DirectX Raytracing (DXR) is a new feature in DirectX 12 that opens the door to a new class of real-time graphics techniques for games. We were thrilled to join Microsoft onstage for the announcement, which we followed with a presentation of our own work in developing practical real-time applications for this exciting new tech.

Accurate real-time reflections with DirectX Raytracing
Rendering accurate reflections in real-time is difficult. There are many challenges and limitations when using the existing methods. For the past few months, we've been exploring ways of combining DirectX Raytracing with existing methods to solve some of these challenges. While much of our presentation went deep into the math for our solution, I would like to show you some examples of our new technique in action.

Futuremark today released 3DMark v2.4.4254 update (includes the "Time Spy" DirectX 12 benchmark). The latest version forces hardware monitoring information to be sent to Futuremark for validation of scores (and not just a general hardware and drivers probe). It also corrects a rare crash noticed when the system returns unexpected values for video memory amounts. The splash-screen has been restored. The installer is now available in Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. Grab the update from the link below.DOWNLOAD: 3DMark v2.4.4254

Ahead of its February 12 launch, various models of AMD Ryzen "Raven Ridge" APUs, in both their notebook and desktop iterations, were put through 3DMark, which is perhaps the best way to put AMD's combination of its latest CPU and GPU architectures, to the test. Pictures also surfaced on Reddit, of the PIB boxes of the Ryzen 3 2200G and Ryzen 5 2400G, highlighting their "silver band" demarcation from the rest of the Ryzen processor lineup. This silver band features prominent Radeon Vega graphics branding, indicating that the model is a "Raven Ridge" APU.

Armed with 704 "Vega" stream processors spread across 11 NGCUs, the Radeon Vega 11 integrated graphics core of the Ryzen 5 2400G is AMD's fastest integrated graphics solution by far. It's also the fastest integrated graphics solution fully integrated with the CPU silicon (unlike, for example, the Core i7-8705G being a multi-chip module). The entire Ryzen "Raven Ridge" APU lineup was put through 3DMark 11 "Performance" preset, by someone with access to all of them. The 2400G leads the pack with 5,162 points, and a graphics score of 5,042 points. The 2200G, which features 512 stream processors, and lacks SMT, manages 4,151 points, with 3,950 points graphics score. The 2400G scores somewhere between the desktop RX 550 and the RX 560, which makes it possible for you to run "Player Unknown's Battlegrounds" at 900p or even 1080p with some details dialed down.

Futuremark, the developer of the world's most widely used benchmarking software, today announced a new partnership with Newegg, the leading tech-focused e-retailer in North America. The partnership sees Newegg complement its comprehensive selection of PC components and complete systems with Futuremark's popular 3DMark, VRMark and PCMark 10 benchmarks. It's a winning combination: everything you need to build and benchmark a new PC in one place.

Newegg has long been the preferred destination for tech-savvy PC users when buying or building a new PC or upgrading individual components. Futuremark benchmark tests have helped millions of people test, compare and understand PC performance. Now for the first time, PC enthusiasts can buy Futuremark benchmarks from the same place they buy their components and accessories.

NVIDIA's GeForce 10 series, codenamed Pascal, has been in the market since May of 2016. NVIDIA released both the GTX 1080 and the GTX 1070 using TSMC's new manufacturing 16nm FinFet technology. When they debuted, the GTX 1070 became a popular choice among gamers initially because it was the more budget friendly option between the two. Earlier this year, NVIDIA released the GTX 1080 Ti primarily aimed at the higher-end enthusiast crowd.

We have reported about the soon-to-be launched GTX 1070 Ti before, and we also saw a render of the Gigabyte offering yesterday. Adding to the fervor today, benchmark results for the GTX 1070 Ti emerged for 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme and Time Spy on the web. Although rumored to not overclock well, the GTX 1070 Ti paints a pretty picture for those looking to upgrade their gaming rigs. According to these early leaks, the GTX 1070 Ti bests AMD's Radeon RX Vega 56 in the Time Spy benchmark in both Turbo and Balanced modes for the latter, while trading blows in Fire Strike Extreme in balanced mode and losing to it in Turbo mode. Keep in mind, these are early leaks and more are sure to come as we inch closer to its release.

