Sapphire announced its premium Radeon RX 480 graphics card, the NITRO+. Featuring a completely custom design, the card features the company's latest Dual-X cooling solution that combines a dense aluminium fin-stack heatsink, with a pair of easily detachable 95 mm fans, and an air-channel that directs hot air towards the top; and a custom-design PCB with a strong VRM, which draws power from a single 8-pin PCIe power connector.

The Radeon RX 480 NITRO+ comes in two variants, 4 GB and 8 GB. The 4 GB variant comes with clock speeds of 1208 MHz core, 1306 MHz boost, and 7 Gbps memory; while the 8 GB variant ships with 1208 MHz core, 1342 MHz boost, and 8 Gbps memory. Display outputs include two each of DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0b, and a dual-link DVI connector. The unique NITRO Glow feature lets you make the LED-lit Sapphire logo useful, by cycling it between its default blue color, to a random RGB color, gradients based on PCB temperature and fan-speeds, a Sapphire TriXX-set color, or stay off.

Here are some of the first detailed pictures of XFX Radeon RX 480 Double Dissipation graphics card. The card combines a custom-design PCB with a meaty custom cooling solution by the company, to support factory-overclocked speeds and overclocking headroom further still. The cooling solution, from which the card derives its name, features two aluminium fin-stacks, to which heat drawn from a copper base is conveyed by four 6 mm-thick copper heat pipes, and ventilated by a pair of 90 mm spinners.

These fans can be detached from the cooler without needing any tools, and without even having to detach the cooler shroud. A back-plate finishes off the cooling solution. The PCB draws power from a single 8-pin PCIe power connector, and uses a 6-phase VRM with high-end International Rectifier DirectFETs to condition it for the GPU. The card features factory-overclocked speeds in excess of 1300 MHz. The card features 8 GB of memory. Display outputs include a DVI connector, besides three DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.0b. XFX could launch the card later this week.

NVIDIA today announced its third desktop consumer graphics card based on the "Pascal" architecture, the GeForce GTX 1060. NVIDIA aims to strike a price-performance sweetspot, by pricing this card aggressively at US $249 (MSRP), with its reference "Founders Edition" variant priced at $299. To make sure two of these cards at $500 don't cannibalize the $599-699 GTX 1080, NVIDIA didn't even give this card 2-way SLI support. Retail availability of the cards will commence from 19th July, 2016. NVIDIA claims that the GTX 1060 performs on-par with the GeForce GTX 980 from the previous generation.

The GeForce GTX 1060 is based on the new 16 nm "GP106" silicon, the company's third ASIC based on this architecture after GP100 and GP104. It features 1,280 CUDA cores spread across ten streaming multiprocessors, 80 TMUs, 48 ROPs, and a 192-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 6 GB of memory. The card draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector, as the GPU's TDP is rated at just 120W. The core is clocked up to 1.70 GHz, and the memory at 8 Gbps, at which it belts out 192 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Display outputs include three DisplayPorts 1.4, one HDMI 2.0b, and a DVI.

A Sapphire branded AMD reference design Radeon RX 480 graphics card was taken apart, giving us an early close look at the card and its key components. The pictures reveal pretty much the same details as the first close-up shot of the reference RX 480 / RX 470 common PCB, and the cooling solution was taken apart further, revealing more details than the first time we saw what's underneath.

To begin with, the reference RX 480 PCB features a 6-phase VRM that draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector. Display outputs include one HDMI 2.0 and three DisplayPort 1.4 connectors. One of the pictures features a close-up of the 14 nm "Ellesmere" silicon. The cooling solution is confirmed to feature a chunky monolithic aluminium heatsink with a copper core, cooling the GPU, with a metal base-plate conveying heat from the VRM and memory to it; ventilated by a lateral blower. The Radeon RX 480 is expected to launch on the 29th of June, 2016, priced at $199 for the 4 GB variant, and $229 for the 8 GB variant.More pictures follow.

AMD's all-important Polaris10 "Ellesmere" ASIC is pictured up close in a 3-quarter PCB shot of the upcoming Radeon RX 480 / RX 470. The picture reveals the ASIC with a die that's significantly smaller than that of the 28 nm "Tonga" silicon. The "Ellesmere" die is built on the 14 nm FinFET+ process. The die is seated on a substrate with a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. This appears to be a common reference PCB between the RX 480 and the RX 470.

