Tag Archives: GPU

MediaTek Unveils the Dimensity 9400: A Powerful New Chip for Next-Generation Smartphones

Get ready for a significant leap in smartphone performance! MediaTek has officially unveiled its latest flagship chipset, the Dimensity 9400. This powerhouse promises to deliver extreme performance, improved efficiency, and cutting-edge AI capabilities, shaping the future of mobile experiences. Let’s delve into the technical details and explore what the Dimensity 9400 has in store for users.

A Leap in Performance: Under the Hood of the Dimensity 9400

The Dimensity 9400 boasts a brand new CPU architecture, the Armv9.2, making it one of the first flagship mobile chips to utilize this latest technology. This translates to improved processing power and efficiency compared to previous generations. MediaTek claims a 35% faster single-threaded performance and a 28% boost in multi-threaded performance, making the Dimensity 9400 a true powerhouse for demanding tasks like gaming, video editing, and multitasking.

MediaTek MediaTek Dimensity 9400

The CPU itself is an 8-core configuration, with a single high-performance Cortex-X925 core clocked at a blazing-fast 3.36 GHz. This core handles the most demanding applications, ensuring smooth and responsive operation. Three Cortex-X4 cores provide additional processing grunt, while four Cortex-A725 cores tackle background tasks efficiently.

Power Efficiency on Point: Staying Charged for Longer

Performance is essential, but so is battery life. MediaTek has prioritized efficiency with the Dimensity 9400, claiming a 40% improvement compared to the previous generation Dimensity 9300. This is achieved through the use of a cutting-edge 3nm manufacturing process, which allows for smaller transistors and reduced power consumption. This translates to longer battery life, allowing you to enjoy your phone for extended periods without scrambling for a charger.

Graphics with a Boost: Immerse Yourself in Stunning Visuals

The Dimensity 9400 isn’t just about raw processing power; it also packs a graphical punch. MediaTek hasn’t revealed the specific GPU model yet, but they claim a significant performance improvement. Gamers can expect smoother frame rates in demanding titles, while casual users will enjoy a more visually responsive experience. Additionally, MediaTek boasts a 41% improvement in peak performance and a 40% boost in ray tracing capabilities. Ray tracing, a technology that simulates light in a more realistic way, is becoming increasingly common in mobile games, and the Dimensity 9400 promises to deliver stunning visuals with improved lighting effects.

AI Powerhouse: Unlocking New Possibilities

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the smartphone experience, and the Dimensity 9400 is well-equipped to handle the most demanding AI tasks. The 8th generation Neural Processing Unit (NPU) delivers significant performance improvements compared to previous generations. This translates to faster facial recognition, improved camera performance with AI-powered features, and a smoother overall user experience with features like voice assistants and augmented reality (AR) applications.

One exciting area of focus is MediaTek’s partnership with Google on “Generative AI” experiences for the Android ecosystem. The Dimensity 9400’s NPU is optimized for Google’s Gemini Nano platform, which allows for features like real-time image and video enhancement, potentially opening doors for creative editing tools and innovative camera functionalities.

Beyond the Benchmarks: What Does This Mean for You?

The technical specifications of the Dimensity 9400 are impressive, but what does it all mean for everyday users? Here are some key takeaways:

  • Faster Performance: Experience smoother and more responsive performance in everyday tasks, gaming, and demanding applications.
  • Improved Battery Life: Enjoy longer usage time between charges thanks to the power-efficient 3nm manufacturing process.
  • Enhanced Photography: Capture stunning photos and videos with AI-powered features like object recognition and scene optimization.
  • Next-Level Gaming: Experience smoother frame rates and more immersive visuals in even the most demanding mobile games.
  • Future-Proof Technology: The Dimensity 9400 is equipped to handle the latest AI applications and future software updates, ensuring your phone stays relevant for years to come.

The MediaTek Dimensity 9400 is a significant leap forward in mobile technology. Its combination of extreme performance, improved efficiency, and cutting-edge AI capabilities paves the way for a new generation of smartphones capable of delivering truly immersive and innovative experiences. While the specific devices featuring this chipset haven’t been announced yet, the Dimensity 9400 promises to be a game-changer for the mobile landscape.

