HIS' Icy cool new HD7950

Subject: Graphics Cards | July 10, 2012 - 07:18 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: HD7950, his, ICEQ Turbo

The newest member of the HIS Radeon ICEQ Turbo family is the HD7950, with the distinctive and effective custom cooler that makes these cards stand out.  As with many custom cards this one comes with a dual BIOS, one is locked at factory settings while the other allows you to overclock the card, so that even with an overclock that goes poorly you can always revert back to default clocks with the flick of a switch and a reboot.  At full load the Guru of 3D never once saw this card hit more than a few degrees north of 60C, making it one of the coolest modern GPUs going and the fans never became audible.  Once they got to overclocking, they loved what they saw even more.  At $390 it does carry a bit of a premium so you'd best decide if low temps and noise are worth the extra investment.

"We review the HIS Radeon HD 7950 IceQX Turbo. The product comes factory overclocked very nicely for you as it is running a gentle 900 MHz clock frequency. HIS uses a custom PCB and dual-slot cooler making the card very easy to install. Despite that factory overclock and that cooler the noise levels remain at very low levels whereas the GPU temperatures remain downright excellent as we'll show you in this review."

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

Graphics Cards

• AMD's Catalyst Evolution For The Radeon HD 7000 Series @ Phoronix
• AMD Catalyst 12.6 Windows 7 Driver Analysis @ Tweaktown
• Sapphire Radeon HD 7770 OC Vapor-X 1GB Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix
• Sapphire HD 7950 FleX Dual-X Edition 3GB Review @ OCC
• Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OC Dual-X fleX 3GB Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix
• HIS Radeon HD 7850 IceQ X TurboX 2GB in CrossFire @ Tweaktown
• Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Flex Edition @ Tweaktown
• VTX3D HD7870 EyeFinity 6 @ Kitguru
• MSI R7850 Power Edition OC Video Card Review @ Ninjalane
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition @ Kitguru
• ZOTAC GeForce GT 640 2 GB @ techPowerUp
• KFA2 GTX 680 EX OC 2GB Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix
• GeForce GTX 670 Graphics Cards from Gigabyte, Palit and Zotac @ X-bit Labs
• KFA2 GeForce GTX 680 LTD OC 2048MB @ Kitguru
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 OC @ Legion Hardware
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 in 2-Way and 3-Way SLI Configurations @ X-bit Labs
• It's Time to Play: Zotac GeForce GTX 680 AMP! Edition @ X-bit Labs
• MSI GTX 670 Power Edition OC (Twin Frozr IV) @ Kitguru
• ASUS GTX 670 DirectCu II TOP Review @ Hardware Canucks
• MSI GTX 680 Lightning 2GB Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix

Rumor: 7950 GHz Edition with GPU Boost Coming Soon?

Subject: Graphics Cards | July 7, 2012 - 05:07 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: rumor, hd 7950 GHz edition, graphics card, gpu boost, gpu, amd

An interesting rumor floating around the internet concerns a new AMD 7950 graphics card. Specifically, a forum post over at EXPReview hinted at a new GHz Edition 7950 card. They reference a source and a photo of a graphics card with GHz Edition markings and two six-pin PCI-E power connectors. They further quoted a source that said AMD would be releasing a fourth card to its 7000-series lineup. In other words, there was not a whole lot to go on.

The alleged AMD Radeon HD 7950 GHz Edition graphics card.

I saw the rumor a couple of days ago, but decided to let it sink in for a bit before writing about it. After some thought and internal conversations, I think a 7950 GHz edition is plausible, and certainly a possibility. With the addition of the HD 7970 GHz Edition (which we recently reviewed), AMD now has a 7900 series part with its new GPU Boost (aka Powertune Boost) technology. Unfortunately, that tech can not simply be rolled out to the other existing 7900 series cards meaning that the original 7950 and 7970 are stuck without boost, leaving a gap in its lineup. Because of that, it seems logical that AMD would want to fill in that gap with a refreshed 7950 part that has higher clocks and GPU boost.

