Major pre-built desktop manufacturers began listing products driven by 5th generation Core "Broadwell" processors, which are having a brief stint at the markets before being replaced by 6th generation Core "Skylake" processors in Q3-2015. The 5th Generation Core family is led by two parts, the Core i5-5675C, and the Core i7-5775C, both of which come with unlocked base-clock multipliers, are based on Intel's new 14 nanometer silicon fab process, and built in the LGA1150 package, compatible with existing Intel 9-series chipset based motherboards, with BIOS updates.

The Core i5-5675C and i7-5775C aren't exactly successors of the i5-4690K and i7-4790K. The i7-5775C is placed in a product tier Intel calls "P1+," while the i5-5675C is placed in one called "MS2+." The two aren't exactly in the same plane as P1K (eg: i7-4790K) or MS2K (eg: i5-4690K), respectively, and don't qualify as P1 (eg: i7-4790 non-K) or MS2 (eg: i5-4690 non-K). The two still feature unlocked multipliers. This places them somewhere between P1K/MS2K and P1/MS2. Both the i5-5675C and i7-5775C are quad-core chips, and physically feature just 6 MB of L3 cache. The i7-5775C has access to all 6 MB of it, while the i5-5675K features just 4 MB.

AMD production manager Devon Nekechuk, speaking at the company's 30 Years of Graphics event, disclosed that all AMD GPUs based on the Graphics CoreNext architecture will support DirectX 12, Microsoft's next generation multimedia API. The company is already up-to-date on the DirectX feature-level support, with support for DirectX 11.2. The company isn't drumming that up too loud, probably because it's developing an ecosystem for its own/competing AMD Mantle 3D API.

AMD unveiled a new mid-range APU to take on Intel's Core i3 "Haswell" processors, the A10-7800 (model: AD7800YBI44JA). Based on the 28 nm "Kaveri" silicon, and built in the socket FM2+ package, this part differs from the A10-7850K in lacking an unlocked CPU base clock multiplier, and a rated TDP of just 65W (compared to the former's 95W). The A10-7800 features four x86-64 cores based on the "Steamroller" micro-architecture, spread across two modules, featuring 4 MB (2x 2 MB) of L2 cache; clocked at 3.50 GHz, with a TurboCore frequency of 3.90 GHz. Also featured is Radeon R7 Series integrated GPU featuring 512 GCN2 cores, with support for AMD Mantle and DirectX 11.2. Its uncore component features a dual-channel DDR3 integrated memory controller, with support for DDR3-1866 MHz, and a PCI-Express gen 3.0 root complex. It's expected to be priced between US $140 and $150.

At a conference in early June, AMD accidentally disclosed its upcoming FirePro W8100 professional graphics card, ahead of its launch. A cut-down of the FirePro W9100, the W8100 is based on the 28 nm "Hawaii" silicon, that's binned for higher durability. It features 2,560 GCN2 stream processors, 160 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and a 512-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 8 GB of memory. Compare those to the 2,816 SPs and 16 GB memory of the W9100. The core on the W8100 is clocked at 825 MHz, at which, it puts out single-precision floating point performance of 4.2 TFLOP/s. The dual-slot card is built on a red PCB that's unlike anything AMD built Radeon brand cards out of. It draws power from two 6-pin PCIe power connectors, is shorter in length than the consumer R9 290 reference board, and features a back-plate, to cool memory chips on the reverse side of the PCB. The card supports DirectX 11.2, OpenGL 4.4, and Mantle. It will likely be positioned against NVIDIA's Quadro K5000, at the US $2,500 range. It will also be one of the GPU options in Dell's Precision T7800 workstations.

MSI, world leader in motherboards, debuts its first AMD AM1 Socketed Kabini Mini-ITX motherboard, the MSI AM1I. With Kabini being sold separately, the MSI AM1I is fully upgradable and gives the user flexibility when looking for a ultra-low power dual or quad core solution. With MSI AM1I's rich feature set and support for the powerful power efficient Kabini APU, packed with high performance DirectX 11.2-support, it is the ideal motherboard to use in a compact desktop, HTPC or other multimedia solutions.

