Bitspower today unveiled its top full-coverage water-block that's compatible with the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 "Big Navi" reference graphics cards; the Premium Mobius BPPRE-VG6900XTID. This 2-slot thick block uses nickel-plated copper as its primary material, combining it with a top that's essentially clear acrylic, but with an aluminium alloy cladding that resembles the styling of the reference cooling solution. The coolant never makes contact with the cladding. The acrylic top is studded with addressable-RGB LEDs, which take in a standard 3-pin ARGB connection. A matching back-plate made of anodized aluminium comes included with the block. The block comes with four G1/4" threads. Available now, the Premium Mobius BPPRE-VG6900XTID is priced at USD $320.

During the development of the Eisblock Aurora RADEON RX 6800/6900/XT graphic card GPU block, we wanted to further increase the performance. The first step was to move the cooler closer to the individual components by reducing the thermal pads to a thickness of 1 mm. Next, we reduced the thickness of the nickel-plated copper block. Instead of 7 mm, it is now only 5.5 mm thick. The water flow inside the cooler has also been optimized. All important components such as the voltage transformers and the memory are now significantly better and more effectively cooled by the water. All this ensures a significant increase in cooling performance.

EK Water Blocks, the leading computer cooling solutions provider, is ready to offer a new Classic line GPU water block for graphics cards based on the latest AMD RDNA2 architecture. It fits most reference PCB designs of the Radeon RX 6800, RX 6800XT, and RX 6900 GPUs. Minimalistic design with fewer details makes this EK-Classic Line water block more affordable while still offering all the qualities of an EK product, such as high performance, excellent customer support, and a comprehensive installation manual.

The EK-Classic GPU Water Block RX 6800/6900 D-RGB directly cools the GPU, VRAM, and the VRM (voltage regulation module) as a cooling liquid is channeled right over these critical areas. The water block is in contact with power stages as well as Inductor chokes to maximize cooling and minimize the chances of coil whine. It boasts some new features, already previously introduced in the EK's Quantum line, such as the optimized flow paths that reduce hydrodynamic instabilities and vortexing (dead spots) inside of them.

Members form the UK Parliament are apparently preparing to introduce a bill that would regulate the scalping phenomenon that's being witnessed worldwide. According to Scottish politician Douglas Chapman, in an interview to IGN, "The issue of scalping first came up with constituents contacting me to explain their frustration about being unable to get hold of certain games consoles or computer components pre-Christmas." He then expanded on that by adding that "On investigation, we uncovered more details of the unscrupulous practice of 'scalping' by automated bots to bulk buy these goods and sell them on at inflated prices." Oh, and this bill is unlikely to pass, by the way.

Scalping, however, isn't done only in the UK; it's a pervasive international issue that crosses borders. And scalping, as it is known, is nothing but a form of speculation, which some might say is part of the backbone that keeps the world's capitalist blood pumping through the economy - some might even argue that scalping occurs directly due to mechanisms of supply and demand, and thus, isn't an unlawful activity in and of itself. Companies, corporations, and all other legal entities, however, have to adhere to strict anti-monopoly/anti-cartelization laws, which deal with the same base issue, although in another facet of it. The problem is that it appears that in some countries, speculation is regulated at the enterprise level, but not at the citizen level. And herein lies the crux of it.

Here's the first picture of the XFX Radeon RX 6800 QICK 319 custom-design "Big Navi" graphics card. As of this writing, the card doesn't feature on XFX website, but was discovered by Paweł Maziarz, who compared it to the RX 6800 MERC 319. A Swedish retailer has the card listed for 8,990 SEK (around $1,070 USD), including taxes. At first glance, the QICK 319 looks identical to the MERC 319, until you pay attention to the cooler shroud, particularly its top edge. The large, trapezium-shaped protrusion of the cooler shroud, which holds an illuminated "Radeon RX 6800" logo on the MERC 319, is gone. Another parallelogram-shaped protrusion near the power connectors, is removed.

These should allow the heatsink to vent out more freely. Also, the XFX logo at the edge of the card, near the power connectors, isn't illuminated. These changes, particularly the cost-cutting with the XFX logo, point to the likelihood of the QICK 319 being positioned a notch below the MERC 319, despite having a more free-breathing cooler; and one area where XFX could differentiate the two cards is the factory-overclock, which could be slightly lower than the MERC 319. It remains to be seen if XFX designs QICK 319 products based on the higher RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT.

