AMD “Putting The Finishing Touches” on Radeon 300 Series

AMD has announced via a reply to a fan on Facebook that the company is “putting the finishing touches” on the Radeon 300 series. This coincides with earlier reports which claimed that AMD has allegedly completed the certification process for a new graphics board for the company’s upcoming Fiji XT GPU.

The fact that the new AMD Radeon R 300 series may be coming fairly soon would explain why AMD’s add-in board partners (AIBs) are pinning their hopes on the new graphics cards for a rebound in the upcoming months. It’s been 16 months since the last Radeon R 200 series graphics card were officially introduced at the GPU14 event which took place in Hawaii on September 25th, 2013. A full Radeon series graphics refresh would then make perfect sense to revitalize and reignite competition in this popular market segment for AMD.

AMD “Putting The Finishing Touches” on Radeon 300 Series

Dr. Lisa Su, AMD’s CEO had announced last month that the company is planning to roll-out a graphics refresh in the second quarter of this year. We’re only a month away from the first month of the second quarter and we’re already seeing a lot of reports popping up about the R9 300 series.

Some online retailers went to as far as to actually list R9 390X, 380X and 370X graphics cards on their websites just a week ago. A lot of reports have surfaced of various AMD GPUs which should be featured in the 300 series.

These include AMD’s upcoming Fiji XT GPU which will reportedly feature a cutting edge stacked memory technology co developed by AMD and SK Hynix called HBM. The new memory standard promises to be significantly more power efficient than traditional GDDR5 and up to 9 times faster.  Leaked specifications for the GPU indicate that it will feature 4096 GCN stream processors and a 4096bit wide-IO memory interface. Fiji XT is also rumored to be the first ever single GPU to come with liquid cooling as standard.

In addition to Fiji XT we’ve also heard whispers of AMD working on a faster version of the Hawaii GPU inside AMD’s R9 295X2, 290X and 290 cards. And finally there’s a new GPU code named Trinidad which will reportedly replace AMD’s R9 270 series in the $200 price point which is rumored to be coming within the next couple of months.

The updated GCN 1.2 architecture in the new R 300 series is rumored feature tiled resources. A technology that’s well known and established in the mobile GPU market. The feature enables significant improvements in reducing both power consumption and memory utilization.

Source: http://wccftech.com/amd-putting-finishing-touches-r9-300-series/#ixzz3QufurtQz


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Nvidia and AMD launch new drivers for Dragon Age and Far Cry 4

We have two very high-profile releases launching today, Far Cry 4 and Dragon Age Inquisition so to mark the occasion, Nvidia and AMD have launched new graphics drivers to help ensure that gamers can get as much performance as possible on day one.

First up lets talk about AMD’s Catalyst 14.11.2 beta driver. This update promises peak performance in Dragon Age and Far Cry with the latter receiving a 50 per cent performance boost in single GPU scenarios with Anti-Aliasing enabled. Dragon Age on the other hand gets a 5 per cent performance boost under the same conditions. Crossfire support has been added to Dragon Age but unfortunately, Far Cry 4 is having some issues:

“The AMD Crossfire profile for Far Cry 4 is currently disabled in this driver while AMD works with Ubisoft to investigate an issue where AMD Crossfire configurations are not performing as intended. An update is expected on this issue in the near future through an updated game patch or an AMD driver posting.”

Moving on to Nvidia’s 344.75 driver update, which unlike the Catalyst beta, bears Microsoft’s WHQL certification. This driver adds optimizations for Far Cry 4, Dragon Age Inquisition, World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor and even The Crew, which isn’t due out for another couple of weeks.

We don’t know exactly what kind of performance boost this driver will bring to those games but there is an SLI profile for Far Cry 4.

You can download the Catalyst Beta drivers, HERE. You can download Nvidia’s latest driver, HERE.

Source: http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/nvidia-and-amd-launch-new-drivers-for-dragon-age-and-far-cry-4/

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AMD’s Radeon R9 390X ‘Fiji XT’ may feature 4096 SPs, extreme memory bandwidth

Advanced Micro Devices’ next-generation graphics processing unit is still several months away, but it looks like it is worth waiting. According to unofficial information from SiSoft Sandra benchmark’s database, the forthcoming GPU features unprecedented compute horsepower as well as uses multi-layer high-bandwidth memory with extreme bandwidth.

