Amazon's Prime Video service now available worldwide, including Malaysia

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At the beginning of the year, Netflix made its official debut in Malaysia. To close out 2016, yet another video streaming service has made itself available in Malaysia, and said service comes from Amazon. That’s right, Amazon’s Prime Video service is now available locally as part of its global roll out.

With Amazon Prime Video now available here, those who are interested in the service will no longer need to modify their DNS or even rely on VPNs to gain access to the service. That said, it is highly likely that Prime Video will be subjected to the same licensing clause that causes some content to be unavailable in other countries, so if you’re looking for a specific content in Prime Video, the VPN may still be useful.

A subscription to Prime Video will cost you USD2.99 (RM13) per month for the first six months of use. After that, the subscription rates will revert back to the default price of USD5.99 (RM27) per month. As is the case with various other video streaming services, you’re allowed to cancel your Prime Video subscription at anytime. Amazon Prime Video does not appear to have a tiering system to speak off, so you don’t have to worry about content format restrictions or anything of the sort.

Prime Video is available through Android or iOS apps, through its official website, on Amazon’s own Fire tablets, and selected smart TV models from various manufacturers.

Source:
Prime Video

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Ambient Display mode might be coming in the new Android O

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XDA Developers have dug into the APK of the Pixel and Nexus devices and found out that Google might be working on an always on feature, similar to what we see on the Samsung S8. In the latest Android O Developer Preview, the SystemUIGoogle.APK ( the process that tells your phone how the interface is going to look like) was decompiled and a string of code showed with a “doze” function.

Doze refers to the Ambient Display, not to the confused with the feature that was added to Android Marshmallow that would help you save battery. This feature will basically wake your phone but, display vital information like notifications or missed calls in a black and white screen without any background. It would be a nice feature to have especially for those of us who work a desk job, as we could easily glance at our phones to check if there are important notifications that come in.

Seeing as how this feature was found in the developer’s preview of the new Android OS, it might not even make it to the official release. Google might let us try the feature in the developer’s preview but might release it as a patch after the official release of Android O.

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AMD 2nd generation Ryzen processor could come with a 4.2GHz clock speed

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The 2nd generation Ryzen processors are coming very soon and it looks like we have got a taste of what it has to offer. In a recent leak by a forum user on South Korean HWBattle forums, shows that there is a Ryzen processor that has a clock speed of 4.2GHz.

The engineering sample seems to come with 8-cores and 16-threads with a maximum clock speed of 4.35Ghz. This is even faster than the previously leaked Ryzen 7 2700X processor which could indicate this chip being the Ryzen 7 2800 or 2800X. Based on the benchmark the user shared, it has managed to beat the Ryzen 7 1700X and its Intel rival, the Intel Core i7-8700K in CineBench and 3DMark test. We can also see that it comes up pretty close to the Intel Core i9-7980XE processor which on its own, is one of the most powerful processors that Intel ever produced.

However, these results should still be taken with a grain of salt as we do not know the system it is using or if AMD plans to change the processor when it releases. If this is the processor that we will see in the upcoming release, Intel might have a big problem on their hand as AMD seems to be gaining the lead with every alteration of their processors.

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AMD 3rd-gen Ryzen and new Radeon coming this July – Nvidia in for tough competition?

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For those of you who are looking to build a desktop, you might want to wait for a bit; last month, AMD announced that they will be releasing the third-generation line of Ryzen desktop processors sometime mid-2019.

According to LowYat.net, the first of the 3rd-gen processors could come with 16-cores, 32-threads. Besides a new line of processors, AMD will also be releasing new Navi-powered Radeon GPUs around the same time the third-gen Ryzens hit the market.

Image credit: LowYat.net

It’s interesting to see if AMD’s new developments can help them leapfrog fierce rivals Nvidia in the market, especially considering the reports of Nvidia’s disappointing sale records for their RTX 2070 and RTX 2080 graphics cards.

Nvidia seem to be all over the place at the moment in terms of offerings, each falling short of expectations.

Image credit: Tom’s Hardware

According to Tom’s Hardware, fourth quarter earnings showed a 45% year-over-year loss in revenue. The report also quotes Nvidia as blaming the lack of software support for the poor sales of its RTX GPUs.

There’s also an over-supply of the more accessible GTX 1060 which affect sales of their RTX counterparts. With AMD’s seemingly more streamlined approach to releases and development – add to that the release of new Ryzen and Radeon hardware just around the corner – could consumers be holding out and make the switch come mid-2019?

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AMD accuses Intel of biased benchmarks

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AMD aren’t very happy with their competitors Intel as the former is accusing the latter of “biased” and “unreliable” benchmarks.

In a video published by AMD titled “Truth or Myth: Is SYSmark a Reliable Benchmark”, AMD’s John Hampton and Tony Salinas took the benchmark tool to town, claiming that the tool itself unfairly favours Intel products by putting too much emphasis on raw CPU performance.

To prove their point, both men put an Intel Core i5 processor and an AMD FX chip through three different tests. In the first test using SYSmark, the Core i5 managed a score of 987 while the AMD platform scored 659. Both men noted that the difference in score between shows a “delta of 50%”, saying that “it’s not realistic in what real life performance is like”.

Following up on SYSmark, AMD then put both processors through PCMark8. The results from this benchmark is less exaggerated, as there is only a 7% difference in score between both processors. Lastly, AMD used a custom script which records the amount of the time each processor takes to complete a set of tasks within Microsoft Office. The result? The Intel processor accomplished its task in 62 seconds while the AMD system completed its run in 64 seconds.

As of the time of writing, Intel has yet to reply to AMD’s accusation.

Source :
Ars Technica

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AMD, Acer, and HP has come together to launch gaming products equipped with the latest Ryzen processors

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AMD along side Acer and HP have come together to show off devices that will be using the new Ryzen processors that will be installed into future gaming devices from Acer and HP, in conjunction with a week long AMD roadshow that is being held at Plaza Low Yat. The main focus is the Acer Aspire GX281, which delivers premium performance for fast and smooth gameplay. The OMEN by HP desktop, on the other hand, is equipped with dual AMD Radeon RX 580 graphics cards that provide the power to run games at resolutions higher than 1080p.

AMD announced the arrival of the Ryzen processor based on the Zen architecture earlier this year, with the most powerful processor running on 8-cores 16-threads beating the competition in almost every task that was given to it. AMD did not stop that, for a powerful processor, there has to be an equally powerful graphics card that comes in the form of the Radeon RX 500 series to drive even the most demanding games.

The Acer GX281 desktop is powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 1700X and the RX 480 which gives users the ability to multitask in an ever-demanding world.

The OMEN by HP, on the other hand, is designed for hardcore gamers that want usability and functionality. Equipped with the AMD Radeon RX580 in Crossfire configuration and an overclockable AMD Ryzen CPU to complete this powerful machine.

Both the Acer and HP products are available at all authorized resellers nationwide starting from today.

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AMD has announced the pricing of the Ryzen Threadripper in Malaysia

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The Ryzen Threadripper finally has a pricing in Ringgit and it is roughly what we expected it to be. The two models that will be coming to us will be the 1950X and the 1920X. The 1900X will arrive on 31 August with pricing to follow soon.

The Threadripper will be using the new TR4 Socket, supports quad-channel DDR4, 64 lanes of PCI Express for all models. Base clock on the 1950X is clocked at 3.4GHz with precision boost to 4.0GHZ, while the 1920X is clocked at 3.5GHz with precision boost to 4.0GHz and the unreleased 1900X will have a clock speed of 3.8GHz with precision boot to 4.0GHz. The new processor will be capable of complex 3D rendering, streaming high-quality video content or encoding and encrypting files all at the same time.

The 16-core 32-thread 1950X will be priced at RM4,799 and the 12-core 24-threads 1920X will be priced at RM3,899. For more information on these or the other Zen architecture processors visit AMD’s official website
here
.

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AMD announces new Ryzen 7000 series desktop processors

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After much anticipation, AMD has officially unveiled its Ryzen 7000 series desktop processors, powered by the all new ‘Zen 4’ architecture and built on TSMC’s 5nm process, these new Ryzen processors are squashing Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake processors in terms of performance.

Four processors SKUs have been announced in the launched, they are namely the Ryzen 9 7950X and 7900X, Ryzen 7 7700X and Ryzen 5 7600X, sporting up to 16 cores and 32 threads, the leading Ryzen 9 7950X processor is claimed to have a single-core performance improvement of up to 29%, up to 45% more compute for content creators in POV Ray, up to 15% faster gaming performance in certain titles, and up to 27% better performance per watt.

In terms of gaming, AMD claims that the Ryzen 9 7950X is up to 23% faster in DOTA 2, 14% faster in Shadow of the Tomb Raider when compared to the Intel Core i9-12900K processor, which is extremely impressive as it isn’t just a minor performance advantage over its competition, it even goes on to claim that the flagship processor has up to 47% more performance-per-watt over the Core i9-12900K.

The new Ryzen 7000 series desktop processors use the new Socket AM5, which is also an LGA socket that no longer have pins on the processor but rather on the motherboard similar to Intel’s LGA1700, it enables a host of technologies such as PCIe 5.0 for faster storage and powering next-gen GPUs, dual-channel DDR5 memory and AMD EXPO technology that offers advanced profile settings for DDR5 memory overclocking.

In addition, the AM5 platform will feature four chipsets and are listed below:

AMD X670 Extreme: Bringing the most connectivity and extreme overclocking capabilities11 with PCIe 5.0 support for graphics and storage

AMD X670: Supporting enthusiast overclocking with PCIe® 5.0 support for storage and optional graphics support

AMD B650E: Designed for performance users with PCIe® 5.0 storage support and optional graphics support

AMD B650: Designed for mainstream users with support for DDR5 memory and optional PCIe® 5.0 support

The Ryzen 7000 series processors will be available starting September 27, the Ryzen 5 7600X will retail at US$299, Ryzen 7 7700X at US$399, Ryzen 9 7900X and 7950X at US$549 and US$699 respectively.

AMD X670 and X670E motherboards from various partners will also arrive in September, while B650E and B650 motherboards will only be available in October.

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AMD announces new Ryzen 7040U series processors

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AMD has officially announced the release of its new Ryzen 7040U Series processors designed for the ultrathin mobile and laptop market, these processors are the chipmaker’s latest and most powerful mobile processors and were first revealed at CES 2023.

This series is the first lineup in AMD’s portfolio to be paired with its AMD Ryzen AI technology, the processors are centred around the brand’s latest Zen4 architecture and feature an integrated graphics module made up of RDA3 Compute Units. This is an improvement compared to the current range of Ryzen 7000 Series processors, which only have RDNA2-based graphics cores.

