GPU

We were expecting to see RDNA iGPUs added to the Ryzen 5000 APUs, but AMD was not able to sync the production schedule for that to happen. Then we saw the leaked future gens with RDNA2 iGPUs, and we thought AMD is probably ditching the RDNA iGPUs altogether, but some recent Linux code uncovered by Phoronix seems to be proving us wrong.

AMD has now officially introduced the RX 6600 XT. The new RDNA 2-based card has 8GB of GDDR6 128-bit memory, has 32 compute units (CUs) and a clock-speed that can go up to 2.6GHz as standard. Therefore, the OEM aims it squarely at 1080p performance - not to mention potentially reasonable estimated starting prices once it emerges via partners on August 11, 2021.

Tipster @Olrak29_ shared consolidated specs for what appears to be AMD’s successor to the RDNA2-based RX 6900 XT. The purported RX 7900 XT is set to feature dual GPU dies connected by Infinity Fabric, for a total of 15360 shader cores.

Lenovo debuted world-first 16-inch WQXGA (or QHD) laptop displays in its latest Legion 7 gaming machine. Its Ryzen 7 5800H-equipped SKUs are now available on the US market, starting at US$1,800. Its Intel counterpart (the Legion 7i Gen 6) has also now been released to the same OEM website.

MediaTek is now rumored to have a new 5G Dimensity chipset ready to go. More detailed specs for this putative 1300T are now allegedly out there, including a 6 nanometer (nm) architecture and an ARM Cortex-A78 core, a combination that might easily rival Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865 SoC, if not the newer 870. It is slated to launch tomorrow (July 26, 2021).

NVIDIA's Lovelace RTX 40 GPU design has apparently been finalized according to a new leak. Lovelace is also likely to feature in the upcoming Nintendo "Super Switch" and could be a part of NVIDIA's Orin self-driving SoC systems. It looks like NVIDIA is planning to tackle competition from AMD RDNA 3 by ramping up production and reducing costs.

The California-based computer hardware company promises to replace the ultra-expensive graphics cards that have been damaged beyond repair by Amazon's New World MMORPG. Meanwhile, it remains unclear what is going to happen with other GPU models that have also been bricked by the game.

The MacBook Pro 16 will allegedly come with exclusive GPU and RAM spec options for those Apple laptop users who want more power and more cores from their MacBook Pro of choice. The source of this information has also doubled down on a claim that the 2021 MacBook Pro devices will feature a redesigned cooling solution.

According to reports, AMD plans to launch at least one Radeon RX 6600 series card in three weeks. Rumour has it that the company will unveil two cards, both based on its new Navi 23 GPU. The Radeon RX 6600 may arrive a few months later than the RX 6600 XT, though.

Supposedly, AMD plans to launch the Radeon RX 6600 XT in a few weeks, with the card serving as a debut for the company's Navi 23 GPU. Now, the first benchmark results and photos of a Radeon RX 6600 XT have leaked, which give a positive impression of the upcoming Navi 23-based card.

Hopper is most likely to be a compute-only architecture, as the upcoming RTX 4000 GPUs are expected to be based on Ada Lovelace. Nvidia is probably taping out Hopper this soon in order to have everything ready by mid-2022 when Intel's Xe-HPC and AMD's CDNA2 are supposed to hit the market. Hopper is Nvidia's first attempt at a multi-chip-module design and is rumored to be produced on the 5 nm nodes from TSMC.

Users reluctant to upgrade to the upcoming Windows 11 version will be happy to learn that the DirectStorage feature is coming to Windows 10, as well. Faster game load times and improved GPU texture decompression speeds will require Windows 10 version 1909 and up, but Windows 11 is getting the performance edge due to its improved OS storage stack.

At the ongoing GDC 2021 event, Nvidia showcased ray tracing and DLSS running on the ARM platform. The demos, which included Wolfenstein: Youngblood and The Bistro, were run on a MediaTek Kompanio 1200 platform paired with an RTX 3060. Nvidia said that it is porting several RTX SDKs to Linux and Chromium on ARM.

MSI's latest line of 15- and 17-inch professional-grade PCs have up to 4K displays, 11th-gen core i9 processors and RTX A5000 graphics. Some variants even have the largest-capacity batteries available to laptops. They now also have sales listings that start at US$1,500.

Since Nvidia allows for a wide variety of TGPs on all of its mobile GPUs, the RTX 3050 Ti does not really make any sense. OEMs can easily replace this model with a lower TGP RTX 3060 and still keep the 6 GB of VRAM. Slapping only 4 GB on the RTX 3050 Ti is not even the bare minimum for some current AAA games, let alone whatever games will be released in the coming years.

As promised, Rockstar has brought DLSS to Red Dead Redemption 2, NVIDIA's super-sampling technology. DLSS should deliver up to 45% better framerates, drastically reducing the system requirements for running the game smoothly in 4K.

