In a rebuttal to AMD's recent claim that Battlefield 4, and other Frostbite 3 engine titles, would be exclusively optimized for their Graphics Core Next architecture, Dice's technical director has stated:

Source - Twitter

While this doesn't preclude GCN enhancements for Frostbite 3 games, it does clarify that non-GCN users won't be left out in the quest for quality and performance.

More details, including an official AMD statement can be foun on IGN.

After missing out on all next gen console designs, NVIDIA avoid signing on to the Heterogeneous System Architecture foundation by making their own licensing program:

PC sales are declining with the rise of smartphones and tablets. High-definition screens are proliferating, showing up on most every machine. Android is increasingly pervasive. Yesterday’s PC industry, which produced several hundred million units a year, will soon become a computing-devices industry that produces many billions of units a year. And visual computing is at the epicenter of it all.

The consequences of these changes are apparent everywhere. New industry leaders are emerging. Companies differentiate not only on products but on business models. Some create systems from industry-standard chips. Others are vertically integrated and build their own chips, systems, software and even services. Some do both.

But it’s not practical to build silicon or systems to address every part of the expanding market. Adopting a new business approach will allow us to address the universe of devices.

So, our next step is to license our GPU cores and visual computing patent portfolio to device manufacturers to serve the needs of a large piece of the market.

We’ll start by licensing the GPU core based on the NVIDIA Kepler architecture, the world’s most advanced, most efficient GPU.

Kepler is the basis for currently shipping GeForce, Quadro and Tesla GPUs, as well as our next-generation Tegra mobile processor codenamed Logan. Licensees will receive all necessary designs, collateral and support to integrate NVIDIA’s powerful graphics cores into their devices.

We’ll also offer licensing rights to our visual computing portfolio. This will enable licensees to develop their own GPU functionality while enjoying design freedom under the best visual computing patent portfolio in the world.

Read the full blog at NVIDIA.com

AMD's first ARM coretex A57 CPU is codenamed Seattle, is expected to debut in 2014. A fully HSA-compliant CPU and APU lineup codenamed Berlin will feature x86 Steamroller cores, and Warsaw promises to improve perf/w over existing Piledriver based Opteron 6300 series.

AMD today publicly disclosed its strategy and roadmap to recapture market share in enterprise and data center servers by unveiling innovative products that address key technologies and meet the requirements of the fastest-growing data center and cloud computing workloads.

Additionally, AMD revealed details of its 2014 server portfolio including best-in-class Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), two- and four-socket CPUs, and details on what it expects to be the industry's premier ARM server processor. This is on the heels of announcing the general availability of the AMD Opteron™ X-Series processor, code named "Kyoto," which dominates the small-core server market on every performance benchmark. These forthcoming AMD Opteron™ processors bring important innovations to the rapidly changing compute market, including integrated CPU and GPU compute (APU); high core-count ARM servers for high-density compute in the data center; and substantial improvements in compute per-watt per-dollar and total cost of ownership.

"Our strategy is to differentiate ourselves by using our unique IP to build server processors that are particularly well matched to a target workload and thereby drive down the total cost of owning servers. This strategy unfolds across both the enterprise and data centers and includes leveraging our graphics processing capabilities and embracing both x86 and ARM instruction sets," said Andrew Feldman, general manager of the Server Business Unit, AMD. "AMD led the world in the transition to multicore processors and 64-bit computing, and we intend to do it again with our next-generation AMD Opteron families."

In 2014, AMD will set the bar in power-efficient server compute with the industry's premier ARM server CPU. The 64-bit CPU, code named "Seattle," is based on ARM Cortex™-A57 cores and is expected to provide category-leading throughput as well as setting the bar in performance-per-watt.

AMD will also deliver a best-in-class APU, code named "Berlin." "Berlin" is an x86 CPU and APU, based on a new generation of cores named "Steamroller." Designed to double the performance of the recently available "Kyoto" part, "Berlin" will offer extraordinary compute-per-watt that will enable massive rack density.

The third processor announced today is code named "Warsaw," AMD's next-generation 2P/4P offering. It is optimized to handle the heavily virtualized workloads found in enterprise environments including the more complex compute needs of data analytics, xSQL and traditional databases. "Warsaw" will provide significantly improved performance-per-watt over today's AMD Opteron™ 6300 family.

