EK, the leading computer cooling solutions provider, is ready to offer its premium high-performance GPU water block for reference PCB layout NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series graphics cards. The brand new water block is aptly named EK-Quantum Vector RTX 3080/3090 D-RGB, and it is very important to keep in mind that this reference design water block is not meant for Founders Edition graphics cards - those will get their own, separate, specifically designed EK water blocks.

"This latest graphics card launch was no different from the last one. The information that was available to us prior to the launch was very scarce. With new information surfacing each hour, we had made some drastic decisions that we thought were the best choice for both our customers and our partners. Over the night, we have completely redesigned our 2nd generation Vector water blocks aimed for reference layout graphics cards," said Edvard König, the founder of EK.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, is powering better-than-ever virtual reality (VR) gameplay and experiences with the launch of Oculus Quest 2, the first-to-launch VR device powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Platform. Oculus Quest 2 is a culmination of years of collaboration between Qualcomm Technologies and Facebook to create the most advanced and immersive gaming VR experiences for consumers to-date.

Purpose-built for extended reality (XR), the Snapdragon XR2 Platform unlocks staggering improvements including twice the CPU and GPU performance compared to its predecessor which powers the original Oculus Quest headset. The Snapdragon XR2 Platform delivers significant performance enhancements in Oculus Quest 2 including:

CORSAIR announces more new products each year than most companies, and this often means that marketing resources get devoted to the high-ticket items more often than not. Their custom watercooling line, the Hydro X Series, is not always one of them and so we end up seeing quiet updates without a press release or even a direct note from their representatives to the media. With the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3000-series cards coming in three different categories as far as custom watercooling goes (reference, Founders Edition, AIC-variants), we took the weekend to briefly check what the usual custom watercooling suspects were up to. A page on the CORSAIR website confirms, among other things, that Hydro X GPU blocks are on the way for at least the reference PCB, if not more.

More interestingly, we noted that the Hydro XC7 and XC9 CPU blocks had been updated in more ways than one. We have detailed reviews of both (XC7, XC9) for those who want to see, and our review of the iCUE Nexus also showed a rebranding in the making for the company. The updated CPU blocks carry the new wordmark design for the logo on all 5 SKUs and, more importantly, change the mounting mechanism to allow for a captive system with new thumb screws that should make installation even easier on all Intel and AMD CPU sockets. This should bring with it increased compatibility with crowded m-ITX motherboards as well, and we see it reflected in the additional 719 motherboards in the compatibility list relative to before. Finally, a motherboard ARGB LED adapter is now included in the packaging, so you can use the integrated lighting with motherboard LED headers and control software, should you not want to pony extra for CORSAIR's ecosystem. Pricing for the Hydro XC7 is now $5 higher and the same as the XC9, which is confusing given it uses fewer fins on the cold plate and, the launch versions at least, employed a plastic trim compared to the metal on the XC9. We have contacted the company for clarification on this, and will update the post as we receive more information.

[Update, September 16: CORSAIR has a new photo for their example GPU block that looks suspiciously like it is meant for the FE RTX 3000-series cards. Note also the revised I/O port terminal which should help address some concerns people had about the previous design.]

NVIDIA and SoftBank Group Corp. (SBG) today announced a definitive agreement under which NVIDIA will acquire Arm Limited from SBG and the SoftBank Vision Fund (together, "SoftBank") in a transaction valued at $40 billion. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to NVIDIA's non-GAAP gross margin and non-GAAP earnings per share.

The combination brings together NVIDIA's leading AI computing platform with Arm's vast ecosystem to create the premier computing company for the age of artificial intelligence, accelerating innovation while expanding into large, high-growth markets. SoftBank will remain committed to Arm's long-term success through its ownership stake in NVIDIA, expected to be under 10 percent.

NVIDIA Introduced a new 12-pin power connector with their RTX 30 series founder edition cards to accommodate the higher power draw. The new RTX 30-Series cards feature GPU power requirements of 220 W, 320 W, and 350 W for the RTX 3070, 3080, and 3090 respectively. The new 12-pin connector is roughly the same size as a single 8-pin PCIe connector but can provide significantly more power in that same space. NVIDIA will supply an adapter in the box to convert two 8-pin connectors to a single 12-pin connector, however this will require extra cable management and introduce another point of failure.

