AMD's Radeon HD 7770 mid-range graphics card, which is slated for a little later this month, got its first public shot at 3DMark 11. The card was put through the Performance preset of the benchmark, where it scored P3535 points. The bench was driven by an Intel Core i7-3960X processor. The reviewer also took GPU-Z screenshots of this card, revealing low core temperature. Based on the 28 nm Cape Verde GPU, the HD 7700 is said to have 640 Graphics CoreNext stream processors, and 1 GB of memory over a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. It is designed for sub-$200 price points.

Much like a previous exposé with Radeon HD 7950, the specifications of Radeon HD 7770 that were rumored in our previous article have been confirmed by users. It confirms several specifications, starting from the stream processor count of 640, to the 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. The GPU has an out of the box core clock speed of 1.00 GHz, it could be possible that this is a factory-overclocked card, if not, the core clock speed rumor sparked off by the Verdetrol marketing campaign are true, after all.

TechPowerUp today released the latest version of GPU-Z, the popular graphics subsystem information and diagnostic utility. GPU-Z briefs you on the graphics hardware installed in the system, and lets you monitor clock speeds, voltages, temperatures, fan-speeds, and other information in real-time. The new version adds full-support for AMD's Radeon HD 7700 series "Cape Verde" GPUs (HD 7770 and HD 7750) that are bound for launch a little later this month. The new version also has an updated ASIC Quality calculation formula that makes reading on NVIDIA GPUs more reliable.

Other important updates include voltage monitoring support for Radeon HD 7970 and HD 7950; support for some rare GeForce GT 520 variants that are based on GF108, GeForce GTX 555 (OEM), GeForce 305M, and GeForce 610M; and more reliable memory size reading for AMD Radeon graphics cards with large memory sizes. Sensors now refresh in the background by default (and not just when the Sensors tab is in the foreground). The board ID is now displayed along with the BIOS version string.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.9 | TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.9 ASUS ROG-Themed

The complete change-log detailing even more updates follows.

Here is the first GPU-Z screenshot of a Radeon HD 7950 graphics card. Although put into a screenshot with ASUS GPU Tweak tool and Republic of Gamers-themed GPU-Z, the card doesn't appear to be an ASUS-made one, and is more likely HIS or PowerColor. The device ID checks out with the one HD 7950 has been associated with. Most other features match expectations. The HD 7950 is carved out of the 28 nm "Tahiti" GPU, with 28 GCN compute units (CUs) active, totaling 1,792 stream processors and 112 TMUs. The ROP count is untouched at 32, so is the memory, that's 3 GB GDDR5 across a 384-bit wide memory interface. With a memory clock of 5.00 GHz effective, it's churning out 240 GB/s of memory bandwidth. It's just the core clock speed where we weren't on target (from the previously-expected 800 MHz), either 880 MHz is the reference core clock speed of HD 7950, or this particular card is a factory-OC variant (PowerColor HD 7950 PCS?).

TechPowerUp today released the latest version of GPU-Z, our popular video subsystem information and diagnostic utility that provides you with accurate information about the graphics hardware installed, and lets you monitor their clock speeds, fan speeds, voltages, VRAM consumption, etc., in real-time. Version 0.5.8 introduces two new features. The first one is a render test that applies sufficient load (not stress) on the GPU to pull it out of PCI-Express link-state power-management, to ensure the Bus information is accurate. If you find the PCI-Express bus link speed or PCIe version displayed incorrectly, simply click on the "?" button next to the field to launch the load test.

The next new feature is ASIC quality, designed for NVIDIA Fermi (GF10x and GF11x GPUs) and AMD Southern Islands (HD 7800 series and above), aimed at advanced users, hardware manufacturers, and the likes. We've found the ways in which AMD and NVIDIA segregate their freshly-made GPU ASICs based on the electrical leakages the chips produce (to increase yield by allotting them in different SKUs and performance bins), and we've found ways in which ASIC quality can be quantified and displayed. Find this feature in the context menu of GPU-Z. We're working on implementing this feature on older AMD Radeon GPUs.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.8, TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.8 ASUS ROG Themed

The full change-log follows.

