AMD CEO Lisa Su at the Hot Chips conference answered some questions from the attending press. One of these regarded AMD's stance on CrossFire and whether or not it remains a focus for the company. Once the poster child for a scalable consumer graphics future, with AMD even going as far as enabling mixed-GPU support (with debatable merits). Lisa Su came out and said what we all have been seeing happening in the background: "To be honest, the software is going faster than the hardware, I would say that CrossFire isn't a significant focus".

There isn't anything really new here; we've all seen the consumer GPU trends as of late, with CrossFire barely being deserving of mention (and the NVIDIA camp does the same for their SLI technology, which has been cut from all but the higher-tier graphics cards). Support seems to be enabled as more of an afterthought than a "focus", and that's just the way things are. It seems that the old, old practice of buying a lower-tier GPU at launch and then buying an additional graphics processor further down the line to leapfrog performance of higher-performance, single GPU solutions is going the way of the proverbial dodo - at least until an MCM (Multi-Chip-Module) approach sees the light of day, paired with a hardware syncing solution that does away with the software side of things. A true, integrated, software-blind multi-GPU solution comprised of two or more smaller dies than a single monolithic solution seems to be the way to go. We'll see.

NZXT today announces the N7 Z370, its first motherboard. Built around Intel's Z370 chipset, the N7 delivers everything you need to build a powerful, gorgeous gaming PC right out-of-the-box. All the essentials are included, along with a built-in digital fan controller and integrated RGB lighting channels. The all-metal motherboard cover perfectly matches the color and finish of your case, creating a visually seamless backdrop for your components. Using NZXT's CAM software, you have full control over your system's lighting, cooling, and performance.

"Leveraging our years of experience as professional PC builders, we've designed the N7 motherboard with a completely new approach. In the face of increasing complexity in the PC gaming market, we want to make building easier and more enjoyable, with the N7 as a cornerstone for this new experience. Everything you need--from easy layout and obvious connections to digital fan control and RGB lighting--is included. We've also designed a completely unique motherboard cover so it's both beautiful and powerful. You can't build a quieter, better-looking system as easily as you can with our new N7 motherboard." says Johnny Hou, NZXT's founder, and CEO.

AMD today put out its fourth Radeon Software release of the month, the Radeon Software Crimson ReLive 17.11.4 Beta. These drivers come with optimization for "Doom" VFR, and Oculus Dash Open Beta. The drivers fix an issue with certain levels of HBCC size adjustments causing system instability on machines with Radeon RX Vega series graphics cards. It also fixes a system hang noticed when switching display modes on "Star Wars Battlefront II" on CrossFire machines. Also fixed, are incorrect clock and power values being reported on some machines with RX Vega series graphics cards. Grab the drivers from the link below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson ReLive 17.11.4

An AMD representative recently answered PC World's query regarding the absence of "CrossFire" branding on their latest Radeon Software release, which introduced multi-GPU support for AMD's Vega line of graphics cards. According to the AMD representative, it goes down to a technicality, in that "CrossFire isn't mentioned because it technically refers to DX11 applications. In DirectX 12, we reference multi-GPU as applications must support mGPU, whereas AMD has to create the profiles for DX11. We've accordingly moved away from using the CrossFire tag for multi-GPU gaming."

Yes, this is the third post today about AMD introducing multi GPU support for RX Vega with their Crimson ReLive 17.9.2 beta drivers but it had to be made. First up, the caveats- we were only able to test the driver on a CrossFire setup involving one RX Vega 64 and one RX Vega 56 GPU so results with two of the same may differ. Secondly, these are beta drivers so there is a level of lenience here I am willing to afford to AMD. That said, the driver which came with its own announcement and internal results had to show something good and this means showing good scaling across multiple games.

The driver allows CrossFire to be enabled with a mix of the two Vega 10 SKUs, and we set about testing a few games from our GPU benchmark suite using the same testing methodology as always. Tests were done at 4K to minimize a CPU bottleneck of any kind, and the games tested include some of the most popular games today including some that AMD themselves used in the announcement. However, after a few hours of testing, we can simply not recommend using the driver for CrossFire- at least for a mixed setup as we did. More on this after the break.

