Here are the first pictures of Sapphire Radeon HD 7790 Dual-X, the company's premium offering based on AMD's new GPU. The card features Sapphire's in-house PCB and cooler designs, including an aluminium fin-stack heatsink ventilated by a pair of 80 mm fans, and a 21.5 cm long PCB. The card draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector, its display outputs are similar to the HD 7850, with a pair of DVI connectors, HDMI, and DisplayPort. It can pair with another of its kind, only.

Futuremark updated 3DMark 11 to version 1.0.4, which makes the benchmark fully compatible with Windows 8. The update also addresses other compatibility issues and a few uncommon bugs. Benchmark scores are not affected and scores from this new version can be compared with scores from the previous version 3DMark 11 v1.0.3.DOWNLOAD: 3DMark 11 v1.0.4

The rumor mill is spinning to galeforce (or should we say GeForce) winds. Its newest sack of flour points at what could be the first performance figure of NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce Titan 780 flagship single-GPU graphics card. Circulating among various Chinese tech publications is this 3DMark 11 Xtreme Preset screenshot from the PCinLife community, in which a lucky bloke claimed access to a GeForce Titan 780 engineering sample, and a driver to get it to work. In the scribbled out 3DMark 11 Xtreme Preset score screenshot (below), the source claims the fabled graphics card can singlehandedly score X7107 points. For reference, a GeForce GTX 690 usually scores in the region of X6000 points, and a GTX 680 around X3300. If true, NVIDIA has something truly remarkable up its sleeves, maybe the second coming of 8800 GTX. From older reports, we know that the GeForce Titan is expected to ship sooner than most people think, some time in February.

AMD posted its first major release of the Catalyst software suite for this year, Catalyst 13.1 WHQL. Much along the lines of its 12.11 "Never Settle" driver, the new 13.1 WHQL brings performance enhancements for a boatload of games, targeting Radeon HD 7000 series GPUs based on the Graphics CoreNext (GCN) architecture. We know that AMD is yet to unlock the full potential of GCN, and 13.1 WHQL appears to be a step in that direction. In addition to performance enhancements and fixes, AMD introduced a new 3D settings and profile management user interface within Catalyst Control Center (CCC).

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 13.1 WHQL for Windows 8/7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 8/7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit

A slice of the change-log follows.

Following last week's reveal of next-generation 3DMark game test "Fire Strike," which is designed to make even the fastest consumer graphics setups sweat, Futuremark revealed screenshots of its second game test, titled "Cloud Gate." Going with Futuremark's "one benchmark for all platforms" strategy, Cloud Gate is designed to test DirectX 10 hardware capabilities. It uses DirectX 11 engine that's limited to feature level10_0. The lighter game test will be able to put notebook GPUs and entry-level DirectX 11 desktop GPUs to test.

Cloud Gate will see Futuremark's artists going back to space-opera mode, something we missed in 3DMark 11. Screenshots reveal what appears to be a giant machine hovering over a moon, with its parent gas-giant in the background. Perhaps it's a terraforming machine? An ion-drive spacecraft scooping up fuel? The test appears to make use of several of D3D10's illumination and bloom effects. In related news, Futuremark told us that the new 3DMark won't make it to the markets this year, and instead it will be launched for Windows PC (x86) platform in January, 2013. The Android, iOS and Windows RT versions will launch after a little more beta testing and approvals from their respective app stores.More screenshots follow.

While testing Club 3D Radeon HD 7870 jokerCard, one of the three Radeon HD 7870 "Tahiti LE" graphics cards you can buy, we discovered that it can pair with Radeon HD 7900 series cards in CrossFireX. Our VGA testing lab, which has battened down the hatches for winter (lack of VGA launches), spent a lot of time toying with Club 3D's card and while brainstorming for the review's conclusion, it came up that HD 7870 Tahiti LE is "bad" because it can't pair with common HD 7870 or HD 7850 "Pitcairn" graphics cards. A bulb supernova just went off over our heads: "...sure Tahiti LE won't pair with Pitcairn, but will it pair with HD 7900 series "Tahiti", which have more stream processors, and more memory?" The answer turned out to be yes!