If you thought the overclocking and benchmark feats we reported on a few days ago here and here were impressive, wait until you see what four cards can do. Overclocking champion Shamino over at Kingpin Cooling has set four 3DMark and one Unigene benchmark record:

Welcome to the first TechPowerUp news post of 2012! Read on for a couple of impressive overclocking feats with the HD 7970 graphics card.

It looks like the new AMD Radeon HD 7970 could be a bit of a dark horse and a lot more potent than its stock specifications would suggest - excellent for creating a competitive graphics card market. The reviews at stock speeds show the flagship HD 7970 to be around 10-15% faster than NVIDIA's flagship GTX 580, which doesn't seem all that impressive since the GTX 580 has been on the market for over a year now. However, what the reviews haven't really shown, is what kind of an overclocking monster the HD 7970 is. It definitely looks like AMD could have easily beaten the GTX 580 by a much bigger margin than they did, had they wanted to and it makes one wonder why they didn't.

VR-Zone have spent the New Year weekend overclocking this beast, having reached a whopping 1.26 GHz core clock speed with their HD 7970 - and decent benchmark improvements to go with it. Also, with the fan at 100%, the card never got above a very comfortable 68 degrees centigrade while running Furmark, which is amazing considering how this test is specifically designed to heat a graphics card to the max - but please see the update at the bottom of the article. The stock cooler may be noisy, but it's certainly very effective: an excellent result which will prolong the working life of the card.

TechPowerUp today released GPU-Z version 0.5.7, the latest version of our popular graphics system information and diagnostic utility. This release of GPU-Z comes just in time for the launch of AMD's Radeon HD 7000 series. It packs tested support for Radeon HD 7970 and HD 7350. It packs an updated PCI Express 3.0 detection routine, with better detection reliability. It fixes a bug related to "APIC counter broken" on AMD Fusion APU platforms. Detection is improved for some rare GPUs, such as HD 6450A, HD 6470M, and the more popular HD 5570.

Several reliability updates were introduced. This includes fixed (improved) fillrate calculation on Fermi architecture, fixed ROP count on GT 420, GT 520, HD 5450, HD 6450; fixed random values showing as default clocks on some NVIDIA cards; fixed random value showing as shader clock on NVIDIA cards without shader clock; and addition of process size, die size, transistor count for Radeon E6760.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.7 and TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.7 ROG-Themed

TechPowerUp released a new version of GPU-Z, version 0.5.6. GPU-Z is our popular graphics card information and diagnostic utility that gives you technical details of the graphics hardware installed in your PC, and lets you monitor fine details such as clock speeds, temperatures, and voltages. The new version adds preliminary support for some of NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce Kepler family GPUs. It also adds support for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 CUDA cores, which will be launched this 29th. Support is also added for AMD Radeon HD 6320, FirePro V9800, FirePro V4900, GeForce GTX 460 V2 (GTX 460 based on GF114), Quadro NVS 420, Quadro NVS 450, and Quadro FX 380 LP. A small bug related to incorrect shader reading on "Blackcomb" is fixed.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.6 | GPU-Z 0.5.6 ASUS ROG Edition

Announcing the winners of PowerColor and TechPowerUp Pimp My Rig Contest. Over September, we ran an interesting contest open to GPU-Z users, in which the one with the lowest valid 3DMark 03 score gets to win an exotic new PowerColor HD 6970 X2 dual-GPU graphics card, and one lucky participant with any valid score, is given a PowerColor HD 6870 X2 graphics card.

And the winners are:

• Sheng from South Africa, wins the PowerColor HD 6970 X2 for the lowest valid score
• Max from Brazil, wins the PowerColor HD 6870 X2, for getting lucky big time

TechPowerUp and pals will return with more awesome contests.

It's that time again, when bagging some rad graphics hardware is as easy as showing off your PC tuning skills and filling up a form in GPU-Z 0.5.5. PowerColor is back on board with us, and this time what we're giving away will come with the bragging rights of being perhaps the only people in the world to have it! Presenting, PowerColor and TechPowerUp Pimp my Rig Contest 2011!

You stand to win a rare, one of its kind PowerColor dual Radeon HD 6970 X2 prototype, which is designed by its makers to be one of the fastest, most tweakable graphics cards. There's just one prototype on the planet that's fully finished for the consumer, and you stand to win it! All you have to do is get the lowest possible 3DMark 03 score in default settings (of 3DMark), submit the validation link of your feat along with other details in the "PowerColor Giveaway" tab of GPU-Z 0.5.5. That's right, you don't need the fastest hardware to win this contest, just your skills.That's not all! You can still leave things to Lady Luck. From the pool of valid entries, we will randomly pick one person, who will bag an awesome new PowerColor Radeon HD 6870 X2 dual-GPU graphics card! So there's simply no reason not to try!