Kabini is the first x86 quad-core System on a Chip solution for mainstream use with improved performance per watt and best-in-class graphics. Now being sold separately, instead of soldered to a motherboard, the AM1 platform offers a complete, customizable package together with the MSI AM1I motherboard.

GIGABYTE, the leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, is pleased to announce GIGABYTE Radeon R9 280 (GV-R928WF3OC-3GD) and Radeon R7 265 (GV-R7265WF2OC-2GD) OverClock Edition Graphics Card. GIGABYTE once again not only launches new models, but makes the new models factory overclocked!

With WINDFORCE 3X cooling system, the GIGABYTE GV-R928WF3OC-3GD and GV-R7265WF2OC-2GD perform fantastic for gamers. The GV-R928WF3OC-3GD with 1792 GCN stream processor and 3 GB high-speed GDDR5 memory runs at 384-bit memory interface; the GV-R7265WF2OC-2GD is equipped with 1024 GCN stream processor, 2 GB high-speed GDDR5 memory and 256-bit memory interface.

Microsoft will present its first paper on DirectX 12, its next-generation multimedia API, at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), on the 20th of March, 2013. The event could include presentations by NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm. It's not clear at this point if Microsoft will release developer tools and resources on that day, or simply outline the API to spur interest. If anything, it should gently nudge today's GPU manufacturers to make their future GPU designs ready for the API. There are currently no GPU families that we know of, which support DirectX 12. AMD's current Graphics CoreNext 2.0 GPUs, such as the Radeon R9 290X, support DirectX 11.2, while NVIDIA's "Maxwell" GPUs, such as the GeForce GTX 750 Ti, feature an identical API feature-level support to their "Kepler" predecessors.

AMD launched the Radeon R7 265, a mainstream graphics card designed to fill the price gap between the $139 Radeon R7 260X, and the $179 Radeon R9 270. Based on the 28 nm "Curacao" silicon, the card features a core configuration not too different from that of the previous generation Radeon HD 7850. On offer are 1024 stream processors, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB of memory. The card supports DirectX 11.2, OpenGL 4.3, and Mantle. With it, AMD hopes to take on $150-ish NVIDIA GeForce products such as the GTX 650 Ti Boost, and probably the upcoming GTX 750. It starts at US $149.99.

AMD announced its 2014 A-Series APU for the desktop platform, code-named "Kaveri," after the southern-Indian river. Built in the new FM2+ package, the APUs run only on socket FM2+ motherboards based on the AMD A88X, A78, and A55 chipsets; while the socket itself can seat older FM2 APU families, "Trinity" and "Richland." In many ways, the socket transition is similar to that of socket AM3+. "Kaveri" sees AMD integrate two of its newest CPU and GPU micro-architectures, "Steamroller" for CPU, and Graphics CoreNext 2.0 for the GPU. "Kaveri" is also built on newer generation 28 nm silicon fab process.

"Steamroller" is an evolution of the same modular CPU core design as its predecessors, "Piledriver" and "Bulldozer." AMD promises a 10 percent improvement in performance clock-by-clock, per core, which falls in line with AMD's normal scheme of annual incremental performance updates on its CPU micro-architectures. A "Steamroller" module is a combination of two 64-bit x86 cores, which feature dedicated and shared components. "Kaveri" has two such modules, and so physically, it features a quad-core CPU.

Gigabyte joined the growing list of AMD Radeon add-in board partners to launch Radeon R9 270X graphics cards with double the standard memory amount. The GV-R927XOC-4GD, available in a standard edition and one with a Battlefield 4 Origin key, features 4 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 256-bit wide memory interface, clocked at 5.60 GHz, at which the GPU has 179 GB/s of memory bandwidth at its disposal. The card features a long, non-reference design PCB, and the company's new generation WindForce 3X cooler, which together give the card a high-end look when installed. 4 GB of memory makes the R9 270X meet the recommended system requirements of Battlefield 4.

The factory-overclocked card offers 1050 MHz base GPU clock, and 1100 MHz PowerTune Boost frequency. The card draws power from a pair of 6-pin PCIe power connectors, display outputs include a pair of dual-link DVI, and one each of HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2. Based on the 28 nm "Curacao" silicon, the Radeon R9 270X features 1,280 GCN2 stream processors, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. It features a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. Its API support includes DirectX 11.2, OpenGL 4.3, and Mantle. Gigabyte didn't reveal pricing of the two.

