CES 2013: Caustic, now part of Imagination, Shows Series2 Ray Tracing Accelerators
Subject: Graphics Cards, Shows and Expos | January 12, 2013 - 11:38 AM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: CES, ces 2013, caustic, imagination, ray tracing, series2
We have talked with Caustic on several occassions over the past couple of years about their desire to build a ray tracing accelerator. Back in April of 2009 we first met with Caustic, learning who they were and what the goals of the company were; we saw early models of the CausticOne and CausticTwo and a demonstration of the capabilities of the hardware and software model.
While at CES this year we found the group at a new place - the Imagination Technologies booth - having been acquired since we last talked. Now named the Caustic Series2 OpenRL accelerator boards, we are looking at fully integrated ASICs rather than demonstration FPGAs.
This is the Caustic 2500 and it will retail for $1495 and includes a pair of the RT2 chips and 16GB of memory. One of the benefits of the Caustic technology is that while you need a lot of memory, you do not need expensive, fast memory like GDDR5 used in today's graphics cards. By utilizing DDR2 memory Imagination is able to put a whopping 16GB on the 2500 model.
A key benefit of the Caustic ray tracing accelerators comes with the simply software integration. You can see above that a AutoDesk Maya 2013 is utilizing the Caustic Visualizer as a simple viewport into the project just as you would use with any other RT or preview rendering technique. The viewport software is also available for 3ds max.
There is a lower cost version of the hardware, the Caustic 2100, that uses a single chip and has half the memory for a $795 price tag. They are shipping this month and we are interested to see how quickly, and how eager developers are, to utilize this technology.
PC Perspective's CES 2013 coverage is sponsored by AMD.
Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces!
ASUS doubles down the RAM on their latest GTX 670
Subject: Graphics Cards | January 11, 2013 - 01:20 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: nvidia, asus, GTX 670 DirectCU II 4GB
In addition to the custom cooler on the ASUS GTX 670 DirectCU II, there is also 4GB of RAM which is double the usual serving for a GTX 670 and should help its performance at high resolutions. The core and RAM remain at stock speeds, [H]ard|OCP tweaked the GPU up 185MHz and the RAM by 175MHz so there is some room for overclockers to play with this card. This time around [H] only tested single display performance and were disappointed with the performance when they compared it to the similarly priced HD 7970 but keep your eyes open as they will be testing SLI multi-monitor performance in the near future.
"Today we have an ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DC II 4GB video card up for review. Although there is no factory overclock, the video card supports 4GB of memory compared to the default 2GB. We will focus on single display performance in our revamped game lineup that includes Far Cry 3, Hitman: Absolution, and Sleeping Dogs."
Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
- MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti Power Edition Review @ Neoseeker
- Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide @ TechARP
- HIS Radeon HD 7750 1GB IceQ X Turbo @ Tweaktown
- AMD Richland A10 6800k Vs Haswell GT3 – graphics performance analysed @ Kitguru
- PowerColor PCS+ HD 7870 Myst Edition Review @ OCC
- HIS Radeon HD 7970 6GB IceQ X2 @ Tweaktown
- HD7990 Quadfire tested: crash happy @ Kitguru
CES 2013 Video: Gigabyte Shows 4K Display Support and Thin Mini-ITX Boards
Subject: Graphics Cards, Motherboards, Displays, Systems | January 9, 2013 - 09:38 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: video, thunderbolt, thin itx, mini ITX, ces 2013, CES, 4k
One of our final stops at CES this year was to visit with our friends at Gigabyte to see what they had to show off. Right off the bat we found an impressive 4K display configuration with four 1080p monitors. Running off of Gigabyte's GA-Z77X-UP5TH dual-Thunderbolt motherboard, each of the ports was split using a Lenovo adapter, each connecting to a pair of the monitors on the quad-display stand. The result is a stunning 3840x2160 display configuration running completely off of the Intel HD 4000 graphics and the Core i7 processor.
Colin also showed us Gigabyte's push into the world of DIY and OEM All-in-One designs with a couple of motherboards based on the thin mini-ITX standard. These boards are the same X/Y dimensions with a lower Z-height and very specific layout rules so that enclosures, cooling and components can be standardized.
PC Perspective's CES 2013 coverage is sponsored by AMD.
Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces!
CES 2013 Video: NVIDIA GRID Cloud Gaming Technology
Subject: Graphics Cards, Shows and Expos | January 9, 2013 - 11:46 AM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: video, nvidia, grid, cloud gaming, ces 2013, CES
Despite all the excitement about the NVIDIA Shield handheld gaming device at CES, the company was also heavily promoting its GRID Cloud Gaming Technology, marking another company that is promosing "game everywhere on everything". NVIDIA's claims of lower latency thanks to rendering and encoding on the same GPU have really yet to be verified as the hands-on demos they had at the show were running on local servers (not exactly a real-world test...).