For more information, download GPU-Z 0.5.5, and click on the "PowerColor Giveaway" tab. Good luck!

TechPowerUp today announced the latest version of GPU-Z, the graphics hardware information and diagnostic utility trusted by the PC enthusiast community at large. Version 0.5.5 comes with support for the latest graphics processors, makes the interface a little more accessible to users, and improves stability and reliability.

To begin with, GPU-Z 0.5.5 adds full support for AMD A-Series accelerated processing units (the Radeon GPU component embedded in them), a load of new and lesser-known GPUs from NVIDIA including GeForce GT 560 Ti OEM, GT 545, GT 530, GeForce GTX 580M, GT 555M, GeForce 520MX, GT 520M, 410M, 305M, Quadro 5000, Quadro 4000M, Quadro 400; from AMD including Radeon HD 6290, Radeon E6760 & E4690, FirePro V8800, FirePro V3700, FirePro 2460 (FireMV); and the recently launched ASUS ROG MARS II, which probably got Santa's inbox flooded by now.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.5 | TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.5 ASUS ROG Edition

TechPowerUp released the latest version of GPU-Z, our popular graphics hardware information and monitoring utility. Version 0.5.4 packs a large number of changes, beginning with faster start-up, support for the entire line of NVIDIA GeForce 500M series GPUs, new models of Intel Sandy Bridge processor graphics, a number of AMD Radeon HD 6000M series GPUs, improved support for AMD APUs, and a number of bug fixes.

GPU-Z has overcome the slow start-up issue on AMD Radeon GPUs, it loads slightly faster on NVIDIA GPUs, too. ROP count reading on AMD Radeon HD 6790, Turks & Whistler was fixed; along with sensor count on Caicos, Whistler, Turks. OpenCL detection on some NVIDIA drivers was fixed. The ability to read UMA-shared memory on AMD APU systems was added. GPU-Z has better ability to detect and warn of spurious graphics cards with faked IDs. GPU-Z 0.5.4 is available in both its standard form and the ASUS Republic of Gamers themed variant.DOWNLOAD: GPU-Z 0.5.4 | GPU-Z 0.5.4 ASUS ROG Themed

A complete list of changes with this version follows.

The enthusiast community's favourite trial-by-fire for graphics cards, FurMark, has been updated to versions 1.8.5 and 1.9.1. Its developers maintain two branch versions of the program, since version 1.8 is popular, and 1.9 is the latest, bleeding-edge in the suite of stress test routines it has. FurMark is an OpenGL-based 3D graphics hardware stress-testing and benchmarking program. Its stress-testing functions are widely used to test stability of overclocked graphics hardware, and is dreaded by GPU manufacturers.

Version 1.8.5 is a maintenance release, which packs improved score submission, an updated number of window resolutions available, and improved graphics hardware detection using an updated ZoomGPU code. The FurMark 1.7 mode is removed. A bugfix filters the spikes in temperature graphs. Minimizing the window now can't be done in full-screen mode. Version 1.9.1, on the other hand, adds support for new AMD and NVIDIA GPUs with updated detection code, supports GPU-Z 0.5.1 and GPU Shark 0.5.1; added a workaround for a bug in AMD Catalyst GLSL compiler, which led to wrong lighting of the furry donut.DOWNLOAD: FurMark 1.8.5 and 1.9.1

Continuing the success of its popular ROG MATRIX Series graphics cards, ASUS today launches the ROG MATRIX GTX 580 Series. Based on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 GPU, the ROG MATRIX GTX 580 Series combines a dual-fan DirectCU II thermal design and 19-phase Super Alloy Power components with instant hardware overclocking tools; TweakIt, ProbeIt and an innovative Safe Mode button. Together, with the new GPU Tweak software overclocking utility, both gamers and overclockers can now gain an undeniable performance advantage over the competition.

