TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, adds its own cooling solution to the HD5800 series: PCS+ HD5870 and PCS+ HD5850. Both products embrace the supremacies of PCS+ series features, which equip with superior factory overccloked setting and exclusive cooling solution; and maximize the ultimate gaming performance in the coolest working environment.

PCS+ HD5870 and PCS+ HD5850 clock at 875MHz / 760MHz core speed respectively, while memory clock at 1225MHz / 1050MHz respectively. The factory overclocked ability ensures gaming efficacy can effortlessly go beyond the standard version, and provides the out of box gaming performance gamers have never felt before.

At the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, AMD today announced the shipment of its two millionth DirectX 11-capable graphics processor to its technology partners, cementing AMD graphics as the standard for DirectX 11 computing. This millions-shipped milestone comes just three months after the launch of the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series, the first DirectX 11-capable graphics products from AMD. The fast pace with which AMD delivered two million next-generation GPUs is a result of an aggressive execution of the AMD "Sweet Spot" graphics strategy which positioned the company to more rapidly bring DirectX 11 products to market across high-volume segments and popular price points, in combination with the positive reception of AMD's DirectX 11-capable graphics technology from PC users worldwide.

"Today's milestone underscores the ingenuity and innovation that AMD poured into the DirectX 11-capable ATI Radeon Premium Graphics products," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Products Group, AMD. "Fifteen weeks ago we introduced the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series graphics cards to the world, the first to support DirectX 11 and powerful capabilities like ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology, with support for Direct Compute 11. Over the course of the last few months, we've shipped tens of thousands of DirectX 11-capable graphics processors a week to technology partners who in turn put them into consumers' hands. With this week's introduction of the DirectX 11-capable notebook counterparts to our desktop family in the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5000 series, an even larger base of users will enjoy the best visual computing experience available today."

Toshiba's Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today expanded its line of Satellite T100 Series ultra-thin laptops to include models equipped with processors from AMD, delivering enhanced multimedia processing power to the ultra-thin category.

Satellite T100 Series laptops are designed for those looking for a stylish ultra-thin form factor that delivers a balance of performance, features and affordability needed for everyday mobility. New configurations based on the AMD Neo platform deliver the versatility of dual-core processor performance, plus ATI Radeon graphics that enhance the laptop's multimedia prowess.

AMD announced VISION Pro Technology, a new commercial PC platform brand that delivers a superior visual computing experience, and can help businesses increase productivity and gain competitive advantage by enabling visually stunning communications, marketing and sales materials.

Graphics matter more than ever in business communication and innovative companies are leveraging balanced PC platform technology to generate and view rich visual presentations, including videos and 3D graphics to communicate winning ideas. Studies show that more than 80 percent of human comprehension is gained visually and that the use of visual aids with oral presentations improves content retention as much as 6.5 times greater than using words alone. Furthermore, the increased viewing area provided by multiple monitors helps improve worker productivity by as much as 40 percent. Commercial PCs based on VISION Pro Technology from AMD offer out-of-the-box support for multiple monitors, seamless viewing of videos, use of video conferencing software, and the performance necessary to create and view rich presentations with embedded video and 3D graphics.

Lenovo today announced a new ThinkPad laptop Series, simply called "ThinkPad Edge," with 13, 14 and 15 inch models designed specifically for the small to medium sized business (SMB). The 13 inch model represents the first ThinkPad laptop to offer AMD dual core processor technology and to be offered on AMD's VISION Pro Technology. In addition to performance, the new laptops are designed with style and affordability in mind for today's budget-conscious customers. For example, they include new rich and vibrant color choices and a new contemporary keyboard. Lenovo is also expanding its retail sales channel to offer select ThinkPad Edge models in Best Buy stores.

"Small to medium business customers tell us they want PCs with bold yet professional designs, uncompromising durability and reliability with the latest technologies that meets their budgets," said Fran O'Sullivan, senior vice president, Think Product Group, Lenovo. "Our answer is the new ThinkPad Edge family of laptops. They deliver stunning technology and powerful performance at an unprecedented value."