If the listing in Sandra’s database is correct and really describes a prototype of the Radeon R9 390X “Fiji XT” graphics card, the next-generation offering from AMD will feature 4096 stream processors (SPs) (which, in case of the GCN 1.2 architecture, means 64 compute units and 256 texture units) and 4096-bit memory bus. The memory sub-system will rely on SK Hynix’s stacked high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips with 1024-bit input/output interface (compliant with the Wide IO standard).

The graphics card allegedly sports only 4GB of memory since the first-generation HBM features 2Gb DRAM dies and comes in 1GB memory devices, reports Wccftech. Only the second-generation HBM is expected to use 8Gb dies and therefore support 4GB and 8GB configurations.

If AMD’s Radeon R9 390X actually uses four first-generation HBM DRAM chips with 4096-bit memory bus operating at 1.25GHz, then the actual memory bandwidth the graphics card will sport will be whopping 640GB/s.

With 4096 stream processors and amount of bandwidth never before seen on a single-chip graphics cards, the Radeon R9 390X will be the fastest graphics adapter on the market. In fact, with such extreme amount of stream processors, it will clearly leave behind any graphics solution based on Nvidia Corp.’s GM200 graphics processing unit.

While performance-wise the Radeon R9 390X “Fiji XT” seems to be very powerful, it remains to be seen how expensive will it be. New types of memory tend to cost a lot. Moreover, given that memory devices have to be placed on the same piece of substrate with the GPU, the whole graphics card has to be redesigned.

Source: http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amds-radeon-r9-390x-fiji-xt-may-feature-4096-sps-extreme-memory-bandwidth/

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Apples Released iPad's, iMacs and OS X Yosemite

Over night Apple has had a field day with its new products releasing the iPad Air 2, iPad Mini 3, 5K iMac, Yosemite and iOS 8.1.

Apple is boosting about there 5K display which is powered by an AMD R9 M290x, which is  agood thing for the Hackintosh world but I personally think its a bad option. NVIDIA Maxwell GPU's have proven to be amazing, low power drawer and get temperature's compared to the AMD counter parts.

Yet again the these products are coming in at Apples hefty price tag and no chance for upgrades later on. This is something that is not really exciting, maybe seeing Apple actually upgrade there Mac Pro to the new X99 chipset would be a better path in my opinion. 

If your an Apple fan boy you will most likely be creaming your pants at apples latest release today and will hand them money with out even thinking. There is nothing wrong with that at all just do some research first as AMD GPU's may not be the best thing for you. 

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Boarderland's The Pre-Sequel Now Available!!!!!

 The New Borderlands is now Available on Steam!! I have only had the chance too boot up into it but more details will be on its way. Definitely a game that is staying true to the player, I for one love the style of this game and I can not get enough of it.

I will be testing this game on 3-Way GTX 780's and GTX 980 SLI. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more.

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AMD and Nvidia already preparing for 8K (7680*4320) UHD displays

Nowadays the Holy Grail for core gamers are 4K (3840/4096*2160 resolutions) monitors as well as graphics cards capable of providing decent performance in such high resolutions. However, it is well known that makers of displays have already started to work on 8K (7680*4320 resolution) screens, which are not going to show up on the market earlier than in several years’ time. What is interesting is that designers of graphics processors have also started to think about 8K resolutions.

According to researchers from NHK (Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai, Japan Broadcasting Corp.) 8K ultra-high-definition television format is the final 2D format as the 7680*4320 resolution (and similar resolution) is the highest 2D resolution that the human eye can process. It is believed that after 8K all the future video formats should be stereoscopic. Therefore, 8K is something that will stay for a long time, which is why many companies are already thinking about how to build displays, graphics processors and software that take advantage of such ultra-high-definition video standard.

“If we get to a display resolution of about 8K horizontally and about 6K vertically then, for a player with 20/20 vision, they will have something that is close to perfect for their visual system,” said Richard Huddy, AMD’s chief gaming scientist, in an interview with PCGamesN.

