AMD is ready with the industry's first WHQL-certified set of drivers for Microsoft Windows 7. The Catalyst WHQL Windows 7 driver comes as yet another first for AMD, and a first for Microsoft's Windows 7 certification program. Dated 5/5/2009, the drivers carry the version 8.612, feature full support for Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 1.1 and works with ATI Radeon HD 2000, HD 3000, and HD 4000 series. The drivers also provide support for ATI Stream GPGPU technology.

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 8.612 WHQL for Windows 7 64-bit, and Windows 7 32-bit.

AMD today kicked off activities to recognize 40 years of innovation in the semiconductor industry and its important role as a catalyst for enabling next-generation solutions. May 1, 2009 will mark the official 40-year anniversary of AMD's founding by Jerry Sanders and seven co-founders in 1969. As part of the year-long anniversary celebration, the company is holding a series of contests in the U.S. and Canada as a gesture of thanks to the dedicated customers who have been, and continue to be, key to AMD's critical presence in the processor industry.
As a central hub for the contests and information about AMD's history, the company also launched a site dedicated to the 40th anniversary, with a complete timeline of AMD milestones and full details about the upcoming contests. In coming weeks the site is also expected to feature employee and customer-generated anniversary content.

Sapphire has a new high-end graphics accelerator in the works for launch next week: the Atomic HD 4890. The card features a blue reference PCB by AMD with a few enhancements, paired with Sapphire's Vapor-X cooler to keep this factory-overclocked card cool, and more importantly, quieter than the reference cooler.

What makes this card even more special is that Sapphire generously overclocked it. The core runs at 1000 MHz, and the 1 GB of GDDR5 memory at 1050 MHz (2100 MHz DDR, 4200 MHz effective). The Catalyst Control Center ATI Overdrive page shows its GPU core overlocking limit upped to 1100 MHz, from the 1000 MHz limit release-drivers were noted to come with. To sustain such high speeds, the card's VRM has been slightly expanded. The card uses an 8-pin PCI-E power connector alongside a 6-pin one. The price of this card is yet to be known.

AMD today released the ATI Radeon HD 4770 graphics card. The release marks several milestones for the company, mainly winning the race for the first GPU to be built on the 40 nm process, and the introduction second-generation GDDR5 memory for the mainstream consumer segment.

The brains of this card is the 40 nm AMD RV740 GPU. Its specifications include 640 stream processors that churn out over 900 GFLOPs of shader compute power, 32 texture memory units, and 16 render back-ends. The GPU is aided by 512 MB of fast GDDR5 memory across a 128-bit wide interface. This provides the same amount of bandwidth as 256-bit GDDR3 commonly found in most graphics card in the range. The card is DirectX 10.1 compliant, and supports the ATI CrossFireX multi-GPU standard.

The card has been launched worldwide, with its initial US price set at $109, and an optional rebate that can send its price further down. In its range, it competes with NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT, and AMD's own Radeon HD 4830. TechPowerUp is one of the first technology portals to publish a thorough review of the Radeon HD 4770. Our review can be read here.

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, today announced a powerful addition to the PowerColor HD 4890 series: PCS+ HD 4890. PowerColor's Professional Cooling System PLUS or PCS+, delivers the ultimate overclocking ability with GDDR5 onboard memory, 950MHz core speed and 1100MHz effective memory speed with memory data transmission rates up to 4.4Gbps, offering the power to tackle the most extreme 3D games.

PowerColor's PCS+ HD4890 features ZEROtherm's exclusive cooling system. A 52-piece designed fin and 4 heat pipes brings substance to the stylish black Ni coated surface that enhances hardness and anti-oxidizing. The PCS+ HD4890 also provides an enhanced fan control helping to automatically adjust speeds with different temperatures, allowing a better user experience.

AMD today announced that its entire line of industry leading ATI FirePro professional graphics accelerators are powering all-new OEM workstations for engineering, digital content creation and science professionals. AMD helps ensure that its ATI FirePro professional graphics accelerators maximize application performance and reliability by performing over 90 certifications with leading application providers such as Autodesk and Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks.

