Phoronix on OpenCL Driver Optimization, NVIDIA vs. AMD
Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Graphics Cards | December 28, 2012 - 02:43 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: opencl, nvidia, amd
The GPU is slowly becoming the parallel processing complement to your branching logic-adept CPU. Developers have been slow to adopt this new technology but that does not hinder the hardware manufacturers from putting on a kettle of tea for when guests arrive.
While the transition to GPGPU is slower than I am sure many would like, developers are rarely quick on the uptake of new technologies. The Xbox 360 was one of the first platforms where unified shaders became mandatory and early developers avoided them by offloading vertex code to the CPU. On that note: how much software still gets released without multicore support?
Phoronix, practically the arbiter of all Linux news, decided to put several GPU drivers and their manufacturers to the test. AMD was up first and their results showed a pretty sizeable jump in performance at around October of this year through most of their tests. The article on NVIDIA arrived two days later and saw performance trended basically nowhere since February with the 295.20 release.
A key piece of information is that both benchmarks were performed with last generation GPUs: the GTX 460 on the NVIDIA side, with the 6950 holding AMD’s flag. You might note that 295.20 was the last tested driver to be released prior to the launch of Kepler.
These results seem to suggest that upon the launch of Kepler, NVIDIA did practically zero optimizations to their older "Fermi" architecture at least as far as these Linux OpenCL benchmarks are concerned. On the AMD side, it seems as though they are more willing to go back and advance the performance of their prior generation as they release new driver versions.
There are very few instances where AMD beats out NVIDIA in terms of driver support -- it is often a selling point for the jolly green giant -- but this appears to be a definite win for AMD.
Win a Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 2GB GHz Edition FleX Graphics Card!
Subject: Editorial, Graphics Cards | December 19, 2012 - 06:56 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: video, sweepstakes, sapphire, never settle, giveaway, contest, amd
Remember those really cool game streams we hosted with AMD on Medal of Honor Warfighter, Hitman: Absolution and Far Cry 3? Well can you believe that one of the winners from our Far Cry 3 event hasn't replied to our request for a shipping address which means only one thing:
We have an extra Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition FleX graphics card to hand out!
Lucky you! Since it is the holiday season, we wanted to make this EASY for you. Here is how you enter:
- First entry: Leave a comment in this very news post!
- Second entry: Subscribe to our YouTube channel (http://youtube.com/pcper) and leave a comment on this video on YouTube!
- Wait patiently.
We'll randomly pick a winner from anywhere in the world to get this kick ass prize on December 26th, so you'll have something to look forward to on the day after Christmas.
Good luck to all of you and our most heartfelt thanks to AMD, Sapphire and of course the fans of PC Perspective for a great 2012!!
AMD Announces Mobility 8000M Graphics Family with Modified Architecture
Subject: Graphics Cards, Mobile | December 17, 2012 - 03:08 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: radeon, mobility, amd, 8800m, 8700m, 8600m, 8500m, 8000m
AMD appears to be jumping the gun a bit here but has decided to announce the Radeon 8000M-series of mobile GPUs prior to CES. Before you get all riled up about the next generation of graphics technology, you should know that the new parts we are showing here are still built on the same 28nm Graphics Core Now (GCN) architecture that you'll find in the Radeon HD 7000 series of desktop graphics cards and even some already-existing Radeon mobility parts like the HD 7970M. We were told there are "some changes" but details were minimal.
Radeon HD 8500M and 8600M GPUs will both feature 384 stream processors with the variance related to the maximum clock speed. The 8600M will hit 775 MHz core clock while the 8500M will cap out at 650 MHz. Memory speeds are identical. Keep in mind that the desktop Radeon HD 7750 card has 512 stream processors and it runs at up to 900 MHz so you that can put the performance of these mainstream GPUs in perspective.
The 8700M uses the same 384 stream processor GPU though it gets a bit higher clock speed at 850 MHz. The 8800M is the only GPU announced today to increase the core count to 640 stream processors and a clock speed of 700 MHz for a total compute capability of 992 GFLOPs. Though the specifications are nearly equivalent to the build of the desktop Radeon HD 7770 part it is worth mentioning that the theoretical peak performance of that GPU is 1.28 TFLOPs; nearly 30% higher than the 8800M.
