News

According to AMD/ATI the new Catalyst 10.9a Hotfix drivers address some issues with the HD4850x2 and HD4870x2 video card performance. Hopefully this is the case, and hopefully it will address an issue that has been seen around the web dealing with CrossfireX on some of the HD48xx's and even some HD5xxx series of cards running specific motherboards. This issue is not really wide spread, however there are some of the "gamer" series of motherboards that have experienced this issue, and we can only hope that AMD/ATI has addressed these issues in the new "hotfix" drivers. This issue was addressed in the Catalyst 10.8b drivers, and we have to wonder why this was not carried over to the original Catalyst 10.9 drivers.

At any rate, this is what AMD/ATI has to say about the new 10.9a Hotfix Catalyst drivers:

* ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2 and ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 series of products use both Graphics Processing Units (GPU) for high performance
* Intermittent hangs with Pop Cap games in a system with an ATI Radeon series graphics card installed
* High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) overscan / underscan settings are restored upon system reboot

Instructions:
Download and install the ATI Catalyst hotfix from the following location:

* ATI Catalyst 10.9a Hotfix for Windows® 7 / Windows Vista®

Refer to Article 20870 for detailed instructions on how to properly install the ATI Catalyst™ hotfix.

Note! This hotfix is provided as is and is not supported by AMD. It has not completed full AMD testing and is only a driver update.

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

* Hardware
o ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 series of products
o ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 series of products
* Operating System
o Windows 7 32-bit Edition
o Windows 7 64-bit Edition
o Windows Vista 32-bit Edition
o Windows Vista 64-bit Edition

For further information, or to download the new Catalyst 10.9a drivers you can go to the main download and information page below.

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/ATICatalyst109Hotfix.aspx

It seems that the eventual move to ray tracing will be new graphics companies into the fold. Caustic hopes to supply high-end ray tracing graphics cards. How about we get things like OpenCL out in force to promote open GPU programming first.

Quote

The company says its software and chips allow graphics chips to carry out ray-tracing calculations at a 20-fold speed-up compared with existing PC hardware. It said it expects to deliver chips by early 2010 that will be about 200 times faster. In a demonstration, Caustic executives manipulated a photo-quality image of a sports car, removing components and changing lighting and background settings to change reflections on the vehicle's surface.

Demos don't impress me unless I can do the manipulation.

The market for graphics cards centers around price to performance. While high-end cards capture the eye of the press, it is the job of the mainstream graphics card to capture the entire market. The 4600 series from ATI is targeted to the mainstream crowd and the Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 has just been refreshed with GDDR4 and a faster memory speed. The time to buy may be now.Next Page »

Intel would like nothing more than for people to use the CPU over the GPU for doing effects. Intel is making all sorts of demos to hammer this into people. I'm sure this has nothing to do with their x86 based GPU coming out this year.

Quote

In another GDC session, Intel is also pushing the CPU for physics and AI: "How can your game have more accurate physics, smarter AI, more particles, and/or a faster frame-rate? By threading your game's engine to take advantage of multi-core processors. Intel has built a threaded game engine and demo called 'Smoke' that shows one way of achieving this goal," the abstract states.

It continues: "This presentation examines the Smoke architecture and how it is designed to take advantage of all CPU cores available within a system. It does this by executing different functional and data blocks in parallel to utilize all available cores."

Software really needs to start taking advantage of the multi-core CPUs in today's systems. Hardware is actually leaving software (consumer grade) in the dust.

Great news for everyone regarding open GPU calculations. Khronos has released the OpenCL API in record time. OpenCL is the open computing language that allows graphics cards to handle calculations that would otherwise have been done on the general purpose CPU. This will usher a huge wave in innovation. No longer will there be fragmented specific APIs (CUDA, GPGPU), instead we have an API that will run every architecture.

The people behind the standard come from many companies including AMD, Intel, Nvidia and others. This is the type of thing that gets the industry moving.

Entertainment PCs are really taking over the living room. The need for low profile cards is rising and the Sapphire Radeon HD 3450 steps in to fill that need.Next Page »

Yes, it is real.

Removed due to NDA I never signed...

A spec sheet from Sapphire sent the details and this picture. It has a 6-pin power adapter as well as an 8-pin. That's pretty hefty requirements for power. I'm unsure when the cards will be released. Probably soon.