A Sharp 8K UHD TV-set. Image by Hermitage Akihabara.

Nowadays there are virtually no single-chip graphics solutions that can render all games at 60fps in 3840*2160 or 4096*2160 resolutions. Those, who want to play in 4K UHD nowadays have to use multi-GPU graphics sub-systems. 4K UHD monitors display 8MP images (depending on actual resolutions), but 8K UHD displays will have to show whopping 33MP – 48MP pictures, which will require tremendous amount of graphics processing horsepower.

“That’s about 48 million pixels to fill the field of view,” said Mr. Huddy. “So it would take a card six times more powerful than a card capable of producing 4K graphics.”

Moreover, since video games and rendering techniques are getting more complex, graphics cards may need to be even more powerful in the future so to produce high-quality 8K UHD graphics. The chief gaming scientist at AMD believes that it may easily happen that GPUs will have to render essentially 16K images for 8K monitors, which means that twelve times higher graphics processing performance will be needed for 8K gaming (compared to performance of GPUs required today for 4K gaming).

“If you had 16K you’d offer a perfect experience, no one would see artifacts if they had 20/20 vision,” explained Mr. Huddy. “An eagle might be frustrated that it was low resolution for them but for the human eye that resolution is close to perfection.”

While performance of GPUs is increasing fast, it may not be increasing really fast for 8K and other graphical advancements. The first consumer 8K displays could emerge three to four years from now, which means that numerous graphics cards will be needed for 8K UHD gaming.

“8K, or anything above 4K is going to require multiple GPUs,” said Scott Herkelman, Nvidia’s head of GeForce GTX. “4K for most GPUs is pretty tough, the GeForce GTX 980 handles it well, but it’s still one of those things that the more GPUs you have the better it looks.”

It will be a hard task for GPU designers to create graphics processors that can render graphics in 8K-class UHD resolutions, moreover, it will require the industry to create new types of memory, cooling and other necessary devices. But will we ever have graphics cards that will enable 8K UHD games? Without any doubts!

Source: http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amd-and-nvidia-already-preparing-for-8k-76804320-uhd-displays/

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Sniper Elite III now supports Mantle

Sniper Elite III, game developed by Rebellion, today joins the exclusive list of Mantle supporting titles.

Kevin Floyer-Lea, the head of programming at Rebellion is sharing a story about Mantle support in Sniper Elite 3. Floyer explains why switching, or more precisely allowing different API, is important for gaming industry, and all gamers.

Sniper Elite 3 is using Asura engine. Rebellion had to find a way to implement Mantle with the assets they already made for DirectX version. It’s not an easy task, but since Asura is cross-platform, it was doable.

Mantle is not only contributing to higher framerate, but it also lowers CPU overhead thanks to more efficient calls to the API. Rebellion team shares some charts from ‘Siwa’ level of Sniper Elite 3, which is considered graphically demanding. We can see more FPS and less CPU usage. Is it revolutionary?, probably not, but it’s a good step forward.

If you’re interested in details, I suggest you visit Rebellion blog for more information.

 

  

Siwa level:

Source: http://videocardz.com/52943/sniper-elite-iii-now-supports-mantle

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Full AMD Tonga GPU might feature 384-bit memory interface

Rumor: AMD Tonga has 384-bit interface

Update: Shortly after publishing this post I received a confirmation that Tonga XT indeed has 384b interface.

PC Watch made an interview with Raja Koduri, during R9 285 launch in India (yesterday). They gathered some intel about full Tongan architecture, however they do not say if it was straight from Koduri.

Either way, they are quite confident that full Tonga has six memory controllers, each 64-bit wide, which basically means full Tonga has 384-bit bus.

Full Tonga would pack 32 Compute Units with 2048 Stream Cores in total. This is basically means Tonga and Tahiti share the same configuration.

AMD Tonga with Heterogeneous System Architecture

PCWatch also reports that Tonga is HSA-compatible, and unlike Kaveri (which is in third stage), Tonga would be in the final fourth state of HSA implementation.

What it means is that Tonga already features GPU Compute Context Switch and GPU Graphics Preemption.