ASUS Unveils Prime Family of NVIDIA GeForce RTX Graphics Cards

ASUS has unveiled its new Prime family of NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards, including the Prime GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, Prime GeForce RTX 4070, and Prime GeForce RTX 4060 Ti. Designed with budget-conscious enthusiasts in mind, these cards offer impressive performance housed within a sleek design that’s perfect for small form-factor (SFF) builds.

The trend towards building powerful PCs in compact SFF chassis continues to grow. The new NVIDIA GeForce SFF-Ready program simplifies this process by identifying compatible cases and graphics cards. The Prime GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER and Prime GeForce RTX 4070 join the ranks of SFF-ready cards, measuring a mere 50mm thick and 269mm long. This 2.5-slot design falls comfortably within NVIDIA’s recommended guidelines for SFF PCs, ensuring compatibility and a streamlined building experience.

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Despite their slim profile, the Prime GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, Prime GeForce RTX 4070, and Prime GeForce RTX 4060 Ti pack a punch for cooling. These cards borrow cooling innovations from the ASUS Dual models, with the addition of a third fan. Each card features three Axial-tech fans with nine blades, working with a vented backplate for efficient airflow and noise control.

For silent operation during light workloads, these cards utilize 0 dB technology, allowing the fans to stop when temperatures permit completely. A physical Dual BIOS switch lets users choose between performance and quiet modes for added flexibility.

Durability and reliability are also addressed. Dual ball fan bearings offer double the lifespan of sleeve bearing alternatives, and long-life capacitors ensure extended operation. Additionally, ASUS Auto-Extreme Technology automates the manufacturing process, reducing thermal strain and environmental impact for a long-lasting product.

The Prime family of PC components boasts a shared design language – a classic black-and-white colourway with subtle space-age design elements and minimal RGB lighting. Prime graphics cards seamlessly integrate with this aesthetic, featuring a sleek design and a predominantly black finish that lets the performance do the talking.

The Prime ecosystem extends beyond graphics cards, encompassing motherboards like the cost-effective Prime X670E-Pro WiFi for AMD builds, the Prime AP201 chassis (available in tempered glass or mesh side panel options), and the recently announced Prime AIO liquid CPU cooler. Rounding out the ecosystem are the durable and affordable Prime Gold Series PSUs, available in 750W and 850W options, featuring full modularity, ATX 3.0 standard compliance, 80 Plus Gold certification, and an eight-year warranty.

The latest version of ASUS GPU Tweak III software provides users with granular control over their Prime graphics card. Preset modes allow for easy performance or noise prioritization with a single click, while users can also create custom profiles for specific games.

A new feature, Mobile Monitor, allows users to connect to GPU Tweak III via their phone or other mobile device for real-time monitoring of the graphics card without in-game overlays. Additional improvements include a user-friendly VF Tuner for adjusting the clock speed curve, an enhanced on-screen display, and improved import/export functionality. An integrated GPU-Z interface eliminates the need for separate installation.

The Prime GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, Prime GeForce RTX 4070, and Prime GeForce RTX 4060 Ti offer enticing options for mainstream gaming builds. Combining a triple-fan cooling solution, long-lasting durability, and an aesthetic that complements the ASUS Prime family of components, these graphics cards deliver exceptional value, especially for builders crafting SFF PCs.

Pricing & Availability

The Prime GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, Prime GeForce RTX 4070 and Prime GeForce RTX 4060 Ti will be available soon. No pricing details have been revealed at the time of writing.

Apple M4 Chip Makes Debut with New iPad Pro

Apple Silicon has made waves when it comes to SoCs (Systems on a Chip). It has created a standard for power efficiency and performance that the industry lacked. Now, with its fourth generation, the Apple M4 is looking to create an even larger gap with improved GPU architecture and the fastest Neural Engine in the company’s repertoire.

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The Apple M4 chip is built using the company’s second generation 3nm architecture. It comes with a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU and the fastest Neural engine that Apple has created yet. The M4 consists of 28 billion transistors built with 3nm technology that allows for better power efficiency.