Seattle
"Seattle" will be the industry's only 64-bit ARM-based server SoC from a proven server processor supplier. "Seattle" is an 8- and then 16-core CPU based on the ARM Cortex-A57 core and is expected to run at or greater than 2 GHz. The "Seattle" processor is expected to offer 2-4X the performance of AMD's recently announced AMD Opteron X-Series processor with significant improvement in compute-per-watt. It will deliver 128GB DRAM support, extensive offload engines for better power efficiency and reduced CPU loading, server caliber encryption, and compression and legacy networking including integrated 10GbE. It will be the first processor from AMD to integrate AMD's advanced Freedom™ Fabric for dense compute systems directly onto the chip. AMD plans to sample "Seattle" in the first quarter of 2014 with production in the second half of the year.

Berlin
"Berlin" is an x86-based processor that will be available both as a CPU and APU. The processor boasts four next-generation "Steamroller" cores and will offer almost 8X the gigaflops per-watt compared to current AMD Opteron™ 6386SE processor. It will be the first server APU built on AMD's revolutionary Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA), which enables uniform memory access for the CPU and GPU and makes programming as easy as C++. "Berlin" will offer extraordinary compute per-watt that enables massive rack density. It is expected to be available in the first half of 2014.

Warsaw
"Warsaw" is an enterprise server CPU optimized to deliver unparalleled performance and total cost of ownership for two- and four-socket servers. Designed for enterprise workloads, it will offer improved performance-per-watt, which drives down the cost of owning a "Warsaw"-based server while enabling seamless migration from the AMD Opteron 6300 Series family. It is a fully compatible socket with identical software certifications, making it ideal for the AMD Open 3.0 Server -- the industry's most cost effective Open Compute platform. It is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2014.

Source - AMD

Last week we brought you news of an AMD Catalyst for Windows Blue driver leak, courtesy of Asder00. Inside that driver set are some lovely codenames of unreleased products for us to contemplate:

"%AMD9839.1%" = ati2mtag_Kabini_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9839
"%AMD9834.1%" = ati2mtag_Kabini_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9834
"%AMD9838.1%" = ati2mtag_Kabini_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9838
"%AMD983D.1%" = ati2mtag_Kabini_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_983D
"%AMD9836.1%" = ati2mtag_Kabini_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9836
"%AMD9832.1%" = ati2mtag_Kabini_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9832
"%AMD9830.1%" = ati2mtag_Kabini_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9830

"%AMD9835.1%" = ati2mtag_Kabini_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9835
"%AMD9837.1%" = ati2mtag_Kabini_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9837
"%AMD9833.1%" = ati2mtag_Kabini_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9833
"%AMD9831.1%" = ati2mtag_Kabini_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9831

"%AMD983C.1%" = ati2mtag_Kabini_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_983C
"%AMD983F.1%" = ati2mtag_Kabini_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_983F
"%AMD983B.1%" = ati2mtag_Kabini_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_983B
"%AMD983E.1%" = ati2mtag_Kabini_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_983E

"%AMD67A0.1%" = ati2mtag_NewZealand, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_67A0

"%AMD1305.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Desktop, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_1305
"%AMD130F.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Desktop, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_130F
"%AMD131C.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_131C
"%AMD1313.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Desktop, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_1313
"%AMD130A.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_130A
"%AMD1309.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_1309
"%AMD130D.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_130D
"%AMD1304.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_1304
"%AMD130C.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_130C
"%AMD1307.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Desktop, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_1307
"%AMD1315.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Desktop, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_1315
"%AMD131B.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_131B
"%AMD130B.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_130B
"%AMD1306.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_1306
"%AMD130E.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Mobile, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_130E
"%AMD1311.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Desktop, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_1311
"%AMD1310.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Desktop, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_1310
"%AMD1316.1%" = ati2mtag_Kaveri_Desktop, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_1316

AMD67A2.1 = "HAWAII GL Gemini (67A2)"
AMD67A1.1 = "HAWAII GL40 (67A1)"
AMD67BE.1 = "HAWAII LE (67BE)"
AMD67B1.1 = "HAWAII PRO (67B1)"
AMD67B0.1 = "HAWAII XT (67B0)"
AMD67A0.1 = "HAWAII XTGL (67A0)"

