Yesterday, we got information that Intel's upcoming DG2 discrete graphics card is "right around the corner". That means that we are inching closer to the launch of Intel's discrete GPU offerings, and we are going to get another major player in the current GPU market duopoly. Today, however, we are in luck because Igor from Igor's LAB has managed to get ahold of the specifications of Intel's Xe-HPG DG2 graphics card. For starters, it is important to note that DG2 GPU will first come to laptops later this year. More precisely, laptops powered by Alder Lake-P processors will get paired with DG2 discrete GPU in the second half of 2021. The CPU and GPU will connect using the PCIe 4.0 x12 link as shown in the diagram below, where the GPU is paired with the Tiger Lake-H processor. The GPU has its subsystem that handles the IO as well.

BIWIN, a leading chip manufacturer for flash storage, reached an agreement with Acer to bring Predator-branded memory and personal SSD storage products to customers in the United States and Canada. The product offerings will take advantage of BIWIN's manufacturing capabilities and Predator's global brand recognition to provide the latest memory and storage solutions for both casual and professional gamers.

The Predator brand is known for providing hardcore PC gamers and esports professionals with high-end gaming solutions that give them a competitive edge. The new high-end flagship memory and storage portfolio under the Predator brand begins with state-of-the-art memory modules and blazing fast solid-state drives. With a powerful "cyberpunk inspired" design to match the power of its performance, the new Predator Apollo memory module series offers speed, style and special lighting. Its ultra-high frequency, ultra-low timing, and overclocking capabilities will satisfy even the most speed-thirsty gamers.

Gigabyte Technology, one of the top global manufacturers of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, announces today the latest BIOS of B560 AORUS motherboards. Enhanced by the 12+1 phases DrMOS power stage with 60 Amps for each and full coverage VRM thermal design, B560 AORUS motherboards can support Intel Core i9 11900K (F) series processors overclocking to all cores 5.1 GHz. The exclusive anti-interference design of memory circuit enables DDR4 speed raising up to XMP 4800 MHz, and overclocking performance boost to DDR4 5300 MHz. which demonstrates GIGABYTE's strong R&D strength and persistence in quality. Users can enjoy the performance boost of time-limited overclocking by simply updating to the latest BIOS to meet their special needs.1

Intel B series chipset motherboards have been always excluded from overclocking due to the product positioning. Although the memory XMP overclocking is unlocked on 500 series, the processor frequency can only reach up to 4.8 GHz by Turbo Boost. Thanks to the efforts of Gigabyte's R&D team, the processor can be overclocked to 5.1 GHz and maintain low temperature under the Prime95 no AVX burn-in test. This powerful performance benefits from the top-quality materials of GIGABYTE AORUS motherboards and product design capabilities, which include 12+1 phases/ 60Apms DrMOS power stage, 6 layers 2Oz ultra-cool PCB, full-covered VRM thermal design, and the latest Smart Fan 6 technology for temperature control. These features allow processors to have a stable and pure power supply under ultra-high frequency operation, providing the most solid backing for the CPU limited-time overclocking.

GALAX, the maker of the popular premium Hall Of Fame (HOF) edition of graphics cards, has recently announced its GeForce RTX 3090 HOF Edition GPU. Designed for extreme overclocking purposes, the card is made with a 12 layer PCB, 26 phase VRM power delivery configuration, and three 8-pin power connectors. Today, we have managed to get the first comprehensive review of the card by a Chinese YouTube channel 二斤自制. However, this wasn't just regular testing being conducted on a card with factory settings. The channel has applied 1000 Watt vBIOS to the GPU and ran it all on the air cooler the GPU comes with.

In the default 420 Watt setting, the card has been running with a GPU clock of 1845 MHz and a temperature of 69 degrees Celsius. However, when the 1000 Watt vBIOS was applied to the card, the GPU core has managed to ramp to 2000 MHz and consume as much as 630 W of power. If you were wondering if the stock cooler was able to handle it all, the answer is yes. The card has reached a toasty 96 C temperature. While GALAX doesn't offer BIOS like this, the ID of the BIOS corresponds to that of a custom XOC 1000 W BIOS for EVGA Kingpin GeForce RTX 3090 GPU, which you can find in our database. When it comes to performance, the gains were very minimal at only 2-3%. That must have been due to the insufficient cooling, and the card could have done much better on water or LN2. The Firestrike Ultra and Firestrike Extreme results are displayed below.

