Just in time for the release of Bethesda's open-world first-person shooter Rage 2 (find our performance analysis here), AMD has released their latest installment of the Radeon Adrenalin 2019 edition drivers for their graphics cards to make the most of the game. Indeed, AMD claims an improvement in game performance of up to 16% on the Radeon VII relative to last month's 19.4.3 drivers, and this is in addition to added support for the big Windows 10 May 2019 update and instruction tracing for AMD's GPU Profiler version 1.5.X. There is a plethora of fixed issues listed as well, and the usual list of known bugs, all of which can be seen past the break. We have also hosted the drivers installer for your convenience, which can be found at the link below.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 19.5.1

AMD released its monthly major update to Radeon Software Crimson Edition, its software suite that provides drivers and system software for AMD Radeon discrete and integrated graphics processors. Version 16.2 Beta comes with game-specific optimization for "Ashes of the Singularity" Benchmark 2.0, including support for features such as DirectX 12 multi-GPU and asynchronous compute shaders. Performance improvements are added for "Rise of the Tomb Raider," and CrossFire profiles are added for "Tom Clancy's The Division" and XCOM 2. A number of bugs related to "Rise of the Tomb Raider" and "Fallout 4" were fixed.DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.2 Beta for Windows 10/8.1/7 64-bit | Windows 10/8.1/7 32-bit

The change-log follows.

AMD's upcoming generations of GPUs will get a massive design focus on energy-efficiency and increases in performance-per-Watt, according to a WCCFTech report. The first of these chips, codenamed "Arctic Islands," will leverage cutting edge 10 nm-class FinFET silicon fab technology, coupled with bare-metal and software optimization to step up performance-per-Watt in a big way. The last time AMD achieved an energy efficiency leap was with the Radeon HD 5000 series (helped in part by abysmal energy efficiency of the rivaling GeForce GTX 400 series).

Israel-based system builder Compulab announced the fourth generation Fit-PC, the Fit-PC4, which builds on the proven nettop platform. Fit-PC4 comes in two main variants, the $299 Fit-PC4 Value, and the $380 Fit-PC4 Pro. The Value variant runs an AMD A4-1250 APU, with a manageable 8W TDP to speak of. The Pro variant, on the other hand, runs a peppier AMD GX-420CA quad-core SoC, with Radeon HD 8400E graphics.

Both variants feature two DDR3 SO-DIMM slots, which can hold up to 16 GB of memory; an internal 2.5-inch drive bay with SATA 6 Gb/s interface, an mPCIe+mSATA 6 Gb/s slot, and a micro-SDXC card slot, wrapping up the storage department. Display outputs include two HDMI 1.4a ports on both variants, with 7.1-channel digital audio streams. 7.1-channel digital audio is also given out by TOSLINK SPDIF, on both variants. Analog audio outputs include just the stereo headset jacks. Networking includes two gigabit Ethernet interfaces on both variants. While the Value variant offers 802.11 b/g/n WLAN with Bluetooth 3.0, the Pro variant tops that with 802.11 ac and Bluetooth 4.0. The Pro variant measures 16 cm x 19 cm x 3.7 cm; while the Value variant is more compact, at 16 cm x 16 cm x 2.5 cm.

AMD posted Catalyst 13.9 WHQL software suite, which is logo-certified for Windows 8.1, and Catalyst 13.10 Beta for everyone else. Catalyst 13.9 Windows 8.1 driver is logo-certified (i.e., it complies with the newest Windows Display Driver Model 1.3), yet the it isn't quite WHQL-certified. You're at the very least assured that the driver will make your hardware work on Windows 8.1, and support Direct3D 11.1 on compatible Radeon HD 7000 series, HD 8000 (OEM) series, and the upcoming Rx 2xx series hardware. Direct3D 11.1 should get its first major outing with Battlefield 4.