We successfully managed to pair the Club 3D HD 7870 jokerCard with a Radeon HD 7950 and HD 7970 (reference). We casually put it through 3DMark 11 and Sleeping Dogs, and found the contraptions to scale fairly well. We noticed some micro-stutter in 3DMark 11, but Sleeping Dogs felt smooth. This could be great news for current HD 7900 series owners who can upgrade to CrossFire for a modest $249~269. We even tried our luck at unlocking disabled shaders (stream processors), which didn't work. AMD used the mod-proof fuses method to lock the shaders. Check out our Club 3D HD 7870 jokerCard review.

MSIs AM3+ mainboards support the latest AMD Vishera processors. In support of this fact is the recent overclocking record on the MSI 990FXA-GD80 which hit the 8.37 GHz mark with an FX-8350 processor, making it the fastest AMD FX-8350 in the world.

Additionally, the Z77 MPOWER and Big Bang-XPOWER II Mainboards have both made significant advancement in the HWBOT over-clocking leaderboards with MSI Lightning graphics cards. T0LSTY from Ukraine scored 18103 which puts him at the top of 3DMark 11 Performance Single Graphics Card scores with a Z77 MPOWER and R7970 Lightning and was the first contestant to break the 18,000 Marks barrier! T0LSTY, not satisfied with one record, also claimed the top spot in the Unigine Heaven DX11 single card benchmark.

In the highly competitive world of extreme performance, MSI has once again grabbed the reigns with its Z77 MPOWER and R7970 Lightning Graphics card. Inspired by the availability of the MSI Z77 MPOWER several professional overclockers have started challenging the top scores in 3DMark 11. With the synergy of the MSI Z77 MPOWER mainboards and MSI Lightning series graphics cards, some incredible new scores have been set including the first single graphics card system to break 18000 marks in the 3DMark 11 Performance benchmark by Ukraine's T0lsty.

Vince "k|ngp|n" Lucido is one of the world's most well known Overclockers today. So in October 2012, EVGA put his skills to the test and challenged him to crush the competition and sweep the board for 3DMark 11 scores. Armed with an assortment of EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Classified, EVGA X79 Classified Motherboard, EVGA SuperNOVA NEX1500 Classified power supplies, and enough Liquid Nitrogen to turn Taipei into a deep freeze; Vince was able to smash three brand new 3DMark 11 World Records*. In fact, EVGA along with k|ngp|n were the first to reach over 17,000 points on a single graphics card!

World Records:

• 3DMark 11 Performance (Single Card) - P17,047
• 3DMark 11 Performance (2-Way SLI) - P25,380
• 3DMark 11 Extreme (4-Way SLI) - X17,384

Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the first Software titles have launched via Steam, marking a major expansion to the platform known as a leading destination for PC and Mac games.

The Software titles now available via Steam are:

• ArtRage Studio Pro
• CameraBag 2
• GameMaker: Studio
• 3D-Coat
• 3DMark Vantage
• 3DMark 11

Here are some of the first pictures of NVIDIA's upcoming GK106 silicon, which goes into building the GeForce GTX 660 graphics card. The GK106, built on the 28 nm silicon fab process, is poised to be NVIDIA's newest mainstream-performance chip that succeeds the GF116. The pictures reveal the chip package to be almost as big as the GF116 but smaller than the GK104. This can be attributed to fewer memory I/O pins (192-bit maximum bus width).

The rectangular die of the GK106 appears to have roughly the same area as that of the GF116, but with the higher transistor density of the 28 nm process, one can expect a significantly higher transistor count for the chip. If some of the pictures we're seeing are any indication the GK106 will be extremely energy-efficient, as an unknown graphics card based on it draws power from just one 6-pin power connector.