The integrated graphics, officially known as the Radeon 700M Series, come in three SKUs, which is Radeon 780M for the Ryzen 7 and 9 CPUs, Radeon 760M for the Ryzen 5, and Radeon 740M for Ryzen 3 CPUs, with the maximum frequency being 2.7GHz and a peak performance of 8.6 TFLOPs.

The Ryzen 7040U SKUs are being released in four models: Ryzen 3 7440U, Ryzen 5 7540U and 7640U, and Ryzen 7 7840U., while only the Ryzen 5 7640U and Ryzen 7 7840U support Ryzen AI.

The Ryzen 3 7440U has a base and boost clock of 3GHz and 4.7GHz, respectively, with a 12MB Cache. The Ryzen 5 7540U and 7640U have a 6-cores, 12-threads configuration, 22MB Cache, and are able to boost to 4.9GHz. The former has a lower base clock of 3.2GHz, while the latter is slightly higher at 3.5GHz. The Ryzen 7 7840U, as the leading model, features 8-cores and 16-threads, with a base and boost clock of 3.3GHz and 5.1GHz, respectively, and the largest cache size at 24MB.

According to AMD, all four 7040U CPUs are designed to deliver exceptional battery life of up to 30 hours on a single charge, this will be an interesting claim to watch out as major OEMs release laptops with these chips.

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AMD announces the pricing and availability of the Ryzen Threadripper and Ryzen 3

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We finally have some news on the Ryzen 3 and Threadripper and it comes directly from AMD’s CEO Lisa Su in a video they just released. In the video, they have officially announced the clock speeds and cores that both this processor will have and a benchmark of the Threadripper against the Intel Core i9-7900X and the results were very impressive.

First, let’s look at the Threadripper which was made for the high-end desktops. The first variant is a 12-core 32-thread model that was previously announced and another 12-core 32-thread model. Both these processors will be running on the new TR4 Socket, quad channel DDR4, and feature 64 lanes of PCI Express. The 16-core variant is clocked at 3.4 GHz with precision boost to 4.0 GHz and the 12-core variant will have a base clock of 3.5 GHz with precision boost to 4.0 GHz.

For the Ryzen 3, there will also be two variants and both will have 4-cores and 8-threads. The Ryzen 3 1300X will have a clock speed of 3.5 Ghz with a boost to 3.7 GHz and the Ryzen 3 1200 has a base clock of 3.1 GHz and a boost to 3.4 GHz. However, there is still no mention of pricing for these models but it will be available worldwide on July 27.

AMD is on track to release the Threadripper and motherboards in early August, with the Alienware Area-51 Threadripper Edition System pre-orders starting July 27. The Ryzen Threadripper 1950X will retail for $999 (RM4289.76) and the 1920X will retail for $799 (RM3430.95).

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AMD launches Ryzen 9 3950X, Threadripper 3960X and 3970X in Malaysia for your high-end builds

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AMD’s third-gen processor line-up looks to be complete as they launch three high-end CPUs for their Ryzen series chips.

Image credit: TechSpot

The Ryzen 9 3950X tops the charts for your gaming-class CPUs – it follows up from the 3900X with 16 cores and 32 threads. It runs at a base clock speed of 3.5GHz, which can be boosted up to 4.7GHz. The CPU works on an AM4 X570 motherboard.

Image credit: Phoronix

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for something to handle your heavy rendering, AMD also introduced two additions to the Ryzen Threadripper series. The 3960X and 3970X – the former has 24 cores and 48 threads, while the latter has a whopping 32 cores and 64 threads. Both have a max turbo clock speed of 4.5GHz; but interestingly, the pricer 3970X has a lower base clock speed of 3.7GHz. These work with sTRX4 sockets on TRX40 boards.

AMD has also announced that there will be a Threadripper 3990X (3980X doesn’t exist apparently) soon with 64 cores and 128 threads – that will be the pinnacle of AMD’s processing offerings when it arrives.

The Ryzen 9 3950X is priced at RM3,149; the Threadripper 3960X at RM5,899 and the Threadripper 3970X at RM8,399.

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AMD announces Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX and 2920X processors

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AMD isn’t letting Intel beat its HEDT processors and it has given its rival the definite answer with the 2nd Gen Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX and 2920X processors.

The Ryzen Threadripper WX series offers class-leading core counts and is built for prosumers focused on raw computational power, while the Ryzen Threadripper X series offers enthusiasts, gamers and streamers the ultimate gaming power with higher base and boost clock speeds than the previous generation.

In terms of speed improvements, AMD claims that the 24C/48T Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX and 12C/24T Ryzen Threadripper 2920X processors have 39% and 55% faster multi-threaded performance compared to the Core i9-7960X and Core i7-7820X respectively. For hard core streamers, the 2920X is able to encode 4K30 streams at 40,000Kbps, so that’s a pretty darn future proof chip if you are intending to stream that high resolution gameplay.

Furthermore, AMD notes that users should expect up to 32% faster performance in ray-tracing and 60% faster encryption for creators for both processors as compared to the Core i9-7960X and Core i7-7820X.

Also new to the 2nd Gen Ryzen Threadripper WX processors is a feature called Dynamic Local Mode software, which optimizes application performance by ensuring the most demanding threads always receive preferential time on cores with local memory, it is automatically configured when users download the AMD Ryzen Master software. Dynamic Local Mode results in an average 15% additional performance for Ryzen Threadripper WX Series CPUs in select applications, including games like PUBG, Far Cry 5 and Alien: Isolation.

All new Ryzen Threadripper processors will support existing X399 platforms with a BIOS update. The Alienware Area-51 Threadripper Edition systems will also now be offered with the new 16-core Ryzen Threadripper 2950X and 12-core Ryzen Threadripper 2920X processors.

The 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors are available starting today from global retailers with the following suggested retail prices:

Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX (32C/64T) – $1799

Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX (24C/48T) – $1299

Ryzen Threadripper 2950X (16C/32T) – $899

Ryzen Threadripper 2920X (12C/24T) – $649

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AMD announces the Ryzen Threadripper to challenge Intel’s Core i9

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We have seen how the AMD Ryzen 7 performs against Intel’s Kaby Lake back in our review, though Intel has cleverly took on the challenge by announcing its Core X-series processors at Computex, AMD has taken things to the stage and announced the AMD Ryzen Threadripper, the fastest desktop processor from the company features up to 16 Cores and 32 Threads, while supporting up to 64 PCIe 3.0 lanes and quad channel DDR4 memory.

One may easily say that the Ryzen Threadripper isn’t on par with Intel’s 18-core solution, however the number of PCIe lanes will significantly improve I/Os of multi GPU setups, thus reducing a lot of time when it comes to graphics rendering work. The Ryzen Threadripper may be intended for professional multitasking, however AMD has also showed off its potential in 4K gaming as well with two Radeon RX Vega cards in CrossFire mode, which easily reaches 60 frames per second in Prey. Unfortunately, AMD will only be unveiling the Radeon RX Vega at the SIGGRAPH event happening at the end of July 2017.

AMD has also taken the opportunity to announce PC makers using its Ryzen Mobile APU chips on notebooks, Ryzen Mobile will have over 50% of CPU performance and 40% of graphics performance improvements over the previous mobile chips, and it also aims to achieve 50% less power than before. In the case of high performance gaming laptops, ASUS has also announced the ROG GL702ZC that comes equipped with up to a Ryzen 7 1700 CPU and a Radeon RX580 GPU onboard.

This is definitely an exciting time for PC enthusiasts and builders, as AMD is now clearly back in the premium high performance PC game, we can’t wait to find out how the AMD Ryzen Threadripper will perform against Intel’s Core i9 Extreme processor. AMD hasn’t announced the SKUs and availability of the Threadripper yet, let’s hope it doesn’t take longer than Intel to have this powerful chip pushed out to the market.

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AMD announces the FirePro W9100 Workstation Graphics Card

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AMD had quite a showing at the National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas as the company unveiled their latest workstation graphics card, the AMD FirePro W9100.

Based on the Hawaii XT core, the FirePro W9100 comes with a staggering 32GB of GDDR5 VRAM that operates with speeds of 5.0GHz, delivering a total bandwidth of 320GB/s. Aside from the huge memory, the W9100 will come with clock speeds of 930 MHz whch leads to 5.2 TFLOPs of single precision and 2.6 TFLOPs of double precision compute performance. Furthermore, the W9100 will come with a 512-bit interface and has a 275W TDP.

“The imagination of the creator is limitless so much so that the professional creator consumes all available resources to produce new and never before seen designs and experiences. Some professional creative workflows demand very high bandwidth memory subsystems while others demand high memory size. With the new AMD FirePro W9100 32GB, AMD is unleashing the world’s largest memory size professional workstation graphics card,” says Raja Koduri, Senior Vice-President and Chief Architect of Radeon Technologies Group (RTG), AMD.

Scheduled for launch in the Q2 2016, the AMD FirePro W9100 will have an asking price of USD 4,999 (RM 16,649).

Source:
WCCFTECH

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AMD begins selling Ryzen 5 Desktop Processors, starts from RM819

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AMD has made quite a show with the Ryzen 7 and outperforms Intel’s Kaby Lake in some ways, the company isn’t stopping its challenge against Intel as the company has finally unleashed the Ryzen 5 desktop processors, the company has claimed that the Ryzen 5 1600X in particular offers up to 87% better performance against Intel’s Core i5 7600K, the Ryzen 5 processors will be available in two 6-core and two 4-core models, while both having 12 and 8 threads respectively.

AMD has targeted the Ryzen 5 1600X and 1600 processors at streamers, as such applications require intensive processing power, it offers a highly accessible solution for high quality 1080p/60fps/3500Kbps game streaming all thanks to its Simultanenous Multithreading technology, while the AMD Ryzen 5 1500X and 1400 are designed for perfomrance gaming and processing, the 1500X in particular features up to 200MHz of XFR (extended frequency range) when used with superior cooling.

The Ryzen 5 processors will support the AM4 socket and will work with the X370, B350 and A320 chipset, the AM4 motherboards are easily available from companies such as ASRock, ASUS, Biostar, Gigabyte and Biostar. For more information, head on over to AMD.com/Ryzen.

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AMD begins shipping its 7th-generation A-Series processors

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After a long wait, AMD has finally announced that its 7th-generation processors, codenamed Bristol Ridge, has begun shipping with HP and Lenovo being the first PC makers to benefit from the company’s new A-Series of processors.

Built for AMD’s unified AM4 socket infrastructure, these new AMD processors are known as APUs. Unlike traditional CPUs, these APUs combine a microprocessor and graphics functions on the same chip. Each APU has the potential to sport up to four Excavator CPU cores and are paired up with the Radeon GCN 3.0 cores that run at 1.1GHz, giving the APUs the ability to support VP9 and HEVC video streaming standards.