"The Dell Precision T7500, T5500 and T3500 and ATI FirePro graphics deliver an excellent balance of value and performance to workstation professionals," said Greg Weir, senior manager, Dell Product Group. "Dell, the world's leading supplier of workstations, is working with ATI to deliver workstation solutions that are reliable and scalable."

AMD today reported first quarter 2009 results.
For financial reporting purposes, AMD consolidates the operating results of GLOBALFOUNDRIES in its results as of March 2, 2009 and has created the Foundry segment as of the start of the fiscal year. References to "AMD" in this announcement include these consolidated operating results which are reported for GAAP purposes. "AMD Product Company" refers to AMD, excluding the operating results of the Foundry segment and intersegment eliminations.
AMD reported revenue for first quarter of 2009 of $1.177 billion. First quarter 2009 revenue was flat compared to the fourth quarter of 2008 and decreased 21 percent compared to the first quarter of 2008.

Never in recent times have we seen NVIDIA and ATI locked in such fierce market competition. The two are seen exchanging blows with product launches and price-cuts. ATI looks to be in the mood to take this competition to the next-level: DirectX 11 compliant GPUs. Microsoft has already released DirectX 11 with the pre-release versions of Windows 7 operating system. A recent report by Heise Online indicates that AMD will be ready with an ATI RV870, the company's first DirectX 11 GPU by the end of July, or early August.

Another source, The Inquirer, states NVIDIA's GT300 GPU launch for October. If you were to count these claims, AMD is put two to three months ahead of NVIDIA when it comes to time-to-market introduction of a new GPU generation. Now, whether you have DirectX 11 compliant software that makes use of the new technology available that soon is a different thing altogether. This will determine the practicality of a DirectX 11 GPU in July/August.

Jetway announced its newest line of mainstream motherboards for the AMD processor platform: XBLUE series. The two models currently part of the lineup include XBLUE-78GA3 (AMD 780G) and XBLUE-77A3 (AMD 770). Jetway used an identical PCB design for the two, with a few components' presence determined by the chipset. The core idea is to provide support for the entire range of processors right from AM2 to AM3. The board features two DDR2 (supports up to DDR2-1066 standard) and two DDR3 slots (supports up to DDR3-1333). For AM3 processors, either kind of memory can be used, while for AM2 and AM2+ ones the DDR2 slots have to be used.

On both the boards, Jetway implemented ATI Crossfire, not by using external PCI-E switching for the PCI-E x16 slot, but rather providing a PCI-E x4 slot powered by the SB700 southbridge. The XBLUE-78GA3 even packs SidePort memory for the IGP. Its output options include DVI, D-Sub and HDMI. The XBLUE-77A3 relies on discrete graphics. Other features include six SATA II ports, and six-channel HD audio. The company is yet to announce pricing and availability.

Towards the end of March, we caught a glimpse of a yet to be named high-end custom-designed Radeon HD 4890 accelerator from ASUS. The accelerator makes use of an exotic VRM design to facilitate high clock speeds and overclocking potential. Back then, we couldn't get pictures of what cooled the beast. Thankfully, NordicHardware has a few pictures of the cooler, along with more details in place.

AMD have just released their ATI Catalyst 9.4 Driver for Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP. Highlights of the ATI Catalyst 9.4 Windows release include:

New Features

• ATI Catalyst 9.4 includes a new ATI Overdrive auto-tune application to estimate the over-clocked engine and memory values for ATI Overdrive supported ATI Radeon Graphics accelerators
  Designed for the ATI Radeon HD 4000 Series

Resolved Issue Highlights

• "World of Warcraft" or "World of Warcraft - Wrath of the Lich King": Flickering no longer occurs when Shadow is set to medium/high using ATI CrossFire configurations
• Google Sketchup no longer displays blank screen
• Resolutions above 1024 x 768 will now full screen properly for specific HDMI displays
• Artifacts no longer visible while playing Age of Conan DX10
• VC-1 progressive disc playback no longer exhibits block corruption.
• The Compute Abstraction Layer (CAL) driver now functions properly under Windows XP