GALAX has today decided to take the lid off its upcoming premium GeForce RTX 3090 Hall Of Fame (HOF) edition graphics card and showcase to the world what the company has been working on. The HOF edition is usually GALAX's highest-end custom graphics card design with one simple goal - ultimate performance. Featuring all-white aesthetics, the card has a 12-layer white PCB with a white three fan air cooler. The air cooler features three fans with one in the middle being 92 mm and the other two being 102 mm. The card comes paired with HOF Panel III, representing a small 4.3 inch LCD screen that can stand on its own or stick to the GPU using magnets. It is used for some software diagnostics like temperature monitoring.

The GPU comes with a diamond-shaped aluminium backplate used for additional heat dissipation. When it comes to power delivery, there are three 8-pin connectors (also colored in white to match the aesthetics), that supply 26 VRM phases for the power delivery system. Such configuration is envisioned for extreme overclocking purposes like LN2. There are two BIOS versions, P and S variants, where they are used for maximum performance or quieter operation respectively. The boost frequency of this GPU is 1875 MHz (using one-click OCing), however, any buyer of such a card is not going to just use it like that and will probably prefer to push higher frequencies.More pictures follow:

GALAX is preparing to launch its flagship graphics card based on NVIDIA's Ampere lineup of GPU, specifically the GeForce RTX 3090 variant. The company is currently developing the GeForce RTX 3090 Hall Of Fame (HOF) edition GPU that is supposed to have a regular HOF treatment. That means a white aesthetics (white PCB plus white cooling solution), a massive three fan air-cooler, and of course, a PCB that is designed for extreme overclocking. Today, thanks to the sources over at VideoCardz, we have the first look at the PCB of GALAX's upcoming GeForce RTX 3090 HOF edition graphics card.

Featuring a massive VRM configuration consisting out of 26 phases, the GPU is swimming in VRM phases and it is the highest number of VRM phases we have seen on any GeForce RTX 3090 GPU. It is not exactly clear from the pictures how much of the total 26 VRMs is going to Vcore (GPU), and how much to Vmem (memory). To power the card, there are three 8-pin power connectors. It is important to note that these specifications are not finalized, as this is only a prototype. Nonetheless, the card is made with LN2 extreme overclocking in mind and is going to probably be more expensive. There are event probes for voltage measuring directly from the card, to avoid having to do it in software. NVLINK fingers are present as well, meaning that dual-card setups are still an option with this GPU. The real product is expected to arrive sometime in February according to the source, however, we don't know the exact date or pricing.

ASUS has today surprised everyone and decided to launch the first custom design of AMD's Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card. Previously, the word was that AMD was debating with AIBs whatever to open the GPU to custom designs or keep it AMD PCB exclusive. However, thanks to today's launch, we now know that AMD will allow its partners to design their PCBs and push the Big Navi silicon to its maximum. So when it comes to pushing to maximum, enter the world of ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics cards, designed to fit in the line of ASUSes TUF principals.

Featuring a triple fan, triple-slot (2.9 slots more precisely )body, the graphics card is built around Navi 21 XTX GPU. This means that only the best needs to be brought to the card as it is a premium product. That is why the company says that "The TUF GAMING Radeon RX 6900 XT is a tenacious beast with a tough metal exterior, super-efficient cooling, and components that offer enhanced endurance." The built-in cooler offers 0dB cooler technology, meaning that fans will not spin unless the GPU reaches 55 degrees C temperature. The card is powered by two eight-pin connectors, so it seems that power supply requirements are not changed compared to the reference card. While the exact specifications are not known, you can expect the card to boost over the standard 2250 MHz frequency, as it is factory overclocked. Pricing is also not yet confirmed but a slight premium is expected as well.