Catalyst 13.9 for Windows 8.1 supports all AMD Radeon GPU families since HD 5000 series, and integrated graphics for all APUs AMD ever sold. The new Catalyst Control Center requires .NET 4.5 runtime environment. Moving on, Catalyst 13.10 Beta is being released to users on older operating systems. It brings game-specific performance improvements, including 20% performance scaling on Rome Total War 2 for CrossFire setups and display corruption issues associated with it; 20% performance scaling on Saints Row 4 for CrossFire setups; and 10% performance scaling on Metro: Last Light for CrossFire setups. Frame-pacing (fluidity) is improved for six games, including Tomb Raider (2013), Metro: Last Light, Sniper Elite V2, World of Warcraft, Max Payne 3, and Hitman: Absolution. The driver also fixes a bug that spools down PCIe link speeds of secondary graphics cards in CrossFire setups down to x1, when idling.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 13.9 WHQL (64-bit) | AMD Catalyst 13.9 WHQL (32-bit) | AMD Catalyst 13.10 Beta

AMD updated its "Never Settle" game bundles for all graphics card models upwards of Radeon HD 7700 series. The update adds a game to each of the three product families - HD 7700, HD 7800, and HD 7900 series. The offer covers new purchases made after the 15th of May. Buyers of single-GPU HD 7900 series graphics cards no longer have to choose between Crysis and Tomb Raider; while buyers of HD 7800 series get Crysis 3 Hunter Edition. In essence, single-GPU HD 7900 and HD 7800 series buyers get the same bundles.

You get Crysis 3 Hunter Edition, Bioshock: Infinite, Tomb Raider (2013), and FarCry 3: Blood Dragon; with both single-GPU Radeon HD 7900 series, and Radeon HD 7800 series. Buyers of Radeon HD 7700 series will get an addition, too, Tomb Raider (2013). This is a limited offer that runs while supplies last, covers only new purchases made after May 15, and only targets North America, EMEA, Australia, and New Zealand.

Futuremark rolled out a major update to its 3DMark benchmark suite. Update v1.1.0 introduces Ice Storm extreme preset for the Windows version of the software (it was exclusive to the Android version), and optimizes the software for four-GPU and three-GPU setups. This could improve the scores for setups with GeForce GTX 690 Quad-SLI or Radeon HD 7990 CrossFireX. Months of work was put into getting this part right, according to the developer. Ice Storm extreme preset adds yet another way to test entry-level graphics solutions, using a DirectX 9.0c feature-level scene.DOWNLOAD: 3DMark v1.1.0

In an attempt to plug a hole in its product stack between the Radeon HD 7670 and the Radeon HD 7750, AMD could launch a new Radeon HD 7700 series SKU, the HD 7730. Based on the 28 nm "Cape Verde" silicon, the chip could feature 448 stream processors based on the Graphics CoreNext architecture, 28 TMUs, 16 ROPs, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 1 GB of memory.

An MSI-branded HD 7730 is already doing rounds in the Chinese local market, indicating the SKU is designed for retail, and not just the OEM channel. The MSI card features 800 MHz core clock speed, with its memory clocked at 1125 MHz (4.50 GHz GDDR5-effective). With the HD 7730, AMD could also be going after NVIDIA's GeForce GT 640. It remains to be seen if the HD 7730 is a global product. The MSI card features retailer stickers from Taiwan-based retailers.The source put the card through a few tests.

Over the last weekend, AMD hosted a teleconference with the press in which it charted out its strategy for 2013. Older reports led us to believe that the company's next-generation GPU lineup won't launch any time before Q4, but the press overlooked another possibility, that AMD could make additions to its existing HD 7000 series product family, before Q4.

The current Radeon HD 7000 appears "complete," due to the fact that there are products covering nearly every competitive price point. With the introduction of the GeForce GTX Titan, NVIDIA could gain two products in the price-range of $900-$1200, the other being GTX 690. AMD's various board partners, lead by TUL-affiliated ones, and HIS, launched the HD 7990 around the $800 mark, and ASUS topped things up with the Republic of Gamers ARES II at an unreal $1,600 point, which AMD claims is the fastest graphics card money can buy.

AMD today announced that the newly launched Gizmo board, a low-cost board geared toward x86-based embedded system development available from GizmoSphere, is powered by an AMD Embedded G-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). Gizmo is a 4-inch by 4-inch x86 development board that can run a variety of operating systems including Android, Linux, RTOSes and Windows. AMD is a founding member of GizmoSphere, a not-for-profit organization whose collective goal is to drive and enable technology projects of interest to independent developers, with a focus on stimulating and encouraging innovation around multicore heterogeneous computing using APUs.

