Come this Winter, and things will heat up once again in the graphics card industry, with GPU vendors battling it out for the crucial Holidays shopping season. While AMD did not introduce any new GPUs after completing its ATI Radeon HD 5000 series launch itinerary, it did manage to grab significant amount of sales from its graphics rival NVIDIA. For this Winter, AMD and its partners will be in a position to launch the ATI Radeon HD 6000 series graphics processors, according to DigiTimes, citing sources from graphics card vendors.

It is also said that the Radeon HD 6000 series, codenamed "Southern Islands" (members of which are codenamed after islands in the Mediterranean Sea), will be built on TSMC's 40 nm manufacturing process. AMD had originally planned to build Southern Islands on TSMC's 32 nm process, but with the foundry skipping 32 nm bulk for 28 nm which will start operations only by the end of the year, AMD redrew its plans and stuck to the now-mature (stable) 40 nm process. Perhaps AMD learned a thing or two from a wide range of teething problems that plagued the 40 nm production line.

AMD today announced the availability of the ATI Stream Software Development Kit (SDK) v2.2 with full OpenCL 1.1 support to provide developers with the tools they need to build incredible next-generation applications. By taking advantage of both CPU and GPU processing power in a given system, applications like 3D video, HD video chat and multi-display 3D gaming are possible.

A development platform created by AMD, the ATI Stream SDK v2.2 brings a wide range of tools to the developer community including support for OpenCL 1.1, in addition to Ubuntu 10.04 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5. This updated development platform empowers the developer community to accelerate applications on the CPU and GPU quickly and efficiently. The new version is available for download here.

SAPPHIRE Technology introduces the SAPPHIRE HD 5770 FleX, the latest graphics card in the highly successful SAPPHIRE HD 5000 series. This is the first graphics solution to support three screens in ATI Eyefinity mode, out of the box, without the need for DisplayPort monitors or active adapters. The SAPPHIRE HD 5770 FleX can also support four monitors in ATI Eyefinity mode with a single card.

The SAPPHIRE HD 5770 FleX is a SAPPHIRE original design based on the latest 40nm graphics architecture from the ATI division of AMD. It supports the advanced graphical features of DirectX 11, and delivers spectacular video clarity, speed and visual effects.

Reliable and secure, ASUS Commercial Series notebooks are designed to perform in the business world. They have been subjected to stringent durability tests which include drop and pressure tests that surpass industry standards. These notebooks come with Anti-Shock Hard Drives, smart card access, TPM and fingerprint logins as well as ASUS Secure Delete to provide unprecedented levels of security.

The B Series notebooks feature the latest Intel Core processors with vPro technology as well as switchable graphics that offer both energy-efficiency and optimized performance modes. ASUS has partnered with battery manufacturer Boston-Power to provide the Nordic Ecolabel and China CEC-accredited battery for the B43 and B53 Commercial Series notebooks. These batteries maintain peak performance for over 900 charge cycles--more than triple the normal lithium ion battery life cycle. And with ASUS Xpress Charge, a fully- drained battery can be charged to 90 percent capacity in just 90 minutes.

AMD announced that Apple has selected the world renowned ATI Radeon graphics solutions for the new line of Apple iMac and Mac Pro tower. Now featured in Apple Stores as well as online retail, ATI Radeon graphics offer outstanding power and performance as the standard configuration for the new iMac and Mac Pro tower which will hit store shelves soon.

"Apple buyers demand the best, and AMD's award-winning ATI Radeon graphics enable exceptional visual experiences for iMac users," said Matt Skynner, corporate vice- president and general manager, GPU division, AMD. "AMD has conducted extensive testing and research to create superior graphics products for the iMac. This research is designed to dramatically enhance the Mac-user experience so that Apple users can enjoy responsive performance and play the newest games."

There seems to be a single-slot ATI Radeon HD 5700 series trend going on, with XFX designing two single-slot ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics cards, a base model (HD-577X-ZMF3), and an Eyefinity-5 model (HD-577X-Z5F3). Both cards use PCB and cooler designed by XFX. The cooler particularly looks familiar in design to the countless single-slot GeForce graphics cards designed by the company, one of the recent ones being a GeForce 9800 GT. The cooler makes generous use of copper.

