AMD's design of the Radeon RX 480 graphics card, which draws over 75W of power from the PCI-Express x16 slot, has cost it a product listing on the PCI-SIG Integrators List. The list is compiled for hardware devices implementing the various PCI-Express specifications to the letter. The RX 480 is off-spec, in that it overdraws power from the slot, as the card needs more power than what the slot and the 6-pin PCIe power connector can provide while staying within specs. According to these specs, the slot can provide up to 75W of power, and the 6-pin connector another 75W. The RX 480 was tested to draw more than this 150W power budget.

What this means for AMD is that it cannot display the PCI-Express certification logo on the product or its marketing materials. This, however, may not affect AMD's add-in board (AIB) partners that are PCI-SIG members in their own right, and make graphics cards with their own sub-vendor IDs, provided their power-supply designs comply with PCIe specs. Custom-design cards with an 8-pin PCIe power connector, instead of 6-pin, may qualify as the combination of the 8-pin connector and the slot yields a power budget of 225W. AMD released a software fix to the issue of the cards overdrawing power from the slot, with the Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.7.1 Beta.

AMD today announced the new Lenovo Y27f Curved Gaming Monitor, its first free-standing display incorporating AMD FreeSync technology, offering low input latency and an ultra-smooth, stutter free gaming and multimedia experience.1 With "the most extreme curve available today,"2 the 27-inch-wide, vertically aligned display provides extraordinary gaming immersion and a true-to-life viewing experience.

AMD FreeSync technology helps ensure smooth and fluid gameplay. AMD FreeSync technology enhances communication between the Lenovo Y27f Curved Gaming Monitor and an AMD FreeSync-capable GPU, allowing the display to dynamically adapt its refresh rate in alignment with the GPU's creation of new frames. This prevents tearing by ensuring no new frames are drawn during the refresh period. FreeSync also eliminates stuttering, since the refresh rate is locked to the creation of new frames. FreeSync is supported on a wide range of AMD Radeon GPUs, including the recently launched Polaris architecture-based Radeon RX Series graphics cards.

AMD released its latest version of Radeon Software Crimson Edition. Version 16.8.2 comes with optimization for this week's biggest release, "No Man's Sky," (if you can get it to work). It also comes with optimization for "Paragon" beta. The game addresses bugs related to "Overwatch," idle flickering on machines with FreeSync enabled, and installation issues affecting Windows 10 Anniversary Edition. Grab the drivers from the links below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.8.2 for Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 32-bit | Windows 8.1 64-bit | Windows 8.1 32-bit | Windows 7 64-bit | Windows 7 32-bit

Apple is preparing its first major design overhaul for the MacBook Pro in four years. The next-generation premium notebook from Apple, reportedly features a thinner form, a touchscreen strip in place of function keys, acting as a second display; and an upscaling of the USB type-C based universal connector concept introduced with the new MacBook.

Apple's Touch ID feature could be ported to the Mac ecosystem with the new MacBook Pro, which could feature a fingerprint reader. Under the hood, the new MacBook Pro could be the launchpad for the company's next MacOS "Sierra" software, which brings Siri to the Mac platform, and deeper iCloud integration. Its processor supplier is unclear at this point, but its graphics processing could be care of an AMD "Polaris" GPU.

An AMD Polaris 10 "Ellesmere" based graphics card (RX 470 or RX 480) was taken apart down to its die, for science. Close up die-shots of the silicon reveal that 36 GCN compute units is all that the silicon has, and that the RX 480 indeed maxes out this stream processor count, with 2,304 stream processors at its disposal.

The die is fabbed by GlobalFoundries, on its swanky new 14 nm FinFET process. Redditors good at pattern-recognition could make out 36 "structures" spread across four quadrants, deducing them to be the GCN compute units. Each of these CUs feature 64 stream processors. Roadmaps reveal that the next high-end GPUs by AMD could be based on its newer "Vega" architecture.

According to performance numbers of an AMD "Summit Ridge" ZEN CPU engineering-sample put out by WCCFTech, AMD's claims of IPC gains are gaining credibility, and showing signs of the gaming PC processor market warming up again. An engineering sample featuring 8 cores and 16 threads (via SMT), beat Intel's Core i5-4670K processor. This sample featured clock speeds of 2.80 GHz, with 3.20 GHz boost.