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst version 9.4 for Windows XP/Vista/7 (32/64-bit versions)

Barely a week into the launch of Radeon HD 4890, AMD's partners are already emerging ready with non-reference PCB and cooler designs for the card. One of the first in the league is Powercolor Radeon HD 4890 PCS (Professional Cooling System), a name given to the card owing to its superior cooling system and factory-overclocked parameters. The company seems to have worked on a non-reference PCB design.

The 10-layer PCB breaks away from the reference design with its simpler VRM area consisting of standard chokes and MOSFETs. The design-approach is known to greatly reduce manufacturing costs. The GPU is cooled by a Zerotherm cooler with a large central fan, and aluminum fins to which heat is conveyed by four heat-pipes. The card will feature a rather high clock speeds of 950/1100 MHz (core/memory), against the reference speeds of 850/975 MHz. The price isn't known at this point in time, though we don't expect it to be priced much higher, looking at the design.

AMD clinched the performance crown from NVIDIA, and retained for a significantly long amount of time with the dual-RV770 based Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics accelerator. The company recently introduced the RV790 GPU, which went into making the Radeon HD 4890 graphics accelerator. Our reviews of this card, especially the AMD Radeon HD 4890 CrossFire review, brought forth some interesting findings with regards to how the accelerator works in tandem with another of its kind.

Holding significantly higher clock-speeds than the Radeon HD 4870, the accelerator managed to consume lesser amount of power in a pair than a single Radeon HD 4870 X2 accelerator. As a solution, it emerged faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295. The findings of several such reviews sparked of fresh speculations surrounding AMD planning a dual-RV790 accelerator with which it could potentially regain the performance crown. All such speculations were laid to rest by David Cummings, AMD's director of product marketing of discrete desktop graphics, under the graphics product group, in a recent interview with X-bit Labs (read here). Cummings claims that the company has no plans to create a "Radeon HD 4890 X2", at least not yet. The Radeon HD 4890 fills the gap between the HD 4870 and HD 4850 X2, while the HD 4870 X2 holds post at $399. A dual-RV790 card would not be feasible keeping the global economic climate in mind. The HD 4890 accelerators though, are capable of running in tandem with up to four cards of its kind, provided the system supports such a configuration.

AMD today announced that its top-to-bottom line of industry-leading ATI FirePro graphics accelerators are now featured in the new HP Z Workstations. Graphics professionals who use and demand interactivity with complex 3D models in engineering, digital content creation and scientific fields now can take advantage of the new ATI FirePro V7750, as well as the ATI FirePro V3700 and ATI FirePro V5700 graphics accelerators in the new HP Z400, Z600 and Z800 Workstations.
Designed and engineered to operate in a wide range of professional operating environments, including Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista and Linux, ATI FirePro 3D graphics accelerators are thoroughly tested and certified based on industry standards at AMD test labs. HP Z Workstations with ATI FirePro graphics already have more than 35 application certifications by major applications such as SolidWorks 2009, 3ds Max 2009, and Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, and previous versions with many more certifications pending.

ASUS, world-leading producer of top quality graphic solutions, has today introduced the ASUS EAH4890 Series-the world's first graphics cards to utilize Voltage Tweak technology. With this innovation, users will be able to boost GPU voltages via the SmartDoctor application and enjoy up to an amazing 15% in performance improvement. For users who are looking for a graphics card offering astounding graphical performances even on default settings, the ASUS EAH4890 TOP will enable an 8% performance boost, delivering exhilarating gaming experiences.

Albatron, an official NVIDIA partner, has gently started producing cards from the red camp without making any announcements. So far Albatron was NVIDIA exclusive, but a few more cards in the portfolio, no matter NVIDIA or ATI, won't hurt much. The first ATI card from Albatron is a Radeon HD 4890 named Radeon HD 4890-1G. This model will be all-stock, clocked at 850 MHz for the GPU, with 256-bit memory interface and 1 GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 3900 MHz. The card should hit the market any time soon with a suggested retail price under $250. Later Albatron plans to release more products from the Radeon HD 4000 series.