The 10-core CPU consists of four performance cores and six efficiency cores that help forge a delicate balance between performance and power efficiency. These cores are able to process higher workloads and better predict branches and have a wider decode and execution engines. Also featured on both cores are next-generation Machine Learning (ML) accelerators. Thanks to this, the M4 is able to deliver 1.5x the performance of the M2.

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The M4’s 10-core GPU is built on the next-generation graphics architecture that was first featured in the M3. This architecture gives a significant boost to performance through Dynamic Caching. This process allocates memory dynamically in hardware and in real time resulting in an substantial increase in GPU utilisation. The new GPU also enables hardware-accelerated ray tracing, a first on the iPad line up. This enables more realistic shadows and reflections in games like Diablo Immortal as well as other graphically rich experiences. The GPU is also able to better process and reproduce graphically intense scene and workloads thank to hardware-accelerated mesh shading. The performance of the GPU is increased by up to four times on apps like Octane.

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The Neural Engine on the Apple M4 is able to process 38 trillion operations a second. That’s 60 times faster than the A11 Bionic which featured the first generation Neural Engine. This combined with the ML accelerators, the CPU and the GPU make this processor Apple’s best processor for AI workloads. This is utilised in iPadOS with features like Live Captions which can generate captions in real time or visual look up that help identify items in videos or pictures.

Apple M4 chip Octane 240507

The M4 also brings hardware acceleration for Apple’s AV1 code to the iPad for the first time. The media engine of the M4 also supports codecs like H.264, HEVC and ProRes.

Intel’s ARC A580 GPU Finally Goes Official

Intel has been on a mission to break into the GPU market and offer more options to gamers. The latest step in this journey is the introduction of the Intel Arc A580. Positioned as a mid-range contender, this GPU is touted to have remarkable performance and promises excellent value for your money. Currently, only ASRock, GUNNIR, Photon and SPARKLE have announced their versions of the A580.

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Irrespective of the brand you choose, the heart of these cards remains the same: the Intel Arc A580 GPU. This GPU is not only about providing an additional choice for PC enthusiasts but also about introducing a new tier to the desktop graphics card lineup. The Intel Arc A580 belongs to the Intel Arc A5 family, fitting snugly between the high-performance A750 and A770 and the budget-friendly A380 GPUs.

But what sets the Intel Arc A580 apart is its hardware specs. It comes equipped with 8 GB of VRAM, which should be ample memory to run 1080p games. Memory bandwidth is equally impressive, boasting a total of 512GB/s.

Intel Arc A580 1

While the Intel Arc A580 falls between the A380 and A750 in terms of positioning, its hardware specs align more with the A750. What truly sets it apart is the number of Xe-cores, the computational powerhouses behind the graphics magic. The Arc A580 sports 24 Xe-cores, which positions it close to the top end of the A-Series GPUs.

Moreover, “OC” in most of the add-in board names indicates overclocking. All three cards are configured to run at 2000 MHz, approximately 18% faster than Intel’s 1700 MHz reference specification.

Gaming Performance

The Intel Arc A580 leverages the power of Game On driver updates to ensure top-notch performance in both new and legacy games. It’s equipped to handle even the latest games at 1080p High settings with ease. Intel touts that titles like “Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart” and “Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales” run natively on the A580 at over 60 FPS. But here’s the exciting part: there’s more performance potential to be unlocked in these cards.

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The Intel Arc GPUs come packed with powerful AI capabilities and take full advantage of Intel® Xe Super Sampling (XeSS). The Intel Arc A580 is no exception, offering impressive performance enhancements when XeSS is enabled. For instance, in the case of “Remnant II,” enabling XeSS boosts the A580’s performance from around 50 fps to a highly playable 73 FPS—a remarkable 46% improvement according to Intel. In well-optimized games like “Ghostwire Tokyo,” XeSS takes performance to a new level, delivering over 2x the speed with this technology.

Beyond Gaming

Intel Arc GPUs have always been about more than just gaming. Content creation is a breeze with these cards, offering AV1 video encoding hardware, AI acceleration through XMX engines, and a streaming studio within Arc Control software. This combination unlocks endless possibilities, from AI-generated art to supercharged video editing.