AMD announced today they are bringing multi-GPU support for RX Vega 64 and RX Vega 56 with their upcoming Radeon Crimson ReLive Edition 17.9.2 drivers. This CrossFire support is for two GPUs only, so it appears AMD is going on the same path as NVIDIA in not having official support for three or more GPUs, which by itself is a point of discussion. Note that these drivers are not out yet, and this announcement serves to alert the user base to what is coming up.

AMD also provided a (low resolution, we are working on a suitable replacement) internal result chart comparing gaming performance with average FPS as the metric, for two RX Vega 64 cards relative to one. We see very impressive scaling in some games such as Far Cry Primal, Metro Last Night Redux, Sniper Elite 4, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt a performance increase of more than 80 percent compared to the single GPU performance. As usual, take these numbers as an indication of how things go since we do not have more details available on the testing methodology at this point either. Lastly, no word yet on what else has changed with these drivers but hopefully AMD have addressed the ongoing bugs with Overwatch at the very least.

Noctua today presented three high-end heatsinks for the TR4 and SP3 sockets of AMD's latest Ryzen Threadripper (X399) and Epyc platforms. The new TR4-SP3 versions of the award-winning NH-U14S, NH-U12S and NH-U9 coolers are tailored custom models that feature a larger contact surface as well as a SecuFirm2 mounting system for TR4/SP3. Supplied with Noctua's renowned NF-A15, NF-F12 and NF-A9 premium fans, the new coolers combine outstanding cooling performance with exceptional quietness of operation.

"A high-end platform usually calls for high-end cooling solutions and that's precisely the case with AMD's new Epyc and upcoming Ryzen Threadripper ecosystems", explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "We have therefore customized our award-winning NH-U14S, NH-U12S and NH-U9 coolers so that users can enjoy the performance and quietness of these proven premium heatsinks on the new AMD platforms."

AMD is reportedly scaling down efforts on its end to support and promote multi-GPU technologies such as CrossFire, and not in favor of open-standards such as DirectX 12 native multi-GPU, either. Speaking to GamersNexus, an AMD representative confirmed that while the new Radeon RX Vega family of graphics cards support CrossFire, the company may not allocate as many resources as it used to with older GPU launches, in promoting or supporting it.

This is keeping up with trends in the industry moving away from multi-GPU configurations, and aligns with NVIDIA's decision to dial-down investment in SLI. This also more or less confirms that AMD won't build a Radeon RX series consumer graphics product based on two "Vega 10" ASICs. At best, one can expect dual-GPU cards for the professional or GPU-compute markets, such as the Radeon Pro or Radeon Instinct brands.

There are two kinds of desktop CPU platforms. The mainstream tier runs from two cores up to eight, and it's great for gaming and general use. Its high-end sibling takes everything up a level with more cores, more memory channels, and more bandwidth for graphics and storage. A considerable upgrade in every regard, this high-end desktop platform appeals to power users, content creators, and prosumers who want to blur the line between desktop and workstation. AMD's Threadripper CPU is the latest addition to the desktop's heavyweight division, and it walks into the ring with an entourage of SocketTR4 motherboards in tow. This guide explains the ASUS and ROG family to help you pick the best X399 motherboard for your high-end desktop or gaming PC.

All of our X399 boards share core DNA that includes one-touch overclocking, refined cooling control, and improved RGB lighting. Yet they each have their own distinct flavor as well. The ROG Zenith Extreme brings Threadripper into the world of premium dream PCs with provisions for custom liquid cooling and 10G networking. With the Strix X399-E Gaming, hardcore gamers can build stylish rigs with power to spare for high-quality streaming. And then there's the Prime X399-A and its well-rounded foundation channeling the professional side of the platform's prodigious power. Which X399 motherboard should you buy for your build? Let's find out.