The 7970 GHz Edition helped AMD stay competitive with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 and enabled AMD to (re)claim it had the fastest single GPU card. That card was enabled by AMD finding extra headroom and higher bins in its 28nm GPUs. The current Radeon HD 7950 runs at an 800 MHz GPU clock speed and a 5GHz GDDR5 effective clock speed. It is unclear if the company’s chips have enough headroom that they are able to overclock 7950 oriented silicon or if they are simply reworking the bins such that the 7950 GHz Edition is either using silicon that just barely can’t make the cut as a 7970 GHz Edition or AMD is artificially locking down 7970 GHz chips to make these proposed 7950 GHz GPUs. Apart from the increased clock speeds and GPU Boost, the rumored card is said to maintain the same hardware specifications as the existing 7950. Mainly, that means 1,792 stream processors, 112 texture units, and the same number of transistors – 4.31 billion – on a 28nm process. In comparison, the 7970 has 2,048 stream processors and 128 texture units.

As mentioned above, such a chip sounds like a logical step for AMD. By refreshing the 7950 with higher clock speeds and adding GPU Boost functionality it will be fight with the GeForce 670 for the performance crown, and may even come close to 680/7970 performance when overclocked further. I do have a couple of questions about this rumored card, however. Specifically, I am wondering if AMD will simply refresh the 7900 series cards and let the original releases fade out as the stock dwindles or if they will keep them around. I’m leaning towards the later but it will still be interesting to see, and it also makes me wonder how much a 7950 GHz Edition will cost me.

I’m curious what you think about the rumor though, do you think it has any merit? And assuming this is legit, where do you think it will stand performance-wise versus NVIDIA’s products?

If you are curious about how AMD’s new GPU Boost technology works, be sure to check out our Live Review of the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition with AMD’s Evan Groenke where we are given a live demonstration showing how it works and some background on the technology.

Gigabyte Releases Lower Clocked Revision of R7770 OC GPU

Subject: Graphics Cards | July 3, 2012 - 08:36 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: radeon, hd 7770, graphics cards, gpu, clock speed, amd

Gigabyte has had an overclocked version of the Radeon HD 7770 graphics card for a couple months now, but the company is already readying a second revision of the card. Curiously, the new revision will maintain the same hardware but will run at slightly lower clock speeds. While the current revision (1.0) runs at 1100 MHz and 5000 MHz for the GPU core and memory respectively, the updated graphics card will run at 1050 MHz and 4500 MHz.

Beyond the lower clock speeds, the new revision of the GV-R7770 OC card maintains the same PCB, chips, and cooler design. That hardware includes a 28nm GPU, 1GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit interface, and a PCI-E 3.0 expansion slot. Display outputs include a DVI port, full-size HDMI port, and two mini DisplayPorts. It also maintains the same custom Gigabyte heatsink and fan.

According to Videocardz, users will be able to identify which revision they are getting before handing over any money by looking at the box. Alternatively, users can identify which revision it is by looking at the sticker on the underside of the card just above the PCI-E connector. As a new revision, especially with the release of higher-binning chips from AMD, it is a bit confusing that the card is being released with lower clock speeds than its predecessor. It may be that the higher factory overclock was not stable on enough cards and Gigabyte was having to deal with too many returns – that’s only a guess though.

All the same, if you are shopping for a 7770 graphics card and have been considering the Gigabyte model, be sure to double check which revision you are getting.

New NVIDIA 304.79 Beta Drivers Add TXAA and Bug Fixes

Subject: Graphics Cards | July 3, 2012 - 05:17 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: txaa, nvidia, graphics drivers, gpu, drivers, bug fixes

NVIDIA has made the latest version of its beta graphics card drivers available for download. With the new version 304.79 beta drivers comes TXAA support, numerous bug fixes, and the first unified Windows 8 and Windows 7 release.