AMD Radeon R9 280 series specifications

AMD Radeon R9 285 was the first graphics card with Tonga GPU. Tonga PRO has only 1792 Stream Cores, whereas the full chip called XT would pack 2048 unified shaders. PCWatch also claims that Tonga XT could be equipped with more than 32 ROPs. Configuration of 48 ROPs could be the reason why R9 285X was held back for GeForce 900 announcement. Together with 384-bit interface, this configuration could potentially compete with GTX 970.

Unfortunately R9 285X is still nowhere around, and if it’s not released next month, there is a strong possibility it will launch under 300 series later this year.

AMD Radeon R9 280 Series
	Radeon R9 280	Radeon R9 285	Radeon R9 280X	Radeon R9 285X
GPU Codename	Tahiti PRO	Tonga PRO	Tahiti XT	Tonga XT
Unified Cores	1792	1792	2048	2048
TMUs	112	112	128	128
ROPs	32	32	32	32 ? 48
Memory	3GB GDDR5	2GB/4GB GDDR5	3GB GDDR5	3GB/6GB GDDR5
Memory Bus	384-bit	256-bit	384-bit	384-bit
Launch Date	March 2014	September 2014	October 2013	?
MSRP	$279	$249	$299	?

Source: http://videocardz.com/52834/full-amd-tonga-gpu-might-feature-384-bit-memory-interface

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AMD Radeon R9 390X will not hit the market till 2015 – rumour

Although it was expected that Advanced Micro Devices would launch its new single-GPU flagship graphics solution already this year, a new market rumour suggests that the forthcoming Radeon R9 390X graphics card is only due in 2015.

In summer it transpired that AMD had taped out (the point at which a customer sends photomask of a chip to the manufacturer) two graphics processors – a 350mm² chip and a 500mm² chip – that would be manufactured using 28nm HPM [high-performance mobile] process technology at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Since then AMD has released its Radeon R9 285 graphics cards based on the code-named Tonga GPU (which has ~350mm² die size). However, nothing is clear about the bigger graphics processing unit.

Earlier this month a web-site published a picture of a hybrid liquid cooling system presumably designed for AMD’s new high-end single-chip graphics solution, which is likely to be called AMD Radeon R9 390X.

Typically images of new graphics boards emerge no more than two or three months ahead of a new product launch, when partners of AMD or Nvidia receive samples of the cards. Images of cooling systems can transpire a lot earlier. It should be noted that there are no schedules for unofficial leaks and anything can be published at almost any time.

DigiTimes web-site reports that AMD’s Radeon R9 390X will not emerge on the market until the first half of 2015, a bad news for AMD. If the graphics board is more than three months away, it explains why an unknown partner of AMD could only picture a prototype of its cooling system.

It is expected that AMD’s new flagship graphics processor is based on the GCN 1.2 architecture and is considerably faster than the current-generation Radeon R9 290X “Hawaii” offering. Unfortunately, even the code-name of the new GPU is unclear. Different sources indicate that the new chip is called either “Maui”, “Fiji” or “Iceland.”

AMD did not comment on the news-story.

Source: http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/amd-radeon-r9-390x-will-not-hit-the-market-till-2015-rumour/

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EKWB R9 295X2 Installation Part 1

Check out RDT's new installation video on the R9 295X2.

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AMD’s Next Generation GCN Based Graphics Card Might Feature Modified Version of Radeon R9 295X2 Hydra Cooling Solution

AMD’s GCN core architecture has spanned the industry for a good three years and the latest revision, known as the Volcanic islands was launched last year during October. AMD is gradually putting new updates in their cards lineup with the new Tonga based Radeon R9 285 and the flagship Radeon R9 295X2 but it seems like we will be looking at a major update from AMD during the next couple of months.