Corsair has announced they are developing a custom cable that will be fully compatible with all Type 3 and Type 4 CORSAIR modular power supplies to allow for a clean connection. The new cable connects two PCIe / CPU PSU ports directly to the new 12-pin connector and is currently undergoing development and testing. Corsair also now recommends a PSU rating of 850 watts or higher for the RTX 3090. The Corsair 12-pin cable should be available for sale by September 17th the same day as the RTX 30 series cards, pricing wasn't announced but you can sign up to be notified here.

NVIDIA just yesterday made a big announcement and forced everyone to turn their head and check out what are they doing. Today, we are finding the first listings of Add-In-Board (AIB) partner cards and their respective price points. Thanks to the findings of a Reddit user u/slyquick we have information about the pricing of RTX Ampere cards in the UK/EU, specifically on the Overclockers UK website. There are listed several models of AIB cards, covering the whole range of RTX 3070, 3080, and 3090. NVIDIA has officially published the UK/EU pricing of the cards with Founders Edition (FE) GeForce RTX 3070 costing $499 in the US, costing about £469. The OCUK website lists RTX 3070 AIB cards at £449 and the highest costing models are about £499.

Next up comes GeForce RTX 3080, a GPU costing $699 in the US, is being officially listed for £649 by NVIDIA. On the OCUK website pricing starts at £639, and goes as high as £848.99 for ASUS ROG Strix Gaming OC card. The bigger brother of the RTX Ampere lineup - the RTX 3090 - is priced at $1499, while NVIDIA lists it at £1399 for EU/UK pricing. AIB cards are going anywhere from the NVIDIA FE card at £1,399, all the way up to at £1589.99. This is a big markup compared to the FE model, however, AIB cards are known for providing better cooling solutions and better power delivery circuit.

Palit Microsystems Ltd, the leading graphics card manufacturer, today launched the GeForce RTX 3090, RTX 3080, RTX 3070 GameRock and GamingPro Series powered by the NVIDIA Ampere architecture.

The new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs, the 2nd generation of RTX, features new RT Cores, Tensor Cores and streaming multiprocessors, bringing stunning visuals, amazingly fast frame rates, and AI acceleration to games and creative applications. Powered by the NVIDIA Ampere architecture, which delivers increases of up to 1.9X performance-per-watt over the previous generation, the RTX 30 Series effortlessly powers graphics experiences at all resolutions, even up to 8K at the top end. The GeForce RTX 3090, 3080, and 3070 represent the greatest GPU generational leap in the history of NVIDIA.

NVIDIA's announcement of the new RTX 3000-series cards has led to simultaneous announcement of add-in card partners with their solutions and custom takes on the same. These typically come in the form of a press release, with common specifications shared and emphasis on the cooling systems as well as other brand-specific features. EVGA was no different, and the PR shows off their new iCX3 cooling technology in it. More interesting to the enthusiasts and overclockers among us is newer information on their halo card- the RTX 3090 K|NGP|N (Kingpin)- with product management director Jacob revealing it will continue to use a hybrid AIO cooler as with the RTX 2080 Ti variant, but with a massive 360 mm radiator and three 120 mm fans for the behemoth GA102 die and accompanying power delivery solution. No word on pricing or retail availability yet, but look forward to your friendly neighborhood TPU reviews in due course of time to help make a purchase decision on your next GPU.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced the Qualcomm Snapdragon 732G Mobile Platform, a follow-on to the Snapdragon 730G. Snapdragon 732G is designed to deliver immersive gameplay backed by smarter, faster artificial intelligence (AI) and accelerated performance, including an upgraded GPU and CPU compared to the previous generation.

"Snapdragon 732G will deliver a powerful gaming experience, sophisticated on-device AI, and superior performance," said Kedar Kondap, vice president of product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "We're excited to work with POCO on the new POCO smartphone powered by the enhanced Snapdragon 732G globally."

When Apple announced their transition form Intel processors to Apple Silicon, we were left wondering how the silicon will perform and what characteristics will it bring with it. According to the latest report from The China Times, the Apple custom GPU found inside the new Apple Silicon will bring better performance and energy efficiency compared to Intel iGPU it replaces. The 5 nm GPU manufactured on TSMC's N5 semiconductor manufacturing node is supposedly codenamed "Lifuka" and it brings Apple's best to the table. Planned to power a 12-inch MacBook, the GPU will be paired with a custom CPU based on Arm ISA as well. The same chips powering iPhone and iPad devices will go into MacBook devices, with the TDP increased as MacBook will probably have much higher cooling capacity. The first Apple Silicon MacBook will come in H2 of 2021.Here is the copy of a full report from The China Times below:

Just ahead of the September launch, specifications of NVIDIA's upcoming RTX Ampere lineup have been leaked by industry sources over at VideoCardz. According to the website, three alleged GeForce SKUs are being launched in September - RTX 3090, RTX 3080, and RTX 3070. The new lineup features major improvements: 2nd generation ray-tracing cores and 3rd generation tensor cores made for AI and ML. When it comes to connectivity and I/O, the new cards use the PCIe 4.0 interface and have support for the latest display outputs like HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4a.

