Aimed purely at the HD 4800 X2 series (HD 4850 X2, HD 4870 X2) graphics cards, a new Catalyst 10.8 driver has been published for Microsoft Wndows Vista and Windows 7. Catalyst 10.8b offers performance improvements for last-generation X2 owners, who might have been feeling neglected of late. Is this due to SirEric's recent browsing of the Rage3D Catalyst Driver forums? We like to think so

ATI Catalyst 10.8b Hotfix Features:

• ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2 and ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 use both Graphics Processing Units (GPU) for high performance
• Ubisoft H.A.W.X 2 with forced on Anisotropic Filtering (AF) using ATI Catalyst Control Center can improve performance

Applicable Products:
This article applies to the following configuration(s):

• Hardware
  • ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 series of products
  • ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 series of products
• Software
  • ATI Catalyst Control Center
  • Ubisoft H.A.W.X 2
• Operating System
  • Windows 7 32-bit Edition
  • Windows 7 64-bit Edition
  • Windows Vista 32-bit Edition
  • Windows Vista 64-bit Edition

Thanks for Rage3D newbie DaKon for the heads up! Download here, Discuss further here.

On September 1, GlobalFoundries played host to the first annual Global Technology Conference (GTC for short). While there were a fair number of partner presentations on display, the conference was primarily driven by GlobalFoundries executives and announcements. When we spoke to GlobalFoundries in March we remarked on the company's aggressive roadmap; we were curious to see if the company would still be on track six months later...

Source: HotHardware.com

VR-Zone has stated that the Radeon 6000 series is codenamed "Northern Islands" and will be an all-new architecture!

AMD originally wanted a brand-new architecture (the first since Radeon HD 2000 series) on TSMC's 32-nm node, and it was codenamed "Northern Islands." Then they hit a snag: TSMC cancelled their 32-nm, instead deciding to go straight to 28-nm in 2011. At this point, a new family codename called "Souther Islands" came about; apparently it was still 40-nm, and would be a more efficient version of "Evergreen" (Radeon HD 5000 series).

This is not true. The upcoming Radeon HD 6000 series IS "Northern Islands" and IS a brand-new architecture. After the 32-nm process was cancelled, AMD moved "Northern Islands" back to the 40-nm node (obviously it probably lost a few shader/texture/pixel units to what AMD had planned for 32-nm), and also started work on "Southern Islands." The "Southern Islands" family will be a 28-nm die-shrink of "Northern Islands" and will most likely be manufactured at Globalfoundries (though it could still be TSMC, or even both).

Source: VR-Zone.com

If you've read our article on AMD's new microprocessor architectures, you'll know the heart of AMD's new FUSION Accelerated Processing Units (APU's) is the low-power Bobcat design, aimed at low power and portable computing devices.

AMD are at IFA Consumer Electronics Show 2010 in Berlin, demonstrating new Brazos platform products, using the 9W Ontario and 18W Zacate APU's:

AMD plans to ramp production here in 2010, with systems available in early 2011. So here at IFA 2010, we’re both demonstrating the capabilities of low-power AMD Fusion APUs, and providing a little more information on the individual products. “Brazos” is the codename for the notebook, netbook and desktop platforms that will be built from the APU. But the APU itself comes in two flavors based on performance and (low) power draw:

• An 18-watt TDP APU codenamed “Zacate” for ultrathin, mainstream, and value notebooks as well as desktops and all-in-ones.
• And a 9-watt APU codenamed “Ontario” for netbooks and small form factor desktops and devices.

Both low-power APU versions feature two “Bobcat” x86 cores and fully support DirectX11, DirectCompute (Microsoft programming interface for GPU computing) and OpenCL (cross-platform programming interface standard for multi-core x86 and accelerated GPU computing). Both also include UVD dedicated hardware acceleration for HD video including 1080p resolutions.

The biggest win for the user experience here is the native Universal Video Decoder (UVD) inclusion on-die. This piece of hardware debuted in the ATI Radeon X1000 series Graphics Processors, and was evolved and improved with the introduction of each new ATI Radeon HD line up. The UVD is also utilized in the HD 4000 series and newer Accelerated Video Transcoding technology, for converting video to H.264 and MPEG-2 formats faster than real-time, and the traditional x86 CPU. AMD's Windows 7 GPU-accelerated drag'n'drop driver will be able to leverage the UVD and SIMD arrays of the FUSION APU to seamlessly accelerate the conversion of media for use with supported Media Foundation devices. Playback of Adobe Flash, MPEG-2/4, H.264, VC-1 and AVC video can be hardware accelerated, leaving the x86 cores and GPU SIMD arrays free to perform post processing or upscaling, as well as other tasks.