AMD1305.1 = "KV SPECTRE DESKTOP 100W (1305)"
AMD130F.1 = "KV SPECTRE DESKTOP 65W/100W (130F)"
AMD131C.1 = "KV SPECTRE EMBEDDED 35W (131C)"
AMD1313.1 = "KV SPECTRE LITE DESKTOP 65W/100W (1313)"
AMD130A.1 = "KV SPECTRE LITE MOBILE 17W (130A)"
AMD1309.1 = "KV SPECTRE LITE MOBILE 25W (1309)"
AMD130D.1 = "KV SPECTRE LITE MOBILE 35W (130D)"
AMD1304.1 = "KV SPECTRE MOBILE 35W (1304)"
AMD130C.1 = "KV SPECTRE MOBILE 35W (130C)"
AMD1307.1 = "KV SPECTRE SL DESKTOP 100W (1307)"
AMD1315.1 = "KV SPECTRE SL DESKTOP 65W (1315)"
AMD131B.1 = "KV SPECTRE SL EMBEDDED 17W (131B)"
AMD130B.1 = "KV SPECTRE SL MOBILE 17W (130B)"
AMD1306.1 = "KV SPECTRE SL MOBILE 35W (1306)"
AMD130E.1 = "KV SPECTRE SL MOBILE 35W (130E)"
AMD1311.1 = "KV SPECTRE WORKSTATION 100W (1311)"
AMD1310.1 = "KV SPECTRE WORKSTATION 65W (1310)"
AMD1316.1 = "KV SPOOKY DESKTOP 65W (1316)"

AMD have a large line up of APU's coming, Kabini based products for mobility (notebook, convertible tablet, ultra portable) and Kaveri for desktop and notebook.

Also hidden in the .inf's are new Sea Islands GPU's, like Tonga, Vesuvius, and of course Hawaii (as Rage3D told you about, here).

Interesting to see New Zealand codenames inside, despite the rename to Malta, for the HD 7990.

Alpha invites for Battlefield 4 are going out to some people now via e-mail/Origin (they appear to be random), and with that comes system requirements (below).

It's somewhat surprising Windows 8 is not supported (yet, anyway). However, this is not to say the game won't work on Windows 8 (it's probably the opposite), most likely just that you may experience issues. As for RAM and CPU requirements (not included for some reason), 4GB and any decent quad-core should do the job just fine.

Source: reddit

A rough quality video from E3 details the various graphics effects on hand in open world RPG The Witcher 3. Note while it's labeled "NVIDIA effects", none of these actually appear to be NVIDIA exclusive.



The full list:
Suffice it to say, developer CD Projekt RED plenty of technical treats in store for enthusiasts.

Now watch the high quality trailer so your eyes recover.

Testing over at Tom's Hardware reveals MMORPG Neverwinter is a CPU limited game as of now (especially given the game's beta status, this could well change going forward).

As such, a reasonably powerful CPU on the same level or greater as the i5-3550 is strongly recommended for it at the moment (an FX-8350 CPU or A10-6800K APU should do a similar job for AMD users).

This is just for a minimum 40 frames per second; if you want 60, go higher.

Source: Tom's Hardware

One of the complaints many fans have had with Battlefield 3 is its sometimes frustrating netcode that sees you getting killed behind cover occasionally.

YouTube's LevelCap has confirmed with developer DICE the netcode in Battlefield 4 is "updated and refined" over its predecessor's. He also mentions in his playtime at E3, he didn't experience much getting killed behind cover or rubberbanding, although this was a LAN event.

The new code could change for better or worse as the game moves beyond the pre-alpha stage, but as of now, there's definite potential.

A new post on AMD's Gaming facebook page indicates AMD are quickly capitalizing on their position as the gaming provider for next gen games:

Read the original here.

A DICE Battlelog developer going by the name of "DarkLord7854" has confirmed via Reddit several key features for the PC version of Battlefield 4: VOIP (so now you can chat with the guys you're playing with for actual coordination, even in the new Commander mode), the ability to click on various points on the map and spawn on them (no consolitis here), and a "proper" spectator mode.

You'll be able to see said spectator mode in action over the next couple of days at E3: that's how DICE is livestreaming everything. Here is the link if you need it.

Source: Reddit

AMD's gaming dominance is starting to show it's teeth for AMD powered gamers, as Square Enix focuses their new Thief title soley on AMD graphics technologies:

AMD today announced exclusive collaboration with Square Enix to optimize "THIEF™" for the Graphics Core Next architecture in select AMD Radeon™ graphics processors, as well as the x86 and graphics architectures featured in AMD A-Series APUs. Developed in conjunction with the AMD Gaming Evolved program, "THIEF" will extensively leverage the advanced capabilities of AMD Radeon graphics processors including AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology for panoramic gaming, AMD CrossFire™ multi-GPU technology for supreme performance, and state-of-the-art DirectX® 11 rendering for pristine image quality.