Futuremark today released the latest update to the 3DMark graphics benchmark suite. Version 2.4.3819, released to the public today, introduces the new "Time Spy Extreme" benchmark for machines running Windows 10 and DirectX 12 compatible graphics cards. With a rendering resolution of 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels), the new benchmark applies enough stress to put today's 4K UHD gaming PCs through their paces. You don't require a 4K monitor to run the test, however, your graphics card must feature at least 4 GB of video memory.

Time Spy Extreme also comes with a new CPU benchmark that is up to 3 times more taxing than the older CPU tests. It can take advantage of practically any number of CPU cores you can throw at it, and benefits from the the AVX2 instruction-set. "Time Spy Extreme," isn't available on the free version of 3DMark. You will require at least 3DMark Advanced, with a license purchased after July 14, 2016, to get it as a free upgrade. The update also improves the API overhead tests.DOWNLOAD: Futuremark 3DMark v2.4.3819

The change-log follows.

Futuremark is giving final touches to its top-tier GPU benchmark, 3DMark "TimeSpy Extreme." This benchmark tests your graphics hardware's performance at the 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels) resolution, with the latest DirectX 12 API. You will need a graphics card with at least 4 GB of video memory to run the test. The benchmark will put not just the fastest graphics cards through their paces, but is also designed to take advantage of today's multi-core processors.

3DMark "TimeSpy" Extreme can take advantage of processors with 8 or more CPU cores, and will benefit from the processors supporting the AVX2 instruction-set. Futuremark claims that the CPU tests of "TimeSpy" Extreme will be 3 times more demanding. The company also mentions that it developed the new benchmark while taking inputs from AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel. The benchmark is expected to launch on the 11th of October as an update.

Extreme overclocker Vince "K|NGP|N" Lucido has once again set new performance World Records. Armed with the latest EVGA hardware, a new Intel Core i9 7980XE CPU and Liquid Nitrogen cooling, K|NGP|N was able to overclock the EVGA hardware to new heights, setting the standard for PC enthusiast hardware. Upon obtaining these new World Records, K|NGP|N had this to say:

"Using the new Intel Core i9 7980XE CPU at over 5.7GHz on an EVGA X299 Dark and 4x EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti K|NGP|N's at over 2.3GHz, allowed me to annihilate the existing 3DMark Time Spy World Record at 37,596 points! The new Intel Core i9 7980XE CPU, EVGA X299 Dark and EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti K|NGP|N are incredible!"

Colorful announced that its flagship graphics card, the iGame GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Kudan, broke several 3DMark records. The company revealed that the GTX 1080 Ti ASIC driving each Kudan graphics card is binned in a "best of 100" lot (the best performing ASIC from 100 are picked out for the Kudan SKU, leaving the rest for other SKUs by the company). Colorful ran the card at an out of the box OC of 2050 MHz core, yielding 3DMark graphics scores of 30,328 points (graphics score) in Firestrike, 14,858 points (graphics score) in Firestrike Extreme, 7,406 points (graphics score) in Firestrike Ultra, and 10,445 points (graphics score) in Timespy.

Ahead of its July 27 unveiling at AMD's grand media event on the sidelines of SIGGRAPH, performance benchmarks of the elusive Radeon RX Vega consumer graphics card surfaced once again. Someone with access to an RX Vega sample, with its GPU clocked at 1630 MHz and memory at 945 MHz, put it through 3DMark. One can tell that it's RX Vega and not Pro Vega Frontier Edition, looking at its 8 GB video memory amount.

In three test runs, the RX Vega powered machine yielded a graphics score of 22,330 points, 22,291 points, and 20.949 points. This puts its performance either on-par or below that of the GeForce GTX 1080, but comfortably above the GTX 1070. The test-bench consisted of a Core i7-5960X processor, and graphics driver version 22.19.640.2.

