More HD 7970 reviews that you would want to shake a stick at

Subject: Graphics Cards | January 2, 2012 - 02:03 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: tahiti, southern islands, radeon, pcie 3.0, dx 11.1, amd, 7970, 28nm

If somehow you ended up feeling that Ryan missed something about the HD 7970 that was important to you, we offer a long enough list of HD 7970 reviews that you will find it somewhere.  Come next week when these cards hit the market at about $800 apiece (the MSRP is $550USD so hope that number is inflated), you might want to know just how well the cards scale, assuming you are able to spend the better part of $2000 just on your graphics subsystem.  The Guru of 3D has answered your Croesus-like desires by running two HD 7970's in CrossFire.  The power usage turned out to be quite interesting, the total power used by two HD 7970s is comparable to that of a single HD 6970, which will at least help you save a bit on your PSU and electricity build.  More important to most is the performance scaling, which Guru3D tested exhaustively and are happy to report scaling between 1.6 to 2 times the performance.  Keep in mind you need huge resolutions to make this worth your investment, it takes a lot of money to play Battlefield 3 @ 2560x1600.

"We review the AMD Radeon HD 7970 in Crossfire. With two reference cards in-house, we figured well, you might be interested in some multi-GPU lovin from AMD.

Let's take it to the next level -- multi-GPU gaming in 2-way Crossfire mode."

Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:

Graphics Cards

• AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB GPU and Graphics Card Review @ PC Perpsective
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix
• HD 7970: Bulldozer vs. Sandy Bridge vs. Nehalem @ techPowerUp
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 @ Techspot
• Radeon HD 7970 Overclock and perf Guide @ Guru3D
• Radeon HD 7970 CPU scaling performance @ Guru3D
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 @ Legion Hardware
• MD Radeon HD 7900 Series Graphics Preview @ Madshrimps
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 Launch Review @ Neoseeker
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 3-part @ VR-Zone
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 Video Card Review @ Hardware Secrets
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 @ techPowerUp
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 CrossFire Performance Review @ HardwareHeaven
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 @ Overclockers.com
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 Graphics Card Review @ HardwareHeaven
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB Review @ Hardware Canucks
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 @ Guru of 3D
• Club3D Radeon HD 6950 Battlefield 3 Edition Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix
• Sapphire HD 6670 Low Profile Review @ OCC
• Sapphire Low-Profile Radeon HD 6670 @ Pro-Clockers
• Sapphire Radeon HD 6670 LP Review @ Neoseeker
• Intel GMA 3150 Driver 8.15.10.2567 @ NGOHQ
• EVGA GTX 560 Ti 2 Win @ Hardwareoverclock
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores Graphics Cards from Palit and MSI @ X-bit Labs
• ASUS MARS 2 SLI Madness @ OC3D

AMD Radeon HD 7700-series Details Leak - $149, 896 SPs, 128-bit

Subject: Graphics Cards | December 30, 2011 - 10:23 AM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: southern islands, radeon, hd 7770, hd 7750, cape verde, amd

According to a story posted over at Fudzilla, there are new details leaking out about the February release of the AMD Radeon HD 7700-series of graphics cards.  Based on the 28nm Cape Verde chip we first heard about last month at the AMD GPU Tech Day in Austin, this is the smallest die based on the new Southern Islands architecture.  If you haven't read about all the changes that SI brings to the table (and there are many) then you should check out our Radeon HD 7970 review while you're here.

The specifications of the Radeon HD 7700 (Cape Verde XT) according to the leak are 896 stream processors (14 CUs), 56 texture units and 16 ROPs with a clock speed of 900 MHz.  The memory system will be based around 1GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit memory bus at a 1375 MHz clock rate for a total bandwidth of 88 GB/s.  The Radeon HD 7750 (Cape Verde Pro) steps down to 832 stream processors (13 CUs), 52 texture units and 16 ROPs with a 900 MHz clock speed.  The memory system will still be 128-bit with slightly slower memory for a total of 80 GB/s of bandwidth.

Compared to the Radeon HD 7970, these specs are pretty meager.  The Tahiti GPU has 2048 stream processors and a 384-bit memory bus which would likely make a dramatic difference in performance, as expected  Still, for the estimated $149 price tag AMD could have a winner on its hands.

Our estimation of the Cape Verde GPU based on the rumored specifications.  It is also possible that AMD would remove the dual geometry engines at the top and go with a single.

Finally, there is less information about the 7800-series (Pitcairn): it could include a 256-bit memory bus and will obviously include more compute units for its $299 and $249 price tags.  If those leaked prices are legit, that is a HUGE gap in price between the HD 7870 and the HD 7970 currently set to be sold at $549!  