Much like other processors, the AMD Bristol Ridge processors will come in various configuration, beginning from the AMD A6-9500E that has a TDP of 35W, up to the AMD A12-9800 which has a TDP of 65W. All of the chips in the Bristol Ridge series will have video playback features that support up to 4K Ultra HD in both H.264 and H.265 formats. “The 7th generation parts deliver on performance, and they also deliver on efficiency. We’re equipped to handle what is needed today and tomorrow,” says Peter Amos, spokesman for AMD.

The AMD Bristol Lake powered devices from HP and Lenovo will be shipping out later this year. These devices are expected to be equipped with DDR4 memory alongside the processors, giving them excellent energy efficiency and broad bandwidth while enabling high-speed processing, smooth esports gaming, and enhanced HD streaming capabilities.

Source:
VentureBeat

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AMD confirms AM4 X570 and B550 boards will support Ryzen 4000 series CPUs

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The upcoming AMD Ryzen 4000 series CPUs are touted to arrive later this year – to go with it are the existing X570 and B550 chipsets as confirmed by AMD.

They both built to be used on the AM4 socket, and although the Ryzen 4000 series are also AM4 chips too, there were questions as to whether they would be compatible since the two
chipsets
 were built to initially support Ryzen 3000 series CPUs. In fact, you’ll need at least a 500 series motherboard to be able to use a Ryzen 4000 CPU.

Image credit: AMD

That being said, the processors will not work on 400-series chipsets – so your X470 and B450 motherboards will need to be swapped out if you want to use the Ryzen 4000 chip.

According to AMD, this is due to the flash memory chips’ limitations that does not have enough space to support a newer set of codes. The current 400-series chipsets already have support for every Ryzen generation so far, so perhaps AMD has stretched compatibility to its maximum.

Regardless, it’s still nice to see the AM4 chipset being used, and at least if you have a 500 series board, you’ll be able to enjoy the
benefits
 of Ryzen 4000 which includes the better Zen 3 architecture.

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AMD Crimson bugged drivers that killed off graphics cards. Here's a hotfix.

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AMD, known PC hardware manufacturer, has just introduced all new drivers for their graphics cards line up named Crimson. AMD Crimson has offered improved performance in gaming especially in certain games such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive. A couple of days later, a few users have been reporting bugs and glitches with the new drivers but the major one was killing the GPUs.

The fan speed was reported to be limited by the AMD Crimson drivers causing them to overheat and die off permanently before the user can realize it while they’re immersed in gaming. The drivers are overriding user settings and fan speeds to just about 20% which is definitely not sufficient primarily while playing demanding games.

AMD has just recently acknowledged the issue and they should have a quick driver hotfix released immediately tomorrow that resolves the issue. The engineering teams have identified and addressed this issue, and AMD intends to release a hotfix on
amd.com
 this coming Monday, November 30th.

Both AMD and NVIDIA have had issues with drivers and fan speeds. Over five years ago NVIDIA GeForce 196.75 video card drivers had a fan controller issue and caused GPUs to die and there were reports of entire systems being damaged.

If you’re impatient for the hotfix and wouldn’t want to miss gaming today, we have a step by step guide for you:

Please note that this solution is temporary because the settings will reset with every reboot. Other fan controlling utilities like SpeedFan or MSI Afterburner should work too. MSI Afterburner should not reset provided you turn on the “Apply On Boot” setting with MSI Afterburner running as a startup program.

We will be looking forward to further news from AMD for the graphics cards that were killed. Hopefully they would provide some sort of compensation to the owners.

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AMD debuts its latest Polaris GPU architecture at CES

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A new year marks new beginnings. Such is the case for AMD as the company plans to debut its latest GPU architecture at CES.

This new GPU architecture, dubbed Polaris, features a wide range of significant architectural improvements including HDR monitor support, and industry-leading performance-per-watt. AMD’s Polaris architecture-based 14nm FinFET GPUs is said to deliver a remarkable generational jump in power efficiency. The Polaris-based GPUs are designed for fluid frame rates in graphics, gaming, VR and multimedia applications running on compelling small form-factor computer designs.

Polaris features AMD’s 4th generation Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture, a next-generation display engine with support for HDMI 2.0a and DisplayPort 1.3. Next-generation multimedia features such as 4k h.265 encoding and decoding will also be supported.

“Our new Polaris architecture showcases significant advances in performance, power efficiency and features. 2016 will be a very exciting year for Radeon fans driven by our Polaris architecture, Radeon Software Crimson Edition and a host of other innovations in the pipeline from our Radeon Technologies Group,” says Lisa Su, president and CEO of AMD.

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AMD has already started development on its fifth generation Ryzen processors

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AMD Ryzen processors seem to be a success, offering a lower price and offers matching or slightly better performance than its counterpart. With the Ryzen name being the new processors from the company, it logical to label the processor’s Zen architecture with a number to distinguish between its generations. Currently, we are seeing Zen processors in the market and the Zen+ processors coming out really soon. It looks like AMD is already hard at work to create Zen 5 processors.

This information comes from Mike Clark, senior design engineer and chief architect for Zen, who said in a recent interview that the development of Zen 5 processors is underway. We have seen AMD’s roadmap and we know that the Zen 2 and Zen 3 processors will be coming out between the release of Zen+ and year 2020, with Zen 5 coming out after that. Based on that, it seems like the earliest we will see Zen 5 processors will be in 2021.

They will be skipping the Zen 4 naming as the number 4 associated with bad luck in Asian culture. There is no other information on the Zen 5 architecture as it is still in the early stages of development. It is interesting that AMD is already working on its fifth generation of processors when the Zen+ processors are not even out, but that’s probably because they want to stay ahead of its competition as the race for the best processors is a never-ending fight

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AMD has introduced the 2nd Generation Ryzen PRO and Athlon PRO desktop processors

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AMD has officially announced the new and refreshed AMD Athlon desktop processors that comes with integrated Radeon Vega graphics. At the same time, the company also introduced the 2nd Generation AMD Ryzen PRO and Athlon PRO desktop processors to the market.

The Athlon 200GE combines x86 Zen cores and Radeon Vega graphics to provide reliable computing for day-to-day needs and heavy workloads like high-definition PC gaming. It comes with 2-cores, 4-threads along with 3.2GHz clock speeds and three graphics compute units. The PRO variant comes with the same specs as the non-PRO variant but supports a better architecture.

As for the Ryzen PRO desktop processors, it comes with three models, Ryzen 7 PRO 2700X, Ryzen 7 PRO 2700 and Ryzen 5 PRO 2600. The Ryzen 7 PRO processors come with 8-core, 16-threads with a clock speed of 3.6GHz and 3.4GHz respectively and both have boost clock speeds of 4.1GHz. Lastly, the Ryzen 5 PRO 2600 comes iwth 6-cores, 12-threads along with a base clock speed of 3.4GHz and boost clock speed of 3.4GHz.

The Athlon 200GE will be available starting 18 September 2018 and the Athlon 220GE and 240GE will be available in Q4 2018. As for the PRO processors, they will be available with OEMs like Dell, HP and Lenovo soon.

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AMD Instinct MI250 and MI250X accelerators launched for data centers and supercomputers

1.8K

To meet the ever-increasing data-processing needs of the digital world, modern supercomputers must constantly evolve to provide the type of performance required by industry professionals.

AMD intends to meet this demand in the form of the
Instinct MI200
 and MI250X accelerators.

Some of the key capabilities of these devices include being built on the AMD CDNA 2 architecture, offering up to 4x the peak theorical FP64 performance vs AMD’s older-gen GPUs; a multi-die design with 2.5D Elevated Fanout Bridge tech that offers 2.7x higher bandwidth; and use of up to 8 Infinity Fabric links that connect with AMD’s 3
rd
 Gen EPUC CPUs.

The accelerators are available in the open-hardware compute accelerator module or OCP Accelerator Module (OAM), while the MI210 will also come in a PCIe card form for OEM servers.

These AMD Instinct MI250X and MI250 are currently available in the HPE Cray EX Supercomputer, and will arrive in OEM partner systems such as ASUS, Dell, Gigabyte, and more this 2022.

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AMD introduces its new line of APUs for PC makers and DIY market

260

AMD today introduced the new AMD A10-7800
Accelerated Processing Unit (APU)
 to the component channel. This 4
th
 generation A-Series APU with 12 Compute Cores (4CPU + 8 GPU) unlocks the APU potential with
Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA)
features, and boasts powerful AMD Radeon™ R7 Series graphics for outstanding performance across applications. Combined with AMD’s acclaimed
Mantle API
, the AMD A10-7800 APU can enable accelerated performance across select AMD Gaming Evolved partner titles.

Revolutionary Architecture

· Up to 12 Compute Cores (4 CPU + 8 GPU) deliver amazing performance and responsiveness, that leverages the capability of the APU on various workloads, applications and top gaming titles

· The breakthrough new Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA) allows the CPU and GPU to work together in harmony by quickly dividing and directing tasks to the appropriate cores for new levels of performance and efficiency for desktop and notebook PCs, enabling a new era of compute capabilities with compute cores

· Award-winning
Graphics Core Next Architecture
 with AMD Radeon™ R7 series graphics and compute capability makes it a top choice for gamers who expect the best

· Support for UltraHD (4K) resolutions and new video post-processing enhancements that make 1080p videos look amazing when upscaled on an UltraHD-enabled monitor or TV

Equipped with AMD Quick Stream, AMD Steady Video and AMD TrueAudio technologies, the AMD A-Series APUs combine to deliver lifelike audio and video. Utilizing a configurable thermal design power option (cTDP), enthusiasts are now able to fine-tune for efficiency. In addition, AMD also announced the introduction of the AMD A8-7600 and AMD A6-7400K APUs, ideal for consumers looking to upgrade their application and work experience on the PC. With the unifying FM2+ infrastructure for AMD APUs, users are enabled to build smaller form factors for gaming and home theatre PC (HTPC) systems.

A10-7800 AMD Radeon™ R7 Graphics

A8-7600 AMD Radeon™ R7 Graphics

A6-7400K AMD Radeon™ R5 Graphics

Compute Cores

12
(4 CPU + 8 GPU)

10
(4 CPU + 6 GPU)

6
(2 CPU + 4 GPU

Max Turbo / CPU Frequency

3.9/3.5 GHz

3.8/3.1 GHz

3.9/3.5 GHz

HSA Features

Yes

Yes

Yes

AMD TrueAudio Technology

Yes

Yes

Yes

Mantle Support

Yes

Yes

Yes

AMD Configurable TDP

Optimized (45W)

Optimized (45W)

Optimized (45W)

Suggested Etail Price

USD$158

USD$104

USD$79

AMD’s new APUs is now available in PC retailers nationwide, do check them out at your nearest store for these great value for money processors.


