AMD Radeon HD 7950 Launch Recap

I'm going to be honest with you: the Radeon HD 7970 launch recap was pretty boring, with its wall-to-wall stock coolers and stock clocks. Like many high-end GPU launches, AMD's partners were for the most part restricted to reference designs, and didn't get much of a chance to put their own spin on the new GPU.

The same can't be said of the Radeon HD 7950 launch—as Ryan noted in today's review, AMD's partners have been let loose for this card, and as a result we're looking at 11 better-differentiated cards from seven manufacturers in today's roundup. The downside of all of this customization is that none of these cards quite hit AMD's MSRP of $449.99—the closest cards are $10 or $20 more expensive, though that's arguably a rounding error when you're in the market for a card in this segment.

Read on for detailed specifications and analyses. As usual, for simplicity's sake, the only cards we're looking at are the ones available through Newegg as of this writing. AMD's partners often offer different SKUs through other sites, but most of the time those SKUs are just variations on what's listed below. To help differentiate these cards from one another in the table below, I've bolded some of the more extreme data points, including highest core overclock, best warranty, smallest and largest size, and highest and lowest price. Hopefully this extra visual data will help you tell the cards apart at a glance.

 GigabyteHISMSIXFXXFX Black EditionPart NumberGV-R795WF3- 3GDH795F3G2MR7950- 2PMD3GD5/OCFX-795A-TDFCFX-795A-TDBCCore Clock900 MHz800 MHz830 MHz800 MHz900 MHzMemory Clock (Effective)1250 MHz (5 GHz)1250 MHz (5 GHz)1250 MHz (5 GHz)1250 MHz (5 GHz)1375 MHz (5.5 GHz)Dimensions (inches)11.4 x 5 x 1.510.94 x 4.96 x 1.6511.02 x 4.33 x 1.510.5 x 4.4 x 1.510.5 x 4.4 x 1.5Included accessoriesCrossfire bridge, 2x 4-pin to 6-pin adaptersCrossfire bridge,DVI to VGA, "weight lifter"Crossfire bridge, Mini DP to DP, DVI to VGA, 4-pin to 6-pinCrossfire bridge, Mini DP to DVICrossfire bridge, Mini DP to DVIWarranty3-year2-year3-year part, 2-year laborLifetime (with registration)Lifetime (with registration)Price (Newegg)$489.99$469.99$469.99$479.99$499.99

 

 ASUSASUS Direct CU IIPowerColorPowerColor PCS+SapphireSapphire OC EditionPart NumberHD7950- 3GD5HD7950-DC2T-3GD5AX7950 3GBD5-2DHAX7950 3GBD5- 2DHPP11196-00-40G11196-02-40GCore Clock800 MHz900 MHz800 MHz880 MHz810 MHz900 MHzMemory Clock (Effective)1250 MHz (5 GHz)1250 MHz (5 GHz)1250 MHz (5 GHz)1250 MHz (5 GHz)1250 MHz (5 GHz)1250 MHz (5 GHz)Dimensions (inches)10.6 x 4.2 x 1.511.8 x 5.1 x 2.310.83 x 4.38 x 1.5010.83 x 5.04 x 1.5010.08 x 3.94 x 1.4110.83 x 4.53 x 1.65Included accessoriesCrossfire bridge, Mini DP to DVI, 4-pin to 6-pinCrossfire bridge, Mini DP to DVI, 4-pin to 6-pin, 6-pin extensionCrossfire bridge, Mini DP to DP, HDMI to DVI, DVI to VGACrossfire bridge, Mini DP to DP, HDMI to DVI, DVI to VGACrossfire bridge, Mini DP to DP, DVI to VGA, HDMI to DVI, HDMI cable, 2x 4-pin to 6-pinCrossfire bridge, Mini DP to DP, DVI to VGA, HDMI to DVI, HDMI cable, 2x 4-pin to 6-pinWarranty3-year3-year2-year2-year2-year2-yearPrice (Newegg)$464.99$499.99$469.99$489.99$459.99$479.99

Every card here comes with 3GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus and the same array of outputs: one DVI, one HDMI, and a pair of Mini DisplayPorts. While some of the cards have core overclocks from the factory, outside of the XFX BE, the memory is all running at the reference speed of 1250 MHz (5 GHz effective). Every card additionally requires a pair of 6-pin power connectors to satisfy their cravings for electricity, and as of this writing Newegg is offering a free voucher for a copy of DiRT 3 with every card, the PC version of which is currently going for a bit less than $20 on Amazon.