AMD was coy but hinted that this mainstream product announcement will be added to later in Q1 with higher end enthusiast-level SKUs. No 8900s yet guys, check back later.
When asked about the changes in this mobility GPU release compared to the 7000M series already available today, we only know that this is built on the same 28nm process but that the "architecture is slightly different and more efficient" than the 7000 chips. These are NEW chips and are NOT rebrands of currently available products. We don't have die sizes, transistor counts or TDPs until further notice.
AMD did provide a couple of quick graphs comparing the performance of the Radeon HD 8870M against the GeForce 650M G5 and The 8770M against its own previously releaesd 7670M part. Take all of this with a grain of salt until we can do our own testing, as per usual.
For now, I would say our readers should be very timid about the idea of a new series of GPUs from AMD without more information on the actual changes in performance will be compared to Souther Islands. Based on what we are hearing the changes are very minor.
Lucid Virtu MVP 2.0 Coming Soon and Will Be Sold Directly to Consumers
Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards, Processors | December 14, 2012 - 05:07 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: virtu MVP, virtu, lucid, ces 2013, CES
In preparation for the upcoming CES 2013 show in January we have started having some pre-meeting discussions with various companies, one of which was Lucid. While speaking with them we learned some interesting news about the upcoming v2.0 release of their Virtu MVP software including new features and a new availability option.
Lucid's Virtu MVP software is the technology that allows DIY PC builders and notebook vendors to easily accommodate utilization of both integrated and discrete graphics in a single system without the need to adjust settings or to move monitor cables around. With Virtu MVP you can take advantage of the QuickSync technology of your Ivy Bridge processor but still utilize the performance of a discrete graphics card for gaming. This can all be managed and handled on a single display with a single cable.
Other additions like Virtual Vsync and HyperFormance were added in MVP and aim to improve the gaming experience in the same way that Virtu enhances the overall user experience. And while Matt Smith liked the results from the software in his recent testing with an Origin laptop, there were a couple things that bugged us: the interface and the inability to get the software on your own.
Next month Lucid will be launching the new version 2.0 of its software that should increase the responsiveness of the interface while also drastically improving the visuals and style. Also included will be native Windows 8 support.
Perhaps the most interesting news is that Lucid will soon start offering the software directly to consumers as a download instead of requiring that you get it from your motherboard or system vendor. This is great news for users that have purchased motherboards without Virtu software and those of you that might want to buy a really low cost board that would lack those features as well. You will apparently be able to buy it in Q1 from www.lucidlogix.com and the price should be "under $30" which likely indicates a $29.99 starting offer.
What we don't know is how this will affect Lucid's motherboard partners - will they stop carrying the software as a bundle going forward or will they still offer it on select SKUs? Lucid wouldn't divulge any of that yet but I assume we'll find out more at CES next month.
PCPer Live! Far Cry 3 Game Stream - Win Games and Graphics Cards!
Subject: Graphics Cards | December 5, 2012 - 04:47 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: video, tahiti, radeon, never settle, live, far cry 3, amd
UPDATE: If you missed the live stream you can watch the replay embedded right here! Tune in to see some Far Cry 3 action as well learn about some of the technology that Ubisoft has included in the title!
On December 4th on the PC Perspective Live! page we will be streaming some single player game action of the new Far Cry 3. Far Cry has long been a franchise that includes great gameplay and never before seen graphics technology and the third installment looks to follow that trend! Early previews of the game have been very exciting!
Far Cry 3 Game Stream
5pm PT / 8pm ET - December 4th
PC Perspective Live! Page
Warning: this one will DEFINITELY have mature language and content!!