AMD introduces new processors and thermal solutions

371

AMD has finally pulled back its curtains on a new set of processors and thermal solutions as the company has revealed the new AMD A10-7860K, the new AMD Athlon X4 845 desktop processsors, and the flagship AMD Wraith Cooler.

First, the processors. Quiet, efficient and packing incredible value, the new AMD A10-7860K APU is powered by 4 CPU cores that are turbo boosted to 4.0GHz and 8 GPU cores running at 757MHz. The processor comes with an integrated Radeon R7 processor graphics. The A10-7860K is AMD’s first unlocked desktop A10 processor to feature 65W TDP (Thermal Design Power) and includes a 95W TDP near-silent thermal solution to ensure quiet operation. The chip also supports AMD’s own FreeSync technology, putting an end to choppy gameplay and broken frames with fluid, artifact-free performance at any framerate.

The other processor, the AMD Athlon X4 845, is the first desktop processor that features AMD’s “Excavator” x86 architecture technology. Clocked at 3.8GHz, the Athlon X4 845 offers AMDs highest IPC core x86 architecture to date. When paired with a discrete graphics card, the AMD Athlon X4 845 enables great gaming and multi-threaded processing performance for an attractive price. Much like the A10-7860K, the Athlon X4 845 is a 65W TDP class processor and comes with the new AMD 95W thermal solution.

On the thermal solutions side of things, besides AMD’s 95W Thernal Solution, the company has revealed the new Wraith Cooler. Sporting a unique styling via a sleek fan shroud and LED illumination, the Wraith Cooler provides superb cooling as the new design delivers 34 percent more airflow and 24 percent more surface area for heat dissipation than its predecessor. The Wraith Cooler will be included with the AMD FX 8370 CPU.

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AMD introduces Ryzen mobile processors, Acer and Lenovo first to show devices equipped with the APUs

413

AMD has launched AMD Ryzen mobile processors here in Malaysia which brought along the AMD Ryzen 5 2500U and the AMD Ryzen 7 2700U which comes with Vega graphics as a System-On-Chip which pushes the boundary of what integrated graphics chip can offer to the budget conscious consumer.

Acer and Lenovo also joined in the event to unveil their first entries to using the new Ryzen APU with the Acer Swift 3 and the Lenovo Ideapad 720S, both powered by the Ryzen 5 2500U processors. The new processors are a big step up from the previous AMD mobile processors, with 3X the CPU performance, up to 2.3x GPU performance and up to 58% less power consumption. In real-world use, AMD has claimed that the APU will be able to deliver smooth and playable framerates at 1080p in popular eSports titles like League of Legends, Overwatch, CS:GO and DOTA 2 all in an ultrathin design. Below are the specs of the two Ryzen mobile laptops from Acer and Lenovo:

Acer Swift 3

 CPU

GPU

 RAM

 Hard Drive

 Display

Availability

 Ryzen 5 2500U

 Radeon 540 2GB GDDR5

 8GB DDR4

 256GB PCIe SSD

 15.6-inch FHD IPS

 End March 2018

Lenovo IdeaPad 720P

 CPU

 GPU

 RAM

 Hard Drive

 Display

 Availability

 Ryzen 5 2500U

 Integrated Radeon Vega Graphics

 4GB DDR4

 256GB PCIe SSD

 13.3-inch IPS AG

Currently Available

There will be more laptops that will carry the Ryzen mobile processors in the coming months and AMD has also teased an April 2018 release date for the Ryzen Zen+ processors which is a step up from the current Ryzen desktop processors. The new Ryzen mobile processor equipped devices can be found on AMD’s official online store on Lazada, 11street and Shopee.

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AMD is launching Radeon RX 500X series of graphics cards

350

AMD has a new graphics card line up and it seems to be a new and improved version of their RX 500 series cards. This information was found on their
official website
 where they are now showing the placeholders for the Radeon RX 500X series of cards.

AMD did mention that they will be introducing a refresh of their graphics cards this year using 12nm manufacturing process alongside the vega architecture but we have not heard anything on this, giving us the impression that the cards were either cancelled or might take longer to arrive than we expected. Its safe to say these RX 500X series cards are not the new 12nm chips, but rather a performance improvement on their last’s year cards. AMD is known to use the “X” term in their processors to indicate a performance boost. That same idea could translate to its graphics cards as well with the new cards being a performance upgrade from its last year cards.

There is no indication on when these cards will release or the pricing, but seeing as the website has been updated to show these cards, we should expect an announcement from AMD soon.

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AMD launches 3rd Gen Ryzen CPUs and AM4 X570 platform, first to feature PCIe 4.0 standards

353

AMD has got a head start in COMPUTEX this year, while the company has teased the arrival of its next Radeon Navi GPU with the introduction of the Radeon RX5700 series, the highlight of its keynote is none other than the much anticipated 3rd Gen Ryzen 3000 series CPU, which is the world’s first 7nm desktop CPU.

Three processors were announced in the keynote, with the Ryzen 9 3900X being the beast among them and the direct competition to Intel’s Core i9-9920X CPU, sporting 12 cores and 24 threads, a base clock speed of 2.8GHz and boost clock speed of 4.6GHz.

The Ryzen 9 3900X also has an incredibly low TDP of 105W, 60W lower than Intel’s Core i9-9920X, AMD has demonstrated a Blender benchmark test using both CPUs and the former finished rendering 6 seconds faster, theoretically claiming a 14% faster single thread performance and 6% faster multi thread performance.

An update to the current Ryzen 2700X is the Ryzen 7 3700X, which has 8-cores and 16 threads, a base 3.6GHz clock speed and 4.4GHz boost clock speed. Using the CineBench R20 benchmark, the Ryzen 7 3700X is 15% faster in single threaded operations and 18% faster in multi-threaded operations as compared to the Ryzen 7 2700X.

Interestingly, AMD also announced the Ryzen 7 3800X processor, which comes with a significantly higher 3.9GHz base clock speed and a slight increment in boost clock speed at 4.5GHz, touting this particular chip as the new 8-core performance leader.

The 3rd Gen Ryzen 3000 series CPUs will launch together with the new AMD X570 chipset motherboards, with numerous models from partners ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, BIOSTAR and more, it will also be the first chipset to offer PCIe 4.0 support for the upcoming Radeon Navi GPUs, offering up to 42% faster performance than PCIe 3.0, older AM4 platforms will also be able to support the 3rd Gen Ryzen CPUs with a BIOS update.

As for pricing and availability, the 3rd Gen Ryzen CPUs will be available starting July 7th, with the Ryzen 7 3700X and 3800X retailing at US$329 and US$399 respectively, the 12-core Ryzen 9 3900X will retail at half the price of the Core i9-9920X at US$499, OEM partners such as Acer, ASUS and Alienware will also be selling desktop systems based on these CPUs at launch date.

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AMD launches new A10-7890K APU and Athlon X4 880K CPU

305

While we are waiting for AMD’s new Zen processors to debut, the company has updated its Kaveri line up by introducing the A10-7890K APU and the Athlon X4 880 CPU, both chips aim to deliver great performance and new thermal solutions. The new AMD A10-7890K is currently the top of the line APU that delivers a 1.02 TLOPS of theorectical performance and comes with the AMD Wraith Cooler out of the box, the new Wraith cooling fan is made for silent computing with a mere fan noise of 39dbA and offers 24% more cooling fin surface area and 34% more fan air flow, thus generating less than one-tenth the noise of its predecessor. In other technical specifications, the A10-7890K is a 4-core processor sporting a fast 4.3GHz turbo clock speed, it has a pretty decent built in AMD Radeon R7 graphics that has a clock speed of 866MHz, which means you could easily do MOBA gaming with lots of frame rates even at max settings.

With a long time history of offering great mainstream computing performance, the new Athlon X4 880 CPU sports a TDP class of 95W and now comes with a new near-silent 125W Thermal Solution which also features the Wraith Cooler’s near-silent operation and capable performance without the illumniated shroud, this is a quad-core processor with a base clock of 4GHz and up to a turbo 4.2GHz clock speed, AMD has also packed in the same thermal solution for the current A10-7870K APU. Both the new AMD A10-7890K APU and Athlon X4 880K processors have their multipliers unlocked, local availability hasn’t been confirmed  however AMD intends to start selling these chips at the end of March 2016, hence it shouldn’t be too long to wait for them to be available.

Source: AMD

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AMD launches Ryzen PRO 4000 series CPUs for business laptops boasting better performance and security

350

AMD has just announced the latest
Ryzen PRO 4000
 series CPUs for business laptops – the Ryzen 3 PRO 4450U, Ryzen 5 PRO 4650U, and the Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U.

AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U

The company claims that this is the fastest business processor for ultra-thing laptops in the market. It boasts 8 cores and 12 threads and apparently offer 33% better multi-threaded performance compared to its competition (Intel Core i7-10710U). It has a base clock of 1.7GHz and can be booted up to 4.1GHz.

It’s built on the 7nm process which enables it to offer up to 20+ hours of battery life and twice the performance per watt over its predecessors. As a Pro series
chip
 it comes with features such as added security from silicon to system level features, full support for Microsoft Endpoint Manager, and 18-months of planned software stability.

Ryzen 5 PRO 4650U & Ryzen 3 PRO 4450U

For something more affordable, the Ryzen 5 PRO 4650U and Ryzen 3 PRO 4450U offer impressive performance for your work devices too – the former boasts a 6 core/12 thread count, while the latter is a quad core/eight thread chip. The Ryzen 5 PRO 4650U has a base clock of 2.1GHz with a max boost of 4.0GHz. The Ryzen 3 PRO 4450U on the other hand has a decent base clock of 2.5GHz and a boost speed of 3.7GHz. bThese chips should arrive onto partner laptop makers soon for the business segment.

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cpu
Intel Core i7-10710U
Ryzen 3 PRO 4450U
Ryzen 5 PRO 4650U


AMD LiquidVR: Setting a new standard?

371

The likes of the Oculus Rift have been destroying stomachs with it’s horrible response time, latency and poor resolutions. The frame rates did not work as expected and caused a lot of nausea when it first came out. A lot of excited testers were met with not so great performance, however the Oculus Rift DK1 was the pioneer for VR brought to the gaming industry — there are some very unconventional uses for VR that I am not allowed to link to this website but some simple searching on Google can bring you it, this is just a little fun fact. Since then,
Oculus has improved their technology with the DK2
, bringing some serious upgrades including a reduced latency, low persistence AMOLED displays, engine integration and a positional eye-tracker.

AMD has always been the more graphic-centric of the two x86 powerhouses, bringing things like the
AMD Kaveri Accelerated Processing Unit (APU)
 processors which combine the AMD CPU as well as an integrated AMD Radeon GPU.

