ASRock could enter the graphics card market, according to a report by Taiwan-based industry observer DigiTimes. The company is reportedly enamored by the GPU-accelerated crypto-currency mining boom, and could develop a graphics card lineup that's mostly, if not entirely, based on AMD Radeon graphics processors. AMD Radeon GPUs are generally regarded as being more efficient at mining popular crypto-currencies.

This could indicate that ASRock's graphics card designs could be frugal, and purpose-built for mining. Like all other add-in board (AIB) partners, the company could start off with some reference-design cards, and then launch custom-designed ones. The company has seen success in recent times as a formidable high-end PC motherboard brand across both Intel and AMD platforms; in addition to its low-cost motherboard core business. It also diversified into industrial PC components, server motherboards, and consumer networking products, such as Wi-Fi routers.

A few days ago, we spotted AMD's upcoming Ryzen 7 2700X processor at the 3DMark playground. We got word today that our Korean buddies over at the Hardware Battle forums have leaked some benchmarks of a mysterious Ryzen 7 2000 processor. While the graphs don't explicitly state the model of the so-called "Future Processor", it's very likely that it's the Ryzen 7 2700X. First off, the clock speed matched the specifications from the previous 3DMark leak. HWBattle also compared it to the Ryzen 7 1700X numerous times which makes perfect sense considering that the Ryzen 7 2700X is the next successor to the throne. Initially, we projected the Ryzen 7 2700X to hit the 4.2 GHz mark thanks to AMD's XFR 2.0 (eXtended Frequency Range) and Precision Boost 2.0 technologies. However, HWBattle's sample reached 4.35 GHz which makes it even more impressive.

Comparing the Ryzen 7 1700X and 2700X side by side in AIDA64's memory benchmark, the latter was 11% faster in the memory latency test and 30% and 16% faster in the L2 and L3 Cache tests, respectively. The Ryzen 7 2700X's single thread performance was surprisingly strong as well. It surpassed the likes of the Intel Core i9-7980XE, i7-8700K, and Threadripper 1950X processors in the Dhrystone Aggregated-int Native benchmark. The Ryzen 7 2700X started to fall behind in multi-core performance, but it still managed to beat the Intel Core i7-8700K. We saw a similar scenario with the Physics test in 3DMark's FireStrike Ultra benchmark. The Ryzen 7 2700X once again annihilated the Intel Core i7-8700K.

AMD's late-Monday release of the Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.3.1 has a big change not chronicled in its change-log, the first implementation of ReSX. Short for "Radeon eSports Experience," ReSX is the code-name of a major effort within the Radeon Software team to address some of the fundamental complaints competitive eSports gamers had been having with Radeon GPUs - click-to-response and frame-time. As an eSports gamer chasing a million-dollar price-pool, you'd want your graphics hardware to have the least frame-time (the most fluid output), the highest frame-rates, and of course the least click-to-response time (the infinitesimal amount it times for a click of your mouse to register as action, be sent to the game-server, and render on-screen, simultaneously.

AMD stated that has approached these problems from two fronts - by working with developers of the biggest eSports titles to optimize their game-engines for Radeon; as well as making under-the-hood changes to Radeon Software. The company is announcing not just marginally higher frame-rates in certain eSports titles, but also significant improvements to frame-time (99th percentile of), and lower click-to-response times. According to the performance numbers put out by AMD, while these improvements may not be double-digit percentage points difference, could still translate into a vastly improved gaming experience, according to AMD.

AMD today released its first Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition drivers for this month, version 18.3.1 beta. The drivers come with optimization for "Final Fantasy XV," and "Warhammer: Vermintide II." It also includes some fine-tuning for Dota 2 that delivers up to 6 percent higher frame-rates than 17.12.1 drivers, at 4K Ultra HD, when tested with an RX 580 graphics card. The drivers also fix application crashes with "Sea of Thieves," multi-GPU flickering seen in "Middle-earth: Shadow of War," and some color-corruption noticed with "World of Tanks" in certain multi-GPU configurations. Grab the drivers from the link below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.3.1

The change-log follows.

Dell may not believe in an imminent "AMD-Intel duopoly", even though the green team has some very interesting products in its portfolio. But even so, Dell has silently launched some Inspiron laptops that are powered by AMD's latest architecture. The total number of AMD-powered laptops reaches four in their Inspiron 17 5000 line, with a mix of AMD's latest Ryzen 3 and Ryzen 5 APUs with Vega integrated graphics.

