NZXT, a leading designer of computer hardware, software, and services for the PC gaming community, today announces the NZXT N7 Z490, its newest motherboard specially designed around Intel's 10th generation Z490 chipset. The NZXT N7 Z490 ATX motherboard focuses on providing builders with the tools to get the most out of their gaming PCs. Starting from the building process, the board layout of the N7 Z490 places the ports in an optimal location for an easy building experience.

When the build is completed, users can use NZXT CAM to easily tune their system by setting their fan curves and RGB lighting. Each board was manufactured in collaboration with ASRock, ensuring that each motherboard takes advantage of Intel's Z490 chipset and strong BIOS support. The N7 Z490 has WiFi 6 and Bluetooth V5.1 built-in so users have the newest wireless connectivity standard. Finally, the metal cover enhances the aesthetics of each build and seamlessly blends into the background of an NZXT H series case.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced the new W480 VISION series creator and workstation motherboard, to complete the GIGABYTE VISION product line. These new motherboards are designed specifically for the new Intel Xeon W and 10th Gen Core processors which come with up to 12 phase digital power and the latest thermal design, features four sets of memory slots supporting dual-channel ECC and non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4 memory, Intel 2.5GbE + 1 GbE dual-server-level network, and other advanced functions. Moreover, further equipped with special functions according to different usage requirements such as Thunderbolt 3, Intel Wi-Fi 6 and SATA DOM make the construction of the workstation more efficient and stable, and content creators can fully realize the creative ideas to design unique and excellent works.

"VISION is the ability to see beyond. It is an attitude to create with tremendous dedication and craftsmanship. With VISION, you can see more, explore more, and achieve more. Let VISION help your creativity flow with its minimalist design language, thoughtful features, reliable operation, and powerful performance" says GIGABYTE. With the launch of the W480 VISION series motherboards, the previously launched VISION memory, Z490 VISION motherboards, and other related products, the entire VISION product line is now more complete.

NVIDIA is invested in the development of multi-GPU, specifically SLI over NVLink, and has developed a new multi-GPU rendering technique that appears to be inspired by tile-based rendering. Implemented at a single-GPU level, tile-based rendering has been one of NVIDIA's many secret sauces that improved performance since its "Maxwell" family of GPUs. 3DCenter.org discovered that NVIDIA is working on its multi-GPU avatar, called CFR, which could be short for "checkerboard frame rendering," or "checkered frame rendering." The method is already secretly deployed on current NVIDIA drivers, although not documented for developers to implement.

In CFR, the frame is divided into tiny square tiles, like a checkerboard. Odd-numbered tiles are rendered by one GPU, and even-numbered ones by the other. Unlike AFR (alternate frame rendering), in which each GPU's dedicated memory has a copy of all of the resources needed to render the frame, methods like CFR and SFR (split frame rendering) optimize resource allocation. CFR also purportedly offers lesser micro-stutter than AFR. 3DCenter also detailed the features and requirements of CFR. To begin with, the method is only compatible with DirectX (including DirectX 12, 11, and 10), and not OpenGL or Vulkan. For now it's "Turing" exclusive, since NVLink is required (probably its bandwidth is needed to virtualize the tile buffer). Tools like NVIDIA Profile Inspector allow you to force CFR on provided the other hardware and API requirements are met. It still has many compatibility problems, and remains practically undocumented by NVIDIA.

EK Water Blocks, the European premium water cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to introduce a new portfolio of Quantum Line terminals for multiple EK-Vector series water block connectivity. The new design is a perfect extension of the Quantum design language features and gracefully fits EK-Vector GPU water blocks. These terminals are compatible with the aesthetic terminal covers on newly released EK-Vector GPU blocks.

All EK-Scalar Quantum Line terminals feature parallel flow design, apart from the Quad-GPU terminal which uses semi-parallel coolant flow distribution. The design is minimalistic without any logo or engraving, the EK branding is shown via the Quantum design language. As usual, both Acetal and Plexi versions of the terminals are available providing the user with a broad choice to cover their specific need or desire. The black terminals are CNC machined from a solid piece of high-quality POM Acetal material, while the Plexi version uses CNC machined acrylic and the externals are machine-polished to a high-gloss finish.