Battlefield 3 Frame Rate Drop Issue with GeForce GPUs

Subject: Graphics Cards | December 28, 2011 - 09:24 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: gtx, geforce, bf3

Every once in a while we come across some gaming issue that when we approach those responsible for it, NVIDIA, AMD, the game developer, they seem as lost as we do.  For the last few days I have been banging my head on the table trying to figure out an issue with GeForce GTX graphics cards and Battlefield 3 and I am hoping that some of YOU might have seen it and can confirm.

While testing our new X79-based GPU test bed we continued to find that while playing Battlefield 3, frame rates would drop from 30+ to ~10 while running at 2560x1600 and Ultra quality presets.  It could happen when walking down an empty hallway or in the middle of a huge dramatic shootout with some enemies.  And sometimes, the issue would reverse and the frame rate would again jump back up to 30+ FPS.

A 10 frame per second tank?  No thanks...

Even more odd, and something the normal user doesn't monitor, the power consumption of the system would drop significantly during this time.  At 30+ FPS the power draw might be 434 watts while when running at the ~10 FPS level it would draw 100 watts less!  The first theory was that this was the GPU going into a lower "p-state" due to overheating or some other bug, but when monitoring our GPU-Z logs we saw no clock speed decreases and temperatures never went above 75C - pretty tame for a GPU.

To demonstrate this phenomenon we put together a quick video. 

In the video, you are seeing the "tearing" of Vsync in a much more dramatic fashion because of of our capture method.  We actually were outputing a 2560x1600 signal (!!) to an external system to be recorded localy at a very high bit rate.  Unfortunately, we could only muster a ~30 FPS capture frame rate which, coupled with the 60 Hz signal being sent, results in a bit of double up on the tearing you might usually see.  Still, the FRAPS-reported frame rates are accurate and we use an external system to capture to video to remove the possibility of any interference on performance during the capture process.

The hardware used in this video was actually based on an ASUS X58 motherboard and a Nehalem Core i7-965 processor.  But wasn't I just talking about an X79 rig?  Yes, but I rebuilt our old test bed to make sure this bug was NOT related to X79 or Sandy Bridge-E.  The systems that exhibited the issue were:

• Intel Core i7-3960X
• ASUS P9X79 Pro
• 16GB DDR3-1600
• 600GB VelociRaptor HDD
• Windows 7 x64 SP1
• GeForce GTX 580 (two different cards tested)
• 290.53 Driver

Also:

• Intel Core i7-965
• ASUS X58 WS 
• 6GB DDR3-1600
• 600GB VelociRaptor HDD
• Windows 7 x64 SP1
• GeForce GTX 580 (two different cards tested)
• 290.53 Driver

For me, this is only occurring at 2560x1600 though I am starting to see more reports of the issue online.

• Another 560 ti and BF3 FPS Low Or Drop!
  • Well I just Installed my 2nd evga 560 ti DS running SLI and When I play battlefield 3 i get about 60 to 90 fps then drops at
    20 to 30. Goes Up and down, I look at the evga precision looks like each gpu is running at 40% each and changes either up or down.
    Temp. is under 60 degrees c.
• GTX 560 Ti dramatic FPS drops on BF3 only
  • "having any setting on Ultra will cue dramatic and momentary fps drops into the 30's. if i set everything to High, i will stay above 70 fps with the new beta 285.79 drivers released today (which i thought would fix this problem but didn't). i've been monitoring things with Afterburner and i've noticed that GPU usage will also drop at the same time these FPS drops happen. nothing is occurring in the game or on the screen to warrant these drops, FPS will just drop even when nothing is going on or exploding and i'm not even moving or looking around, just idle. they occur quite frequently as well."
• BF3 Frame Drops
  • "When i use 4xAA i get abnormal framedrops, even while nothing is going on, on the screen.
    The weird thing is that, when it drops, it always drops to 33/32fps, not higher, not lower.
    It usually happens for a few seconds."
    
• BF3 @ 2560x1600 Ultra Settings Preset Unplayable
  • "I know its a beta, but i haven't heard any problems yet about framedrops.
    Sometimes my frames drop from 75fps way back to 30/20 fps, even when nothing is going on, on the screen."

So what gives?  Is this a driver issue?  Is it a Battlefield 3 issue?  Many of these users are running at resolutions other than the 2560x1600 that I am seeing it at - so either there is another problem for them or it affects different cards at different quality levels.  It's hard to say, but doing a search for "radeon bf3 frame drop" pulls up much less incriminating evidence that gamers on that side of the fence are having similar discussions.  

