB L2 cache
A6-3430MX: Four CPU cores, 1.7 GHz CPU base (2.4 GHz Turbo Core), 45W TDP, 320 Radeon Cores, 4 MB L2 cache
A6-3420M: Four CPU cores, 1.5 GHz CPU base (2.4 GHz Turbo Core), 35W TDP, 320 Radeon Cores, 4 MB L2 cache
A4-3330MX: Two CPU cores, 2.2 GHz CPU base (2.6 GHz Turbo Core), 45W TDP, 240 Radeon Cores, 2 MB L2 cache
A4-3320M:Two CPU cores, 2.0 GHz CPU base (2.6 GHz Turbo Core), 35W TDP, 240 Radeon Cores, 2 MB L2 cache
A4-3305M:Two CPU cores, 1.9 GHz CPU base (2.5 GHz Turbo Core), 35W TDP, 160 Radeon Cores, 1 MB L2 cache
E2-3000M: Two CPU cores, 1.8 GHz CPU base (2.4 GHz Turbo Core), 35W TDP, 160 Radeon Cores, 1 MB L2 Cache

Apple had booted NVIDIA about three years ago in favor of AMD chipsets, but the recent issues with AMD Llano supply capacities and the failed attempt at implementing them in the latest MacBook Airs have forced Apple to switch back. Despite Apple allegedly swearing off NVIDIA, there’s really no other alternatives in that arena.

The switch will mainly be for Apple’s larger notebooks that haven’t transitioned into an all-Intel solution with integrated graphics. It’s been rumored that Apple has been working on a new MacBook Pro for 2012 that will feature a redesigned chassis that will be thinner and lighter, similar to the MacBook Air lineup.

[via MacRumors]

Facial Recognition and Pattern Unlock

As you may remember from our first encounter with the Galaxy Nexus back in Hong Kong, the Android authorities showed off their newest method for unlocking a device, namely Facial Recognition. What we’ve found thus far is that not only is this recognizing of the face (once you’ve got it set up for the first time) extremely quick, it no longer seems to have the ability to be broken into with a mere photo of the person trying to do the unlock. We heard a story or two about early Ice Cream Sandwich builds being able to be unlocked by a 3rd party if they had a photo of the person who originally set up the lock, but this seems to be fixed.

Recognition seems to be both quick and accurate, and furthermore doesn’t seem to rely on a full face to work. As you’ll see Vince attempt in the video, putting your hand over your face up to your nose seems to unlock the screen just as readily as having your entire face revealed. As for the other unlock sequences, the pin code unlock remains largely the same while the pattern unlock now has much more classy sized set of dots so that your unlock screen wallpaper can be seen while you make a combination of swipes to get into your device (image at the head of this post.)

Notifications Pulldown Menu

When you pull down from the top of your display with your finger, for those of you not familiar with Android, your notifications screen comes down. Here your notifications screen is black with cyan accents by default, and each notification from any number of apps can be dismissed by sliding that notification off of the screen. Each notification is represented by a thumbnail image on the left, a title to the right in bold lettering, and a lighter font below the title as an extra descriptor.

Battery Life

Your battery can be tracked, just as it could in Gingerbread and Honeycomb, from your settings with a chart that shows in a slightly general chart of what’s been active and using up your battery at what times during the space between when your phone was last off and now or when your device was last turned all the way off. As Vince will show in the video, he’s had the device on a LOT while he’s been testing it, and if you’re the type of person to use your device all day long, you’re looking at something like seven to eight full hours from what we’re seeing so far.

Camera

The Galaxy Nexus has a 5 megapixel camera that Google is promoting as having zero shutter lag – this essentially means that we should be able to take photos as fast as we can tap the display – on this device we only have the choice of tapping the display, mind you, since there is no physical camera button. In the video you’ll see that as Vince taps the display, there isn’t a shutter noise, there’s a *tink* noise that lets you know you’ve fired off a shot. You’ll hear Vince firing off shots indeed just as fast as he taps. You’ll see the shots he’s taken in the gallery below – judge for yourself how nice they look, and note that Vince is in basically an ideal lighting situation with several photo-quality lamps shining down on his collection of Android toys on a white background.

Image stabilization does not seem to be up to par here, not with the iPhone 4S as Vince notes, and believe it or not, not with Samsung’s other hero device Galaxy S II’s camera either.

GPU Rendering

Starting in Ice Cream Sandiwch, Android will be working with any hardware its on to utilize the GPU cores inside the hardware’s processor. While before now games and other graphics-intensive apps have been able to access GPU power via APIs, now any application developed against the Android 4.0 SDK (API Level 14) will automatically get a very real performance boost. Visual elements in apps developed for Ice Cream Sandwich will be routed through the GPU by default, this both freeing up the CPU cores in the device to do tasks better suited to CPUs, the visual bits will run much more efficiently because they’re routed through the GPU.

You can turn this option off, effectively, by heading to your Settings, then to your Developers options, then scrolling down and tapping the “Force GPU Rendering” option. Though why you’d want to do that, I do not know, because with this option ON, all of your apps will run more efficiently.

Recent Apps

Similar to what we saw in the tablet-based version of Android version 3.0 Honeycomb, we have the option of accessing a list of Recent Apps. These apps appear with an icon representation, the title of the App, and a thumbnail sort of screenshot of the last time the app was open. What Vince will show you in the video is how simple it can be with one of the options to remove any app from the list. Another option you have is to push or pull each app from the list the same way you can with a notification in your pull-down notifications menu.

Fun stuff! Stay tuned to SlashGear for the rest of our hands-on series as well as a set of full reviews, one for Android 4.0 ICS, another for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

The slightly more specific goal of the Blue Waters project is to deploy a supercomputer that’s capable of working on a “diverse range of real-world science and engineering applications” at a sustained performance of one petaflop. Scientists and engineers across the USA will benefit from the eventual products of this initiative, and the whole project is supported by the National Science Foundation at the University of Illinois. NVIDIA chief technology officer of Tesla GPUs Steve Scott had the following to say on the situation:

NCSA has seized this opportunity to make Blue Waters into an even more amazing scientific computing instrument than originally planned. The performance and wide access of Blue Waters will enable the scientific community to accelerate the race for better science.” – Scott

Cray system’s general purpose CPUs will work side by side with NVIDIA’s Tesla-brand GPUs and will accelerate compute-intensive applications across the board. This newest Blue Waters system will be an ultra-powerful hybrid supercomputer consisting of more than 235 Cray XE6 cabinets. In addition, there will be more than 30 cabinets of a future version of what’s recently been announced as the Crazy XK6 supercomputer, these containing the next-generation Tesla GPUs again based on the “Kepler” architecture. Can’t wait to grab a setup for my underground beat laboratory!

