AMD announced a series of retailer-specific promotions for its flagship Radeon R9 295X2 dual-GPU graphics card. The card, which launched at US $1,499, will be available for as low as $999, as part of retailer promotions. End users (you), and not just OEMs, will be able to buy the card at the three-figure price. The card will ship with its usual Radeon Rewards package, giving you access to over a dozen free games. Based on a pair of 28 nm "Hawaii" GPUs, the Radeon R9 295X2 features a total of 5,760 Graphics CoreNext 1.1 stream processors, 352 TMUs, and 128 ROPs, split between its two GPUs, and 8 GB of memory across its two 512-bit wide GDDR5 memory interfaces.

AMD made three additions to its FX-8300 series eight-core socket AM3+ processors, along with adjustments to the series' overall pricing. The company launched a new performance-segment part, the FX-8370, along with two energy-efficient eight-core chips, the FX-8370E, and the FX-8320E. The FX-8370 features the same 4.00 GHz nominal clock speed as the FX-8350, but a tiny bit higher TurboCore frequency of 4.30 GHz, compared to the latter's 4.20 GHz. This chip is priced at US $199.

The FX-8370E, on the other hand, features the same maximum TurboCore frequency of 4.30, but its nominal clock speed is much lower, at 3.30 GHz. Not all cores run at TurboCore frequency simultaneously. The FX-8320E features a maximum TurboCore frequency of 4.00 GHz, same as that of the FX-8320, but a lower nominal clock speed, of 3.20 GHz. Both these two parts feature rated TDP of 95W, compared to 125W of the other parts in the series.

ASUS announced the Radeon R9 285 Strix graphics card, based on AMD's latest 28 nm "Tonga" silicon. The card utilizes ASUS' latest Strix cooling solution, which stays silent until a thermal threshold is reached, only beyond which, its fans begin to spool up. Barring its new cooler shroud design and fan-speed management, the Strix cooling solution bears strong resemblance to the company's DirectCU II cooling solution. ASUS is shipping the card with a factory-overclock. Based on the 28 nm "Tonga" silicon, the R9 285 from AMD features 1,792 stream processors, 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide memory interface, which holds 2 GB of memory on this card.

HIS rolled out is IceQ X2 implementation of AMD's newest Radeon R9 285 graphics card. Available in reference clock (918 MHz core, 5.50 GHz memory), and OC variants (928 MHz core), HIS' cards sport a lightweight variant of the IceQ X2 cooler which was previously implement on the company's R9 270X graphics cards, taking advantage of the lower thermal figures of the R9 285. It appears to be based on a compact non-reference design PCB. The cooler features a dense aluminium fin-stack, cooled by a pair of 80 mm fans. Based on the 28 nm "Tonga" silicon, the R9 285 from AMD features 1,792 stream processors, 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide memory interface, which holds 2 GB of memory on this card.

Gigabyte joined the Radeon R9 285 launch party with a WindForce OC graphics card. The card uses a twin-fan WindForce 2X Triangle-Cool heatsink, which the company implemented on several performance-segment graphics cards, from both camps. The card features a factory-overclock of 973 MHz, with 5.50 GHz memory. Other Gigabyte-exclusives include gold-plated HDMI and DisplayPort connectors, which totally improve the quality of your digital video content. Or so thinks Gigabyte. Based on the 28 nm "Tonga" silicon, the R9 285 from AMD features 1,792 stream processors, 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide memory interface, which holds 2 GB of memory on this card.

MSI announced its first Radeon R9 285 graphics card, built in its successful Gaming Series, featuring the company's TwinFrozr IV compact cooling solution, which the company deployed on several of its performance-segment graphics cards, such as the R9 280, the GTX 770, etc. The card also features a factory overclock of 1000 MHz, compared to reference clock speeds of 918 MHz core and 5.50 GHz (GDDR5-effective) memory. Based on the 28 nm "Tonga" silicon, the R9 285 from AMD features 1,792 stream processors, 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide memory interface, which holds 2 GB of memory on this card.

AMD announced its most important GPU for the season, the Radeon R9 285. The chip is designed to compete with the GeForce GTX 760 from NVIDIA at not just performance, but also energy-efficiency, and low component costs, so AMD can price it better. Based on a brand new 28 nm silicon by the company, codenamed "Tonga," the R9 285 features 1,792 Graphics CoreNext 1.2 stream processors, 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB of memory.