I have been talking with quite a few people at NVIDIA about this and while they are working hard to figure out the source of the frame rate inconsistencies, those of us with GeForce GTX cards may just want to back off and play at a lower resolution or lower settings until the fix is found.  

Richard Huddy is now Intel Inside. Well I'll be d'AMD.

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | December 28, 2011 - 05:04 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: Intel

There are a few individuals in the video game industry who attract news articles when their employers change; Richard Huddy is one. Experience with 3DLabs and executive positions at NVIDIA and ATI/AMD firmly suggests that he is in touch with graphics processing. Huddy completes his tour of the current PC GPU triangle by signing on with Intel. Given said GPU background, it would be interesting to speculate what plans Intel has for their presence in the graphics market -- and some already are.

Matrox… isn’t a part of that triangle…

KitGuru speculates that Intel realizes their attempts in developing graphics accelerators, such as Larrabee and their integrated GPUs, are lackluster; I personally believe that is a fairly safe speculation to make. Hiring the person who has dealt with developer relations throughout Europe for NVIDIA and worldwide for AMD would give you a good sense of what directions you need to be heading as a company. KitGuru also speculates that Intel desires to be placed in the consoles -- while developing a console GPU would be desirable for Intel as there would be no pressure to get huge numbers in random benchmarks, I doubt that is a core focus of Intel. If I was to speculate, and I am, my personal expectation would be to keep up with AMD and NVIDIA in the GPGPU war as well as tablet GPUs.

If you were to speculate: what do you think Intel’s motives are? Sane or crazy -- if it's legal, comment away!

AMD Radeon HD 7990 Dual-GPU Card Coming Q1 2012

Subject: Graphics Cards | December 26, 2011 - 12:05 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: tahiti, southern islands, radeon, amd, 7990, 7970

The big talk during the holiday break was AMD's release of the Radeon HD 7970 3GB graphics card - the new single-GPU performance leader.  I gave the card our Editor's Choice award for simply impressing the hell out of us, all while keeping power consumption in check thanks to the TSMC 28nm process technology it is built on.  Being the first card to support the upcoming DX11.1 and PCI Express 3.0 are just a bit of icing on the fruitcake. 

During our talks with AMD they teased a dual-GPU version of Southern Islands they were calling "New Zealand".  According to a report from Softpedia that card might be available sooner than we thought - sometime in the first quarter of 2012.  Because the new Tahiti GPU is actually more power efficient than Cayman, seeing the pending Radeon HD 7990 with two full powered GPUs isn't out the question though we would expect to see slightly lower clock speeds.

Because of the ZeroCore Technology implemented this generation of GPU from AMD, the HD 7990 will be able to run at basically the same power levels as the Radeon HD 7970 at idle and at the Windows desktop. 

The most interesting part?  This would give the HD 7990 a 6GB frame buffer, 3GB per GPU as we see today on the HD 7970.  Chances are this would give the graphics card more memory than many of our readers primary computer...

If you are interested in this type of card, start saving your pennies now.  When the Radeon HD 6990 launched (the Cayman-based dual-GPU card) it was priced at $699 and never went any lower.  With the price of a single Southern Islands GPU curently at $549, expect to see even higher numbers than the HD 6990 has.  I hope we don't see the same availability issues with the pending HD 7990 release but you can't be sure.  

The GTX 560 Ti 448 has a long name and a big secret

Subject: Graphics Cards | December 21, 2011 - 05:16 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: nvidia, gtx 560 ti 448

The Tech Report just polished off their review of the Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448, the GF110 version of the GTX560.  Apart from the SM count the card is exactly the same as a GTX570, though it is priced lower at $300.  It seems that this card is intended for people playing above 1920x1200 resolutions, below that you are tossing away money on performance you will never need, for those with high pixel counts, the 560 Ti 448 shows off its stuff.  You will need another card in SLI if you want a multi-monitor setup and a pair of these should handle it reasonably well for a much lower cast than pairing GTX570 or 580s.

"The video card market has been surprisingly static in the second half of 2011, so Nvidia's recent introduction of a new product—the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448—was a happy occasion on several counts. First, it was a chance for something different to perhaps offer a little extra value to Christmas shoppers. Second, it was an opportunity for us to revisit some fancy new GPU testing methods with the latest games. Thus, we fired up the graphics test systems in Damage Labs, installed titles like Skyrim and Batman: Arkham City, and set to work. Finishing up this review has taken a little longer than we'd have liked, but we've managed to include some fresh insights on several fronts. Read on for our take."

Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:

Graphics Cards

• eForce GTX 580 Showdown: ASUS Matrix vs.EVGA Classified @ Legit Reviews
• MSI GeForce N570 Twin Frozr III Power Edition OC @ kitguru
• AFOX GeForce GT 430 1GB LP, AFOX GeForce GT 440 D5 1GB, AFOX GeForce GTS 450 1GB, AFOX GeForce GTX 560 2GB and AFOX Radeon HD 6850 1GB LP Graphics Cards @ iXBT Labs
• ASUS GTX560Ti 448 Core DirectCU II @ OC3D
• Sparkle GTX560 2GB OC Edition @ Kitguru
• NVIDIA 2011 Driver Year In Review @ Phoronix
• NVIDIA Chips Comparison Table @ Hardware Secrets
• Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide @ Tech ARP
• AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview Profiles and Performanc​e @ [H]ard|OCP
• Catalyst 11.12 Windows 7 Driver @ Tweaktown
• Sapphire Radeon HD 6970 2 GB DualFan @ X-bit Labs
• AMD Catalyst 2011 Driver Year In Review @ Phoronix
• PowerColor HD6970 Devil 13 @ OC3D
• Sapphire Radeon HD 6450 FleX Edition Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix
• MSI Radeon HD 6950 1GB Twin Frozr III Power Edition OC Review @ Hardware Canucks
• Sapphire Radeon HD 6970 2GB Dual Fan Review @ Neoseeker

AMD Radeon HD 7900 PCB Pictures Leak To Web

Subject: Graphics Cards | December 21, 2011 - 07:26 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: amd, 7900, radeon hd, tahiti, gpu, pcb

Tech Power Up managed to get their hands on a couple photos of the PCBs used in the upcoming AMD Radeon HD 7900 series graphics cards. The blue boards show the traces and connectors that will eventually house the memory chips, graphics processor, capacitors, PCI-E power and video out connections (among others). This particular PCB is allegedly the "cost effective" version that is an alternative for Add-In-Board partners (for example: Sapphire, HIS, and XFX) so that they can offer lower cost cards.

The naked boards feature spots for two DVI, one HDMI, and one Display Port connector, although graphics card manufacturers do not have to include all of the connectors enabling low profile HTPC friendly versions. Further, the PCB features connections for an 8+2 analog VRM (voltage regulators), 12 memory chips, and two 8 pin PCI-E power connectors.

Keep in mind that this PCB is merely a reference design and may not be used in all Tahiti cards. AMD has given its partners free reign to design their own PCBs for the 7950 graphics cards. On the 7970 card; however, the cost effective reference design may well be used in many third party 7970 cards as an alternative to the main 7970 board design.

I suppose we will just have to wait until tomorrow for the official launch to learn more about the new cards. However, being so close to the launch date, the photos are likely representative of the actual PCB design. More photos can be found here.

Just because you gave your GPU new clothes doesn't mean we won't notice it is the same inside

Subject: Graphics Cards | December 20, 2011 - 03:38 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: gpu, amd, nvidia, turks, Caicos, graphics core next, GCN, cape verde, HD7770, kepler

Rebranding and rebadging is becoming a very bad habit for both major GPU manufacturers. It is fair to imply that NVIDIA was the first to start doing so on a regular basis but AMD has noticed that they have successfully managed it on several different chip families and has since joined in on crushing enthusiasts hopes in the holy name of the profit margin. On the other hand, with the financial difficulties that both companies are experiencing it is a viable strategy no matter how much enthusiasts dislike the practice.

Just two weeks ago we received information about the mobile chips from NVIDIA and AMD and the news was not good. From AMD we have rebranded Turks and Caicos chips with improved clock speeds but the same base technology already on the market. NVIDIA didn't even go that far and released the exact same chips as the previous generation, under new names.

We have heard rumours that AMD will also be applying that marketing strategy to at least some of the upcoming HD 7xxx series cards but thanks to a link from VR-Zone we know where the new chips will start. The HD7770 will feature Graphics Core Next and a 128-bit memory interface, replacing the ageing Juniper chips. As far as power there seems to be only a single PCIe 6 pin connector needed, which should keep the power draw to around 100W. If you are planning on picking a new AMD card when they arrive on the market ensure you do not look lower in the family as you will be picking up a rebranded card.

