At the Virtual Reality Los Angeles (VRLA) event, AMD along with a few gaming PC manufacturers demonstrated their desktop builds featuring the company's upcoming dual-GPU graphics card driven by a pair of "Fiji" GPUs. Among the desktops demoed include a prototype Falcon Northwest Tiki compact gaming desktop with a dual-Fiji graphics card, and HTC Vive HMD. Falcon Northwest commented that the dual-GPU "Fiji" graphics card is small enough to squeeze into its 4-inch thick Tiki, indicating that the card will be super-compact. AMD is expected to launch the dual-GPU "Fiji" graphics card some time in Q2 2016.

MSI unveiled the 970A-G43 Plus socket AM3+ motherboard. Priced under $100, this board offers a modern feature-set for mid-range gaming PC builds based on AMD FX processors. The board supports socket AM3+ processors with TDP of up to 125W. The board is based on AMD 970 + SB950 chipset. It draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, and conditions it for the CPU with a 4+1 phase VRM. The CPU socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, which support up to 32 GB of DDR3-2133 MHz memory.

Expansion slots include one PCI-Express 2.0 x16, featuring a reinforcement brace; one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4), and two each of PCIe 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI. Storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Modern connectivity includes two USB 3.1 (10 Gb/s) ports; two USB 3.0 (front-panel) ports, 8-channel HD audio (Realtek ALC892), and gigabit Ethernet (Realtek controller). The board is driven by UEFI firmware, and supports modern Windows 8.1/10 features.

BIOSTAR is heavily committed in delivering the absolute best value products for consumers and today marks the introduction of the new BIOSTAR PRO series line of motherboards for AMD processors. BIOSTAR has taken into consideration the demand of system builders for more cost-effective systems based around the AMD platforms and is introducing the AMD PRO series motherboard to offer a better value option for consumers who want to opt for an AMD system Redefining price-to-performance, the BIOSTAR PRO series is simply beyond better.

The new BIOSTAR PRO series motherboards feature enhanced power design for increased stability and durability coupled with a reinforced metal CPU retention backplate for secure, long-term usage. Additionally, BIOSTAR has integrated an improved audio solution featuring Nichicon high-end audio capacitors for better sound quality.

AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) today announced revenue for the fourth quarter of 2015 of $958 million, operating loss of $49 million and net loss of $102 million, or $0.13 per share. Non-GAAP(1) operating loss was $39 million, non-GAAP net loss was $79 million and non-GAAP(1) loss per share was $0.10.

"AMD closed 2015 with solid execution fueled by the second straight quarter of double-digit percentage revenue growth in our Computing and Graphics segment and record annual semi-custom unit shipments," said Dr. Lisa Su, AMD president and CEO. "While 2015 was challenging from a financial perspective, key R&D investments and a sharpened focus on innovation position us well to deliver great products, improved financial results and share gains in 2016."

This week on TechPowerUp News: Intel 6th gen. Core "Skylake" processors freeze over under certain kinds of stress; AMD's big price-cut for the super-small Radeon R9 Nano, and the fabled 5.10 GHz Intel Xeon processor.

Microsoft, in a tactfully-worded blog post by Exec VP for its Windows and Devices Group, Terry Myerson, announced that it won't support older versions of Windows (eg: Windows 7 and Windows 8.1) on the latest/upcoming processors. The software might run on the new hardware, but the company won't provide enterprise support for such platforms. This could include software updates, as the platform won't technically meet the software's requirements.

In the post, Microsoft named upcoming platforms from the big three CPU makers - Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm, to which the company will provide enterprise support only for Windows 10. These include the 7th generation Core "Kaby Lake" processors from Intel, "Bristol Ridge" processors from AMD, and the "8996" SoC from Qualcomm. Machines running a select few models of Core "Skylake" processors will receive enterprise support, but only till 17th July, 2017. After this date, only the most critical security updates will be released for the OS running on those platforms.

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.

AMD marks a major step towards delivering choice and innovation in the data center with the launch of the AMD Opteron A1100 System-on-Chip (SoC), formerly codenamed "Seattle". Jointly with its software and hardware partners, AMD is accelerating time-to-deployment of ARM-based systems and driving forward ecosystem support for ARM in the data center.

"The ecosystem for ARM in the data center is approaching an inflection point and the addition of AMD's high-performance processor is another strong step forward for customers looking for a data center-class ARM solution," said Scott Aylor, corporate vice president and general manager, Enterprise Solutions, AMD. "The macro trend of convergence between networking, storage and servers is an important catalyst in this evolution. Customers now have access to 64-bit ARM processors from the only silicon provider that also has decades of experience delivering professional enterprise and embedded products."

AMD today announced it is collaborating with Tencent Games to bring new features, performance and functionality to Monster Hunter Online (MHO) in January, a leading massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) for the China market.

