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.

ASUS launched the new ASUS EAH5000 Series, a lineup of three graphics cards that cater to a wide spectrum of needs including extreme overclocking, fast-paced gaming and daily computing. Equipped with ASUS' exclusive Voltage Tweak technology, the ASUS EAH5970/G/2DIS/2GD5 and EAH5770/2DI/1GD5 graphics cards enable users to boost GPU voltages via the SmartDoctor application to enjoy up to a 31% improvement in performance. The ASUS EAH5770/2DI/1GD5 and EAH5750 FORMULA/2DI/1GD5 feature highly effective cooling solutions capable of up to 13% better heat dissipation, and boast ASUS' exclusive Xtreme Design-an effective marriage of hardware, software, and material choices-that delivers the performance, reliability and safety DIY users need to enjoy stable and smooth daily computing.

World leading graphics supplier, SAPPHIRE Technology, now introduces the world's fastest graphics card, the SAPPHIRE HD 5970 OC Edition. With twice the computing power of the highly acclaimed SAPPHIRE HD 5870, the new HD 5970 model shares all the exciting features of this family - including support for the DirectCompute 11 instruction set of Microsoft DirectX 11, hardware tessellation and multi threaded communication with the system CPU. It also supports the acceleration of applications supported by ATI Stream, and the ability to display across three monitors simultaneously with ATI Eyefinity.

The SAPPHIRE HD 5970 OC Edition ships with enhanced clock speeds of 735MHz core and 1010MHz (4.04GHz effective) - faster than the standard model, making the SAPPHIRE HD 5970 OC the fastest card in its class, and the fastest in the world*. Enthusiasts will also be able to tune performance of these SAPPHIRE cards using the SAPPHIRE Redline voltage tweaker tool** to enable higher levels of overclocking.

AMD today announced the flagship installment in the award-winning line of graphics cards, the ATI Radeon HD 5970, the fastest card ever created. The new ultra high-end model joins a growing list of the world's first and only graphics cards to fully support Microsoft DirectX 11 technology and ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology.

Designed to support the most demanding PC games at ultra-high resolutions and image quality settings, the ATI Radeon HD 5970 has unlocked overclocking potential, granting access to every bit of power the card has to offer through ATI Overdrive technology. Now shipping from retailers and available in the channel, the ATI Radeon HD 5970 also launches today in new Alienware Area-51, Area-51 ALX and Aurora desktop PCs.

AMD published its near-monthly installment of the ATI Catalyst Software Suite, which provides essential drivers for the company's ATI Radeon graphics processors, AMD 7-series chipset IGPs, ATI multimedia products, and the AMD FireStream GPGPU processors. Version 9.11 announced today, comes with the same hardware support base as the older version, includes two new features, and carries the usual application-specific fixes.

New features include GPU Acceleration of H.264 video content using Adobe Flash Player 10.1 Beta, and High Quality downscaling for video transcoding MSE. The release of ATI Catalyst, according to AMD, supports the new Hardware Acceleration features of Adobe Flash Player 10.1 Beta for video encoded in the H.264 format. Adobe Flash Player 10.1 Beta introduces hardware-based H.264 video decoding to deliver smooth video playback, reduce system resource utilization, and preserve battery life. Hardware acceleration is supported on all existing Radeon HD 5000 and HD 4000 series graphics processors. The release of ATI Catalyst includes an enhancement for the ATI Video converter for users transcoding high quality interlaced content (1920x1080i @60i videos) down to small resolution progressive content (320x240 @30p - iPod videos as an example), by maintaining high visual quality when down-scaling by a significant amount and converting interlaced video content to progressive. For a list of minor issues fixed in the release, refer to the Release Notes document.