MSI's upcoming GeForce GTX 660 Ti HAWK 3 GB graphics card, installed in 3-way SLI configuration was pictured. One of the three was put through 3DMark03 and 3DMark 11. The picture reveals a card that looks similar to the company's GeForce GTX 670 Power Edition. MSI used double the memory amount, by populating the GPU's 192-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface with 3 GB of memory (2 Gbit x 12). The card is cooled by MSI's Twin Frozr IV cooling solution. It is clocked at 1020 MHz GPU core, 1098 MHz GPU Boost, and 6.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective) memory. The GPU-Z screenshot reveals more details.

While three of these cards were pictured in 3-way SLI configuration, only one of the three were put through tests. The cards were driven by a yet-unannounced GeForce 304.87 beta driver. In 3DMark03, the MSI GeForce GTX 660 Ti HAWK scored 18,731 points, and in 3DMark 11 Extreme Preset, it scored X2,862 points. Both these figures are similar to those of a reference NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670.

ZOTAC seems to have a 2-pronged approach to the GeForce GTX 670, depending on the region it's being sold in. While it took advantage of the compact reference PCB by NVIDIA to come up with the space-saving GTX 670 TwinCooler (ZTGTX670-2GD5TCR001), it did the exact with the GTX 670 Extreme Edition. The card is based on the same exact design as the GTX 680 Extreme Edition, down to its lavish voltage regulation circuitry, with just the GTX 670 ASIC taking the place of the GTX 680.

The card ships with out of the box clock speeds of 1111 MHz (GPU base), 1202 MHz (GPU Boost), and 1652 MHz (memory actual), or 6.60 GHz (memory effective). It draws power from 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors, and conditions power using a 13-phase VRM that consists of noise-free chokes and PowIRstage DrMOS chips by International Rectifier. Power is further conditioned by a trio of multi-phase FPCAPs, and tantalum capacitors. Like the GTX 680 Extreme Edition, the card features the entire overclocker-friendly feature-set, including OC+ Module, dual-BIOS with LN2-friendly BIOS, voltage measurement points, temperature and phase loading LEDs.

EVGA's GeForce GTX 680 4GB, in the skilled hands of Vince "k|ngp|n" Lucido, smashed the 2 GHz barrier for GPU clock, setting a new clock speed world record for the GTX 680. The card achieved a GPU clock speed of 2,002 MHz, with a core voltage of 1.212V; and memory clock speed of 7.406 GHz. The card went on to score P16472 in 3DMark 11 (performance preset). The rest of the test-bench included Intel Core i7-3960X six-core processor clocked at 5.53 GHz, EVGA X79 Classified motherboard, 16 GB of quad-channel DDR3-2400 MHz G.Skill RipjawsZ memory, and EVGA NEX 1500W PSU. The GPU was cooled by k|ngp|n Tek-9 FAT 6.0 LN2 evaporator, while the CPU was cooled by k|ngp|n Dragon F1 Dark LN2 evaporator. Find the ORB page here.

During the week of Computex 2012, five overclocking records have been achieved with G.SKILL high performance DDR3 memory by several renowned extreme overclockers.Read on for details of the five records.

Taiwanese proverclocker TIN set a new 3DMark 11 record by scoring P20962 points using a single GeForce GTX 690 graphics card. The score included 25179 graphics, 15213 physics, and 12412 combined scores. The feat was achieved by overclocking an EVGA GeForce GTX 690 to clock speeds of 1509 MHz (base), 1639 MHz (GPU Boost), and 7336 MHz (memory, effective); and sustaining it using liquid nitrogen cooling. The double-headed eagle on steroids was supported by an Intel Core i7-3960X processor clocked at 4.50 GHz, 16 GB of quad-channel DDR3-2133 MHz memory, and EVGA X79 Classified motherboard. Find more information on the feat here.