The stream will be sponsored by AMD and its Never Settle game bundles which we previously told you about. Depending on the AMD Radeon HD 7000 series GPU that you buy this holiday season you could get as much as $170 in gaming content including:
- FREE Sleeping Dogs
- FREE Hitman: Absolution
- FREE Far Cry 3
- 20% off Medal of Honor Warfighter
AMD's Robert Hallock (@Thracks on twitter) will be joining us via Skype to talk about the game's technology, performance considerations as well as helping me with some co-op gaming!
Of course, just to sweeten the deal a bit we have some prizes lined up for those of you that participate in our Far Cry 3 Game Stream:
- 2 x Sapphire FleX HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB (!!)
- 3 x Complete Never Settle Bundles (Sleeping Dogs, Hitman, Far Cry 3, 20% Off MoH)
- 5 x Sleeping Dogs keys
- 5 x Hitman: Absolution keys
- 5 x Far Cry 3 keys
Pretty nice, huh? That's a LOT of games (as well as some Radeon graphics cards) and all you have to do to win is be present on the PC Perspective Live! Page during the event as we will announce both the content/sweepstakes method AND the winners!
Stop in on December 4th for some PC gaming fun!!
AMD Never Settle Sweepstakes Part 3: ASUS HD 7970 DirectCU II for FREE!
Subject: Graphics Cards | December 5, 2012 - 01:53 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: never settle, HD 7970, asus, amd
UPDATE: We have selected a winner for this contest! If you didn't get an email from me on it, then better luck next time. We'll have more contests coming up very soon at PC Perspective!!
AMD is really excited about its Never Settle campaign and the bundle packages it has built for the holiday season. PC gamers looking for an uprade will defintely want to read up on the special promotion but we have another surprise for you as well - A FREE GRAPHICS CARD!
AMD and ASUS are partnering up with PC Perspective to hand out an ASUS HD 7970 DirectCT II graphics card, perfect for gaming on your PC!
Not only do you get the card in this sweet contest but you'll get the same software bundle as if you had purchased them at retail.
That means a 20% off coupon for Medal of Honor Warfighter, a FREE copy of Far Cry 3, a FREE copy of Hitman: Absolution and a FREE copy of Sleeping Dogs!
What do you have to do to enter to win this hardware? It couldn't be easier:
- Visit your favorite PC Perspective pages like our YouTube channel, Facebook page and Twitter account. You should subscribe, like and follow us, you know...if you want to. We'd appreciate it!
- Check out the AMD Never Settle page to read up on the bundle and special offers they are running right now!
- Leave a comment here on this post!
That's it - we love our fans so we want to make sure everyone gets a chance to win some free stuff! Sorry though, North American readers only on this one!
We will close the contest on Wednesday December 12rd at 1pm EST or so - so get your entries in! Thanks again for being a fan of PC Perspective, thanks to AMD for the great prizes and stay tuned for MORE contests and giveaways in the coming days!
AMD Radeon HD 8990 Rumored for 2013 Launch
Subject: Graphics Cards | December 4, 2012 - 04:41 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: venus, Sea Islands, radeon hd 8990, hd 8990, dual gpu, 28nm
Earlier this year rumored specifications for AMD’s upcoming HD 8000-series graphics cards leaked to the Internet. Details on the 8800 and 8900 series cards have since been revealed along with rumored/estimated clock speeds and pricing. One card that has, until now, remained an unknown is the dual-GPU Radeon HD 8990, however.
The existence of a dual GPU Sea Islands card has been especially suspect as a result of the ever-elusive Radeon 7990 and its almost-certain cancellation in an official AMD-branded form. On the other hand, a road map leaked by BitDreams.se and discovered by Maximum PC seems to suggest that an HD 8990 is at least being considered.