The "Summit Ridge" sample provided 10 percent higher frame-rates than a Core i5-4670K, in the "Ashes of the Singularity" 1080p benchmark. The chip is still convincingly beaten by 12 percent, by a Core i7-4790 (non-K), running at 3.60 GHz, with 4.00 GHz boost. This shows that AMD could leverage the new 14 nm FinFET process to crank up clock-speeds, and produce SKUs competitive with current Intel "Skylake-D" Core i5 and Core i7 processors.

TechPowerUp announces the latest version of GPU-Z, the graphics sub-system information, diagnostic, and monitoring utility that no power-user can leave home without. Version 1.10.0 introduces support for new GPUs, including AMD Radeon RX 470, RX 460; NVIDIA TITAN X Pascal, and 3 GB GTX 1060; and Intel Iris 550. GPU-Z can now correctly extract BIOS from AMD "Polaris" GPUs. Power-draw monitoring on "Polaris" GPUs has been improved, and a general shader count issue in ULPS mode has been fixed.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 1.10.0 | GPU-Z 1.10.0 ASUS ROG Themed

The change-log follows.

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.

AMD today unleashed the new Radeon RX 460 graphics card, engineered from the ground up for eSports gamers who demand pristine HD gaming, extraordinarily smooth beyond-HD streaming capabilities, and a distinguished assortment of future-proof gaming technologies. With an ultra-quiet cooling solution and sub-75W power footprint, the Radeon RX 460 brings this wide array of enthusiast class features with a stunning SEP starting at $109.

"The Radeon RX 460 delivers the perfect balance of price, power, performance and package size, the four key pillars of modern GPUs," said Raja Koduri, senior vice president and chief architect, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. "The Radeon RX Series is built on architecture designed for extraordinary power efficiency and is especially well suited to desktop gaming PCs targeted at mainstream price points. Radeon RX 460 users will enjoy an optimized software and hardware graphics card solution ideal for both eSports and iCafé systems."

TUL Corporation, a leading and innovative manufacturer of AMD graphic cards since 1997, has released a brand new video card in PowerColor Red Dragon RX 460 2GB/4GB GDDR5. It is based on AMD's latest GCN 4 architecture designed for GloFo 14nm FinFET that delivers premium VR capability, increased level of performance, smooth VR, seamless support for next-gen gaming monitors and CPU-free game streaming or recording. Furthermore, the model also supports AMD's newest technologies such as Direct 12 and Vulkan, FreeSync, and Liquid VR.

PowerColor Red Dragon RX 460 4 GB GDDR5 utilizes 4 GB of GDDR5 memory with 896 stream processors, ships with 1212 MHz core clock speed, and has 1750 MHz memory clock speed which is connected via a new high speed 128-bit memory interface.

In addition to the RX 470 Platinum Edition OC, Sapphire unveiled a pair of Radeon RX 470 NITRO+ series graphics cards. This includes a 4 GB variant, and an 8 GB variant. Besides memory, the two differ slightly with their factory-overclock. The 4 GB variant ships with 1143 MHz core, 1260 MHz boost, and 8.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective) memory; while the 8 GB variant ships with 1121 MHz core, 1260 MHz boost, and 8.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective) memory. Both variants feature Sapphire's new generation Dual-X cooling solution, which made its debut with the RX 480 NITRO+ series. The PCB appears to be similar, too.

Sapphire announced the Radeon RX 470 Platinum Edition OC graphics card. This card is the closest it gets to a market-available reference design AMD board for the RX 470. It sticks to the AMD reference design PCB, with a negligibly higher 1216 MHz engine boost clock (vs. 1206 MHz reference); but a significant 7.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective) memory clock (vs. 6.60 GHz reference). Sapphire customized the cooler design to feature a silvery finish on the cooler shroud, and a matching silver+black backplate covering the length of the PCB. This card could be priced close to the $179 MSRP set for the RX 470.

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced Strix RX 470, an all-new gaming graphics card with ultra-fast performance, advanced cooling and reliability, and personalized styling. Powered by the latest AMD Radeon RX 470 graphics processing unit (GPU), clocked at 1270 MHz in OC mode, ROG Strix RX 470 delivers up to 23%-faster performance than R9 380 reference cards in 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme and 25%-faster gaming performance in Hitman.

ROG Strix RX 470 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.

In addition to the RX 470 Red DEVIL, PowerColor also launched the Radeon RX 470 Red DRAGON graphics card. This is essentially a non-overclocked variant of the Red DEVIL, featuring AMD reference clock speeds for the RX 470, including 1210 MHz engine boost, and 6.60 GHz (GDDR5-effective) memory, compared to the 1270 MHz boost and 7.00 GHz memory on the Red DEVIL. The card is distinct from the Red DEVIL in that it features white-colored metal inserts into the cooler shroud instead of red; and draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector, instead of 8-pin on the Red DEVIL, so it may not have the same OC potential as its more expensive sibling. The card will likely be priced under the $200 mark.