The Radeon HD 4870 series is the newest performance model from AMD's ATI branch. Sapphire steps up and provides a sample of this new and high performance part and it shines.Next Page »

The RV770, or Radeon HD 4850, is the latest GPU from ATI/AMD. It packs more processing power than many computers and handles graphics with ease.Next Page »

When you need a completely silent and fast graphics card for your next build, look no further than the Sapphire Radeon 3870 Ultimate.Next Page »

The Sapphire Radeon HD 3870 Toxic is the perfect match for your Linux system thanks to AMD. The bundle is also impressive.Next Page »

How do you make a decision on which video card to purchase? Basing things solely on price is the wrong move. This guide will lead you in the direction of which card to buy...Next Page »

Open Source people should be very happy. Intel will be releasing their drivers under an open source model. When will ATI and Nvidia follow?

Quote

This release represents the start of a long term effort by Intel to work with the X.org and Mesa communities to continuously improve and enhance the drivers. While these drivers represent significant work at both Tungsten Graphics and Intel, as our first release of this code, they're still in need of significant testing, tuning and bug fixing before they'll be ready for production use. We're releasing them now to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to providing free software drivers for Intel hardware.

BFG gets it roots from the game industry. The OC line of cards come overclocked right out of the box. The 6600GT OC is a nice mid range card for the price. Read why within...Next Page »

The HIS Exalibur 9550 VIVO is a nice card if you're not a gamer. It comes with an attractive bundle and is well worth the asking price. See for yourself and read the review...Next Page »

I was going around the internet today and discovered some things about the new upcoming nVidia card. Here is a picture of the card. I think...

And here are details of the nVidia LAN party that they will be hosting and be releasing the card at.

Interesting to think about. What has ATI got up its sleeve?

The FX5600 is a hard card to place. Leadtek bundles a bunch of good stuff and packs it with VIVO features. Is this good enough for your hard earned cash? Read on to find out.Next Page »

The new Geforce FX5900 will be shipping around June. Expect to pay $500 for the top end version of the card. Am I the only one concerned about paying half a grand for just the video card?

Quote

The new Nvidia chip also eliminates one of the least-admired aspects of the 5800: the big, noisy cooling fan that the chip required. Steve Sims, senior product manager for Nvidia, said the 5900 uses a cooling system based on Nvidia's workstation products, which improves airflow and reduces fan-related noise significantly.

ATI has just released the Radeon 9600 Pro. Read it here at Digitimes.

While we're on the subject of graphics cards, nVidia might be releasing the NV35 next week. Seen here. Possible pics here.

ATI and nVidia are both having problems getting chips made for their products. Demand is very high, even on the top end product. I'm surprised, at over $300, I wouldn't dare buy a video card for that much. And all the review sites that say otherwise all get them for free.

[QUOTE]Limited supply of Nvidia’s GeForce FX 5800 (NV30) and GeForce FX 5600 (NV31) series chips has pushed some demand to ATI, card makers said. However, a shortage of ATI’s Radeon 9700 and Radeon 9500 chips has been reported and output of its new-generation Radeon 9800 (R350) series has also failed to meet demand.[/QUOTE:105104006

Wow, they are branding devices based on OLED now. They must've heard me. It should be just some time before we see these in force.

Quote

DuPont Displays on April 3 announced that it has launched a DuPont Olight brand, giving a new identity for its future OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display products and signaling its commitment to OLED technology. Derived from the words OLED and light, the Olight brand name will represent displays featuring superior brightness and contrast ratio, fast response time and wide viewing angles, the company said. Equipped with a pilot line in Santa Barbara, California and a full production line via partner RiTdisplay in Hsinchu, Taiwan, the company expects initial applications for Olight products to be in the consumer, industrial and medical areas.

We all see the news from OLED advancements and technology, but when will we ever see it in action? Increasing the lifetime of the OLED display is a major hurdle, but it seems that companies are doing it.

Quote

Under a joint program with Ewing, New Jersey-based Universal Display Corporation (UDC), DuPont Displays’ Experimental Station has developed solution-processed devices (soluble OLED material sets) that contain green phosphorescent emitters with electrical efficiencies of 65cd/A, representing a major step that will further lead to its commercialization. The company also has demonstrated red and blue devices with electrical efficiencies of 10cd/A and 4cd/A, respectively. In addition, extrapolating from accelerated aging tests, DuPont Displays’ Santa Barbara research team is confident that it has demonstrated a representative set of red, green and blue materials that exhibits 10,000 hours of lifetime.

New Jersey rock

Good news for people that want this card, bad news for me . My Radeon 9500 Pro is now obselete.