Read more on AMD FUSION Blog.

Chiphell.com member nApoleon (he of leaked benchmark and specifications fame) has posted pics of what is supposed to be the new high-end AMD Radeon graphics processor, to be released this year:


Very few details can be seen, but there appears to be an ATI sticker on the fan, possibly as it's reused from Cypress stock. You can also see Dual-DVI plus HDMI and two mini-DisplayPort outputs; Eyefinity+ is native 5 way? Rumors indicate possibly that the Cayman and Cypress ASIC's are pin compatible and use very similar if not the same design boads. However, this contradicts the other rumor that Cayman uses a 384-bit memory interface.

We also get a peek at the new Caicos low end, possibly replacing the HD 5400 series:

Low profile and passively cooled, with a rumored 64-bit DDR3 memory configuration.

Read the original thread @ Chiphell

Twitter is ablaze with #PAX updates about 2K Games' Duke Nukem Forever. Blurry phone pics of Promotional materials abound.

Here's your official confirmation from something you already knew to be true: Duke Nuke Forever, lives!

Today at PAX 2010, 2K Games revealed that Duke Nukem Forever--a game first announced in April 1997 and then thought to be completely dead--is currently in development at Gearbox Software for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. Word of Gearbox' involvement had previously been rumored. According to Pitchford, Gearbox began working on Duke Nukem Forever in 2009.

During 2K's live stream of the reveal, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford stated that Duke Nukem Forever would release in 2011, not 2010 as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

"The approach and investment and process at 3d Realms didn't quite make it and it cracked at the end. With Gearbox Software we brought all those pieces together. It's the game it was meant to be," Pitchford told the Wall Street Journal.

Hints that Duke would make it back into the spotlight resurged when 3D Realms boss George Broussard Tweeted an image of pigs flying, leaving fans to suspect a Duke Nukem release announcement was on the horizon.

Today, images of Gearbox head-honcho Randy Pitchford surfaced showing the developer wearing a Duke Nukem-inspired t-shirt. Publisher 2K Games also weighed in on the speculation, promising "something big" at PAX 2010, going so far as to live stream the happenings at its booth.

Source - Shacknews, Twitter

NVIDIA Today announced new Fermi-based Mobility graphics processors, with a new DirectX 11 capable line up to be included in products for the 2010 Holiday season:

NVIDIA today introduced the NVIDIA® GeForce™ 400M series of graphics processing units (GPUs) -- the building blocks for the next-generation of NVIDIA Optimus™ and NVIDIA 3D Vision™ notebooks that are coming onto the market from leading vendors, including Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung and Toshiba, with others set to announce soon.

The new series of NVIDIA GeForce 400M GPUs includes:

• For enthusiast users: GeForce GTX 470M and GTX 460M.
• For performance users: GeForce GT 445M, GT 435M, GT 425M, GT 420M and GT 415M.

A critical component of the GeForce 400M Series is support for NVIDIA Optimus technology, which enables extra-long battery life by automatically switching on and off the GPU so that it runs only when needed.

Only NVIDIA GeForce GPUs offer "Graphics Plus" features such as:

• NVIDIA 3D Vision™ support, for eye-popping immersive 3D environments
• PhysX™ support, for experiencing games with realistic physics effects
• CUDA™ support, for GPU computing applications
• NVIDIA Verde™ notebook drivers, for system stability and optimal performance
• Support for NVIDIA 3DTV Play™ software, for connecting 3D Vision-based notebooks and desktops to a 3D TV.

Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, and Toshiba all announced today support for 400 Series GPUs, with more OEMs announcing soon.

Source - NVIDIA Press Release

TechPowerUp has a new version of the popular GPU monitoring utility, GPU-Z. The new 0.4.6 version has some bugfixes, an MSI hardware survey giveaway, and a boatload of new NVIDIA products to be detected:

• Added MSI hardware giveaway
• Fixed temperature readings getting stuck on ADT7473 sensor (GTX 400 cards)
• Fixed broken BIOS reading on all cards
• General improvements to Intel support, still far from perfect
• Added support for ATI FirePro V8750
• Added support for GeForce GTS 455, GTS 450, GT 440, GT 430, GT 420, GT 330, GT218 based ION, GTX 470M, GTX 460M, GT 445M, GT 435M, GT 425M, GT 420M, GT 415M, GeForce 310M
• Added basic detection for AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series
• Improved handling for unknown NVIDIA cards
• Added fan RPM monitoring for NVIDIA cards

Download GPU-Z from TechPowerUP! Here.