The Gizmo board includes the G-T40E dual-core processor running at 1.0 GHz, combined on a single die with AMD Radeon HD 6250 discrete-class graphics. The board provides a performance capacity of 52 gigaFLOPS (GFLOPS) at less than 10 watts. Custom high- and low-speed edge connectors enable a full range of functions. This unprecedented level of integration between serial and parallel processing offers a power-efficient foundation for high-performance multimedia content delivery across a broad range of embedded designs such as digital signage, x86 set-top box (xSTB), IP-TV, thin client, information kiosk, point-of-sale, casino gaming, media servers and industrial control systems.

AMD's A-series "Trinity" line of APUs may have helped make the APU outsell CPUs in 2013, but it won't be long before they're replaced by the new "Richland" A-series APUs for desktops and mainstream notebooks. "Richland" is a tweaked version of "Trinity" which sees AMD stick to the 32 nm process, and retain the "Piledriver" CPU micro-architecture, but increase CPU clock speeds, add a faster DDR3-2133 MHz dual-channel IMC, and integrate a Radeon HD 8000 series Graphics CoreNext iGPU into the silicon. Desktop APU models will take up with A##-6000 series numbering scheme.

The series will be led by AMD A10-6800K, which features every component on the "Richland" silicon unlocked, which includes two "Piledriver" CPU modules amounting to four x86-64 cores, and all stream processors on the iGPU unlocked, with the highest CPU and iGPU clock speeds enabled in the lineup. The iGPU model for this chip is Radeon HD 8670D. The A10-6800K features unlocked multipliers, making overclocking a breeze. Trailing it is the A10-6700, which features all physical components unlocked, but with slightly lower clock speeds, and locked BClk multipler. It features the same iGPU as its bigger sibling, the HD 8670D.

2013 started off on a rather dull note for the PC graphics industry. NVIDIA launched its game console platform "Project: Shield," while AMD rebranded its eons-old GPUs to Radeon HD 8000M series. Apparently it could all change in late-February, with the arrival of a new high-end single-GPU graphics card based on NVIDIA's GK110 silicon, the same big chip that goes into making the company's Tesla K20 compute accelerator.

NVIDIA may have drawn some flack for extending its "GTX" brand extension too far into the mainstream and entry-level segment, and wants its GK110-based card to stand out. It is reported that NVIDIA will carve out a new brand extension, the GeForce Titan. Incidentally, the current fastest supercomputer in the world bears that name (Cray Titan, located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory). The GK110 silicon physically packs 15 SMX units, totaling 2,880 CUDA cores. The chip features a 384-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface.

MSC Embedded Inc., manufacturer of highly integrated standard board level products and customer-specific boards and systems, today introduced a powerful, new COM Express Type 6 module family. This family, called MSC C6C-A7, is based on the AMD embedded R-Series processors also known as accelerated processing units (APUs). MSC C6C-A7 members are compact form factor computer-on-modules characterized by very powerful graphics and high parallel computing performance with low power dissipation.

The MSC C6C-A7 module family integrates AMD R-460L 2.0 GHz (2.8 GHz Turbo) or AMD R-452L 1.6 GHz (2.4 GHz Turbo) quad-core processors. The thermal design power (TDP) levels are 25 W and 19 W, respectively. The two dual-core versions are populated with the AMD R-260H 2.1 GHz (2.6 GHz Turbo) processor or the AMD R-252F 1.7 GHz (2.3 GHz Turbo) processor -- each featuring 17 W TDP. The processors support the AMD64 technology and the AMD-V virtualization technology. The AMD Fusion Controller Hub (FCH) A75 chipset was also selected. The main memory can be expanded to 16 GB DDR3-1600 dual-channel SDRAM via two SO DIMM sockets.

AMD's Radeon HD 8000 "Sea Islands" family of GPUs may arrive some time in Q2-2013, but they won't arrive without a specifications overhaul. While NVIDIA is counting on performance enhancements to come out of higher clock speeds on existing silicon, while maintaining current (or lower) power-draw, with its "Enhanced Kepler" family of GPUs that will include the "GK110" juggernaut, AMD is counting on physically bigger chips with more components. AMD could step up transistor counts of its chips by as much as 20 percent, on existing 28 nm process.

According to a report, the biggest chip from AMD's fold could pack 5.1 billion transistors, amounting to 2560 stream processors, and an updated raster processing engine, with 48 ROPs ("Tahiti" has 32). While the Radeon HD 8970 maxes out the chip's capabilities, the HD 8950 could feature 256 fewer stream processors, at 2304. It could also go light on the clock speeds. AMD's performance-segment chip, codenamed "Sun" could see a similar stream processor increase to 1792, with the Radeon HD 8870 maxing it out, and HD 8850 featuring 1536. It maintains the memory bus width and raster engine layout of its predecessor.