Futuremark today announced Testdriver, a benchmark automation software targeted at PC hardware reviewers, system analysts, and quality-control departments of computer hardware manufacturers. The software doesn't have any benchmarks of its own, but lets you script and automate your own selection of benchmarks, and helps with test data aggregation and presentation.

Testdriver comes with out of the box readiness for Futuremark's popular benchmark suites, such as the 3DMark family, the PCMark family, and VRMark, but also lets you add third-party benchmarks. The company offers email-support to customers in integrating benchmarks with the app. Given that the software is designed for diverse customer groups, Futuremark will be selling it through its parent company UL, and is taking orders over email by quoting a price specific to the customer's application of the software.

Another day, another set of Vega results see the light of it. It would seem like this saga has been going on for ages, ever since we've seen AMD showcase its prototype Vega cards running Star Wars Battlefront (4K, Ultra settings at over 60 FPS) and Doom (4K, Vulcan render path at over 60 FPS on pre-production hardware). But with the lack of official information coming from AMD (let's hope this changes on May 16th), it would seem the company is content to see us hardware news sites jumping at every detail and offering free publicity.

This is known to be Vega because the device ID, 687F:C1, was spotted on AMD's own hands while running that Doom demo in 4K. The device clocks seem to be in line with previous leaks: a 1200 MHz core clock and 8GB of video memory running at 700 MHz memory clocks. With these clocks (which are expected to be extremely conservative when we take into account what we know of Vega), the Vega video card manages to deliver a 17,801 points graphics score, approximately 1,400 points more than your average Fury X, but some hundreds less than your average, current-generation GTX 1070. Remember: AMD's MI25 is expected to come in at 1,500 MHz core clocks, and this is a professional, passively-cooled graphics card. This means that unless AMD greatly overestimated the clock capability of its Vega cards, the consumer version of Vega will have necessarily higher clocks. But we'll stay here, waiting for some more details to pour our way, as always.

AMD could be working on at least three SKUs based on its upcoming "Vega 10" silicon to make up its Radeon RX Vega series. Leaked 3DMark validations point to a device ID that's third in a series of possible device IDs of graphics cards based on the "Vega 10" silicon, the 687F:C1, 687F:C2, and 687F:C3. All three SKUs feature 8 GB of HBM2 memory, and according to leaked 3DMark TimeSpy scores, the "slowest" SKU is faster than NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070. The fastest SKU is in the same league as the GTX 1080 Ti.

The three SKUs could differ with core-configuration and clock speeds. AMD carved four SKUs out of its "Fiji" silicon, the liquid-cooled R9 Fury X, the air-cooled R9 Fury (with 12.5% fewer shaders), the SFF-friendly R9 Nano (full core-config, but aggressive power-management), and the halo dual-GPU Radeon Pro Duo (1st gen). AMD could take a similar approach with "Vega 10." AMD is expected to launch its Radeon RX Vega series within Q2-2017.

Futuremark today released an update to 3DMark benchmark suite. Version 2.3.3682 resolves a critical bug in the API overhead test, which causes the test to fail on some machines, towards the end of the DirectX 12 API test. The API overhead benchmark tests the amount of API draw-calls your machine can handle, over popular 3D graphics APIs, including DirectX 11 (single-threaded and multi-threaded), DirectX 12, and Vulkan. The rest of the feature-set is consistent with the older version 2.3.3663, in which the company introduced a brand new Vulkan API overhead test, replacing the Mantle API test. Grab the update from the link below.DOWNLOAD: Futuremark 3DMark + Time Spy v2.3.3682

So, it would appear that rumors and leaks about the RX 500 series being simple rebrands of AMD's RX 400 line were true. Recent leaks point to no more changes and performance increases than those achieved through higher base clock speeds on the graphics cards' GPU and memory. The architecture is the same, and the process seems to have followed the same path - as of yet, no confirmation regarding whether or not these cards do use a newer, leaner LPP process for higher clocks and less power consumption.

