While trying to hack the PS4 in order to make it run Linux (in a bid to get Steam and possibly other programs running on the PS4's hardware), hackers hit a snag: they couldn't get the PS4's GPU to display any kind of output or process any kind of graphics. Like any good researcher would, when hit with a snag, the hackers turned to scouring the Internet in hopes of finding any kind of documentation that could help them harness the PS4's Pitcairn-based GPU.

It looks like AMD's desktop discrete GPU lineup for 2015 will see a mix of rebrands, re-codename, and one big new chip, all making up the new Radeon R7 300 and R9 300 series. Cards based in this lineup should begin rolling out this month. Leaks from OEMs such as this one, suggest that the first of these should begin rolling out as early as June 16.

The spread is pretty cut and dry. "Hawaii," the chip driving the R9 290 series, will not only get a new codename as "Grenada," but also a seamless rebrand to the R9 390 series, with Grenada Pro making up the R9 390, and Grenada XT making up the R9 390X. One possibility could be AMD taking advantage of low 4 Gbit GDDR5 chip prices to cram 8 GB of standard memory amount, across Grenada's 512-bit wide memory interface. The R9 390X will compete with the GeForce GTX 970, while the R9 390 will offer an option in the vast price and performance gorge between the GTX 960 and GTX 970.

Sapphire rolled out the entry-mid range Radeon R7 260X iCafe OC graphics card for casual-gaming PC builds (eg: low-cost Counter Strike gaming kiosks). Pictured below, the card looks rather premium, with its full-length, dual-slot cooler. That is, until you take a peek under its plastic shroud to find a cost-effective fan-heatsink cooling the GPU, with radially-projecting aluminium fins, a copper core base, and an 80 mm fan ventilating it.

The card draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector; outputs include one each of dual-link DVI, HDMI 1.4a, and DisplayPort 1.2a. The card offers a factory-overclock of 1050 MHz core, and an untouched 5.00 GHz memory, against reference clocks of 1000 MHz on the core. Based on the 28 nm "Bonaire" silicon, the R7 260X offers 896 Graphics CoreNext stream processors, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB of memory on this card. Expect a $100-ish pricing.

AMD is rolling out two new Radeon SKUs to bolster its lineup below the $179.99 price-point held by the Radeon R9 270. The names of these SKUs might confuse the heck out of you, the TechPowerUp reader, and our hearts go out to the target buyers of these products, but bear with us - Radeon R9 255 and Radeon R9 260. Not to be confused with similar-sounding Radeon R7 250 and Radeon R7 260, the two SKUs are positioned in the Radeon R9 series, and could offer either higher performance levels than what the R7 260X manages, or it could also be a sly marketing move by AMD to make the lower-mainstream part of its lineup look more appealing to buyers of pre-built mainstream desktops that are "gaming ready."

There are two pieces of evidence to support the existence of the two. First, AMD updated its website to show R9 255 and R9 260 in the Radeon R9 section of its OEM products page. Second, on close inspection of the driver information (.inf) file of Catalyst 13.12 WHQL, we sniffed out three curious looking device IDs, which point at products going by those names. Selling an SKU named "Radeon R9 260" could work well for AMD's "Never Settle for anything less than AMD Radeon R9 Series graphics" marketing campaign.

AMD launched the Radeon R7 260 graphics cards, positioned in between the $139 Radeon R7 260X, and the $89 Radeon R7 250, which makes for a fairly big gap. It is expected to be priced no more than $110. Based on the same 28 nm "Bonaire" silicon as the R7 260X and the HD 7790 from the previous generation, the R7 260 is a mildly de-tuned variant of the R7 260X.

The Radeon R7 260 features just 768 of the 896 stream processors physically present on the "Bonaire" silicon. The GPU is clocked at 1000 MHz, compared to the 1100 MHz of the R7 260X; and the memory is clocked at 6.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective), compared to the 6.50 GHz of its sibling, which churns out a memory bandwidth of 96 GB/s on the chip's 128-bit wide memory bus. 1 GB, and not 2 GB is the standard memory amount. The maximum power draw is reduced to 95-Watt from 115-Watt on the R7 260X, and the card makes do with a single 6-pin PCIe power connector to draw power from. API support is consistent - DirectX 11.2, OpenGL 4.3, and Mantle. AMD TrueAudio appears to be supported.