AMD today released the latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin drivers. Version 21.2.1 beta comes with optimization for "Medium," with a 9% performance increase at 4K measured using an RX 6800 XT graphics card, over the previous driver. A number of bugs and issues are also addressed. To begin with stuttering noticed on certain RX Vega series graphics cards at high refresh rates. A screen flickering observed with MSI Afterburner has been fixed. A bug that caused recording and streaming with Radeon Software, on Radeon HD 7800 series GPUs, has been fixed. A rendering error with SketchUp on RDNA GPUs has been fixed. Samsung CRG9 displays waking up from screen to black screens, has been fixed. Application crashes with "Metro Exodus" with DXR enabled, have been fixed. Video playback on other displays in a multi-display setup, during "Doom Eternal" gameplay on one of the displays, experiences stutter, which has been fixed.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.2.1

If anyone was looking to buy a new GPU in the past few months, the person is likely familiar with the situation we are in. It is now a fact that the latest generation of GPUs from AMD and NVIDIA are extremely hard to find, and when you come across one it is listed at some mind-blowing price. However, the makers of those GPUs, AMD and NVIDIA, are claiming that we are near the end of this situation and the things are going to be better shortly. And companies such as these two must reach out to consumers and try to satisfy their needs, even in the difficult situation that is going on now with the GPUs.

In the interview with The Verge, AMD has confirmed that it will be selling more Radeon RX 6800, Radeon RX 6800 XT, and Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics cards using its website, throughout Q1 of this year. The company claims that it will try to supply as many customers as possible, without any exact figures. When it comes to NVIDIA, the company has commented that the situation will likely resolve sometime at the end of Q1, meaning that in March things should return to normal. The company has also added that in the meantime consumers shouldn't expect to buy any of the GeForce RTX 3000 series graphics cards at their original MSRP. NVIDIA also continues emphasizing that the reason for such high prices is the high demand they are seeing, exceeding production capacity by far.

Alienware, the gaming division of Dell Technologies, has today announced a lineup refresh, meaning that all of the existing products will get upgraded to versions with the latest hardware. And to start off, the company has equipped their thin and powerful Alienware m15 R4 and m17 R4 laptops with the latest hardware we saw announced just yesterday. The laptops are equipped with 12-phase voltage regulation modules to power the newest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3000 series of mobile GPUs. To pair with a strong GPU, Alienware decided to use 10th generation Intel Comet Lake-H designs. These new laptops can be equipped with up to 4 TB of PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD storage and up to 32 GB of 2933 MHz RAM. For display, options range from FHD LCD to a 4K OLED panel and 360 Hz refresh rate for the m17 R4 model.

AMD has recently launched its Radeon "Big Navi" 6000 series of graphics cards, making entry to the high-end market and positioning itself well against the competition. The "Big Navi" graphics cards are based on Navi 21 XL (Radeon RX 6800), Navi 21 XT (Radeon RX 6800 XT), and Navi 21 XTX (Radeon RX 6900 XT) GPU revision, each of which features a different number of Shaders/TMUs/ROPs. The highest-end Navi 21 XTX is the highest performance revision featuring 80 Compute Units with 5120 cores. However, it seems like AMD is preparing another similar silicon called Navi 21 XTXH. Currently, it is unknown what the additional "H" means. It could indicate an upgraded version with more CUs, or perhaps a bit cut down configuration. It is unclear where such a GPU would fit in the lineup or is it just an engineering sample that is never making it to the market. It could represent a potential response from AMD to NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics card, however, that is just speculation. Other options suggest that such a GPU would be a part of mainstream notebook lineup, just like Renoir comes in the "H" variant. We have to wait and see what AMD does to find out more.

Michael Driscoll, an Oracle data engineer, has written a data scraper that runs through eBay listings for the latest hardware, comparing products with their sale price. The objective was to see just how pervasive scalping actually is, and to get a (flawed and incomplete, but still extremely interesting) outlook at the scalping ecosystem and their gains with the current hardware and console shortages. Driscoll analyzed sales for the Xbox Series X|S, the PS5 (discless and disc-based) as well as NVIDIA's RTX 30-series, AMD's RX 6000 series, and Zen 3 processors. There are some assumptions on the gathering and analysis of this data, but that is part of the beast.

The results are potentially desperation-inducing. AMD's Zen 3 CPUs have sold for sometimes 240% of their MSRP (looking at the biggest offender, the Ryzen 9 5950X. The RX 6800 XT graphics card has been selling for within an inch of 200% of its MSRP as well, with a median price over the past week set at $1247 (compare that to the $649 MSRP). The RTX 3080 has been selling at 180% of its MSRP for the past week, but it has been moved at 220% of its MSRP before. The case repeats with several degrees of severity for the Xbox family and PS5 consoles.