NVIDIA isn't planning on releasing a self-branded service to the public but instead wants to sell servers to ISPs and service providers to increase density (more games per server) and performance. There are no current cloud gaming companies using GRID technology so it looks like we'll have to wait a bit longer to see it's true capabilities.
PC Perspective's CES 2013 coverage is sponsored by AMD.
Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces!
CES 2013: The Verge Interviews Gave Newell for Steam Box. Valve's Director Hints Post-Kepler GPUs Can Be Virtualized!
Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Graphics Cards, Networking, Systems, Shows and Expos | January 8, 2013 - 11:11 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: valve, gaben, Gabe Newell, ces 2013, CES
So the internet has been in a roar about The Steam Box and it probably will eclipse Project Shield as topic of CES 2013. The Verge scored an interview to converse about the hardware future of the company and got more than he asked for.
Now if only he would have discussed potential launch titles.
Wow! That *is* a beautiful knife collection.
The point which stuck with me most throughout the entire interview was directed at Valve’s opinion of gaming on connected screens. Gabe Newell responded,
The Steam Box will also be a server. Any PC can serve multiple monitors, so over time, the next-generation (post-Kepler) you can have one GPU that’s serving up eight simulateneous [sic] game calls. So you could have one PC and eight televisions and eight controllers and everybody getting great performance out of it. We’re used to having one monitor, or two monitors -- now we’re saying lets expand that a little bit.
This is pretty much confirmation, assuming no transcription errors on the part of The Verge, that Maxwell will support the virtualization features of GK110 and bring it mainstream. This also makes NVIDIA Grid make much more sense in the long term. Perhaps NVIDIA will provide some flavor of a Grid server for households directly?
The concept gets me particularly excited. One of the biggest wastes of money the tech industry has is purchasing redundant hardware. Consoles are a perfect example: not only is the system redundant to your other computational device which is usually at worst a $200 GPU away from a completely better experience, you pay for software to be reliant on that redundant platform which will eventually disappear along with said software. In fact, many have multiple redundant consoles because the list of software they desire is not localized to just one system so they need redundant redundancies. Oy!
A gaming server should help make the redundancy argument more obvious. If you need extra interfaces then you should only need to purchase the extra interfaces. Share the number crunching and only keep it up to date.
Also check out the rest of the interview over at The Verge. I decided just to cover a small point with potentially big ramifications.
PC Perspective's CES 2013 coverage is sponsored by AMD.
Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces!
CES 2013 Video: ASUS RAIDR Express PCIe SSD and ARES II Dual HD 7970 Graphics Card
Subject: Graphics Cards, Storage, Shows and Expos | January 8, 2013 - 01:07 AM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: raidr express, ces 2013, CES, ASUS ROG, asus, ARES II
No stop at the ASUS suite at CES is complete without talking to JJ and learning about what is new in the world of PC components. Not only did we talk with him about the upcoming ARES II limited edition dual Radeon HD 7970 graphics card (that Chris has already written about earlier in the day) but also we learned that ASUS plans to enter the PCIe solid state market with the ROG RAIDR Express.
Yeah, you read that right!
PC Perspective's CES 2013 coverage is sponsored by AMD.
Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces!
CES 2013: Live Hands-on with NVIDIA Shield Powered by Tegra 4
Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards, Mobile | January 8, 2013 - 12:54 AM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: video, tegra 4, shield, nvidia, live
Powered by the upcoming Tegra 4 SoC, Shield is an Android-powered device built into the form of a gaming controller with a 5-in display attached. Not only will it play Android games in a new and interesting way but NVIDIA has promised the ability to stream PC games from your GeForce-powered desktop directly to your wireless device!
We got our hands on the prototypes of the Shield and got to see the build quality, demo the Android games and even test out the PC game streaming technology.
PC Perspective's CES 2013 coverage is sponsored by AMD.
Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces!
Speeding up USB 3.0 with new hardware
Subject: Graphics Cards | January 7, 2013 - 03:59 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: usb 3.0, superspeed usb, 10 Gbps
USB 3.0 will be getting a speed boost in the near future, with theoretical speeds of up to 10Gbps which makes it a decent competitor against Thunderbolt. We won't see this new speed on existing devices though as this is a change to the hardware on both the connector and the cable, as opposed to a software upgrade. They will retain their backwards compatibility for those who are still stuck on USB 2.0, but with transfer speeds this quick it makes a very compelling argument for finally upgrading to a system with USB 3.0 ... just wait until the new devices arrive. More at Slashdot.