Introducing AMD’s LiquidVR SDK, released on the 3rd of March, which is aimed at solving everything that plagues that is considered as the standard for basic VR and sets a standard for the industry to follow — latency problems, dealing with poor persistence that causes motion blur when turning the camera, as well as low frame-rates that gives a sense of choppiness. Many other problems are addressed in the production of this development kit. The human eye can track an infinite number of frames per second and most gaming hardware pushes the limits of dealing out 144 frames per second on their monitors, such as the
ROG SWIFT PG278Q from ASUS
 and I believe so should VR headsets in providing as much realism and fluidity as possible.

Other significant features
 include Async Shaders for smooth head-tracking, Affinity Multi-GPU scalability during rendering, the latest data latch for smooth head-tracking, direct-to-display for intuitively attaching VR headsets and many more.


AMD Malaysia announces the price of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX and 2950X

355

AMD Malaysia has officially announced the availability of the 2nd generation of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX processors which come with 32 cores and 64 threads of processing power. These new chips are built using 12nm Zen+ architecture and will be compatible on existing X399 chipset motherboards with just a bios update.

With the new WX Series of processors starting with the Threadripper 2990WX, it allows for a massive number of cores on a single chip and performance improvements of 53% faster multi-threaded performance when comparing it to the Core i9-7980XE and 47% more rendering performance compared to the Core i9-7980XE. The other alternative is the Threadripper 2950X which comes with 16-cores and 32-threads giving you up to 41% more multi-threaded performance when compared to a Core i9-7900X.

These 2nd generation Threadripper processors come with an improved AMD SenseMI Technology with Precision Boots 2 and Extended Frequency Range 2. The same performance enhancement features found in the 2nd generation Ryzen processors as well. The Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX will retail for RM7,999 and will be available starting 13 August 2018 and the Threadripper 2950X will cost RM3,899 and will be available starting 31 August 2018

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AMD might developing Nintendo NX Processor

355

It has been a while since the PS4 and
Xbox
 One been released, and AMD might found a new client for their custom APUs which can be found in Sony’s PS4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One. There might be a possible way the custom APUs will be a “semi-custom” chip for a game console, very likely this will be the NX from
Nintendo
. AMD CEO Lisa Su stated that she expects a solid year for the revenue created from game console chips, which gives AMD an opportunity to develop in the 2nd half of the year.

This proves there will be a high chance that all these related to the upcoming NX from
Nintendo
 have x86-APU based game console with the combination of a processor and GPU that will deliver many advantages for Nintendo. Therefore, AMD classifies the APU developed as “semi-custom” which makes Nintendo jump from IBM PowerPC to x86-based architecture. All the game that created for the current Wii U console is x86 compatible and it would make sense for Nintendo to continue its relationship with AMD to continue use x86 architecture in its next-generation design, which Nintendo announced would be called the NX.

According to Guru3D, the upcoming
Nintendo
 NX video game console is expected to launch in 2016.

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AMD officially introduces the RX 480 graphics card in Malaysia

315

You’ve seen it introduced in Taiwan, now you get your hands on AMD’s Polaris 10 tech as the company has officially released the RX 480 in Malaysia.

As was mentioned when it was first introduced, the RX 480 utilises the Polaris 10 architecture, optimised for 14nm FinFET process, giving the RX 480 significant improvements in both performance and efficiency when compared with its predecessors. The RX 480 excels at DirectX 12 and Vulkan as the Polaris architecture supports asynchronous compute, giving it an edge in games and VR applications that utilises these new APIs. For virtual reality, AMD states that the RX 480 will utilises LiquidVR technology to provide a smoother, more comfortable VR experience, while retaining the RX 480’s low cost barrier to entry.

Features such as HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.3 HBR3, and DisplayPort 1.4 HDR will also be featured on the RX 480, giving it the ability to support the new generation of high-resolution HDR and high-refresh displays enabling experiences such as FreeSync with high-refresh 4K, high refresh UltraWide, and single-cable 5K resolution computing at 60Hz.

The event also showcased some of the add-in boards (AIB) that the RX 480 will be receiving. These incudes the Sapphire Nitro version, the ASUS Strix version, the PowerColor version, the XFX version and the HIS version. While no solid release dates were given as to when the AIBs will be available for purchases, rumours online are saying that all of these cards will be available in mid-August.

Finally, AMD has also taken the time to introduce to us the RX 470 and the RX 460. The RX 470 is a graphics card that utilises the RX 480’s Polaris 10 architecture. This particular graphics card is made for 1080p gaming. Meanwhile, the RX 460 utilises the Polaris 11 architecture and is made for eSports purposes. Both cards will be available later this year.

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AMD officially released R9 380X, which made for 1440p gaming experience

296

If you recall the rumors about the AMD R9 380X will be released around the corner, looks like AMD has now officially released the latest graphics card in town – the R9 380X. According to its code name, the card is generally positioned between Radeon R9 380 and R9 390 in terms of performance output and price point. Following AMD, the new Radeon R9 380X is able to deliver excellent performance in games at not only full HD resolution but also at 1440p. The easiest exampleis that the graphics card can apparently hit 58 fps, 60.8 fps, 73 fps, and 54 fps for Star Wars: Battlefront, Battlefield Hardline, Civilization BE, and Dragon Age: Inquisition respectively during AMD’s internal testing. Most importantly, all these games were set to run on 2560×1440 resolution respectively with high graphics preset settings.

However, the price factor is still the key when it comes to AMD graphics card, with the standard R9 380X variant going for USD 229 (approx. RM975) onwards, while overclocked models start at USD 239 (approx. RM1,050). But there isn’t any proper release date and pricing information for Radeon R9 380X in Malaysia at the moment, so stay tuned for further updates.

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AMD Officially Released Radeon R9 Nano Graphics Card

295

A few months ago AMD revealed the R9 Nano during E3 2015, now finally the AMD Radeon R9 Nano is ready to be released into the market. While the actual release day will only take place in a few weeks’ time, however AMD already released all complete detail behind the new graphics card today.

AMD claim the Radeon R9 Nano can
stand

against the two other Fiji-based cards, R9 Fury X and R9 Fury because it’s using the same architecture as R9 Fury X. The graphics card might look small compared to other available in the market, but it only measuring 6-inch, but it has an operating temperature of 75 C and a thermal threshold of 85 C.  The reason why AMD can achieve this is all because of the new thermal solution by the company which features hybrid heat pipe/vapour chamber design and another dedicated heat pipe especially for the card’s voltage regulator.

Other than that, AMD successfully reducing the noise level to library acoustic standard.  for near complete silent when it’s inside the
case
. AMD improvise the graphics card temperature by eliminating plastic material for the shroud and replace it into full metal to achieve the perfect temperature. For users that worry about on the aesthetic look for the graphics card, no worries because AMD change the on-board PCB to matte black that make it look sexier.

The new AMD Radeon R9 Nano will be available on September 10, 2015 for USD 649 (approx. RM 2,730) which fall to the same price tag as the Radeon R9 Fury X.

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AMD opens up GPU technology to developers via GPUOpen

307

In a bid to change the landscape of the GPU market, AMD has launched
GPUOpen
, an initiative to provide code and documentation to PC developers.

The website states that GPUOpen will be composed of two areas : Games & CGI for game graphics and content creation, as well as Professional Compute for high-performance GPU computing in professional applications.

GPUOpen will be providing code and documentation to PC developers in order to allow them to exert more control on the GPU. This initiative will affect both current and upcoming GCN architectures such as Polaris as AMD looks to empower developers with ways to leverage some of the hidden features in the APIs of PC graphics. This initiative will also enable easier porting from current-generation consoles to the PC platform.

The key to all of this is open source software, something which GPUOpen has committed to provide. In order to encourage innovation and the development of graphics techniques and optimizations in PC games, the website will be providing developers with full and flexible access to the source of tools, libraries and effects. All GPUOpen software will be hosted on public source repositories such as GitHub as a way to enable sharing and collaboration.

Source :
Slashdot

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AMD and Qualcomm are joining forces to bring Always Connected support to Ryzen Mobile PCs

505

AMD has announced today that they are working together with Qualcomm to bring fast PC connectivity solutions to AMD’s Ryzen mobile processors. With Snapdragon LTE modem solutions, PC manufacturers can create computing platforms with Always Connected, Gigabit LTE speeds alongside the fast performing AMD Ryzen mobile processors.

We already know that Ryzen Mobile Processors with Radeon Vega graphics is a powerful processor for ultrathin notebooks which brings about 2.7x the CPU performance and up to 2.2x the GPU performance. Other than that, it also provides great performance in eSport titles and supports features like HDRm Radeon FreeSync 2 and 4K monitors. Finally, they also provide 2x battery life improvements across the board.

Combining that with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon LTE Modem Solutions, users will get to take advantage of the latest wireless network technologies, fast LTE download speeds even in places with weak signals and a longer battery life.

As of now, there are no indications on which laptops will be equipped with this latest technology but rest assured, AMD and Qualcomm will be announcing the devices that will support these technologies closer to the release date.

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AMD R9 390 4GB Variant To Be Launched

317

At the momentum of pressuring Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 970 and the line up before it, AMD will be presenting its add-in board (AIB) graphics card manufacturers with a better priced variant of the Radeon R9 390, shipped with 4GB of video memory. The standard SKU was levelled at about 8GB, making it a competition to the GTX 970, doing slightly better at 1440p. Featuring 4GB memory of the chip’s 512-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, it will be helping AMD and its partners to lower down the price range from the standard version, at the price point as low as $309.

The 4GB of GDDR5 memory will almost make it a complete re-brand of the R9 290 that everyone was expecting. The aftermarket variants of the 4GB R9 390 are shipped with clock speeds that are 10% higher than those of the R9 290, with the performance being proportionately higher. XFX and PowerColor were seen retaining the designs and the current packaging of their 8GB brothers. Sapphire, on the other hand, has slapped on a new dual fan cooler that comes with a split aluminium fin-stack heatsink on the card.

Source:
TechPowerUp

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AMD R9 Fury X Finally Arrives In Malaysia

317

Today AMD officially ushered in a new era of PC Gaming by unveiling its line of next-generation AMD Radeon graphic cards that will soon mark the next technological turning point in PC gaming. The new technology brings new features alike super high resolutions, exceptional VR experiences, smoother gameplay, support for new, advanced APIs like DirectX 12 and Vulkan with groundbreaking form factors to gamers everywhere through a top-to-bottom line of GPUs that are able to fit every need and budget.