Yesterday, Cowocotland, a technology website, has published information that AMD's reference design cards like the latest Radeon RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6800 GPUs are getting discontinued. That means that AMD will stop the production of the reference designs and rely completely on the supply of GPUs coming from add-in board partners to satisfy the market needs. This does not mean that the availability of these GPUs is not going to exist. Rather, there will not be AMD reference designs available for purchase from the company. Only cards that are custom made by AIBs, that AMD provides GPU+VRAM for, will offer customers cards with these GPUs.

VideoCardz claims that they have been able to confirm some pieces of the information, so it is a done deal. From now on, it seems that only graphics cards with Radeon RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6800 GPUs inside them will be the ones offered by AIBs. The reference design cards will only be produced until early 2021, giving it a month or two for consumers to purchase cards from AMD. After that period the market will rely completely on AMD's partners.

Update 4:30 pm UTC: Scott Herkelman, CVP & GM of AMD Radeon Tweeted that they have "extended the reference design builds indefinitely due to popular demand." Meaning that the reference cards will remain in production. Mr. Herkelman also thanked for feedback, where community was loud and clear that they want to see reference boards for a while longer.

AMD's recently-introduced SAM (Smart Access memory) feature enables users pairing an RX 6000 series graphics card with a Ryzen 5000 series CPU to take advantage of a long-lost PCIe feature in the form of its Resizable Bar. However, AMD currently only markets this technology for that particular component combination, even though the base technology isn't AMD's own, but is rather included in the PCIe specification. It's only a matter of time until NVIDIA enables the feature for its graphics cards, and there shouldn't be any technical problem on enabling it within Intel's platform as well. Now, we have results (coming from ASCII.jp) from an Intel Z490 motherboard (ASUS ROG Maximus XII EXTREME) with firmware 1002, from November 27th, paired with AMD's RX 6800 XT. And SAM does work independently of actual platform.

Paired with an Intel Core i9-10900K, AMD's RX 6800 XT shows performance increases across the board throughout the test games - which are games AMD themselves have confirmed SAM is working with. This means testing was done with Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Forza Horizon 4, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Rainbow Six Siege. The results speak for themselves (SAM results are the top ones in the charts). There are sometimes massive improvements in minimum framerates, considerable gains in average framerates, and almost no change in the maximum framerates reported for these games on this given system. Do note that the chart for Forza Horizon 4 has an error, and the tested resolution is actually 1440p, not 1080p.

AMD has launched its RDNA 2 based graphics cards, codenamed Navi 21. These GPUs are set to compete with NVIDIA's Ampere offerings, with the lineup covering the Radeon RX 6800, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6900 XT graphics cards. Until now, we have had reviews of the former two, but not the Radeon RX 6900 XT. That is because the card is coming at a later date, specifically on December 8th, in just a few days. As a reminder, the Radeon RX 6900 XT GPU is a Navi 21 XTX model with 80 Compute Units that give a total of 5120 Stream Processors. The graphics card uses a 256-bit bus that connects the GPU with 128 MB of its Infinity Cache to 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. When it comes to frequencies, it has a base clock of 1825 MHz, with a boost speed of 2250 MHz.

Today, in a GeekBench 5 submission, we get to see the first benchmarks of AMD's top-end Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card. Running an OpenCL test suite, the card was paired with AMD's Ryzen 9 5950X 16C/32T CPU. The card managed to pass the OpenCL test benchmarks with a score of 169779 points. That makes the card 12% faster than RX 6800 XT GPU, but still slower than the competing NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, which scores 177724 points. However, we need to wait for a few more benchmarks to appear to jump to any conclusions, including the TechPowerUp review, which is expected to arrive once NDA lifts. Below, you can compare the score to other GPUs in the GeekBench 5 OpenCL database.

TUL Corporation, a leading and innovative manufacturer of AMD graphic cards since 1997, today is announcing its new PowerColor Fighter RX 6800 based on AMD's latest RDNA2 architecture and with 16 GB of GDDR6, offering solid 4K gaming performance for the most price conscious gamers. Powered by AMD RDNA 2 architecture, PowerColor Fighter RX 6800 graphics card features 60 Compute Units, 128 MB of all new AMD Infinity Cache and 16 GB of dedicated GDDR6 memory, is engineered to deliver ultra-high frame rates and serious 4K resolution gaming.

