Acer is expanding its Aspire One line of netbooks with an interesting new addition that features a yet to be announced AMD processor with an incredibly low TDP by AMD's standards. The Aspire One 521 features an AMD V105 "Geneva" single-core processor with a TDP of 9W, which operates at 1.2 GHz, which is expected to be based on the AMD K10 architecture. The 10.1 inch netbook has DDR3 memory, integrated ATI Radeon HD 4225 graphics, and connectivity which includes Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi, and gigabit Ethernet. Its battery can power the machine for 7 hours. More information is expected soon.

AMD released the ATI Catalyst 10.4 Preview driver suite. The driver builds on the feature-set of Catalyst 10.3, but packs a hotfix addressing an issue users of the ATI Radeon HD 5000 series are facing with Battlefield: Bad Company 2 regarding slow map load times. The new drivers reduce map load times. For users of Radeon HD 4000, HD 3000 and older GPUs, ATI assured that it will release a preview driver that does the same in a few days from now. The driver will be called Catalyst 10.4a. The release notes for these drivers along with a full list of changes for Catalyst 10.4 will be published when the company releases the WHQL-signed version later this month.

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 10.4 Preview for Radeon HD 5000 Series

NVIDIA's CUDA GPU compute API could be making its way to practically every PC, with an NVIDIA GPU in place, or not. A chinese freelance developer has coded a means to get CUDA work as a middleware on OpenCL. This move lets CUDA work on ATI Radeon GPUs that support OpenCL, as well as x86 CPUs, since OpenCL specs allow the API to run on CPUs for development purposes. The implications of these are many:

• Letting CUDA-accelerated software such as Badaboom make use of ATI GPUs
• Letting PhysX run on ATI GPUs as PhysX middleware uses CUDA for GPU acceleration
• Possibly better scaling of PhysX on multi-core CPUs (over OpenCL), as the regular PhysX CPU acceleration is infamous for bad multi-core scaling in performance

The software works as a translation layer, exchanging calls between CUDA and OpenCL or the CPU if OpenCL is not available. It comes in the form of a loader application that injects itself into the executing process. To get PhysX to run, one needs to install older versions of PhysX System Software (version 8.09.04 WHQL being the latest) from its standalone installer (installs PhysX libraries without looking for NVIDIA GPUs).

DOWNLOAD: CUDA Emulator Loader

Extreme performance requirements have always been the primary consideration for gamers when choosing components, with multiple display applications being a major future trend. In response, globally renowned graphics card and mainboard manufacturer MSI has officially released the R5870 Eyefinity 6 graphics card, which uses the same 40 nm Radeon HD 5870 GPU as the original R5870 series cards. It also has an ultra-high capacity 2GB GDDR5 high speed memory and 6 Mini DisplayPort video outputs that support 6 x 2560x1600 resolutions in total and give users an unprecedented field of vision.

With gamers playing close attention to multiple display outputs, MSI R5870 Eyefinity 6 graphics card with ATI Eyefinity technology, offers 6 built-in Mini DisplayPorts. This surpasses what was previously available in consumer graphics cards, where a single card was limited to triple outputs at the most. With six displays running simultaneously, the R5870 Eyefinity 6 provides a maximum 6 x 2560x1600 field of vision that gives users a remarkable upgrade in gaming enjoyment or working efficiency.

Harnessing the world's most powerful graphics processor, AMD today introduced the ATI Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition graphics card. Equipped with 2GB of GDDR5 memory, the ATI Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 is the first graphics card capable of rendering in excess of 1 billion pixels per second in today's titles, unleashing PC game environments of unprecedented size and resolution. Enthusiast gamers now have access to a seamless, stunning perspective across six displays, enabling up to 12 times more resolution than 1080p HD.

"The ATI Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition graphics card opens the door to a new era in personal computing," said Matt Skynner, vice president and general manager, AMD Graphics Division. "With the ATI Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition, PC users get the ultimate panoramic computing experience in one powerful card. By bridging the innovation in ATI Eyefinity technology with broad ecosystem support, AMD is revolutionizing the PC visual experience."