There was also a leak on the NVIDIA side today, with a single slide marked for internal use only appearing at a site called EXP Review. These types of slides and the benchmarks on them should always be taken with at least your daily allowance of sodium, if not more as the rules for what optimizations can be done to the benchmarks are very different for internal testing. They do show a nice performance difference, the GTX780 ranges from 190% to 230% of the performance of a GTX580. Astute readers will immediately start wondering what happened to the GTX6xx family, as according to this slide NVIDIA seems to be skipping an entire series with Kepler. Perhaps that is where rebranded Fermi chips could find a niche?

The coming year looks dangerous for GPU buyers, with older cards masquerading as newer models, thanks to AMD mixing VLIW4/5 cards with GCN cards and NVIDIA's suspicious naming scheme. While we have a bit of information about AMD's new cards, no indication of their performance has tipped up on the net. If NVIDIA's benchmarks are even close to reality a doubling of performance in a single generation would be a coup for them, as that type of increase in such a short time is almost unheard of. Then again, NVIDIA has been working on this architecture for a long while now. We will find out more over the coming months as both products come closer to their first appearance on the market, likely by the end of Q1.

Squeaky Wheel: NVIDIA Driver Fixes GTX 560 Ti 2Win and X79 Issue

Subject: Graphics Cards | December 20, 2011 - 10:39 AM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: evga, GTX 560 Ti, 2win, x79, nvidia

Sometimes we are surprised when big companies listen to the community when they have a legitimate complaint about a product.  Late last night NVIDIA passed over a driver that finally fixes the issue we discussed last Friday with the EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2Win dual-GPU graphics card and the new X79 chipset.  The issue arose from the inability to actually enable SLI on the card thus leaving one of your GTX 560 Ti's on the board sitting there limp.  And for gamers that pay $500+ for a graphics card, that is just unacceptable.

In a driver package that NVIDIA told me will be released tomorrow, 290.53, you can now enable SLI when this card is installed on an X79 motherboard.

We needed to verify the performance to make sure SLI was actually functioning as we expect so we ran a handful of tests, starting with 3DMark11 on the Extreme preset:

Compared to two separate GTX 560 Ti cards running in SLI, the 3DMark11 score was 2949 - performance was right on target.

For a bit more of a sanity check, just a couple of game tests too:

• Metro 2033 (1920x1080)
  • EVGA GTX 560 Ti 2Win - 64.2 FPS
  • NV GTX 560 Ti SLI - 65.1 FPS
• Batman: Arkham City (1920x1080)
  • EVGA GTX 560 Ti 2Win - 87.4 FPS
  • NV GTX 560 Ti SLI - 87.5 FPS

If you have an EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2Win card and already own or were planning to upgrade to Intel's new Sandy Bridge-E platform then you should be looking for this driver to drop on Wednesday the 21st.  Just in time for the holiday's NVIDIA is answering our requests for a commitment to gamers. 

Sometimes it just takes the squeaky wheel...

Give your project good CARMA, get a CUDA on ARM dev kit!

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards, Processors | December 20, 2011 - 04:34 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: nvidia, CUDA, CARMA, capital letters, arm

Okay so the pun was a little obvious, but NVIDIA has just announced the specifications and name for the development kit used to develop for their ARM-based GPU computing platform. The development kit will provide a method to build and test applications on a platform similar to what will be found in the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre’s upcoming GPU supercomputer until you are ready to deploy the finished application with real data on the real machine. Such is the life of a development units.

Carma: What goes around, comes around... right Intel?

The development kit is quite modest in its specifications:

• Tegra3 ARM A9 CPU
• Quadro 1000M GPU (96 CUDA Cores)
• 2GB system RAM, 2GB GPU RAM
• 4x PCIe Gen1 CPU to GPU link
• 1000Base-T networking support
• SATA, HDMI, DisplayPort, USB.

KFA^2 Launches Overclocked, Multi-Display GTX 580 MDT X4 Graphics Card

Subject: Graphics Cards | December 17, 2011 - 02:01 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: nvidia surround, nvidia, mdt x4, kfa2, GTX 580, europe

KFA^2 is a leading European graphics card manufacturer for Nvidia based cards. Their latest card is the KFA^2 GTX 580 EX OC MDT X4, and it represents the top tier of their multi-display lineup.

As the name implies, the new GTX 580 EX OC MDT X4 card is based on Nvidia’s GTX 580 GPU. From there, the card is overclocked and outfitted with the ability to drive up to four displays. Using their “virtual single monitor mode,” the card is able to present an Eyefinity like display (via Nvidia Surround tech) to the operating system (as one giant display), and then stretch the output across three monitors. The resolution of the three monitor display can be up to 5760x1080. Interestingly the refresh rate needs to be at 50Hz. The card package will include the necessary driver and application software to make the multi-display work. There are three mini HDMI ports and one mini Display Port on the back of the card, and the three mini HDMI ports are used for the three monitor surround panel while the Display port can be hooked up to a fourth monitor that is not part of the main display group.