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 9.11 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 32-bit | Windows 7/Vista 64-bit | Windows XP 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit

AMD's dual-GPU flagship graphics accelerator, the Radeon HD 5970, is closer than you think it is. Slated for 18th Nov, it includes every feature that allows AMD to reclaim the performance leadership it yearned for since the beginning of this year. In a series of company slides sourced from XtremeSystems Forums, it is learned that this could be one of the first accelerators which AMD "openly" markets as having a "Massive Headroom" for overclocking. While the clock speeds on the HD 5970 are lower than those on the single-GPU HD 5870, AMD lifted limits on what the driver-level ATI Overdrive software can offer in terms of clock speeds. While the engine (core) and memory speeds are set at 720/1000 MHz, the unlocked ATI Overdrive lets users take the clock speeds all the way up to 1000/1500 MHz. That's 30% for the core, and a stellar 50% for the memory.

To back such speeds, AMD seems to have splurged heavily on top-notch components on the PCB. To begin with, the PCB holds two high-grade AMD Cypress GPUs, each with all its 1600 stream processors enabled. The GDDR5 memory, while clocked at 1000 MHz or 4 GT/s, is technically rated by its manufacturer to run at 1250 MHz or 5 GT/s. All systems are powered by high-grade digital PWM voltage regulators, with independent Volterra VRM controllers that allow real-time monitoring, and software voltage control. Barring the five-odd cylindrical solid-state capacitors, Japanese pure ceramic surface-mount capacitors are extensively made use of.

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, today announces a new flavor to HD5700 series: PLAY! HD5770. PLAY! HD5770 features full digital output solution with Display Port / HDMI/ DVI onboard design; delivers an incredible visual performance at all resolutions. And with the support of ATI Eyefinity technology, PLAY! HD5770 can run up to three displays from one single card and give all gamers a surreal gaming experience.

PowerColor PLAY! HD5770 clocks at 850MHz core speed and 1200MHz of memory speed; with an ultra 92mm cooling fan, PLAY! HD5770 is able to increase air flow in low fan speed, yet still dissipates heat easily from the cooper base, which covers the GPU entirely. This cooler also reduces fan noise and enhances cooling ability to deliver the ultimate gaming performance in a low-noisy, and cool operating environment.

Dell today introduced the mini-sized Inspiron Zino HD, which is versatile enough to handle tasks from basic computing chores to driving a big-screen, High-Definition TV media center. With a choice of colors, the Inspiron Zino HD can be easily personalized to add flare to any room in the home.

Starting at $229, the Inspiron Zino HD includes standard HD-capable integrated graphics, HDMI output and built-in networking that make it smart for typical home and student computing activities such as word processing, e-mail, organizing photos and music, and surfing the Internet.

ASUS has developed its own take on AMD's mid-range Radeon HD 5750 graphics accelerator, with the EAH5750 Formula 1 GB. Being a non-reference design product, it makes use of both cooler and PCB indigenously developed by the company. The black PCB seems slightly shorter than the reference PCB, and has its power connector located on the top, rather than on the end. The Radeon HD 5750 GPU features DirectX 11 compliance, 720 stream processors, and a 128-bit GDDR5 memory interface to connect to the 1 GB of memory on this card. It sticks to AMD's reference clock speeds of 700/1050 MHz (core/memory).

The other, more important selling point of this card is its custom designed GPU cooler. Apparently the design involves a GPU contact block from which metal fins project radially, on which a PWM-controlled fan circulates air. Characteristic to ASUS' Formula series graphics cards, the cooler shroud coarsely resembles a Formula One racing car. The connectors are all rounded off onto one metal bracket, although the card still needs two expansion slots. Connectors include one each of DVI-D, D-Sub, and HDMI. The price is expected to be under € 120.

Intel Corporation and Advanced Micro Devices today announced a comprehensive agreement to end all outstanding legal disputes between the companies, including antitrust litigation and patent cross license disputes.

In a joint statement the two companies commented, "While the relationship between the two companies has been difficult in the past, this agreement ends the legal disputes and enables the companies to focus all of our efforts on product innovation and development."

Under terms of the agreement, AMD and Intel obtain patent rights from a new 5-year cross license agreement, Intel and AMD will give up any claims of breach from the previous license agreement, and Intel will pay AMD $1.25 billion. Intel has also agreed to abide by a set of business practice provisions. As a result, AMD will drop all pending litigation including the case in U.S. District Court in Delaware and two cases pending in Japan. AMD will also withdraw all of its regulatory complaints worldwide. The agreement will be made public in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.