Club 3D offers a wide range of graphic cards. But which one will you choose ? Perhaps the games which you will get when purchasing your graphic card will help you decide. This page summarizes the games that are available with Club 3D's graphic card line. The page is divided into three sections. The first section,"The games", will lead you through the available games, and will point to the graphic cards that have this game included in the bundle. The second section, "the graphic cards and the bundles", starts with the graphic cards and will point out which game or even multiple games that are included, and the third section identifies the software that is included with which graphic cards.

Foxconn Channel brand unveiled the AT-5570, a new mini PC based on the AMD "Brazos" 2.0 platform. Measuring 19 cm x 13.5 cm x 3.8 cm, and weighing 600 g, this VESA-mountable PC is driven by AMD C-70 APU with Radeon HD 7290 graphics. It features one DDR3 SO-DIMM slot, supporting up to 8 GB of memory, and a 2.5-inch SATA 6 Gb/s drive bay.

Connectivity options on the AT-5570 include two USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0/1.1 ports; SD/SDHC/MS/MS Pro/MMC card reader, stereo HD audio, 802.11 b/g/n WLAN, gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, and D-Sub (VGA). The AT-5570 from Foxconn is expected to be launched later this month.

AMD today announced its collaboration with Microsoft Corp. for more than 125 Windows 8-based PC designs from leading OEMs including ASUS, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and more. With a hardware accelerated user interface, Microsoft and AMD have collaborated to design Windows 8 to unlock the high performance graphics capabilities found in AMD accelerated processing units (APUs) and discrete AMD Radeon graphics processing units (GPUs) to deliver the best HD video, gaming and app experience consumers want with the always on, always connected, touch-driven interface with great battery life they need.

"There is a lot of exciting innovation happening in the marketplace today -- from the new Windows 8 graphics-accelerated user interface and apps, to ultraportable and sleek hardware designs -- and AMD's CPU, GPU and APU technology designed for Windows 8 helps enable a no-compromise solution," said Stefan Kinnestrand, director of Product Management, Windows Division at Microsoft.

In addition to the Never Settle Catalyst 12.11 drivers that give a shot of NOX to Radeon 7000 series GPUs, AMD unveiled the "Never Settle" Game Bundles. With each purchase of Radeon HD 7900 series, HD 7800 series, or HD 7700 series graphics card purchase, you get Steam coupons to a up to three games, with a guaranteed 20% off on purchase of Medal of Honor: Warfighter, on Steam.

With every Radeon HD 7900 series product (HD 7990, HD 7970 GHz Ed., HD 7970, HD 7950 BE, and HD 7950), you get Steam coupons to FarCry 3, Hitman: Absolution, and Sleeping Dogs. With two HD 7800 or HD 7700 series products, you get coupons to FarCry 3 and Hitman: Ascension; with one HD 7800 series or HD 7700 series product, you get a coupon to FarCry 3. The promotion could run all the way through the Holiday season.

AMD announced what it calls the "Never Settle" driver, a version of Catalyst Software suite, which could potentially tilt the price-performance ratios in its favor, against NVIDIA. The new drivers carry the canonical version number 12.11, and target AMD Radeon 7000 series GPUs, specifically those based on the Graphics CoreNext architecture, such as HD 7750, HD 7770 GHz Ed., HD 7850, HD 7870 GHz Ed., HD 7950, HD 7950 BE, HD 7970, HD 7970 GHz Ed., and HD 7990; and mobile Radeon HD 7700M series, HD 7800M series, and HD 7900M series.

Catalyst 12.11 promises up to 15% performance improvements in the most modern games, such as Battlefield 3, DiRT Showdown, Sleeping Dogs, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, and more. With these improvements, AMD is claiming performance leads for all its top products, over NVIDIA's. The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, for example, gains 20% performance advantage over GeForce GTX 680; HD 7970 gains 15% over GTX 670, and HD 7950 20% over GTX 660 Ti. The Never Settle driver, along with its complete release notes and download links will be updated a little later today.DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 12.11

Toshiba's Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced that its consumer line-up of Satellite laptops and Ultrabooks, Qosmio laptops as well as its All-in-One desktops featuring Windows 8 are available for pre-order starting today and will be widely available for purchase from select U.S. retailers and ToshibaDirect.com on October 26.