Following the launch of two factory-overclocked, WindForce-equipped Radeon R9 200 graphics cards, Gigabyte rolled out its entry-level Radeon R7 200 series, with five models based on the Radeon R7 260X, Radeon R7 250, and Radeon R7 240. To begin with, the company launched three kinds of R7 260X graphics cards, by reusing two of its PCB designs for the "Bonaire" silicon, the GV-R726XWF2-2GD revisions 1 and 2 (pictured in that order). A third variant is based on a simpler fan-heatsink cooler. The three cards come with identical factory-overclocked speeds of 1188 MHz core (vs. 1100 MHz reference), while leaving the memory untouched, at 6.50 GHz. The cards feature 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, across a 128-bit wide memory interface.

Moving on, the company launched a Radeon R7 250 graphics card, the GV-R725OC-1GI. Based on the 28 nm "Oland" silicon, the chip integrates 384 stream processors, 24 TMUs, 8 ROPs, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 1 GB of memory. The card comes with factory-overclocked GPU core clock speed of 1100 MHz (vs. 1050 MHz reference), and 4.60 GHz memory. Lastly, there's its toned down version the Radeon R7 240, based on the same chip, and board design, the GV-R724OC-2GI, featuring factory-overclocked 900 MHz core (vs. 780 MHz reference), and 2 GB of DDR3 memory clocked at 1.80 GHz.

It's not a secret that AMD has had the performance lead at any important price point over the past few years. Graphics cards like the Radeon HD 7850, 7790, 7770 and 7750 have proved to be impressive performers while being very affordable. Compared to other offerings in the market they still are great products. Graphics Core Next architecture, DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, DirectX 11 support and Clock Speeds of over 1 GHz, the HD 77XX and 78XX series delivered High End specs at a Mid Range price point.

With the launch of the new Radeon R7 range this development will be continued further. The different segments will be clearly distinguishable by the new label they carry. R9 stands for the enthusiast, High End segment, while the R7 label contains capable performers in the Mid Range segment.

AMD announced market availability of several of its new Radeon R9 and Radeon R7 series discrete graphics SKUs. Leading the pack for today's launch is the Radeon R9 280X. Heavily based on the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, the card is priced at $299, and is designed to offer an interesting price-performance combination. In raw performance, it competes with the now $410 GeForce GTX 770, yet it's priced just $50 more than the $249 GeForce GTX 760. Based on the same 28 nm "Tahiti" silicon as the HD 7970 GHz Edition, it features clock speeds of 1000 MHz core, with 6.00 GHz memory. It features 2,048 stream processors, 128 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 384-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 3 GB of memory.

The next card on AMD's block is the Radeon R9 270X, which is designed to strike a price-performance sweet-spot at $199. Essentially an overclocked Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition, the card is based on the 28 nm "Pitcairn" silicon, featuring clock speeds of 1050 MHz core, and 6.40 GHz memory. It features 1,280 stream processors, 80 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB of memory. Lastly, there's the Radeon R7 260X, an interesting sub-$150 product, priced at $139. Based on the same "Bonaire" silicon as the Radeon HD 7790, it features higher clock speeds, and double the standard memory amount. It features clock speeds of 1100 MHz, and 6.50 GHz memory. The chip features 896 stream processors, 56 TMUs, 16 ROPs, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB of memory. The three cards will launch through the various AMD add-in board (AIB) partners, in their non-reference designs.

In addition to the Radeon R9 290X pictured earlier today, AMD will also be unveiling the Radeon R7 260X upper mid-range graphics card. Pictures of the card were leaked to the web. At the moment, we have no clue as to what chip the card is based on, but we're hearing two codenames, "Curacao" and "Bonaire XTX." "Curacao," in our best guess, is a variant of "Pitcairn." "Bonaire XTX" could be a higher-performing variant of the "Bonaire" silicon AMD launched the Radeon HD 7790 with. Given the way components are arranged behind the GPU, we're inclined to believe the card pictured below is based on "Curacao." Gotta give AMD marks for trying out something different with the cooler shroud design.