Eurocom Corporation, a developer of long lifespan, fully upgradable Notebooks and Mobile Workstations has been testing the AMD Radeon HD 7970M in its new line of 3rd Generation Intel Core i7 (Ivy Bridge) powered notebooks. Eurocom technicians achieved a score of P22111 in 3DMark Vantage in the EUROCOM Racer and a score of P5848 in 3DMark 11.

The AMD Radeon HD 7970M is currently the highest performing mobile GPU by AMD, giving Eurocom customers a superior choice of video processor options to configure into their new Eurocom system or upgrade into their existing system. The addition of the AMD Radeon 7970M GPU offers customers a greater selection of video processor options to fit any preference or performance level

NVIDIA is readying a high-performance mobile GPU for a Computex 2012 unveiling. Called the GeForce GTX 680M, the chip is based on its trusty 28 nm GK104 silicon, but with about half its streaming multiprocessors disabled, resulting in a CUDA core count of around 768. Reference MXM boards of the chip could ship with memory options as high as 4 GB, across a 256-bit wide memory interface. With the right craftsmanship on the part of NVIDIA, the GTX 680M could end up with a power draw of 100W. A Chinese source had the opportunity to picture the reference board qualification sample, and put it through 3DMark 11, in which it was found to be roughly 37% faster than the GF114-based GeForce GTX 670M, scoring 4905 points in Performance preset. The test bed was driven by Intel Core i7-3720QM quad-core mobile processor.

Team Katana Japan set a new 3DMark 11 Extreme Preset single-GPU world record using their Radeon HD 7970 graphics card clocked at staggering clock speeds 1747 MHz (core) and 1971 MHz or 7.884 GHz effective (memory). These clock speeds were sustained using volt-modding (to maintain the right voltage stable), and liquid nitrogen cooling. The volt-mod was designed to override the OCP (over-current protection), and over-heat protection of the graphics card's VRM. The target core voltage was 1.895V.

The setup went on to bag a 3DMark 11 Extreme Preset single-GPU world record, where it scored X3757.69 points, bagging 1st Rank in HWBOT's "GLOBAL 1X GPU RANK" and "Radeon HD 7970 rank". Find the validation here. The GPU remained in the range of -145.0 °C (idle) -137.0 °C (load). The rest of the setup included a Core i7-2600K clocked at ~5.00 GHz, ASUS Maximus IV Extreme (P67), and a 1200W PSU.

When we saw glimpses of Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 Toxic 6 GB graphics card, we knew Sapphire was prioritizing on aesthetics a lot. That turns out to be the case, as the first pictures of this monstrosity reveal. The PCB and cooler are designed from scratch, by Sapphire. The PCB accommodates 6 GB of memory in 24 GDDR5 memory chips, 12 on each side. To power the factory-overclocked 28 nm "Tahiti" GPU and 24 GDDR5 7 GT/s memory chips takes some really strong VRM. Sapphire implemented an 8+3 phase power supply, that makes use of solid-state chokes (don't whine under stress), and International Rectifier DirectFETs. The VRM draws power from two 8-pin PCIe power connectors.More details, and a benchmark follow.

Thought the 1800/7700 MHz Radeon HD 7970 OC feat involving an MSI R7970 Lightning was impressive, wait till you see what the punters at EVGA, with K|ngp|n have in store. Armed with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 graphics cards, augmented by EVGA EPower board, and PrecisionX software, the EVGA GTX 680 was able to crack the 1800 MHz core frequency mark, reaching 1842 MHz, powered by a core voltage of 1.212V. Interestingly, the memory clock offset wasn't tinkered with. The rest of the system consisted of a Core i7-3960X clocked at ~5.50 GHz. The bench was stable enough to score 14912 points at 3DMark 11 (performance preset). Compare this, to the R7970 Lightning clocked at 1800 MHz core, 7.70 GHz memory (370 GB/s bandwidth), with no additional soldering except plugging in the GPU Reactor, and a slower Core i7-3960X CPU (clocked at 5.00 GHz), which went on to score P15035. Luckily for EVGA, the overclocking feat hasn't ended, and is still work in progress.