One of the most exciting features for video editors is the introduction of dual encoding, designed to save precious time. By utilizing both Multi-Format Codec Engines (MFXs) on the Intel Arc A580, video encoding is accelerated, reducing encoding time by an impressive 35%. This feature is already rolling out to various applications, ensuring a smoother and faster editing process.

Pricing and Availability

The Intel Arc A580 is now available globally. Prices for these GPUs start at $179 (MYR703.12).

Samsung and AMD Extends Strategic IP Licensing Agreement – Maybe That New Exynos is Worth a Look After All

Technically, this is not the first we heard of Samsung partnering with AMD to bring Radeon graphics into the mobile space. AMD technically licensed their RDNA architecture to Samsung in 2019. That partnership gave birth to something called the Samsung Xclipse, a mobile GPU with AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture built into it. It was the first of the world’s mobile GPU with ray-tracing and variable rate shading capabilities. It was also rumoured to match the performances of modern gaming consoles.

Samsung Xclipse did not see the light of day in our everyday products though. While we expected Samsung to integrate the product in to their Samsung Galaxy S flagship smartphones and Galaxy Tab S tablets, it never really happened. Instead, the Samsung Galaxy S23 and Galaxy Tab S line-up today features a third-party Qualcomm Snapdragon system on a chip (SoC). You will not be able to opt for Samsung’s in-house Exynos chips with the flagship devices too globally, because that high-end Exynos chip does not exist as of yet.

That might change in the coming iterations of Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab S device though. As per the title, Samsung has just signed a new licensing agreement with AMD. This agreement is not a renewal, but rather an expansion of the original agreement with AMD. The expansion now allows Samsung to integrate AMD’s Radeon RDNA architecture into an expanded portfolio, that includes more Exynos chips. This is where it could get interesting.

The expansion could allow Samsung to integrate the RDNA 2, or even RDNA 3 technology into their latest Exynos chips. While Samsung has yet to reveal a high-end world beater SoC, they are putting their Exynos chips into mid-range smartphones. You could potentially get a Samsung Galaxy A series smartphone with RDNA 2 or even RDNA 3 built into their Exynos platform. That also means that Samsung could boast console level gaming experience on their more accessible mid-range smartphone series. In that case, their mid-range smartphones could be a lot more appealing than flagship smartphone if all you are looking for in your smartphone is raw processing power.

The expansion could also mean that Samsung has been holding back on high-end Exynos chips because they have been working with AMD behind closed doors to offer that fabled Exynos SoC with RDNA 2 or even RDNA 3 graphics architecture in tow. In which case, they might have bragging rights in introducing the world’s first flagship smartphone that is capable of hardware ray-tracing and variable rate shading. You will also get console level gaming experience out of the device, obviously.

The thing is, we are not expecting to see the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold series with Samsung’s Exynos with AMD Radeon graphics in tow anytime soon. The soonest we can expect to see the AMD Radeon name gracing a Samsung Galaxy device is probably in 2024, with the Samsung Galaxy S24. Even that is a far-fetched speculation we think and a very early one at that. All we can do currently is wait.

MSI Announces Two New GAMING X TRIO WHITE GPUs Perfect for Themed Builds

NVIDIA released their GeForce RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 Ti not too long ago. No luck on NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4060 or RTX 4070 currently. Still, the two desktop class GPUs will be some of the most popular GPUs that NVIDIA will produce at this time. In that sense, you will find plenty of desktops built in 2023 coming with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4080 over the super high-end RTX 4090.

While it is uncommon, white PC builds can look sleek. We like that great white colour themed builds can look very clean and easily stands out in your room. It also automatically brightens your gaming environment. Pair it to decent RGBs and you have yourself an Instagram worthy build.

The thing is, if you have a white colour themed build, you are hard-pressed to upgrade it. Most modern GPUs do not come in any other colour than black. For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series, you do not have much of an option. You might be pleased to know that MSI is going to solve that upgrade problem for you. They already have the GAMING TRIO WHITE series GPUs. Now, they have even an even more powerful option for you.

Welcome to the GAMING X TRIO WHITE series GPUs from MSI. Ironically, there are currently only two GPUs within the series currently. You have a choice between the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16GB and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti.