To bring consumers various choices, professional motherboard and graphics card manufactures, Albatron Technology Co., LTD. announces Albatron Radeon HD 4890-1G. Full line of ATI products will be available soon to the market.

Albatron Radeon HD 4890-1G is based on ATI Radeon HD 4890 GPU by advanced 55nm process, the fastest GDDR5 memory, and 800 stream processors. With massive graphic power, its data rate can speed up to 3.9Gbps. It can help increasing users' working efficiency and playing 3D game without lag. For professional users, they can set their own overclock mode; moreover, collocating ATI OverDrive utility and ATI CrossFire Technology, Albatron Radeon HD 4890-1G can blurt its power and performance up to next level.

MSI, leading brand manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today launched their latest R4890-T2D1G graphics card powered by 55 nanometer core and 800 stream processors coupled with 1GB of GDDR5 124.8 GB/s ultra-high bandwidth memory supporting DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.0. Now gamers can experience superior performance with the most realistic special effects ever, all in life-like high definition. If you are in for best possible performance, the CrossFireX technology for multi-GPU operations will help you push your visual experience to the utmost maximum. In addition, the integrated UVD 2.0 hardware decoding technology makes sure that high definition audio and video playback will always be smooth and crisp. High Performance, High Efficiency and High image quality are the three focus strengths of the MSI R4890-T2D1G.

AMD today introduced the ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card, driven by the world's most powerful graphics processor. The newest addition to the award-winning ATI Radeon HD 4000 series boasts a whopping 1.36 TeraFLOPs of compute power, superior GDDR5 memory, and super-high engine clock speeds capable of nearly 1GHz. The advanced design of the ATI Radeon HD 4890 delivers the best game experience in its class, including the latest ground-breaking DirectX 10.1 titles. In addition, with the introduction of the ATI Radeon HD 4890, AMD continues to enhance its "Dragon" desktop platform technology, designed to provide exceptional value to OEMs, channel partners, and do-it-yourself (DIY) consumers.

AMD may be inches close to launching its high-end Radeon HD 4890 accelerator, but in its shadows, an equally exciting product-line is taking shape: the Radeon HD 4700 series, which AMD refers to as "A new paradigm of performance and price", rightly so, with the new 40 nm process the RV740 GPU is built on, and the performance that looks to put it on top of its class.

IT168.com published a few slides from a recent presentation AMD carried on, for its upcoming Radeon HD 4700 series. The most relevant slides reveal a lot about the Radeon HD 4770, the flagship product based on the RV740. The card design that has surfaced, reveals a cooler design similar to that of the Radeon HD 3870, except for a different colour-scheme and printed graphics. The card features 512 MB of GDDR5 memory across a 128-bit memory interface, which ideally churns out the same amount of bandwidth as 256-bit GDDR3, while consuming lesser power (due to lesser number of chips on the board). A slide also reveals a crucial bit about the pricing strategy AMD is planning to adopt, which shows the Radeon HD 4770 to be priced at US $99 (target SEP prices). From AMD's own ratings, the card should offer higher performance per watt and performance per dollar (in terms of rated compute power) than NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT. You can also work out from the figures that the card consumes 80 W of power. The card is slated for a May 4 launch.

As reviewers world-over unbox their Radeon HD 4890 samples, NVIDIA, in a last-bid attempt not to give ATI a fortnight's headstart over GeForce GTX 275, has pulled its launch forward to April 2, the day Radeon HD 4890 hits shelves. Our sources however, indicate that this will be merely a paper-launch for NVIDIA, meaning that the actual product doesn't exist in retail channels, only that its SKU officially exists, get listed, perhaps gets open to pre-orders by retailers, and what's more, even previewed.