TUL Corporation, a leading and innovative manufacturer of AMD graphic cards since 1997, has released a brand new video card in PowerColor Red Devil RX 470 4 GB GDDR5. It is based on AMD's latest GCN 4 architecture designed for GloFo 14 nm FinFET that delivers premium VR capability, increased level of performance, smooth VR, seamless support for next-gen gaming monitors, and CPU-free game streaming or recording. Furthermore, the model also supports AMD's newest technologies such as Direct 12 and Vulkan, FreeSync, and Liquid VR.

PowerColor Red Devil RX 470 4 GB GDDR5 utilizes 4 GB of GDDR5 memory with 2048 stream processors, ships core clock up to 1270 MHz, and has 1750 MHz memory clock speed which is connected via a new high speed 256-bit memory interface. Having a 8 Pin power connector plus superior 6+1 multi-phases where each phase supplies 25W instead of 22.5W found in other boards this board is designed for the ultimate performance and supplying stable power.

AMD Radeon add-in board (AIB) partner VTX3D announced that it has ceased operations. A subsidiary of TUL, which also owns the more popular PowerColor brand, VTX3D primarily targeted the APAC and EMEAI markets, and most of its products had a distinct PowerColor signature on their design and build-quality. This is because both brands were manufactured at TUL, a major PCB contract-manufacturing foundry. Following its demise, VTX3D announced that its sister-brand PowerColor will honor warranty and RMA services for existing owners of VTX3D products.

Microsoft's new slim Xbox One S console achieves its slimness - including its inbuilt power-supply, by significantly reducing thermal load of its key components. This begins at the heart of the console, its SoC. A semi-custom chip by Microsoft and AMD, the SoC powering the Xbox One S is built on the 16 nm FinFET process at TSMC. The chip powering the original Xbox One was built on the same foundry's 28 nm node.

The new SoC isn't merely an optical shrink of the original 28 nm chip down to 16 nm FinFET, Microsoft added a few components to the chip, including an HEVC hardware decoder, hardware CODECs for Blu-ray UHD with HDR; and a revamped display controller with HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2. The chip also performs 1080p to 4K UHD upscaling, with a native upscaling algorithm. The eSRAM memory bandwidth is increased slightly from 204 GB/s from 219 GB/s.

AMD signed off July with the month's third Radeon Software Crimson Edition release. Version 16.7.3 features performance optimization for "Rise of the Tomb Raider." The drivers improve performance of the game by up to 10 percent over 16.7.2 drivers. The drivers also address a large amount of game-specific bugs; Radeon Settings UI improvements, and bugs related to task-switching in multi-display setups. Grab them from the links below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.7.3 for Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 32-bit | Windows 8.1 64-bit | Windows 8.1 32-bit | Windows 7 64-bit | Windows 7 32-bit

AMD's upcoming 14 nm Polaris 11 "Baffin" ASIC, which powers the Radeon RX 460, was pictured up close, and it's tiny! Pictured as part of a Sapphire Radeon RX 460 Dual-X disassembly by PCOnline.com.cn, the Polaris 11 chip features a tiny package substrate owing to its low pin-count, wiring out a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface; a PCI-Express 3.0 x8 host interface (it fits into x16 slots but has wiring for just x8); and electrical pins to cope with its <75W TDP requirements. The card relies on the PCI-Express slot for all its power draw. Sapphire's Dual-X cooling solution looks beefy from the outside owing to its cooler shroud and pair of fans, but underneath is a fairly simple monoblock aluminium heatsink.

The official specifications of two the two upcoming mainstream graphics cards by AMD, the Radeon RX 470, and the Radeon RX 460, were leaked to the web as slides from the company's official press presentation ahead of their early-August product launches. The RX 470 is based on the same "Ellesmere" Polaris10 silicon as the RX 480. It features 2,048 stream processors across 32 GCN compute units; 128 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and 4 GB of memory across a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface.

The RX 470 features clock speeds of 926 MHz core, 1206 MHz boost, and 6.6 Gbps memory, working out to 211 GB/s memory bandwidth. The RX 460, on the other hand, is based on the "Baffin" Polaris11 silicon, featuring 896 stream processors, 48 TMUs, 16 ROPs, and 4 GB of memory across a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. Its core is clocked at 1090 MHz, with 1200 MHz boost, and 7 Gbps memory, working out to 112 GB/s memory bandwidth. The RX 470 draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector as its TDP is rated at 120W; the RX 460 relies entirely on the PCIe slot for its power, as its TDP is rated at <75W. The RX 470 will be available from 4th August, 2016; with the RX 460 following on 8th August.