The RX 480 ships with a classy looking lateral-flow cooler that's longer than the PCB itself; while the RX 470 uses a more common fin-stack top-flow cooling solution. Of course both cards are expected to ship with custom-design boards and cooling solutions. The reference PCB draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector, and uses a 6-phase VRM to condition it for the GPU and memory. Display outputs include three DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.0a connectors. There are also unused traces on the PCB for a DVI connector, so it's likely that some custom-design cards could feature it.

AMD put out press pictures (for now renders) of its reference-design Radeon RX 480 board. The pictures reveal a very compact reference PCB, which draws power from just a single 6-pin PCIe power connector, and which uses a 5+2 phase VRM to power the card. The ASIC package is about the size of the "Tonga," and is surrounded by 8 memory chips. Display connectors include three DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.0a. The blower-type reference cooler has to cope with a card with a typical board power of just 150W despite high clock speeds, and so we expect this to be a very cool and quiet card. We expect AMD to allow its add-in board (AIB) partners to come up with custom-design coolers from day one, and so the combination of this 150W card with the likes of IceQ X, VaporX, or TwinFrozr VI can only be blissful.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced the release of the powerful TVS-x82 series, aimed at business users in need of the utmost performance and storage efficiency. Available in three different models (TVS-1282, TVS-882 and TVS-682) the TVS-x82 series adopts the latest 6th Generation Intel 14nm multi-core processors and has been designed to meet specific usage scenarios to accomplish tiered storage, application-based partitioning, and network traffic distribution with outstanding performance. The TVS-x82 series also features HDMI 2.0 output for delivering an amazing 4K 60 fps viewing experience and allows storage expansion by using the storage capacity of other QNAP NAS through VJBOD technology.

The TVS-x82 features advanced hardware for greater efficiency, including built-in SATA M.2 SSD, 2.5" SSD slots, compartmentalized smart cooling, and tool-less HDD installation. QNAP's Qtier technology empowers the TVS-x82 with auto tiering that helps continuously optimize storage efficiency across M.2 SSD, SSD and SATA drives, and these different storage media can be configured as independent partitions for different applications to ensure a sufficient throughput level for every application. With multiple network ports, it allows applications to use dedicated interfaces to meet network traffic distribution requirements.

Industry sources revealed to TechPowerUp some pretty interesting specifications of AMD's two upcoming GPUs based on the 4th generation Graphics CoreNext "Polaris" architecture. The company is preparing a performance-segment GPU and a mainstream one. It turns out, that the performance-segment chip, which the press has been referring to as "Ellesmere," could feature 32 compute units (CUs), and not the previously thought 40.

Assuming that each CU continues to consist of 64 stream processors (SP), you're looking at an SP count of 2,048. What's more, this chip is said to offer a single-precision floating point performance of 5.5 TFLOP/s, as claimed by AMD. To put this into perspective, the company had claimed 5.2 TFLOP/s for the "Hawaii"/"Grenada" based FirePro W9100, which launched earlier this February, and that SKU featured all 2,816 SP present on the chip. So this chip is definitely faster than most "Hawaii" based SKUs.

NVIDIA appears to have done away with support for the legacy D-Sub (VGA) analog connector, with its latest GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card. The card's DVI connector does not have wiring for analog signals. Retail cards won't include DVI to D-Sub dongles, even aftermarket dongles won't work. What you get instead on the card, are one dual-link DVI-D, an HDMI 2.0b, and three DisplayPort 1.4 connectors. NVIDIA's rival AMD did away with D-Sub support on its high-end graphics cards way back in 2013, with the Radeon R9 290 series.

At its pre-Dreamhack launch event, we caught a glimpse of a GeForce GTX 1080 reference-design graphics card working. The card looks a lot better in the flesh than some of its early pictures, and in our opinion, looks better than even the NVTTM cooler NVIDIA used on some of its earlier generation graphics cards. It also features a solid-looking backplate.

There are two stunning attractions here - firstly, the GeForce GTX 1080 draws power from a single 8-pin PCIe power connector! This speaks volumes about its energy-efficiency. Secondly, it features a similar display connector layout as the previous generation, but the connectivity is revamped. It features three DisplayPort 1.4 (that's right, one point four) connectors, which supports insanely high resolutions; an HDMI 2.0 connector and a dual-link DVI port.