The top tier on the latest line-up features the AMD Radeon R9 Fury X with water-cooling attached to the card. The graphic card is one of the world’s most advanced and innovative GPU that’s ever been created because it has the highest GPU memory bandwidth in the world by using High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) that can deliver 60% more memory bandwidth over GDDR5 along with extraordinary 4096-bit memory interface. This card is catered more to users that enjoy the 4K gaming experience that will take advantage on the 4096-bit memory interface which exceeds the extreme performance requirements for the most demanding 4K games for stunning performance.

For enthusiasts that are looking for performance in a compact design, AMD will be releasing the R9 Nano soon. It is measured at 6-inch form factor, but retain the performance of a 290X and unexpectedly that it will be only using an 8-pin connector that will draw 175 watts at full load. This will be one of the best graphic cards that you require inside a compact form factor PC without worrying the heat nor the performance that it has.

In the mainstream segment, AMD claims the R9 300 series will be perfect for 4K gaming, as well as high-quality 1080p gaming thanks to the Virtual Super Resolution (VSR) technology that works similarly with Dynamic Super Resolution from NVIDIA. In addition, the R7 300 series will be the perfect choice for eSport and online gamers because of the performance that is capable of delivering 60fps performance at 1080p resolution for most of the games out there in the market.

The R7 300 and R9 300 series GPUIs are already on the market starting from RM 489 for R7 360, RM 619 for R7 370, RM 919 for R9 380, RM 1349 for R9 390, RM 1799 for R9 390 X, and RM 2829 for R9 Fury X. But, R9 Nano is expected to be arriving by late Q3 or early Q4 with a price slightly higher than R9 Fury X.

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Unnamed AMD Radeon GPU just outclassed the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti by some margin

451

AMD has had a great 2019, beating out rivals in almost every aspect – their latest Radeon RX 5700XT outperforms the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super by some margin while costing the same.

But that’s the more upper mid-ranged spectrum of the GPU list, Team Red’s HEDT GPU offerings have stagnated for a bit with the latest product being the Radeon VII. But for 2020, AMD looks to bolster their repertoire with a follow-up to the Radeon VII with a card that seemingly beats out the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti.

Image credit: Tweak Town

It’s most likely to be a Navi-based card and over on the Open VR Benchmark, an inconspicuous card simply named “AMD Radeon Graphics” with a sample AMD CPU (possibly something announced during CES 2020).

The table shows the purported GPU tested on the HTC Vive MV @ 90Hz at a 1512×1680 resolution – and it ranks higher than two other GeForce RTX 2080 Ti systems running on the same setup; by some margin mind you.

Tweak Town reports that AMD CEO Lisa Su mentioning that the company is preparing a HEDT GPU, Navi-based GPU and that we should expect one to come our way – with that, it could very well be this, a beast capable of thumping the best GPU to date.

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AMD Radeon R9 380X Official Launch This November

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Back way in mid-September, the first few Radeon R9 380X cards have emerged but it is this coming 15th where AMD plans to officially launch the new performance-segment SKU. It will be priced at about US$249 (RM1,080), competing between the R9 390/GTX 970 and the R9 380. The R9 380X aims at closing the gap between the Nvidia product stack right in between the GTX 960 and the GTX 970.

Based on the same exact silicon as the R9 380, it will offer pins for 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface but not the 384-bit interface that the “Tonga” aka “Antigua” silicon physically supports. All the 32 Graphics CoreNext compute units (CUs) are enabled, housing 2048 stream processors. It will also feature 128 TMUs and 32 ROPs, with the core clocked as high as 1100MHz. The memory on the other hand will be at 6.00 GHz with a standard memory amount of 4 GB. Reference design won’t be available for this card but AMD AIB partners will be ready with custom-designed products at launch.

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AMD Radeon RX 480 review: Polaris is here!

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Yes, we do know that we are kinda late with the review of the RX 480, with most of the reviews being out at the beginning of last month. However, being late does have its benefits, such as being able to see how AMD has fixed some of the problems that RX 480 had when it was first launched. Being late also means that I was able to add in an additional game to the benchmark that I’ve been itching to try out since it was first announced. Without further ado, let’s get right into the RX 480 review.

Design and Hardware

In terms of looks, the reference version of the RX 480 is rather muted when you compare it to the reference Nvidia cards. There’s no cool lighting on it, and no stylistic metallic designs or what-have-you. All you’re going to get is a functional black box with a fan located at the end of the card. Interestingly, much of the length of the RX 480 can be attributed to the cooler itself as the PCB isn’t all that long, being roughly around the length of the R9 Nano. Flipping it over, you’ll also notice that the reference RX 480 doesn’t come with a backplate.

For the outputs, AMD has decided to omit the DVI, opting instead for 3 DisplayPorts and a single HDMI port. While AMD’s decision to not put a DVI port on the reference RX 480 may sound like an unnecessary omission, do note that some, if not all, of the AIB cards would come with a DVI port, so you need not worry about that. For power, the RX 480 is powered by a single 6-pin PCIe Connector, but I’ll touch on that in a bit more detail later.

Test Bench Hardware Specifications

Processor
: Intel Core i5 6600

Motherboard
: ASUS Z170-K

RAM
: Kingston HyperX Fury 8GB DDR4-2666MHz x 2

Storage
: Kingston HyperX Fury 240GB SSD. Seagate ST4000VN000 4TB

OS
: Windows 10 Home

Graphics Driver
: AMD Radeon Crimson 16.7.1

Casing
: CoolerMaster N300

AMD Radeon RX 480 Specifications

Synthetic Benchmarks

3DMark Benchmarks

Unigine Valley Benchmarks

Game Benchmarks

Battlefield 4 Benchmarks

Hitman Benchmarks

Ashes of the Singularity Benchmarks

As far as game benchmarks go, the performance of the RX 480 is pretty much what I expected it to be. 1080p gaming on both DirectX11 and DirectX12 is pretty much a non-issue for the RX 480 as almost all the games are able to manage an above 60 FPS in normal gameplay. Moving up to 1440p, the RX 480 performs decently as well, although if you’re looking to game at higher framerates, this is the part where you’ll stop maxing out the graphics settings and settling for High instead. I would not recommend gaming on 4K with the RX 480 though, as the card is nowhere near good enough to handle that one.

DOOM Benchmarks

Now, let’s move to the more intriguing game, DOOM. As many of you know, DOOM received an update during the middle of July that brings with it the Vulkan API. AMD has been boasting about how Vulkan will the Next Big Thing™. After testing DOOM on both OpenGL and Vulkan, I can somewhat safely say that Vulkan could potentially be a big deal for AMD, depending on whether or not other game companies embrace the API. In terms of framerates, the RX 480 performs better on the Vulkan API, recording an average increase of 15FPS, which is rather significant. But of course, DOOM is just one game. There is no telling whether the drastic performance improvement in DOOM would apply to other Vulkan-based games. The next one in line would be Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, but that game won’t be out for quite a while more, so I’m unable to test it.

Temperature and Power Consumption

The cooling on the reference version of the RX 480 isn’t exactly what I would consider the best. On idle, the RX 480 hovers around the 35-40 degrees celsius mark, which is pretty par for the course. On load though, the RX 480 heats up to worrying levels. The maximum recorded temperature that I saw the RX 480 hit was 85 degrees, a temperature which I consider dangerous. That said, this problem should be solved once the AIB cards come out, as most of them will come with their own coolers.

Moving on, many of you would know that the RX 480 was involve in a ‘controversy’ of sorts when some reviewers reported that the card has a power draw that exceeded AMD’s statement that says that the RX 480 would not have a TDP of above 150W. Well, shortly after the problem was discovered, AMD released Crimson version 16.7.1, which supposedly fixes the issue with power draw. This update also brought with it a new feature in the Crimson software called Compatibility Mode, a mode which allows you to reduce the total power of the card. After testing out the card both with Compatibility Mode on and off, I can say that without Compatibility Mode, the RX 480 still occasionally breaches the 150W, with my recorded highest being 166W. With Compatibility Mode on, the highest TDP reading I’ve gotten is 135W, which looks to be what AMD is aiming for. As for performance impact while in Compatibility Mode, most of the games tested above had single-digit FPS drops, which isn’t too big of a deal for me.

Overclocking

For overclocking, AMD has decided to include the tools to do so through their software driver. Said overclocking tool is called Wattman and it allows you to set the clock speed, fan speed and a few other parameters in order to get the most out of your card.

While the use of Wattman to overclock the card seems simple enough, I did run into an odd problem when it came to overclocking the RX 480. Whenever I try to overclock the card, the benchmarks following it, be it synthetic or otherwise, resulted in a loss of performance instead of an increase. I’ve heard that this is because the reference RX 480 does have a habit of downclocking itself, but I did not manage to find a way that prevents it from doing so. So basically, I didn’t manage to overclock the card, and as such, I can’t really write about this particular section. I apologize for my ineptitude.

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AMD Radeon RX 5600XT leaked – possible CES 2020 launch

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In the ever-raging battle between Nvidia and AMD in the GPU market, Team RED looks to be getting the edge over Team Green in the midrange segment – the newly-launched AMD Radeon RX 5700XT provided better 1080p performance than the RTX 2060 Super for a very similar price.

But if that’s too pricey for you, your next best option could potentially be the Radeon RX 5600XT – it’s not out yet, but ASRock has had specs for their version of the card leaked online. It looks to be a competitor to the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 series cards – and more closely pitted against the GTX 1660Ti.

Image credit: VideoCardz

According to the leaks, it’s got a base clock speed of 1,235
Mhz
, a game clock speed 1,460, and a boost clock of up to 1,620Mhz – which are lower than the GTX 1660Ti’s 1,500/1,770 base and boost clock speeds.

Despite this,
leaked benchmarks
 for show the RX 5600XT beating out the GTX 1660Ti by some margin – Team Red scored 6,446 to Team Green’s 6,405 on Time Spy, 4,756 to 3,364 on Fire Strike Ultra, 9,198 to 7,049 on Fire Strike Extreme, and 18,906 to 14,288 on Fire Strike.

Image credit: VideoCardz

The Radeon is built on a 7nm Zen 2 architecture and can take advantage of the latest PCIe 4.0 interface. It comes packed with 6GB GDDR6 memory with a 12GB memory speed.

It requires an 8-pin connector for power and for display, it boasts three DisplayPort 1.4 ports and one HDMI port.

It looks like an impressive 1080p GPU so far and if its priced competitively, we could see even more people flocking to AMD soon. There’s no word on how the card will look like yet, but it’s likely we’re going to see AMD’s reference cards at the upcoming CES 2020 convention.

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AMD Radeon RX 6000 series flagship GPUs launched

639

Whoa mama, it’s here – AMD’s Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs have been announced and will arrive this November 18.

Image credit: AMD

As usual, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa
Su
 took to the stage to reveal the latest lineup, which includes the Radeon RX 6800, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6900 XT; these cards will be dueling it out with the likes of NVIDIA’s
high
-end
RTX 3000
 GPUs.