AMD released the Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.6.1 beta drivers. The drivers come with optimization for "DiRT 4," including an AMD CrossFire profile, and up to 30 percent improvement in frame-rates with 8x MSAA cranked up. The drivers also improve performance of "Prey" (2017) by up to 4 percent, as tested on a machine with a Radeon RX 580 8 GB graphics card.

The drivers also fixed a number of issues, including virtual super-resolution (VSR) not correctly enabling on certain Radeon RX 400 and RX 500-series GPUs; HDR not correctly enabling on certain WQHD or higher-resolution displays; flickering noticed on some WQHD or higher-resolution displays connected via HDMI; fast mouse movements causing a frame-rate drop in "Prey" (2017); "Mass Effect: Andromeda" noticing a stutter with multi-GPU systems; and a system hang noticed on Radeon R9 390 series GPUs with the memory overclocked using a third-party application. Grab the driver from the link below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson ReLive 17.6.1

The change-log follows.

I'll turn the table on its head with this article, and start by its ending: if you are one of those users willing to spend $629 on a motherboard that carries all the bells and whistles and then some, the ROG Maximus IX Extreme is probably the product for you. And the opposite is also true. This is as premium a Z270-chipset motherboard gets, I'd wager. The integrated monoblock - which covers the CPU, VRM, and M.2 slot - was designed in collaboration with Bitspower, and features embedded temperature and flow-rate sensors as well as a built-in leak detector. It joins the usual staple of Z270 features: DDR4 support up to 4,133MHz, dual PCIe 3.0 x16 slots for SLI and CrossFireX, Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.1 Type-A/C, and the aforementioned M.2 socket, which is Intel Optane-ready.

The monoblock, IO cover, logo, and RGB headers feature RGB lighting effects such as breathing, strobing, pulsing, music effect, rainbowy, and... more. The RGB lighting can even be set to change color to reflect CPU temperature and load. Even the 3.5mm audio connectors are LED-illuminated. A sparkly Christmas tree finds itself floating through my mind, for some totally unrelated reason. ASUS' exclusive (well, "exclusive-ish") features make their way to this premium motherboard, such as the pre-mounted I/O shield, strengthened SafeSlot PCI Express slots, SafeDIMM memory slots, and a copper-plated PCB edge. Asus' Extreme Engine Digi+ is composed of NexFET MOSFETs, MicroFine alloy chokes, Digi+ PWM controller, and 10K black metallic capacitors. The Maximus IX Extreme also features 12 fan headers throughout its PCB are, as well as additional temperature and flowrate sensors for anyone who wishes to use two distinct cooling loops.

AMD today released Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 17.3.3 Beta drivers. These drivers come with optimization for "Mass Effect: Andromeda," including support for AMD CrossFire in DirectX 11 mode. To enable CrossFire, however, you need to input "-RenderDevice.AmdCrossfireEnable 1" as a command-line argument (set launch options in Origin). The drivers also fix a texture flickering issue noticed with the game. Grab the drivers from the link below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson ReLive 17.3.3

At GDC's AMD Capsaicin Event, AMD's Raja Koduri reaffirmed Radeon's commitment to Multi-GPU setups by remembering his RX 480 launch event claim on a RX 480 dual setup beating their competition's high-end solutions. Then, Rebellion's Chris Kingsley took stage, who attributed the fact that his team was able to get Sniper Elite 4 to run with 100% scaling on a RX 480 dual GPU setup to Rebellion's previous work with Mantle. Next to it, for perspective, AMD showed a dual-GPU RX 480 system running the same game and settings at virtually double the frame rate - a perfect, 100% scaling. Rebellion's Chris Kingsley also elaborated on the importance of DX 12 and Vulkan on making such a thing even possible in the first place, reiterating the software and coding investment necessary to make that happen.