AMD posted a new webpage for its upcoming "Polaris" GPU architecture, outlining its various innovations - 4th gen. Graphics CoreNext, 4K H.265 60 Hz game-streaming, next-generation display engine with support for DisplayPort 1.3 and HDMI 2.0, XConnect Technology, and the foundation of GPUOpen. In this page, the company inadvertently leaked pictures of its upcoming Polaris 10 "Ellesmere" and Polaris 11 "Baffin" ASICs.

The mast image of the page has a faded 3-quarter shot of a "small" GPU with a die that's almost 30% of the package area. This hints at Polaris 11 "Baffin." This chip is rumored to feature a 128-bit GDDR5/GDDR5X memory interface, and so its pin-count, and conversely, package-size is less. Then in its "4th gen GCN" heading image, AMD showed a picture of a bigger GPU. At first glance, you could assume that it's either "Tonga XT" or "Tahiti" looking at its support brace, but VideoCardz observed that the on-package electrical components in this image are arranged nothing like on the "Tonga" or "Tahiti." This could very well be Polaris 10 "Ellesmere."

PNY Technologies has today announced the launch of a new design to its XLR8 OC Gaming range, revamping the PNY GeForce GTX 960 and GTX 950 with a stunning fresh look to match its blazing speeds.

The new PNY GeForce GTX 960 XLR8 OC Gaming and GeForce GTX 950 XLR8 OC Gaming graphics cards are being released alongside PNY's new dedicated gaming website, where gamers can learn how to improve their gaming experience and deliver better results. You can visit the new site here: gaming.pny.eu

AMD finalized the GPU architecture roadmap running between 2016 and 2018. The company first detailed this at its Capsaicin Event in mid-March 2016. It sees the company's upcoming "Polaris" architecture, while making major architectural leaps over the current-generation, such as a 2.5-times performance/Watt uplift and driving the company's first 14 nanometer GPUs; being limited in its high-end graphics space presence. Polaris is rumored to drive graphics for Sony's upcoming 4K Ultra HD PlayStation, and as discrete GPUs, it will feature in only two chips - Polaris 10 "Ellesmere" and Polaris 11 "Baffin."

"Polaris" introduces several new features, such as HVEC (h.265) decode and encode hardware-acceleration, new display output standards such as DisplayPort 1.3 and HDMI 2.0; however, since neither Polaris 10 nor Polaris 11 are really "big" enthusiast chips that succeed the current "Fiji" silicon, will likely make do with current GDDR5/GDDR5X memory standards. That's not to say that Polaris 10 won't disrupt current performance-thru-enthusiast lineups, or even have the chops to take on NVIDIA's GP104. First-generation HBM limits the total memory amount to 4 GB over a 4096-bit path. Enthusiasts will have to wait until early-2017 for the introduction of the big-chip that succeeds "Fiji," which will not only leverage HBM2 to serve up vast amounts of super-fast memory; but also feature a slight architectural uplift. 2018 will see the introduction of its successor, codenamed "Navi," which features an even faster memory interface.

At its Capsacin event, AMD demoed one of the first DirectX 12 AAA games, Hitman (2016), on a machine running its next-generation GPU. This GPU is based on its "Polaris" architecture, and while the press got no specs to take home, they did catch a glimpse of the card's rear I/O panel. The display connector layout is unlike anything AMD has at the moment, on its reference-design cards, and looks similar to what NVIDIA offers on some of its high-end graphics cards.

The connector layout sees four connectors on the first slot (same level as the card's PCB), which includes three DisplayPorts and one HDMI port; and one DVI connector on the second slot, with an air-vent next to it. The "Polaris" architecture supports DisplayPort 1.3 and HDMI 2.0a standards. DisplayPort 1.3 serves up enough bandwidth for 5K (5120 x 2880 pixels) at 60 Hz, 4K-HDR (3840 x 2160 with HDR) at 60 Hz, or 4K-SDR at 120 Hz. The SFF desktop setup running this card was able to render Hitman with Ultra settings and 2560x1440 pixels resolution, over 60 fps.