Beyond the features, performance and functionality improvements, AMD and Tencent also announced a marketing collaboration around MHO in China, including the first cross media "pan-entertainment" contest co-sponsored by Tencent, AMD and Sapphire, including promotions with i-Cafés and university campuses around the country. AMD will also offer customized PCs and AMD Radeon graphics cards for MHO throughout Mainland China.

In this episode of TechPowerUp News, AMD's upcoming new-generation Graphics CoreNext architecture codenamed "Polaris," and the big Oculus Rift pre-order.

AMD gave its premium small-factor gaming graphics card, the Radeon R9 Nano, its first major price cut. The card now starts at US $499, down from its launch price of $649. At $499, the R9 Nano is priced on par with its similar-performing albeit bigger and noisier sibling based on the "Fiji" silicon, the Radeon R9 Fury. The company's flagship single-GPU card, the R9 Fury X, remains at $599, its price was gradually reduced from its launch price of $649.

The three SKUs appear to be positioned to compete with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 980, and offer cost-effective alternatives to the $629 GTX 980 Ti. Elsewhere in the lineup, the Radeon R9 390X starts at $379, and has its guns trained on the GTX 980 and GTX 970. Its smaller sibling, the Radeon R9 390 starts at $299.

AMD unveiled Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.1 Beta. The latest version of AMD's suite, which provides drivers and system software for its Radeon GPUs, comes with a large complement of game-specific performance/stability improvements. This includes bug-fixes specific to Fallout 4, Just Cause 3, Star Wars: Battlefront, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, and Assassin's Creed Syndicate. Grab the driver from the links below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.1 Beta for Windows 10/8.1/7 64-bit | Windows 10/8.1/7 32-bit

AMD made an update to its desktop APU lineup, with the addition of the A10-7890K. This socket FM2+ chip, based on the "Kaveri" Refresh silicon, replaces the A10-7870K as the fastest APU you can buy. The chip's maximum (Turbo Core) frequency is upped to 4.30 GHz, compared to the 4.20 GHz on the A10-7870K. The nominal clock speed remains unchanged, it's rumored to be 4.00 GHz, but it wouldn't surprise us if AMD kept it at 3.90 GHz. AMD could bundle its recently demoed Wraith air-cooler with this chip, which promises significantly lower noise levels than the older reference cooler. In addition to the A10-7890K, AMD announced that it is working with its motherboard partners to launch a fresh wave of socket FM2+ and AM3+ boards that feature modern connectivity, such as USB 3.1 type-C and type-A, and M.2 PCIe slots.

Four prototype graphics cards based on GPUs that implement AMD's next-generation Graphics CoreNext architecture, codenamed "Polaris," were sniffed out, as they were making their way through air-cargo. At least two prototypes marked "C981" and "C980" made their way from Hong Kong, to Hyderabad, India, between late-December 2015 and early-January. It's speculated that the two could be SKUs based on the same chip.

The turnaround in developer relations for NVIDIA, propelled by its GameWorks software and a refreshed "The Way It's Meant to be Played" (TWIMTBP) program is best exemplified with the upcoming "Rise of the Tomb Raider." A sequel to the 2013 franchise reboot by Square Enix, which brandished the "AMD Game!" logo, and even bundled with certain AMD Radeon graphics cards; the new Tomb Raider not only features the NVIDIA logo, but will also be bundled with select GeForce graphics cards under the new "Discover the Legend Within" bundle.

NVIDIA is giving away "Rise of the Tomb Raider" with GeForce GTX 980 Ti, GTX 980, and GTX 970 graphics cards. This includes cards sold in the retail channel, as well as gaming desktops that come with those cards pre-installed. On the notebook front, select notebooks running the GTX 980, GTX 980M, and GTX 970M will also give you a key to the game. The bundle extends to participating retailers and OEMs only.

AMD demonstrated a new reference air-based CPU cooling solution. Called the AMD Wraith, the cooler addresses the noise problem affecting AMD's stock CPU cooler, particularly on 95W-125W CPUs and APUs; and is more easy to deal with, than the company's liquid cooling solution. AMD Wraith could either be sold standalone, or as part of premium bundles with certain current or upcoming CPUs/APUs.

In its demo, the AMD Wraith is shown to be significantly quieter than AMD's stock cooling solution at maximum speed. Much like the stock cooler, the AMD Wraith is a top-flow aluminium fin-stack cooler, but with a larger heatsink, and a bigger fan. A groovy LED backlit AMD logo decks the black cooler shroud.The video presentation by AMD follows.

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.

Oculus, makers of the popular Oculus Rift VR HMD, announced that it will open the gates for pre-orders for its upcoming Rift CV1 HMD on the 6th of January, 2016, at 08:00 Pacific Time. You'll be able to take it for a spin right out of the box, on the bundled games Lucky's Tale, and EVE: Valkyrie, two games built almost entirely around VR, by leveraging the Oculus SDK.

2016 is shaping up to be the year VR takes off in a big scale, with consumer electronics giants planning to launch their VR headsets; game developers building their games around major VR SDKs, and graphics hardware companies like AMD and NVIDIA making major moves in the VR industry. AMD is sitting on a treasure-chest of IP with its LiquidVR technology, while NVIDIA recently announced a VR-ready certification program.