ASRock has today published a new product on the company website. The new ASRock Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card is the latest addition to the company's offerings. Featuring regular, reference-designed PCB found in the Made-by-AMD (MBA) cards, the ASRock Radeon RX 6900 XT even features all of the same specifications as the reference model: base clock 1825 MHz, game clock 2015 MHz, boost clock 2250 MHz, memory clock 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). The card itself isn't changed one bit. Even the stickers found on it (which are usually AIB's logos) are still AMD's. The only thing that differs this card from AMD's offerings is the box that the graphics card comes in. That is the only part that features ASRock's branding. When it comes to the pricing and availability, we do not know when this card will arrive, however, assuming the reference PCB design, it will feature a reference price of $999.

Colorful, a Chinese manufacturer of PC components known for its graphics cards, is apparently preparing a special RAM version for AMD's Ryzen 5000 series CPUs. The new arrival is part of the iGame series that Colorful offers. Thanks to SMZDM forums, we have specifications of the upcoming iGame RAM tuned specifically for Ryzen 5000 series processors. Coming in with all white PCB without a heat spreader, the new Colorful iGame memory features Samsung's B-dies designed for maximum speed and performance. The dies are running at 4000 MT/s with some very strict timings. The memory features C14 (14-14-14-35) timings that are supposed to bring the system latency down and improve performance even further. It is estimated that such a configuration will require 1.5 Volts to power it. While the exact name, launch date, and pricing is unknown, we can only wait and see how Colorful plays it out.

According to the unknown manufacturer (AIB) based in Taiwan, NVIDIA is preparing to launch the new GeForce RTX 3000 series "Ampere" graphics card. As reported by the HKEPC website, the Santa Clara-based company is preparing to fill the gap between its top-end GeForce RTX 3090 and a bit slower RTX 3080 graphics card. The new product will be called GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. If you are wondering what the specification of the new graphics card will look like, you are in luck because the source has a few pieces of information. The new product will be based on GA102-250-KD-A1 GPU core, with a PG133-SKU15 PCB design scheme. The GPU will contain the same 10496 CUDA core configuration as the RTX 3090.

The only difference to the RTX 3090 will be a reduced GDDR6X amount of 20 GB. Along with the 20 GB of GDDR6X memory, the RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards will feature a 320-bit bus. The TGP of the card is limited to 320 Watts. The sources are reporting that the card will be launched sometime in January of 2021, and it will come at $999. This puts the price category of the RTX 3080 Ti in the same range as AMD's recently launched Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card, so it will be interesting to see how these two products are competing.

EK, the leading computer cooling solutions provider, is proud to announce its latest collaboration with ASUS, the leading graphics card and motherboard manufacturer. The result is three GeForce RTX 30 Series graphics cards with a pre-installed full-cover EK water block. A match made in heaven for enthusiasts, demanding content creators, and gamers. This strategic collaboration between ASUS and EK brings new GPUs that emphasize minimalistic, robust design, DIY convenience, and high performance.

The Precision and Reliability of ASUS Engineering
Going the extra mile, the ASUS EKWB GeForce RTX 3090 and 3080 Series are built using Auto-Extreme technology to solder components to the PCB with extreme precision. All cards feature an aluminum backplate to prevent PCB flex and a single-slot mounting bracket made with 304 stainless steel for better corrosion resistance. Water block mounting is handled by ASUS during the manufacturing process, so each graphics card is ready right out-of-the-box to deliver high performance and reliability to customers.

Just a few days ago AMD has announced its Radeon RX 6000 series of graphics cards based on the new RDNA 2 architecture. While AMD has given out the "Big Navi" chips to its partners to design custom boards and give users designs with better cooling and possibly higher overclocking capabilities, that doesn't seem to extend to the highest-end parts. So far, we have seen custom designs from companies like ASUS, MSI, etc., and all of them have one thing in common - they only do designs for Radeon RX 6800 or RX 6800 XT. So one would wonder where are the highest-end custom Radeon RX 6900 XT designs.