PowerColor Fighter RX 6800 graphics card is designed for gamers on a budget but with powerful gaming performance in mind. Fighter RX 6800 is paired with effective triple cooling fan design, Mute Fan Technology, BIOS switch button, and reinforced back plate, so the Fighter can fight with you to enjoy exceptional gaming experiences.

AMD is expected to debut its Radeon RX 6700 series based on the "Navi 22" silicon following its RX 6900 XT launch, to compete with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3060/Ti. Several rumored specifications of the RX 6700 series surfaced in an older report from last week, which referenced a similar compute unit count to the previous-generation RX 5700 series, but with a 25% narrower memory bus, at 192-bit. The memory amount itself has been increased by 50% to 12 GB, using higher memory density per memory channel. In that report we wondered how AMD could overcome the deficit of lower memory bandwidth, and whether an Infinite Cache solution is being used. Turns out, that the RX 6700 series should end up faster than the RX 5700 series on virtue of an enormous GPU clock (engine clock) increase, according to an Igor's Lab report.

Igor Wallossek analyzed two video BIOS images of Radeon RX 6700 series graphics cards, using MorePowerTool, and uncovered engine clock limits as high as 2854 MHz with 2950 MHz overdrive limits. Just to be clear, these are limits, and not manufacturer-set boost clocks. For example, the RX 6800 XT has a reference max boost frequency of 2250 MHz, whereas its clock limit set in the BIOS is 2800 MHz. One of the BIOS analyzed by Wallossek has a power limit of 220 W, and the other 186 W. Interestingly, the cards have the same 1075 MHz memory clock limit seen on the RX 6800 XT, which confirms that AMD is using 16 Gbps-rated GDDR6 memory, and that over a 192-bit wide memory bus, this would yield 384 GB/s of memory bandwidth. Find more technical commentary by Igor's Lab in the source link below.

The launch of the AMD RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT was plagued with a lack of availability and inflated prices. Retailers sold out of reference models almost immediately leading to price gouging and the launch of custom boards a week later did little to ease the situation. AMD has acknowledged the situation and is working with AIBs to achieve MSRP prices. In an unofficial comment to Hardware Unboxed, an AMD representative confirmed that they hoped to reach MSRP prices within 4 to 8 weeks for custom cards. The cards are currently selling for 100+ USD higher than their suggested retail prices at retailers across the globe so this news from AMD will be welcome for many.

Alphacool presents the Eisblock Aurora Acryl GPX-A block for the Radeon MSI RX 6800/6800 XT Gaming X Trio and the Radeon Sapphire RX 6800XT Nitro+ graphics cards. The blocks offer outstanding cooling performance thanks to the full cover design. The new backplate, which is included with the coolers, also contributes to this. This stabilizes the graphics card and ensures an even contact pressure of the cooler. The cold plates are made of solid nickel-plated copper. The coolers cover all relevant components such as voltage converters and the graphics memory.

AMD announced Radeon Smart Access Memory (SAM) alongside the RX 6800 series as a feature to increase video memory available to the CPU. SAM is AMD's implementation of the resizable BAR feature found in the PCI Express specification. AMD Smart Access Memory is only available when using an AMD Ryzen 5000 series process and AMD Radeon RX 6800 series graphics card on a compatible motherboard. The feature was initially advertised as a 500 series motherboard exclusive feature but AMD has recently released the new AGESA v2 1.1.0.0 update which should enable support for SAM on B450 and X470 motherboards with a BIOS update.

SAPPHIRE Technology announces the eagerly awaited new NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 6800 Series Graphics Cards for enthusiast gamers seeking the full effect of smooth 4K graphics with vivid visuals and unrivaled quality cooling solutions. Equipped with high-quality components to drive the most demanding AAA game scenarios, the NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 6800 Series Graphics cards are the key component to push gaming performance to the maximum thresholds. The aesthetic designs of these cards are crafted to beautifully fit with any PC build.

GIGABYTE late Wednesday launched its premium custom-design graphics cards based on the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT and RX 6800, under its coveted AORUS Gaming product family. These include the RX 6800 XT AORUS Master, the RX 6800 XT AORUS Master Type-C, and the RX 6800 AORUS Master. The RX 6800 XT AORUS Master and AORUS Master Type-C are nearly identical products, with the latter featuring a USB type-C connector (while the former has a third DisplayPort in its place). Both cards share their underpinnings with the RX 6800 AORUS Master.

