AMD Announces FirePro W9100 16GB Workstation Graphics Card | EDGE Computing

Featuring 16GB of GDDR5 memory, the FirePro W9100 is the latest workstation-class graphics card from AMD. The W9100 packs three times the power of its predecessor the W9000. Get your FirePro W9100 from EDGE Computing!

The AMD FirePro W9100 is based around a 28nm implementation of the Graphics Core Next 1.1 'Hawaii' architecture, an upgrade from the GCN 1.0 'Tahiti' of its predecessor. Although full specifications aren't due to be announced until early next month, the company has confirmed an increase from 2,048 stream processors to 2,816 and from 128 texture units to 176. The result: five teraflops of single-precision compute performance, or 2.67 teraflops of double-precision.

Steam OS Newest Alchemist Beta Update is LIVE – Includes AMD 14.1 Mantle API Drivers

“Steam OS” has just received the Alchemist Beta Update 93 with the newer AMD 14.1 Drivers, the same drivers which house the Mantle API.

The latest Alchemist Beta Update for Steam OS has rolled out and along with it brought the 14.1 Beta AMD Drivers along with some other improvements.

This latest ‘Alchemist Beta Update’ can be downloaded from here.

The “Steam OS” update not only adds AMD’s 14.1 Beta Drivers but interestingly it also adds Mantle API, which the change log does not mention explicitly, but is readily deduced from the fact that 14.1′s critical component is Mantle API. 

Considering that in all probability “Steam OS” finally has the much coveted Mantle API it appears that it is moving in the right direction. It also means that two of the potential game changers (“Steam OS” and Mantle API) are now coming in one packaging. Do keep in mind however that though the AMD 14.1 update includes Mantle API getting it to actually run, or support thereof on the world’s first Gaming OS, might be a whole different story. The fact that the change log does not explicitly state that doesn’t help either.

Anyways, the Update also comes with specific instructions: “AMD graphics users, please make sure to reboot as soon as the “SteamOS” reboot required’ notification pops up after the driver update is applied. Otherwise you most likely will be unable to play any games until you do” said Valve engineer Pierre-Loup.

This is what the full Changelog of the “Steam OS” Alchemist Update reads:

• Fixed a critical APT bug resulting in packages sometimes being erroneously erased during updates (many thanks to Michael Vogt and Simon McVittie)
• Added support for detecting hybrid configurations and using the driver corresponding to the primary VGA output by default
• Fixed a bug where “Preparing hardware drivers…” would be erroneously printed during startup
• Preinstalled all the languages that are supported by Steam client to enable a localized SteamOS desktop
• Fixed lightdm so the desktop Region and Languages control panel can change the per-user language
• Fixed “Metro: Last Light” on Intel graphics by backporting GLX support for ARB_create_context from newer X servers
• Added Thai and CJK fonts
• Fixed steamcompmgr to properly focus “CID the Dummy”
• Updated AMD graphics driver to 1:14.1~beta1.3-1 from Debian jessie
• Updated gnutls26, file, xserver-xorg-video-intel packages to incorporate upstream Debian fixes

AMD Radeon Dual 290x Graphics Card is possibly a Rumor, But Proof of Existence is Here

The rumor mill is spinning once again, and this time the focus is on AMD and its Hawaii XT GPU used in their flagship Radeon 290x card. These rumors strongly suggest that “Vesuvius” — allegedly AMD’s codename for a dual-GPU graphics card — is real, and that its release is imminent.

Whispers of Vesuvius reach back to November 2013 when notorious (but not always accurate) Chinese website VR-Zone reported that it was indeed on AMD’s roadmap. Vesuvius would essentially be a followup to the Radeon 7990, sporting two Hawaii XT GPUs. In simpler terms: a dual 290x card in a single SKU.

Then, earlier this week. VR-Zone again claimed that Vesuvius was real, and pointed to the existence of a customized card called ARES III by Asus (Ares is Asus’ line for dual NVIDIA NVDA -0.19% and AMD graphics cards). As translated by WCCFTech, VR-Zone asserts that the ARES III will release in the 2nd quarter of 2014.

The technical details continue, with the site explaining that ARES III — and the reference card AMD has designed — will require three 8-pin PCI-E connectors, a rated TDP of about 500W, and 8GB of GDDR5 memory (4GB on each GPU).

Now before you stock up on fire extinguishers, take solace in knowing that the ARES III will feature a hybrid air and water cooled setup.

Why am I positive this will shake out as more than a rumor? AMD’s product history offers a compelling dose of proof. The 5990, 6990, and 7990 have set a fairly consistent, years-long precedent, and this elite battle of dual-GPU releases has been waged between Nvidia and AMD for some time. In the middle of 2011, we saw the GTX 590 from Team Green. Middle of 2012? The GTX 690.

Nvidia skipped 2013, and AMD took advantage by releasing the Radeon 7990. While it was an absolute beast at benchmarks, it was derided for its noise and thermal inadequacies. This means two things: 1) Nvidia’s GTX 790 is long overdue and 2) AMD’s engineers have something to prove, and you can bet AMD won’t let Nvidia release the GTX 790 uncontested.