Lenovo today announced the ThinkPad X100e, the company's first professional-grade ultraportable laptop starting below $500. The introduction pioneers a new category of PCs for today's business users that blends professional performance, usability and design with new color options at an extremely affordable price. The X100e also represents the first time Lenovo and AMD have collaborated to offer AMD processors on ThinkPad laptops and to leverage AMD's VisionPro branding.

"By listening to our customers and observing market trends, we identified an opportunity to create a new type of ultraportable laptop for business users," said Sam Dusi, vice president, ThinkPad Product Marketing. "Customers asked us for low cost and extreme portability without sacrificing usability or the manageability needed to run a business. By expanding the ultraportable ThinkPad X Series to reach prices under $500, the X100e delivers on all counts."

Pictures of what appears to be AMD's new entry-level DirectX 11 compliant graphics card has surfaced. The pictures show a Unika-branded Radeon HD 5570. At this point in time it's unclear if the GPU is based on AMD's Redwood GPU which powers the recently unveiled Radeon HD 5670, or the even smaller Cedar GPU, though looking at the package size of the GPU, we're inclined to believe it's a watered-down version of the Redwood with 1 GB of GDDR3 memory across a 128-bit wide memory interface.

The card by Unika is hardly any longer than the PCI-Express interface itself, from which it draws all its power. The GPU is cooled by a custom active fan-heatsink. Connectivity includes DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. Clock speeds include 650 MHz for the core, and 900 MHz (1800 MHz DDR) for the memory. The GPU is DirectX 11 compliant, and supports UVD 2.0. Expect more details about the GPU to surface at the CES event.

NVIDIA's next-generation GeForce GPU based on the Fermi architecture is reportedly further delayed to March 2010, up from its originally expected time-frame of January. NVIDIA on its part maintained that Fermi-based GeForce GPUs will be released sometime in Q1 2010, and with a March launch, that would still stand true.

Fermi's development history is marked with late arrivals. The DirectX 11 compliant architecture was announced in October 2009 to counter the market-available DirectX 11 compliant ATI Radeon HD 5800 GPUs. Then in mid-November, the company released the first products based on the architecture - GPGPU accelerators under the NVIDIA Tesla HPC banner. An alleged working prototype GeForce accelerator was spotted around the same time, with word doing rounds that NVIDIA will be ready with the new GeForce GPU in early Q1, probably coinciding with the CES event. Faced with further delays, NVIDIA reportedly notified its partners that the new GPUs will be released to the marked only in March.

NVIDIA plans to launch the 40 nm Fermi-GF100 GPU which is DirectX 11 compliant and supports GDDR5 memory in March, and will launch a GF104 version. Till then, the mainstream-thru-performance segments will be left to be defended by GeForce GTS 250, GT 240, GT 220, 210, 9800 GT, against a fortified mainstream lineup by AMD consisting of ATI Radeon HD 5670/5650 (codenamed "Redwood"), and ATI Radeon HD 5450 (codenamed "Cedar"). These DirectX 11 compliant GPUs from AMD will be released in January.

Several users of the recently released Sapphire HD 5770 Vapor-X graphics cards were surprised to find that GPU-Z showed the shader (stream processor) count of their graphics cards to be 720 (instead of the advertised 800). A disgruntled user then submitted a sample of the graphics card BIOS (BIOS Version: 012.014.000.004, dated 2009/12/03) to TechPowerUp. Our using the BIOS on an actual HD 5770 Vapor-X sample confirmed the issue. The affected cards continue to have the device ID corresponding to the HD 5770 model (68B8), have the advertised clock speeds (860/1200 MHz core/memory), and yet have only 720 operational stream processors enabled by the video BIOS.

When one of the users contacted Sapphire tech-support, it responded with:

"I just tested one of the cards I have here, and yes it does have the 720 shaders, the if you are comparing the stream process which is at 800, it is different the GPUZ software does not tell you the stream process the GPU unit has."