Gigabyte

Gigabyte's take on the 7950 is right in the middle of the pack—it isn't quite the most expensive or the longest, and it doesn't quite have the longest warranty or the most accessories, but it comes pretty close on all of those counts. It's the only card in the lineup with a three fan cooler, which may help slightly with overclocking—it comes from the factory with a 100 MHz (~11%) overclock, which ties with a few other cards for the fastest stock clock in the lineup.

HIS (Product page)

The HIS card has a cooler that bears a striking resemblance to the 7970 reference cooler, and HIS passes at least some of those savings on to those consumer—at $20 over MSRP, this is one of the cheaper cards in this list. It is otherwise unremarkable—a 2-year warranty ties with some other cards for the shortest on the list, and it comes from the factory with stock clocks. HIS claims that its included "weight lifter" accessory can help alleviate the pressure that gravity exerts on both the card and the PCI slot, making for greater longevity, but that confidence doesn't apparently extend to the warranty.

MSI (Product page)

Like the HIS card, the MSI model uses a single-fan, dual-slot cooler reminiscent of the 7970 reference cooler. It's the same price as the HIS card, but offers a slightly better warranty (3 years parts but only 2 years labor), a slight (~8%) overclock, and a couple of extra display adapters, and it's a bit smaller in width and in height (at least according to MSI's measurements).

XFX and XFX Black Edition (Product page)

Here's where we get to the manufacturers who are offering multiple cards based on the 7950 GPU. Generally speaking, partners will offer a low and a high end card, usually differentiated by price, cooler, and overclock—included accessories and warranty length tend to be the same between different cards from the same manufacturer.

In XFX's case, even the cooler is the same between the basic card and the Black Edition card—the only difference between the two is a 100 MHz factory overclock on the core, a 125 MHz overclock on the RAM (the only RAM overclock in the entire lineup) and $20. If you're comfortable doing your own overclock, buying the Black Edition may not be worth it. It should be noted that the XFX Black Edition is one of the few cards on this list that we've actually done some testing on—while its performance is good, its cooler is both a bit louder and a bit less cool-running than that of many of its peers. Registering either card will get you a lifetime warranty, which beats anything else on this list and may sweeten the deal.

ASUS (Product page)

This is ASUS' stock-clocked version of the 7950, and like a few of the other cards in this list it uses a single-fan dual-slot cooler. At just $15 over MSRP it's one of the cheapest cards here, and the 3-year warranty manages to best a few of the more expensive cards with 2-year warranties. If you buy a component for this much money, I think it helps to buy something with a longer warranty, especially since the jumps in performance between GPU generations aren't quite what they used to be.

ASUS Direct CU II (Product page)

This massive card, which ties the XFX Black Edition for the most expensive in our lineup, has a dual-fan triple-slot cooler that makes it the longest card here by almost an inch (with the exception of the Gigabyte, though it's three-fan cooler is still a bit shorter) the widest by about half an inch (though the Gigabyte card and the PowerColor dual-fan cards come close), and the tallest by around three-quarters of an inch (no exceptions here). A 100 MHz core overclock and a 3-year warranty are both nice touches, but if space is at a premium in your case (or if you plan on running a couple of these in a Crossfire setup) you may want to get out the tape measure first.

PowerColor (Product page)

PowerColor's take on the stock-clocked, single-fan cooler design isn't much different from anyone else's, but at $20 over MSRP it's one of the less expensive cards in the lineup, and it's also one of the few to come with an HDMI to DVI adapter if you should need such a thing. If price is the most important factor in your purchase (and if the 2-year warranty doesn't bother you), it's worth a look.

PowerColor PCS+ (Product page)

This card's dual-fan cooler is about an inch shorter than that of the ASUS model, and it's also $10 cheaper at $40 over MSRP. The 80 MHz core overclock and 2-year warranty make it slightly less appealing than some of the other models on the list.