The GeForce RTX 3090 comes with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory running on a 384-bit bus at 19.5 Gbps. This gives a memory bandwidth capacity of 936 GB/s. The card features the GA102-300 GPU with 5,248 CUDA cores running at 1695 MHz, and is rated for 350 W TGP (board power). While the Founders Edition cards will use NVIDIA's new 12-pin power connector, non-Founders Edition cards, from board partners like ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte, will be powered by two 8-pin connectors. Next up is specs for the GeForce RTX 3080, a GA102-200 based card that has 4,352 CUDA cores running at 1710 MHz, paired with 10 GB of GDDR6X memory running at 19 Gbps. The memory is connected with a 320-bit bus that achieves 760 GB/s bandwidth. The board is rated at 320 W and the card is designed to be powered by dual 8-pin connectors. And finally, there is the GeForce RTX 3070, which is built around the GA104-300 GPU with a yet unknown number of CUDA cores. We only know that it has the older non-X GDDR6 memory that runs at 16 Gbps speed on a 256-bit bus. The GPUs are supposedly manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process, possibly the EUV variant.

As part of its ongoing research on the PC graphics market, Jon Peddie Research (JPR) has released its Market Watch report for the second quarter of 2020. Before 2020, the PC market was showing signs of improvement and settling into a new normal. JPR's Market Watch report confirms that trend for the second quarter of 2020, but with some surprises results for this very unusual year. Overall GPU shipments increased 2.5% from last quarter, AMD shipments increased by 8.4%, Intel's shipments, decreased by -2.7%, and NVIDIA's shipments increased by 17.8%.

MSI has recently registered 29 new graphics card codes with the Eurasian Economic Commission which are all expected to be upcoming NVIDIA Ampere models. These codes have been registered as "Video Cards" and coincide with NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce Special Event on September 1 where the GeForce RTX 30-series GPUs are expected to be announced including the much-rumored NVIDIA RTX 3090. The codes include 3 main sets with 02-V388, 602-V389, and 602-V390 which coincide with previous generation MSI graphics cards. The V388 likely refers to the RTX 3090, the V389 with the RTX 3080, and the V390 the RTX 3070 if following the same pattern as the GeForce RTX 20-series.

The rumor mill has no weekend break, and it churned out photos of what appears to be an NVIDIA Founders Edition version of the upcoming GeForce RTX 3090 next to the equivalent FE RTX 2080, with the latter looking like a toy compared to the massive triple slotter. The cooler comprises of the same design we discussed in detail in June, with the unique obverse dual-fan + aluminium heatsink seen in the images below. We also covered alleged PCB photos, in case you missed them before, and all lines up with the most recent leaks. The only difference here is that pricing for the RTX 3090 FE is claimed to be $1400, a far cry from the $2000 mark we saw for certain aftermarket offerings in the makings, and yet significantly higher from the previous generation- a worrying trend that we eagerly await to see justified with performance, before we even get into case compatibility concerns with the increased length here. Either way, if the images below are accurate, we are equally curious about the cooling capability and how it affects partner solutions and pricing.

Raja Koduri, Intel's chief architect and senior vice president of Intel's discrete graphics division, has today held a talk at HotChips 32, the latest online conference of 2020, that shows off the latest architectural advancements in the semiconductor industry. So Intel has prepared two talks, one about Ice Lake-SP server CPUs and one about Intel's efforts in the upcoming graphics card launch. So what has Intel been working on the whole time? Raja Koduri took over the talk and has benchmarked the upcoming GPU and recorded how much raw power the GPUs posses, possibly counting in PetaFLOPs.