"The USB 3.0 Promoter Group has used CES 2013 to announce an enhancement to the USB 3.0 (aka SuperSpeed USB) standard that will see the throughput performance of USB 3.0 double from 5 Gbps to 10 Gbps. The speed boost will come courtesy of enhanced USB connectors and cables that are fully backward compatible with existing USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 devices. The 10 Gbps SuperSpeed USB update (pdf) is up for industry review during the first quarter of 2013, with completion of the standard expected by the middle of the year."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- The TR Podcast 126: As the second turns, an unexpected journey @ The Tech Report
- CES 2013 - CES Unveiled Media Kickoff Event Coverage @ Legit Reviews
- Nouveau Driver Remains Much Slower Than NVIDIA's Official Driver @ Phoronix
- Nvidia Unveils Tegra 4 and More @ Bjorn3D
- Swann OutbackCam Review – Waterproof Infrared Security @ Techgage
ASUS Releases the Limited Edition ROG ARES II Dual 7970 and it's a Monster
Subject: Graphics Cards | January 7, 2013 - 03:07 PM | Chris Barbere
Tagged: ROG ARES II, liquid cooling, dual gpu, ces 2013, CES, asus, 7970
ASUS has just announced it's Limited Edition ROG ARES II Graphics card, and boy is it a doozy!
Dual AMD Radeon 7970 GPU's clocked at 1100 MHz are paired with 6 GB of DDR5 running at a speedy 1650 MHz memory clock. This monster needs 3 8 Pin power connectors from the minimum recommended 850 watt power supply that can push at least 42 Amps on the 12V rail.
The ARES II will come with a 'hybrid cooling setup' that includes a custom cooler using both liquid and air cooling. A closed-cycle liquid system with dual 120 mm fans and a radiator block cool the GPU while an 80mm 'dust-proof' fan gives additional cooling for the memory, power and other critical components. ASUS is claiming that the cooling setup will keep everything stable even under full load and can achieve 13% more performance while running 30C cooler temperatures when compared to a reference GTX 690.
Detailed Specifications include:
|
Model name |
ARES2-6GD5 |
|
Graphics engine |
2 x AMD Radeon™ HD 7970 GHz Edition |
|
System bus |
PCI Express 3.0 x 16 |
|
Video memory |
6GB GDDR5 |
|
Boost clock |
1100MHz (base clock: 1050MHz) |
|
Memory clock |
6600MHz (1650MHz GDDR5) |
|
Memory interface |
768-bit (2 x 384-bit) |
|
Maximum DVI resolution |
2560 x 1600 |
|
Maximum VGA resolution |
2048 x 1536 |
|
Microsoft Direct3D version |
DirectX® 11 |
|
I/O |
1 x single link DVI / 1 x dual link DVI / 1 x HDMI via adapter/ 4 x native DisplayPort |
|
Bundled accessories |
3 x 8-pin power cable / 1 x DVI to HDMI adapter / 1 x extended CrossFireX™ bridge |
|
Minimum recommended power supply |
850W (42A on the 12V rail) |
|
Power connectors |
3 x 8-pin |
|
Dimensions |
Card: 11.8” x 5.5” x 1.8” Fan block: 4.6” x 5.8” x 1.9” Fan: 4.7” x 4.7” x 1” Liquid cooling tube length: 13.4” |
Ryan was able to snap a few pics of the card at the ASUS booth and we can't wait to get our hands on it, but with pricing and availability yet to be announced, this may be a card out of reach of most of us.
PC Perspective's CES 2013 coverage is sponsored by AMD.
Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces!
CES 2013: Tegra 4, the Vision of Windows RT?
Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards, Mobile, Shows and Expos | January 7, 2013 - 12:42 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: CES, ces 2013, nvidia, windows rt
It is the day after the NVIDIA keynote and the Tegra 4 floodgates are open. Sure, the rumors were fairly accurate, but I guess speculation waits for a solid basis to be believable.
The Tegra 4 marries 72 of the expected GPU cores with four… “plus one” as the bonus core is present although 4+1 branding does not seem to be… ARM Cortex-A15 cores. This push to an A15-based design provides a significant performance increase over Tegra 3. Another interesting feature is the ability to transmit 4K video should you have a suitable source or the rendered application can support 4K at a suitable framerate. You can then add in Icera’s LTE modem which is interesting in its own right to see a compelling product.
Jen-Hsun spent about as much time justifying the need for speed as he did hyping its performance. Photographers, particularly those who wish to dabble with HDR, are able to use the Tegra 4 to vastly increase the speed of image processing at the time of taking the shot. Tonal mapping for an HDR image will take just 200ms of processing which allows HDR to be used along with burst mode and a flash.
Paul Thurrott over at the Supersite for Windows ponders whether this was Microsoft’s vision for Windows RT. He wonders whether Microsoft will try to take a mulligan on the first generation similar to Windows Phone 7-based devices led us to Windows Phone 8. At the same point, the weight which the Surface was designed to bare is pretty immense if it was just designed to buckle to Tegra 4. I would not put it past Microsoft although the Surface does not strike me as a product designed to have a doughy half-baked middle -- despite what actually shipped.
PC World also notes how Qualcomm continues to improve their products and have just recently transitioned to a 28nm process for the Snapdragon S4. Qualcomm is a giant and even then there is also Samsung to contend with in the ARM space -- then you consider x86 brings at least Intel to the game with its massive advantage in legacy software that are usually not abstracted by a platform-independent runtime layer.
PC Perspective's CES 2013 coverage is sponsored by AMD.
Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces!
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