EK Water Blocks, the Slovenia-based premium PC liquid cooling gear manufacturer is expanding its RGB portfolio by presenting a Full Cover water block for AMD Radeon Vega architecture based high-end graphics cards. Customers will be able to transform their graphics card into a beautiful, bright single slot card while the water cooling block will allow the GPU to reach higher frequencies, thus providing more performance during gaming or other demanding tasks.

EK-FC Radeon Vega RGB
This water block directly cools the GPU, HBM2 memory, and VRM (voltage regulation module) as water flows directly over these critical areas thus allowing the graphics card and it's VRM to remain stable under high overclocks. EK-FC Radeon Vega water block features a central inlet split-flow cooling engine design for best possible cooling performance, which also works flawlessly with reversed water flow without adversely affecting the cooling performance. This kind of efficient cooling will allow your high-end graphics card to reach higher boost clocks, thus providing more performance during gaming or other GPU intense tasks. Moreover, such design offers great hydraulic performance allowing this product to be used in liquid cooling systems using weaker water pumps.

Cooler Master, a leader in PC cooling solutions, introduces the MasterAir MA620P and MA621P that pushes the performance of air cooling beyond AIO liquid cooling. Cooler Master's supercharged heatsink is a combination of two built heatsinks with CDC 2.0 technology and two MasterFan MF120R RGB that is able to transfer and dissipate heat at extremely efficient levels. The MasterFan MF120R RGB are also certified by ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI and Asrock with their motherboard RGB sync.

Supercharged Dual Heatsink Dual ML120R RGB fans
MasterAir MA620P and MA621P TR4 edition supercharges your CPU cooling by doubling the surface area by combining two heatsinks each accompanied by two MasterFan MF120R RGB to ensure enough air pressure brings out the heat quickly enough to continually remove heat from the CPU. An optional 3rd fan is possible to take you to the next level.

AMD's next iteration on their very positively received Zen microarchitecture is preparing for take-off in the coming months, and as we draw ever close to the release date, more details are trickling in. This time, it's the appearance of a Ryzen 7 2700X (which supersedes the original Ryzen 7 1700X) on Futuremark's 3DMark database. The Ryzen 7 2700X was paired with an ASRock X370 Taichi motherboard (still considered one of the best ever to grace AMD's new AM4 platform), and its 8 cores and 16 threads are locked into a 3.7 GHz base and 4.1 GHz turbo clocks (respectively 300 MHz higher base and turbo clocks that the 1700X's).

The usage of AMD's XFR 2.0 (eXtended Frequency Range) and Precision Boost 2.0 could mean that the CPU is able, in certain scenarios, to turbo over the specified limit of 4.1 GHz, up to 4.2 GHz, thus delivering an even bigger boost to its performance. The usage of a 12 nm process means AMD has taken the power savings and increased frequency potential that comes from shrinking their original Zen microarchitecture, and put those to increased frequencies across the board, thus increasing their CPU's single-thread performance. Being an X chip,. AMD has kept the package TDP at a still respectable 95 W, much like its 1000 series Ryzens, though we know that this 95 W figure doesn't really spell out just how energy efficient these AMD CPUs really are.

AMD is partnering with Ubisoft to give away free copies of Far Cry 5 to consumers who buy a pre-built system powered by a Radeon RX Vega 64, RX Vega 56 or Radeon RX 580 graphics card. Upon purchase, the consumer receives a coupon code to redeem the digital copy at the AMD Rewards website. The coupon code is for the Standard Edition of Far Cry 5 which can be downloaded afterwards through Ubisoft's Uplay client. The promotion began on February 27, 2018 and will end on May 20, 2018. Do note that codes are available while supply lasts. Although the promotion is open worldwide, consumers must purchase the pre-built system from a participating vendor.

AMD has been making waves on computing markets with its latest line of processors powered by its innovative Zen microarchitecture. Its strengths and weaknesses are very well known by now, so there's no use harking them all over again; suffice it to say that the company has regained competitiveness - and then some - with many of Intel's products in as many different industry sectors. The company's APU solutions, for one, are one of a kind solutions that allow users to do some very impressive gaming sans a discrete GPU. However, Intel's been spending the last several years before AMD's Zen entrenching themselves in all markets, so AMD clearly has an uphill battle in fighting existing relations and supply channels. Case in point: Dell.

Channel Pro is reporting that Dell EMC's CTO, John Roese, said today at WMC that "Intel is the big player, AMD is the second player. There's enough diversity between them that there are use cases to have them both in our portfolio, but just the sheer breadth of the Intel processor portfolio is massive compared to even the accelerated AMD world."