AMD provided customers with a glimpse of its upcoming 2016 Polaris GPU architecture, highlighting a wide range of significant architectural improvements including HDR monitor support, and industry-leading performance-per-watt. AMD expects shipments of Polaris architecture-based GPUs to begin in mid-2016.

AMD's Polaris architecture-based 14nm FinFET GPUs deliver a remarkable generational jump in power efficiency. Polaris-based GPUs are designed for fluid frame rates in graphics, gaming, VR and multimedia applications running on compelling small form-factor thin and light computer designs.

"Our new Polaris architecture showcases significant advances in performance, power efficiency and features," said Lisa Su, president and CEO, AMD. "2016 will be a very exciting year for Radeon fans driven by our Polaris architecture, Radeon Software Crimson Edition and a host of other innovations in the pipeline from our Radeon Technologies Group."

Microsoft could make the Xbox One "slimmer" and more energy-efficient by leveraging AMD's upcoming 4th generation Graphics CoreNext architecture, codenamed "Polaris." Found in the footnotes of AMD's "Polaris" press-deck, mentioned as an ominous-sounding "Xbox One Polaris," the mention hints at a revision of Xbox One that features an SoC running a "Polaris" based SoC. Microsoft could leverage the energy-efficiency improvements, and possibly upcoming processes, such as 14 nm FinFET, to bring down power-draw, thermal requirements, and possibly cost.

The fourth generation of AMD Graphics CoreNext GPU architecture has been reportedly codenamed "Polaris" by the company. It makes its debut later this year in the company's "Arctic Islands" GPUs, built on Samsung's 14 nm FinFET node. According to the company, Polaris will provide a "historic leap in performance/Watt" for Radeon GPUs. Chips based on Polaris will feature improvements to not just the compute units, but will also come with generational improvements to pretty much every other component, including a new front-end, display controllers, and a new memory controller supporting HBM2.

AMD debuted its first generation GCN architecture with the Radeon HD 7000 series, notably the "Tahiti" silicon. Its second-generation, GCN 2.0, (reported in the press as GCN 1.1), debuted with the R9 290 series, notably the "Hawaii" silicon. The third-generation, GCN 3.0 (reported in the press as GCN 1.2), debuted with the R9 285, notably the "Tonga" silicon; making "Polaris" the fourth-generation. GCN 4.0 will form the core micro-architecture of the "Arctic Islands" family of GPUs, which make their debut in mid-2016.

This week on TechPowerUp News: Samsung to build AMD "Zen" and "Arctic Islands" on its 14 nm FinFET LPP node, while NVIDIA stares at a possible sales ban over patent spat with Samsung.

Originally expected to unveil/launch some time in December-January, AMD's upcoming flagship dual-GPU graphics card based on its "Fiji" silicon could now be scheduled for a Q2-2016 (April-June) launch. In its E3 livecast, AMD CEO Lisa Su stated that the dual-GPU "Fiji" product could launch as early as Christmas 2015. We now know that it isn't happening.

Responding to a question by Hardware.fr, AMD stated that it's pegging the launch of the dual-GPU "Fiji" card to commercial availability of HMDs (head-mounted displays), and a general sense of maturity in the VR ecosystem. AMD is now expecting HMDs to be well proliferated no sooner than Q2-2016, and is hence "adjusting the Fiji Gemini launch schedule to better align with the market," to "ensure the optimal VR experience." AMD did state that samples of the card have been shipped to some of its B2B partners for internal testing within Q4-2015, and their response have been "positive." Could this be AMD buying time to re-engineer a non-Cooler Master cooling solution?

It has been confirmed that Samsung will be AMD's foundry partner for its next generation GPUs. It has been reported that AMD's upcoming "Arctic Islands" family of GPUs could be built on the 14 nanometer FinFET LPP (low-power Plus) process. AMD's rival NVIDIA, meanwhile, is building its next-gen "Pascal" GPU family on 16 nanometer FinFET node, likely at its traditional foundry partner TSMC.

It gets better - not only will Samsung manufacture AMD's next-gen GPUs, but also its upcoming "Zen" family of CPUs, at least a portion of it. AMD is looking to distribute manufacturing loads between two foundries, Samsung and GlobalFoundries, perhaps to ensure that foundry-level teething trouble doesn't throw its product launch cycle off the rails. One of the most talked about "Arctic Islands" GPUs is codenamed "Greenland," likely a successor to "Fiji." Sales of some of the first chips - GPUs or CPUs - made at Samsung, will begin some time in Q3 2016. Some of the other clients for Samsung's 14 nm FinFET node are Apple and Qualcomm. The company plans to speed up development of its more advanced 10 nm node to some time in 2017.

In this episode of TechPowerUp News: the return of overclocking on budget Intel CPUs by playing with base-clock (BClk); and AMD GPUOpen, the company's ambitious counter to NVIDIA GameWorks that harnesses the power of open-source.