As part of their ongoing VISION technology marketing scheme, AMD is trying to reduce the amount of meaningless stickers affixed to new PC's. In an article from the NY Times, AMD outlines how they are changing to stickers which don't leave a residue after being removed, and in fact offer OEM partners the option to not affix them at all - whilst still retaining the marketing revenue traditionally associated with the sponsored sticker placement:

When you buy a new Windows PC, as you probably know, it comes festooned with little (or not so little) stickers on the palm rests. There’s one for Windows, one for Skype, one for Intel, one for the laptop company, maybe an Energy Star sticker and so on.

The bizarre thing is that computer companies are trying to make their laptops beautiful these days. A.M.D. reps showed me, for example, a gorgeous new Hewlett-Packard ultralight laptop. Sleek. Shiny. Elegant. Yet grubbed up with a fruit salad of tasteless, competing stickers.

As A.M.D. points out, it’s like buying a new, luxury car — and discovering that it comes with nonremovable bumper stickers that promote the motor oil, the floor mat maker, the windshield-fluid company and the pine tree air freshener you have no intention of ever using.

A.M.D.’s research shows that consumers hate the stickers (duh). But they’re not going away, for one simple reason: There’s big money involved. Intel, Microsoft, Skype and whoever else is represented by the stickers actually pay the computer companies for the billboard space. That’s why H.P., for example, would tolerate gumming up its laptops’ good looks with crass ads. (Apple refuses to put Intel stickers on its computers, even though there’s Intel inside. In doing so, it leaves millions of dollars a year on the table.)

In 2011, A.M.D. will switch to new stickers that peel off easily, leaving no residue; after that, it’s considering eliminating the sticker program altogether. In the meanwhile, it’s going to make affixing its stickers optional. If a computer company chooses not to use the A.M.D. stickers, A.M.D. will still pay it the same marketing dollars to use in other ways.

Read the full blog @ New York Times. You can read more about VISION and branding, here and here.

Tom's Hardware have benchmarked two Workstation graphics cards; the GF100-based Quadro 5000 (equivalent to the Geforce GTX 465) against the highest AMD ATI FirePro, the V8800 (based on Evergreen Cypress ASIC, equivalent to the Radeon HD 5870).

Despite being based on the third-from-top SKU core, the Quadro 5000 costs significantly more than the top-of-the-line $1800 ATI FirePro. Why? Performance:

Nvidia’s Quadro 5000 is superior to AMD’s FirePro V8800 in almost every benchmark, usually by a clear margin. Based on their mainstream equivalents, we wouldn’t have expected such a great performance disparity between these two graphics boards. After all, AMD's offering is built on an excellent modern design, though it seems to have trouble living up to its performance potential in a workstation environment.

Indeed, we don't think that it's the hardware to blame. After all, the Radeon HD 5870 is faster than the GeForce GTX 465. Rather, it's AMD’s driver at fault. While they are stable, they are apparently not very well optimized yet, holding the V8800 back. This isn’t just the case compared to Nvidia's current flagship. The V8800 should have been able to outpace its own predecessor by a much larger margin. AMD's best approach would be to commit more resources to its driver team to rectify the situation.

Read the whole article here.

In an interview with Fortune CNN.com, AMD Chief Executive Officer Dirk Meyer speaks about how AMD is 'Ready to play ball' on the new level playing field afforded by the AMD Intel settlement and the newest Intel FTC settlement:

What has the company's settlement agreement with Intel and the proposed consent order between FTC and Intel done for fair and open competition in your particular sector?

You put all that together, and I'd summarize it as saying we now have a level opportunity to play on a level playing field. I think the playing field only levels over years because, in some ways, the culture of the industry isn't going to change instantaneously. This is an industry in which the dominant supplier [Intel] really scared the heck out of its customers for years and intimidated those customers, and we found it, as a result, exceedingly hard to do business.

I think over time we've got the potential to see that culture change, and therefore AMD can compete on a more level playing field. But it'll take time.

It sounds like that's already happening. According to company numbers, 109 notebook models with AMD chips launched this season, nearly three times what we saw the year before. What do you think contributed to the uptick?

We started focusing much more intensively on notebook technology a couple of years ago, and the technologies that we introduced in the spring were the first noticeable results of that. These are machines that have much better battery life than we've had in the past.

Number two is, I think our customers are increasingly realizing the importance of graphics and video capability in the PC and notebook platforms, and what people are actually doing with them, and we look increasingly like an attractive partner to them.

The final piece is we've got notebook engagements with customers that we've never had relationships with at all … as a direct result of some of the antitrust rulings around the world.