The title of this piece is both question and answer, though users that keep up with PC-related news knew the answer already. Jon Peddie Research, in a new report, pegs the number of total graphics cards sold to miners at a pretty respectable 3 million units (worth some $776 million). That's some 3 million gamers that could be enjoying video games on their PCs right now, or which would be able to enjoy them at a much lower price that they had to recently pay to have the privilege.

AMD has been the primary benefactor here - its GPU market share went up by 8.1%, while NVIDIA's dropped by 6% and Intel's by 1.9% (the fact that Intel's graphics processing units come embedded in the company's processors helps keep that number stable). As it is, attachment rates of GPUs to systems was over 100% at 136%, the result of miners buying more cards per system in an effort to maximize profits. Jon Peddie thinks that gaming will still be the key player to drive GPU sales, though "augmented by the demand from cryptocurrency miners." The firm also expects demand for GPUs to slacken, coeteris paribus, due to "increasing utilities costs and supply and demand forces that drive up AIB prices." However, for those looking for prices to drop before upgrading their system, the news aren't rosy: the article states that pricing will not drop in the foreseeable future, so owners of GPUs that can actually mine already are being encouraged to mine while not gaming, so as to try and offset the markups in the current GPU offerings.

Following the launch of its next-generation "Zen" architecture-based embedded processors, AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) has positioned its embedded products to help customers apply and advance the use of internet of things (IoT) principles to a growing number of applications such as industrial systems, smart cities, inventory management, medical displays, and point of sale. Many of those applications and the two new embedded processors are on display at the AMD booth number 1-360 at Embedded World this week.

AMD recently launched the AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 and AMD EPYC Embedded 3000 processors, which provide new levels of performance, flexibility and security features for embedded customers. The same qualities that the new processors apply to vertical markets, including gaming, medical imaging, thin clients and aerospace, can translate into benefits for IoT solutions for edge gateways, servers and interconnected products. In addition, AMD is a supporting member of EdgeX Foundry, a group of ecosystem partners with the common goal of improving IoT interoperability and collaborating with more than 50 participating members towards a quality open environment and framework for building and accelerating IoT deployments.

Phanteks, the award-winning thermal cooling and chassis manfacturer, is excited to introduce the latest additions to the Glacier Series, the C350ip (Intel) and C350ap (AMD).

The Glacier C350ip and C350ap features a large copper base in high quality nickel finish, acetal top, and integrated high density cooling fins. The fins are fine-tuned to 0.4 mm width and designed with extra high fins (5 mm) for improved conductivity. The C350ip and C350ap are RGB-free and focus solely on performance. Tailored with Viton O-Ring, the C350ip and C350ap are durable, resistant to extreme temperatures and retains sealing performance for long periods of time. The Glacier C350ip and C350ap can be intergrated into any enthusiast system without compromise.

TechPowerUp today released GPU-Z v2.8.0, with important stability and feature updates. To begin with, we've addressed driver-crash issues seen on AMD "Raven Ridge" APU iGPU enabled systems, when using GPU-Z. The new DXVA 2.0 Features page in the "Advanced" tab is a ready-reckoner for all the video formats your GPUs provide hardware-acceleration for. We've made improvements to the accuracy of video memory usage readings on AMD Radeon GPUs, rendering performance of NVIDIA PerfCap sensor; and AMD power-limit readings in the "Advanced" tab.

Among the new GPUs supported are Radeon RX 460 Mobile, RX 560 Mobile, RX 570 Mobile, RX 580 Mobile, RX 550 based on Baffin LE. Minor bug-fixes include NVIDIA PerfCap sensor drawing outside its area; accuracy of temperature reading on AMD "Vega," a "BIOS reading not supported" error popping up on certain motherboards, and the driver digital signature reading getting truncated on high-DPI displays. Grab GPU-Z v2.8.0 from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.8.0The change-log follows.

AMD today released the latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition. Version 18.2.3, the third release for this month, comes with optimization for "Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age," "Sea of Thieves," and "Brass Tactics." With "Sea of Thieves," the drivers enable up to 29% higher frame-rates at 4K UHD, when measured with Radeon RX Vega 64, and up to 39% higher frame-rates at 1080p, when measured with an RX 580. With FFXII, it enables up to 13% higher frame-rates at 1440p measured with an RX Vega 64, and up to 20% higher frame-rates at 1080p, with an RX 580.