The Radeon HD 8990 follows the dual GPU traditions of its predecessors by combining two 8970 GPUs onto a single PCB. That means, if the previously leaked 8970 specifications hold true, the 8990 graphics card will have 5,120 stream processors, 320 texture units, 96 ROPs, and a 384-bit memory bus for each GPU. The card will have between 6 and 12GB of GDDR5 memory (3GB-6GB per GPU). The dual GPU card will have a maximum TDP of 375W and will come with slightly lower GPU core and memory clockspeeds compared to two individual 8970 cards. The GPU will be clocked at 950MHz and the memory will be clocked at 1250MHz. The single GPU Radeon 8970 will come clocked at 1050MHz core and 1500MHz memory, however.
| Radeon HD 7870 | Radeon HD 8870 | Radeon 7950 | Radeon 8950 | Radeon HD 7970 | Radeon HD 8970 | Radeon HD 7990 | Radeon HD 8990 | |
| Die Size | 212mm^2 | 270mm^2 | 365mm^2 | ~400mm^2 | 365mm^2 | ~ 400mm^2 | 365mm^2 x2 | ~400mm^2 x2 |
| Shader Count | 1280 | 1792 | 1792 | 2304 | 2048 | 2560 | 4096 | 5120 |
| TMUs | 80 | 112 | 112 | 144 | 128 | 160 | 128 x 2 | 160 x 2 |
| ROPs | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 48 | 32 x 2 | 48 x 2 |
| Memory Interface | 256-bit | 256-bit | 384-bit | 384-bit | 384-bit | 384-bit | 384-bit x2 | 384-bit x 2 |
| Bandwidth | 153.6 GB/s | 192 GB/s | 240 GB/s | 322 GB/s | 288 GB/s | 322 GB/s | 288 GB/s x 2 | 600 GB/s (total) |
The dual gpu 8990 card, as well as the rest of the 8000 series will support DirectX 11, Shader Model 5.0, and OpenGL 4.2. Bit Dreams lists the maximum single and double precision performance at 10.2 and 3 TFLOPS respectively, making this a rather powerful card that is not quite the same performance as two 8970s but will take up less space. Interestingly, the card would be noticeably faster than AMD’s FirePro S10000 card (essentially two 7950 gpus) at 1.48 TF double precision and 5.91 TF single precision. That would suggest that Venus is much more efficient than Tahiti, if the numbers turn out to be true.
The card will allegedly be released sometime in the second quarter of 2013 (Q2’13). Pricing is likely to be around $1,000 but so far pricing information has not leaked. Even taking these numbers with a spoon of salt, a dual GPU 8000 series card is sure to be welcome by enthusiasts. Here’s hoping it ends up being released (unlike the 7990) and is as fast as it’s rumored to be!
A ton of technology in here
In the world of graphics cards there a lot of also-rans, cards that were released but didn't really leave a mark on the industry. Reference cards are a dime a dozen (not really, though $0.10 HD 7970s sounds like a great thing to me) and when the only thing vendors can compete on is price it is very hard to make a compelling argument for one card over another. The ASUS Matrix Platinum HD 7970 that we are looking at today in no way suffers from these problems - it is a custom design with unique features that really give it the ability to stand out from the clogged quarters of the GPU shelf.
As you should expect by now with the ASUS ROG brand, the Matrix HD 7970 not only has a slightly overclocked clock speed on the GPU and memory but also some unique features like VGA Hotwire, TweakIt buttons and more!
ASUS ROG Matrix Design
Before we dive into performance and our experiences in overclocknig the HD 7970 with the ASUS Matrix Platinum we wanted to go over some of the design highlights that make this graphics card unique. Available in both Matrix and Matrix Platinum (hand picked chips) revisions, this triple-slot design will include a custom built PCB with 20-phase power and quite a bit more.
This "exploded" view of the Matrix HD 7970 shows a high-level view of these features with details to follow below. Some of the features are really aimed at the extreme overclockers that like to get their hands into some LN2 but there is still a lot to offer users that just want to try their hand at getting additional performance through air overclocking.
ASUS' custom DirectCU II cooler is at work on the ASUS Matrix HD 7970 using all copper heatpipes to help lower temps by 20% compared to the reference HD 7970 while also running quieter thanks to the larger 100mm fans. These fans can be independently controlled and include the ASUS dust proof fan technology we have seen previously.
Continue reading our review of the ASUS Matrix HD 7970 3GB Graphics Card!!
How much horsepower do you need to BLOPS2 properly?