AMD today announced that its powerful physically-based rendering engine is becoming open source, giving developers access to the source code. As part of GPUOpen, Radeon ProRender (formerly previewed as AMD FireRender) enables creators to bring ideas to life through high-performance applications and workflows enhanced by photorealistic rendering. Alongside Radeon ProRender, developers also have access to Radeon Rays on GPUOpen.com, a high-efficiency, high-performance, heterogeneous ray tracing intersection library for GPU, CPU or APU on virtually any platform. GPUOpen is an AMD initiative designed to assist developers in creating ground-breaking games, professional graphics applications and GPU computing applications with superior performance and lifelike experiences, using no-cost open development tools and software.

Radeon ProRender plugins are available today for many popular 3D content creation applications, including Autodesk 3ds Max, SOLIDWORKS by Dassault Systèmes and Rhino, with Autodesk Maya coming soon. Radeon ProRender works across Windows, OS X and Linux, and supports AMD GPUs, CPUs and APUs as well as those of other vendors.

AMD today announced it is developing a new Radeon Pro solution for large dataset applications, which will be available initially as a developer kit. Starting at a full terabyte of Radeon Solid State Graphics (SSG), this innovative Radeon Pro technology will provide more than an order of magnitude greater memory capacity compared to existing GPU memory implementations, enabling vastly higher performance. The new solution is ideal for the next wave of demanding use-case scenarios including real-time post-production of 8K video, high-resolution rendering, VR content creation, oil and gas exploration, computational engineering, medical imaging and life sciences.

During the world's first demonstration of a Radeon Pro SSG solution, 8K raw video timeline scrubbing was accelerated from 17 frames per second to a stunning 90+ frames per second. As content creators rapidly adopt 8K resolution to future-proof their content, a 5X performance boost will improve quality of life, productivity and efficiency in the editing process.

Here are some of the first pictures of the Radeon RX 470 Platinum Edition by Sapphire. The card design is a close variation of AMD reference design, with a silvery plastic panel on the cooler shroud, a metallic sticker on the fan hub, and a back-plate covering the length of the PCB. This PCB features two fewer power phases than the RX 480, and 4 GB of 7 Gbps GDDR5 memory. The RX 470 features 2,048 stream processors, 128 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit GDDR5 memory interface. It draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector; and its TDP is rated at 150W. The MSRP for the RX 470 is rumored to be set at US $179.

AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) today announced revenue for the second quarter of 2016 of $1,027 million, operating loss of $8 million, and net income of $69 million, or $0.08 per diluted share. Non-GAAP operating income was $3 million and non-GAAP net loss was $40 million, or $0.05 per share.

"In the second quarter we accomplished a significant milestone as we returned to non-GAAP operating profitability based on solid execution and strong demand for our semi-custom and graphics products," said Lisa Su, AMD president and CEO. "Based on the strength of our semi-custom products and demand for our latest Radeon RX GPUs and 7th Generation A-Series APUs, we are well positioned to drive growth and market share gains in the second half of the year."

TUL Corporation, a leading and innovative manufacturer of AMD graphic cards since 1997, has released a brand new video card in PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 8GB GDDR5. It is based on AMD's latest GCN 4 architecture designed for GloFo 14nm FinFET that delivers premium VR capability, increased level of performance, smooth VR, seamless support for next-gen gaming monitors, and CPU-free game streaming or recording. Furthermore, the model also supports AMD's newest technologies such as Direct 12 and Vulkan, FreeSync, and Liquid VR.

PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 8GB GDDR5 utilizes 8GB of GDDR5 memory with 2304 stream processors, ships with 1330MHz core clock speed, and has 2000MHz memory clock speed which is connected via a new high speed 256-bit memory interface. The 6+1 multi-phases board design enhances the power efficiency and stability, and also enables ultimate performance in overclocking mode with BIOS switch. In order to achieve better thermal solution in both ultra overclocking and silent overclocking mode, PowerColor Red Devil RX 480 adopts the newest fan technology called Double Blade III which increases airflows and prevents dust deposition on fans. The Double Blade III is made with triple 80mm 2-ball bearing fans, with 2pcs of 8mm and another 2pcs of 6mm nickel- plated heat pipe for the best heat dissipation.