The card has 1.5 GB of GDDR5 memory as well as the same 384-bit memory interface; however, from there the core and memory clocks both get a nice overclock at 840 MHz and 2004 MHz respectively. Further, the KFA^2 model ditches the reference cooling solution for a custom LED lit affair with a total of three fans to keep the card frosty at the overclocked clock speeds. Graham Brown, the European Marketing Manager for KFA^2 stated that “all these features combine, has produced a new level to consider when looking at the GTX 580 range.”

The new graphics card will be available throughout Europe soon and will come with a 2 year warranty. No word yet on pricing but expect it to be somewhere around $540 USD.

Radeon HD7970 specs leaked. 3.5 Teraflops, 3GB vRAM

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | December 16, 2011 - 04:45 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: Radeon HD 7000, leak, amd

Update: 5:35, added a few points.

If the convincing-looking leaked slides are to be believed, the upcoming AMD Radeon HD 7970 card is now naked before us with all its measurements laid to bare. While there still is nothing official as the embargo is not up yet, rest assured that at some point the full story will flood to the surface. What can be said is that if this slide is true, the 7970 looks to be a real beast of a card.

The supposed reference specifications of the 7970… or are they?

(Image obviously from OBR-Hardware)

As you can tell from the heavily watermarked slide, AMD claims 3.5 TFLOPs of computing power from their 2048 stream processing units clocked at 925 MHz. Contrast this against the AMD’s assertion of 2.7 TFLOPs from the Radeon 6970’s 1536 stream processors and a core clock of 880MHz; while it is not an apples-to-apples comparison, it is a healthy buff to AMD’s portfolio. Also relevant, is a more recent slide claiming much-increased performance during tesselation which NVIDIA typically has maintained a healthy lead over AMD with.

Possibly the most major point from the table is the power consumption: less than 3 Watts during idle. To give a bit of... pc perspective...: HardOCP measured the idle power consumption of the 6970 to be 24 Watts and the NVIDIA GTX 580 at 41 Watts. We are talking about an 88% decrease in idle power draw compared to AMD’s last generation’s single GPU powerhouse. It makes me wonder: how will this affect mobility graphics? According to OBR-Hardware, their slide is somewhat out-of-date; the expected peak is 200W give or take for the card on load, though I am sure that will vary depending on which brand of card you purchase.

NVIDIA SLI Breaks EVGA GTX 560 Ti 2Win and X79 Combinations

Subject: Graphics Cards | December 16, 2011 - 04:39 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: x79, sli, evga, GTX 560 Ti, 2win

Sometimes, the best intentions fumble out of the gates.  When we reviewed the EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2Win graphics card in November, I gave it a glowing review as a product that offered better performance than the GTX 580 while selling at a very similar price (currently just $20 more).  My test configuration at the time included an X58 motherboard based on the Nehalem architecture that has been tried and tested over the years.

For the forthcoming review of the Radeon HD 7970 graphics card, we decided to move our GPU test bed to the new X79-based Sandy Bridge-E platform since it was the new hotness and because it continued to be the best option for multi-GPU configurations going forward.  Or so we thought.

While preparing for our review, I was configuring our NVIDIA cards due for re-testing on this platform and brought the GTX 560 Ti 2Win out from the back room.  However, no matter which driver I used, I was unable to enable SLI on it and running a quick performance test confirmed we were running in a single GPU configuration.  We used driver versions from the 285.xx stack as well as the 290.xx stack - all with the same results.

Both GPUs were enabled and would show up in the Windows Device Manager AND inside the NVIDIA control panel.  However, the standard SLI configuration switch was nowhere to be found.  We only had the ability to select enabling PhysX on different the GPUs...

After a quick talk with both NVIDIA and EVGA we confirmed this to be a bug with the EVGA GTX 560 Ti 2Win and the X79 platform as a whole.  Why?  Apparanetly a driver fix is in the works - it is all simply a software issue.  A new version is "coming soon" though no specific dates were given.  If you have one of these cards and upgraded to an X79 motherboard, we apologize for you only being able to utilize half of your investment.