When Mr. Koduri got to talk, he pulled the 4-tile Xe HP GPU out of his pocket and showed for the first time how the chip looks. And it is one big chip. Featuring 4 tiles, the GPU represents Intel's fastest and biggest variant of Xe HP GPUs. The benchmark Intel ran was made to show off scaling on the Xe architecture and how the increase in the number of tiles results in a scalable increase in performance. Running on a single tile, the GPU managed to develop the performance of 10588 GFLOPs or around 10.588 TeraFLOPs. When there are two tiles, the performance scales almost perfectly at 21161 GFLOPS (21.161 TeraFLOPs) for 1.999X improvement. At four tiles the GPU achieves 3.993 times scaling and scores 41908 GFLOPs resulting in 41.908 TeraFLOPS, all measured in single-precision FP32.

As we are getting close to September 1st, the day NVIDIA launches its upcoming GeForce RTX graphics cards based on Ampere architecture, we are getting even more leaks. Today, an alleged PCB of the NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 3090 has been pictured and posted on social media. The PCB appears to be a 3rd party design coming from one of NVIDIA's add-in board (AIB) partners - Colorful. The picture is blurred out on the most of the PCB and has Intel CPU covering the GPU die area to hide the information. There are 11 GDDR6X memory modules covering the surrounding of the GPU and being very near it. Another notable difference is the NVLink finger change, as there seems to be the new design present. Check out the screenshot of the Reddit thread and PCB pictures below:More pictures follow:

Microsoft's future update to Windows 10 will add a GPU-aware selector that allows both the OS and the user to adaptively select the best GPU for each usage scenario. The preview release of Windows 10 build 20190 features this in two ways. First is an OS-level layer that automagically selects the best GPU for the task at hand between installed options (let's assume, an Intel iGPU and your discrete GPU). For web browsing or productivity it's expected the OS will switch to the less power-hungry option, whilst for gaming and its all-cylinders philosophy, it would launch the discrete option.

However, if you're not much into ceding that kind of control to the OS itself, you can override which specific GPU is activated for a specific application. This change is made via the Settings panel with a drop down menu in Graphics Settings. This feature should be a particular boon for laptops that don't feature a power-saving technology that enables this kind of behavior, but there are some other usages for power users that might come in handy with this OS-level integration.

As we are getting close to the launch of RDNA 2 based GPUs, which are supposedly coming in September this year, the number of rumors is starting to increase. Today, a new rumor coming from the Chinese forum Chiphell is coming our way. A user called "wjm47196" known for providing rumors and all kinds of pieces of information has specified that AMD's RDNA 2 based "Big Navi" GPU will come in two configurations - 12 GB and 16 GB VRAM variants. Being that that is Navi 21 chip, which represents the top-end GPU, it is logical that AMD has put a higher amount of VRAM like 12 GB and 16 GB. It is possible that AMD could separate the two variants like NVIDIA has done with GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and Titan RTX, so the 16 GB variant is a bit faster, possibly featuring a higher number of streaming processors.

The leading global motherboard, graphics card and mini PC manufacturer, ASRock, has launched Radeon RX 5700 XT Challenger Pro 8G OC three-fan graphics card. The graphics card is powered by the AMD advanced 7 nm RDNA architecture, features new Compute Units delivering incredible performance and is optimized for better visual effects such as volumetric lighting, blur effects, depth of field, and multi-level cache hierarchy for reduced latency and highly responsive gaming.

The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT series graphics card takes 1080p gaming to the next level, delivering ultra-responsive, high-fidelity AAA gaming at up to 60 FPS and e-Sports gaming at up to 90 FPS. The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT is equipped with up to 8 GB of GDDR6 high-speed memory and PCI Express 4.0 support for maximum game performance, exceptional power efficiency and outstanding value. Based on RDNA architecture, the Radeon RX 5700 XT Challenger Pro Series graphics card provides base/game/boost GPU clock at 1650/1795/1905 MHz. Furthermore, Radeon Image Sharpening, FidelityFX, Radeon Anti-Lag and Radeon FreeSync technologies bring about maximum performance and enhanced gaming experiences.

When NVIDIA announced its Ampere lineup of the graphics cards, the A100 GPU was there to represent the higher performance of the lineup. The GPU is optimized for heavy computing workloads as well as machine learning and AI tasks. Today, NVIDIA has submitted the MLPerf results on the A100 GPU to the MLPerf database. What is MLPerf and why it matters you might think? Well, MLPerf is a system benchmark designed to test the capability of a system for machine learning tasks and enable comparability between systems. The A100 GPU got benchmarked in the latest 0.7 version of the benchmark.