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.

Specifications of two of AMD's top next-generation APUs, the A10-7850K and A10-7700K, were leaked to the web, revealing an incremental or evolutionary upgrade over the 6000 "Richland" series. To begin with, the two are based on the 28 nm "Kaveri" silicon. Straightaway we find that AMD hasn't been able to catch up with Intel's 22 nm leap for close to two years. All that it manages is to bring the rated TDP of the overclockable "K" chips down to 95W, from the traditional 100W. "Kaveri" puts three of AMD's recent innovations in CPU and GPU on one chip - "Steamroller" CPU micro-architecture, "Graphics CoreNext" GPU architecture, and hUMA (heterogeneous Uniform Memory Access), a technology that allows the CPU and GPU to access the same portion of memory simultaneously.

"Steamroller" features the same component hierarchy and basic design as its predecessors "Piledriver" and "Bulldozer," in which clumps of two cores that feature dedicated and shared number-crunching resources, called modules, make up the basic units of a processor. "Kaveri" features two such modules, and hence features four CPU cores. "Kaveri" misses out on an L3 cache cushioning transfers between the modules, and other uncore components on the APU yet again, and each module features a 2-megabyte L2 cache at its last level, totaling the L2 cache amount to 4 MB on "Kaveri." The integrated memory controller features a 128-bit (dual-channel) DDR3 memory interface, with support for standards as high as DDR3-2133 MHz on some models. The PCI-Express root complex complies with the newer PCIe gen 3.0 standard, as do we imagine the A-Link (chipset bus). AMD introduced huge changes with the GPU component.

Like all the other AMD board partners, Club 3D has today introduced a Radeon R9 270 graphics card. Club 3D's R9 270 bears the royalQueen moniker and comes equipped with a custom cooling solution, namely the dual-slot, dual-heatpipe CoolStream fansink.

The R9 270 royalQueen features DirectX 11.2 and OpenGL 4.2 support, 1280 Stream Processors, a GPU clock of 930 MHz (955 MHz Boost Clock), a 256-bit memory interface backed by 2 GB of GDDR5 VRAM set to 5600 MHz, and dual-link DVI, HDMI (1.4a) and DisplayPort (1.2) outputs. The card's price tag was not revealed.

AMD announced a new SKU to heat up the sub-$200 market segment, the Radeon R9 270. A slightly tuned down sibling of the Radeon R9 270X, the R9 270 is based on the 28 nm "Curacao" silicon, and features a similar core-configuration to it. The chip features the same 1,280 stream processor-count as the R9 270X, with 80 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB of memory, but features lower clock speeds, at 900 to 925 MHz core (PowerTune with Boost), and 5.60 GHz memory (GDDR5-effective), which churns out 179 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Its TDP is rated at 170W, and the card draws power from a pair of 6-pin PCIe power connectors. The GPU supports the latest APIs, including DirectX 11.2, OpenGL 4.3, and Mantle. The card starts at $179.99.

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphic cards, today add other choice into R9 series for hardcore gamers, the PowerColor R9 290 OC. Based on brand new "Hawaii" GPU, the R9 290 offers gamers latest DirectX 11.2 support, delivering fierce performance and revolutionary intelligence. Meanwhile, users are available to experience 4K ultra resolution gaming now without sacrificing a single detail.

The PowerColor R9 290 OC is built with AMD "Hawaii" GPU, which utilizes the latest GCN architecture, and 2560 stream processors, providing best performance without compromise. Also, The R9 290 OC use the highest standard memory with 4G GDDR5, clocked at 975 MHz of core which is 30 MHz above reference board, together with 1200 MHz memory clocks, offering gamers an immediate framerate gain. Furthermore, sharing the same memory interface, 512-bit, with R9 290X, successfully tackles demanding games titles without effort.

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphic cards, today unrolls a new model which belongs to the well-know Devil series, the PowerColor Devil R9 270X. Being one of Devil's family, the R9 270X showing its demonic power with fully support of DirectX 11.2 and 4K gaming, get intense gaming performance and ultra resolution which up to four times higher than tradition HD. In addition, Devil R9 270X now gives game develops the power to speak directly to GPU core by utilizing the Mantle, bring a brand new way of looking at the world of digital gaming.