Which brings me back to my consistent stance - NVIDIA's SLI Technology would be better served as an openly available multi-GPU solution without the restrictions of licensing and software hacks.  Why?  The money that NVIDIA makes on the licensing is pretty minimal and the only goal is to uphold the "value" of the SLI brand.  Instead, everytime a hiccup like this occurs, more gamers decide that the benefits aren't worth the potential hassle owning multiple graphics cards may cause.  

CrossFireX doesn't have nearly the marketing push behind it that SLI does yet it continues to have legs without the rather outdated partner licensing restrictions.  Every multiple PCIe slot motherboard (essentially) will support CrossFireX - users that might want SLI configurations need to look for that damn logo on the box...

CUDA been done sooner! NVIDIA open sources CUDA platform

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards, Processors | December 15, 2011 - 04:03 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: CUDA

NVIDIA lays as the current front-runner for the “Last Year’s Best Decision, This Year” award. You may remember our coverage last June of the AMD Fusion Developer Summit; industry members such as ARM, Microsoft, and of course AMD discussed the potential of utilizing specialized processors and developing on open platforms such as OpenCL and Microsoft’s announced C++ AMP. Do you know what would have been an amazing announcement for AFDS to stomp OpenCL and C++ AMP? That NVIDIA would open up CUDA. Know what announcement missed that bus by a whole half a year? NVIDIA will open up CUDA.

Your platform pooh-pooh? Bear a CUDA.

While I just harassed NVIDIA for their timing, it might not be too late. CUDA is still a powerhouse of a GPGPU platform with substantial software support from absolute mammoth software packages such as Adobe Creative Suite to smaller projects like KGPU. With the open sourcing of the CUDA compiler, NVIDIA is also permitting manufacturers like AMD and even Intel to support CUDA with their GPUs, x86 CPUs, and other processing units. While I am excited at this outcome, I am still somewhat confused about NVIDIA’s timing: they are just a little late to open up and crush the market, and they seem quite abrupt if they originally intended CUDA to survive as a forever-proprietary computing platform.

Two Catalysts from AMD; 11.12 and a highly recommended preview version of 12.1

Subject: Graphics Cards | December 13, 2011 - 02:30 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Catalyst 12.1, Catalyst 11.12, amd

Feature highlights of the AMD Catalyst 11.12 driver:
AMD OpenGL 4.2 production support

• AMD Catalyst 11.12 delivers official support for the OpenGL 4.2 specification

AMD Eyefinity technology enhancements

• Enables support for AMD HD3D technology when using a 3x1 Landscape Eyefinity display group, on supported DisplayPort 3D monitors.

AMD Vision Engine Control Center enhancements for Dual Graphics

• Improvements have been implemented to better facilitate the enabling and control of the Dual Graphics within the Vision Engine Control Center

Feature highlights of the AMD Catalyst 11.12 Linux driver:
This release of AMD Catalyst Linux introduces support for the following new operating systems

• RHEL 6.2 early look support

We have also just released the AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview
The AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview includes all of the features found in AMD Catalyst 11.12 and also includes all of the latest optimizations found in the AMD Catalyst 11.11c performance drivers (AMD Catalyst 11.12 does not include the latest 11.11c optimizations).

It is highly recommended that all gamers use the AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver.
AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst121Previewdriver.aspx

Feature highlights of the AMD Catalyst 12.1 driver:

• AMD HD3D technology support enhancement
• Enables support for AMD HD3D technology in conjunction with AMD CrossFireX configurations
• Delivers a new Stereo 3D mode over HDMI 1.4a connections - 1080p at 30Hz is now enabled on supported displays.

AMD Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements
Application Profiles

• AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver enables users to create per application profiles to individually control 3D and CrossFireX settings for Direct3D applications
• Please be sure to select the “Restore Factory Defaults” option under the Catalyst Control Center Preferences menu before using the new application profiles feature – this ensures there are no compatibility issues between previous drivers and the new AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver with regards to application profiles

AMD Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements
Video UI improvements

• AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver includes user interface enhancements to simply adjustment of video color and video quality controls

Performance highlights of the AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver (in addition to the AMD Catalyst 11.11c performance driver)

• Improves performance (10%) in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim when Multi-Sample Anti-Aliasing is enabled on the AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series for single GPU and AMD CrossFireX configurations.

Some Details About AMD’s 7000 Series Graphics Cards Leak To Internet

Subject: Graphics Cards | December 9, 2011 - 07:05 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: tahiti, radeon, pitcaim, HD 7000, amd

AMD has had a good run with it’s 6000 series cards, but the show must go on and in that vein the company has been working on manufacturing their next generation of graphics cards. The new cards will be of the 7000 series variety and will be broken into the same two architecture model for the upper tier/performance parts and the budget and small form factor fitting parts with the Tahiti and Pitcairn GPUs respectively. As the launch window for the new graphics cards gets closer tidbits of information is starting to leak out. In fact, popular news and rumor site Fudzilla recently got their hands on a few leaked 7000 Series details!