Both cards stick to the reference AMD clock speeds, 850 MHz core and 1200 MHz (4800 MHz effective) memory, and feature 1 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 128-bit wide memory interface. Power is taken in from a single 6-pin PCI-E input. While the base model has display outputs which includes two DVI and one mini-DisplayPort, the Eyefinity-5 model features five mini-DisplayPort connectors. The cards will be released around the middle of this month, and Japan prices (which tend to be higher than US/EU prices) indicate 17,500 JPY (US $202) for the base model, and 18,000 JPY ($208).

Barely a week after releasing the Catalyst 10.7 WHQL software suite, AMD rolled out the Catalyst 10.7a BETA. This new version packs all the features and fixes of Catalyst 10.7, with the added feature of letting users enable forced anti-aliasing for Starcraft II Wings of Liberty from Catalyst Control Center to improve image quality. The fix affects all ATI Radeon graphics processors from Radeon HD 2000 series to HD 5000 series, supporting all Windows client versions from Windows XP. The other added feature is improved 4-way CrossFireX performance in ATI Eyefinity setups.

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 10.7a BETA

AMD has finally surpassed NVIDIA in terms of shipments of discrete graphics (graphics cards), according to market research firm Mercury Research, in a report released on Wednesday. AMD's discrete graphics products held 51% of the discrete graphics market, with NVIDIA slipping down to 49%, in terms of discrete graphics products shipments in Q2 2010. For the same quarter last year, the two were poised at 41% for AMD and 59% for NVIDIA, indicating a significant growth, fruition of AMD's DirectX 11 push of deploying a new-generation lineup that spans all price-points in a span of four months.

For the overall GPU industry, with integrated graphics included, the picture for Q2 2010 looks like Intel holding 54.3%, AMD holding 24.5%, and NVIDIA with 19.8%. Last year, in Q2 2009, NVIDIA held 29.6% versus AMD's 18.2%. NVIDIA's deployment of a DirectX 11 compliant GPU lineup has been rather slow, with only two GPUs and four SKUs deployed so far, starting at $199. NVIDIA does not have the fastest graphics card. On Wednesday, the Santa Clara based company warned that its revenue would fall short of earlier projections (set at the time of Fermi's launch). This announcement came after Apple announced a series-wide transition of graphics chips inside its Macbooks, iMac, and Mac Pro computers to AMD's ATI Radeon from NVIDIA GeForce.

AMD rolled out its latest ATI Catalyst Software Suite today, as expected. The latest release is Catalyst 10.7 WHQL. The Catalyst Software Suite provides drivers for ATI Radeon graphics processors, AMD 7-series chipsets, and ATI multimedia products. Version 10.7 WHQL ironed out an important issue with VLC Media Player, which enabled DXVA2 hardware h.264 video acceleration (with VLC 1.1.1 or later installed), which results in smooth video playback and reduced system resource usage. Important enhancements to the HydraVision technology were also added, such as taking into account bezel compensation when maximizing windows across displays. The new pull-down detection algorithm improves visual quality of certain types of videos. And finally, ATI CrossFireX now supports rotated displays, which was particularly longed for by users of ATI Eyefinity setups that make use of rotated physical displays. A list of performance improvements are also included, pertaining to Borderlands in single and multi GPU modes, with and without AA.

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 10.7 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit

A list of changes follows.

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, introduced an innovative cooling technology into the PCS+ HD5770 series: the PCS+ HD5770 Vortex Edition. This special edition offers the flexibility for users to manually adjust the fan and its physical attributes, providing better air flow to effectively cool down the temperature up to 15°C when compare to reference design.

The PCS+ HD5770 Vortex Edition also features factory overclocking with core and memory
clocks at 900 MHz and 1225 MHz respectively. With the cooling ability seen in the Vortex
Edition, it allows more headroom for overclocking that maximizes performance releasing
more potential for gaming power.

Call it one of the immediate repercussions of NVIDIA's Monday launch of the GeForce GTX 460, AMD has responded covertly with noticeable price-cuts for the ATI Radeon HD 5830 graphics card, from across various AIB partners. Leading partners such as Sapphire, HIS, and Gigabyte positioned their models that have AMD-reference clock speeds at US $199.99, and factory-overclocked models starting at $229.99. Incidentally these are two price-points NVIDIA is targeting with the GeForce GTX 460, with the 768 MB variant positioned at $199.99, which NVIDIA refers to as the gamers' sweet-spot, and the 1 GB variant at $229.99.