This project is known as the EU Mont-Blanc Project and will otherwise take part in developing a portfolio of exascale applications that work well on the technology now being developed with NVIDIA. Sound familiar? The leader of this Mont-Blanc project mister Alex Remirez, notes that while current systems need to give the “lion’s share” of energy to the CPUs, 40 percent or more, that is, “the Mont-Blanc architecture will rely on energy-efficient compute accelerators and ARM processors used in embedded and mobile devices to achieve a four- to 10-times increase in energy-efficiency by 2014.” Exciting!

NVIDIA expanded upon what it’d do to work with developers by noting that they’d be releasing a new hardware and software development kit for its ARM-based initiatives around the globe. This kit will of course contain a brand new quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 ARM CPU complete with a “discrete” NVIDIA GPU, all of this available inside the first half of 2012. This kit’s hardware is being developed by SECO and will be supported by the NVIDIA CUDA parallel programming toolkit. Get in on the action!

The new GPU is a Midgard Architecture-based GPU that is for high performance devices. ARM claims that the new GPU has ten times the graphics performance of the Mali-400 GPU that is in a bunch of tech products today. The GPU also has four times the GPU computer performance of the Mali-T604. ARM says that compute performance makes the GPU appropriate for computational photographic, image processing, and augmented reality.

ARM says that its leading partners are planning to support the new GPU including Fujitsu Semi, LG Electronics, Samsung, and others. The GPU will also find its way into car infotainment systems and other devices. The GPU is designed to work with ARM Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A7 processors. The new GPU can be scaled up to eight cores.

On the left of the screen here you’re going to be seeing the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, still one of the most popular graphics cards in many gamer circles including amongst Steam’s 35 million gamers. NVIDIA gives the statistic: “the 9800 and 8800 are one in the same, and combined account for 9.69% of all graphics cards used on Valve’s service.” What you’re about to see is a massive amount of additional bits, essentially, smoother movement and more detail than your eyeballs can handle. Pay special close attention to the bank notes, for starters, starting at 33 seconds into the video. Notice how they float around not just based on some pre-arranged path, but based on the people moving through them and even Catwoman’s whip cracks.

At 41 seconds in, you’ll see a “fully functional steel mill” which without GeForce GTX has only canned animations. With GeForce GTX activated, your CUDA Cores create hundreds of shiny particles that not only bounce off surfaces all around, they bounce off yours and the computer’s characters as well.

Real steel!

In the next scene there’s smoke, in the scene after that there’s another heavy amount of paper bills floating around, and all throughout your brain will be melting with the pleasure that comes from seeing TOO MUCH awesome stuff going on in a single gaming screen. Then there’s one more bit you’ll need to know for now, and it’s about tessellation. With PhysX effects you’ll now be able to enable enhancements including DirectX 11 tessellation. You can see the result of this new property in the image below, it showing Catwoman at rest in front of one of Batman: Arkham City’s tessellated environments

Detailed enough for you?

We can’t wait!

*BONUS from the original Arkham Asylum, here’s a bit of Scarecrow’s Nightmare. If you thought these graphics were fabulous, just you wait!

[via GeForce]

As you may or may not know, all AMD FX CPUs come with completely unlocked processor clock multipliers for you overclocking enthusiasts out there. Don’t burn down the house with all that power though, you’ll want to use your Guinness World Record holder CPU to keep on giving you what you need at least through the rest of this description. All of these processors also use AMD Turbo Core Technology that “dynamically optimizes performance” across the whole set of CPU cores, this offering you the full benefit of the cores you so gratefully payed for in the first place.

Starting TODAY, AMD FX CPUs will be available around the globe. In this first launch, there are four options from the line, with many more on the way soon. Have a look at this list and see what you might be wanting to get:

• FX-8150: Eight cores, 3.6 GHz CPU base (3.9 GHz Turbo Core, 4.2 GHz Max Turbo)
$245 suggested retail price (U.S.)

• FX-8120: Eight cores, 3.1 GHz CPU base (3.4 GHz Turbo Core, 4.0 GHz Max Turbo)
$205 suggested retail price (U.S.)

• FX-6100: Six cores, 3.3 GHz CPU base (3.6 GHz Turbo Core, 3.9 GHz Max Turbo)
$165 suggested retail price (U.S.)

• FX-4100: Four cores, 3.6 GHz CPU base (3.7 GHz Turbo Core, 3.8 GHz Max Turbo)
$115 suggested retail price (U.S.)

Of course the fine folks at AMD also want you to know about how you can combine these new CPUs with a brand new shiny AMD 9-series chipset motherboard and AMD Radeon HD 6000 series graphics card as well, these two combining to create what AMD calls the “AMD Scorpius platform” for an “astounding gaming and HD entertainment experience.” Of course this combo does offer more than simply an optimized experience as they hold hands together so well. With the Scorpius platform you get support for AMD CrossFireX technology, this allowing the combination of multiple graphics cards in a single PC, and AMD Eyefinity technology that’ll support super resolution on up to SIX monitors!

Power for the power hungry and gaming elite! Grab it all now at your local retailer or at shop.AMD.com, what are you waiting for!?

What’s that, you want to see the Guinness World Records video for this system? Have a look right here:

The GPU supports DirectX 11 and has a third gen unified video decoder. That video decoder supports dual HD decode of H.264, VC-1, MPEG4, and MPEG2 compressed video streams. It has 512MB GDDR5 frame buffer included in the BGA package and has high memory bandwidth. The GPU is aimed at casino gaming, digital signage, instrumentation, and industrial control systems.

The GPU is designed for the value conscious market and it uses AMD EyeFinity tech. The GPU supports both HDMI 1.4 and DisplayPort 1.2 outputs. AMD plans to make the GPU for five years and the GPU is designed to be paired with the APU for better graphics capability.

The last delay had to do with issues regarding the graphics driver on the Cedar Trail processor. The architecture is built on a 32nm process and has the GPU residing on the same die as the CPU. At the time, the platform failed to attain Windows 7 certification, likely due to media encoding problems.

Now that issue should be fixed, but the platform has also added some new features. Cedar Trail will now support Intel Smart Connect Technology and Fast Boot & Standby, which uses Intel’s Rapid Start technology.

The Intel Smart Connect feature lets your computer periodically check on web apps such as Facebook and Twitter while in sleep mode. This way, your computer is always connected and updating even while you’re away.

Rapid Start lets devices resume from hibernation in less than 7 seconds. These boot times should become standard on all Ultrabooks and will be exclusive to Ultrabooks until Cedar Trail netbooks launch.

[via NetbookNews]

The updated C and E series APUs will deliver enhanced HD graphics capabilities, performance boosts with enhanced memory, DisplayPort++ support for connecting to any HDMI or DisplayPort-enabled monitor or TV, and an extended battery life. The C series now has a resting battery life of up to 12 hours, while the E series is now up to 10.5 hours.

The updated E series will also feature DDR3 1333 support for enhanced memory bandwidth as well as faster performance and video playback. Additionally, it will support HDMI 1.4a connections, which allows for viewing 3D pictures and home video on 3D-enabled TVs and displays. Notebooks, netbooks, and other small form factor mobile PCs and all-in-one desktops using these updated APUs are available starting today.