Sapphire (Product page)

This Sapphire card is an interesting one—it's got a 2-year warranty and a measly 10 MHz overclock, but it's also the shortest and slimmest card of the bunch, distinguishing it a bit from the other single-fan cooler cards in the group. It also happens to be the cheapest, coming in at just $10 over MSRP. Both Sapphire cards also come with the best complement of adapters and cables, including two 4-pin to 6-pin power adapters and an honest-to-goodness HDMI cable. Ryan noted in his 7950 review that the Sapphire OC edition (below) includes a BIOS selection switch, which may help enterprising modders to turn that card into a full-on 7970. This cheaper card should also have that switch, according the OC Edition's product page.

Sapphire OC Edition (Product page)

And, lastly, we have the Sapphire OC Edition. Like most other manufacturers, Sapphire has given this higher-end model a 100 MHz core overclock, but it costs only $30 more than MSRP compared to $40 and $50 for other cards. The 2-year warranty bothers me a little bit, in case you haven't picked up on this by now, but if you don't trust yourself to handle your own overclocks this is the cheapest card available at this speed, and comes with the same array of cables and adapters as its cheaper cousin. Our test sample also ran very quiet compared to both the "reference" design and the XFX BE, making this card particularly attractive for lower noise scenarios.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti with 448 Cores Launch Recap: MSI, Gigabyte, Zotac, and EVGA (UPDATE: And ASUS, Too)

Every time a new GPU launches, it finds its way into half a dozen or more cards from different manufacturers. These manufacturers do their best to differentiate these cards from one another, usually by means of different fans, form factors, outputs, prices, or even a built-in overclock. It can sometimes be difficult to keep these differences straight - price comparisons are usually pretty easy to make on sites like Amazon or Newegg, but information about dimensions and clock speed can be more difficult to come by. So, I'd like to try something a little different.

I'd like to gather all of the information on these cards that I can from press releases, manufacturer product pages, and retailer sites, put it all in one place in an easy-to-parse format, and then distill it to help all of you make better buying decisions. This shouldn't be confused with one of our in-depth hardware reviews, nor am I necessarily trying to recommend one card over another - while one person may want a larger cooler or a higher stock clock, another person may need the shortest card they can find for a cramped case. If you find this helpful (or if it's missing something important that would make it more helpful to you), please give me feedback and let me know what you'd like to see!

The GPU I'm looking at today is the newly-released (and recently reviewed) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti with 448 Cores, a low-end enthusiast card that trades blows with AMD's Radeon HD 6950 in most of our benchmarks (though it consistently beats the 6950 in the "longest, silliest name" benchmark). At present, there are five of these cards available on Newegg: one each from MSI, Gigabyte, and Zotac, and two from EVGA. The table below lays out the important numbers for you.

 GigabyteMSI (OC)ZotacEVGA (FTW)EVGA (Classified)ASUSCore Clock732 MHz750 MHz765 MHz797 MHz797 MHz732 MHzMemory Clock (Effective)950 MHz (3800 MHz)975 MHz (3900 MHz)950 MHz (3800 MHz)975 MHz (3900 MHz)975 MHz (3900 MHz)950 MHz (3800 MHz)Shader Clock1464 MHz1760 MHz1530 MHz1594 MHz1594 MHz1464 MHzDimensions (in mm)280 x 136.6 x 43243 x 115 x 42228.6 x 111.3 x 33.5228.6 x 111.15 x ??266.7 x 111.15 x ??281.9 x 124.46 x 58.42OutputsDVI-I, DVI-D, DisplayPort, HDMI2x DVI-I, Mini HDMI2x DVI-I, DisplayPort, HDMI2x DVI-I, DisplayPort, HDMI2x DVI-I, Mini HDMI2x DVI-I, DisplayPort, HDMIPower connectors2x 6-pin2x 6-pin2x 6-pin2x 6-pin6-pin, 8-pin2x 6-pinIncluded cablesDVI to VGA, Molex to 6-pin adapterDVI to VGA, Molex to 6-pin adapter, Mini HDMI to HDMI dongleDVI to VGA, 2x Molex to 6-pin adapterDVI to VGA, 2x Molex to 6-pin adapterDVI to VGA, Mini HDMI to HDMI, Molex to 6-pin adapter, 8-pin adapterDVI to VGA, Molex to 6-pin adapter, Extended SLI cableWarranty3-year3-year2-year3-year3-year3-yearPrice (Newegg)$314.99$309.99$309.99$289.99$299.99$329.99