MSI launched a new Radeon HD 7790 graphics card with 2 GB of memory, and factory-overclocked speeds. The R7790-2GD5/OC from MSI features custom PCB and cooler designs by MSI. The card uses a tall, dual-slot GPU cooler, which uses a 100 mm fan to ventilate a heat-pipe fed aluminum fin-stack. The PCB uses components selected by MSI, including SFC chokes, which don't whine on load.

The card offers clock speeds of 1050 MHz core, over 1000 MHz core, while leaving the memory untouched. It features double the memory amount as AMD's reference design. Based on the 28 nm "Bonaire" silicon, the Radeon HD 7790 packs 896 stream processors, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. The card draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector; display outputs include two DVI, and one each of HDMI and DisplayPort. MSI didn't reveal pricing or availability.

Club 3D, a worldwide supplier of high performance components to the PC gaming hardware market , presents its new '13Series today with the launch of the Radeon HD 7790 card. Answering to a growing demand from different markets and customers who do integrating projects, Club 3D launches the '13Series as a white label in addition to our existing product range.

Selected chipsets will be offered without any bundle in a simple white box. Club 3D are quick to respond to current developments and where price becomes an increasingly important factor we have the solution for those who need nothing more than the graphics card. Club 3D will keep focusing on our Black label 'PokerSeries' cards by adding exciting new products and bundles in 2013. The White label 13 Series will be supported by an aggressive price tag only.

HIS unveiled its first graphics card based on the brand new Radeon HD 7790 GPU, which are combines a blue AMD reference design PCB and HIS' in-house iCooler cooling solution. The card sticks to AMD reference clock speeds of 1000 MHz core and 6000 MHz memory. The iCooler is a copper core aluminum fan-heatsink, similar in design to the one XFX is using in its HD 7790 Ghost. Based on the 28 nm "Bonaire" silicon, the Radeon HD 7790 packs 896 stream processors, dual tessellation units, 56 TMUs, 16 ROPs, and a 128-bit GDDR5 memory interface holding 1 GB of memory; and a brand new dynamic-clock technology. The HIS HD 7790 iCooler is priced at US $149.99.

XFX kicked off its Radeon HD 7790 lineup with the HD 7790 Ghost. Featuring AMD reference clock speeds of 1000 MHz core and 6000 MHz memory, the card uses an AMD reference design PCB, with a custom-design fan-heatsink akin to Intel CPU coolers. Since the chip has a TDP of just 85W, the cooler looks sufficient. A slab of aluminum serves as shroud for the heatsink. Based on the 28 nm "Bonaire" silicon, the Radeon HD 7790 packs 896 stream processors, dual tessellation units, 56 TMUs, 16 ROPs, and a 128-bit GDDR5 memory interface holding 1 GB of memory; and a brand new dynamic-clock technology. The card is priced at US $149.99.

Sapphire rolled out its Radeon HD 7790 lineup with two models, both of which feature non-reference designs. The Sapphire Radeon HD 7790 (base model) features a single-fan aluminum fin-stack cooler, which utilizes a pair of 8 mm-thick copper heat pipes, AMD-reference clock speeds of 1000 MHz core, 6000 MHz memory; and a price of $149.99; while the premium Radeon HD 7790 Dual-X features a more meaty dual-fan cooling solution that uses a pair of 80 mm fans to ventilate an aluminum fin-stack, factory-overclocked speeds of 1075 MHz core, and 6400 MHz memory. Based on the 28 nm "Bonaire" silicon, the Radeon HD 7790 packs 896 stream processors, dual tessellation units, 56 TMUs, 16 ROPs, and a 128-bit GDDR5 memory interface holding 1 GB of memory; and a brand new dynamic-clock technology. The base model is priced at $149.99, the Dual-X OC at $159.99.

