Graphics

GlobalFoundries on Wednesday confirmed that it is had initiated high-volume production of chips for its customers using 14nm FinFET (14LPE) process technology. The company claims that yields of its 14nm semiconductors are comparable to yields at Samsung Foundry, the company that developed the 14LPE. “Our 14nm ramp is right on …

Nvidia Corp.’s latest graphics processing units based on “Maxwell” architecture are rather good overclockers, but only to a certain degree. According to Vince “K|NGP|N” Lucido, a professional overclocker, without extreme methods of cooling (such as use of liquid nitrogen, chiller or other), most “Maxwell” GPUs just do not work at …

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reduced prices of chip production using its 20nm and 28nm fabrication processes earlier this quarter, according to a media report. Customers of TSMC lowered orders for 20nm and 28nm chips and the company wants to increase utilization of its capacities by slashing prices. Potentially, the price-cuts …

Today we take a look at the latest high end solution from Palit, the new GTX980 Ti Super JetStream. This card ships with a custom cooler, out of the box clock enhancements, and the price point has dropped to £539.99 inc vat. How does it compare to leading GTX980 Ti …

The first-generation high-bandwidth memory provides extreme performance, but is clearly not perfect for high-end graphics cards due to capacity limitations. A good news is that second-gen high-bandwidth memory is on the way and is due in 2016. Advanced Micro Devices may get it faster and in higher volumes than its …

Apparently, the problems of Advanced Micro Devices with its latest Radeon R9 Fury-series graphics cards may be significantly more serious than whining cooling system or limited overclockability. If a new media report is to be believed, then the company cannot supply enough boards to its partners. It is not a …

GlobalFoundries on Monday introduced a family of fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) manufacturing technologies designed for customers seeking high performance and low design costs. The new fabrication processes promise to deliver performance of next-generation technologies with FinFET transistors, but at costs comparable to those of existing processes. GlobalFoundries calls its new family …

Today we take a look at AMD's second graphics card based on the 28nm ‘Fiji' Silicon. The Sapphire Fury card is the first to hit our labs, and it features a new version of their highly acclaimed ‘Tri-X' cooling solution. To reduce the retail price against Fury X – the …

For many years Intel Corp.’s “tick-tock” strategy has been a perfect example of firm execution, wise innovation and timely product-launches. In the recent years the “tick-tock” cadence essentially broke down, but the method of step-by-step innovation in different directions have been inherited by other companies. For example, Nvidia has its …

Asustek Computer will use its own printed circuit board design as well as its own high-performance cooling system on its upcoming Strix R9 Fury graphics card based on AMD’ Radeon R9 Fury graphics processing unit. The custom PCB and the massive cooler are designed to improve overclocking potential of the …

Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday introduced its FirePro S9170 accelerator for high-performance computing applications. The new card not only boasts with extreme performance, but is also equipped with 32GB of GDDR5 memory. The product will be available later this quarter at a rather moderate price. The AMD FirePro S9170 is …

When the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot launched on the PC, AMD gave its new hair technology feature, TressFX, its début. Since then, the feature has been implemented on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 re-releases of Tomb Raider early last year and now, Crystal Dynamics has revealed that it will …

We have reviewed many GTX980 Ti partner cards in recent weeks and today the MSI GTX980 Ti Gaming 6G makes a somewhat belated appearance in our labs. This high end board is actually one of the cheapest flagship, overclocked Ti's currently available – hitting the £599.99 inc vat point – …

Asutek Computer is working on three more graphics cards based on the GeForce GTX 980 Ti graphics processing unit. The new boards will feature powerful cooling systems, custom multi-phase voltage regulator modules (VRM), increased clock-rates and great overclocking potential. Asustek’s Strix GeForce GTX 980 Ti with DirectCU III cooling system …

Today we look at one of the most exciting graphics cards to hit our labs this year – the new Asus STRIX Gaming GTX 980 Ti featuring the latest Direct CU 3 cooling system. This 3 fan cooling system uses a new patented wing blade fan to provide greater air …