AMD’s Next Generation GCN Based Graphics Card Might Feature Modified Hydra Cooling Solution

There are two reasons to believe this, one being the fact that a mysterious and new cooling solution just ended up on Baidu Chinese forums (spotted by Videocardz) and the second is AMD themselves who have hinted to a major launch related to graphics cards during the next two months. In October last year, AMD announced their GPU14 event where they showcased and announced their current Radeon R9 and Radeon R7 series cards that feature an updated GCN core architecture. While the bulk of the graphics cards were based on an older core architecture (Southern Islands; Tahiti/Pitcairn/Cape Verde) the lineup also introduced some new parts such as the flagship Hawaii, performance oriented Tonga, budget level Bonaire and entry level Oland chips. It will be a year since AMD has introduced most of their lineup next month and will probably be the best time for AMD to offer new replacements.

But there are two speculations, whether AMD will bring up a new naming scheme for the cards or stick to the current naming. That’s the one thing we should focus on since the specifications available at the moment are very sparse since industry’s focus is shifted towards NVIDIA and their latest Maxwell cards. This could also be a main factor which drives the need for a new lineup, as everyone knows, Maxwell is a new GPU core and the preliminary data shows GM204 to be much more efficient then anything on the market matching the speeds and performance of GeForce GTX 780 Ti and even out performing it by a good margin from the final results seen. Now the question is whether AMD’s new lineup is focused to tackle Maxwell or its more of a refresh of the current Radeon R9 200 and Radeon R7 200 series cards.

First, let’s talk about the cooling scheme. I did speculate a while ago that the Radeon R9 295X2’s cooler was a great design and could be toned down to Hawaii. Looks like AMD is just doing that and learnt from NVIDIA. You may remember the famous GeForce GTX 690 cooler (first of its kind) which was toned down for the GeForce 700 series cards and we even saw a bulkier version of that cooler on the GeForce GTX Titan Z. AMD has learnt that sometimes not focusing on the reference designs will hurt you back and AMD will now offer new cards which will start to feature a hybrid and modified version of their high-end Hydra cooler. The design and theme is similar to the Radeon R9 295X2, the only difference is the positing of the cooler and a shorter length which is aimed towards single GPU cards. The fan on the Radeon R9 295X2 was placed in the center to regulate air to both fans but since the new cooler is focused for single chip designs, we are looking at the position moved to the back and it also looks like AMD will go with a blower design for this card. The side of the card features a large Radeon logo colored red which actually lits up when the card is powered on.

One good thing about Hydra is that its a hybrid cooling solution. The card may or may not ship with a OEM “ASETEK” made 120mm AIO radiator and pump which will deliver better thermals to the card compared to normal cooling solutions. This model could just be a prototype for future generation of GCN cards and we really don’t want to start talking about specifications this early. There are several rumored specifications lying around the web but I won’t take them with much credibility unless there’s a decent explanation behind the numbers.

So the main question of the day, is this the Radeon R9 300 series or the Radeon R9 200 series? To be honest, I don’t really know. Some point out to Radeon R9 390X and some point out to the much fabled Radeon R9 295X but I am not in the position to either deny them or confirm these codenames for the new card. One thing I know is that AMD only switched to Radeon R9 200 series after the HD 7990 launched in 1H 2013 after a long delay. There was no  new card in the HD 7000 series after that. The Radeon R9 295X2 is also the last flagship card to launch in the lineup but AMD has updated their entry level side with a few cards and the performance sector with the latest Radeon R9 285 Tonga GPU. To rebrand it this early may make little sense but then again we are talking about a launch aimed around Q4 2014. At the end of the day, there’s so much happening in the graphics industry that it’s getting interesting day by day. If AMD does have new high-end chips ready to tackle Maxwell then that’s a good thing since competition will drive prices down.

Source: http://wccftech.com/amds-generation-gcn-based-graphics-card-feature-modified-version-radeon-r9-295x2-hydra-cooling-solution/#ixzz3DEk1Pbjm