Futuremark today announced that it is pulling the plug on its decade-old benchmark suites, 3DMark Vantage and PCMark Vantage. Official support for the two products will end on the 11th of April, 2017. This would entail the two being removed from the Downloads section of Futuremark, a stoppage in software updates, and the all-important benchmark result validation service. The two will be relegated to the "legacy benchmarks" section, and will be available as free downloads. Incidentally, April 11 also happens to be the day Microsoft stops support for Windows Vista.

Futuremark has just released a major update to its 3DMark benchmarking suite, adding Vulkan support while simultaneously axing its cousin, Mantle. This means that the API Overhead test now uses a Vulkan path instead of its previous Mantle one, which is sure to lead several enthusiasts into a frenzy of benchmarking under the Khronos's API (which has just recently been announced will offer support for multi-GPU in Windows 10, 8.x, 7, and Linux operating systems.)

Check some of the new features, improvements and fixes on the new version right after the break. You can download this piece of software right here on TPU - just follow the link below.Download: Futuremark 3DMark + TimeSpy v2.3.3663

An NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti reference-design graphics card was overclocked to 2062 MHz core, and 11404 MHz (GDDR5X-effective) memory, and put through the 3DMark suite. The card was able to sustain its overclock without breaking a sweat, with its core temperature hovering around 63°C. Apparently, the card's power-limit was manually set to 122%, to sustain the overclock. In the standard FireStrike benchmark (1080p), the card churned up graphics scores of 31,135 points, followed by 15,093 points in FireStrike Extreme (1440p), and 7,362 points in the 4K Ultra HD version of the benchmark, FireStrike Ultra. The card also scored 10,825 points in the TimeSpy DirectX 12 benchmark. Overall, the card falls within 30-40% performance of an overclocked GTX 1080.

Another day, another leak: the folks at XFastest have indeed been the fastest to leak images of an actual Ryzen 7 1700X processor, with pictures of the processor's IHS and pin area running rampant throughout the Internet (the Ryzen chip is located to the right in both pictures, with a sample of AMD's previous-generation FX CPUs on the left side for comparison sake).

While revealing shots may have their appeal, it's the benchmarking portion that most of us are expectant about. Until actual reviews are out, we're left nothing more than these leaks (which should be taken with appropriate amounts of salt). In this case, benchmarks of AMD's upcoming Ryzen 7 1700X have been released, showing just how the upcoming CPU delivers in 3D Mark Fire Strike, CPU Mark and Cinebench R15.

A number of sites have been reporting on some leaked (as in, captured from Futuremark's database) scores on AMD's upcoming CPUs. Now, some benchmarks seem to have surfaced regarding not only the company's 8-core, 16-thread monsters, but also towards its sweet-spot 6-core, 12-thread CPUs and its more mundane 4-core offerings.

Taking into account some metrics (which you should, naturally, take with some grains of salt), and comparing Intel's and AMD's Ryzen offerings on 3DMark's Fire Strike Physics scores, we can see that a $389 Ryzen 7 1700X (8 cores, 16 threads) at its base clock of 3.4 GHz manages to surpass Intel's competing (in thread count alone, since it retails for $1089) 6900K running at its base 3.2 GHz frequency - with the Ryzen processor scoring 17,878 points versus the 6900K's 17,100. Doing some fast and hard maths, this would mean that if the R7 1700X was to be clocked at the same speed as the 6900K, it would still be faster, clock for clock (though not by much, admittedly). We don't know whether Turbo was disabled or not on these tests, for either AMD's or Intel's processor, so we have to consider that. However, if Turbo were enabled, that would mean that the R7 1700X's clockspeed would only be 100 MHz higher than the 6900K's (3.8 GHz max, vs 3.7 GHz max on the Intel CPU).

ASUS announced the GeForce GTX 1070 Expedition series graphics card. Based on the company's new Expedition line of durable graphics cards, which made its debut this CES, with the GTX 1050 Ti Expedition, this card is designed with a focus on durability and longevity. Each card on the production line has been stress-tested against the elements for longer than the other cards. This includes 144 hours of continuous stress, 2-hour reboot test (continuous reboots), and 15 hours of 3DMark stress. The idea here is to make the cards fit for the rigors of gaming iCafes, which are popular in some parts of Asia.