Included in the leaks are information on the performance parts as well as the mid-range GPUs. On the Tahiti front, a photo of two AMD Radeon HD 7900 series cards in CrossfireX has emerged, showing the underside of the PCB, crossfire connectors, PCI-E power connectors and a possible opportunity for a math wiz to approximate the size of the card based on the known dimensions of that particular PSU (heh). Because there are 12 memory chips on the card, the site claims that the rumored 384-bit memory bus is all but confirmed. Further, the cards require both an 8 pin and 6 pin PCI-E PSU connector for power. These cars are engineering samples and things could change between now and release; however, the speculations seem reasonable. The Tahiti based graphics cards will allegedly be priced at $399 and $499 for the 7950 and 7970 respectively.

The Pitcairn GPU based cards will represent the mid-range of AMD’s 7000 series lineup. According to un-named sources, Fudzilla believes that AMD may be releasing the mid-range graphics cards around February 20th, 2012 or about a month after the Chinese New Year. The cards will be carrying similar naming conventions to their predecessor, including the Radeon HD 7850 and Radeon HD 7870. Due to Tahiti pricing, it’s likely that the mid-range 7000 series graphics cards will be priced at $199 USD for the 7850 and $299 USD for the Radeon 7870, at least until Nvidia’s Kepler arrives to shake up the pricing.

Personally, I’m excited for the 7000 series, and am anxious to see what kind of F@H and gaming performance I can wring out of it! Are you planning an upgrade next year, or will you skip this generation?

PNY pairs with asetek to ensure their new GTX 580 makes a splash

Subject: Graphics Cards | December 8, 2011 - 01:53 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: pny, GTX 580, watercooling, asetek

PNY tends to have limited releases of their graphics cards and some of them tend to be rather unique, like their new watercooled GTX580.  [H]ard|OCP wanted to test the performance of this cooler in two scenarios, one with only the GTX580 taking advantage of watercooling so that there is hot air from the CPU moving around the case and a second where both the CPU and GPU are watercooled on the same loop.  That makes a fair amount of difference to the amount of ambient heat present in the case, which has an effect on the efficiency of watercooling.  [H]'s results are encouraging but this card does come at a price, $650 for the model that has waterblocks for both your CPU and GPU.  If cooler temperatures and near silent operation are high on your list of requirements then check out what PNY has to offer.

"While PNY is not a name we have talked about when it comes to graphic cards since 2001, these guys are still around. For the most part there is nothing special about its cards, but today we have something that is special from PNY, an out-of-the box water cooled GTX 580. Let's see what it does for us."

Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:

Graphics Cards

• MSI GTX 560 Ti-448 1280MB Twin Frozr III Power Edition Overclocked @ Tweaktown
• Gigabyte Geforce GTX580 Super OverClock GPU @ Funky Kit
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores Launch Roundup with SLI @ HardwareHeaven
• MSI GTX560Ti 448 - Overclock Part 2 @ OC3D
• The Current State Of Radeon Power Management @ Phoronix
• HIS 6770 IceQ X Turbo 1GB GDDR5, HIS 6750 Fan 1GB GDDR5 @ iXBT Labs
• Sapphire HD 6670 Single Slot Low Profile Video Card Review @Hi Tech Legion
• Sapphire Vapor-X HD 6850 1GB @ iXBT Labs
• Sapphire HD6870 @ Bjorn3D
• MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III 1G/OC Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews

Video Perspective: AMD A8-3850 vs Intel Core i3-2105 Gaming Comparison

Subject: Graphics Cards, Processors | December 6, 2011 - 04:45 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: video, sandy bridge, core i7, APU, amd, a8-3850

Our collection of videos comparing the AMD A8-3850 Llano APU to the Sandy Bridge-based Core i3-2105 have been very popular.  We thought we would wrap up 2011 with one final video that looks at the integrated graphics solutions on both processors in five of the top games released in 2011.  Here is what and how we compared them:

• Batman: Arkham City - 1920x1080 - Low
• Portal 2 - 1920x1080 - Very High
• Battlefield 3 - 1366x768 - Low
• Skyrim - 1920x1080 - Low
• Modern Warfare 3 - 1920x1080 - High

Not to give away the secret but...

Be sure you check out our Video Perspective below!!