To learn more about AMD Fusion APUs, make sure to check out our SlashGear 101.

[via AMD]

Both of these GPUs have Optimus technology built-in to give power savings when needed and performance when plugged in. The GTX 580M has up to 385 CUDA cores and a processor clock up to 1240MHz. The memory clock can be up to 1500MHz with a 256-bit memory bus and 96GB/s of memory bandwidth. The 580M has 2GB of GDDR5 memory. The GTX 560M has 192 CUDA cored, a processor clock up to 1550 MHz, a memory clock up to 1250MHz, and 1.5GB or 3GB of memory.

The memory bus of the 560M is 192-bit and it has up to 60GB/s of memory bandwidth. Naturally, NVIDIA talks up the 580M versus the AMD Radeon 6970M GPU and the 580M beats it across the board on some of the most popular gaming benchmarks around. The 580M is up to 30% faster than the AMD part on 3DMark Vantage.

Between the two GPUs I already mentioned is the GTX 570M. It has up to 336 CUDA cores, up to 1150MHz processor clock and up to 1500MHz on the memory clock. The card uses 1.5GB of GDDR5 RAM and has a 192-bit memory bus and 72GB/s of memory bandwidth.

Speculation about the full release not taking place until next year began last month, with leaks from graphics card manufacturers suggesting that NVIDIA had been encountering poor performance from early chip samples and low yields from production partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Further sources indicated that, even if NVIDIA managed to begin production in Q4 2011, it would be so late in the quarter as to make only an early 2012 release of commercial products viable.

NVIDIA has, unsurprisingly, not commented on either yield or performance. Kepler is expected to be more flexible in how it can be used by software applications, offering GPGPU (general purpose processing on GPU) functionality and the ability to crunch data on its own without requiring the guiding hand of the system’s main CPU.

[via The Tech Report]

AMD pitted the 6990M GPU against the NVIDIA GeForce 580M in benchmarks and found it to be faster in games like Dragon Age 2, Total War: Shogun 2, Aliens vs. Predator, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and several others. From what I can tell most of the game benchmarks used are older game titles. AMD says that the new GPU is also a significant upgrade to its own 6970M GPU.

The 6990M promises fast frame rates and better image quality. The GPU will also support up to six displays, App Acceleration technology, and more. Alienware will be using the new GPU as will Clevo and Eurocom among other computer firms.

“There’s always been a belief that when it comes to mobile computing you need to make performance compromises. Today AMD demolishes that myth,” said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, GPU division, AMD. “The AMD Radeon HD 6990M GPU, which not only packs AMD Eyefinity technology with unprecedented specs, also provides full Microsoft DirectX(R) 11 and Stereo 3D support. Bottom line, this processor is epic and it’s here — now.”

That’s echoed by Fudzilla‘s sources, which claim that NVIDIA believes that, if Kepler production does begin in Q4 2011, it will be so late in the year as to make only a 2012 launch feasible. Meanwhile, the 22/20nm Maxwell architecture chips, are now said to be due in 2014, rather than 2013 as NVIDIA announced late last year. The company is yet to comment officially on the report, nor has it confirmed the delayed releases, but the sources claim the TSMC’s production process is pumping out at lower yields than it or NVIDIA had hoped for.

However, another potential reason suggested is that the performance of Kepler GPUs is lower than NVIDIA expected. That could well be the case, as TSMC’s other significant client of note, Qualcomm, is supposedly sticking with its existing schedule for 28nm Krait chips. The MSM8960, MSM8270 and MSM8260A are all expected to launch in Q4 2011. Details of Qualcomm’s roadmap leaked earlier this week. AMD is expected to use TSMC’s 28nm production facilities for its next-gen Krishna and Wichita APUs along with the Southern Island GPU in the first half of next year.

It’s not the first time we’ve heard talk of low yields and subpar performance impacting cutting-edge NVIDIA chips. The company was forced to publicly deny ongoing issues with Fermi production in mid-2010, after leaks suggested TSMC’s 40nm facilities were operating at sub-50-percent yield rates and that NVIDIA was forced to use fewer cores in its GeForce GTX 480 and 470 graphics cards as a result of the shortage.

TSMC made headlines recently when it was reported that Apple was looking to ditch Samsung – with which it has an ongoing patent spat in the courts – for the chip production company in the manufacture of the next-gen Apple A6 processors for future iPad and iPhone models.

Although S3 Graphics still produces its own range of desktop video cards, the company is perhaps best known for its GPUs found on VIA’s range of compact mainboards. These – targeted at embedded systems, HTPCs, small-form-factor desktops and other implementations where small dimensions are as important as media performance – have recently been joined by games consoles and smartphones in using S3 chipsets.

“The transaction would allow VIA to monetize a portion of its rich IP portfolio,” Tzu-mu Lin, Senior Vice President and Board Director of VIA said, ”yet retain its graphics capabilities to support the development and sale of its processors and chipsets.” HTC’s intentions with S3 Graphics are unknown, though the chips could obviously find a place in the company’s smartphone and tablet ranges, and previous rumors have suggested the firm is considering branching out into home electronics.

S3 Graphics made headlines earlier this week, after the US ITC judged that Apple had infringed on two of its patents.

Currently Stanford is offering several full courses, short courses, and partner-sponsored courses that cover CUDA architecture and parallel computing. Under this new title of a CUDA Center of Excellence, Stanford will utilize grands provided by NVIDIA and GPU computing equipment in a number of research and academic programs. A few of the courses included in this update are:

· Development of mesh-based solvers for partial differential equations; crucial for simulation of physical phenomena, such as fluid-flow and mechanics

· Seismic velocity estimation by waveform inversion

· Probability estimation and uncertainty quantification for large-scale engineering systems: hypersonic vehicles, wind turbines, batteries, green buildings, and financial markets

Margot Gerritsen, director, Institute for Computational & Mathematical Engineering, and associate professor, Department of Energy Resources Engineering, at Stanford University has been rather energized by this new announcement and had the following to say on the subject:

“It’s vitally important that our faculty be at the forefront of computing technology so that we can continue developing state-of-the-art computational algorithms that drive innovation in the sciences and engineering,” said Gerritsen. “This award allows us to broadly expand parallel computing education and research programs to large numbers of researchers and students from a wide variety of disciplines.”

NVIDIA is known for their collaborative nature, case in point: We’ve got a NIVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor Tabletpalooza giveaway going on this month that YOU can get in on right now!

AND just incase you were wondering, the rest of the groups included in the CUDA Centers of Excellence program include: Georgia Tech, Harvard University, Institute of Process Engineering at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Taiwan University, Tokyo Tech, Tsinghua University (China), University of Cambridge, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Maryland, University of Tennessee, and University of Utah.

ARM has noted that in order to allow for the next generation of gaming and user interfaces on mobile devices that it needs more than just a GPU and must take advantage of the CPU and GPU for the power needed. ARM also notes that it can’t meet this goal by simply using more hardware. ARM believes that other techniques are needed to provide the experience users and developers want on mobile devices. The other techniques are required to provide the needed performance and still get the battery life needed.