The GTX 1070 Expedition comes with a factory OC of 1607 MHz core, 1797 MHz GPU Boost, and an untouched 8.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective) memory, against reference clocks of 1506/1683 MHz. It features a dense aluminium fin-stack heatsink with a single fin array to which heat drawn directly from the GPU is conveyed by a pair of 8 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes. The card draws power from a single 8-pin PCIe power connector. Display outputs include three DisplayPorts, and one each of HDMI and DVI. The company didn't reveal pricing or availability information, although it's likely that this card could see a release limited to certain east Asian markets.

Futuremark is working on new game-tests for its 3DMark benchmark suite. One of these is a game test that takes advantage of DirectX 12, but isn't as taxing on the hardware as "Time Spy." Its target hardware is notebook graphics and entry-mainstream graphics cards. It will be to "Time Spy" what "Sky Diver" is to "Fire Strike."

The next, more interesting move by Futuremark is a benchmark that takes advantage of the Vulkan 3D graphics API. The company will release this Vulkan-based benchmark for both Windows and Android platforms. Lastly we've learned that development of the company's VR benchmarks are coming along nicely, and the company hopes to release new VR benchmarks for PC and mobile platforms soon. Futuremark is expected to reveal these new game-tests and benchmarks at its 2017 International CES booth, early January.

Thanks to gains with performance/Watt, NVIDIA has been equipping the mobile variants of its GeForce GTX 10 Series SKUs with the same (or better) core-configurations as their desktop counterparts. The story continues with the upcoming GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile. This chip is equipped with 768 CUDA cores, 48 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and 4 GB of GDDR5 memory across its 128-bit wide memory interface. What's more, it even has significantly higher clock speeds than its desktop counterpart. The GTX 1050 Ti Mobile is clocked at 1490 MHz core, 1624 MHz GPU Boost; while the desktop variant is clocked at 1290 MHz core with 1392 MHz GPU Boost.

With its given clock speeds, the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile is expected to be faster than the performance-segment GeForce GTX 970M from the previous generation. 3DMark performance numbers put out by LaptopMedia point to the GTX 1050 Ti Mobile being about 10% faster than the GTX 970M at 3DMark Cloudgate (DirectX 10), about 7% faster at 3DMark FireStrike (DirectX 11), and about 9% faster at Unigine Heaven 4 (DirectX 11).

Ahead of its launch, a PC enthusiast with access to a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti sample in its retail packaging, managed to get the card up and running with the included DVD drivers. On a machine driven by a fairly powerful Core i7-4770K, the GTX 1050 Ti was put through 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra (DirectX 11) and 3DMark Time Spy (DirectX 12).

The GTX 1050 Ti scored 1,895 points in 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra, with a graphics score of 1,853 points. The card scored 2,513 points in 3DMark Time Spy, with a graphics score of 2,370 points. The two scores indicate performance higher than the Radeon RX 460, according to VideoCardz. The GTX 1050 (non-Ti) could perform closer to the RX 460. The latest GPU-Z screenshot confirms many of the GPU's rumored specifications.

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced Strix RX 460, an all-new gaming graphics card with ultra-fast performance, advanced cooling and reliability, and personalized styling. Powered by the latest AMD Radeon RX 460 graphics processing unit (GPU), clocked at 1256MHz in OC mode, ROG Strix RX 460 delivers up to 8.2%-faster performance than reference cards in 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme and 38.6%-faster gaming performance in Hitman.

ROG Strix RX 460 is packed with exclusive ASUS technologies, including DirectCU II with a patented dual wing-blade 0dB fan designed to deliver maximum airflow for 30%-cooler and three-times (3X) quieter performance, and ASUS FanConnect, which features a GPU-controlled fan header to connect to a system fan for targeted supplemental cooling. Industry-exclusive Auto-Extreme technology with Super Alloy Power II components ensures premium quality and reliability.