Customers like?

Well, I don't want to point my finger at any specific customers. We've got design wins that I know we got because of the air cover we got because of the FTC.

Read the full article at Fortune CNN

Chiphell, the source of the rumored Cayman XT performance benchmark leaks, has info on the new Cayman Pro (HD 5850 replacement):

A little longer than the HD5870 (rarely a little). Frequency is now 850MHz, but does not represent the final retail unchanged.
Within the 200W TDP. Radiators are used in hot plate, it is to the force. (Shaped, not flat, it is estimated that the senior goods)

Via Google Translate (Original) - Basically we're looking at a card bigger than the HD 5870, using more or about the same power as the 5870, with a Vapor chamber cooler.

Other rumors point to a 384-bit memory bus, and moving away from 4D+1D Vec5 thread processors into a 4D arrangement. 1536 improved efficiency 4D SP or the same SP design, 4D + 1D, but 1920 of them? Ah, the fun and games of rumorville!

A few weeks back, AMD quietly released a couple of new graphics cards in the Radeon HD 5500 series. For a while there, starting with the Radeon HD 5870 in late September of last year, it seemed like AMD was releasing a new series of graphics cards aimed at different price points, practically every few weeks. Things slowed down a bit once the company had a complete top-to-bottom line-up of DX11 and Eyefinity capable cards from prices ranging from about $49 to $600, but obviously AMD wasn’t quite done beefing up the Radeon HD 5000 series.

The recently released Radeon HD 5500 series cards differed from their predecessors in only one meaningful way—they were equipped with GDDR5 memory. The original 5500 series cards sported GDDR3 or GDDR2 memory. The move to GDDR5 allowed AMD to crank the memory clock speed up a bit, which would have a positive impact on overall performance...

Source: hothardware.com

Today we get the chance to put Limited Edition sample 0021 of XFX's Radeon 5970 4GB through its paces. Tests will cover 5760x1080 Eyefinity gaming, GPU computing, HD playback and the usual selection of single screen gameplay... is this the most extreme 5970 ever? Can it play the latest games including Mafia 2 and StarCraft 2 at 5760x1080? Let's find out...

Source: HardwareHeaven.com

If you own an eligible EVGA GeForce GTX 465/470/480 purchased between 3/26/10 to 8/23/10 you can register for a Mafia II STEAM key, for free!

EVGA always remembers our friends. We came across some extra Mafia II Steam codes and decided to give them to our early adopters. For all qualified* GeForce 400-series cards, purchased from 3/26/10 to 8/23/10, you will have the opportunity to claim one of the full game codes. These are in very limited supply*, the faster you get your invoice uploaded the better your chances are to collect.

Just keep this between you and me...

• Register your eligible EVGA graphics card
• Go to your "My Products" page under "Member Home" and select view details. You will be able to request the Mafia II code there.
• Upload your invoice
• Wait 1-3 business days for approval
• You will receive an email with your Steam Code
• Copy the code and open Steam > Library > Add a game, paste the code and click next to add to your collection

For full details and list of eligible SKU's, go to EVGA's website, here.

ATI-Forum.De has an anonymous source who leaked a launch date for a next-generation AMD Radeon series - October 12. The 'Barts' codename is believed to be the enthusiast mid-range card, replacing the HD 5700 series. October 12 is also supposedly the launch date of a new NVIDIA 400 series, with core codenamed GF108.


Via Google Translate:

So shall, according to an anonymous source, the introduction of the new graphics cards on time-series on October 12 this year, AMD plans. This year is no graphics card, however the upper fields first go to the starting line as this makes most times a pixel accelerator from the middle segment the beginning.

Thus comes the first of the new series which we have already announced graphics card with the code name "Bart". AMD would so appear to competition no air to breathe, give, because that on that day is also planning to present their middle-class nVIDIA graphics card GT430 on GF108 basis.

The following list you will see the new GPUs that graphics chip will replace the previous:

• Caicos: Low-end GPU replaced Cedar
• Turks: Mid-range GPU replaced Redwood
• Barts: High-Mid-Range GPU replaced Juniper
• Cayman: High-end GPU replaced Cypress
• Antilles: Dual-GPU top-model replaces Hemlock

Furthermore, we could bring in experience that the series HD6000er probably the first to CHL a digital PWM control of the company will have CHIL. Next is the fact that "Bart Pro" in an expensive design comes from the cooler and heat pipes have is about 2x8mm. In addition, "the Chamber Barts XT technology to use" Vapor make in order to keep a cool head.
In addition, there are improvements in the rendering of 3D Blu-Ray, the introduction of UVD3 come with. Anschlüsse in Form von HDMI1.4 und DisplayPort 1.2 werden auch genannt. Connections in the form of HDMI1.4 1.2, and DisplayPort are called.