TechPowerUp in association with ASUSTek, today unveiled a special Republic of Gamers (ROG) edition of GPU-Z, our popular graphics hardware information, diagnostic, and monitoring utility. GPU-Z gives you a quick glance on the graphics hardware installed in your machine, and lets you monitor its vital stats such as clock-speeds, fan-speeds, voltages, and even fine details such as graphics memory usage on supported GPUs. The new GPU-Z ROG Edition is based on GPU-Z version 0.5.3, and includes a vast database of discrete GPUs.

GPU-Z is backed by our expansive video card BIOS database, and Overclock Validation system, making up for a nifty, portable application that is every GPU overclocker's companion. TechPowerUp is happy to be associated with one of the most renowned brands in the PC enthusiast industry, ASUS Republic of Gamers. ASUS Republic of Gamers is a fine selection of enthusiast motherboards and graphics cards from one of the biggest names in the hardware industry.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z ROG Edition v0.5.3

TechPowerUp today releases the latest version of GPU-Z, our popular graphics subsystem information, diagnostic, and monitoring utility. Version 0.5.3 comes with a timely dose of support for new GPUs, and stability fixes. To begin with, GPU-Z now supports recently released GPUs such as AMD Radeon HD 6790, AMD FirePro V5800, NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M, GTX 540M, G315M, Quadro FX 600, FX 2800M, Quadro 4000; a trio of new voltage controllers are supported, including VT1556, uP6266, uP6218; and added capability to show sensors in TechPowerUp OSD Server (upcoming software). Several stability and reliability updates were also made.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z v0.5.3

A list of changes follows.

TechPowerUp today released version 0.5.2 of GPU-Z, our popular graphics hardware information and diagnostic utility that gives you information about the installed graphics hardware in your computer, and lets you monitor various parameters such as clock speeds, temperatures, fan speeds, and voltages, all in real-time. GPU-Z is also backed by our overclock validation system and video card BIOS database. Version 0.5.2 adds support for new GPUs, improved support for known GPUs, and a timely dose of stability improvements.

To begin with, GPU-Z 0.5.2 can now detect AMD Radeon HD 6990, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590, GTX 550 Ti, GTX 560 Ti; improved support for GTX 570, and Intel "Sandy Bridge" processor-embedded graphics. The CHL8228 VRM controller found on some Radeon HD 6900 series cards is supported. There's improved OpenCL support detection for AMD/ATI GPUs, and improved driver-based monitoring support for AMD/ATI GPUs in general. A number of stability/reliability fixes were introduced.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.2

The changelog for GPU-Z 0.5.2 follows:

Announcing the winners of the second and final month of PowerColor and TechPowerUp GPU-Z giveaway (January 2011). We picked up three lucky winners from a pool of 20,000 entries, from all over the world. Spanning across December 2010 and January 2011, the contest gives six lucky winners some rad graphics hardware from PowerColor. Here are the winners:

• Danny from Israel, wins PowerColor Radeon HD 6970
• Steve from United Kingdom wins PowerColor Radeon HD 6870 PCS+
• Grant from United States wins PowerColor Radeon HD 6850 PCS+

Huge congrats, guys! PowerColor will contact the winners directly and arrange for shipping of the prizes. This concludes the giveaway. We would like to thank PowerColor for making the giveaway possible. TechPowerUp will return with more interesting contests such as this.

TechPowerUp introduced version 0.5.1 of GPU-Z, our lightweight graphics sub-system information and monitoring utility. GPU-Z provides you with technical details of your installed graphics processors, and lets you monitor clock speeds, voltages, temperatures and fan speeds. This month's release adds support for new GPUs, improves stability, and corrects some minor bugs. To begin with, detection for the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti graphics processor is added, alongside GeForce GTX 480M, and GeForce GTX 485M. Detection was improved for GeForce GTX 460M, GT 445M, and GT 435M. Early support for AMD's Fusion Llano, Ontario, and Zacate-embedded APUs were also added.

With the latest driver, NVIDIA had blocked our power-throttling disable parameter. We found our way around it, and using a new method, fixed the "/GTX500OCP" parameter using which you can override NVIDIA's power throttling feature. Support for new voltage controllers used by the latest batches of Radeon HD 6800/HD 6900 series graphics cards were also added. A number of stability improvements were made, and bugs fixed. The updates notifier is less pesky, it checks for timely updates in the background when GPU-Z is launched (according to update check frequency defined by user), and appears to users only if it finds that new updates are available.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z v0.5.1

A complete list of changes follows.