These other techniques will include shrinking the process node, aggressive power management, and multiple GPUs. The use of multiple GPUs will allow the performance when needed and the ability to sip power when not. Notebooks already use that tech with things like NVIDIA Optimus. ARM is also talking up its Mali T604. This chip will be the first to enable GPGPU capability and will support OpenCL. This chip is being sampled now with products set to appear in 2012.

[via The Inquirer]

Notebooks running A-Series APUs can achieve over 10.5hrs of battery life, AMD reckons, as well as offering discrete-performance graphics on an integrated chip. Each APU packs up to four CPU cores and up to 400 Radeon cores; that’ll allow OEMs to bake in gestural interfaces, multi-monitor support, 3D entertainment and real-time image stabilization.

There’s also support for HDMI 1.4a, DisplayPort 1.1 and USB 3.0 connectivity, as well as pairing an A-Series APU with discrete Radeon graphics in a system AMD calls Dual Graphics. That’s good for a 75-percent boost in performance, the company reckons.

Meanwhile, AMD has partnered up with VUDU to give Fusion and its AMD Vision technology a dash of real-world charm. More details in the video below. AMD’s Trinity APUs, the successor to the A-Series, are expected in 2012.

AMD & VUDU: Streaming Video Enhanced by AMD Vision:

Press Release:

AMD Ushers in Next Generation of Computing with AMD A-Series APUs

New AMD Fusion APUs enable brilliant graphics, supercomputer-like performance and all day battery life1

AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the next generation in mainstream consumer computing with the availability of the new high-performance AMD Fusion A-Series Accelerated Processing Units (APUs). Enabling truly immersive computing experiences in consumer notebooks and desktops, the AMD A-Series APUs enable brilliant HD graphics, supercomputer-like performance and over 10.5 hours of battery life2.

In an increasingly digital and visually oriented world, consumers are placing ever-higher priorities on multitasking, vivid graphics, lifelike games, lag-free videos, and ultimate multimedia performance. To meet these needs, the AMD A-Series APUs combine up to four x86 CPU cores with powerful DirectX®11-capable discrete-level graphics and up to 400 Radeon™ cores along with dedicated HD video processing on a single chip. AMD A-Series APUs also allow for advanced capabilities such as gestural interfaces, multi-monitor support, 3D entertainment and real-time image stabilization3.

“The AMD A-Series APU represents an inflection point for AMD and is perhaps the industry’s biggest architectural change since the invention of the microprocessor,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, AMD Products Group. “It heralds the arrival of brilliant all-new computing experiences, and enables unprecedented graphics and video performance in notebooks and PCs. Beginning today we are bringing discrete-class graphics to the mainstream.”

The AMD A-Series APUs (previously codenamed “Llano”) are currently shipping and scheduled to appear in more than 150 notebooks and desktops4 from leading OEMs throughout the second quarter of 2011 and beyond. Delivering powerful serial and parallel computing capabilities for HD video, 3D rendering and data-intensive workloads in a single-die processor, the AMD A-Series APUs offer software developers unprecedented power and potential in an ever smaller package.

AMD AllDay™ Power: Battery Life that Lasts
The AMD A-Series APU delivers the power to match how consumers actually use their PCs: all day – without sacrificing performance. Delivering more than 10.5 hours of resting battery life – a more than 50 percent increase compared to the 2010 AMD Mainstream Platform – users can get their work done or watch multiple HD movies on a single charge5. Additionally, AMD dynamic switchable graphics optimize battery life on PCs featuring AMD dual-graphics solutions by intelligently managing power states on the APU and separate discrete AMD Radeon™ GPU.

“The battery life of the AMD A-Series APU is a huge leap forward and will surprise many consumers and commercial customers,” said Chris Cloran, Vice President and General Manager, Client Division, AMD. “And the supercomputer-like performance will give people some revolutionary capabilities, like real-time image stabilization –taking out all the shakes and jitters in those hand-held videos on the fly, while you’re watching.”

Brilliant HD: Every Pixel Matters
People are making, sharing and enjoying more digital content than ever on their PCs, and the AMD VISION Engine – cutting-edge hardware and software featured with every AMD A-Series APU that automatically helps digital content like videos, games and photos look their best. HD video is crystal clear through dedicated video playback technology and dynamic post-processing, and websites render faster with accelerated HTML5 and Direct2D performance. Editing, transferring and viewing HD content is fast and easy with support for advanced connection standards, including HDMI 1.4a, DisplayPort 1.1, and USB 3.0, along with native support for multiple monitors.

Also introduced with the AMD A-Series APU is a new feature called AMD Steady Video6 designed to stabilize videos during playback – making unsteady, jumpy content look steady and smooth. The AMD A-Series APU can also enables advanced capabilities like gestural interfaces, 3D gaming and 3D Blu-ray video entertainment – features that are now key to consumer PC experiences and expectations.

Every PC built with an AMD A-Series APU delivers brilliant HD by offering discrete-class DirectX® 11-capable graphics – with models available at virtually every price point. Only AMD Fusion APUs offer true AMD Dual Graphics, with up to 75 percent graphics performance boost, when paired with an AMD Radeon™ discrete graphics card7. This faster, higher-quality, more vivid and lifelike delivery makes consumers feel fully present in their digital world, especially when gaming.

Personal Supercomputing: Ultimate Performance
Consumers are doing more than ever before with their PCs – from work to play – and with the AMD A-Series APU, even their laptops can keep up, delivering next generation parallel processing. With up to 400 gigaflops for notebook, and up to 500 gigaflops for desktops8, AMD A-Series APUs ensure users have the horsepower needed to handle the most demanding applications such as video and image processing, facial recognition, gesture recognition and multitasking scenarios. For the most challenging environments, AMD Fusion A-Series APUs offer AMD Turbo Core Technology, which dynamically optimizes and boosts CPU and GPU performance to power-efficient levels depending on the applications being run.

The Growing AMD Fusion Ecosystem
AMD has seen great momentum in the software developer community since the launch of AMD Fusion APUs in January 2011, with more than 50 leading applications now accelerated by the family of AMD Fusion APUs and advanced browsers like Internet Explorer 9 delivering even more immersive, next generation web experiences when running on an AMD Fusion APU-powered PC. And, the inaugural AMD Fusion Developer Summit, running now through June 16 in Seattle, Washington, is providing a forum for developers, academics and innovators to collaborate around parallel programming and industry standards, like OpenCL™, helping the software ecosystem build on the promise of the latest computing methodologies.

According to Timmons, quad-core’s primary benefit today is on the spec-sheet, as something to impress OEMs and consumers. “For marketing purposes it’s great to be able to say ‘we’ve got the biggest’” he argued. “But in terms of devices there’s more to it than that.”