Club 3D released a new custom-design graphics card based on the ATI Radeon HD 5830 GPU, which comes overclocked out of the box. The card has clock speeds of 825 MHz (core) and 1050 MHz (memory, 4200 MHz effective), against reference speeds of 800/1000 MHz. The HD 5830 GPU packs 1120 stream processors, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface to connect to 1 GB of memory. Connectivity includes one each of DVI-D, HDMI, and DisplayPort. Club 3D did not disclose price, though we expect it to be a little over the base-model cards, around the US $240 mark.

PowerColor is working on a new Radeon HD 5770 graphics card that's geared for overclocking, the HD 5770 PCS++. The new model, while retains the same out of the box clock speeds and cooling as the HD 5770 PCS+, uses a redesigned PCB with high-grade VRM for higher overclocking potential. It has out of the box clock speeds of 875/1225 MHz (core/memory), against reference speeds of 850/1200 MHz. The ATI Radeon HD 5770 GPU packs 800 stream processors, and connects to 1 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 128-bit wide memory interface.

The PowerColor HD 5770 PCS++ borrows its PCB design from the PowerColor HD 5750 Go! Green, (HD 5750 and HD 5770 are based on the same Juniper GPU and are hence pin-compatible) which we recently reviewed. To do away with the 6-pin auxiliary power connector, the Go! Green card relied on a high-efficiency digital PWM circuit with three vGPU and two vMem phases, driven by a Volterra VT1165 voltage controller which supports software voltage control. From the looks of it, the PCS++ reuses the same PCB, but with the 6-pin power connector in place for added power. Despite the lack of this connector, and having passive cooling, the Go! Green card managed GPU and memory overclocks of 10% and 25%, making us expect even higher with this card. Its cooling system includes a GPU cooler made by Arctic Cooling, with independent heatsinks over the memory and VRM chips. It is expected that PowerColor prices the HD 5770 PCS++ at 10 EUR / 15 USD higher than the HD 5770 PCS+, which is around US $170.

Shortly after the Khronos group announced the OpenGL 4.0, the newest version of the multi-platform graphics API, AMD is out with a preview graphics driver for its ATI Radeon, FireGL, FirePro, and Mobility Radeon graphics accelerators, which includes the OpenGL 4.0 ICD (installable client driver). The driver is available for Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Linux. OpenGL 4.0 is comparable and up to times with Microsoft's DirectX 11 API, it makes use of hardware features such as tessellation on the GPU, per-sample fragment shaders and programmable fragment shader input positions, 64-bit double precision floating point shader operations, etc., and has no restrictions on which later version of Windows it can run on. With OpenGL 4.0 for example, one can expect 3D graphics with the complexity comparable to DirectX 11 on Windows XP.

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst OpenGL 4.0 Preview Driver for Windows 7/Vista, Windows XP, and Linux.

AMD released the ATI Catalyst 10.3 WHQL driver suite. Catalyst provides drivers and related system software for ATI Radeon, ATI FirePro, graphics processors, AMD 7-series and 8-series integrated graphics, AMD chipset system software, and drivers for ATI multimedia products. Version 10.3, like 10.2 promises to bring a series of significant additions to the feature-set, along with a long list of application-specific performance improvements.

Catalyst 10.3 introduces a set of additions to the ATI Eyefinity technology, such as display bezel compensation, per-display colour adjustments, multiple Eyefinity groups (which allows multiple Eyefinity display heads over available graphics cards and displays), and improvements to the display configuration switching. ATI hardware now supports stereoscopic 3D display over third-party middleware from the likes of iZ3D, DDD, etc., for output of stereoscopic L/R images at 120 Hz (60 Hz per eye). A number of bugs were also fixed. For more details refer to the Release Notes document.

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 10.3 for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit

Game-specific performance increment figures follow.

Following AMD's launch of the 890GX chipset which marked the entry of certain new features native to the chipset, the company is readying a slightly scaled-down version of it aimed at more mainstream consumers, business PC users, as well as HTPC and home PC users. The AMD 880G succeeds the 780G is being a mid-range integrated graphics chipset that supports a range of new features using the SB800 series southbridge chips.

While the 880G is based on essentially the same chip (RS880) as the 890GX, certain features such as ATI CrossFire are disabled, and board makers are directed to use this chipset on micro-ATX form-factor designs. The 880G northbridge packs an RV620-core based ATI Radeon HD 4250 IGP which supports DirectX 10.1, with 40 stream processors, and DDR3 SidePort memory support apart from the usual UMA. The IGP supports native HD video decode features, as well as HDMI with on-chip 7.1 channel audio. While the chipset supports one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 link for discrete graphics, it also gives out PCI-Express 2.0 x1, x4 lanes from the northbridge. Additional controllers such as USB 3.0 can benefit from a direct PCI-E 2.0 path. The SB800 class southbridge has a native 6 channel SATA 6 Gb/s controller complete with RAID support.