The first wave of the "custom" cards will be on November 18th, when manufacturers will release designs that are MBA (Made-by-AMD), meaning that the PCB is a reference design, just with a custom cooler installed. When it comes to the custom RX 6900 XT cards, AMD is now in talks with its partners whether to keep the biggest "Big Navi" design available for custom designs, or to keep it as AMD exclusive, with the most likely scenario being the AMD exclusivity. AMD partners could carry the models in their stores and offerings, however, the PCB and cooler design would be AMD's. The situation is yet unresolved so we have to wait and see what comes out of it and if we are getting any custom designs of the Radeon RX 6900 XT model.

AMD is preparing to launch its Radeon RX 6000 series of graphics cards codenamed "Big Navi", and it seems like we are getting more and more leaks about the upcoming cards. Set for October 28th launch, the Big Navi GPU is based on Navi 21 revision, which comes in two variants. Thanks to the sources over at Igor's Lab, Igor Wallossek has published a handful of information regarding the upcoming graphics cards release. More specifically, there are more details about the Total Graphics Power (TGP) of the cards and how it is used across the board (pun intended). To clarify, TDP (Thermal Design Power) is a measurement only used to the chip, or die of the GPU and how much thermal headroom it has, it doesn't measure the whole GPU power as there are more heat-producing components.

So the break down of the Navi 21 XT graphics card goes as follows: 235 Watts for the GPU alone, 20 Watts for Samsung's 16 Gbps GDDR6 memory, 35 Watts for voltage regulation (MOSFETs, Inductors, Caps), 15 Watts for Fans and other stuff, and 15 Watts that are used up by PCB and the losses found there. This puts the combined TGP to 320 Watts, showing just how much power is used by the non-GPU element. For custom OC AIB cards, the TGP is boosted to 355 Watts, as the GPU alone is using 270 Watts. When it comes to the Navi 21 XL GPU variant, the cards based on it are using 290 Watts of TGP, as the GPU sees a reduction to 203 Watts, and GDDR6 memory uses 17 Watts. The non-GPU components found on the board use the same amount of power.

When NVIDIA announced its next-generation GeForce RTX 3080 and 3090 Ampere GPUs, it specified that the memory found in the new GPUs will be Micron's GDDR6X variant with 19 Gbps speed. However, being that there are faster GDDR6X modules already available in a 21 Gbps variant, everyone was left wondering why NVIDIA didn't just use the faster memory from Micron. That is exactly what Igor's Lab, a technology website, has been wondering as well. They have decided to conduct testing with an infrared camera that measures the heat produced. To check out the full testing setup and how they tested everything, you can go here and read it, including watching the video embedded.

Micron chips like GDDR5, GDDR5X, and GDDR6 are rated for the maximum junction temperature (TJ Max) of 100 degrees Celsius. It is recommended that these chips should run anywhere from 0C to 95C for the best results. However, when it comes to the new GDDR6X modules found in the new graphics cards, they are not yet any official specifications available to the public. Igor's Lab estimates that they can reach 120C before they become damaged, meaning that TJ Max should be 110C or 105C. When measuring the temperature of GDDR6X modules, Igor found out that the hottest chip ran at 104C, meaning that the chips are running pretty close to the TJ Max they are (supposedly) specified. It is NVIDIA's PCB design decisions that are leading up to this, as the hottest chips are running next to voltage regulators, which can get pretty hot on their own.

Phison Electronics , the industry's leader in NAND flash controllers and storage solutions, announces availability of the world's first 15.36 TB QLC customizable Enterprise SSD solution based on Phison's S12DC controller. Phison provides its customers with industry leading SSDs that are customized to their needs by leveraging Phison's firmware, controller, PCBA design, and manufacturing. The S12DC QLC SSD is an ideal storage solution by delivering higher performance, lower power consumption, and greater rack storage density for read intensive storage applications that currently source hard disk drives.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of premium gaming hardware, released the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards powered by NVIDIA Ampere architecture. GIGABYTE first launched 4 graphics cards - GeForce RTX 3090 GAMING OC 24G, GeForce RTX 3090 EAGLE OC 24G, GeForce RTX 3080 GAMING OC 10G, GeForce RTX 3080 EAGLE OC 10G. The 4 graphics cards feature GIGABYTE WINDFORCE 3X cooling system with alternate spinning fan, unique blade fan, graphene nano lubricant, screen cooling, large copper plate and heat pipe, RGB fusion 2.0, protection metal back plate, and GIGABYTE certified ultra-durable materials, so that all gamers can enjoy the ultimate gaming experience with the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs.