Subjectively, the response doesn't seem satisfactory or working towards solving the problem. GPU-Z displays the actual number of shaders (stream processors) available to the operating system, not how many are physically present on the GPU-die. With this issue being reported by users spread across various markets, it is clear that Sapphire may have an entire lot/batch of HD 5770 Vapor-X graphics cards carrying the BIOS which enables only 720 stream processors. Affected users are advised to contact Sapphire support to resolve the issue. Expert users can find the corrective BIOS which enables all 800 stream processors (VER012.013.000.001.034705) in our VGA BIOS Database here.Update: Sapphire has notified me that they are looking into this, a BIOS update will be available "shortly".

Update 2: Statement from Sapphire: "SAPPHIRE Technology has determined that a small batch of the recently launched HD 5770 Vapor-X graphics cards was shipped with a BIOS that enables only 720 stream processors instead of the full 800 stream processors available on this model. Other performance parameters are to the correct specifications. This issue can be rectified with a BIOS update. The correct BIOS code can be downloaded from www.sapphiretech.com [Graphic Card -> PCI-E -> Sapphire HD 5700 Series -> Sapphire Vapor-X HD 5770 1 GB GDDR5 PCIE -> Submit -> BIOS] and some partner websites. We regret any inconvenience caused to end users."

AMD today announced availability of the production release of its second-generation ATI Stream SDK, its second-generation ATI Stream SDK, the first production SDK for both AMD GPUs and x86 CPUs. This release of ATI Stream SDK v2.0 supports a wide range of ATI graphics processors, including the new ATI Radeon HD 5970, the world's fastest graphics card generating five teraflops of compute power. Enabling compute intensive codes to leverage all of the system's resources, the ATI Stream SDK v2.0 helps developers deliver a better application experience.

This release of AMD's ATI Stream SDK v2.0 provides developers, ISVs and OEMs with a production development environment that allows them to more easily accelerate applications. By enabling developers to utilize combined CPU and GPU computing power, ATI Stream technology helps developers to leverage heterogeneous architectures to improve the computing experience.

A feature of the latest SAPPHIRE HD 5000 series of graphics cards is the new ATI Eyefinity mode, which enables games and other applications to be run on three screens treated as one continuous display area. Now with the SAPPHIRE Eyefinity adapter, standard DVI monitors can be used for all three screens.

In addition to spectacular image clarity, speed and visual effects, the SAPPHIRE HD 5000 series supports the new multi-monitor mode known as ATI Eyefinity. This allows a single GPU to display a choice of images over an array of several monitors. The cards in this series support up to three monitors, with a resolution of up to 7680 x 1600. This opens up exciting possibilities not just for multi-screen gaming, but also for information systems, multimedia systems and promotional displays.

AMD released its latest version of the ATI Catalyst Software Suite to date, Catalyst 9.12 WHQL, which provides drivers and system software for the company's ATI Radeon graphics processors, AMD 7-series chipset IGPs, ATI multimedia products, and the AMD FireStream GPGPU processors. Version 9.12 announced today, comes with expanded GPU support for DirectCompute 10.1 for specific GPUs, includes performance increments, OpenGL 3.2 extension support, along with the usual application-specific fixes.

To begin with, application-specific performance increments include an overall performance improvement as high as 9% on the ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series and ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series, for 3DMark Vantage. GT1 - Jane Nash performance improves as much as 15% and FT4 - GPU Cloth improves up to 15%. Performance improves as much as 6% on single card configurations for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat. The release provides DirectCompute 10.1 support for ATI Radeon HD 4800 and HD 4700 GPUs in both single and multi-GPU configurations. Lastly, this release adds support for certain OpenGL 3.2 extensions for all GPUs from Radeon HD 2000 series and upward (HD 3000, HD 4000, and HD 5000).


DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 9.12 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 32-bit | Windows 7/Vista 64-bit | Windows XP 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit

For more information, refer to the Release Notes document.

With the recent spurt of non-reference design Radeon HD 5770 graphics cards, ASUS seems to be ready with its EAH5770 CuCore, where "CuCore" stands for copper (Cu) core, used in the GPU cooler. Speaking of which, the GPU cooler consists of a GPU base which has 5.8 oz (164.5 g) of copper, for better transfer of heat, to the rest of the heatsink which has radially-projecting aluminum fins. The PCB designed by ASUS seems to be slightly longer than the reference AMD PCB, yet it only makes room for one CrossFire connector, meaning its can pair with only one more card of its kind (or up to three more cards with two CrossFire connectors).