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AMD Radeon R9 285 Review

AMD Radeon R9 285 - Tonga has arrived

In this review we look at the new AMD Radeon R9 285. Yes this is the new Tonga GPU based product. Tonga should bring the price from high-end gaming towards 249 USD, while (according to AMD) you can game with good image quality settings at WQHD - 2560x1440. Follow us into this review where we'll look at temperatures, noise, performance and go with the latest game titles on the globe.
So as mentioned in the first paragraph, the Radeon R9 285 is based on a the new Tonga GPU. It's still built on the 28nm node from Global Foundries and features bit of a re-design applying the latest architectural improvements. A big focus of the Tonga GPU is actually power efficiency as we'll show you in this review. Tonga retains the basic technologies of the Radeon lineup such as Mantle, TrueAudio and XDMA for CrossFire support. The GPU actually has 2048 shader processors running over 32 compute units with 128 texture memory units. 
The initial consumer graphics card based on Tonga now is the Radeon R9 285, it has 1792 activated stream processors making it perform at GeForce GTX 760 and Radeon HD 7970 level performance levels but with better thermals and lower power consumption. Performance wise this product is going to sit in-between the 280 and 280X. Most of the cards will have two 6-pin power PEG (PCI Express Graphics) headers to give the tweaking experience a little more room next to the 4+2 PWM phase power design. Overall a great card to play the latest games with whilst offering a good memory size versus good price versus the Full HD  / 1080P monitor resolution.
AMD actually releases the card as the perfect WQHD (2560x1440) resolution gaming alternative at the 250 USD level. We received the ASUS R9 285 Strix edition. Head over to the next page where we'll start-up a photo-shoot first though.

Continue Reading : Click Here



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AMD Launches x86 Piledriver Based 125W FX-8370 and 95W FX-8370E, FX-8320E Refresh CPU Lineup

The last AMD announcement for today is the new x86 Piledriver CPU refresh which includes the FX-8370, FX-8370E and FX-8320E processors. The new FX CPU refresh comes four months after Intel launched their very own Haswell Refresh lineup which includes the Devil’s Canyon processor. Rather than focusing on performance, AMD targets Intel with their brute pricing model which offers users a 4.4 GHz clock chip with 8 Cores at a low price of $199.99 US.

AMD Launches x86 Piledriver Based 125W FX-8370 and 95W FX-8370E, FX-8320E

Back at the Radeon event held last week, AMD demonstrated a live overclocking preview of the FX-8370 processor where renowned overclocker “Chew” from Xtremesystems overclocked the chip past 8 GHz and even got to see a overclock world record of the FX-8370 a few days from overclocker “The Stilt” who had the chip clocked at an impressive 8.7 GHz on liquid nitrogen cooling. The show detailed nothing else regarding the FX processors but we already had received information on the new refresh chips prior to event so let’s do a quick run through of what we are looking at today.

Let’s get started with the FX-8370 now which will become the flagship x86 Piledriver processor of the original FX-8000 lineup until AMD plans to launch a new processor line (hopefully no refresh). AMD does have steamroller but they aren’t focusing it towards the high-end desktop market instead focusing it towards the APU market with their Kaveri APUs and Athlon processors. The FX-8370 is clocked at 4.30 GHz base and 4.40 GHz boost clock and ships with a 8 MB L3 cache, 8 cores. 125W TDP and a price of $189 US. The FX-8370E on the other hand has the same specifications aside from the 3.3 GHz core and 4.3 GHz clock speeds maintaining a TDP of 95W. Both the FX-8370 and FX-8370E are priced at $199.99 US.

Next up, we have the FX-8320E which is an optimized FX-8320 with a core clock of 3.20 GHz, turbo clock of 4.00 GHz, an 8 MB L3 Cache and a 95W TDP. The processor is priced at $146.99 US. Finally, we have the FX-8300 which was introduced in the Chinese market which comes in at a 3.30 GHz core and 4.20 GHz boost clock followed by a 8 MB L3 cache, a 125W TDP and a price of around a 120 US dollars. With new chips and price cuts, AMD will try to gain some market share away from Intel’s Haswell line of processors. The recent 8 core offerings under $200 US seem good against the Core i3 and Core i5 lineup but enthusiasts still prefer to go for the Intel route when spending more than $200 US with processors such as the Core i5-4670K, Core i5-4690K, Core i7-4770K, Core i7-4790K and even the latest G3258 Pentium 20th Anniversary edition which is a good choice for budget users.

AMD has also adjusted their price model for their entire FX-8000 series lineup with the FX-9590 now coming in at $229.99 US (Liquid Cooling Bundle) and the FX-9370 coming in at $210.99 US (Liquid Cooling Bundle). The long running FX-8350 can be bought at a low price of $179.99 US while the FX-8320 retails for $146.99 US. The recent new comer, the FX-8310 is down to just $129.99 US.