Only AMD's top-of-the-line X370 chipset will support competing NVIDIA's SLI technology. AMD's next-in-line B350 eschews SLI support but retains CrossFire compatibility, while the low-end A320 chipset will offer no support for any such multi-GPU technologies. While this may seem a move by AMD to purposely gimp NVIDIA products on its platforms, it stands to reason that even enthusiasts tend to stay away from multi-GPU solutions and their associated problems. Besides, AMD will surely avoid any way of giving NVIDIA more funds than the company already has, by way of paying the "SLI Tax" on every chipset it ships. By limiting SLI support to its highest-end chipsets, AMD shaves some expenses from licensing efforts, whilst keeping SLI support to those that are, in truth, more likely to use them: power users, who will certainly spare no expense in springing to a X370-based platform.

As of now, some details remain unclear in the overall feature-set and compatibility differences between AMD's upcoming AM4 chipsets, but it would seem that only AMD's X370 chipset manages to leverage the full 20 PCIe lanes (18x if you run 2x SATA connections) delivered by AMD's Ryzen CPUs. This would look like a way for AMD to impose a "motherboard tax" on users, by limiting the number of PCIe lanes available on lower-end motherboards, and thus urging them to take the next step to their own X370. Apparently, PCIe lanes are not a differentiating factor between AMD chipsets (with X370, B350 and A320 all offering 4 native lanes), only their ability to access (or not) Ryzen's own 20.

Not much time until all of this is adequately cleared up, though.

AMD today released the Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.11.1 Beta, which brings support for the impending Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare as well as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered. The software also includes a CrossFire profile for Titanfall 2 under DX11. The long list of fixes and known issues are best left after the break. As always, you can grab the new drivers right below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.11.1 Beta for Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 32-bit | Windows 8.1 64-bit | Windows 8.1 32-bit | Windows 7 64-bit | Windows 7 32-bit

AMD today released a new beta update to their Radeon Software Crimson Edition. Version 16.10.2 Beta features driver support for upcoming games like "Battlefield 1", "Sid Meier's Civilization VI", "Titanfall 2", "Serious Sam VR Early Access", as well as "Eagle Flight VR". Also included is a new AMD CrossFire profile for "Sid Meyer's Civilization VI" under DX11, and Battlefield 1 AMD CrossFire profile updates for the game's launch.

The release notes also list some fixed issues, namely:

• Fan speed may sometimes remain elevated on select Radeon RX 400 series graphics products even when an application has been exited;
• Eyefinity group settings may not be retained after driver upgrade when using AMD CrssFire configurations;
• Gears of War 4 may experience an application hang when using select high resolution and quality configurations i some specific game maps;
• DirectX 12 content may be unable to launch on some older CPUs that do not support "popcnt" instruction.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.10.2 Beta for Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 32-bit | Windows 8.1 64-bit | Windows 8.1 32-bit | Windows 7 64-bit | Windows 7 32-bit

AMD today released the WHQL-signed variants of the Radeon Software Crimson Edition version 16.10.1 drivers, which it released earlier this month. Besides optimization for "Gears of War 4" and "Mafia III," and CrossFire profiles for "Shadow Warrior 2," these drivers come with support for the Oculus Asynchronous Spacewarp feature on graphics cards based on the "Polaris 10" silicon (Radeon RX 480, RX 470). Grab the drivers from the links below.

AMD defines Asynchronous Spacewarp as the following.

ASW compares previously rendered frames, detects the motion between them, and extrapolates the position of scene components to create a new synthetic frame. Using this technology, synthetic frames will accurately approximate the fully-rendered frames they're designed to replace.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.10.1 WHQL for Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 32-bit | Windows 8.1 64-bit | Windows 8.1 32-bit | Windows 7 64-bit | Windows 7 32-bit

AMD today rolled out the Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.9.1 Beta drivers. The drivers add optimization for the DirectX 12 renderer of "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided," and adds an AMD CrossFire profile for the DirectX 11 renderer of "DOTA 2." The drivers also address flickering on certain 144 Hz displays, and some rare game crash bugs on "DOOM," "Total War: Warhammer," "DiRT Rally," and "GTA V." Grab the drivers from the links below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.9.1 for Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 32-bit | Windows 8.1 64-bit | Windows 8.1 32-bit | Windows 7 64-bit | Windows 7 32-bit