The three cards feature GIGABYTE's latest AORUS Max-Covered triple-slot cooling solution that features three fans arranged in a way that sees the fans on the sides overlap the one in the center. Underneath is an aluminium dual fin-stack heatsink that makes direct contact with the GPU. As with any AORUS Gaming product, all three AORUS Master cards feature plenty of RGB LED illumination all around. The cards also feature an LCD display on top which gives out real-time monitoring. GIGABYTE mentions that the AORUS Master cards ship with the company's highest factory OC, but hasn't finalized these clock speeds yet. The company also launched its cost-effective Gaming OC series, which use simpler WindForce 3X cooling solutions, a milder factory-OC, and close-to-reference pricing.

AMD is expected to manufacture its reference-design Radeon RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 graphics cards only "through early 2021," according to a tweet by Scott Herkelman, Corporate VP and GM for the AMD Radeon brand, in response to a question by Daniel Rohrpasser. The "MBA" (made by AMD) reference-design cards will undergo production runs only until early 2021, beyond which the company will rely entirely on sales of custom-design boards by its add-in-board (AIB) partners to sell the RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT.

Launch of custom-design RX 6800 series cards are closely following that of the MBA cards, which opened to sales on November 18. Most AMD AIB partners have already announced their custom-design RX 6800 series products. This isn't particularly unusual, as AMD tends to produce MBA cards only for the initial few months following a new GPU launch, beyond which custom-design cards are expected to take over sales. The MBA cards are sold through AIB partners, with negligible modifications such as brand stickers.

AMD's Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics card debuted yesterday and in the overall test results, we saw that it runs just a few percent behind NVIDIA's direct competitor - GeForce RTX 3080. However, when it comes to overclocking and world records, the card has just set one. Popular extreme overclocker Alva Jonathan aka "LUCKY_NOOB", has managed to overclock the Radeon RX 6800 XT GPU and set a new world record with the card. Paired with LN2 cooled Ryzen 9 5950X clocked at 5.4 GHz, the graphics card was cooled by... air cooler? Indeed it was. Lucky has managed to clock the RX 6800 XT at 2650 MHz using the reference air cooler. With that system, he managed to score 47932 points in 3DMark FireStrike.

The overclocker has modified 3DMark's tessellation to presumably give the Radeon card more performance, so the score isn't valid on the official 3DMark charts. What gives the overclocker an idea of a world record is the fact that HWBOT actually accepts those numbers, which ranks it higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card that scored 47725 points. Despite the modifications, it is impressive to see AMD's card rank that high, and as more overclockers are getting their hands on these cards, it is a question if we are going to see the 3 GHz barrier broken by a Radeon card.

Alphacool presents the first Eisblock Aurora Acryl GPX-A block for the Radeon RX 6800 and 6800 XT reference graphics cards. The blocks offer outstanding cooling performance thanks to the full cover design. The new backplate, which is included with the coolers, also contributes to this. This stabilizes the graphics card and ensures an even contact pressure of the cooler. The cold plates are made of solid nickel-plated copper. The coolers cover all relevant components such as voltage converters and the graphics memory.

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices today announces the launch of AMD Radeon RX 6800-series of graphics cards. Powered by AMD's new RDNA2 architecture, the latest RX 6800 series graphic cards are tailor made to run AAA games delivering ultra-high frame rates on a crisp 4K resolution gaming experience. Coming out in 2 models, the RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT graphics cards are designed to be the best in the market with power to outperform its rivals with BIOSTAR's signature product durability.

The RX 6800 XT is the high-grade model of the two RX 6800 series graphics cards. With 72 powerfully enhanced compute units, 128 MB of all new AMD infinity cache technology, 16 GB of dedicated GDDR6 memory, a boost-clock speed of up to 2250 MHz on a TDP of 300 W, the new RX 6800 XT surely packs a serious punch when it comes to raw performance in any use case.

The title says it all, really. We've only just been able to add AMD's latest RX 6800 and 6800 XT graphics cards to our shopping carts in multiple etailers, but the cat is already out of the bag and into scalpers' pockets. This has been a recurring event for all gaming-related tech, from DIY PC parts to the latest-gen games consoles from both Microsoft and Sony. At this point, it becomes moot to talk about availability issues, or demand issues, or reaching a conclusion between the two - the stock just isn't there for anything gaming-related, period.

Some etailers are only selling their graphics cards in-person, as a way to both control flow of stock and protect themselves from scalpers buying up the entire inventory with recourse to some digital sidekicks that automate the purchase process, and then allow them to resell anything from graphics cards from NVIDIA to AMD, passing through AMD's latest Ryzen 5000 series and the Xbox Series X and PS5 gaming consoles.