Source: http://wccftech.com/amd-launches-x86-piledriver-based-125w-fx-8370-95w-fx-8370e-fx8320e-refresh-cpu-lineup-fx-8370/#ixzz3CCAmKsJM

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Quick Snippet of RDT's Pre-Modded Build

https://youtu.be/4oEalxyFv4A

AMD FX-8370 nearly breaks world’s clock-rate record at 8.7GHz

The Stilt, a famous Finnish overclocker, has managed to boost clock-rate of the yet-unreleased AMD FX-8370 microprocessor to whopping8722MHz, which is just 72MHz lower than the world’s record CPU frequency.

To overclock his eight-core FX-8370 chip to 8.72GHz, The Stilt had to increase the core voltage to 2.064V and used a system featuring Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z mainboard, 8GB of memory operating in dual-channel mode at 2218MHz, Asus Radeon R9 290X Direct CU II graphics card as well as liquid nitrogen cooling. The overclocker managed to boost default clock-rate of the FX-8370 processor (4.10GHz) by more than two times, an extraordinary result.

What is especially important is that The Stilt managed to overclock his FX-8370 central processing unit with all eight cores (four dual-core Piledriver modules) active. By contrast, the record 8794.33MHz frequency was achieved by an FX-8350 chip with only two active cores (one dual-core Piledriver module).

While AMD’s FX chips are based on the two years old code-named “Vishera” design, stepping 0, revision OR-C0, it should be noted that GlobalFoundries’ 32nm process technology might get a little bit better than it was in 2012. As a result, it is possible that over time chips like the FX-8370 will actually beat the world’s record of 8794MHz.

Source: http://www.kitguru.net/components/cpu/anton-shilov/unannounced-amd-fx-8370-nearly-breaks-worlds-clock-rate-record-at-8-7ghz/

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AMD Discusses Next Gen FX CPUs, 20nm GPUs, 5-Way CrossfireX, FreeSync & DDR4

Last Thursday Roy Taylor AMD’s VP of Global Channel Sales made an appearance in MaximumPC’s no BS podcast primarily to sit down with Origin PC’s CEO Kevin Wasielewski & discuss the situation that had occurred back in October of last year which revolved around Origin PC ceasing to offer AMD GPUs to customers.

Both parties cleared the air and made amends. But a LOT of very exciting information was revealed in the process. So without any further delay lets get into the juicy bits !

Next Gen HEDT FX CPUs & 20nm GPUs in the Works

So lets get the relatively less exciting stuff out of the way first. Roy Taylor AMD’s VP of Global Channel sales discussed AMD’s R9 285 graphics card coming in September 2nd powered by the all new Tonga GPU which promises incredible performance at significantly higher power efficiency compared to AMD’s current R9 280 graphics card. We covered this already in great detail here.

Roy Taylor also discussed AMD’s upcoming FX 8370, 8370E & 8320E CPUs based on the Piledriver core micro-architecture & the Vishera series of CPUs.
The 8370 & 8370E will be clocked slightly higher than the 8350 with the 8370E being a 95W alternative to the 125W 8370. The FX 8320E will be a 95W alternative to the current 125W FX 8320 with identical core clocks. We’ve also already covered this in great detail here.

Next Generation FX Processors In The Works !

No let’s get into the really exciting stuff. Roy Taylor has emphatically stated that the FX line of AMD CPUs has been very successful & tremendously popular & that AMD will continue to be dedicated to the high-end CPU market & not just APUs, saying

“We understand that we have a very strong fan base (referring to FX). When I tweeted that something new was coming regarding the water cooled [FX 9590] retail box I was astonished at the reaction of everybody wanting a new FX processor. All I want to say to everybody that tweeted & E-Mailed me directly; your voices are very heard and we’re paying close attention but we can’t comment right now on stuff which is unannounced“

This must be music to every enthusiast’s ears, a strong AMD back in the fistfight (figuratively) with Intel means faster cheaper CPUs for everybody. So AMD has something in the pipeline that’s going to be a true successor to the FX series & a genuinely next generation product rather than the higher clocked, lower TDP parts which are coming in September 2nd.