A host of FreeSync-related bugs are addressed with this release. They correct a bug experienced with FreeSync kicking in during online video-playback in Google Chrome, causing flickering; rapid frame-rate changes between minimum and maximum FPS ranges when gaming in certain system configurations; which causes stuttering; and a flickering observed on FreeSync-capable displays when performance metrics overlay is enabled with Enhanced Sync. A Radeon Overlay flickering noticed on Vulkan API games was fixed. A display corruption issue with "Fortnite" was fixed. Grab the drivers from the link below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.2.3 Beta

The change-log follows.

IBASE Technology Inc., a world leader in the manufacture of industrial motherboard and embedded systems, today launched a series of new AMD Ryzen Embedded and EPYC Embedded processor-based products, including the MI988 Mini-ITX motherboard, SI-324 4x HDMI 2.0 digital signage player and FWA8800 1U rackmount network appliance.

"As a premier AMD partner, we have been working closely on building products utilizing both AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 and EPYC Embedded 3000 products." said Jackson Mao, Product Planning Division Vice President of IBASE. "The next-generation performance and scalability delivered by the new AMD processors translate to real-world differentiation and benefits for our customers across networking, digital media, and industrial applications."

AMD today introduced two new product families - the AMD EPYC Embedded 3000 processor and AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 processor - to enter a new age for high-performance embedded processors. AMD EPYC Embedded 3000 brings the power of "Zen" to a variety of new markets including networking, storage and edge computing devices, while AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 targets medical imaging, industrial systems, digital gaming and thin clients. These new AMD Embedded processors deliver breakthrough performance, exceptional integration and on-chip security.

"Today we extend the high-performance x86 'Zen' architecture from PCs, laptops and the datacenter to networking, storage and industrial solutions with the AMD EPYC Embedded and AMD Ryzen Embedded product families, delivering transformative performance from the core to the edge," said Scott Aylor, corporate vice president and general manager, Datacenter and Embedded Solutions Business Group, AMD. "AMD EPYC Embedded 3000 raises the bar in performance for next-generation network functions virtualization, software-defined networking and networked storage applications. AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 brings together the 'Zen' core architecture and 'Vega' graphics architecture to deliver brilliant graphics in a single chip that provides space and power savings for medical imaging, gaming and industrial systems. With these high-performance products, AMD is ushering in a new age for embedded processors."

ID-Cooling rolled out the DK-03 Halo AMD Red, a simple top-flow CPU cooler that acts as a replacement to AMD's decent Wraith-series coolers. It should particularly appeal to those who opt for models that lack stock coolers (eg: Ryzen 5 1600X, Ryzen 7 1700X, 1800X, etc.). The cooler's design consists of a cylindrical aluminium heatsink with radially-projecting fins, ventilated by a large 120 mm fan. The heatsink looks taller than that of a Wraith Spire, yet narrower, for clearance around the memory and VRM areas. A pre-installed clip-type retention mechanism lets the cooler support AMD sockets AM4, AM3(+), and FM2(+).

With its factory-installed fan in place, the cooler measures 130 mm x 130 mm x 63 mm (WxDxH), weighing about 365 g. The fan features a red LED diffuser that draws power from the fan's power supply. The fan spins at speeds of up to 1,600 RPM, pushing up to 58.4 CFM of air, with a noise output of 26.4 dBA. The cooler is rated for thermal loads of up to 100W, which means you will be able to run 95W TDP Ryzen chips such as the 1800X at stock speeds, without expecting much overclocking headroom. Available now, the DK-03 Halo AMD Red is expected to be priced around USD $14.99.

In the wake of increased requirements when it comes to digital copy protection mechanisms in consumable media (be it in the streaming or disc-type), AMD is looking to allow users of its products to keep up with the increasing demands of content distributors. Besides hardware encode/decode capabilities, hardware DRM support such as HDCP 2.2 or Microsoft's PlayReady 3.0 has become a necessity for high-quality content viewing, and is required for Netflix 4K and HDR streaming on PCs.

AMD themselves have said that they plan on enabling these features for their products via a driver release, thus turning the most recent Ryzen + Vega APUs into even more desirable HTPC-environment solutions. In the Ryzen Desktop APU Reviewers' Guide, the company specifically said, "Please note that HDCP 1.4/2.2 are supported for the purposes of streaming 4K+HDR content. AMD intends to have a production PlayReady 3-capable graphics driver in early Q2". The company thus joins Intel and NVIDIA in developing solutions that allow users to take advantage of 4K and HDR content on their PC solution via, for example, Netflix. The steps are still very convoluted, though; just look at the Netflix requirements for your PC after the break. It's mind-boggling.