This is not MSI’s first GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs. They have already made the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti GPUs. Unlike some of their other cards though, the two NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs clad in white shrouds and triple fans are pretty standard in terms of specs.

They are still PCIe Gen 4 GPUs, so you want to make sure your motherboard can support it, to get the most out of the GPUs. The 9,728 CUDA cores found on the RTX 4080 variant clocks in at 2,610 MHz while the 7,680 CUDA cores from the RTX 4070 Ti clocks in at 2,760 MHz, both slightly higher than the standard GAMING TRIO WHITE GPUs. As the naming convention suggests, the RTX 3080 comes with 16GB of GDDR6X memory and the RTX 4070 Ti comes with 12GB of GDDR6X memory. They still draw up to 320W and 285W respectively.

The cooler is a large heatsink that is cooled by three TORX Fan 5.0 with rims that allows for more focused air flow for even more effective cooling on the GPU. The nickel-plated copper baseplate sitting right on top of the GPU chiplet is designed for even better heat dissipation and distribution from the GPU to the heatsinks for even more effective cooling. The GPUs even feature Dual BIOS for either a ‘quite’ operation, or extract maximum ‘performance’ from the GPU at the cost of noise. The metal backplate is a snazzy mix of frosty white and silver colour combination that not only reinforces the board, passively cools the back of the board, but also adds some flavour to your all-white build.

There is RGB, yes. They call it the Mystic Light and it sits on the shroud of the GPU. It syncs with your PC and other RGB arrays via Mystic Light Sync and Ambient Link. The GPU even comes with a matching support bracket for the GPUs, since these new GPUs are rather hefty.

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There is no official pricing for the new MSI GAMING X TRIO WHITE GPUs just yet. They say that the GPUs will be available globally within this month (February 2023) onward. There are no mentions as well on the GeForce RTX 4090 variant just yet. For now, we can only wait and see. More information on MSI’s NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16GB GAMING X TRIO WHITE and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB GAMING X TRIO WHITE can be found on their website.

AMD’s rDNA 3 unleashed with Radeon RX 7900 series

UPDATE 16th November 2022: Both cards are now available at AMD.com and in retail, with the Radeon RX 7900 XTX priced at USD 999 (approx. RM 4420) and Radeon RX 7900 XT at USD 899 (RM 3980).

AMD has released their first generation of rDNA 3 architecture cards, the RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT to be available from mid-December 2022.

amd radeon 7900 with rDNA 3
The RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT sports the new rDNA 3 architecture.

Chiplet design in rDNA 3 brings the most efficient performance possible

Announced in November, the RX 7900 series cards are the first chiplet design graphics cards available on the market. The chiplet design uses multiple dies interconnected using similar technology to the Ryzen CPU’s, resulting in improved performance with up to 54% better power efficiency as claimed. The most anticipated feature is of course performance that the rDNA 3 architecture brings. AMD has claimed that it delivers up to 54% more performance per watt than the rDNA 2 cards, a significant improvement.

Enhanced 4K gaming experience with Display Port 2.1

Being top tier graphics cards, they are geared towards 4K gaming and fans can expect significant improvements. For a direct comparison, the RX 7900 XT has up to 1.7X higher 4K performance than the previous generation Radeon RX 6950 XT, highlighting the generational uplift of rDNA 3. Being one of the first cards to support DisplayPort 2.1 with UHBR 13.5, expect high refresh rates on 4K gaming (up to 480Hz) and 8K gaming (up to 165Hz).

Enhancements and availability of RX 7900 series

FSR3
FSR 3 and AMD Advantage for Desktop promises better gaming performance in 2023

Alongside the new cards, AMD has also announced the latest iteration of temporal upscaling technology, FidelityFX Super Resolution. AMD plans for the new technology to be available in 2023 alongside the new AMD Fluid Motion Frames technology. Collectively, these enhancements are expected to build on the current FSR 2.2, though no exact details on how it works have been revealed just yet. AMD also announced the AMD Advantage for Desktop PCs to the benefit of both gamers and streamers. The feature further enhances gaming and streaming performance by combining the Ryzen 7950x processors and RX 7900 XTX graphics cards.

