MSI is apparently working on a revised version of its dual-fan Armor design for AMD's cards, dropping the white and black color scheme and opting for a more AMD-basic black and red one. The new versions, tentatively dubbed the Armor MK2 graphics cards, are expected to trickle through MSI's AMD graphics card lineup slowly, starting with the RX 570 and RX 560 graphics cards in their OC versions. The new color scheme, even if used to exhaustion already, does a little more than the previous Armor iteration in conveying the image of an AMD graphics card (black and red, anyone?), and the Armor MK2 models should feature an additional color and design upgrade to the existing backplate.

The crypto-currency plague continues to nibble away at the PC gaming ecosystem, driving gamers to consoles. This affects the long-term prospects of graphics processor manufacturers like NVIDIA, who will find it difficult to pull gamers lost to consoles back to the PC ecosystem, should newer cost-effective ASICs arrest the viability of using GPUs to mine crypto-currency (as it did on several occasions in the past). The company is reportedly writing to PC hardware retailers to take steps to ensure that PC gamers have access to graphics cards first, and only then crypto-currency miners. The request doesn't prescribe any measures to control graphics card prices that have clearly gone out of hand.

Retailers in Germany responded lukewarmly, by setting quantity limitations, ranging between 2 to 5 units per order (and not per-household). Retailers responding to ComputerBase.de commented that they sometimes receive orders by e-mail with quantities running over 100 units. NVIDIA emphasizes that this request is a "recommendation" on its part, and not a directive, and that it would never interfere in freedom of commerce (by letting market-forces sell $200 graphics cards at $1000). The only people standing to lose are PC gamers who haven't upgraded their graphics cards in over two years, who are not able to play today's AAA games at recommended settings, especially when newer games are implementing the new DirectX 12 API, and their eye-candy have leaped to levels 2+ year old high-end graphics cards struggle to keep up with.

Sapphire took to CES 2018 to showcase one of the most elusive products in recent times: a custom variant of AMD's RX Vega graphics cards. Sapphire went to great lengths to keep the entire affair under as many wraps as possible, even going so far as to book an entire room to showcase their RX Vega Nitro+, laying still, like a mirage, on top of its anti-static plastic wrap.

There's something eerily beautiful about this graphics card: not on its exquisite back and faceplate designs alone, nor on the custom Sapphire-cut exhaust port; it's really for the condition of a somewhat "unicorn" type of product. Some people believe they're out there, but sightings in their natural environment (read, correct MSRP) are so rare that they are brought up as mass deliriums. The most interesting tech product on CES 2018 based on this story alone, surely.

EVGA is feeling both generous and nostalgic, and has announced a contest that's as welcome as it is original. Looking back on its roots as an innovative designer of cooling systems for graphics cards, allowing gamers everywhere to play their favorite games with the best temperatures and least noise possible, EVGA are looking for users that still keep their GeForce 4 ACS and ACS2-powered graphics cards. ACS and ACS 2 are effectively the precursors to EVGA's latest cooling innovations, even if these types of cooling designs are now the norm rather than the exception.

If you have a GeForce4 MX 440 or a GeForce4 4600 Ti, both launched way back in 2002, EVGA is asking that you submit your information to them, and the company will gladly pay you 1,000 EVGA bucks - its digital currency that is equivalent to $ in a 1:1 ratio, and would allow you to buy a great 1080 Ti from the EVGA store. Not such a bad deal for an old GeForce 4 graphics card, eh? Like Sonic would say, you "gotta go fast", though: the contest is available for a maximum of 3 ACS owners and 3 ACS2 owners.

MSI today rolled out its first quasi-custom design Radeon RX Vega 64 graphics card, the MSI RX Vega 64 Air Boost. This card combines an AMD reference-design (or at least close-to-reference) PCB, with a custom-design lateral-flow cooling solution by MSI. The lateral blower features a large base plate with a copper core; the base plate draws heat from the VRM, the copper core from the "Vega 10" MCM. The card ships with slightly overclocked speeds of 1272 MHz core, and 1575 MHz boost. Drawing power from two 8-pin PCIe power connectors, the card puts out three DisplayPort 1.4 connectors, and an HDMI 2.0 port. The company didn't reveal pricing.

NVIDIA in a shock move, announced its new flagship graphics card, the TITAN V. This card implements the "Volta" GV100 graphics processor, the same one which drives the company's Tesla V100 HPC accelerator. The GV100 is a multi-chip module, with the GPU die and three HBM2 memory stacks sharing a package. The card features 12 GB of HBM2 memory across a 3072-bit wide memory interface. The GPU die has been built on the 12 nm FinFET+ process by TSMC. NVIDIA TITAN V maxes out the GV100 silicon, if not its memory interface, featuring a whopping 5,120 CUDA cores, 640 Tensor cores (specialized units that accelerate neural-net building/training). The CUDA cores are spread across 80 streaming multiprocessors (64 CUDA cores per SM), spread across 6 graphics processing clusters (GPCs). The TMU count is 320.

The GPU core is clocked at 1200 MHz, with a GPU Boost frequency of 1455 MHz, and an HBM2 memory clock of 850 MHz, translating into 652.8 GB/s memory bandwidth (1.70 Gbps stacks). The card draws power from a combination of 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors. Display outputs include three DP and one HDMI connectors. With a wallet-scorching price of USD $2,999, and available exclusively through NVIDIA store, the TITAN V is evidence that with Intel deciding to sell client-segment processors for $2,000, it was a matter of time before GPU makers seek out that price-band. At $3k, the GV100's margins are probably more than made up for.

After teasing us with a somewhat bold design for their custom RX Vega graphics cards, XFX has officially taken the lid of their finalized design for their RX Vega graphics cards. These have been a long time coming, for sure; and the design is definitely bold enough to be divisive, promising to be a "hate it or love it" affair. XFX has taken their brand-recognition-fueled X and applied that design to the graphics cards' shroud, with a recess in the middle of the graphics cards that separates the two air cooling fans giving the card an X-shaped design. This design quirk has been put to other uses than just aesthetic considerations, though, with the card's 2x 8-pin power connectors being slotted smack in the middle of the graphics card, which might be good (or bad) according to your cases' routing ability, though it should, in theory, allow for somewhat decreased length of the graphics card. The backplate on the XFX custom cards also looks great (black, gray and red are almost impossible to get wrong).

Black Friday is indisputably the best time of the year for any computer enthusiasts because we can get new toys for cheaper prices. Whether it be computer hardware or consumer electronics, Newegg has become the preferred place for many enthusiasts. We here at TechPowerUp have put together a list of the amazing deals currently available at the online retailer. The promotions are grouped into different categories for your viewing convenience. If you've been eyeing a particular piece of hardware or gadget, come take a look at our list. Who knows? Maybe you can save yourself a few hard-earned dollars. Don't forget to come back periodically to check for new deals!