Extreme Setting
The Devil R9 270X is totally designed for enthusiastic gamers with factory overclock to 1150 MHz, even up to 1180 MHz with boost, delivering the most tremendous performance at its class. Also, the Devil R9 270X is equipped with 2 GB of GDDR5, also with 1280 stream processors and high speed 256-bit memory interface, delivering excellent computing performance.

ASUS today announced the launch of R9 290X, a new graphics card powered by the latest AMD Radeon R9 290X graphics-processing unit (GPU).

The new card benefits from exclusive ASUS GPU Tweak, an easy-to-use tuning tool for instant performance boosts, 4 GB of super-fast GDDR5 memory for the best gaming experience at the highest resolutions, and incorporates AMD Eyefinity and TrueAudio technologies to enable expansive multi-display setups and bring in-game audio to life with more accurate environmental sounds.

In the past weeks you have probably read about the new AMD Radeon R9 and R7 series graphics cards. As replacement for the outgoing HD 7XXX series AMD has announced the all new R9 series high end gaming cards and the R7 series mid range all rounders. The R9 270X and 280X are great cards, packed with features and offering a level of performance never seen before at their respective price points. But the moment is finally there to announce the all new flagship of the range, the Radeon R9 290X!

A new era in gaming has begun and gamers who demand the best deserve a new class of GPU's. These GPU's will carry the R9 label from now on. When you see an R9 card you can easily distinguish it as an enthusiast product. With the new R9 290X cards representing the absolute top of the charts.

Microsoft stated in its recent company blog that the Xbox One console won't support third-party 3D APIs such as OpenGL and AMD Mantle (specifically mentioning the two), and that the console will be built to take advantage of the latest DirectX 11.2 API. AMD jumped in with a quick statement on the matter, so developers don't take Microsoft the wrong way, stating that AMD Mantle was never intended to be a 3D API for consoles, but rather PCs. The API would be compatible with DirectX HLSL (shading language), to simplify porting games from DirectX over to Mantle. Says AMD;

What Mantle creates for the PC is a development environment that's _similar_ to the consoles, which already offer low-level APIs, close-to-metal programming, easier development and more (vs. the complicated PC environment). By creating a more console-like developer environment, Mantle: improves time to market; reduces development costs; and allows for considerably more efficient rendering, improving performance for gamers. The console connection is made because next-gen uses Radeon, so much of the programming they're doing for the consoles are already well-suited to a modern Radeon architecture on the desktop; that continuum is what allows Mantle to exist.

As proponents of the DirectX API, which single-handedly shaped consumer 3D graphics market for the past decade and a half, it shouldn't come as a shocker, that Microsoft's next-generation entertainment platform, the Xbox One, will not support AMD's ambitious Mantle project, a 3D API that's tailor-made for the company's Graphics CoreNext GPU micro-architecture, on which the GPU driving the Xbox One is based. The company released a statement to that effect mentioning that "other APIs" such as OpenGL and AMD Mantle won't be supported on Xbox One. Says Microsoft;

We are very excited that with the launch of Xbox One, we can now bring the latest generation of Direct3D 11 to console. The Xbox One graphics API is "Direct3D 11.x" and the Xbox One hardware provides a superset of Direct3D 11.2 functionality. Other graphics APIs such as OpenGL and AMD's Mantle are not available on Xbox One.

The Xbox One will support DirectX 11.2, an evolution over DirectX 11, which adds support for a new feature called "Tiled resources," which lets 3D apps more efficiently manage available hardware resources, by streaming portions of single large textures as a 3D scene being rendered demands it. It heralds a kind of virtual memory system for the GPU, and Microsoft could encourage game developers to take advantage of it, for their Xbox One titles. Such a feature already exists with OpenGL.

Club 3D launches Radeon R9 280X and 270X graphics cards. Since their introduction almost two years ago the HD 7970 and HD 7950 have been on top of the GPU food chain and, as a result of the recent price repositioning, are still very capable performers offering great value for money. But now it's time to announce their successors in the high end, enthusiast segment. A new era in gaming has begun and gamers who demand the best deserve a new class of GPU's. These GPU's will carry the R9 label from now on. When you see an R9 card you can easily distinguish it as an enthusiast product.