The Radeon RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT are available now at USD 999 and USD 899 respectively from AMD.com and in retail.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 announced at Snapdragon Summit 2022

The Snapdragon Summit 2022 has unveiled the highly anticipated Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 platform, promising to revolutionize the flagship smartphone experience.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Chip and QRD
The new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 unveiled at the Snapdragon Summit 2022

Snapdragon’s highlight event of 2022 held in Hawaii from November 15th to 16th centered around the announcement of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The platform will be adopted by global brands including ASUS, HONOR, iQOO, OnePlus, OPPO, and Redmi to name a few. Expect to see it in commercial devices as early as the end of 2022.

Key Experience Pillars show AI integration systemwide

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 QRD Outdoor
The new features highlighted by Key Experience Pillars”; Snapdragon Smart, Sight, Elite Gaming, Connect, Sound and Secure

With the latest iteration of the SoC, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 offers better performance with the new Qualcomm® Hexagon™ Processor that has a 3.2GHz Arm-Cortex X3 prime core. The mobile platform offers a host of new features, described as six “Key Experience Pillars” by Qualcomm. The first and most central pillar is Snapdragon Smart, which utilizes AI integration across the system. This integration allows faster natural language processing, multi-language translation and advanced AI camera features.

Expect camera performance improvements with Snapdragon Sight, which uses AI to better recognize facial features, hairs and even the sky to allow professional grade image tuning. The platform will support new image sensors and features from other brands such as Sony’s quad digital overlap HDR technology and Samsung’s ISOCELL HP3, the first 200-megapixel image sensor. It also has an AV1 codec with support for video playback up to 8K HDR at 60 frames per second.

Elite Gaming Performance

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 QRD Gaming
Enhanced gaming visuals with Ray Tracing thanks to Snapdragon 8 Gen 2

Snapdragon Elite Gaming will be welcome news to gaming fans as the 8 Gen 2 comes with an improved Adreno GPU. The highlight is the mobile platform will have Ray Tracing to further elevate gaming visuals. This will also be the first platform to support Vulkan 1.3 API on top of improved and more efficient performance.

High Speed Connectivity with Wi-Fi 7, improved 5G and dual Bluetooth

Qualcomm FastConnect7800 Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Stay connected with low latency WiFI 7, peak 5G speeds and dual Bluetooth.

Connectivity will be improved on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 as described in the Snapdragon Connect Experience pillar. Sporting the new Snapdragon X70 5G Modem-RF System with Qualcomm® 5G AI Processor, expect faster than ever 5G speeds and first-in-market to support 5G+5G/4G Dual-SIM Dual-Active. It also features the Qualcomm® FastConnect™ 7800 connectivity system, for low latency Wi-Fi 7 and dual Bluetooth connectivity.

Soundly secure

Snapdragon has also beefed-up security on its new platform, with Snapdragon Secure. Described as premium level protection, it offers the latest tech available to protect your data and privacy with features such as the Qualcomm® 3D Sonic Sensor a Max fingerprint sensors. Finally, expect better audio performance with Snapdragon Sound. It features spatial audio with dynamic head-tracking for better surround-sound experience and supports 48kHz lossless music. Gamers will benefit from the built-in voice backchannel for clearer in-game voice chat and lowest-ever latency at 48ms.

In short, Snapdragon has brought out all the features of a flagship-level mobile platform with more intricate AI utilization as icing on the cake. For a full list of specifications and features, visit the official Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 webpage.

The ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 and Radeon RX 7900 XTX Are Here!

AMD’s RDNA 3 GPU architecture has just launched less than two weeks ago. While details are still quite scarce, the new GPUs launched in their livestream looked promising. There was not to say plenty in terms of variety in their launch too.

They launched two flagship class GPUs within the Radeon family. You can say hello to AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 and RX 7900 XTX. In their launch, they say that their flagship RX 7900 XTX performs at least 15% better than the older RX 6950 XT in games. Thanks to RDNA 3 technology, which is also an evolution from RDNA 2, AMD’s latest GPUs can maintain and even lower the GPUs’ power consumption while delivering the same amount of processing power. At the same time, AMD has upgraded its encoders to ensure that the new GPUs can work with videos and rendering much better than the RX 6000 series Radeon GPUs.