Advanced Micro Devices on Monday lowered its revenue guidance for the quarter citing slow demand for its accelerated processing units by end-users and PC makers. The company expects its revenue and profitability to be lower than originally anticipated. AMD claims that its sales in Q2 will be approximately 8 percent lower …

Even though AMD’s flagship Radeon R9 Fury X is exclusively made by a contract manufacturer under supervision of Advanced Micro Devices and actual suppliers of graphics cards cannot change its cooling system or clock-rates, the upcoming AMD Radeon R9 Fury will provide a lot more flexibility for makers of add-in-boards. …

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has announced that it had produced the first verification chips for its 10nm manufacturing technology. The world’s largest contract maker of semiconductors plans to start risk production using 10nm fabrication process late this year and to initiate high-volume manufacturing in late 2016 or in 2017. At …

Advanced Micro Devices has reportedly finalized specifications of its upcoming Radeon R9 graphics cards based on the code-named “Fiji” graphics processor, the Radeon R9 Fury and the Radeon R9 Nano. Both products promise to be rather powerful, but will still be noticeably slower than the Radeon R9 Fury X. AMD’s …

Today we take a somewhat belated look at the latest AMD flagship, the R9 Fury X. This graphics card has been designed to tackle Nvidia in the high end, specifically their similarly priced GTX980 Ti. The Fury X is the first consumer GPU equipped with Stacked High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) …

Asustek Computer has officially unveiled its new Strix GTX 980 Ti graphics card, which promises to be one of the most advanced graphics adapters based on the GeForce GTX 980 Ti graphics processing unit. The new solution boasts extremely sophisticated voltage regulator module (VRM), an all-new cooling system, high frequencies …

Zotac, a well-known maker of advanced graphics adapters, has quietly started to sell its highest-performing factory-overclocked GeForce GTX 980 Ti graphics card, which has enough performance to beat far more expensive GeForce GTX Titan X. The new graphics board not only features extreme clock-rates, but it is the world’s only …

Today we look at a sub £300 graphics card from AMD partner Sapphire. The R9 390 Nitro is a model from Sapphire's new range and features Black Diamond Chokes and a large triple fan cooler to keep temperatures in check. The card ships in an overclocked state and is priced …

AMD’s Radeon R9 Fury X looks impressively stylish thanks to its short printed-circuit board and simplistic design of its cooling system. Nonetheless, some end-users – especially modders – may find the new flagship from AMD too basic. The GPU developer proposes such users to create their own front plate for …

GlobalFoundries this week said that the U.S. authorities had approved its acquisition of IBM’s microelectronics business unit. From now on, GlobalFoundries will make various important semiconductors for the U.S. military and government agencies. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has reviewed the proposed transaction between IBM and …

Nvidia Corp. is working on two new affordable GeForce GTX 900-series products that will replace low-cost graphics cards released last year. The new adapters will be powered by the second-generation “Maxwell” architecture and their performance is expected to be comparable to that of the GeForce GTX 960. Nvidia’s GeForce GTX …

Advanced Micro Devices is experiencing difficult times because of business decisions made several years ago. At this point AMD is developing its “Zen” and “K12” microprocessors, which are expected to make AMD competitive in the CPU market again. However, many new technologies, which are in the works today, will have an impact …

Nvidia Corp. is developing three new cards for the professional markets: two new Quadro graphics adapters as well as a new Tesla accelerator for high-performance computing applications. The latest drivers from Nvidia add support for Nvidia Quadro M5000, Quadro M4000 as well as Tesla M60 boards, reports VideoCardz web-site. The …

In a bid to revive its chip design operations, Microsoft Corp. may acquire Advanced Micro Devices, according to a source familiar with the matter. The software giant approached AMD several months ago, the source indicated. The result of the talks is unclear. Microsoft Corp. has been selling game consoles for …

Today we take a look at one of the latest graphics cards from Sapphire – the new R9 390X featuring the latest version of their Tri-X cooling system. This top level graphics card ships in an overclocked state and features a custom triple cooler – shipping with 3x 90mm dual …