If you thought MSI made too much song and dance about the product design of its R7970 Lightning, particularly the GPU Reactor module, think again. When augmented with liquid nitrogen cooling, the card has the electrical muscle required to sustain 1.7V, and facilitate a staggering 1800 MHz core clock speed, with 1925 MHz memory (7.70 GHz GDDR5 effective), churning out a gargantuan memory bandwidth of close to 370 GB/s, all thanks to the genius of Swedish proverclocker Elmor.

This R7970 Lightning on 'roid-rage was stable enough to bag a 3DMark 11 (performance preset) score of P15035 points. The rest of the test-bed consisted of an Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition six-core chip clocked at 5207 MHz, with 4 GB (4x 1 GB) DDR3 memory clocked at 2314 MHz, and MSI Big Bang XPower II motherboard, to seat it all. Perhaps this is an indication that AMD Radeon HD 7900 can work wonders on potent non-reference designs, such as MSI's R7970 Lightning.

NVIDIA's big GeForce GTX 680 launch is just around the corner, but performance figures are already trickling in. Last week, we were treated to a wide range of benchmarks covering a single GeForce GTX 680. Today, VR-Zone posted a performance-preview of the GeForce GTX 680 in 2-way SLI configuration. A set of two GTX 680 cards were put through 3DMark 11 in Entry, Performance, and eXtreme presets. It should be noted here, that the GTX 680 cards were clocked at 1150 MHz core, and 1803 MHz (7.20 GHz effective) memory.

In the Entry preset, GTX 680 2-way SLI scored E22878; it scored P16860 in Performance preset; and X6243 in eXtreme. 2-way SLI of GTX 680 should be fit for 2560x1440/1600 resolution gaming. The rest of the test-bench consisted of Intel Core i7-3930K six-core processor clocked at 5.00 GHz, with 16 GB of quad-channel DDR3-2133 MHz memory, and ASUS ROG Rampage IV Extreme motherboard.

For skeptics who refuse to believe randomly-sourced bar-graphs of the GeForce GTX 680 that are starved of pictures, here is the first set of benchmarks run by a third-party (neither NVIDIA nor one of its AIC partners). This [p]reviewer from HKEPC has pictures to back his benchmarks. The GeForce GTX 680 was pitted against a Radeon HD 7970, and a previous-generation GeForce GTX 580. The test-bed consisted of an extreme-cooled Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition processor (running at stock frequency), ASUS Rampage IV Extreme motherboard, 8 GB (4x 2 GB) GeIL EVO 2 DDR3-2200 MHz quad-channel memory, Corsair AX1200W PSU, and Windows 7 x64.

Benchmarks included 3DMark 11 (performance preset), Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Lost Planet 2, and Unigine Heaven (version not mentioned, could be 1). All tests were run at a constant resolution of 1920x1080, with 8x MSAA on some tests (mentioned in the graphs).More graphs follow.

On the sidelines of GeForce GTX 680, NVIDIA is working on a fast, cheap, and energy-efficient performance GPU for notebooks, and it's already scoring design wins by the bunches, with notebook manufacturers. PC Perspective got its hands on an Acer Aspire M3 notebook equipped with this chip, and pitted it against notebooks equipped with AMD Radeon HD 6990M, Radeon HD 6720G2, and NVIDIA's own GeForce GT 555M. Intel HD 3000 graphics was also thrown into the cage, for science.

All game tests were run at 1366x768 pixels resolution. With 3DMark 06 and DOW 2: Retribution, the GT 640M seemed to be lagging behind the GT 555M, but managed to edge past it, with 3DMark 11, and Battlefield 3. Five of the most popular, current game titles, Battlefield 3, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Batman: Arkham City, were found to be playable at the said resolution, with average frame-rates well over 35 FPS. Find more results at the source.