Image credit: AMD

These Radeon cards are built on the RDNA 2 architecture, which AMD promises will offer double the gaming performance on certain titles compared to the previous RX 5700 XT card, up to 54% more performance per watt, better energy efficiency, and higher frequency boosts at the same power level.

Below are the GPUs specs:

Image credit: AMD

The top two models require a 300W total board power, while the RX 6800 requires 250W; all cards of course use the Navi 21 GPU chip and are built on a 7np process; and they also come with 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM.

These GPUs pack important features too including DirectX 12 Ultimate support, DirectX Raytracing (DXR), AMD FidelityFX (similar to NVIDIA’s DLSS), and Variable Rate Shading.

Image credit: AMD

The Radeon RX 6800 is priced at $579 (about RM2,406), while the RX 6800 XT will cost you $649 (about RM2,697) – both cards will be available this November 18. Meanwhile, the beastly RX 6900XT will set you back $999 (about RM4,152) and will only arrive this December 8.

Visit AMD’s website
here
 to learn more about their upcoming flagship GPUs.

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AMD Radeon RX 6600 launched: Priced from about RM1,366

886

AMD has launched their
Radeon RX 6600
 GPU aimed at offering high-refresh rate gaming at 1080p resolution.

The GPU is built on AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture and packs 8GB of GDDR6 memory that run at a 14Gbps speed. The device has a base frequency of 1,626Mhz, a game frequency of 2,044MHz, and it a max boost of up to 2,491MHz.

The RX 6600 offers 8.93 TFLOPs of single precision compute performance; it also uses an 8-pin connector and a power rating of 132W. The Radeon 6600 uses the PCIe 4.0 x8 lane.

Other features include support for AMD Smart Access Memory (SAM) which allows compatible Ryzen CPUs gain access to the GPU’s entire GDDR6 memory speed; there’s also support for AMD FidelityFX, an open-source upscaling tech akin to NVIDIA’s DLSS.

The Radeon RX 6600 is priced at USD329 (about RM1,366) and will be available through OEM board partners such as ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, and more.

There’s no word on when it’ll arrive in Malaysia yet, and exactly how much of it there will be for us, but if you’re gunning for a GPU for 1080p gaming while on a tight budget, the RX 6600 is looking mightily impressive.

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AMD reveals new Radeon RX 6600 XT GPU

658

The
AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT
 is the latest 1080p gaming GPU offered by the company at the price of $379, which is estimated to be around RM1,600.

Radeon RX 6600 XT is the cheapest of the 6000 series

As of now, the RX 6600 XT is the most affordable GPU that is built based on RDNA2 architecture. It comes with 32MB of Infinity Cache, has 8GB of GDDR6 memory and also supports AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution and AMD Smart Access Memory.

AMD promises higher FPS on select titles, supposedly surpassing the RTX 3060 GPU by NVIDIA in many of the games. AMD also included other features such as DirectX 12 Ultimate Support, AMD Radeon Anti-Lag and AMD Radeon Boost.

While not as impressive as the
rest
 of the RX 6000 series, the RX 6600 XT is an affordable option for those who doesn’t need or own a 4K gaming rig.

The RX 6600 XT GPU will be available from August 11.

amd
Radeon RX 6600 XT


AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT launched: Offers impressive 1440p gaming performance

1K

The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT GPU has just been launched, which is great for those looking for a card capable of 1440p gaming.

The GPU is built based on AMD’s latest RDNA2 architecture, along with a TDP of 230W, 12GB of GDDR6 VRAM, and a game clock of 2,424MHz, and 96MB of Infinity Cache which can be found in the
 RX 6800
 series.

It’s supposed to go toe-to-toe with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3070 GPU, and in some cases, AMD’s card could even outclass the former. AMD claims that the Radeon RX 6700 XT is capable of getting about 10-20 more FPS on games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Borderlands 3, and Dirt 5.

NVIDIA takes the cake on games that’re more
optimized
 for it like on Cyberpunk 2077, Watch Dogs: Legion, and Gears 5.

The reference card features two fans and comes with two power ports, an 8-pin and a 6-pin. In terms of display outputs, it supports one HDMI 2.1 port, and three Display Port 1.4a ports.

The
RX 6700 XT
 is priced from $479 (about RM1,941) and will be available from 18 March onwards.

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radeon rx 6700 xt


AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 Review: Still Playing Catch-Up

522

AMD is slightly late in releasing a worthy competitor to rival the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080. We have seen the RX 500 series release earlier last year and those cards still did not catch up to its Nvidia counterparts. Even with the later release, AMD has not been able to reach the capabilities of what the GTX 1080 could achieve, but with a lower price point, is the difference in performance justifiable enough to choose Team Red over Team Green?

Design

Unlike the futuristic curve design that the GTX 1080 comes with, AMD has opted for a minimal design for the Vega 64. Some might even call it boring, but in my honest opinion, I am really liking the simple plain design. Towards the right sits the fan which has a similar design to the GTX 1080 but it does not feel as solid, it seems like it is not sitting well with the body so when it is spinning fast, it will produce a loud noise.

The bottom plate is not fully covered as you can see the PCB board that is holding the GPU and the frame which the heatsink is mounted to. On the right is the GPU Tach indicator, similar to the Radeon R9 graphics cards, it shows you the intensity the card is going through, but the position is questionable.

Unlike the R9 which was positioned at the top of the PCIe power connectors, it is placed on the bottom right of the back plate which is pretty hard to see even if the card is in an upright case. Finally, AMD has provided a decent amount of ports like a single HDMI port and three display ports.

The Vega 64 is using the newest Vega architecture which was created to meet the need of gaming and VR markets. This architecture allows for the new Vega graphics card to operate at a much higher frequency thanks to the lower leakage power of FinFET transistors, allowing for boost clocks as high as 1.67Ghz. They also managed to fix one major issue that plague the Polaris cards, scalability.

On paper, the Vega 64 comes with specs that should be able to match up to the GTX 1080, with 64 compute units, 12.7 Teraflops of power, 8GB High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), 1247MHz base clock speed and a boost clock speed of 1546MHz, it should be a breeze for it to produce the best performance when running games on medium to high settings, and it seems to match up with our expectations by rendering games on the highest settings, above 60 FPS.

Test Bench

Processor
: Intel Core i7 7700K, 4-Core, 4.2GHz (4.5GHz Turbo Boost)

Cooling
: Arctic Cooling Freezer i32

Motherboard
: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Ultra Gaming

RAM
: G.Skill Ripjaws 16GB

SSD
: Samsung EVO M.2 256GB

HDD
: Seagate SSHD 2TB 7200RPM

GPU
: AMD Radeon RX Vega 64

Power Supply
: Cooler Master G750M

Chassis
: Cooler Master Test Bench v1.0

Gaming Benchmarks

For the sake of comparison, we are also listing the benchmarks of the GTX 1080 against the Vega 64, just to give you an understanding of the performance of both the cards.

For all of the games tested above, the Vega 64 manages to be on par with the GTX 1080, lagging behind by an average of 10 FPS in most games. The only difference we see is in Assassin’s Creed Origins benchmark, as the GTX 1080 manages a 20 FPS lead, and when it came to Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, the performance is exactly the same. All the games are set to the highest settings with V-Sync and Anti-Aliasing turned off.

PCMark Home

Surprisingly, when it comes to everyday task like browsing the internet, making a conference call and opening up documents, the Vega 64 performs slightly better than the GTX 1080, but at the end of the day, we don’t expect anyone buying a high-end graphics card for that kind of usage. However, if you are using your desktop for work and play, this could be a valid point to get the Vega 64, but then again, the difference is not big.

Thermals

There is not much difference when it comes to thermals, as both the graphics card seem to operate just below the 80 degrees mark on load, but when it comes to fan noise, the Vega 64 does produce a much louder noise compared to the GTX 1080. This might be a huge factor for those of you that want a silent operation, but it is not audible when placing it into a case.

Radeon Settings Software

With a graphics card as powerful as this, AMD has included the Radeon Settings Software that will allow you to further monitor your card’s health and for those of you adventures enough, provides overclocking options.

Overclocking is as simple as moving around bars and changing values but during my experience of overclocking the card, it seems to have some throttling issues. When it reaches a particular temperature, the card seemed to underclock itself, which is obvious as games hang for a few seconds and performance seem to drop to its regular state. This is perhaps a safety method to preserve the card from heat damage, but if you are planning to overclock the Vega 64, we recommend that you use liquid cooling.

Final Fantasy 15 PC Benchmark Test

We know a lot of you are looking forward to the release of Final Fantasy 15 on the PC, so we took the initiative to test out these two cards to see how it performs when benchmarking the game in 4K and 1080p with the High-Quality graphics settings.

Sad to say, the Vega 64 does not play nice with the game as we are seeing massive differences with the scores, the GTX 1080 leaves the Vega 64 in the dusk for both the 1080p and 4K test. If you are still deciding on getting either of the cards to play the game, I think your choice is obvious enough. The performance of the Vega 64 might change when the game is officially released and is properly optimized, so take this benchmark with a pinch of salt. You can download the benchmarking software
here
 if you want to test your own system.

Verdict

If you are a serious gamer that wants the best graphics performance, then either of these graphics cards will serve you well. The Vega 64 might be louder and lags behind a few frames, but it still performs well and comes with cheaper price tag of $499 compared to the GTX 1080 which retails for $599. It is a tough choice to pick the better graphics card, but at the end of the day, would you pay the extra $100 for a 10 FPS improvement?

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AMD is reducing the price of Ryzen processors in Malaysia

1.2K

With the release of the new Raven Ridge processors from AMD which combines the Zen architecture and the Vega graphics processing, budget gamers are excited that they can finally get their hands on the latest APU chips from AMD and enjoy budget gaming. For those of you that need more power will be happy to know that as of 1st February 2018, AMD is cutting down prices for the 2017 Ryzen processors.

AMD has mentioned that they are constantly trying to get the Ryzen processors into the hands of consumers and it is very obvious as they are offering up to RM600 cut on the Threadripper 1900X and an RM900 cut on the Ryzen 7 1800X processor. The price cuts are definitely attractive and it looks like this is the perfect time to get your hands on a Ryzen processor. Below are the new prices for the other Ryzen processors

As of the time of writing this, computer shops around Malaysia has not yet updated the price lists to reflect the new price cuts, but we should expect the new prices after Chinese New Year.