Qualcomm does have quad-cores on the roadmap, though they’re not expected until early 2012. The APQ8064 will use four Krait next-gen cores – rather than the Scorpion cores in the current-gen Snapdragons – running at up to 2.5GHz and paired with new dual- and quad-core Adreno GPUs. Timmons tells us that the APQ8064 (which, unlike the MSM-prefix chips, lacks an integrated cellular radio) is targeted at Windows 8 tablets as part of the Windows on ARM program, though a quad-core MSM version for smartphones is in the pipeline, its ETA unannounced.

Instead, Qualcomm is pushing its asynchronous dual-cores as offering the best balance between performance and battery efficiency. “Power is everything” Timmons explained, “how do I deliver this level of performance at a lower power consumption?” Rather than focusing on whether ARM-based chipsets can deliver the same outright power as x86 processors, like Intel’s Atom, we’ll be increasingly aware of DMIPS per milliwatt, or how much juice it takes to compute.

As for taking on NVIDIA’s Tegra Zone for promoting on-device game downloads, Timmons tells us Qualcomm has no ambitions to push its Snapdragon Game Pack as an alternative app store. “We’re distinctly not in the services business” he explained, “and don’t want to be.” Instead, Qualcomm will be focusing on OEMs using its Snapdragon chipsets, encouraging them to use the best-of-breed titles optimized as part of the Game Pack.

The ROG Maximus IV Extreme-Z and ROG Maximus IV GENE-Z use the Intel Z68 chipset and ASUS’ overclocking system, but the GENE-Z shrinks things down to the microATX form factor. Both support both NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX, but can also intelligently switch between discrete and integrated graphics using the Lucid Virtu virtualization engine. Finally, there’s SupremeFX X-Fi 2 audio and Intel Ethernet with GameFirst for prioritizing online gaming network traffic.

Both new graphics cards use NVIDIA’s GTX 580 GPU, with the ROG MATRIX GTX 580 getting one of them and the ROG MARS II getting a pair. Each packs GPU Tweak for easier overclocking, as well as 19-Phase Super Alloy Power. Dual fans keep things cool, with ASUS claiming the MATRIX pulls through 600-percent more air and makes for 20-percent cooler operation than the NVIDIA reference design.

Finally, ASUS throws in some accessories, including the ROG Vulcan ANC Headset with an active-noise-cancellation system, and the VG278 3D 27-inch display, which has HDMI 1.4 and a built-in infrared emitter. No pricing or availability for any of the new ROG range.

Press Release:

Experience a New Era of ROG with a Range of High-Performance Products for Demanding PC Gamers

Experience a New Era of ROG with a Range of High-Performance Products for Demanding PC Gamers

New Republic of Gamers products announced for 2011 include motherboards, graphics cards, high-end gaming notebooks, a headset, a powerful desktop and a stunning 27-inch 3D desktop display

Taipei, Taiwan, (Computex, 31st May, 2011) — ASUS, a global leader in the new digital era, today announced a number of exciting new products for high-performance gaming PCs to further expand its Republic of Gamers (ROG) range. Established five years ago, ROG is committed to developing the ultimate high-performance hardware.

“The ROG philosophy is based on the core ideals of class-leading performance, innovative user controls and gamer-focused design,” said ASUS Vice President and GM of Worldwide Sales, Jackie Hsu. The products announced today not only hold true to these ideals, but also introduce a host of new innovations that push high-end PC performance to even greater extremes.

Designed for hardcore gamers who want to be able to play anywhere, the G74Sx gaming notebook uses a second generation Intel® Core™ processor and NVIDIA® GTX 560M graphics for outstanding performance. The ROG G53SX Naked Eye 3D makes lifelike 3D without the need for glasses a reality on a sleek and powerful portable PC. Gamers looking for similar instant action in desktop form are well-served by the new CG8565 Gaming System with a Z68 chipset-based motherboard, stealth fighter-inspired case design and a host of easy-to-use overclocking features.

Also unveiled today are three new ROG motherboards based on the latest Intel® and AMD chipsets that bring new levels of performance for PC builders. The Maximus IV GENE-Z and Maximus IV Extreme-Z both use the new Intel® Z68 chipset to deliver unparalleled gaming and overclocking features, while the Crosshair V Formula is the first AMD 990FX-based motherboard supporting both 3-Way SLI™ and CrossFireX™, and with a graphical UEFI BIOS. Two new NVIDIA® GTX 580-based graphics cards, the MATRIX GTX580 and MARS II, further expand the ROG range.

Recognizing that a successful gaming experience depends on more than just what is inside a PC, ROG now also includes new PC peripherals. The first peripheral in the ROG family is the Vulcan ANC gaming headset with active noise-cancelling technology, which ensures an immersive audio experience, whatever the gaming environment. Combine all the great ROG hardware and attach it to an ASUS VG278H 3D 27-inch display that is designed for gaming, and gamers can become immersed in the latest titles.

Zane Ball, General Manager for Desktops at Intel, said: “We’ve had great success in the gaming market and we appreciate that a vendor like ASUS is devoted to this field. Brands such as ROG demonstrate the best practice for gaming and overclocking PC hardware, and the two new motherboards and one desktop with Intel Z68-based chipsets announced today offer exciting new performance-turning opportunities.”

Over the past five years, ROG products have been recognized by a number of renowned industrial design awards bodies such as iF Design, Red Dot and Good Design and have been well received by power PC users worldwide. Over 1,200 awards from the media are testament to the quality and innovation delivered by ROG and its commitment to delivering total domination in the high-performance PC field. Rest assured that ROG will continue to annihilate records and crush the competition for years to come.

“We are keen to provide the most innovative and powerful solutions for our users, which is why ROG has a team dedicated to researching and developing ideas that go well beyond what you might expect,” said Jackie Hsu.

Visit ASUS at Computex 2011

Please refer to the attached appendices for further details of these new ROG products, or visit the ASUS ROG Computex 2011 Booth at the Nangang Exhibition Hall. Please stop by to see the latest innovations ROG has in store or visit our Computex 2011 website for more information: http://press.asus.com/computex2011/rog/

APPENDICES

1. ROG G74Sx 3D gaming notebook

The G74Sx 3D is a high-performance notebook for gamers who don’t want to drag a full PC around to gaming events, or do not have room at home for a full desktop set up. The G74Sw 3D has the clean, angular lines of a stealth fighter and the power to match, thanks to the latest second generation Intel® Core™ quad-core i5 and i7 processors. NVIDIA® GTX 560M graphics ensure blistering frame rates at native resolutions and high detail settings on the 17-inch Full HD screen, while NVIDIA® 3D Vision offers players a new dimension to games and movies.

Powerful it may be, but the G74Sx 3D always keeps its cool with an innovative thermal design that uses twin fans to draw cool air from the front of the case and twin rear exhausts to expel warm air out the back. The gamer-friendly keyboard brings an extra edge to the playing field, too. The metallic base is does not flex, the backlit keys ensure frags in dimly lit environments and a large cursor key cluster sits away from the main keyboard to minimize mistyped keys in the midst of the action.

* More details will be revealed in early June.