Of course, you do not only have to buy the GPU directly from AMD. You can get your hands on AMD’s Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX from AMD’s board partners like ASUS and their new TUF Gaming line up of AMD GPUs. Welcome to the TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7000 series GPUs.

The basic construction and design of ASUS’ TUF Gaming GPUs are not completely different from AMD Radeon’s original design. Like AMD’s reference GPU, the ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XT has the same 20GB of GDDR6 RAM. If you want something more cutting edge, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX offers 24GB in GDDR6 RAM.

TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XTX

TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XTX RX 7900 XT Gr
Source: ASUS

It is a big card, this one. In its entirety, the GPU takes up to 3.63 slots within your desktop PC. All that cooling is required to keep the 6,144 stream processors with 384-bt memory interface. But this much weight is never good on a PCB. That is why ASUS built the GPU with a die-cast frame holding a solid aluminium backplate and shroud to ensure that the weight does not stress the PCB out too much. For even more security, there is a GPU stand that is included when you buy the Radeon RX 7900 XTX.

The large structure houses a combination of large heatsinks and fan designs that allows for up to 13.8% more airflow and up to 8% more static pressure over TUF Gaming’s last generation AMD Radeon flagship card even at lower fan speeds allowing for a quieter card despite its power. You can also choose between two BIOS presets for either a quieter experience or more powerful performance mode.

The new RDNA 3 GPU packs an HDMI 2.1 port for up to 8K 165Hz display connections. You will not get that kind of graphics for most AAA games played on the GPU though, even if you can find a display to match that. Still, it is nice to know that you are futureproofed. You also get three DisplayPort 2.1, which is technically even better than HDMI 2.1 currently. Unlike NVIDIA’s latest and greatest, the AMD GPU still needs three 8-pin connectors from your PSU to work.

TUF Gaming Radeon RX 7900 XT

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Source: ASUS

The new high-end AMD GPU packs just a little under 800 stream processors at 5,379. It is still anything but a slouch though. It is paired with 20GB of GDDR6 RAM and 320-bit memory interface, which is still a plenty and rather fast.

The Radeon RX 7900 XT also features a 3.63-slot design that houses plenty of cooling capabilities while remaining quiet. At the same power draw, the GPU runs faster, cooler, and quieter than the older Radeon RX 6900 GPU. That also means that if you truly want to overclock the GPU, you have even more headroom than before.

Price and Availability

While ASUS has announced and unveiled the new AMD GPUs, there are no official dates teased by the board makers. There is also currently no official pricing from them just yet. We are expecting them to be available sometime soon after the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT and Radeon RX 7900 XTX reference GPUs arrive in Malaysian shores. You can expect prices to be higher than the reference cards too thanks to the beefier cooling solution that the TUF Gaming variants offer. More on the new AMD Radeon GPUs from ASUS can be found on their website.

GIGABYTE Kicks off Their GeForce RTX 4090 GPUs with WINDFORCE Bionic Shark Fans 

Yes, you read that right. You read Bionic Shark Fans, not Fins, and you are reading that right, it is not a typo. Now that we got that out of the way, let us talk about NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4090 as envisioned by Gigabyte. 

NVIDIA’s latest GeForce RTX 40 series promises a lot of performance and power. The ADA Lovelace architecture, as they call it, is claimed to be miles ahead of its competition and is significantly more powerful than NVIDIA’s older 30 series GPUs. Of course, we are all waiting to see if that claim can be substantiated. 

While we are waiting around though, NVIDIA’s board partners are not. One of them, GIGABYTE has started introducing new GeForce RTX 4090 GPUs for the market. They did away with not just one GPU offering; they are offering four variants of the GeForce RTX 4090 alone.  

AORUS MASTER 

AORUS GeForce RTX® 4090 MASTER 24G
Source: GIGABYTE

First up is the AORUS MASTER GPU. Like all the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 cards released by Gigabyte, the AORUS MASTER offers better cooling performance with up to 30% more static pressure while reducing noise by up to 3dB. All this is possible thanks to Gigabyte’s latest WINDFORCE bionic shark fan design, and the AORUS MASTER gets three of them lined with RGB rings to keep the card cool in all kinds of conditions. Those are on top of larger heatsinks over the previous generation GPUs.  