Zotac is working on five new MAG nettops under its ZBOX series. Each of these "anywhere PCs" measure 18.8 (L) x 18.8 (W) x 4.4 (D) cm, and offer enough power for basic computing. The five new models are based on a variety of nettop platforms. As standard features, these have 160 GB HDDs, SDHC card reader, USB 2.0 and eSATA, Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi. Zotac's new nettops will debut next month. Specifications and expected price of each of these are as follows:

• HD-ID11 model - 1.66 GHz Atom 510 dual-core CPU / 1GB of RAM / Next-gen ION (GT218 GPU with 512MB dedicated memory) / $255
• HD-ND21 model - 1.3 GHz Processor SU4100 dual-core CPU /2GB of RAM / ION (first-gen) / $300
• HD-ND02 model - 1.6 GHz Atom 330 dual-core CPU / 2GB of RAM (DDR3) / ION (first-gen) / $217
• HD-AD01 model - 1.5 GHz Athlon X2 Neo L325 dual-core CPU / 2GB of RAM / ATI Radeon HD 3200 / $242.

MSI's newest 17" gaming notebook-the GE700, just made its debut. It comes equipped with Intel's latest core i5 processor with ATI Radeon HD 5730 discrete graphics card (with 1GB DDR3 VRAM), two cinema-class speakers and a subwoofer, a HD webcam, and dual hard disk architecture, so you can install two hard drives for maximum memory storage. Its superior multimedia, entertainment, and processing capabilities maximize your experience.

MSI Marketing Director Sam Chern points out that the MSI GE700, a 17" gaming and entertainment laptop, utilizes Intel Turbo Boost Technology for dynamic enhanced processing efficiency, a high-end discrete graphics card to increase image processing performance, and cutting-edge SRS Premium Sound. Furthermore, the GE700 boasts MSI's exclusive ECO Engine Power Saving Technology, Cinema Pro, and GPU Boost Technology to give you just the right amount of battery power you need for the task at hand.

The Swiss low noise cooling solution provider ARCTIC COOLING today announced the launch of two VGA coolers - the Accelero XTREME 5970 and Accelero XTREME 5870. These two 3-fan solutions are tailor-made for ATI Radeon HD5970 / HD5870. They follow the sophisticated design of the Accelero XTREME series, offering the best cooling for these high-end graphics cards.

Both models are equipped with three 92mm PWM fans running from 900 to 2,000 RPM, generating 81 CFM airflow for efficient heat dissipation from the core(s). The Accelero XTREME 5970 is designed with an 8-heatpipe and 119-fin architecture to achieve 300 watts cooling for the dual-GPU Radeon HD5970. Whereas the Accelero XTREME 5870 comes with 5 heatpipes and 84 fins, providing 250 watts cooling capacity for the Radeon HD5870. A layer of the ARCTIC MX-2 thermal compound is also pre-applied on the base of these two coolers.

TechPowerUp released the latest version of its Radeon BIOS Editor (RBE). Version 1.25 packs support for components of a host of new ATI Radeon graphics processors, notably belonging to the new Radeon HD 5000 series. Several improvements to the application's stability and reliability were made, including a more capable built-in hex editor search, memory interface detection, and feature to enable RivaTuner versions v2.25 and above to cooperate with Radeon HD 5000 series GPUs.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp Radeon BIOS Editor (RBE) ver. 1.25A detailed list of changes by the Author are as follows:

Without making much noise, HIS released a custom-design ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card with its coveted IceQ moniker. The HIS HD 5770 IceQ 5 graphics card comes months after the company released the HD 5750 IceQ. The two differ in design and features sharply. The HD 5770 IceQ 5 features a longer PCB, a more complex cooling unit that makes use of 8 mm thick heatpipes (earlier used for HD 4870 based cards), 1 GB of GDDR5 memory, and reference clock speeds of 850 MHz (core) and 1200 MHz (memory). A "Turbo" variant that comes with higher clock speeds out of the box cannot be ruled out at this point. The Radeon HD 5770 features DirectX 11 support, has 800 stream processors, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. The IceQ family of graphics cards from HIS are known for higher cooling performance, and are usually quieter. The PCB is characteristically blue, and the cooler-shroud is reactive to UV case lighting. Pricing and availability are not known as yet.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co., Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards today is pleased to launch the latest in-house designed GIGABYTE GV-R5800 series graphics cards featuring GIGABYTE's own Ultra Durable VGA Technology which can provide outstanding overclocking capability, lower GPU temperature, and excellent power efficiency. Building on the ultimate kernel of ATI Radeon HD 5800 art-of-the-state single-GPU architecture and advanced GDDR5 memory technology, the GIGABYTE GV-R587UD-1GD, GV-R585OC-1GD and GV-R583UD-1GD deliver seamless frame rates with massive graphics processing muscle for any tomorrow's demanding applications. In addition, the GIGABYTE the GIGABYTE GV-R587UD-1GD, GV-R585OC-1GD and GV-R583UD-1GD feature a wide range of the latest graphics technologies, including native DispalyPort, native Golden-Plated HDMI, TeraScale graphics engine, ATI CrossFireX, and ATI Stream, to deliver supreme scalability so gamers can take their games to new heights.

TUL concern VTX3D has come up with a new custom-designed graphics card based on the ATI Radeon HD 5830 GPU, aimed at a value-performance price-point. The VTX3D HD 5830 1GB GDDR5 (model no: VX5830 1GBD5-DH), sports a hot-red custom-designed PCB and cooler not seen till date on PowerColor's graphics card (another of TUL's brands). It features 1120 stream processors, 1 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 256-bit wide memory interface, reference AMD clock speeds of 800 MHz (core) and 1000 MHz (memory), and connectivity that includes one each of DVI-D, HDMI, and DisplayPort - sticks to basics. The VTX3D HD 5830 should be priced on par with most base-model graphics cards: around the $220-$230 mark.

Outside its monthly driver release cycle, AMD released a WHQL-signed driver based on ATI Catalyst 10.2, which adds support for the Radeon HD 5830 graphics processor. It retains the feature-set and bug-fixes packed in Catalyst 10.2, with support for the new GPU being just appended to it. The driver supports Windows XP, Vista, 7, and Linux.

Released yesterday, the ATI Radeon HD 5830 is the cost-effective member of the Radeon HD 5800 series. It is based on the Cypress LE GPU, with 1120 stream processors, 56 TMUs, 16 ROPs, 256-bit GDDR5 memory interface to connect to 1 GB of memory, apart from the entire feature-set of the Radeon HD 5800 series.

DOWNLOAD: ATI Radeon HD 5830 driver based on Catalyst 10.2 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista | Windows XP

AMD today introduced the ATI Radeon HD 5830 graphics card, bringing gamers the cutting-edge features and performance of the award-winning ATI Radeon HD 5800 series at a lower price than ever before at less than $250 USD. With the introduction of the ATI Radeon HD 5830, gamers have another great choice in graphics hardware, with full support for DirectX 11 gaming, ATI Eyefinity technology, and ATI Stream capabilities.

"The ATI Radeon HD 5830 graphics card makes enthusiast-level performance even more accessible to gamers, adding another compelling choice to the award-winning ATI Radeon HD 5800 series," said Matt Skynner, vice president and general manager, AMD Graphics Division. "Cutting-edge features such as full DirectX 11 support, ATI Eyefinity multi-display capabilities and ATI Stream technology position the ATI Radeon HD 5830 graphics card to become a favorite with the gaming community."

A couple of months after releasing the VRM-R3 and VRM-R4 VRM heatsinks for the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series graphics cards, Thermalright is back with yet another HD 5800 series VRM heatsink, the VRM-R5. The new heatsink offers passive or fan-assisted cooling dedicated the the graphics card's VRM chips - major heat-producing components next to the GPU and memory chips. Cooler VRM chips could mean better electrical stability, affecting overclocking headroom.

The VRM-R5 makes the main block portion of the heatsink elaborate, with complex, branched metal ridges. From here two 6 mm aluminum heat pipes conduct heat to a block of aluminum fins. The fins are punched to improve heat dissipation. An 80 mm fan can be attached to this block for active cooling. The heatsink measures 118 x 117 x 122 mm, and weighs 140 g. The heatsink is compatible with some VGA coolers by Thermalright, notably Spitfire. It will reach stores next week at a price of 23 EUR.