World’s first glasses-free 3D gaming notebook
The ROG G53SX Naked Eye 3D makes lifelike 3D without the need for glasses a reality on a sleek and powerful portable PC. The unique technology works with a whole catalogue of games and multimedia content, even instantly converting existing 2D visuals into glasses-free 3D. Advanced research has also resulted in mixed mode, where one window can display in 2D while another shows in 3D, both on-screen at once. This is achieved without compromising brightness, contract or color fidelity, exceeding the output of older 3D technology that relies on glasses.

These figures are driven by a 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7 CPU and discrete, DirectX® 11-compatible NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560M graphics with a massive 2GB GDDR5 video memory, specs that allow titles such as StarCraft II to run in high resolution with anti-aliasing turned all the way up. Performance is also driven by the inclusion of a solid state hybrid drive that runs at approximate 10,000rpm speeds, cutting down boot time by as much as 52%.

The ROG G53SX Naked Eye 3D ships with a full suite of 3D content creation and editing software, giving users access to advanced authoring tools, including 3DTV Play connectivity. Sound is rendered in THX and EAX 5.0 3D for pristine spatial sound in gaming and other applications, with up to 128 additional sound effects at once compared to traditional gaming notebooks.

In terms of design, the G53SX shares the same ergonomic and stylish look of its stable mates. The 5-degree inclined keyboard promotes comfort during long gaming sessions, aided by rubber-coated palm rests that prevent sweating and wrist fatigue. Oversized twin rear exhausts push heat to keep the machine cool even under load while remaining quiet at all times. Users get a cool and silent environment that makes gaming much more enjoyable.

2. ROG Crosshair V Formula series motherboard

The Crosshair V Formula with AMD 990FX chipset-based is not only the first ROG motherboard with AM3+ CPU support, but it is also the first ever AMD motherboard to support both 3-Way NVDIA® SLI™ and AMD CrossFireX™ as well as offer UEFI BIOS. The usual selection of advanced ROG overclocking tools are on hand too, while onboard SupremeFX X-Fi 2 delivers the most intense and immersive gaming audio experience. Better still, high-performance Intel® Ethernet with GameFirst technology creates a LAN connection that is fast enough to keep up with the pace of modern multiplayer gaming over an internet connection that is also used being used for other online tasks.

To really make it the ultimate gaming motherboard, the Crosshair V Formula/ThunderBolt also comes with the ThunderBolt audio/LAN combo expansion card. The class-leading XONAR™ audio technology provides dramatically better sound quality than any standard audio card, while its built-in headphone amplifier with adjustable impedance settings make it perfect for getting the drop on the gaming competition. The Crosshair V Formula/Thunderbolt also incorporates the award-winning Bigfoot Networks™ Killer™ E2100 networking platform with exclusive Advanced Stream Detect™ technology that automatically classifies and prioritizes traffic for online games, HD video and audio streams for optimum performance, even when performing these tasks simultaneously.

The Crosshair V Formula motherboard is available now; the Crosshair V Formula/ThunderBolt will be available for purchase in the end of July,

3. ROG Maximus IV Extreme-Z and ROG Maximus IV GENE-Z motherboards

Although both are based on the new Intel® Z68 chipset, the ROG Maximus IV Extreme-Z and ROG Maximus IV GENE-Z offer two different takes on the high-performance motherboard.

The Maximus IV Extreme-Z is the latest model in a long line of ROG motherboards designed from the ground up to be an overclocking enthusiast’s dream come true. The Maximus IV GENE-Z takes the successful ROG motherboard recipe and shrinks it to a microATX form factor that will appeal to speed freaks and case modders alike. Support for both NVIDIA® SLI™ and AMD CrossFireX™ offers the ultimate in flexibility for 3D graphics, but that does not mean the integrated GPU features of the Intel® Z68 chipset are wasted. Full support for the Lucid® Virtu™ graphics virtualization engine means the Maximus IV GENE-Z can seamlessly switch between discrete and integrated graphics on-the-fly as the application demands, while SupremeFX X-Fi 2 audio and Intel® Ethernet with GameFirst ensure a first-class gaming experience.

4. ROG MATRIX GTX 580 graphics card

The ROG MATRIX GTX 580 is a high-performance graphics card for enthusiasts and gamers who demand the very best with NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 580 GPU. Enhanced TweakIt, ProbeIt and Safe Mode overclocking utilities offer unparalleled hardware adjustment, while GPU Tweak provides instant settings adjustment and monitoring. The 19-Phase Super Alloy Power technology provides greater overclocking headroom with enhanced power efficiency and component durability.

ASUS DirectCU II technology also provides extremely effective cooling by combining copper heatpipes that fix in direct contact with the GPU core with two huge sound-dampened fans that suck through 600% more air and achieving 20% cooler operation than the reference design.

5. ROG MARS II graphics card

The ROG MARS II/2DIS/3GD5 elevates extreme high-performance gaming to greater heights. The dual NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 580 design ensures phenomenally high frame rates in the latest games at maxed-out detail settings, while the all-new GPU Tweak overclocking utility with real-time clock and fan speed adjustment offers unparalleled tweaking opportunities. 19-Phase Super Alloy Power technology and Direct CU dual-fan cooling makes for cool, rock-solid operation too.

6. ROG CG8565 Gaming System

With its stealth fighter-inspired design, the angular, matte black exterior of the ROG CG8565 Gaming System belies the power that lurks within. Built for gamers who want a ready-made high-end gaming experience, this stunning desktop PC delivers awe-inspiring amounts of power, thanks to the second generation Intel® Core™ i7 processor with Z68 chipset and NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 590 GPU.

Overclocking features form an integral part of this competition-destroying desktop, with a one-touch ‘Level Up’ button built directly into the chassis for an instant real-time speed boost. Exclusive ASUS DIGI+ VRM technology and innovative thermal management ensures that the ROG CG8565 stays cool even when it is pushed to the limit, while the ASUS Xonar sound card provides immersive gaming audio.

7. ROG Vulcan ANC Headset

The ROG Vulcan ANC Gaming Headset completes the new range of Republic of Gamers accessories. It is perfect for gaming in noisy environments, or just those times when external speakers are not appropriate. The Vulcan ANC Gaming Headset uses active noise cancelling technology specially designed to filter external noise from both its high-quality speakers and boom microphone. The result is crystal-clear sound quality for music, movies, games and even VoIP calls.

8. ASUS VG278 3D 27” desktop monitor

Recognizing that a successful gaming experience depends on more than just what is inside a PC; ASUS has also introduced a new range of PC peripherals to enhance that experience with the VG278H 3D display. Designed for gamers who want complete immersion in the latest titles, this 27-inch LED backlit screen has full support for 3D graphics cards via HDMI 1.4 and a built-in infrared emitter for a wire-free desktop.