The AORUS MASTER cards also offer an LCD read out at the side of the card. The read out allows you to personalise your PC’s look even further with your own graphics and what not. If not, you can access and monitor critical stats like power consumption, GPU temperature, and even its fan speed.  

To ensure that the GPU always works at optimal temperature, it is not just about having bigger coolers. It is also about using the right components in the construction of the card. That is why Gigabyte opted for aerospace grade PCB alongside Dual BIOS and 24+4 power phase design underneath an upgraded metal backplate to keep every component running at lower temperatures. Of course, the back plate also adds some rigidity to the card to minimise GPU sagging for a better look overall.  

GIGABYTE GAMING OC 

GeForce RTX® 4090 GAMING OC 24G
Source: GIGABYTE

Then there is the GIGABYTE GAMING OC card. It is no AORUS, but it is still an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU which also means it packs a lot of power. It comes with the same WINDFORCE fan blade design as the AORUS MASTER. The WINDFORCE fans also uses graphene nano lubricant that is supposed to extend the fan’s life by up to 2.1 times compared to regular double ball bearing fans. The GAMING OC GPU also has three of the WINDFORCE fans that comes with the same RGB Halo from the AORUS MASTER GPU to keep everything cool alongside ULTRA DURABLE certified components. Dual BIOS should keep the card operating at lower noise levels. 

GIGABYTE WINDFORCE 

GeForce RTX® 4090 WINDFORCE 24G
Source: GIGABYTE

Sometimes you do not need the extremities that the AORUS MASTER offers. You do need the flashy RGB that the GAMING OC card offers too. You just want something that works. That is the GIGABYTE WINDFORCE NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 card.  

It still packs the same WINDFORCE coolling system, which also means you should not be getting any less cooling performance with the entry-level GeForce RTX 4090 GPU from GIGABYTE. Like its more extreme brothers too, it has a large vapour chamber in direct contact with the GPU to keep everything cool and optimised. It even comes with Dual BIOS to keep things quiet when you need it to.  

AORUS XTREME WATERFORCE 

AORUS GeForce RTX® 4090 XTREME WATERFORCE 24G
Source: GiGABYTE

The AORUS XTREME WATERFORCE is GIGABYTE’s answer to keeping the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 optimally cool in more extreme loads. It offers everything that the AORUS MASTER card offers, but with a slightly different cooling solution. Instead of relying on regular fan and heatsinks, it comes with a large water block and all-in-one aluminium radiator attached with three 120mm fans to keep things icy cold.  

Space management with liquid cooling designs are usually quite complex. You want to think about the placement of the radiators, especially if you are also going with an all-in-one cooling solution for the CPU as well. To make things easier, the inlet and outlet ports are placed at the back of the card, so that it is easier to place the radiator. The pipes are also 460mm soft tubes to give you that extra flexibility in radiator placements.  

GIGABYTE UD1000GM and UD850GM Power Supplies – PCIe 5.0 Empowerment 

The new GPUs are rather power hungry with a quoted TDP of up to 450W. That is not even considering the spikes that the GPUs might go through from time to time. You need a power supply with a tonne of capacity. Since these are PCIe 5.0 cards too, you want your PSU to have PCIe 5.0 support out of the box for the best experience with the GPUs.  

Introducing GIGABYTE’s UD1000GM and UD850GM 1000W and 850W power solutions made for PCIe 5.0 parts. As per PCIe 5.0 standards, the PSU offers a high-quality 16-pin connector that supports up to 600W of power output should your GPU need it. It is also a modular design with detachable cables for convenient cable management.  

Price and Availability 

There are no mentions on its local availability just yet. There are also no specific mentions on its pricing. You can expect the GPUs to be available once the reference cards from NVIDIA goes to market. You can also expect prices to be on the higher end of the scale compared to the reference cards with all the custom cooling solutions and components on their cards. More on GIGABYTE’s custom solutions for NVIDIA’s latest GeForce RTX 4090 GPUs can be found on their website.