Common to all of these cards is 1280MB of GDDR5 memory on a 320-bit bus, dual-slot coolers, and manuals with driver CDs (though I imagine most of you reading this will toss out the manual and get new drivers directly from NVIDIA, as well you should). Now that we have all of the data, let's analyze it.

Gigabyte (Product page)

Gigabyte's card, the second most expensive of this bunch, is the only one to pack three fans, and as a result the card is just a couple of millimeters short of being the longest in our group (ASUS' massive cooler edges it out; more on that in a bit). This cooler, called the "Windforce 3X" in Gigabyte's press release, uses a vapor chamber to circulate heat. The three fans are said to be "ultra quiet" but no specific noise levels are given.

Despite this impressive cooling solution, Gigabyte adheres to NVIDIA's reference clock speeds for both the core and memory. I imagine that cooler could get enterprising overclockers some nice results, but Gigabyte won't be meeting you halfway.

The last item of note is that the Gigabyte card is the only one with a DVI-D port - the others all use two DVI-I ports. Along with its full-size HDMI and DisplayPort options, you should be able to plug just about any display into this thing. 

MSI (OC) (Product page) 

MSI's card, tied with Zotac's offering for second-most expensive, also comes with a fancy cooler, but is 40 mm shorter in length than the Gigabyte card. It's not the shortest card of the bunch, but it's not far off. MSI claims that the cooler, their well-reviewed Twin Frozr III (loving these names, by the way), is both 20 degrees Celsius cooler than the reference design, though "reference" in this case likely means NVIDIA's GTX 570 reference cooler since NVIDIA doesn't have a reference design for the GTX 560 Ti w/448 cores. MSI's specs list the card as being only 30dB loud at full speed - this is very impressive on paper (we recorded 43dB at idle and 47.1dB at load for the Zotac card's single-fan cooler), though keep in mind that this information comes from marketing materials and not hard data.

Unlike the Gigabyte card, this version runs at a very slight overclock - about 8% on the core and 2.6% on the memory. MSI has a product page for an non-overclocked edition that uses NVIDIA's stock clocks, but the OC version is the one that's up on Amazon, Newegg, and other e-tailers as of this writing. 

With respect to outputs, this card is one of the most limited here - just two DVI-I ports and a Mini HDMI port (a Mini HDMI to HDMI dongle is included), which has been NVIDIA's common reference configuration for the GTX 500 series. It shouldn't be a problem for most, but if you use DisplayPort you'll want to invest in an adapter.

Correction: We had previously published that the MSI version of this card used an 880MHz core clock and 1002MHz (4008MHz effective) memory clock; the data and our analysis have been corrected. 

Zotac (Product page)

 

If you read our GTX 560 Ti With 448 Cores review, this card will be familiar to you - this is the only one of the lot that we've actually had in our hands, and we came away fairly impressed by its performance, its array of outputs, and its cooler. Thanks to this single-fan cooler, it's tied with the EVGA FTW card for the shortest card in the group, but it only sports a modest 4% core overclock. It's also the only card of the lot  with a 2-year warranty instead of a 3-year warranty.

It ties with the MSI card for second-most expensive at $309.99, but it does appear to be the only card in the list that includes a game (Battlefield 3). Note that information on things like this can be hard to come by - the only place where the inclusion of Battlefield 3 is apparent is in our review and in the product photos on Newegg, two resources unavailable for the rest of these cards (for most of the others, Newegg has only pictures of the card and the box). If you don't already have Battlefield 3 and you want it, this card's value becomes much more competitive.

EVGA (FTW) (Product Page)

If price is your primary concern, this may be the card for you - of these five, the FTW-series card is the only one selling at NVIDIA's MSRP of $289. Its single-fan cooler ties it with the Zotac for smallest card here. The difference is that the EVGA card appears to use a partially shrouded cooler that only exhausts air out the front and rear, as opposed to the Zotac's open and perforated cooler.