Lenovo US has declared today (July 9, 2021) a "second Black Friday", with generous discounts on a range of PCs and peripherals. They include the Core i7-1185G7-powered version of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, which started at US$3,369, but can be had for $1,685 instead during this event. A ThinkPad P17 is also involved in this sale, although it is not the latest model.

MSI is adding a new Delta series with slim and light design that can be equipped with a Ryzen 9 5900HX processor and a Radeon 6700M GPU, while also introducing a redesigned Alpha series with improved cooling and processor options up to a Ryzen 7 5800H complemented by a Radeon RX 6600M GPU.

Everyone saw the GPU dump coming, as the Ethereum Proof of Stake plan was set into motion two years ago, but Chinese cryptominers are forced to dump their GPUs earlier, since the local government is cracking down hard on any cryptomining activities. The RTX 3060 cards make for a particularly good deal now at around $270, but anyone interested in bulk deals for all Nvidia as well as AMD GPU models can easily find bargains on sites like Taobao, Bangood, Alibaba or AliExpress.

According to multiple reports, AMD plans to release the RX 6600 XT for US$399, putting the Navi 23 card in the firing line of NVIDIA and the RTX 3060 Ti. A possible launch date for the RX 6600 XT has been mooted, too.

Units of the Lenovo Legion 5 gaming laptop with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor are out there already. They tend to have RTX 3000-series graphics; however, a reliable leaker has turned up a variant with the Radeon RX 6600M card instead. Therefore, these options might turn up on the market soon.

Looks like Nvidia is not going to release any other RTX 3000 versions besides the Ti ones this year. Rumor has it that Team Green should release 7 nm RTX 3000 Super variants for laptops with more CUDA cores but same VRAM configurations in early 2022, while the desktop variants could arrive a few months after.

Some vague but interesting details about the Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series have appeared online, seemingly confirmed by a well-known tipster. The RTX 40 series of cards are expected to be based on the Lovelace AD102 GPU that will be fabricated on a 5 nm process. Users can look forward to huge performance gains even over the RTX 3090.

PowerColor has done AMD's work for it. While AMD is yet to reveal the Radeon RX 6600 series, PowerColor's website reflects that both the RX 6600 and RX 6600 XT are on the horizon. AMD teased that it would announce the RX 6600 series by June 2021 at the latest.

The prices of AMD Radeon RX 6000 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series cards have been falling rapidly in the last few months. While both series remain above MSRP, GeForce RTX 30 cards are now two times cheaper in Germany than they were in May.

AMD claimed that it would announce the Radeon RX 6600 XT in the first half of 2021. While the card remains unreleased, a render of it has leaked, matching a slide that AMD showcased earlier this year.

The Ultra Quality preset is mentioned in the UE5 documentation, but it is unclear how it differs from the Quality preset or when exactly it is going to be activated for end-users. The latest UE5 build also features a new 2.2.9.0 DLSS version that apparently comes with worse image quality compared to version 2.2.6.0.

This is the A77 core variant and it still lags behind the Apple A14 by almost 150 points. There should be an A78 variant that could dethrone the A14; however, Apple is ready to launch the A15 this fall, so the Exynos supremacy will be short-lived.

LG announced support for Dolby Vision at the launch of TVs such as the 2021 OLED C1- and G1-series. Now, the OEM has released the firmware that activates this spec on these devices. Moreover, the feature works with HDR at 4K/120Hz for certain gaming platforms, thus potentially elevating the experience on the systems in question.

A Geekbench OpenCL entry has come to light showing an Xe-DG2 GPU with 256 EUs in combination with a 14-core Alder Lake processor. The DG2-256 GPU seems to have scored 18,450 points in the test, which puts it in the same ballpark as an NVIDIA GTX 1050. Another DG2 entry with 96 EUs was also spotted, possibly an iGPU in the Alder Lake SoC.

According to the latest insider info relayed through RedGamingTech, Intel will not be able to ready the DG2 gaming GPUs in desktop form this year. Instead, Intel will be focusing on releasing laptop-grade DG2 GPUs, as these are much more stable at lower voltages / frequencies and it is also easier to supply this sort of chips together with mobile CPUs to laptop integrator partners. Top performance in this case would only match a desktop RTX 3060 Ti.

One year ago, Zhaoxin was announcing its intentions to enter the discrete gaming GPU market with a 70 W TGP 28 nm model releasing some time in 2021. From what we can see in the pictures released by Glenfly, Zhaoxin already has some working engineering samples, but Chinese sources are now claiming that these particular models have been cancelled. Could be because of the unsatisfactory performance.