Disappointed at the $729.99 Newegg.com pricing of the Radeon R9 290X? No worries. AMD's second SKU based on the "Hawaii" silicon could be lighter on the wallet. Japanese retailers leaked the specifications sheets of both the upcoming R9 290X, and its lighter sibling, the R9 290 (non-X). Specifications of the R9 290X match rumors. The chip features 2,816 stream processors, up to 1000 MHz of GPU clock, single-precision floating point performance of 5.16 TFLOP/s, and 4 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 512-bit wide memory interface, clocked at 5.00 GHz, yielding 320 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The R9 290, on the other hand, features 2,560 stream processors, up to 948 MHz GPU clocks, 4.9 TFLOP/s single-precision floating point performance, and the same memory subsystem as the R9 290X. Both cards feature an identical combination of power connectors, 8-pin PCIe and 6-pin PCIe. Both feature hardware support for DirectX 11.2, OpenGL 4.3, and Mantle.

Online retailers are beginning to take pre-orders for AMD's Radeon R9 290X Battlefield 4 Edition bundle, which combines an R9 290X graphics card, with a Battlefield 4 Premium copy, which gives you access to not just the game, but its entire trunk of expansion packs. The bundle is sold directly by AMD, and doesn't bear any AIB partner markings. Swedish retailer Webhallen.com listed the bundle for 7,299 SEK (including all applicable taxes and shipping), which roughly converts to US $1,145. The store page also mentions that it will begin shipping the pre-orders on the 11th of October, 2013. Based on the 28 nm "Hawaii" silicon, the Radeon R9 290X features 2,816 GCN stream processors, 176 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and a 512-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 4 GB of memory. It features full support for DirectX 11.2, OpenGL 4.3, and Mantle.

Here are the first pictures of AMD's next-generation flagship graphics card, the Radeon R9 290X. If the naming caught you off-guard, our older article on AMD's new nomenclature could help. Pictured below is the AMD reference-design board of the R9 290X. It's big, and doesn't have too much going on with its design. At least it doesn't look Fisher Price like its predecessor. This reference design card is all that you'll be able to buy initially, and non-reference design cards could launch much later.

With its cooler taken apart, the PCB is signature AMD, you find digital-PWM voltage regulation, Volterra and CPL (Cooperbusmann) chippery, and, well, the more obvious components, the GPU and memory. The GPU, which many sources point at being built on the existing 28 nm silicon fab process, and looks significantly bigger than "Tahiti." The chip is surrounded by not twelve, but sixteen memory chips, which could indicate a 512-bit wide memory interface. At 6.00 GHz, we're talking about 384 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Other rumored specifications include 2,816 stream processors, four independent tessellation units, 176 TMUs, and anywhere between 32 and 64 ROPs. There's talk of DirectX 11.2 support.It gets better, the source also put out benchmark figures.

Microsoft revealed pricing of its next major addition to the Windows franchise, Windows 8.1. Licenses to the operating system will sell at US $120 for the standard edition, and $200 for Windows 8.1 Pro. The key purchased at those prices can be used both for clean-installations, and to upgrade from Windows Vista or Windows 7, keeping your files, programs, and settings. Existing Windows 8 users get corresponding variants of Windows 8.1 for free, through Store.

A Windows Upgrade Assistant app will be issued to Windows 8 users, which verifies activation, downloads Windows 8.1 resources, and installs the operating system over the existing installation, letting you keep your stuff. Upgrading to Windows 8.1 for Windows 8 users, would be a no-brainer, since you get this awesome Start button on the taskbar which...spawns the "Metro" Start screen. PC enthusiasts get a longer DirectX rope, with the lure for DirectX 11.2, and its shared-resources (mega-textures) feature. People will be able to switch from Windows 8.1 to Windows 8.1 Pro by shelling out $99 on the Pro Pack, which also adds Media Center. Windows 8.1 Pro users can get that for an extra $10. Windows 8.1 is expected to launch on October 17, 2013.