Reviews from across the web show that while GeForce GTX 460 768MB gets close to the Radeon HD 5830 in terms of performance, it only takes the 1 GB variant to perform on par. With AMD positioning the HD 5830 at $199, and factory-overclocked HD 5830 starting at $229.99, things could get heated up in this market segment. Based on the 40 nm Cypress GPU, the Radeon HD 5830 is DirectX 11 compatible, packs 1120 stream processors, and 1 GB of GDDR5 memory.

Club 3D announced a special Radeon HD 5450 graphics card, which it claims, can support up to three displays working in an Eyefinity setup for productivity purposes. ATI Eyefinity technology lets you create a large display head using multiple physical displays, and is typically out of specs for the Radeon HD 5400 series GPUs. Based on the 40 nm Cedar die, the HD 5450 packs 80 stream processors, and supports DirectX 11. The Club 3D card packs 512 MB of DDR2 memory across a 64-bit wide memory interface.

To connect up to three displays, it provides one each of DVI, D-Sub, and DisplayPort connectors. The GPU is clocked at 650 MHz, with the memory at 800 MHz. The card is low-profile in design, and with its passive heatsink, occupies just one expansion slot. Low profile brackets are included in the box. Club 3D did not announce its price.

MSI is ready with a new feature-rich "value" LGA1366 motherboard, the X58A-GD65. Among LGA1366 motherboards, this model is priced at a relatively-affordable 210€, building on X58's feature-set, coupled with USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s using additional controllers on board. The X58A-GD65 uses an 8-phase VRM with high-C capacitors. It uses simple heatsinks over the VRM, X58 IOMMU, and ICH10R southbridge. Expansion slots include three PCI-Express x16 slots, of which the first two are wired to the X58 with full-bandwidth, while the third one is wired to the ICH10R, and is electrical x4; other slots include two each of PCI-E x1, and PCI. ATI CrossFireX is the only multi-GPU standard supported.

Connectivity includes six SATA 3 Gb/s ports from the southbridge, two SATA 6 Gb/s from an additional controller, two eSATA ports, two USB 3.0 ports, 4+6 USB 2.0 ports, 8-channel audio with optical and coaxial SPDIF connectors, FireWire, and one gigabit Ethernet connection. To lure enthusiasts, MSI advertises military-grade components used in critical power-delivery circuits, active-phase switching, support for six-core processors out of the box, and DDR3-2133 MHz memory support.

If you absolutely need 2 GB of video memory to talk about in your rig, Club3D developed an easy means to get there. Its latest ATI Radeon HD 5550 variant boasts of 2 GB of DDR3 memory across a 128-bit wide memory interface, and some out of the box overclocked speeds. The single-slot full-height card uses an active GPU cooler, and draws all its power from the PCI-E slot. The DirectX 11 compliant Radeon HD 5550 GPU has 320 stream processors, and a 128-bit wide memory interface, with clock speeds of 650 MHz core, 1200 MHz (2400 MHz effective) memory. Display connectivity includes one each of DVI-D, D-Sub, and HDMI. Club3D did not give out a price.

AMD released the latest version of its ATI Catalyst software suite, version 10.6 WHQL, which provides drivers and system software for ATI Radeon GPUs (HD 2000 series and above), AMD 7-series and 8-series chipsets, and ATI Theater multimedia processors. The new version packs pays attention to video-acceleration, and packs two new features that improve video output quality, official support for Adobe Flash 10.1 GPU acceleration, official support for OpenGL 4.0 and GL 3.3, a wide range of game-specific performance increments, and the usual load of bug fixes.

To begin with, Catalyst 10.6 adds GPU-accelerated video de-blocking (a feature that helps improve quality of upscaled videos), and mosquito-noise reduction, which helps improve quality of lossy video formats. Although ATI was first to be out with a GPU driver that packs OpenGL 4.0 ICD, it was only in the form of preview drivers. Catalyst 10.3 provides official support for OpenGL 4.0, a graphics API technologically comparable to DirectX 11, compatible with Radeon HD 5000 series GPUs. It also adds OpenGL 3.3 support.

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 10.6 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit

Details about game-specific improvements follow.

The 14" CX410, the newest addition to MSI's new Classic series of notebook computers, is designed and crafted with MSI's craftsmanship. It features AMD's latest Vision (Danube) platform with AMD Athlon II Dual-Core processor and DDR3 system memory with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 545v (512MB GDDR3 display memory) for a smooth multimedia experience.