Here are the winners of PowerColor and TechPowerUp giveaway for the month of December, 2010, month 1 of 2 of the Giveaway. For the months of December and January, three lucky participating users each month of GPU-Z got to win some groovy hardware from PowerColor. This month's winners are as follows:

• John from United States wins PowerColor Radeon HD 6970
• Farhan from Malaysia wins PowerColor Radeon HD 6870 PCS+
• Mahen from Sri Lanka wins PowerColor Radeon HD 6850 PCS+

A big congratulations to the winners. PowerColor will contact them directly and arrange for the shipping of the prizes. If you have already made a submission in this round (PowerColor TechPowerUp Giveaway December 2010 - January 2011), you don't need to make a submission again. Being an ongoing contest, winners are picked from an ever-growing pool of submissions.

TechPowerUp today introduced version 0.5.0 of GPU-Z, our popular graphics subsystem diagnostic utility that provides you with detailed tech-specs of your installed graphics processors, and lets you monitor clock speeds, voltages, temperatures and fan speeds. Version 0.50 adds full-support for Radeon HD 6950 and Radeon HD 6970. It fixes several stability and reliability issues, including fillrate roundoff errors, improved voltage monitoring support for GeForce GTX 570, some crashes and freezes.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.0

A complete list of changes follows.

TechPowerUp today released GPU-Z version 0.4.9, our comprehensive graphics subsystem information and monitoring utility that lets you get important details about the installed graphics hardware in your computer, and lets you monitor parameters such as clock speeds, voltages, temperatures, fan speeds, and usages (on supported GPUs). The latest version of GPU-Z adds support for NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce GTX 570 graphics card, support for detection of PCI-Express 3.0 bus interface, detection of some new upcoming entry-level AMD Radeon HD 6000 series GPUs, and a large number of stability and reliability updates.

With this version, PowerColor and TechPowerUp return with the PowerColor Hardware giveaway. This time we're giving away some even cooler next-generation graphics cards, including two upcoming high-end PowerColor Radeon graphics cards, two PowerColor HD 6870 PCS+, and two PowerColor HD 6850 PCS+ graphics cards. To participate, simply download the latest GPU-Z, and click on the "PowerColor Giveaway", follow the instructions.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.4.9

A list of changes follows.

NVIDIA shook the high-end PC hardware industry earlier this month with the surprise launch of its GeForce GTX 580 graphics card, which extended the lead for single-GPU performance NVIDIA has been holding. It also managed to come up with some great performance per Watt improvements over the previous generation. The reference design board, however, made use of a clock speed throttling logic which reduced clock speeds when an extremely demanding 3D application such as Furmark or OCCT is run. While this is a novel way to protect components saving consumers from potentially permanent damage to the hardware, it does come as a gripe to expert users, enthusiasts and overclockers, who know what they're doing.

GPU-Z developer and our boss W1zzard has devised a way to make disabling this protection accessible to everyone (who knows what he's dealing with), and came up with a nifty new feature for GPU-Z, our popular GPU diagnostics and monitoring utility, that can disable the speed throttling mechanism. It is a new command-line argument for GPU-Z, that's "/GTX580OCP". Start the GPU-Z executable (within Windows, using Command Prompt or shortcut), using that argument, and it will disable the clock speed throttling mechanism. For example, "X:\gpuz.exe /GTX580OCP" It will stay disabled for the remainder of the session, you can close GPU-Z. It will be enabled again on the next boot.

On the eve of a big development in the GPU industry, TechPowerUp introduced the latest version of GPU-Z, the popular graphics subsystem diagnostic utility that provides you with detailed tech-specs of your installed graphics processors, and lets you monitor clock speeds, voltages, temperatures and fan speeds. Version 0.4.8 features support for new GPUs, most notably, full support for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580, support for some upcoming GF104-based consumer SKUs, and some handy stability updates.

Apart from the GeForce GTX 580, GPU-Z 0.4.8 supports GeForce GT 420 and GT 440 (which are currently OEM-only products). It also features an updated TMU and texture fill-rate calculation method, and updated reliability on ATI cards using certain unsupported kinds of voltage controllers.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.4.8

A complete list of changes by the developer follows.