ASUS rolled out a gaming-grade - although not ROG-branded - 24-inch Ultra HD monitor, the MG24UQ. This display features a 23.6-inch 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels) IPS panel, with 4 ms response time, a wide color gamut with 100% sRGB coverage, 300 cd/m² maximum brightness, dynamic mega-contrast ratio, and a maximum color depth of 16.7 million. The monitor takes input from HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2. Gamer-friendly features include ASUS GamePlus - a set of six display presets that suit different game genres, and ASUS GameVisual, a feature which works to reduce LED flicker and blue light, over extended periods of gameplay. ASUS didn't reveal pricing.

Back in October 2015 Club 3D did introduce its first USB 3.1 Type-C Adapters. Those adapters did have a very good market acceptance directly from the beginning and with Type C featured Notebooks, Ultrabooks etc. having a wider spread from week to week we are sure that now is the right time to introduce the next USB 3.1 Type C Adapters to offer our customers the widest range of outputs that they can get with Type C.Those adapters do form an innovative new product segment with our existing range of high quality Audio/ Video Adapters like f.e. the first (Mini)DP 1.2 to HDMI 2.0 adapters (CAC-1070/1170) that were initially introduced by Club 3D in January 2016.

The USB Type-C connector was introduced in the first months of 2015. This completely new connector plug is smaller, reversible and capable of transferring more than data alone. It is expected that the USB Type-C connector will eventually replace the USB Type A and Type B connectors we have all been using over the past years. With the Type-C connector, the USB 3.1 standard was introduced as well. Compared to USB 3.0 the new standard offers twice the transfer rate of up to 10 Gbps and allows for three essential features to be used over a single cable: Video, Data and Power.

ASUS unveiled the MG28UQ Ultra HD monitor. While it's not branded with the company's coveted Republic of Gamers (ROG) decals, the company is still positioning it as a product targeted at gamers. Perhaps the company decided to reserve ROG branding for displays with high refresh rates or adaptive-sync tech. The MG28UQ is a 28-inch display with a TN-film panel. Besides its native resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, this panel serves up 10-bit color (1.07 billion colors), a response time as low as 1 ms, viewing angles of 170°/160° (H/V), 330 cd/m² maximum brightness, and dynamic mega-contrast.

Among its gamer-friendly features include a flicker-free LED backlighting, which doesn't rely on PWM to reduce brightness (and hence doesn't flicker), an OSD crosshair that's independent from the host input (useful in "hardcore" modes of online shooters that lack crosshairs), an OSD timer, frame-rate counter, and in-built display alignment. The GameVisuals feature serves up display settings presets that are optimal to the various gameplay types (FPS, RTS, Race sims, etc). The display also features TUV certification for low blue-light LED back-lighting. Display inputs include one HDMI 2.0, two HDMI 1.4a, and one DisplayPort 1.2. A 2-port USB 3.0 hub comes included. ASUS didn't reveal pricing.

The EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti VR EDITION has arrived. Accelerated by the groundbreaking NVIDIA Maxwell architecture, the GTX 980 Ti delivers an unbeatable 4K and virtual reality experience. With 2,816 NVIDIA CUDA Cores and 6GB of GDDR5 memory, it has the horsepower to drive whatever comes next. And with the VR EDITION, you get an included 5.25" drive bay with front HDMI 2.0 and USB 3.0 giving you easy access to your VR device's input. The graphics card also has an internal HDMI connector, meaning no external cables will be visible.

ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual solution products, announces its new XG Series of professional-level gaming monitors, the XG2401, XG2701 and XG2700-4K, are now shipping. ViewSonic's XG Series of high-performance gaming monitors deliver essential technologies and features ideal for gamers, and are available through all major e-tail sites.

The XG2401 is a 24-inch Full HD monitor packed with features like a 144 Hz refresh rate, and AMD's FreeSync variable refresh rate technology that eliminate screen tearing and stuttering for fluid gameplay during fast-paced action scenes. A blazing-fast 1ms response time and low input lag provides smooth screen performance - even in the most graphic-intense sequences. For optimum speed and performance, SmartSync technology automatically selects the best refresh rate, response time, and lowest input lag needed in FPS games. A black stabilization function helps players spot enemies lurking in the dark, while maintaining brilliant rich colors and contrast.

NEC Display Solutions of America, a leading provider of commercial LCD display and projector solutions, announced today the PA322UHD-2 display, which includes all the features of the existing PA322UHD model and now updates the option slot with support for 4K UHD inputs, including an installed, switchable DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 2.0 option. The Open Pluggable Specification (OPS)-compliant option slot gives videographers, photographers, print production specialists and others added flexibility to use the PA322UHD-2 in an even wider range of existing workflows.