Subject: Graphics Cards | December 3, 2012 - 02:02 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: nvidia, call of duty, black ops 2, amd
[H]ard|OCP set out to determine how well AMD and NVIDIA's cards can deal with the new Call of Duty game. To do so they took a system built on a GIGABYTE Z77X-UP4-TH, a Core i7 2600k @ 4.8GHz, and 8GB of Corsair RAM and then tested a HD7970, 7950 and 7870 as well as a GTX680, 670 and 660Ti. There is good news for both graphics companies and gamers, the HD7870 was the slowest card and still managed great performance on maximum settings @ 2560x1600 with 8X MSAA and FXAA. For the absolute best performance it is NVIDIA's GTX680 that is your go to card though since this is a console port, albeit one that [H] describes as well implemented, don't expect to be blown away by the quality of the graphics.
"Call of Duty: Black Ops II is the first Call of Duty game on PC to support DX11 and new graphical features. Hopefully improvements to the IW Engine will be enough to boost the CoD franchise near the top graphics-wise. We also examine NVIDIA's TXAA technology which combines shader based antialiasing and traditional multisampling AA."
Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
- Far Cry 3 VGA Graphics Benchmark performance test @ Guru of 3D
- A brief history of video cards: 64 GPUs tested from the last five years @ Hardwaare.Info
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 Super Overclock Graphics Card with WindForce 5X Cooling System @ X-bit Labs
- ASUS GeForce GTX 680 2GB DirectCU II Review @ circuitREMIX
- GIGABYTE Geforce GTX 670 (2GB) WINDFORCE 3X Video Card Review @circuitREMIX
- Four passive graphics cards review: 100% quiet @ Hardware.Info
- The Best Graphics Cards: AMD and Nvidia GPU Comparison with Latest Drivers @ Techspot
- NVIDIA Publishes Open-Source 2D Driver Code @ Phoronix
- 8-Way NVIDIA Nouveau GPU Comparison @ Phoronix
- 12-Way Radeon Gallium3D GPU Comparison @ Phoronix
- AMD Catalyst vs. Open-Source Gallium3D Driver Performance @ Phoronix
- HIS Radeon HD 7950 IceQ X Boost 3 GB @ techPowerUp
- Club3D HD7970 RoyalAce Graphics Card @ Kitguru
AMD Never Settle Sweepstakes Part 2: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 OC Edition CrossFire
Subject: Graphics Cards | November 27, 2012 - 08:11 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: never settle, hd 7870, gigabyte, amd
UPDATE: We have selected our winner for this contest and we'll have another one ready for you tomorrow, so be sure to CHECK BACK!!!
AMD is really excited about its Never Settle campaign and the bundle packages it has built for the holiday season. PC gamers looking for an uprade will defintely want to read up on the special promotion but we have another surprise for you as well - FREE GRAPHICS CARDS!
AMD and Gigabyte are partnering up with PC Perspective to hand out a pair of Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 OC Edition 2GB cards to a single winner, perfect for a CrossFire setup in your PC!
Not only do you get the cards in this sweet contest but you'll get the same software bundle as if you had purchased them at retail.
That means a 20% off coupon for Medal of Honor Warfighter, a FREE copy of Far Cry 3 and a FREE copy of Hitman: Absolution! (Which we happen to be doing a live stream of with even MORE stuff to give away!)
What do you have to do to enter to win this hardware? It couldn't be easier:
- Visit your favorite PC Perspective pages like our YouTube channel, Facebook page and Twitter account. You should subscribe, like and follow us, you know...if you want to. We'd appreciate it!
- Check out the AMD Never Settle page to read up on the bundle and special offers they are running right now!
- Leave a comment here on this post!
That's it - we love our fans so we want to make sure everyone gets a chance to win some free stuff! Sorry though, North American readers only on this one!
We will close the contest on Monday December 3rd at 1pm EST or so - so get your entries in! Thanks again for being a fan of PC Perspective, thanks to AMD for the great prizes and stay tuned for MORE contests and giveaways in the coming days!
PC Perspective Upcoming Events
|