We covered TXAA, or temporal anti-aliasing, in our NVIDIA GTX 680 2GB review. The new 304.79 drivers enable support for it in The Secret World MMORPG – following a game update. TXAA will come in two levels with TXAA 2 having quality greater than 8x MSAA, especially with in-game objects like chain link fences. The issue with TXAA adoption is that it must be implemented in the game engine, and cannot simply be added on after the fact via the NVIDIA control panel. Also, it is a feature that is exclusive to the company’s 600-series Kepler graphics cards.

There are a few other games that have claimed support for TXAA, but gamers will have to wait for a future update to take advantage of it.

The beta drivers are the first graphics drivers to be a unified release with support for both desktops and laptops running Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8. Further, the company has updated its SLI profiles to support End of Nations, Nexuiz, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Future Soldier, Tornado Force, and Tribes: Ascend. The release also addresses a number of bugs. Some of the larger bug fixes include a fix for an issue that caused the PC to reboot instead of shut down, an issue that caused a black screen after driver installation, and a fix for flickering mouse cursors when hardware cursor is enabled in certain games.

You can find the complete list of bug fixes in the release notes, and you can grab the latest beta drivers from the NVIDIA website.

Colorful Shows Off Massive Passively Cooled NVIDIA GTX 680

Subject: Graphics Cards | July 2, 2012 - 06:53 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: passive cooling, nvidia, kepler, gtx 680, gpu

Chinese graphics card manufacturer Colorful recently showed off a massive NVIDIA GTX 680 GPU. Massive may even be an understatement, as this card uses not one, but two heatsinks – and more heatpipes that Josh can shake a GPU at – to passively cool the fastest single GPU graphics card that NVIDIA has.

While there is no word on pricing, availability, or clock speeds, the iGAME NVIDIA GTX 680 is a silent GPU that is going to need a seriously large case. One heatsink attaches as you would expect, right over the GPU, GDDR5 memory, and VRMs. It uses 140 aluminum fins and seven heatpipes traveling the length of the PCB to distribute heat.

From there, six copper heatpipes transfer heat to a second heatsink with another 140 fins and seven heatpipes(!). This second heatsink appears to float over the top of the card, supported by the six heatpipes. The heatsink and PCB are black, with a blue piece covering the two heatsinks that features the iGame and NVIDIA GTX 680 logos. The back of the card features a single DVI port, a DisplayPort, and a full-size HDMI port.

For the PC gamer that values silent performance with the least compromises possible, this card is looking like the perfect solution – assuming it comes to market, of course. If you are interested in seeing more photos of this passively cooled GTX 680 graphics card, check out the EXPReview story.

Announcing the new Catalyst 12.6 WHQL and 12.7 Beta

Subject: Graphics Cards | June 29, 2012 - 03:56 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: amd, catalyst, catalyst 12.6, catalyst 12.7, whql, beta

AMD announced two new drivers today, the final WHQL build of the 12.6 beta that many are currently using as well as a new beta version of 12.7.  These represent the first new drivers on AMD's new release schedule, instead of a new driver every month they plan on now releasing a new driver once it has been proven to improve performance and been fully tested.  The 12.6 offers the same benefits as the 12.7, the difference is that the 12.7 introduces a new feature called the Video Codec Engine which is designed to provide powerful GPU support for video encoding tasks in applications such as vReveal and ArcSoft MediaConverter.  Check out AMD's blog post here for more details and scroll down to read the highlights of the 12.6 WHQL driver.