Toshiba's new laptops feature spacious touchpads with Windows 8 gesture support to allow users to perform gestures on the touchpad as they would on a touchscreen device. In addition, to help transition consumers to the innovative interface in Windows 8, Toshiba's new PCs come pre-installed with Toshiba Desktop Assist, a utility designed to give users easy access to their programs, control panel, as well as files and folders, similar to the Start Menu in previous versions of Windows.

Over the weekend, Activision released the minimum system requirements (MSR) list of its upcoming AAA title, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, for the PC platform. The publisher maintains that with the new engine being designed for DirectX 11, the game will no longer support Windows XP, yet it can make do with DirectX 10 hardware running on newer operating systems (Windows Vista and above). All you need to run Black Ops 2 is:

• Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 (2.66 GHz) or AMD Phenom X3 8750 (2.40 GHz), processor
• 2 GB for 32-bit, 4 GB for 64-bit environments, memory
• NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 512 MB or ATI Radeon HD 3870 512 MB, video card
• Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7 or above, operating system

ORIGIN PC announced the availability of their most powerful EON laptop today, the new EON17-SLX. The EON17-SLX is the next generation SLI and CrossFireX ready laptop that takes mobile gaming to the next level by doubling the performance and power with the support of a second discrete GPU. With support for the latest NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M and AMD Radeon HD 7970M Graphics cards, the EON17-SLX is a true game changing experience and the perfect choice for gamers, artists, enthusiasts and professionals.

Shuttle Computer Handels GmbH, the European subsidiary of Shuttle Inc., one of the leading developers and manufacturers of compact PC solutions such as the world-renowned XPC Mini-PC Barebones, today announces the launch of the third generation of its award-winning and completely fanless XS35 model from their slim PC series.

"Even our dealers keep telling us how impressed they are with the quietness of this model," says Tom Seiffert, Head of Marketing & PR at Shuttle Computer Handels GmbH. "It's very rare that the elimination of a particular component has been greeted with such positive comments. However, we've certainly achieved this by doing away with the use of fans."

HP unveiled a new variant of its Pavilion dv6 15.6-inch notebook driven by AMD A8-4500M quad-core APU (model: dv6-7010us). The A8-4500M packs four x86-64 cores clocked at 1.90~2.80 GHz, 4 MB total cache, and Radeon HD 7640G integrated graphics. The APU is backed by 6 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory. A 750 GB hard drive and DVD SuperMulti drive handle storage. The 15.6-inch screen packs 1366 x 768 pixels resolution. Connectivity includes gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WLAN, and Bluetooth. Most other features are identical to the Intel-driven dv6t-7000. Sweetening the deal is the price. While the Core i7-3610QM driven dv6t-7000 starts at US $899, the AMD A8-4500M driven dv6-7010us starts at $699.

ASUS displayed a nerdtastic motherboard design concept, at Computex. Called the Republic of Gamers ZEUS, ASUS' creation is a socket LGA2011 motherboard with a dual-GPU graphics hardware soldered onto the board, in the place otherwise assigned for expansion slots. The top half of the ZEUS resembles that of a conventional LGA2011 motherboard, with the processor being powered by a 10-phase Digi+ VRM, and eight DDR3 DIMM slots. ASUS somehow made the platform support up to 128 GB of unregistered DIMM DDR3 memory (double the 64 GB limit of the Sandy Bridge-E HEDT platform).

The second half of the motherboard has the X79 PCH, and two PCI-Express 3.0 GPUs in dual-GPU configuration. ASUS hasn't revealed which GPUs these are, but sources predict it's a pair of AMD Radeon HD 7970 (Tahiti XT) or HD 7870 (Pitcairn XT). Each GPU system has its own set of memory, and a set of 8-pin + 6-pin PCIe power connectors. The display outputs of this dual-GPU setup are given out on the rear panel, as two mini-DP + Thunderbolt ports, and one each of HDMI and standard DP. The ZEUS even has as many as 8 SATA 6 Gb/s ports, four SATA 3 Gb/s ports, and 12 USB 3.0 ports, besides two Thunderbolt 10 Gb/s ports. For now, ASUS' monstrosity is a design concept, and the company is undecided about launching it to the market. If nothing, the ZEUS serves as a testament of ASUS' mammoth engineering potential.