Biggest news today is likely the ASUS Padfone, the company’s teased and leaked hybrid tablet/smartphone consisting of a 4.3-inch Android handset that can dock into a special 10.1-inch tablet shell. ASUS is talking up the Padfone’s seamless transition between the two, with your currently-open app automatically rescaling to suit the change in display. There’s also plenty of crossover of the hardware: the phone’s 5-megapixel main camera is used as the tablet’s main camera when docked, and memory and 3G connectivity are shared too. Check out all the official details and our hands-on video roundup for more.

The Padfone isn’t the only ASUS slate today. We’ve seen the Eee Pad MeMO before, all the way back at CES 2011 in fact, but today it’s relaunched with a 3D makeover. The ASUS Eee Pad MeMO 3D has a 7-inch glasses-free 3D display along with a Flyer-like active stylus and a companion MeMIC Bluetooth headset and remote. ViewSonic too has opted for 7-inches, with the new ViewPad 7x promising to be at the affordable end of the Honeycomb scale, while its 10Pro sibling muddies the waters somewhat with a less convincing Windows 7/Android 2.2 Froyo dual-boot on Intel Oak Trail silicon.

Gigabyte has perhaps sensibly stuck with a single OS with its new S1080 tablet, though whether that OS being Windows 7 will win it many favors remains to be seen. MSI, too, has split things down the middle, with the new WindPad 110W opting for Windows and the WindPad 100A picking an unspecified version of Android instead.

It’s not all tablets, mind. ASUS has an alluring ultraportable, the Eee PC X101, with a 10.1-inch display and a choice of Windows 7 or MeeGo. With pricing expected to kick off at $199, it may not match the MacBook Air for style, build quality or specs, but you could outfit the whole family for the same price as a single Apple machine.

If you want something a little different, Gigabyte has its new Booktop M2432 notebook complete with a useful desktop docking station, while the LG P220 does away with fancy docks and instead focuses on being angularly gorgeous. The ASUS UX21 can’t quite match it on looks – though of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder – but certainly isn’t lacking in functionality.

Computex isn’t just about finished systems, there’s plenty of chipset, GPU and component news to be had too. NVIDIA got the ball rolling overnight with a drool-worthy demo of its quad-core Kal-El sequel to Tegra 2, followed by the new GeForce GTX 560M, but there are more esoteric offerings like the CUPP Computing PunkThis, which packs an entire ARM-based computer into your laptop’s HDD bay. Samsung is also offering its Exynios processor – as found inside such luminaries as the Galaxy S II – to developers as part of the Linaro Origen board.

You can track all of our show coverage this week by using the Computex 2011 tag.

In Glowball, the idea of the game is to use the tablet’s accelerometer to guide a glowing ball around a gameplay area, hitting trigger points – in the case of this demo, jack-in-the-boxes – to progress through the levels. The ball itself doesn’t use prebaked lighting animations, with Kal-El instead allowing the app to calculate the play of lighting in real-time, as it shines through the pattern on the ball and onto the various components of the arena. The ball itself can be changed, its pattern and brightness altered, and all with a real-time impact on what the game shows.

There are also various dynamically-animated elements of scenery, like curtains that hang and flutter depending on how you tilt the tablet, and barrels that move and reflect as you bump them. NVIDIA has built in the ability to virtually shut off two of the cores, so that you can see how sluggish it would all be on a dual-core device.

Best of all, production Kal-El chips should be 25- to 30-percent faster, according to NVIDIA, and owners of tablets using the new silicon will be able to test it out with Glowball as the company expects to release it – along with extra levels – in the Android Market. The first Kal-El slates are expected later in 2011.

The GTX 560 supports OpenGL 4.1 and 3D Vision, of course, as well as DirectX 11, PhysX and 2-way SLI. It has two dual-link DVI-I ports and a Mini HDMI 1.4a as standard, and can drive a display at up to 2560 x 1600 resolution. NVIDIA reckons it’s ideal for running – with two cards – 5670 x 1080 resolution ultra-wide games using NVIDIA Surround.

The first third-party NVIDIA GeForce GRX 560 cards are available now, from partners including Gigabyte, ASUS, MSI and PNY. The new drivers, meanwhile, can be downloaded from http://www.geforce.com/ today.

Press Release:

NVIDIA Introduces New GeForce GTX 560 GPU and Faster GeForce R275 Drivers

GTX 560 Is Perfect Companion for Upcoming Summer Blockbuster PC Games Featuring Support for NVIDIA PhysX, Surround, and 3D Vision Technologies

Click here for a video sneak peek at Duke Nukem Forever, Alice: Madness Returns, and RIFT, all running on the new GeForce GTX 560 GPU!

The new GeForce GTX 560 brings awesome performance and functionality to this summer’s hottest PC games.

SANTA CLARA, CA — (Marketwire) — 05/17/2011 — NVIDIA today introduced the GeForce® GTX® 560 GPU, the latest addition to the company’s Fermi architecture-based product family, which brings amazing performance and enhanced features such as NVIDIA® PhysX®, 3D Vision™, SLI® and Surround™ technologies to this summer’s hottest PC games.

Starting at $199 USD, the GeForce GTX 560 joins its big brother, the previously launched GTX 560 Ti GPU, in delivering an awesome gaming experience in its price class for games running at 1080p, the world’s most popular gaming resolution, according to Valve’s Steam Hardware and Software Survey(1).

NVIDIA today also released beta GeForce R275 drivers. They bring increased performance and enhanced functionality to a broad spectrum of PC games, including 3D Vision support to Duke Nukem Forever, PhysX support to Alice: Madness Returns, and Surround support to Dungeon Siege III.

Highlights of GeForce R275 Drivers:

Performance boost across a variety of games, including Crysis 2 (6%), Bulletstorm (15%), and Portal 2 (8%)(2)
NVIDIA Update technology now includes SLI profiles
Improved desktop scaling experience with new user interface and features
Improved resizing experience for HDTVs
More than 525 3D Vision gaming profiles, including new additions for Portal 2, Duke Nukem Forever, Age of Empires Online, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Dungeon Siege III, among others
New 3D Vision Photo Viewer with Windowed Mode Support
Support for more than 65 3D Vision Ready displays, including desktop monitors, notebooks and projectors.
The GeForce GTX 560 GPU is available starting today from the world’s leading add-in card partners, including ASL, Asus, Colorful, ECS, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Innovision 3D, Jetway, Leadtek, MSI, Palit, Point of View, PNY, Sparkle, Zotac and others. GeForce R275 drivers are available directly from www.geforce.com or from the driver download page on nvidia.com.

For an in-depth look at the GTX 560, and to view a special video with footage from this summer’s hottest PC games of the year, please visit: http://www.geforce.com/#/News/articles/560-game-previews/.

The new card that has surfaced from PowerColor has a pair of the ATI 68xx/Barts GPUs shoehorned into a single video card. That should be plenty of oomph to give the dual GPU NVIDIA GF114 video card a serious run for its money. The use of a pair of the 6870 GPUs should make this one of the more affordable dual GPU cards we have seen recently. Two of the older GPUs should not be a match for a single 6990 video card; we will wait to see some benchmarks to verify that though.