AMD partners are free to come up with 4 GB variants. The card supports DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.4, and Mantle. It features new AMD innovations, such as XDMA CrossFire, TrueAudio DSP, and 4-display Eyefinity by plugging into every connector on the card (two dual-link DVI, one DisplayPort 1.2, and one HDMI 1.4a). The card draws power from a pair of 6-pin PCIe power connectors. Available now, the Radeon R9 285, from various AMD partners starts at US $249.

AMD announced the latest addition to its Never Settle rewards program, which rewards gamers with free games for purchasing new AMD Radeon graphics cards. Never Settle Space Edition, as its name might suggest, adds four space-themed games to choose from, including Alien: Isolation, Star Citizen (an in-game AMD Radeon themed ship), Space Run, and Habitat. The four add to the 27 games you can choose from as your Radeon Rewards, depending on the card you buy.

Finnish overclocker "The Stilt" overclocked his brand new AMD FX-8370 to a record-breaking 8722.78 MHz. The target was achieved using a base-clock of 276.91 MHz, and a multiplier of 31.5x, core voltage of 2.004V, and DRAM frequency of 1107 MHz (2214 MHz DDR). Other hardware included an ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z motherboard, and 2x 4 GB of AMD made DDR3 memory. The setup was cooled by a liquid nitrogen evaporator. Find the validation and other details here.

SAPPHIRE Technology has just announced three new models in its successful R9 series of graphics cards based on the latest GCN (Graphics Core Next) architecture from AMD. The SAPPHIRE R9 285 Dual-X is a new model from SAPPHIRE that features a new GCN core and the company's Dual-X cooler. Dual-X, with its two aerofoil fans, and set of graduated sizes of heatpipes, is an efficient and quiet cooler design which received industry acclaim in previous generations of products. The standard R9 285 model has 2GB of the latest GDDR5 memory clocked at 1375MHz (5.5GB/s effective) and a GCN core with 1792 stream processors clocked at 918MHz. The R9 285 OC model features the enhanced clock speeds of 965MHz for the core and 1400MHz for the memory (5.6GB/s effective).

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphic cards, today introduces a unique exclusive model for Japan, the PowerColor R7 250XE. The "E" represents the meaning of "Eco"; the brand-new R7 250X features no need for external power, saves more energy yet delivers the best performance out of its class. Moreover, PowerColor R7 250XE is designed in low-profile, saving lot of space in your case, making it a excellent choice for users who search for powerful, lower power requirements as well as quieter VGA card.

The R7 250XE runs the clock speeds up to 860MHz for the core and 1125MHz for the memory, delivering the best performance in its class. Also, use a 128-bit memory interface and 1GB of GDDR5 memory, allows more bandwidth for demanding DirectX 11.2 gaming title. What's more, the new model is packed with a total of 1120 stream processors, delivering massively parallel computing power for graphics and other accelerated applications.

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphic cards since 1997, announces the latest model, the PowerColor TurboDuo R9 285 OC. This card will be offered a cost-effective choice for those who are looking for the best bang for their buck. The new TurboDuo R9 285 OC comes packed with the latest GCN architecture innovations like Direct 12 and Mantle API. Ensuring that gamers can play the most demanding games at settings better than any other card in its class.

Equipped with 2GB of GDDR5 memory, the TurboDuo R9 285 OC comes overclocked from the factory to the core clock speed of 945MHz, and 1375MHz for the memory clock speed, giving gamers blazing fast speed while gaming. In addition to factory default OC setting, the TurboDuo R9 285 OC takes advantage of PowerColor's exclusive Gold Power Kit, which includes total 7-phase design, PowerPAK SO-8, and SVI2 Green Power Manage technology, ensuring stability for its OC setting.

AMD in collaboration with Microsoft today announced the release of C++ AMP version 1.2 -- an open source C++ compiler which implements version 1.2 of the open specification for C++ AMP, available on both Linux and Windows for the first time. The release represents another step forward toward AMD's goal of supporting cross-platform solutions, multiple programming languages and continued contributions to the open source community. The tool, which leverages Clang and LLVM, accelerates productivity and ease of use for developers wishing to harness the full power of modern heterogeneous platforms spanning servers, PCs and handheld devices.

"AMD has a consistent track record of enriching the developer experience, and we're proud to make the first open source implementation of C++ AMP available to enable greater performance and more power-efficient applications," said Manju Hegde, corporate vice president, Heterogeneous Applications and Solutions, AMD. "The cross-platform release is another step in strengthening AMD's developer solutions, allowing for increased productivity and accelerated applications through shared physical memory across the CPU and GPU on both Linux and Windows."

Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, announced estimated graphics add-in-board (AIB) shipments and suppliers' market share for 2014 2Q.

The quarter in general
JPR found that AIB shipments during Q2 2014 behaved according to past years with regard to seasonality, but the decrease was more than the 10-year average. The news was disappointing, quarter-to-quarter, the market dropped 17.5 % (compared to the desktop PC market, which increased 1.3%).

• Total AIB shipments decreased this quarter to 11.5 million units from last quarter.
• AMD's quarter-to-quarter total desktop AIB unit shipments decreased 10.7%.
• Nvidia's quarter-to-quarter unit shipments decreased 21%.
• Nvidia continues to hold a dominant market share position at 62%.
• Figures for the other suppliers were flat to declining.

Here are some of the first high-resolution pictures of the Radeon R9 285 TurboDuo graphics card by PowerColor. The card features a meaty custom-design cooling solution, with two twin-impeller fans, and a dense aluminium fin-stack heatsink. PowerColor didn't bother with a reference-clock variant of this card. It comes factory-overclocked, at 945 MHz core (918 MHz reference), and 5.50 GHz (GDDR5-effective) memory. It features 2 GB of it.

Based on the 28 nm "Tonga" silicon, the Radeon R9 285 features 1,792 Graphics CoreNext 1.1 stream processors, 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. The card draws power from two 6-pin PCIe power connectors. Display outputs include two dual-link DVI, and one each of HDMI and DisplayPort. With a modern XDMA CrossFire interface, the card lacks CrossFire fingers. It remains to be seen just how many cards the driver allows you to run in tandem. The Radeon R9 285 from AMD will launch on the 2nd of September, 2014. Prices start at US $249.

Sapphire launched its first performance-segment "compact" graphics card to take on the likes of GeForce GTX 760 ITX cards by ASUS and MSI, even if it isn't the first AMD AIB partner to do so. Sapphire's card is based on AMD's swanky new Radeon R9 285 graphics chip, which is slated for September 2nd, 2014. Called the R9 285 ITX Compact Edition, the card is a little over 17 cm long, 11 cm tall, and 2-slot thick. It features a dense aluminium fin-stack heatsink, which is ventilated by a single 100 mm fan. The card draws power from two 6-pin PCIe connectors. A single 8-pin to two 6-pin adapter is included. Display outputs include two mini-DisplayPort 1.2, one HDMI 1.4a, and a dual-link DVI, which has analog (VGA) pins, and an adapter for that is included.

This is also likely the first/only R9 285 card to feature dual-BIOS, with a push-type BIOS toggle switch. This switch lets you select between a UEFI-ready BIOS that features a UEFI GOP driver, and a "legacy" BIOS. Both run the card at the same clock speeds - 918 MHz core, with 5.50 GHz (GDDR5-effective) memory. Sapphire is also readying an OC Edition variant of this card, which comes with a puny 10 MHz overclock (928 MHz core), and untouched memory clocks. Based on the 28 nm "Tonga" silicon, the R9 285 offers 1,792 GCN 1.1 stream processors, 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide memory interface, which holds 2 GB of memory on this card.

Here are some of the first detailed shots of ASUS' premium custom-design Radeon R9 285 Strix graphics card, based on AMD's upcoming GPU. The card features a unique cooling solution that keeps its fans off until the GPU reaches a temperature threshold. The cooler's underlying heatsink is essentially DirectCU II, featuring a dense aluminium fin stack to which heat drawn directly from the GPU die is fed by a number of nickel-plated copper heat pipes. This particular card features a factory-overclock, and 2 GB of memory. Oh, and it comes with a back-plate. Based on the 28 nm "Tonga" silicon, the R9 285 features 1,792 Graphics CoreNext 1.1 stream processors, 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. The card is set to launch on 2nd September, 2014. It will start at US $249.

AMD today announced a new technology partnership with Creative Assembly, developer behind the highly-anticipated "Alien: Isolation." Developed in conjunction with the AMD Gaming Evolved program, "Alien: Isolation" is fully optimized for a premium PC gaming experience, including native support for: AMD Eyefinity technology, 4K UltraHD, AMD CrossFire multi-GPU technology, and a wide range of DirectX 11 effects tuned for the Graphics Core Next architecture in recent AMD Radeon GPUs and AMD Accelerated Processing Units.