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.

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.

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:

ASUS unveiled the GeForce RTX 2060 DUAL Mini series, a new pair of RTX 2060 graphics cards purpose-built to compete with AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT, and possibly priced to match the EVGA RTX 2060 KO. The series consists of two otherwise identical looking cards differentiated with clock speeds - the reference speed "DUAL-RTX2060-6G-MINI," and the slightly overclocked "DUAL-RTX2060-O6G-MINI." The DUAL Mini common board design measures 19.7 cm in length, 12.1 cm height, and is strictly 2-slot thick. Under the hood is PCB that's built to cost, and probably repurposing the company's GTX 1660 Ti series PCBs, since the TU116 and TU106 are pin-compatible.

The cooling solution of the ASUS RTX 2060 DUAL Mini features an aluminium fin-stack heatsink that makes direct contact with the GPU at the base; ventilated by a pair of 90 mm Axial-Tech fans that are designed to guide all their airflow axially. The impellers of these fans feature IP5X dust-resistance coating. The card also offers idle fan-stop feature. As mentioned earlier, the base RTX 2060 DUAL Mini ticks at NVIDIA reference clock speeds, while the DUAL Mini O6G offers overclocked speeds of 1365 MHz base and 1725 MHz GPU Boost (vs. reference speeds of 1365/1680 MHz). The memory clock is untouched on both cards, at 14 Gbps (GDDR6 effective). The card draws power from a single 8-pin PCIe power connector. Display outputs include one each of dual-link DVI-D, HDMI 2.0b, and DisplayPort 1.4 connectors. The cards don't appear to feature a back-plate. We expect the DUAL Mini to be priced at USD $299, and the DUAL Mini O6G at a $20-30 premium.

Overclocking the memory clock of a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti to 2000 MHz (16 Gbps) isn't difficult, but most custom-design RTX 2080 Ti cards cap out at that, and so the enthusiasts over at TecLab took matters into their own hands by pulling off a daring memory chip replacement mod, by installing 16 Gbps-rated memory chips onto a Galax RTX 2080 Ti HOF graphics card. In a 16-minute video presentation, they detail the process of soldering a component as delicate and sensitive as GDDR6 memory chips, and 45 times over. The team had to sacrifice not one, but two Galax GeForce RTX 2080 Super graphics cards, which feature 16 Gbps-rated memory chips to support the SKU's 15.5 Gbps memory clock. A total of 33 manual solder operations had to be performed (removing the 15 stock chips from the RTX 2080 Ti, removing 11 chips from the two RTX 2080 Super cards, and soldering them onto the RTX 2080 Ti).

The group detailed the process of removing the memory chips under hot air, giving the extracted chips fresh ball-grids, and placing the chips onto the RTX 2080 Ti PCB. No BIOS modding was required, as the RTX 2080 Ti card's video BIOS was able to auto-detect the chips and run them at 14 Gbps. From here on, manual overclocking easily runs the card at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps) memory, with overclocking headroom to spare. The memory clock could now be dialed all the way up to 2150 MHz (17.2 Gbps), something that's close to impossible with 14 Gbps chips. TecLab is calling their creation the world's first RTX 2080 Ti Super, which could very well be true. Last we heard, the RTX 2080 Ti Super could get more CUDA cores, and not just faster memory. Nevertheless, this mod blew our minds, and provides valuable pointers on how to solder dense BGA components without a multi million-dollar placer. We tip our hats to TecLab.Watch the TechLab video presentation here.

"Moore's Law" is a term coined in 1965 by Gordon Moore, who presented a paper which predicts that semiconductor scaling will allow integrated circuits to feature twice as many transistors present per same area as opposed to a chip manufactured two years ago. That means we could get same performance at half the power than the previous chip, or double the performance at same power/price in only two years time. Today we'll investigate if Moore's Law stayed true to its cause over the years and how much longer can it keep going.