The 40 nm Juniper GPU has DirectX 11 compliance, and is powered by 800 stream processors, and connects to 1 GB of memory across a 128-bit GDDR5 memory interface. Despite the swanky cooling the card sticks to reference AMD clock speeds of 850/1200 MHz (core/memory), but comes with the ASUS VoltageTweak feature that allows software voltage adjustments. The rear-panel is redesigned too, with one of the slots making for a large vent, with the lower slot holding one each of DVI-D, D-Sub, and HDMI. The ASUS EAH5770 CuCore is expected to be priced under 130 EUR.

Here it is - the industry's first motherboard ready for market, based on the AMD 890FX chipset. This socket AM3 motherboard features a platform overhaul with its new chipset, support for USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps, and as many as six PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots. The electrical configuration of these slots isn't known as yet, but seeing that there are only two apparent groups of external PCI-Express lane switching, four of these could be electrical x8. The carries the markings of "quad-CrossFireX graphics support", which leads us to believe that at least four out of six of these are wired to the new northbridge.

The CPU is powered by a 5+1 phase VRM, with a large heatsink cooling both the VRM areas and the northbridge.Besides the six PCI-Express x16 slots, there is a lone PCI slot. This is also perhaps the first motherboard with native SATA 6 Gbps support, with as many as six SATA 6 Gbps ports. An additional controller seems to be in place for a couple of extra SATA 3 Gbps ports, and an IDE controller (indicating that the chipset has given up native IDE support). An additional NEC controller provides two USB 3.0 ports color-coded blue, on the rear panel. Its neighbours include powered eSATA, 8-channel audio with optical and co-axial SPDIF, a number of other USB 2.0 ports, FireWire one Gigabit Ethernet, and Bluetooth. There is no word on the pricing or availability, though hopefully more could be learned about 890FX-based motherboards at the upcoming CES event.

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, introduced an upgraded addition into the HD5700 series: the PCS+ HD5770. Part of the award-winning PCS series, the PCS+ HD5770 features outstanding factory overclocked ability with core and memory clocks at 875 MHz and 1225MHz respectively and GDDR5 onboard memory. Memory data transmission rates are enhanced up to 4.9Gbps, easily boosting gaming performance.

The PCS+ HD5770 also features an ultra quite 92mm cooling fan which is made of a low-noise impeller, easily dissipating heat from the copper base that fully covers the GPU at lower fan speed and efficiently cools down the temperature up to 10°C compared to that of reference board design. This allows more headroom for overclocking giving gamers maximum performance of their rig.

Closely following up the launch of its SpitFire VGA Cooler, air-cooling specialist Thermalright introduced the VRM-R4 and VRM-R3 graphics card VRM heatsinks designed for AMD Radeon HD 5800 series graphics cards. In many ways, these two heatsinks resemble the VRM-R1 and VRM-R2, which the company introduced back in July, for the Radeon HD 4800 series accelerators.

The new VRM-R3 and VRM-R4 measure 122 x 85 x 99 mm and 133 x 53 x 127 mm (LxWxH), respectively, and consist of baseplates that double up as small heatsinks, from which, two 6 mm heatpipes convey heat to an aluminum fin array big enough to mount 80 mm fans. For the VRM-R3, this fin array propagates perpendicular to the plane of the motherboard, while for the VRM-R4, is goes along the plane. Like their predecessors, the two should be compatible with popular Thermalright GPU coolers such as HR-03 Rev.A, HR-03 GT, HR-03 GT V2, T-Rad2, and T-Rad2 GTX. Pricing isn't known as yet.