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AMD Releases A8-7670K Desktop APU

310

AMD released the newest budget socket FM2+ APU – AMD A8-7670K, which based on the company’s new 28 nm “Godavari” silicon. The CPU combines a quad-core x86-64 CPU based on the “Excavator” micro-architecture, with an integrated Radeon R7 series graphics core that features six Graphic CoreNext 1.2 compute units amounting to 384 stream processors and a dual-channel DDR3 integrated memory controller that capable support to DDR3-2133 MHz memory and a PCI-Express GEN 3.0 root complex.

The AMD A8-7670K are clocked at 3.60 GHz that have a maximum TurboCore frequency of 3.90 GHz. Besides that, the CPU features unlocked base clock multipliers that allow CPU overclocking. The four CPU cores are spread across two “Excavator” modules, with a total of 4 MB of cache between them. The GPU is clocked at 757 MHz and offers native support for DirectX 12 (feature level 12_0), it offers Dual-Graphics support that allows you pair it with select discrete GPUs from AMD’s lineup. With this GPU capability, you are still able to play a few games like Dota 2, CS: GO and triple-A games with low or medium settings.

The A8-7670K is available now and is priced at USD 117.99 (approx. RM 450). This processor will the best bang for the buck because the raw processing power is good enough for you to play a game and daily work.

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AMD releases Athlon 3000G budget CPU – based on Zen+ architecture and can be overclocked

367

If you’re in the market for a new budget CPU, then you’ll be glad to know that AMD has just released the Athlon 3000G processor.

Priced at $49 (RM203), the 3000G replaces the Athlon 200GE, being the company’s first unlocked Athlon built on the Zen+ architecture.

It boasts the same 2-core 4-thread build with a higher base clock speed of 3.5Ghz and is built on a 12nm architecture this time. It packs the same Radeon Vega 3 graphics chip but this time it runs at a higher clock speed of 1,100Mhz, 100Mhz than its predecessor. The new chip is compatible with AM4 motherboards so you can really get your budget build going.

AMD claims that the new Athlon 3000G CPU performs better at 720p gaming compared to the more expensive Intel Pentium G5400 too, boasting a 55% increase in frames per second during tests.

The CPU will be available via participating retailers sometime this week.

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AMD releases Athlon X4 880K

439

It’s been awhile since AMD release any processor and AMD is planning to expand its socket FM2+ chip lineup with three new parts, the A10-7890K and A8-7690K APUs, and the Athlon X4 880K CPU. The three parts surfaced on the compatibility list of socket FM2+ motherboards by BIOSTAR. Besides that, the architecture mentioned is “Kaveri”, but the silicon could be “Godavari,” (Kaveri refresh).

The refreshed lineup will lead by the A10-7890K, which features CPU clock speeds of 4.10 GHz out of the box, with an unknown TurboCore frequency. The A8-7689K offers CPU clocks of 3.70 GHz and an unknown TurboCore frequency, but there’s no word on the iGPU clock speeds of the two chips. The third and most fascinating part is the Athlon X4 880K, with 4.00 GHz GPU clocks.

One true feature lacking on the Athlon X4 FM2+ series will be the lack of integrated graphics, and make for good buys for people planning to build machines with discrete GPUs, on the FM2+ platform. But, all three chips offer unlocked base-clock multipliers, enabling CPU overclocking. The pricing factor will affect most factor for the best bang for the buck PC build.

We will be looking forward to bring the Athlon X4 880K for a spin because it looks promising for a budget-oriented device. Looking forward to the official price from AMD, stay tuned for the further updates.

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AMD releases External GPU solution drivers for laptops : the AMD XConnect

346

With the release of external GPU solutions from various manufacturers, driver support is going to be crucial to ensure that external GPU solutions for laptops aren’t just a gimmick. To that end, AMD, in collaboration with Intel and Razer, is introducing XConnect technology.

XConnect is a new piece of technology that can be found in Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.2.2. What this tech does is that it provides driver level support for external GPUs. It would also allow users to hotswap external graphics cards using a Thunderbolt 3 port without needing to restart the system.

The first laptop that is expected to fully support AMD’s XConnect technology is the Razer Blade Stealth with the Razer Core, although AMD has said that so long as the laptop meets
certain requirements
, they could utilise XConnect as well. Another thing to note is that XConnect will only support AMD’s high-end graphics cards for now. AMD has promised that it will be expanding the list of GPUs that XConnect will support in the coming months.

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AMD releases full specifications and release date for the RX 470 and RX 460

372

With the RX 480 now out, AMD is gearing up to release two other graphics cards in August. The first is the RX 470, which will shortly be followed by the RX 460.

Specifications for both the RX 470 and the RX 460 has been revealed of course. For the most part, the RX 470 is a toned down RX 480 as it uses the Polaris 10 architecture. Much like the 480, the RX 470 will come with compute pre-emption and asynchronous shaders. That said, the stream processor count and clock-rate has been reduced, with the RX 470 coming with 32CUs and a base clock-rate of 926MHz that can be boosted to 1206MHz. The RX 470 will have 4GB of GDDR5 RAM, 128 TMUs and a TDP of 120W. No price has been given as to how much the RX 470 will cost, but AMD has announced that the card will be available starting on the 4th of August (next Thursday).

As for the RX 460, the card itself will feature the Polaris 11 architecture. This card, aimed at “eSports gaming,” will come with either 2 or 4GB of GDDR5 RAM. The RX 460 sports 14 CUs and will have a base clock-speed of 1090MHz that can be boosted up to 1200MHz. The TDP for the RX 460 is stated to be less than 75W, which means that a standard PCIe slot should suffice for the card. Much like the RX 470, AMD has yet to reveal the pricing for the RX 460. The card will be made available on the 8th of August.

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AMD releases the new Radeon RX 500 series graphics cards

399

AMD, the company that owns the Radeon line of graphics cards has finally unveiled the RX series. This comes in the form of the Polaris Refinded band name which is a major upgrade form the previous year where they release the Polaris graphics cards. With the release of this new graphics cards, Radeon ReLive will take advantage of the new line of graphics cards to ensure a smoother game capture.

With the new Radeon RX 580, AMD has claim that gameplay on 1440p at high settings will have no issues passing the 60 FPS benchmark as games such as Battlefield 1, Doom, Overwatch and Resident Evil 7 will perform well over 60 FPS. Of course, the Radeon Chill system also comes to the Radeon RX series by lowing response time by 64% and lowers the power usage by 28%.When it comes to VR, the Radeon RX 580 will enable VR game play at above 100 FPS from games like SUPERHOT, Arizona Sunshine, and Serious Sam VR, giving a more immersive VR gameplay at higher framerates. The Radeon RX 580 clocks in at 1257 Mhz with a boost clock of 1340 MHz. It has 36 compute units and a 8GB GDDR5 memory with a 256 bit interface.

Playing games at 1080p at ultra settings on Radeon RX 570 will see a massive improvement across majority games such as Doom, Resident Evil, Battlefield 1 and Sniper Elite 4. All the games mention will run well above 60 FPS. Thanks to Radeon Chill, the RX 570 will be running at 43% lesser power and up to 20 degrees cooler. The Radeon RX 570 is clocked at 1168 MHz with a boost clock of 1244 MHz. It has 32 compute units and a 4GB GDDR5 memory with a 256 bit interface.

Falling towards the budget side of the Radeon RX series, the Radeon RX 560 well see a stable 60 FPS to 70 FPS on games such as Civilization 4, Doom and Battlefield 1, but 111 FPS on Overwatch. With Radeon Chill, the Radeon RX 560 will see a 43% quicker response time, lowers the power usage buy 28% and bringing the temperature down by 7 degrees. The Radeon RX 560 clocks at 1175 MHz with a boost clock of 1275 Mhz. It has 16 compute units and a 4GB GDDR5 memory with a 128 bits interface.

Finally the last graphics card released in the RX line is the Radeon RX 550, which shows decent framerates over everyday casual gaming. Frames for the RX 550 are well over 60 FPS on lesser demanding games such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Overwatch and Rocket League. There is also improvements on performance when it comes to Photoshop which is 7 times faster and 19 times faster on Premiere. The Radeon RX 550 will support Radeon wide range of FreeSync monitors and is 4K home theater PC ready which supports 4K playback and HDR. With the Radeon Chill, you can expect a 41% quicker response time, 37% lower power usage and cooler by 15 degrees.

The new RX 500 series graphics cards is set to release today and will be priced at USD70 – USD269 depending on the model. Lets hope that when it officially comes to Malaysia it will be priced reasonabally so that everyone can enjoy the performance they can deliver at a cheaper price point.

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AMD releases the Radeon Pro Duo; retails for USD 1,499

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The release of both the Oculus Rift and the Vive means that virtual reality is now available. To take advantage of the slowly, but surely, expanding VR market, AMD has decided to release the Radeon Pro Duo graphics card, the company’s first graphiics card aimed at VR developers.

First revealed back at AMD’s Capsaicin event, the Radeon Pro Duo comes with two 28nm Fiji XT GPUs. Supporting the two Fiji XT GPUs are 8,192 Stream Processors, 512 Texture Mapping Units (TMU) and 128 Render Output Units (ROP). The card’s has a core and memory clock of 100MHz and 500MHz respectively while it has a recorded FP32 performance of 16.4 TFLOPS. The Radeon Pro Duo will also have a power draw of 350W, which is equivalent of a dual R9 Nano setup.

As for cooling, the Radeon Pro Duo will come with a closed loop cooler that is similar to the one found on the R9 Fury X. The main difference between the Pro Duo and the Fury X however, is that the Pro Duo comes with a complete liquid cooling solution covering the VRMs on both GPUs along with the GPUs themselves.

The Radeon Pro Duo will be available starting from today and will have a retail price of USD 1,499 (RM 5,895).

Source:
Anandtech

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AMD reveals more about the Zen CPU architecture; claims that it can outperform Intel's Broadwell-E

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While Intel is busy hosting the Intel Developer Forum, AMD has decided to reveal more details on the company’s upcoming Zen-based processors at an event in San Francisco.

For a while now, AMD has claimed that the Zen processors has recorded a 40% improvement in instructions per clock as compared to its predecessor. At the event, they’ve decided to prove it through a test.

Using an 8-core, 16-thread “Summit Ridge” desktop processor, AMD pits its own processor against Intel’s 8-core 16-thread “Broadwell-E” processor in a multi-threaded Blender rendering software with both CPUs set to the same clock speed. The result? AMD’s “Summit Ridge” processor is able to edge out the “Broadwell-E” in the test. Besides showcasing the potential performance of Zen, AMD has also conducted the first public demonstration of its upcoming 32-core, 64-thread “Zen”-based server processor, codenamed “Naples,” in a dual processor server running the Windows Server operating system.

As for when the Zen processors will be available, AMD has confirmed that the processors have indeed been pushed back to early 2017. So if you’re looking to get your hands on the Zen processors, you’re going to have to be patient.

Source:
Ars Technica

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