GIGABYTE today officially launched its latest addition to the Aorus series of motherboards, made for the new generation of Ryzen 3000 series processors. The "Master" as it is called, is an impressive feat of engineering designed to handle even the most power-hungry Ryzen CPUs like the 16 core Ryzen 9 AMD recently showcased.

For starters, the board is featuring twice the amount of copper wires usually needed to implement a PCIe connection, which means less information loss on PCB. It has a 14 direct phases of Infineon digital IR 3556 PowIRstage MOSFETs VRMs that are capable of delivering 50A each, which means that the VRM is capable of delivering up to 700A of current, providing additional headroom for CPU overclock. To handle the large amount of VRMs effectively, the board is equipped with beefy heatsinks and a heat pipe that has direct contact with VRMs. Sandwiches between the heatsink and the board is a new generation of thermal pads designed by LAIRD, with 1.5 mm thickness and 5 W/mK thermal conductivity.

ASUS is commemorating its 30th year in the motherboard industry with the Prime X299 Edition 30 motherboard and Prime Utopia reference desktop platform. The Prime X299 Edition 30 is a premium LGA2066 motherboard with support for Core i9-9000X series processors out of the box. It is based on a familiar-looking PCB layout, mated to a new mostly-white composite heatsink/shroud over the rear I/O, the M.2 slots, and the chipset heatsink. The VRM heatsink is active and has a concealed 40 mm spinner ventilating the metal. Three each of PCI-Express 3.0 x16 and M.2 NVMe slots, an integrated rear I/O shield, premium connectivity that includes 802.11ac WLAN, and a high-end onboard audio solution, make for the rest of it.

The Prime Utopia is something else. It's a concept high-end desktop built around a motherboard that has slots, headers, ports, and connectors on both sides of the PCB. Its "obverse side," if you can call it that, has a shroud that conceals the memory slots, most controllers, chipset, and a 7-inch USB display that puts out real-time system monitoring data, or pretty much anything you want it to display. The CPU socket is on the other side of the PCB, and the processor and CPU VRM are liquid-cooled. An angled PCI-Express slot holds the graphics card along the plane of the motherboard. It all comes together on a CM Cosmos-like chassis frame that lets you show the innards off.

ASUS ROG Fan Connect is a feature that allows you to connect up to two of your case-fans to two standard 4-pin PWM fan headers present on an ASUS ROG Strix series graphics card, letting you synchronize your case's front intake and rear exhaust fans to the temperature of the GPU, and control them using the GPUTweak software. ASUS has introduced the feature with the Pascal and Vega architecture, and has since included it with its ROG Strix series graphics cards.

When we published our reviews of the ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and its sibling based on the RTX 2080, we noticed something curious, and our readers were quick to spot it as well. ASUS did not add the Fan Connect 4-pin PWM case-fan headers on its GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Strix card, while the company's RTX 2080 card had them. Adding to the confusion, the PCB of our review sample had blank traces where the headers are supposed to be. This got our readers asking if the final product has those headers. The box doesn't advertise those headers anywhere, neither does the ASUS website, so it isn't a case of false-marketing yet.

ASUS today introduced its GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB Phoenix graphics card, based on the same cost-effective design as the GTX 1060 3 GB Phoenix it launched last year. The card features a compact 18.3-inch long custom-design PCB, mated to a simple aluminium fan-heatsink, with spirally-projecting heatsink fins, ventilated by an 80 mm double ball-bearing fan. The card comes with NVIDIA-reference speeds of 1506 MHz core, 1708 MHz GPU Boost, and 8.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective) memory.

Based on the 16 nm GP106 silicon, the GTX 1060 features 1,280 CUDA cores, 80 TMUs, 48 ROPs, and a 192-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 6 GB of memory. The card draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector. Outputs include dual-link DVI, two HDMI 2.0b, and one DisplayPort 1.4 connector. In the wake of the crypto-plague, its price is constantly changing.