"The 'THIEF' franchise has a storied history that we are proud to join in this latest installment," said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, Graphics Business Unit, AMD. "We are even more pleased to work so closely with their development team to realize the vision for these games with the incredible gaming performance of a PC powered by AMD Radeon graphics. And as the exclusive hardware partner for 'THIEF,' we continue to demonstrate that the best experience for gamers and developers lives at AMD with the Gaming Evolved program."

"AMD, Square Enix and Eidos-Montréal have a strong and notable relationship," said Stephane D'Astous, general manager, Eidos-Montréal. "It was only logical that we extend the cooperative efforts of our teams to 'THIEF,' imbuing it with the expertise that made 'Deus Ex: Human Revolution' such a technical achievement. Those efforts include a broad range of exclusive performance optimizations for AMD CPUs, APUs and graphics cards, and we are excited about making our game a technology showcase on the PC platform."

Source - AMD Press Release

No word on TDP or recommended cooling solutions for these likely specially binned Piledriver FX's CPU's:

E3 -- AMD today unveiled its most powerful member of the legendary AMD FX family of CPUs, the world's first commercially available 5 GHz CPU processor, the AMD FX-9590. These 8-core CPUs deliver new levels of gaming and multimedia performance for desktop enthusiasts. AMD FX-9000 Series CPUs will be available initially in PCs through system integrators.

"At E3 this week, AMD demonstrated why it is at the core of gaming," said Bernd Lienhard, corporate vice president and general manager, Client Products Division at AMD. "The new FX 5 GHz processor is an emphatic performance statement to the most demanding gamers seeking ultra-high resolution experiences including AMD Eyefinity technology. This is another proud innovation for AMD in delivering the world's first commercially available 5 GHz processor."

"AMD continues to push the envelope when it comes to desktop capabilities and power performance," said Wallace Santos, CEO and founder of MAINGEAR. "In unveiling the world's first 5 GHz 8-core CPU, AMD continues to lead the way in innovation while providing our customers with a best-in-class experience. We are thrilled to be part of this exciting launch."

The new 5 GHz FX-9590 and 4.7 GHz FX-9370 feature the "Piledriver" architecture, are unlocked for easy overclocking and pave the way for enthusiasts to enjoy higher CPU speeds and related performance gains1. Additionally, these processors feature AMD Turbo Core 3.0 technology to dynamically optimize performance across CPU cores and enable maximum computing for the most intensive workloads.

AMD was the first to break the 1 GHz barrier in May of 2000 and continues to set the standard in technology innovation including the first Windows compatible 64-bit PC processor and the first native dual-core and quad-core processors. AMD also introduced the first APU (unifying CPU and Radeon™ graphics on the same chip) and the first x86 quad-core SoC, continuing forward with HSA architectures and programming models.

The new AMD FX CPUs will be available from system integrators globally beginning this summer. Two models will be available:

• FX-9590: Eight "Piledriver" cores, 5 GHz Max Turbo
• FX-9370: Eight "Piledriver" cores, 4.7 GHz Max Turbo

Source - AMD Press Release

Yet another E3 trailer for you, this one for Mirror's Edge 2. The game has been rumored for years now, and is finally confirmed.

Thankfully, the trailer lives up to what are your no doubt high expectations: gameplay looks solid as ever, and visuals are even more impressive on DICE's Frostbite 3 engine (the first game was built on a modified Unreal Engine 3), with even more extreme art design than before.

The trailers many have been waiting for is here: you know, the ones with multiplayer footage from Battlefield 4.

Shown off is the new Shanghai map, which proves expansive, multi-leveled, and creatively designed -- it makes most of the maps in Battlefield 3 look boring, to be frank. Enhanced destruction is shown, too -- this is something many fans expressed as lacking in Battlefield 3, and it looks like developer DICE has delivered with its sequel.

You'll also get a peek at the modernized Commander mode, which seems slick as hell; for a full look at it, see the last trailer below.

A new single player trailer for shooter Battlefield 4 has arrived, depicting more single player gameplay (which actually looks reasonably fun and intense), and some impressive water effects. As with the original trailer, visuals show no significant improvement over Battlefield 3 (with the exception of water).



Multiplayer gameplay is probably what you're after, though, and that will arrive shortly.