An argument can be made that Nvidia’s 790 is long overdue…

As my audience is aware, I’m a gamer and a cryptocurrency miner, so my heart started racing when I estimated what kind of hashrate a dual 290x would kick out. And very briefly, my wallet ached at the prospect of mining farms snatching this up en masse, resulting in more price inflation and product scarcity. I don’t believe that will happen.

Mining farms and people with massive deployments of GPUs will have zero interest in the work involved in setting up a ton of liquid-cooled cards. I see this dual 290x release (what will they call it, by the way? 290x-x2?) as a way to get back in the good graces of enthusiasts and hardcore PC gamers.

Just to cover the bases, I did reach out to AMD and they opted not to offer a comment. I then spoke with my rep at Asus, who gave me this response: “The ARES III is in the rumor mill but there is no official confirmation if we will do a dual Hawaii card or not.”

Graphics card releases are always a bit of a chess game. Is AMD waiting for Nvidia to unveil their latest dual-GPU solution at Nvidia’s own GPU Technology Conference later this month, or is Nvidia waiting for AMD to fire the first shot? While officially neither of these products exist, their release is only a matter of time, and PC gamers are in for a thrilling next few months.

AMD announces Radeon R9 280 graphics card, hopes Litecoin miners stay away

AMD's high-end R9 graphics card range is getting a lower-priced option with the Radeon R9 280.

Spec-wise, the R9 280 is almost identical to AMD's Radeon HD 7950 with Boost, which first launched in August 2012. It has clock speeds up to 933 MHz, with 1792 stream processors, 112 texture units and 32 ROP units. It has 3 GB of 5 GHz GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit interface, and has a typical power draw of 250W. Hexus notes that the R9 280 will mainly square off with Nvidia's GeForce GTX 760.

There are a couple of differences from the Radeon HD 7950, however: Compared to the R9 280, the older card's boost clock speed is lower, at 925 MHz, but the 7950 also consumes less power at 225W. As we've seen with the recently-launched R7 250X, AMD has been rebranding some older cards to fit within its new R5-R7-R9 naming scheme.

Although benchmarks from the new card aren't available, earlier tests of the Radeon 7950by Eurogamer show the card managing at least 30 frames per second in 1080p on most newer games with graphics cranked up to very high or ultra settings. In Bioshock Infiniteand Tomb Raider, the card cleared 60 frames per second on ultra settings.

At a suggested price of $279, the R9 280 is just $20 cheaper than the R9 280X that launched last October. The 280X has a higher boost clock speed at 1000 MHz, higher memory clock at 6 GHz, 128 texture units and 2048 stream processors.

The problem for AMD is that it's been having trouble stocking R9-series graphics cards at anywhere close to suggested pricing, likely because of interest in the cards for cryptocurrency mining. AMD cards have proven better than Nvidia for mining currencies such as Litecoin, which has led to inflated prices and supply shortages.

As AnandTech notes, AMD acknowledged the supply problems in a press statement: “Following the exceptional demand for the entire R9 Series, we believe the introduction of the R9 280 will help ensure that every gamer who plans to purchase an R9 Series graphics card has an opportunity to do so,” the company said.

We'll see if AMD can make good on its word. The first R9 280 cards are due to launch this week in limited capacity, followed by wider availability next week.

AMD Announces Embedded Radeon E8860 GPU

For the integrated market, there are several levels of capability that manufacturers need to consider.  This is a market driven by sales, thus OEMs that require specific resources are usually catered for.  Thus despite the fact that AMD have an aggressive APU line up on the embedded side (and have the embedded related warranties and support), there is scope for something more powerful.  This is the purpose of the E8860.

The E8860 is a 37W multi-chip-module FCBGA part, with the package measuring 37.5mm x 37.5mm.  The GPU has a PCIe 3.0 interface and implements 640 SPs at 625 MHz.  The GPU uses GCN similar to the HD7000 series, and is paired with 2GB of GDDR5 at 1125 MHz (4.5 GHz effective).  Aside from the usual DX11.1, OpenCL 1.2 and OpenGL 4.2 compatibility we normally see with this GCN, AMD offer a variety of SKUs to cater for the following display output requirements:

AMD E8860 MXM 3.0 (A) + 5 DisplayPort
AMD E8860 PCIe + 2x DVI + mDP
AMD E8860 PCIe + 5x mDP
AMD E8860 PCIe + 4x mDP LPX

Performance is officially listed as achieving P2689 in 3DMark-11 when paired with an AMD R-464L APU.  So the big question here is if the E8860 can be paired with either a BGA or socketed APU in dual graphics mode.  On the consumer side at least, this could result in some nice GPU performance if an APU could be paired with something like this, leaving a PCIe x8 slot for other devices.  It could even act as a mid-range part in the laptop space, although 37W will need to be catered for, or a mini-ITX motherboard where the other PCIe lanes are used for SATA controllers for extra storage.

Due to the use in the embedded market, interested parties will need to contact their local AMD representative for pricing and information.

Source: AMD