My personal guess would be that this is likely to either come with the Excavator CPU core micro-architecture by the end of next year or afterwards with the yet unnamed next generation high performance X86 K12 sister core which personally think is the more plausible option.

When will AMD adopt DDR4 memory ?

When it came to DDR4 Roy Taylor had this to say

“Right now DDR4 is hard to get & is very expensive but it won’t take very long for that to change & whatever is faster for gamers & whatever offers more performance we want to be involved with & all I can tell you is that we’re watching very closely that space”

So it seems our prior conjecture was correct, AMD is simply waiting for DDR4 to be more cost/performance effective in comparison to DDR3 which makes sense especially for gamers & consumer level end-users in general. We’ve already heard official news of DDR4 support by AMD with their upcoming Seattle ARM based server platform & their upcoming Toronto “Excavator” based server platform as well. So it’s very much a toss up at the moment in guessing if AMD will have DDR4 support in their mainstream consumer chipsets next year. We’ll have to wait and see how much DDR4 progresses in price and availability throughout the upcoming months.

20nm GPUs in the Works !

A viewer asked

“Any chance of a 20nm GPU ?”

Roy “Of course we’ll always look to improve, again we can’t comment on unannounced products”

The hosts then jokingly pressured Roy to add more details knowing that he can’t, Jimmy Thang one of the hosts then went on to say “So the answer is yes they’re looking into it” & Roy replied with “Of course”.

Again this confirms our previous analysis that AMD will not follow suit and skip 20nm like Nvidia is allegedly planning. This means that we might indeed get truly next generation GPU products based on 20nm fairly soon since TSMC has begun 20nm volume production 3 months ago and 16nm is still at least 3-6 months away.

Possibility of 5-Way CrossfireX ?

A viewer asked

“The new X99 [platform] seems to have the ability to run 5 GPUs are there any plans by card makers to enable 5-Way GPU support ?”

Roy answered by saying “That’s a great question” “We’ve been astonished, there seems to be no end to the appetite for multi-GPU systems” & then Roy turned to Kevin, Origin PCs CEO & he showed an equally great level of enthusiasm & excitement.

AMD seemed to be very open to the idea of extending multi-GPU support beyond 4 GPUs but real limitations exist in the complexity of the driver software needed to drive such a setup as well as the impracticality of having so many GPUs in one system and the resulting noise & heat. But it really comes down to what the customers want in the end & if AMD & Nvidia for that matter see strong interest in this concept they are sure to pursue it it valiantly.

Availability of FreeSync Monitors ?

A viewer asked

“How soon are we going to see FreeSync monitors ?”

Beware many puns lay ahead !
Roy Taylor

“I’m very very keen on FreeSync because I think free is much better than G”
“We’ll start to sample in Q4 & certainly by the end of Q4 the beginning of Q1 they’ll be available to purchase”
“Being able to give superb gaming experience completely stutter free without having to pay a particular company a surcharge is a wonderful thing & that’s why I’m just fabulously keen on FreeSync”

Image Credits: TechSpot

Then MaximumPC’s Associate Editor Tom McNamera asks “There’s no licensing fee for FreeSync” ? & Roy Answers “No FreeSync is an industry standard anyone could adopt it”  Roy follows with a Tongue-in-cheek comment “We believe in open standards”.

So there you have it folks, FreeSync monitor reviews should go up in the few upcoming months & you should be able to buy a FreeSync monitor just shortly afterwards. The technology is based on the industry standard Adaptive-Sync technology in DisplayPort 1.2a and will not add any additional cost to monitors according to Richard Huddy, AMD’s Chief Gaming Scientist.

Source: http://wccftech.com/amd-discusses-gen-fx-cpus-20nm-gpus-5way-crossfirex-freesync-ddr4/#ixzz3Bpkc51XP

If you want to contact RDT please feel free to call between the hours of 9am-8pm AEST. deon@robertsondt.com Ph: 0426279566 or visit https://www.facebook.com/rdtaus