The display uses a wide gamut white LED backlight and an IGZO technology IPS-type LCD panel that delivers excellent image quality with lower power consumption than comparable LCD displays while delivering 99.2 percent coverage of the Adobe RGB color space. "Pros in color-critical fields now have more options for 4K UHD over a single cable, including the latest HDMI 2.0 standard," said Art Marshall, Senior Product Manager of Professional and Medical Displays at NEC Display. "The 4K UHD-enhanced OPS connects to more devices for greater productivity and creativity."

AMD Radeon Technologies Group (RTG) head Raja Koduri, in an interview with Venture Beat, confirmed that the company is currently working on two 14 nm FinFET GPUs based on the "Polaris" (4th generation Graphics CoreNext) architecture. He was quoted as referring to the two chips as "Polaris 10" and "Polaris 11." He remarked that the two chips are "extremely power efficient."

Koduri ran Venture Beat through what's new with these chips, besides being built on the 14 nm process and GCN 4.0 stream processors - a redesigned front-end, new geometry processors, a new multimedia engine, and new display controllers. GCN 4.0 lends the chip an up-to-date API support besides significantly higher performance, the new multimedia engine features native h.265 hardware acceleration, and the display controllers support the latest DisplayPort 1.3 and HDMI 2.0a connectors.

Here are some of the first pictures of EVGA's GeForce GTX 980 Ti VR Edition graphics card, in the flesh. The card will be available in two cooling options - a blower-type cooler that's designed by EVGA, or the more popular ACX 2.0+ cooling solution, pictured below. The rather conventional-looking card is "VR Ready," in that it has HDMI connectivity that's very conveniently placed for VR headset users - the card has a mini HDMI 2.0 port on its rear panel, while a 5.25/3.5-inch front-panel comes included, which provides a convenient front HDMI 2.0 port, and two USB 3.0 type-A ports which internally plug into your motherboard over a standard header, so you can save your neck pains for the VR experience, and not craning your head behind your case.

EVGA announced its first "VR Ready" graphics card that comes with preparation for HMD VR headsets out of the box. The GeForce GTX 980 Ti VR Edition includes a 5.25-inch/3.5-inch front-panel that gives you a front-facing HDMI 2.0 port (letting you easily plug in your HMD), and a second mini-HDMI 2.0 port on the card's rear panel that helps with certain kinds of headsets. The front panel also throws in a couple of USB 3.0/3.1 ports with a standard USB 3.0 header that plugs into your motherboard. EVGA is offering two kinds of cooling solutions, ACX 2.0+ and a blower-type custom-design cooler. The GTX 980 Ti sticks to reference clock speeds.

ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual solution products, announces a new series of professional-level gaming monitors at CES 2016 in Las Vegas. ViewSonic's XG Series of high-performance gaming monitors feature critical color depth with a range of Full HD to 4K UHD resolution, NVIDIA's G-Sync or AMD's FreeSync variable refresh rate technology, ultra-fast response times, super low input lag, and more, to drive dedicated enthusiasts, diehards, and professional gamers to more victories.

From first-person shooters and real-time strategy to multi-player or action-adventure gaming, ViewSonic's XG Series of gaming monitors is packed with all the professional-level features needed for that competitive edge that leads to more victories. The XG Series is specially engineered to meet the demanding needs of gamers and is loaded with the premium features needed to dominate and defeat any and all opponents.

NEC Display Solutions of America, a leading provider of commercial LCD display and projector solutions, today announced the new MultiSync EA305WMi and EA275WMi, 30-inch and 27-inch displays. Designed for dual monitor configurations, these widescreen models feature IPS panel technology with wide viewing angles (178° horizontal/vertical), DisplayPort 1.2 inputs and outputs, and the NEC-exclusive ControlSync technology.

ControlSync technology allows users to control up to six displays in a multi-monitor configuration. Upon establishing one unit as the master, users are able to control most settings of the multi-monitor setup in unison through the primary monitor. "The new EA305WMi and EA275WMi displays give business professionals new, powerful tools, especially when using multiple monitors," said Art Marshall, Senior Product Manager for Desktop Displays at NEC Display Solutions. "The displays also include NEC's leading environmental and productivity features, as well as NEC-exclusive ControlSync and human sensors."