The baseline for the results was the previous generation king, V100 Volta GPU. The new A100 GPU is average 1.5 to 2.5 times faster compared to V100. So far A100 GPU system beats all offers available. It is worth pointing out that not all competing systems have been submitted, however, so far the A100 GPU is the fastest.The performance results follow:

TSMC has been the backbone of silicon designers for a long time. Whenever you question where you can use the latest technology and get some good supply capacity, TSMC got everyone covered. That case seems to be similar to Intel and its struggles. When Intel announced that its 7 nm semiconductor node is going to be delayed a full year, the company's customers and contractors surely became worried about the future releases of products and their delivery, like the case is with Aurora exascale supercomputer made for Argonne National Laboratory, which relies on Intel's 7 nm Ponte Vecchio graphics cards for most of the computation power.

To manage to deliver this, Intel is reportedly in talks with TSMC to prepare capacity for the GPUs and deliver them on time. However, according to industry sources of DigiTimes, TSMC is unlikely to build additional capacity for Intel, besides what it can deliver now. According to those sources, TSMC does not see Intel as a long-term customer and it is unknown what treatment will Intel get from TSMC. Surely, Intel will be able to make a deal with TSMC and secure enough of the present capacity for delivering next-generation processors.

With its own 7 nm-class silicon fabrication node nowhere in sight for its processors, at least not until 2022-23, Intel is seeking out third-party semiconductor foundries to support its ambitious discrete GPU and scalar compute processor lineup under the Xe brand. A Taiwanese newspaper article interpreted by Chiakokhua provides a fascinating insight to the the new precious resource in the high-technology industry - allocation.

TSMC is one of these foundries, and will give Intel access to a refined 7 nm-class node, either the N7P or N7+, for some of its Xe scalar compute processors. The company could also seek out nodelets such as the N6. Trouble is, Intel will be locking horns with the likes of AMD for precious foundry allocation. NVIDIA too has secured a certain allocation of TSMC 7 nm for some of its upcoming "Ampere" GPUs. Sources tell China Times that TSMC will commence mass-production of Intel silicon as early as 2021, on either N7P, N7+, or N6. Business from Intel is timely for TSMC as it is losing orders from HiSilicon (Huawei) in wake of the prevailing geopolitical climate.

When NVIDIA introduced its Ampere A100 GPU, it was said to be the company's fastest creation yet. However, we didn't know how fast the GPU exactly is. With the whopping 6912 CUDA cores, the GPU can pack all that on a 7 nm die with 54 billion transistors. Paired with 40 GB of super-fast HBM2E memory with a bandwidth of 1555 GB/s, the GPU is set to be a good performer. And how fast it exactly is you might wonder? Well, thanks to the Jules Urbach, the CEO of OTOY, a software developer and maker of OctaneRender software, we have the first benchmark of the Ampere A100 GPU.

Scoring 446 points in OctaneBench, a benchmark for OctaneRender, the Ampere GPU takes the crown of the world's fastest GPU. The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti GPU scores 302 points, which makes the A100 GPU up to 47.7% faster than Turing. However, the fastest Turing card found in the benchmark database is the Quadro RTX 8000, which scored 328 points, showing that Turing is still holding well. The result of Ampere A100 was running with RTX turned off, which could yield additional performance if RTX was turned on and that part of the silicon started working.

MediaTek today announced the Dimensity 720, its latest 5G SoC that will give consumers access to premium 5G experiences on mid-tier smartphones. The Dimensity 720, is part of MediaTek's 5G chipset family that includes range of chipsets from Dimensity 1000 for flagship 5G smartphones to the Dimensity 800 and 700 series for more accessible 5G mid-tier devices.

"The Dimensity 720 sets a new standard, delivering feature-packed 5G experiences and technology to devices that are more accessible to mass market consumers," said Dr. Yenchi Lee, Deputy General Manager, Wireless Communications Business Unit, MediaTek. "This chip is highly power-efficient, has impressive performance and advanced display and imaging technologies. All of that combined will help brands usher in differentiated 5G devices for consumers around the globe."

The University of Florida and NVIDIA Tuesday unveiled a plan to build the world's fastest AI supercomputer in academia, delivering 700 petaflops of AI performance. The effort is anchored by a $50 million gift: $25 million from alumnus and NVIDIA co-founder Chris Malachowsky and $25 million in hardware, software, training and services from NVIDIA.

"We've created a replicable, powerful model of public-private cooperation for everyone's benefit," said Malachowsky, who serves as an NVIDIA Fellow, in an online event featuring leaders from both the UF and NVIDIA. UF will invest an additional $20 million to create an AI-centric supercomputing and data center.