AMD's new performance graphics card that targets an upper-mainstream price-point, the Radeon HD 5830, is slated for February 25. A set of company slides sourced by IT168.com shows the GPU's specifications are in tune with what we expected. The HD 5830 is based on AMD's Cypress 40 nm GPU. It has 1120 stream processors, a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, 16 ROPs, 56 TMUs, and clock speeds of 800 MHz (core) and 1000 MHz (memory). The memory bandwidth on the card is 128 GB/s, on par with that of the Radeon HD 5850. The core clock speed is slightly higher, too.

With a GPU of these specifications, AMD targets the market price-range of $200-$250, where there's room for a DirectX 11 generation graphics card to be positioned between the Radeon HD 5770 and Radeon HD 5850. The maximum board power of the card is slightly higher than that of the HD 5850, but we think that's because reference designs - if there are - might not use high-grade digital PWM circuitry. That typically shouldn't affect overclocking headroom a big deal.

AMD today announced several new ATI Catalyst graphics driver features designed to enable higher performance, industry-leading stability and an even more intuitive computing experience for ATI Radeon graphics customers. Two ATI Catalyst driver updates unlock the new features, the first coming today in ATI Catalyst update, version 10.2, and the second scheduled for release in March. The releases represent AMD's ongoing commitment to providing regular driver updates focusing on stability, performance and innovation for users of ATI Radeon graphics processors.

"As the first and, to date, only company to provide DirectX 11 technology and ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology, AMD continues to demonstrate our commitment to innovation in graphics," said Ben Bar-Haim, corporate vice-president, Software, AMD. "Our monthly ATI Catalyst driver updates further illustrate that commitment as we focus on continually enabling greater performance, even more rock solid stability, and intuitive, innovative features."

Lenovo today announced three new PCs for consumers - the Lenovo G455 and G555 notebooks and the Lenovo C315 all-in-one desktop - all based on the AMD platform featuring innovative Lenovo software to improve the overall computing experience. Designed for mainstream consumers, they support up to the latest AMD Turion and Athlon processors and ATI graphics. With Lenovo applications such as OneKey Rescue System and Energy Management on the G455 and G555 and IdeaTouch multitouch applications on the C315, these new PCs deliver affordable, dual-core, worry-free computing.

"Our new G series notebooks and C series all-in-one desktop are designed for users who want a simple but powerful computing experience without any headaches," said Dion Weisler, vice president, Business Operations, Lenovo. "By working closely with AMD engineers and leveraging AMD advanced technologies, we have created products that offer superior performance in the areas of graphics and power efficiency at an affordable price point."

The new ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) G73Jh is like no other gaming notebook. Eschewing the flash and gimmicks typical of gaming notebooks, the G73Jh instead boasts an understated, subtly aggressive design inspired by a stealth fighter. At its heart lies the most powerful components available today, including the latest Intel Core i7 processor, DirectX 11-capable ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics, and up to 8 GB of DDR3 system memory.

The G73Jh sports a striking angular design inspired by the iconic F-117 Nighthawk. Far from being merely cosmetic, every facet of the G73Jh's design reflects a conscious effort to improve the user experience. For example, the placement of all the heat and noise-generating components at the rear of the notebook and the implementation of a unique twin rear venting system keep the heat and noise as far away from the user as possible. The innovative placement of components also allows the palm rest to be exceptionally thin, just like a desktop keyboard. Furthermore, the keyboard plane is inclined 5 degrees, improving ergonomics and thus ensuring optimal comfort while gaming and typing.

ASUS is readying a new factory-overclocked, custom-design graphics card based on the ATI Radeon HD 5870 GPU, likely named the EAH5870-TOP. The company is also readying the Radeon HD 5850 based EAH5850 DirectCu. While the EAH5870-TOP is expected to have high out of the box clock speeds, a higher performance sporty-looking cooler, the EAH5850 DirectCu relies on a more function-centric cooler design that boasts of being 35% quieter and 20% cooler [than reference AMD cooler]. Further details, such as clock speeds are not known, but it is expected that ASUS will release these during CeBIT 2010, later this quarter.