MSI Marketing Director Sam Chern points out that the CX410 boasts MSI's exclusive 45-degree beveled construction, power-saving, cinema-class 16:9 ratio LED display, as well as MSI's own ECO Engine power saving technology. The sophisticated exterior, superior multimedia performance, and extended battery power life make it the best choice for affordable mobile entertainment.

While AMD has no new GPU product launches slated for this year's Computex event, its partners are letting their imagination go places. PowerColor is doing just that, with as many as five new products and technologies. To begin with, the company is working on the PowerColor HD 5770 Sniper Edition. This graphics card packs a Bigfoot Killer NIC on-board, so graphics and network processing is packaged into a single addon card. From what we can tell, the card is designed using a PCI-Express bridge which is connected to the PCI-Express x16 interface, which gives the Radeon HD 5770 GPU an x16 link and the Killer SoC an x1 link. The Killer network processor has its own dedicated memory and ROM, with which the SoC can offload network processing from Windows, in a bid to reduce latencies, even if improving performance is inconsequential with today's systems with powerful processors.

Next up, is the PowerColor HD 5770 Evolution. Again, another novelty graphics card based on the Radeon HD 5770. This one packs a Lucid Hydra Engine chip on-board, which allows it work in tandem with any other graphics card, ATI or NVIDIA, with 2-way or 3-way multi-GPU support. Third card is probably what will interest a lot more buyers, PowerColor HD 5770 Single Slot Edition. As the name suggests, the card will occupy only one expansion slot. The next card is an even more practical product in the making, a series of low-profile Radeon HD 5770 and HD 5750 cards. Lastly, PowerColor will demonstrate what it calls the Vortex Cooling technology, a unique video card cooler which allows users to adjust the fan's height from the heatsink, and vector its air-flow. Not wanting to reveal too much, PowerColor left us with tiny images, some of which are outlines of the actual images.

TechPowerUp rolled out a new version of GPU-Z, the popular graphics sub-system diagnostic utility. Version 0.4.3 comes with a load of new features and stability updates. Highlights include full capability to monitor voltages on the GeForce GTX 480, a new method of voltage monitoring which extends support for many ATI and NVIDIA graphics cards, support for the upcoming GeForce GTX 465, GT 320M GT 335M, ION variant, GT 340, Tesla C2050, Tesla M2050, and other Quadro series GPUs, new display languages including Spanish and Hungarian, among other stability updates.DOWNLOAD: GPU-Z 0.4.3

Change log follows.

Futuremark is readying the next generation of its popular 3D graphics benchmark, the 3DMark. The new version will be called 3DMark 11 (probably named after the year 2011 or DirectX 11), and will strive to be every present-generation GPU's worst nightmare (stress test). With NVIDIA's entry into the DirectX 11 generation of graphics following ATI making the new GPUs "current", 3DMark 11 will focus on the GPUs' DirectX 11 capabilities, probably exploiting new texturing and hardware tessellation features.

The benchmark will be able to push present and future GPUs to their maximum capabilities. At least one of its game tests have been known to be called "Undersea Submarine". There is no mention of NVIDIA PhysX, so it's safe to assume that the benchmark will use industry standard features which are available to all DirectX 11 generation GPUs. However, similar to a marketing deal with Sapphire for 3DMark Vantage (where a certain game test showed a futuristic vehicle with Sapphire logo on it), this version will market MSI. What's more, it will be bundled with MSI graphics cards when the software releases. Futuremark will show off its latest creation at this year's Computex event held in early June, in Taiwan. The software will be released some time in Q3, 2010.

PowerColor's latest high end graphics card which surfaced in April, as a graphics card with the ability to run 12 displays in ATI Eyefinity arrays, seems to have finally taken shape, with the company calling it the PowerColor HD 5970 Eyefinity 12. This graphics card is based on the Radeon HD 5970 dual-GPU graphics card, but makes use of display outputs from both GPUs.

PowerColor had to extend the connectivity on a third slot with mini-Display Port connectors, as it ran out on space with two slots holding 6 connectors and the crucial air-exhaust vent. The second set of mini-DP connectors sit on a riser card, which is detachable, turning the card into a dual-slot Eyefinity6 card. To help handle 12 display heads, the card has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory spread across two 256-bit wide memory interfaces. It is capable of running large Eyefinity display heads which span across all the 12 physical displays. The Eyefinity12 card from PowerColor is expected to be launched during the Computex event, early next month.