The card has no official name at this point and will have 1GB of GDDR5 RAM on the card. The full details on the new card are expected to come at Computex. What we can see on the card is a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors so you can bet it has the power needed for overclocking too. The success of this card will depend greatly on the price, if PowerColor can keep it affordable this will be a winner with gamers and enthusiasts.

[via Semiaccurate]

The Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition runs at 3.7GHz and is paired with with 6MB of L3 cache. It has a TDP of 125W. However, AMD is also expecting system builders to tinker with the clock speeds and other settings – hence this being a Black Edition model – in the hunt for extra speed. No word on pricing at this stage, though AMD reckons that for all its capacity, it’ll still be “affordable.”

As for the E6760, that supports DisplayPort and HDMI connections, along with AMD’s Eyefinity multi-desktop technology. It has OpenCL support and will play nicely with the AMD Fusion APUs.

Press Release:

AMD Introduces Its Fastest Quad-Core Desktop Processor
─ New AMD Phenom™ II Desktop Processor Enables Powerful, High Definition Entertainment Experience ─

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – May 3, 2011

What: AMD (NYSE:AMD) today added its fastest quad-core processor to the AMD Phenom II desktop processor family, the AMD Phenom™ II X4 980 Black Edition processor. When combined with AMD’s 8-series chipset and AMD Radeon™ HD 6000 series graphics cards, the AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition processor enables an immersive computing experience that provides advanced high definition entertainment and multitasking capabilities. The AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition processor is unlocked, which enables gamers and PC enthusiasts to overclock and optimize total system performance.1 This quad-core processor operates at a stunning 3.7GHz with 6MB of L3 cache and a TDP of 125W.

Why: With VISION Black Technology from AMD, customers get AMD’s best computing experience for intense 3D gaming and immersive, high definition entertainment. The AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition processor is unlocked for performance tuning by enthusiasts.

Who: The AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition processor is designed for PC gamers and enthusiasts looking to upgrade their PC experience with exceptional multi-core performance, high definition video, and 3D graphics – all at an affordable price.

Press Release:

AMD Delivers First Embedded GPU Offering Support for OpenCL and Six Independent Displays
May 02, 2011 — AMD Radeon™ E6760 GPU brings the latest desktop graphics performance and features to the medical, casino gaming, defense and aerospace markets

Today at Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley 2011, AMD (NYSE: AMD) introduced the AMD Radeon™ E6760 embedded discrete graphics processor. Available now, the AMD Radeon E6760 GPU is the first of its kind to offer embedded system designers the combination of OpenCL™ support1 along with support for six independent displays.

“The AMD Radeon E6760 GPU provides customers with superior business economics through long lifecycle management and product stability,” said Richard Jaenicke, director of Embedded Client Business for AMD. “Embedded system designers faced with power and density constraints now have a solution that delivers the advanced 3D graphics and multimedia features they require in this performance-driven market.”

“The AMD Radeon E6760 GPU secures AMD’s position as a provider of the highest performance graphics processors available today for embedded devices2,” said Dan Joncas, vice president of Sales, ALT Software. “With remarkable graphics performance and video support, power management functions for resource constrained devices, and OpenCL support to unlock the GPU’s parallel processing capabilities, the AMD Radeon E6760 GPU allows OEMs to differentiate their products from competitors by bringing new levels of performance and functionality to their embedded devices.”

“AMD Fusion APUs and the AMD Radeon E6760 GPU provide significant advantages for our new line of intelligent industrial cameras,” said Kristian Glode Madsen, managing director, Qtechnology A/S. “We are now able to provide a high-speed, real-time imaging system in the same form factor as a standard industrial camera with the flexibility and rich environment of Linux and OpenCL, normally only available on a PC.”

“Tech Source has been successful in the embedded market with our Condor XMC product line that uses AMD’s high performance graphics chips,” said Selwyn L. Henriques, president, Tech Source Inc. “AMD technology has allowed us to really keep ahead of the curve in terms of both functionality and performance. Our tests have proven that the new AMD Radeon E6760 chip will significantly enhance our OpenCL/GPGPU solutions.”

The AMD Radeon E6760 GPU enables an immersive experience with desktop-level 3D graphics and multimedia features:

An advanced 3D graphics engine and programmable shader architecture supports Microsoft DirectX® 11 technology for superior graphics rendering.
With an integrated frame buffer, high reliability and small footprint thermal solution, the AMD Radeon E6760 GPU enables designers of casino gaming, arcade and medical imaging systems to quickly deliver products with a compelling competitive edge.
Support for OpenCL provides an industry standard interface to access the exceptional compute performance per Watt for general purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU) applications such as ultrasound, radar and video surveillance.
Featuring multi-display support with AMD Eyefinity technology, the AMD Radeon E6760 GPU supports up to six independent output displays3, HDMI 1.4 stereoscopic video and DisplayPort 1.2 for higher link speeds and simplified display connectivity.
The AMD Radeon E6760 GPU comes with five years of planned supply availability. Technical support is provided by a dedicated team of application engineering experts.
The AMD Radeon E6760 GPU can be paired with AMD’s upcoming high-performance A-Series Accelerated Processing Units (APU) codenamed “Llano” to offer additional graphics capability and additional parallel computing power.

AMD’s full portfolio of Embedded Products, including the AMD Embedded G-Series platform, will be on display in booth 1432 at the Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley in San Jose, California.

One of the first to arrive will be ASUS’ Republic of Gamers Crosshair V Formula ‘board, which will allow for multi-GPU setups based on a several NVIDIA cards. NVIDIA claims that 93-percent of all multi-GPU systems rely on SLI, at least according to game distribution service Steam’s latest monthly stats, and so there’s obviously a market out there for AMD processor users keen to add a couple of GeForce cards to their PC.

Specifications of the ASUS RoG Crosshair V Formula are currently unknown, and in fact this is the first we’ve heard of the new model. The fourth-gen version was unveiled in April last year, and this new iteration will have support for AMD’s Bulldozer chips.

[via Expreview]

In fact, it will go all the way up to 2048 x 1152 resolution, and demands just 400mA. Output is via a single HDMI port, and you can either mirror or extend your existing desktop. Up to four VGA2788 units can be used at any one time (assuming your computer’s CPU can keep up).

It’s backward compatible with USB 2.0, of course, though you’ll probably lose some pixels in the process. No word on pricing or availability at this stage.

[via Everything USB]

According to the leak, the HD 6790 will have 10 stream units for a total of 800 processors, an 850MHz GPU frequency, 30 texture units and 32 ROPs, along with a 256-bit memory interface. It will have 1GB of GDDR5 memory and support up to 1.34 TFLOPs performance with a 33.6 Gtexel/s texture fillrate.

That, as the chart below suggests, will slot the HD 6790 in at the low-end under the HD 6850 and HD 6870; it’s also possible that AMD could brand it the Radeon HD 6830. Production cards are likely to drop at around the $150 price point, with a launch expected on April 5.

[via Expreview]