Exciting stuff! Read the original here (translated here).

Powercolor graphics has previewed a new ATI Radeon HD 5770 Evolution with Lucid Hydra 200 chip built in, allowing heterogenous multi-GPU support for any motherboard with multi-PCI Express Graphics Slots (PEG):


Powercolor indicate that this will be a shipping retail product, but no ETA as yet.

Source - Powercolor Facebook Page

John Volkmann, Corporate Vice President of AMD has posted a blog today showing how AMD is evolving the Radeon brand. As part of this discussion about the retirement of the ATI brand (read our article here), John states that the next generation of AMD Radeon graphics processors will be launched Q4 2010.

With our new product refresh in the fourth quarter of this year, you will see the beginning of an industry-wide shift to AMD Radeon and AMD FirePro graphics processors. The timing couldn’t be better, as we just regained the market share lead in discrete graphics, and have launched an unprecedented number of processors and solutions for the professional graphics market. Not to mention that in Q4 of this year, we are shipping our first AMD Fusion family of APUs, featuring world-class AMD Radeon graphics.

Read the whole thing at AMD@Play Blog

Coincidentally, just days after the next generation of AMD Radeon graphics processor code names were found in the Catalyst 10.8 files, NVIDIA have managed to 'let slip' product names indicating the rest of the 400 series desktop and mobility product lines.

As TechConnect Magazine reports, Nvidia's GeForce 259.47 drivers also betray the existence of quite a few unannounced cards, both desktop and mobile.

Among the leaked model names: GeForce GTS 455 and 450, with GeForce GT 440, 430, and 420 further down in the list on the desktop side. We also see seven mobile parts, including two GTX 400M models and five GT 400M ones. We're looking at 12 products in total, with some duplicate entries.

Read more at TechReport.com

Have you ever known someone that just has to tinker with things? You know the guy I am talking about. It is never good enough. There is always one more tweak, hack, or adjustment to be done to get that few extra MHz out of their systems. Well, imagine a room full of the same people. This is what you get when you talk about ASUS’ R&D team. ASUS makes some great boards, but to the R&D team it is still not enough.

This team of tinkerers continues to improve on their designs with new BIOS features, new drivers and in some cases, new revisions of products that ASUS already has on the market. It is this mindset that allows ASUS to produce the excellent products that they have. Today we are taking a look at one of these; the ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3. This is an AMD 890FX based motherboard that headlines the upper end of their mainstream products.

Source: Tweaktown.com

Now that you've read Rage3D's take on ATI's demise, check out what other sites are saying!

AMD jettisons ATI brand name, makes Radeon its own @ TechReport

AMD kills ATI brand, you can look forward to blood-stained Radeons @ Engadget

You've read Rage3D's Eyefinity Ecosystem update, now take a look at how other sites are talking about the news!

One of the big hurdles for Eyefinity adopters-to-be has been the expensive "active" DisplayPort adapters required for some setups. Last week, though, AMD let us know that it's been working with companies to help deliver $30 DisplayPort to DVI cables to the market. At the same time, the company also updated us on other Eyefinity happenings.

AMD Updates Us on Eyefinity & Announces $30 Cable @ Techgage

More 'HD 6800' Cayman benchmarks have appeared, with an updated Vantage score and added Crysis and Unigine Heaven results.


Click the thumbs for larger images, and score results!

Source - PCInlife.com

Another HD 5550 utilizing GDDR5 memory has arrived and we'll be honest when we say it'll probably be one of the last unless someone does something that stands out with the model. We tend to only have a look at one or two of these low end models because we tend to find companies don't mix it up too much. Sapphire today have not only slapped a half decent cooler on the card, but also taken the time to overclock it.

I didn't actually look at the specifications before checking out GPU-Z and I wondered if the OC was going to be the 20MHz or so we saw from GIGABYTE on the HD 5670 recently, or if it was going to be more. And if it was more, what would it actually do for performance? So often we find these low end cards with an overclock to be quite pointless. Let's find out what Sapphire has done, though, and what it means for you.

Read the full review @ Tweaktown.com

XreaL is a project based on the Quake 3 engine, who are now working on bringing the newly GPL'd Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory in to the project, replacing the engine with Q3-based XreaL. Work was halted for a while until the Quakecon 2010 announcement of Wolfenstein ET and Return to Castlewolfenstein becoming GPL licensed. Imagine Enemy Territory with maps looking like this:


Read more at the XreaL project website.