AMD's second-generation Ryzen 2000-series "Pinnacle Ridge" processors, which succeed the company's first Ryzen "Summit Ridge," reportedly feature soldered integrated heatspreaders (IHS), according AMD spokesperson "AMD_Robert" on Reddit. This would make the chips different from the Ryzen 2000G-series "Raven Ridge" APUs launched earlier this week, which come with a thermal paste between the IHS and the die. Soldered heatspreaders are generally known to have better heat transfer between the IHS and die, when compared to packages with thermal pastes between the two; and are more expensive to manufacture. They remove the need to "de-lid" the processor (remove the IHS). Ryzen 2000-series processors are expected to debut in April 2018.

The Socket AM4 platform is designed to be a long life, fully featured, scalable solution with support for multiple processors, with varying capabilities. Since the release of the AMD Socket AM4 motherboards in early 2017 with the AMD Ryzen desktop processor, there have been several BIOS updates made available through our motherboard partners. These updates not only provide improved system performance but also expand support for newer processors as they become available.

In February 2018, AMD began introduction of the new 2nd Gen Ryzen Desktop Processor with Radeon Vega Graphics. To enable support for this new processor, an updated BIOS is required. Due to the rapid pace of innovation, and strong demand for Ryzen Processors with Radeon Graphics, it may be possible that some users with an AMD Socket AM4 motherboard paired with a 2nd Generation Ryzen Desktop introduced in 2018, may experience an issue where the system does not boot up during initial setup.

California-based Chinese PC hardware retailer Newegg late Tuesday, issued partial refunds to customers who bought highly marked-up AMD Ryzen 2000-series APUs with Radeon Vega graphics. At launch, Newegg marked up the Ryzen 3 2200G and the Ryzen 5 2400G by as much as US $20 above their MSRPs of $99.99 and $169.99, respectively. The 2400G was listed at $189.99, a price that greatly erodes the chip's competitiveness in the market against similarly-priced Intel chips. Newegg has since "lowered" prices of the two chips back to their MSRPs, and is writing to those who bought the chips at marked-up prices, intimating them of refunds of the mark-up back to their original mode of payment.

AMD today released the latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition. Version 18.2.2 Beta introduces much welcome performance uplifts for Player Unknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), with up to 5 percent gains over 17.12.1 at 1440p, and up to 7 percent gains over it at 1080p. It also includes optimization for "Kingdom Come: Deliverance" and "Fortnite." You can expect up to 3 percent performance uplift at 1440p, and up to 4 percent at 1080p with "Kingdom Come: Deliverance," and up to 3 percent at 1440 and up to 6 percent at 1080p with "Fortnite." Grab the driver from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.2.2 Beta

AMD unveiled its new-generation Wraith Prism CPU cooler, which will soon be available for purchase separately, launched alongside some of the higher models of its Ryzen 2000-series "Pinnacle Ridge" processors. The Wraith Prism is essentially a Wraith Max with RGB LED lighting. The cooler features two RGB LED diffusers embedded into its shroud, an outer ring at the mouth of the intake, and an inner ring along the bore of the intake framing the fan. You will be able to control the RGB LED lighting via Ryzen Master software, but it will also support software standards from motherboard vendors, such as ASUS Aura Sync, MSI Mystic Light, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, BIOSTAR Vivid, etc. Under the shroud, the Wriath Prism features the same aluminium fin-stack heatsink as the Wriath Max. The cooler features fan-profiles for various CPU OC modes, which can be enabled via Ryzen Master. When it starts selling separately, the Wraith Prism could be priced around $49, a $5-ish premium over Wraith Max.

Over the last couple of days, motherboard manufacturers have been scrambling to release BIOS updates for their AM4 motherboards to accommodate the new Ryzen 3 2200G and Ryzen 5 2400G processors. From the information we gathered from ASRock's AM4 CPU support list, AMD is secretly preparing two more Ryzen "Raven Ridge" APUs. The unannounced models are the Ryzen 5 2400GE and Ryzen 3 2200GE. Judging from their technical specifications, the aforementioned processors are the low-power variants to the two models that were released today. The "GE" variants come with a lower 3.2 GHz base clock and 35W TDP. As of yet, AMD hasn't officially announced the pricing or release date.