This card's core and memory clocks are just a bit higher than Zotac's, and the same as MSI's: an 8% overclock on the core and a 2.6% overclock on the memory. It's not much, but it's probably worth a few FPS. Output selection is also good - two DVI-I ports, full-size HDMI and a DisplayPort make this a solid-looking card, and if you don't need Battlefield 3 or a fancy cooler you may as well save yourself the $20 (or $25, compared to the Gigabyte).

EVGA (Classified) (Product Page)

The EVGA Classified card's 8-pin power plug makes it a bit of an oddball - but we suspect EVGA is using a GTX 580 PCB here instead of a GTX 570 PCB as they did on the FTW. The core and memory speeds are the same as in the FTW-series card, so as with the other Classified cards this is really geared towards end-user overclocking rather than a factory overclock.

At any rate, the Classified-series card includes a large two-fan cooler that makes it the second longest in our lineup, though it's less wide than the Gigabyte cooler by a fair amount. For the $10 price difference (this is the second cheapest card here), overclockers may prefer this to the FTW model for its cooling power and PCB, and to the Gigabyte and MSI cards for its slightly lower price, though overclocking speeds are of course never guaranteed.

Compared to the FTW model, DisplayPort users should note that this card regresses a bit in terms of available output - two DVI-I ports and a Mini HDMI port are all that's available, though like the MSI card EVGA is kind enough to include a Mini HDMI to HDMI adapter.

ASUS (Product Page)

 

If you thought the Gigabyte card's cooler was big, check out this battleship - the DirectCU II (another great name) is the only card in this lineup with a three-slot cooler, which means the ASUS card is both slightly longer than the Gigabyte card and significantly wider than anything else here. An extended SLI cable is included to accommodate this extra width if you'd like to use more than one of these. ASUS doesn't talk about this dual-fan cooler's noise levels - it does say that the cooler offers "20% cooler performance" and "600% airflow," but it's not exactly clear what the baseline is supposed to be.

Otherwise, this card offers the same output ports as most of the other cards (2xDVI-I, DisplayPort, and HDMI) and runs at stock clock speeds. It's the most expensive card here (at $329.99, taking us to $40 above MSRP), likely because of this large cooler. 

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Asus 'Ultrabooks' to launch tomorrow, UK pricing from £600?

News of Asus' line of slim, powerful 'ultrabooks' has reached these parts, with the company apparently set to reveal the line up tomorrow.

A little bird has told our buddies over at Gizmodo UK that the new range's pricing is set to start at £600, with the higher-spec UX21 and UX31 setting you back at least £1,000.

Ultrabooks are Intel's answer to the MacBook Air, with high end specs crammed into a thin, light frame.

Don't be surprised if you don't see Asus bandy the term 'ultrabook' around too much though; the company is apparently set to rebrand the line as "Zenbook" because apparently that's better.

Zen garden

The Asus UX21 was the first Ultrabook to be announced, and its higher price tag is thanks, in part, to its aluminium body which, according to Gizmodo's source, ups the price by over £200.

Best not to hold your breath for a Chrome-running machine from the Asus line-up though; the source reckons that although the company has tested Chrome OS on its ultrabooks, the experience wasn't up to scratch.

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Dell XPS 14z Launches in China, US Launch Coming Soon

The Dell XPS 14z, the 14-inch counterpart to the XPS 15z that we praised in our review last month, is rolling out in China this week with a US launch soon to follow.

We (and others) noted the XPS 15z's resemblance to the MacBook Pro, and the 14z continues in the same vein: the laptop is less than an inch thick and weighs 4.4 pounds, but still includes dual-core Sandy Bridge processors, an optional Optimus-capable NVIDIA GT 520M GPU, USB 3.0 ports, and an optical drive. The screen resolution is reported to be an unexciting 1366x768, though it isn't mentioned whether the 14z will share the 15z's 1080p upgrade option.

For my part, I find 14" laptops to be a good deal: you can usually get the same amount of power as a bulkier 15" laptop in a package that's not as cramped as smaller laptops can sometimes be. I'm always excited to see PC makers put some thought into their products' designs - hopefully the 14z impresses when it comes to other territories in the coming weeks.