It will be mid-April by the time retailers actually start to sell GeForce GTX 275 accelerators. The accelerators will be of non-reference designs, with the specifications we know so far: 55 nm G200b GPU, 240 stream processors, 448-bit GDDR3 memory interface, and 896 or 1792 MB of memory. The clock speeds the card will run at are known to be 633/1404/1138 MHz (core/shader/memory). Its price will be very competitive with that of the Radeon HD 4890, around the US $250 mark.

AMD today announced the availability of the ATI FirePro V7750 graphics accelerator for the high-end market, ideally suited for graphics professionals working in engineering, digital content creation and scientific fields. These professionals need a 3D graphics accelerator that can quickly handle large models and shader-intensive applications, while delivering accurate color reproduction and superior visual quality. The ATI FirePro V7750 delivers features that matter most to these users at $899 MSRP.

"Creating astounding visuals for movies is a tremendous challenge - it has to look absolutely perfect, but time is always of the essence," said Jabbar Raisani, visual effects expert, Troublemaker Studios. "The ATI FirePro V7750 graphics accelerator helps me achieve flawless effects fast by speeding up rendering so I can focus on creating content rather than waiting for it. I need stable and robust performance graphics hardware to get the job done quickly and the ATI FirePro V7750 is the perfect solution."

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. and Havok, the premier provider of interactive software for physics simulation and content development, are presenting new, optimized executions of Havok's physics middleware on AMD platforms at the 2009 Game Developers Conference. The demonstrations include the first OpenCL supported execution of Havok Cloth.

Havok offers a complete modular suite of products that help visual and interactive content developers create more realistic games and cinematic special effects. As the latest software developer to take advantage of ATI Stream technology to leverage multi-core architectures and accelerate execution of highly parallel functions, like real-time cloth simulation, Havok will enable game developers to offer improved performance and interactivity across a broad range of OpenCL capable PCs. AMD has recently introduced optimized platform technologies, such as "Dragon" desktop platform technology, which balance performance between the CPU and GPU with ATI Stream technology to deliver outstanding value.

TechPowerUp today introduced GPU-Z version 0.3.3, our graphics sub-system diagnostic utility that provides information on the computer's installed graphics hardware, their various specifications, and provides real-time updates on their parameters such as clock-speeds, temperatures, and fan-speeds. GPU-Z is backed by our overclock validation system and an extensive video card BIOS database.

With version 0.3.3, the application expands its support base to some popular upcoming products, namely ATI Radeon HD 4700 desktop series, Radeon HD 4890, and GeForce GTX 275. Some common bugs found with previous versions, notably GT200 process size calculation, and G98 SP counts, have been fixed.

For more information and to download, please visit the download page.

Following our report of ASUS preparing an overclocked Radeon HD 4890 accelerator with clock speeds well above 900 MHz (core) and 1000 MHz (memory), the possibility has come to surface that AMD has carved out a new range of Radeon HD 4890 accelerators from the unusually high overclocking headroom the RV790 GPU has. The credit also goes to the reference-design PCB, which is known to possess some of the highest quality digital PWM components to handle power, and 4 GT/s GDDR5 memory, which is now known to have a good overclocking headroom.

It has surfaced on the forums of Chinese tech community PCInLife, that the RV790 rather effortlessly reached the 1 GHz mark, the slider-limit of Catalyst Control Center, sparking off fresh rumors that AMD partners may be creating a fresh niche of highly-overclocked cards shortly after Radeon HD 4890 comes to be. The overclocker reached speeds of 1 GHz (core) and 1125 MHz (4.50 GHz effective, memory). At the said speeds, the card was put through 3DMark Vantage with its eXtreme settings. It churned-out a score of X5480, which puts its performance somewhere between those of the GeForce GTX 280 and GeForce GTX 285. It should also be taken into account that the drivers RV790 users the world over have been using, are preliminary beta drivers. AMD plans to release Catalyst 9.4 with the release of Radeon HD 4890, which just may impact positively on the performance of the product.