AMD late Wednesday released the Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.8.3 Beta drivers. The drivers come with optimization, including CrossFire support, for the week's biggest game releases, "Battlefield 1" Open Beta, and "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided." The drivers address a rare bug noticed on machines with AMD "Polaris" GPUs, in which a blank or colored screen is noticed intermittently when gaming. Grab the drivers from the links below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.8.3 for Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 32-bit | Windows 8.1 64-bit | Windows 8.1 32-bit | Windows 7 64-bit | Windows 7 32-bit

AMD today released the Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.6.1, just in time for two of the month's big game releases. The drivers come with optimizations for "Mirrors Edge: Catalyst" and "Paragon." The drivers also add CrossFire profiles for "Dark Souls III." The drivers address more instances of flickering noticed on CrossFire machines playing "Fallout 4," and performance drops in "DiRT Rally" in tracks with night/rainy settings.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.6.1 for Windows 10/8.1/7 64-bit | Windows 10/8.1/7 32-bit

AMD released its encouraging fourth update to Radeon Software Crimson Edition for this month, with version 16.5.3 beta. The new drivers come with optimization for three games - "Overwatch," "Total War: Warhammer," and "Dota 2" with Vulkan API. The drivers also add CrossFireX profiles for "Overwatch" and "Total War: Warhammer." The drivers address a micro-stutter issue affecting CrossFire machines on "Fallout 4." Grab the drivers from the links below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.5.3 Beta for Windows 10/8.1/7 64-bit | Windows 10/8.1/7 32-bit

AMD posted its second Radeon Software Crimson Edition release for this month, version 16.5.2 Beta. The drivers add optimization for "DOOM" (2016), the season's hottest shooter and a revival of the epic FPS franchise. The drivers also add CrossFire profiles for "Battleborn," letting it take advantage of multiple GPUs, and dual-GPU graphics cards, such as the Radeon Pro Duo. The drivers also fix texture corruption issues in "Star Wars: Battlefront," and "League of Legends" in CrossFire mode. Grab the drivers from the links below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.5.2 for Windows 10/8.1/7 64-bit | Windows 10/8.1/7 32-bit

AMD posted resources that help game developers take advantage of the AMD CrossFire multi-GPU technology, through its GPUOpen initiative. In a detailed blog post on its GPUOpen website, AMD detailed that since its Radeon Software Crimson Edition drivers, the company has been offering CrossFire API as an extension of DirectX 11. While it posted a detailed CrossFire Guide with developer resources, in its GPUOpen blog post, AMD also posted the basics of the simplest way to take advantage of a multi-GPU setup - alternate frame rendering (AFR), in which GPUs render alternating frames of a 3D scene, theoretically multiplying frame-rates.

AMD released its latest Radeon Software Crimson Edition drivers. Version 16.4.2 adds or updates CrossFire profiles for "Elite Dangerous" and "Need for Speed" (2016). It introduces full support for the XConnect Technology, an external graphics dock standard promoted by AMD. The drivers also fix crucial game-specific bugs related to "The Division," "SteamVR performance assessment," "Hitman (2016)" with CrossFire, and "Fallout 4" with CrossFire. Grab the drivers from the links below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.4.2 for Windows 10/8.1/7 64-bit | Windows 10/8.1/7 32-bit

AMD made its second release of Radeon Software Crimson Edition for March 2016, with version 16.3.2. The new drivers come with official support for the two popular VR headsets, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. It also adds support for the recently announced Radeon Pro Duo dual-GPU graphics card. The drivers improve CrossFire performance for "Hitman (2016)" in DirectX 11 mode, and "Everybody's Gone to the Rapture." It also fixes critical bugs related to the Radeon R9 Fury, which saw display corruption on system idle mode; and XCOM 2 stuttering.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.3.2 for Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 32-bit | Windows 8.1 64-bit | Windows 8.1 32-bit | Windows 7 64-bit | Windows 7 32-bit