Resolved issues in AMD Catalyst 12.6 WHQL and Catalyst 12.7 Beta

• Using AMD Radeon HD 7900 and AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series in TriFire or QuadFire configurations with AMD Eyefinity will no longer result in a BSOD when launching a DirectX application.
• Multi-display configurations will no longer BSOD at the desktop on AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series GPUs.
• Additional fixes for AMD Radeon HD 7900, AMD Radeon HD 7800, and AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series GPUs hanging the system upon entering sleep.
• Some occurrences of this issue may be related to an outdated motherboard BIOS, however. Please ensure that your motherboard BIOS is up to date.
• Resolves AMD CrossFire technology scaling issues seen in AMD Catalyst 12.4 with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
• AMD Catalyst Control Center: Overdrive page is no longer intermittently missing
• AMD Catalyst Control Center: GPU Activity gauge is no longer intermittently missing
• Using AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series GPUs in an AMD CrossFire technology config no longer results in system hangs after cinematics in Call of Duty: Black Ops
• Heroes and Generals: Blocky corruptions in scenes with smoke effects under the DirectX 11 mode are no longer experienced.
• DiRT Showdown: Improves scaling for AMD CrossFire technology configurations using the AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series
• HDMI audio is no longer disabled if the connected HDTV is powered off/on.

ASUS adds a GTX 670 to it's DirectCU II TOP lineup

Subject: Graphics Cards | June 28, 2012 - 05:45 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: asus, DirectCU II, gtx 670, factory overclocked

ASUS' family of DirectCU II TOP have made a good name for themselves with enthusiasts, coming from the factory with impressive overclocks and a quiet and efficient custom cooler.  There is a new member of this family, the GTX670 which comes with a default clock of 1059MHz and a boost clock of 1137MHz though the memory remains unchanged at 6GHz.  These cards have more than just a custom cooler, the capacitors and switches are significantly better than the ones found on other cards which gives the card a longer lifespan as well as giving it serious overclocking headroom which you can see in action in [H]ard|OCP's review.  At $430 it does cost a bit more than the stock version, but not prohibitively so.

"ASUS has delivered the fastest GeForce GTX 670 on the market in the ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II TOP video card. The monster overclock and the improved cooling system are sure to provide the performance we yearn for. We will be testing it in the recently released Max Payne 3 against a GeForce GTX 680 and Radeon HD 7950."

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

Graphics Cards

• Nvidia's GeForce GT 640 @ The Tech Report
• Inno3D iChiLL GTX 670 HerculeZ 3000 Edition 2GB Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix
• ASUS GTX 680 DirectCU II TOP Review @ Hardware Canucks
• MSI GTX 670 Power Edition Twin Frozr IV 2 GB @ techPowerUp
• PNY XLR8 GeForce GTX 670 Video Card @ Benchmark Reviews
• ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III review (w/ Asus GTX680 DirectCU II TOP) @ Kitguru
• Club3D Radeon HD 7850 royalKing 2GB Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix
• Sapphire HD7870 FleX Edition @ Kitguru
• Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 2GB DDR5 Flex Edition Video Card Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card Overclocked @ Tweaktown
• MSI GEFORCE GTX 680 Lightning 2GB @ Tweaktown
• Sapphire HD 7870 FleX Dual-X 2GB Review @ OCC
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition @ Legion Hardware
• Sapphire HD 7870 FLeX @ LanOC Reviews
• Sapphire HD 7950 FleX Edition @ TechwareLabs
• XFX Double Dissipation R7750 Review @ OCC
• AMD Radeon HD 7750 / 7770 graphics card round-up @ Hardware.info
• AMD Radeon HD 7850 / 7870 round-up @ Hardware.info
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition Video Card Review @ Hardware Secrets

GeForce 302.82 Driver for Win8

Subject: Graphics Cards | June 27, 2012 - 03:52 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: win8, whql, nvidia, geforce, driver

If you are running Windows 8 and an NVIDIA graphics card on a desktop machine then you should head on over to NVIDIA to grab the WHQL certified GeForce 302.82 for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the pre-release OS.  If you are on a laptop then NVIDIA suggests you should continue to use the 302.80 drivers for the moment. 

You will see a new NVIDIA Control Panel page that allows you to set up stereoscopic 3D for 3D Vision.  The drawbacks are few, the driver will request a reboot in order to finish the installation, which you should do whether you are asked or not, and there is an issue for users of the GT520 who enable FXAA via the NVIDIA control panel but other than those two addendum, NVIDIA posted no other known issues.  As it is a WHQL version, you can expect it to be stable and to be around for a bit as the release date of Win8 slowly approaches.