AMD's lower-mainstream DirectX 11 compliant graphics card slated for Q1-2010, the ATI Radeon HD 5670 has been pictured and detailed, sourced from a [H]ardOCP HardForum community member. The HD 5600 series is based on a 40 nm GPU codenamed "Redwood". From the specifications the GPU-Z screenshot shows, it has a 50% downscaled SIMD engine, with 400 stream processors, while it retains the 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, with 16 ROPs. Assuming the clock speeds shown in the screenshot to be the reference speeds, they are 775 MHz for the core, and 1000 MHz for the 1 GB of memory (resulting in 64 GB/s of memory bandwidth).

An engineering-sample of the card has also been pictured, revealing a red-colored PCB breaking away from the black PCB scheme of the rest of the HD 5000 series. The card draws all its power from the PCI-Express slot. The GPU cooler consists of a simple heatsink with radially-projecting metal fins, in which is nested a fan. Output connectivity includes DVI, HDMI, and D-Sub, though the leads behind the D-Sub connector shows that offering a DisplayPort in its place might be possible.

PC water-cooling specialist Koolance is ready with its water-block for the ATI Radeon HD 5970 dual-GPU graphics card. The Koolance VID-AR597 water-block provides full-coverage to the obverse side of the PCB, covering all essential components such as the two AMD Cypress GPUs, the ATI/PLX bridge chip, the VRM areas, and some of the memory chips. From the looks of it, users will have to retain the back-plate for cooling memory chips on the reverse side. The block material is nickel-plated copper, the plating minimizes oxidation of the block, some parts of which are constantly in contact with the water/coolant. It is expected to be available in three days from now, priced at US $140.

PowerColor is yet another AMD AIB partner to slip in a newer cost-effective ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card without making much noise. The new HD 5770 V2 model from PowerColor (AX5770 1GBD5-MDHGV2) uses the simpler (cost-effective) GPU cooler, while retaining the original design for the rest of the card. It includes a coupon for the popular PC game BattleForge.

The rest of its specifications are standard. The Juniper GPU packs 800 stream processors, DirectX 11 compliance, and the card features 1 GB of memory across a 128-bit wide GDDR5 interface. It draws power from one 6-pin power connector, and supports ATI CrossfireX. Display connectivity includes two DVI-D, and one each of HDMI with 7.1 channel audio, and DisplayPort. The GPU is clocked at 850 MHz, and memory at 1200 MHz. It is expected to be priced slightly lower than the original reference design model (AX5770 1GBD5-MDHG).

HIS is readying its second non-reference design Radeon HD 5750 graphics cards with the HD 5750 IceQ+. This model continues in the series of IceQ series graphics cards from the company, which come with superior, quieter cooling, while also being visually appealing and reactive to UV case lighting. The HIS HD 5750 IceQ+ seems to be using the reference design PCB, albeit in blue color.

At the heart of it is the DirectX 11 compliant ATI Radeon HD 5750 GPU with 720 stream processors, aided by 1 GB of memory across a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. The GPU is clocked at 700 MHz, with the memory at 1150 MHz. Display output connectivity includes DVI-D, HDMI with 7.1 channel audio, and DisplayPort. The card draws power from one 6-pin PCI-Express power connector. It is CrossfireX capable. Bundled in the package are Bumptop 3D desktop environment software, and a coupon for Dirt 2. It is expected to be priced around 130~140 EUR.

Close to two weeks after launching the industry's fastest graphics card with the Radeon HD 5970 2 GB, it looks like AMD will back the release with another high-end graphics card in Q1 2010, ideally to stack up a lineup against NVIDIA's performance DirectX 11 offerings that are slated for around the same time. The new release comes in the form of Radeon HD 5950, aimed to occupy the gap between the Radeon HD 5870 and Radeon HD 5970.

The Radeon HD 5950 will retain the design methodology of the HD 5970. It will use two AMD Cypress GPUs with the same configuration Radeon HD 5850 uses. It has 1440 stream processors enabled per GPU, 72 TMUs and 32 ROPs enabled, and 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interfaces per GPU probably to hold 2 GB of total memory. Just as the dual-GPU HD 5970 uses lower clock speeds compared to the single-GPU HD 5870 that uses the same GPU, HD 5950 keeps up with the trend. It is expected to have its core clocked between 650~675 MHz, and memory at 900~1000 MHz (3.60 GHz to 4.00 GHz effective).