Previous leaks were already suggesting that the RDNA3 GPUs should be more than twice as fast as the current RX 6800 XT models thanks to the multi-chip module approach, but fresh rumors now claim that the impressive raster and ray tracing performance of the RDNA3 is also enabled through a massive increase in Infinity Cache memory capacity.

Finding AMD or NVIDIA's latest desktop graphics cards at reasonable prices has been almost impossible since their launch. Not only has their scarcity pushed prices to insane levels, but it has also inflated the re-sale value of older cards. Thankfully, the prices of AMD Radeon RX 6000 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3000 series cards are now starting to come down.

Three hundred lucky gamers will be able to play Doom Eternal in all of its ray-traced glory thanks to the Doom Eternal GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Demon Slayer Bundle. It costs US$1,450 and gets you a copy of the game, a graphics card and a host of other goodies. Unfortunately, only people based in North America, Europe and Australia can participate in the raffle.

NVIDIA has announced a few updates to DLSS just in time for AMD's FSR-related announcements tomorrow. NVIDIA said that several new titles will be offering DLSS support in the coming weeks. DLSS plugins are already available for popular game engines, and Vulkan titles running on Linux via Proton will also get DLSS enhancements from tomorrow.

AMD quietly released its liquid-cooled RX 6900XT LC to Indian system integrators. Some resellers appear to have 6900 XT LC stock which they’re selling without a system for an incredible US$3007.

AMD's mobile Radeon mRDNA 2 graphics is reportedly a bit faster than the upcoming ARM Mali GPU in peak performance, and the performance is higher than the latest Mali GPU even if subjected to a 30% performance drop under throttling. Samsung and AMD will likely unveil the new SoC in July. We are also hearing that Google has also signed the contract with AMD for mRDNA 2.

The cut-down version of the high-end DG2-512 is clocked at 1.8 GHz max and is only 5% slower than the RTX 3070 or 8% slower than the RX 6700 XT. This means that the 512 EU variant could indeed compete with the RTX 3080 and RX 6800, as posited in previous leaks. Additionally, the leak reveals that the 128 EU variant is 12% faster than the Nvidia GTX 1650, although it is unclear what testing suite was used.

No official release notes for now, but some reddit folks already managed to port the updated files to games that already support DLSS and noticed no fps performance increase. However, the new version does fix some visual artifacts and further improves image quality. Rainbow Six Siege is supposed to get an fps boost of up to 50% in 4K, but the implementation is not that good as HUD elements are displayed at rendering resolution instead of native resolution.

Only two AAA games among the 7 launch titles, but there are more coming soon. Also, the list of companies and publishers includes big names such as Capcom, EA & Frostbite, Gearbox Publishing, Valve, My.Games, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Games.

The new Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti desktop graphics card has been put through its paces in Unreal Engine 4.26. Puget Systems tested the RTX 3080 Ti in numerous benchmarks and found it to be almost on par with the more-expensive RTX 3090 in instances where VRAM didn’t count. However, emission levels suffered from such performance.

Select PC builders are mentioning the availability of the RX 6900 XT Liquid Cooled, but none of them specify the actual costs, so they might charge some ridiculous prices for around 10% performance uplift coming from overcharged specs such as boost clocks of up to 2435 MHz, 18 Gbps GDDR6 RAM and TPB bumped to 330 W.

Lenovo is now offering an upgraded ThinkPad P17 Gen 2 with 11th gen Core and Xeon options along with NVIDIA RTX A5000 graphics. The ThinkPad P17 Gen 2 features a 17.3-inch IPS display that is available in UHD and FHD variants. Prices for the ThinkPad P17 Gen 2 start from US$1,779.

Lenovo has launched the ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 with internal upgrades over the 2020 version. The 2021 ThinkPad P15 Gen 2 continues to offer the GPU in a daughter board and comes in several configuration options including Intel 11th gen Core and Xeon GPUs, NVIDIA RTX A5000 graphics, and UHD displays in both OLED and IPS variants.

The Radeon RX 6600M is actually faster than the RTX 3060 in raster-heavy tests, but overall, it is as fast as the Nvidia card in 3DMark. It also falls behind by up to 13% in 1440p games and is significantly slower in ray tracing games. This SKU will no doubt be ignored by crypto miners as it is slower than the previous gen RX 5600M model.

A report out of China has stated that Nvidia will drastically cut the supply of GeForce RTX 2060 cards to bolster production efforts in regard to the Ampere-based GeForce RTX 30 series of boards. Gamers around the world have struggled to get their hands on Nvidia’s latest and greatest, so this purported plan will be welcomed by many.

NVIDIA released a low-key update on its plans for end-of-lifing cards based on the Kepler architecture. According to a new post on NVIDIA's support site, Kepler cards like the GeForce GTX 780 Ti will no longer receive driver updates from August 2021 onwards.