[QUOTE]ATI Technologies has decided to move up volume shipments of its Radeon 9600 (RV350) chip from June to the end of April to compete with Nvidia’s upcoming NV35 chip, according to sources. Nvidia plans to introduce its NV35, an updated version of the GeForce FX 5800 (NV30), in May. ATI had originally aimed to begin shipping the Radeon 9600 in volume in June to meet second-half seasonal demand.[/QUOTE

Imagine viewing a TV in 3D. I can see the couch potatoe* goodness. Just use a bunch of mirrors and you've got it.

Quote

Researchers from the University of Texas have devised a three-dimensional video system that cuts down the compute power needed to project three-dimensional images by using an 800,000-mirror device designed for two-dimensional digital projectors as a sort of holographic film.

*potato is spelled with an e for purposes of stupidity.

Yes! I want one of these so bad! Uhh, the price tag is a bit off I think. Over $3000. OMG!

Quote

"The 3D monitor should be launched commercially before the end of this year," a Sharp representative said. It is expected to cost about $3,190 (3,000 euros). The prototype on display is a 15-inch flat-panel display. Sharp explained that the screen contains a "parallax barrier" thin-film transistor (TFT) panel that splits the light generated by the monitor in such a way that alternate columns of pixels are seen by each eye. Thus, each eye sees a slightly different image.

I bet you we can jury rig something, just rip two TFTs and smash them together. Simple and effective .

Bunch of the new Radeon reviews coming out.

ATI PR.

HardOCP.

Bjorn3D.

Gamersdepot.

Hexus.

Tech-Report.

The word is that this is the fastest card on the coming market. Don't throw out your R300 based cards though, it is just an evolutionary step. Wait till another 6 months for the really new stuff.

Today marks the second slapping of nVidia from ATI. ATI is basically a full generation ahead of nVidia. Time to play catch up.

Quote

ATI on Thursday will announce three new graphics chips that will extend the performance lead the company established with the Radeon 9700. The Radeon 9800, set to go on sale later this month in graphics cards priced around $400, will operate at speeds of 380MHz and 340MHz, compared with 325MHz and 310MHz for the 9700, said David Rolston, vice president of engineering for ATI. The chips will also have dramatically enhanced support for shader instructions, pixel-by-pixel graphics programming that can dramatically increase the realism of animated images.

I wonder in a few years if OpenGL will be left out of Windows. They say that they will continue to support OpenGL and stuff. But, they have DirectX which, wow, only works with Windows!

Quote

"Microsoft has the highest regard and respect for all the ARB members and will continue to work with individual members of the ARB, customers and ISVs (independent software vendors) who are developing applications that run on OpenGL to ensure that they will provide a great user experience under Windows," the company said in a statement. "Even though Microsoft will be focusing more energy on evolving Windows graphics, Microsoft sees OpenGL as an important component of the Windows Platform today and in the future."

Seems that today is the Geforce FX day.

Hexus.
We believe that this NVIDIA card is ahead of its time and for sure we have an interesting few months coming up - these are going to be the best you can get at the moment

HardOCP.
The Bottom Line: The GeForceFX 5800 Ultra is a very hot and noisy beast that may give you a bit of an edge over the current king of the hill, the ATI 9700 Pro in some applications. If you are an NVIDIA fanboy, this of course has your name all over it.

Anandtech.
As we mentioned at the start of our GeForce FX Preview - "Kudos to ATI."

Extremetech.
For nVidia, GeForceFX represents a return to at the very least performance parity with ATI. For ATI however, Radeon 9700 Pro looks strong versus GeForceFX, and these results show just how much performance ground nVidia had lost to ATI when Radeon 9700 Pro first shipped.

If you own a R9700 Pro, don't buy it. And just wait till the enhanced DX9 cores come out from ATI.

It seems that the results are really in. A German production has it from nVidia of Germany. It isn't the R9700 Pro killer, all too much hype. English translation is weird, but you get the idea. The cards are neck and neck in some test, and in others each can pull ahead of the other. It is safe to say that the Geforce FX is faster that the R9700 Pro, but not enough to warrant all these delays and such. What are your comments? Here is a summary of the board's things.

Quote

GPU: GeForce FX5800 Ultra
128MB DDRII
Core clock: 500Mhz; Memory clock: 1Ghz
Board weight: 600gr
75 watt power consumption under full load!
Excessively loud in 3D mode
DVI; S-Video; VGA connectors
Provided driver: 42.63