AMD is planning a major update for the ATI Radeon HD 5670 mainstream graphics card. Currently based on the 40 nm Redwood core with specifications which include 400 stream processors, 512 MB / 1 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 128-bit wide memory interface, the updated HD 5670 will be based on the larger Juniper core (on which are based HD 5750 and HD 5770). On the HD 5670, the Juniper will have 640 of its 800 stream processors enabled, while having the same memory interface of 128-bit GDDR5 @ 1000 MHz (4 GHz effective).

The core will be clocked at 750 MHz. Since the nomenclature remains the same, it is safe to assume that the price will be remain unchanged, around $90 for the 512 MB, and $110 for the 1 GB variant. Leading AIB partners such as PowerColor and Sapphire seem to be ready with their board designs which are essentially identical to those of their Radeon HD 5700 series products. Unlike the HD 5770 reference, the new HD 5670 will be able to make do without an additional PCI-Express power input. Looking purely at the specifications, the new HD 5670 will be able to perform on par with the Radeon HD 4770 in present applications, with the added DirectX 11 and hardware tessellation support. With CrossFireX connectors on some designs, these card will have the ability to pair with more than two of their kind. There is no word yet on the availability.

AMD today announced a remote graphics option for IT managers seeking to replace existing desktop workstations with energy-efficient thin-client solutions. The ATI FirePro RG220 graphics card delivers a wide-ranging compute experience from the datacenter without compromise, and is designed to help IT managers reduce local power and cooling costs per user while limiting the amount of physical hardware at users' desks.

"Power consumption restrictions in crowded office buildings cause headaches for IT managers trying to find the right balance between energy efficiency, system performance and IT spend for the work environments they manage," said Janet Matsuda, senior director, Professional Graphics, AMD. "The ATI FirePro RG220 can be part of a secure, easy to manage solution, and is now available to enterprises that need to deploy updates to multiple users simultaneously, while still giving the end user the full PC experience they're accustomed to."

The MSI Big Bang-XPower is making its much anticipated debut in April of this year. MSI, a leading mainboard and graphics card maker, with over 23 years of R&D and manufacturing experience, has made its name catering to performance-hungry gamers. The Big Bang-XPower is another exceptional mainboard from the Big Bang series with astonishing performance and reliability. MSI is confident that the Big Bang-XPower will again be selling like hotcakes to users worldwide.

MSI's Big Bang-XPower mainboard is built with Military Class components that includes a Hi-c CAP (highly-conductive polymerized capacitor), Solid Cap (solid capacitor), and Icy Choke for longer lifespan, better thermal reliability, and stability. The Hi-c CAP has excellent physical properties of thermally stable, reliable, performs under stress, and lasts 8X longer than traditional solid capacitors. Icy Choke is a new generation ferrite choke that features low temperature and longer lifespan. Military Class Solid CAP lasts longer than traditional capacitors, up to 10 years of lifespan. All these Military Class components add up to a stable and long lasting mainboard that will keep running even under high stress conditions.

SAPPHIRE Technology has just added a new silent cooled model to its extensive range of ATI-based graphics cards. The award winning ULTIMATE Series is SAPPHIRE Technology's Silent Cooled product line. The SAPPHIRE HD 5550 ULTIMATE is a new graphics card aimed at the mainstream market, whist sharing many of the exciting features of the latest high end series.

The SAPPHIRE HD 5500 series is based on the latest graphics architecture from the ATI division of AMD, built in its 40nm process. It supports the advanced graphical features of Microsoft DirectX 11, and delivers superb video clarity and visual effects, whilst consuming very low power levels.

Today HIS is proud to announce the new HIS 5550 Silence 1GB DDR2 low-profile Graphics card, the world's first Silence 5500 series low-profile graphics card. Supporting the innovative DirectX 11, Full 1080p and ATI Stream Technology, HD 5550 offers you a multi-purpose solution for maximum versatility.

HIS Radeon HD 5550 1GB DDR2 Silence is the World's first 5500 Silence low-profile graphics card. This brand-new designed double-slot heatsink effectively takes away the heat from GPU at front and back, and does not produce any noise. With this easy-to-install graphics card, you can accelerate with ATI stream Technology to enjoy realistic visuals playing popular 3D DirectX 11 Game titles, speed up your video and photo editing, and experience full1080p, true HD audio videos in rich details - without any sound disturbance and without compromising of cooling effect.