ASUS kicked off its Radeon HD 7790 lineup with custom-design implementations based on its iconic DirectCU II cooling solution. The EAH7790 DirectCU II /OC, pictured below, ships in two variants, one with stock frequencies of 1000 MHz core and 6000 MHz memory; and an OC variant with 1075 MHz core, and 6400 MHz memory. The cards use the company's dual-slot, dual-heatpipe version of DirectCU II. Based on the 28 nm "Bonaire" silicon, the Radeon HD 7790 packs 896 stream processors, dual tessellation units, 56 TMUs, 16 ROPs, and a 128-bit GDDR5 memory interface holding 1 GB of memory; and a brand new dynamic-clock technology. The standard variant should be priced around $149.99, the OC variant could charge $10 more.

AMD announced its Radeon HD 7790 mid-range graphics card, with which the company plans to fill a gap in its product-stack, between the Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition, and the Radeon HD 7850. Based on the brand new 28 nm "Bonaire" silicon, the HD 7790 features 896 stream processors based on the Graphics CoreNext architecture, dual-independent tessellation units, 56 TMUs, 16 ROPs, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 1 GB of memory. The core is clocked at 1.00 GHz, and memory at 6.00 GHz, churning out a memory bandwidth of 96 GB/s.

With the HD 7790, AMD is introducing an updated dynamic clock adjustment technology, which works to give games more access to the set 1.00 GHz core clock speed, which working to reduce power draw further. The technology should make the current and future AMD Radeon chips as energy-efficient as NVIDIA's. The card draws power from a single 6-pin power connector, its TDP is rated at 85W. Display outputs should typically include one or two DVI connectors, and one each of HDMI and DisplayPort. AMD is targeting a price-point of $149.99, its add-in board partners are free to launch custom-design products from day one.

A presentation slide, allegedly by AMD, leaked by a Japanese distributor confirmed specifications of AMD's upcoming Radeon HD 7790 graphics card. According to the slide, the HD 7790 is indeed based on a brand new silicon, with a transistor count of 2.08 billion. Compare that, to the 1.5 billion TC of "Cape Verde," and 2.80 billion of "Pitcairn." The silicon is built on the 28 nanometer silicon fab process.

The clock speed mentioned in the slide could be core, which is clocked at 1.00 GHz. Next up is the stream processor count, which stands at 896. The HD 7790 is mentioned to feature a primitive rate of 2 prim/clk, suggesting that its component hierarchy is more similar to "Tahiti" than "Cape Verde," which could mean double the tessellation processing power. All said and done, the HD 7790 belts out 1.79 TFLOPs of floating-point performance. The source goes on to mention in its text that the card features a 128-bit wide memory interface, memory clock speed of 6.00 GHz (96 GB/s), a TDP of 85W, and a single 6-pin PCIe power connector. It is expected to launch no later than tomorrow (22/03).

It looks like AMD isn't waiting till the end of March or early April to launch its Radeon HD 7790 performance-segment graphics card. According to a 3DCenter.org report, the new graphics card will launch this week, either on Thursday or Friday, and that press-samples of the card have already shipped out. Based on the brand new 28 nm "Bonaire" silicon, the HD 7790 is expected to capture a price-point competitive to NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 650 Ti, around 135€. NVIDIA isn't sitting idle, and is planning a GTX 650 Ti refresh of its own.

Here are the first pictures of Sapphire Radeon HD 7790 Dual-X, the company's premium offering based on AMD's new GPU. The card features Sapphire's in-house PCB and cooler designs, including an aluminium fin-stack heatsink ventilated by a pair of 80 mm fans, and a 21.5 cm long PCB. The card draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector, its display outputs are similar to the HD 7850, with a pair of DVI connectors, HDMI, and DisplayPort. It can pair with another of its kind, only.

In an attempt to avert the threat posed by the upcoming AMD Radeon HD 7790 "Bonaire," NVIDIA is reportedly changing the specifications of its current GeForce GTX 650 Ti. The company could increase reference clock speeds of its current GTX 650 Ti, without tinkering with physical specifications such as CUDA core count (of 768) or memory bus width of 128-bit. The GTX 650 Ti currently features reference clock speeds of 925 MHz core, and 1350 MHz (5.40 GHz GDDR5-effective) memory. The rehashed GTX 650 Ti could be released towards the end of March, or early-April.