MSI is readying a new redesigned ATI Radeon HD 5770 1 GB graphics card. The new R5770-PM2D1G probably replaces the existing one with the same model number, which uses the AMD reference design PCB and cooler. The new design is also looking like a reference design since other board partners are also opting for it, albeit it looks to be simpler. This could also be cheaper to manufacture, and could help bring down prices of the Radeon HD 5770.

The new cooler design consists of the round GPU cooler often spotted on design prototypes from AMD. From its base arise two copper heatpipe that form a circular frame, holding a densely-packed aluminum fin array that projects radially from the center. An 80 mm fan is nested within, blowing air onto these fins, dissipating heat. A plastic shroud sits on top of it, holding the manufacturer graphic. The PCB appears to have remained the same. With this cost cutting, the new MSI HD 5770 1 GB could be had for 130 EUR.

ASUS slipped in no less than three value micro-ATX motherboards based on the AMD 760G + SB710 chipset. Two of these, the M4A78L-M LE, M4A78L-M use socket AM2+ to connect to existing AM3 and older AM2(+) processors supporting DDR2 memory, while a third one, the M4A78LT-M LE uses AM3 socket to support AM3 processors and DDR3 memory. All three feature ASUS exclusive features such the EPU (energy processing unit), ExpressGate instant-on OS, and a 'Turbo-key' push-button overclocking feature. All three are to an extant similar, in having two DIMM slots for dual-channel memory, one each of PCI-Express x16, x1, and two PCI, and have an ATI Radeon HD 3000 class IGP.

The differences start with the M4A78L-M LE and M4A78LT-M LE being more office-oriented, with display connectivity being confined to D-Sub, or DVI, presence of legacy serial and parallel ports, a simpler 6-channel audio, and 4-phase CPU VRM, while retaining essential connectivity of the southbridge, including six SATA 3 Gbps ports, and one IDE connector for running two ATA devices. The M4A78L-M is slightly more consumer / home-user oriented, with better display connectivity that includes D-Sub, DVI, and HDMI, 8-channel audio with optical SPDIF output, and a slightly more powerful 4+1 phase VRM. The M4A78L-M LE, M4A78L-M and M4A78LT-M LE are priced at £42.42, £47.87 and £51.68, respectively.

The MSI X-Slim X430 uses AMD's latest second-generation Ultrathin Platform with dual-core processors and Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows 7, to provide users with the ultimate in ultra-thin mobility. MSI's ultra-thin, power-saving X-Slim 14" notebook has evolved once again to feature AMD's 2nd Generation Ultrathin Platform and Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system in the gorgeous new X-Slim X430.MSI Notebook Marketing Director Sam Chern states that the X430, in addition to maintaining the ultra-thin, power-saving and beautiful exterior design characteristics of the X-Slim series, has bolstered hardware performance not only by the use of a dual-core processor, but also a fully supported HD video output capability that provides users with outstanding image management and visual performance.

Gigabyte is readying the industry's first socket AM3 motherboard that offers the new connectivity features combo that is turning out to be quite a selling point in itself: USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps. Enter GA-790FXTA-UD5P, a high-end socket AM3 motherboard based on the AMD 790FX + SB750 chipset, that isn't just a revised GA-MA790FXT-UD5P. Apart from the star attractions of USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps, the board features a redesigned expansion slot layout, among other new features. The socket AM3 motherboard supports AMD Phenom II AM3 and Athlon II series processors with support for dual-channel DDR3 memory.

To begin with, the CPU is powered by a 8+2 phase VRM supporting 140W processors, with a 2 phase VRM powering the four DDR3 DIMM slots. The board supports DDR3-1866 by overclocking, while DDR3-1333 and DDR3-1066 are naturally supported. A Precision OV controller provides fine (small step) voltage control for the CPU, memory and chipset voltages. Instead of two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots on the MA-790FXT-UD5P, this board features three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots (electrical x16, x16, NC, or x16, x8, x8, depending on how they're populated). Each x16 slot as one slot spacing which is occupied by a PCI slot. A lone PCI-E x1 slot heads the pack.