Source: Social Barrel

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ASUS to Launch UX21, UX31 Ultrabooks on October 11

ASUS' new 11" and 13" Ultrabooks, the UX21 and UX31, were shown off earlier this year at Computex, and now they're ready to come to market: an ASUS teaser site cites October 11 as the big day.

Both laptops sport 6Gbps SATA SSDs from Sandisk, as we reported earlier this year, a USB 3.0 port, and Sandy Bridge processors. Pictures from the Computex model also show one USB 2.0 port, a Mini DisplayPort, and a mini HDMI connector. The UX21's 11" display has a resolution of 1366x768, while the 13" display on the UX31 ups that to 1600x900.

As for price, the new laptops have apparently been priced in France: the UX21's starting price is said to be €799 (about $1100), with the UX31 starting at  €999 (about $1350). This is roughly in line with what Apple and others are charging for machines in this form factor, though we'll have to wait to see what the official prices are in all territories.

Source: ASUS, Maximum PC

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GIGABYTE officially launch AMD Llano A series Motherboards

Today we’re officially announcing the launch of our new A series motherboard range, supporting the very latest AMD APUs which we think will offer DIY builders a solid mainstream platform with added graphics muscle. We’ve announced seven motherboard models all based on the AMD A75 chipset. The top SKU is the GA-A75-UD4H which is an ATX form factor board with integrated HDMI, DisplayPort, Dual Link DVI and D-Sub video outputs, two PCIe ports (x16 and x8) supporting CrossFireX and a slew of features including 8 USB 3.0 ports, an 8+2 phase power VRM on a 2oz PCB – all in all, it’s one hell of a board.

We’re predicting that these new AMD APUs will invigorate the mainstream and entry-level DIY segment, offering some pretty decent graphics and 3D gaming performance as well as solid HD video capabilities. The integrated GPU on these Llano chips is really quite impressive. Here’s a video we made showing the platform playing Crysis 2 – not something you’d usually do without employing a discrete graphics card. As you can also see in the video, we also managed to squeeze a substantial overclock from our AMD A8350 APU, hitting a score of over 6000 points in 3DMark Vantage (performance mode). I’m sure you’ll agree….pretty impressive!

As you may have noticed, all these new A75-based boards will be sold as part of our Super4 motherboard product range. This basically means that you’re getting high-end components from top to bottom; features like 2ox copper PCB, 50,000 hour solid capacitors, dual BIOS chips, On/Off charging, dedicated fusing for each USB port and 108db HD audio. I guess GIGABYTE Super4 is a simple way to describe a range of features that will make sure you’re getting a really solid, durable and reliable motherboard regardless of price point.

Check out the press release here.

GIGABYTE A series motherboard site here.

Chinese version of this blog entry here.

Dell Streak 10 to launch mid-June with Honeycomb

The new Dell’s new 10.1 inch Android tablet comes in June 2011. It will feature the new version of Google’s Android OS, Android 3.0 Honeycomb.

The rest of the specifications is unknown now, but there`s some rumors that it could have similar hardware to the Dell Streak 7, which is pictured above. So it will probably feature an NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and a five megapixel camera on the back and a 1.3 megapixel camera on the front, as Dell Streak 7 has.

Actually, at this time there isn`t any more details of the new tablet.

Acer to launch latest notebook -Aspire One 722 Netbook

Acer is ready to launch new Notebook  known as Aspire One 733 netbook. This device comes with unique colours along with a list of superior features for both home and office use.

This Netbook has the special quality of the water drop design which adds to the specification list of it. It comes equipped with the AMD C-50 dual core 1GHz processor and is based on the AMD Brazos platform. Aspire one 722 runs on the Windows 7 operating system and is integrated with the Radeon HD 6250 graphics card.

For the connectivity, this device offers features such as Bluetooth as well as Wifi connection for internet usage. The 11.6 inch display screen offers a pixel count of 1366×768. For video calling purpose, a 1.3MP camera comes fitted in on the front facing side of this netbook. The additional features offered include 3 USB ports, 1GB RAM, 250GB hard drive and Fine Tip Keyboard.