"The AMD Gaming Evolved program is committed to making games look great and run well for all PC gamers," said Ritche Corpus, director of ISV Gaming and Alliances, AMD. "By working with truly talented developers like Creative Assembly, we deliver on that commitment with fun and beautiful games like 'Alien: Isolation,' which give PC gamers the high-end technology they deserve."

AMD put out its own 3DMark FireStrike performance numbers for its soon-to-launch Radeon R9 285 performance-segment graphics card. Running on a test-bed powered by a Core i7-4960X six-core processor and 16 GB of DDR3-1866 memory, the R9 285 scored P7066 (performance preset) and X3513 (extreme preset); compared to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 (337.88 WHQL driver) scoring P5650 and X2774, on the same test-bed. For a card that's in the same price-range (the R9 285 will start at $249) as the GTX 760 (currently going for as low as $239), that's an impressive performance uplift. The R9 285 will start selling on the 2nd of September, 2014.

AMD is planning to launch its next performance-segment CPUs alongside its Radeon R9 285 graphics card; the FX-8370 and its energy-efficient variant, the FX-8370E. Based on the 32 nm "Vishera" silicon, the FX-8370 is an eight-core socket AM3+ processor, featuring out of the box clock speeds of 4.10 GHz, with TurboCore frequencies of 4.30 GHz. The standard variant features 125W TDP, while the FX-8370E features 95W. The two will sell at the same price-points as the FX-8350. The FX-8370E will sell at a slight premium.

AMD announced the latest round of free games with its upcoming graphics cards, the Never Settle: Space Edition. The bundle adds several new space-themed games to the 27 free games you can choose, as a reward for going AMD Radeon. These games include Star Citizen, Alien: Isolation, Space Run, and Habitat. Buyers of all AMD graphics cards with unused Never Settle coupons can choose from these four titles.

It's confirmed the GeForce GTX 760 really is on AMD's crosshair's with the Radeon R9 285. Based on the 28 nm "Tonga" silicon, which is designed to offer "Tahiti" like performance at the energy-efficiency levels comparable to NVIDIA's GK104, the R9 285 features 1,792 Graphics CoreNext stream processors, 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB or 4 GB of memory. The card will feature clock speeds of 918 MHz core, 5.50 GHz memory. AMD claims the R9 285 will be up to 15 percent faster than the GeForce GTX 760. It will start at US $249, with partners coming out with custom-designs on day-one (September 2nd, 2014).

AMD production manager Devon Nekechuk, speaking at the company's 30 Years of Graphics event, disclosed that all AMD GPUs based on the Graphics CoreNext architecture will support DirectX 12, Microsoft's next generation multimedia API. The company is already up-to-date on the DirectX feature-level support, with support for DirectX 11.2. The company isn't drumming that up too loud, probably because it's developing an ecosystem for its own/competing AMD Mantle 3D API.

AMD disclosed the first details of its upcoming Radeon R9 285 graphics card, designed to compete with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 760. Based on the 28 nm "Tonga" silicon, the card features 1,792 of the chip's 2,048 Graphics Core Next 1.1 stream processors, 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. AMD AIBs will have variants with 2 GB and 4 GB of memory. The company didn't disclose clock speeds, but the card will be designed to offer performance rivaling (or outperforming) the R9 280, at energy-efficiency levels rivaling NVIDIA's GK104 silicon. Below are some of the first custom-design graphics cards.

AMD is preparing to expand its performance-segment socket AM3+ processor lineup, steering clear of the 220W TDP of its FX-9000 series. The two chips are the FX-8370, and the FX-8370E. The FX-8370 will likely replace the FX-8350 around the $180 mark; while the FX-8370E will be its energy-efficient variant. Both chips offer clock speeds of 4.10 GHz, with 4.30 GHz TurboCore frequencies. While the FX-8370 has a rated TDP of 125W, the FX-8370E features 95W, without a reduction in clock speeds. The FX-8370E could hence come at a slight premium.

Both the FX-8370 and FX-8370E are eight-core processors based on the 32 nm "Vishera" silicon, featuring four "Piledriver" CPU modules that have 2 MB of L2 cache each, and 8 MB of L3 cache shared between the four modules. The chips feature dual-channel DDR3 integrated memory controllers, with native support for DDR3-1866 MHz, and 5.2 GT/s HyperTransport 3.1 system bus. Instruction-sets include AVX, AES, SSE4.2, FMA3, and XOP. The chips will run on all existing socket AM3+ motherboards, with some needing BIOS updates.