Futuremark has just released a major update to its 3DMark benchmarking suite, adding Vulkan support while simultaneously axing its cousin, Mantle. This means that the API Overhead test now uses a Vulkan path instead of its previous Mantle one, which is sure to lead several enthusiasts into a frenzy of benchmarking under the Khronos's API (which has just recently been announced will offer support for multi-GPU in Windows 10, 8.x, 7, and Linux operating systems.)

Check some of the new features, improvements and fixes on the new version right after the break. You can download this piece of software right here on TPU - just follow the link below.Download: Futuremark 3DMark + TimeSpy v2.3.3663

Vulkan is arguably the API which has garnered the most positive reactions from enthusiasts. Its implementation in Doom, for example, brought about incredible performance improvements in a game that not only looked and played great, but also performed amazingly well. Vulkan's support for other operating systems other than Windows 10 (where Microsoft still has a lot of ground to cover in acquiring enthusiast trust and interest) is one of its greatest selling points, and the API has been gaining ever more traction in the market, with some developers even going so far as to axe DX12 support in favor of Vulkan.

Now, Khronos Group has come ahead and clarified that "(...) the Vulkan multi-GPU specification is very definitely NOT tied to Windows 10. It is possible to implement the Vulkan multi-GPU extension on any desktop OS including Windows 7, 8.X and 10 and Linux." Khronos also goes on to say that they are aware that some developers are already baking Multi-GPU support into their games in various platforms other than Windows 10. These are sure to come as good news - the fact that Vulkan is platform agnostic is great for consumers and developers alike. And maybe this support - which still depends on developers to implement it - will bring about the shot in the arm that multi-GPU implementations sorely need.

At GDC's AMD Capsaicin Event, AMD's Raja Koduri reaffirmed Radeon's commitment to Multi-GPU setups by remembering his RX 480 launch event claim on a RX 480 dual setup beating their competition's high-end solutions. Then, Rebellion's Chris Kingsley took stage, who attributed the fact that his team was able to get Sniper Elite 4 to run with 100% scaling on a RX 480 dual GPU setup to Rebellion's previous work with Mantle. Next to it, for perspective, AMD showed a dual-GPU RX 480 system running the same game and settings at virtually double the frame rate - a perfect, 100% scaling. Rebellion's Chris Kingsley also elaborated on the importance of DX 12 and Vulkan on making such a thing even possible in the first place, reiterating the software and coding investment necessary to make that happen.

Game developer CryTek is planning to implement Vulkan API support for its in-house game-engine, CryEngine. To be released in November 2016 as CryEngine 5.3, CryTek will implement Vulkan across platforms, including PC (Windows desktop/notebook), and mobile (smartphones, tablets). The decision to implement Vulkan could have been fueled by Google's decision to make Vulkan the primary 3D graphics API of Android.

CryTek will also expand its support for DirectX 12, which it implemented in March 2016. With CryEngine 5.4, scheduled to be released in February 2017, along the sidelines of the Game Developers Conference (GDC), CryTek is introducing support for DirectX 12 native multi-GPU; deferred shading in sandboxed viewports, and multi-threaded rendering in sandbox.

Colorful Technology Company Limited, professional manufacturer of graphics cards and motherboards, proudly announces its feature-packed gaming motherboard: the iGame Z170 Ymir-G for the latest 6th-generation Intel Core processors. The latest part of the iGame family of high-performance products intended for gamers and enthusiasts, the iGAME Z170 Ymir-G motherboard boasts features for any and all kinds of gamers from modders to streamers.

The COLORFUL iGAME Z170 Ymir-G motherboard loads everything a gamer needs and more into a single motherboard. Supporting 6th-generation Intel processors for the LGA1151 socket, this motherboard supports processors up to 125w and delivers solid power to the CPU thanks to its 14-phase power delivery design which also helps in stable overclocking. The motherboard features rich connectivity options including a wide range of internal expansion and external I/O: high-speed storage via 32 Gb/s M.2 port, 16 Gb/s SATA Express ports, 10 Gb/s USB3.1 as well as USB Type-C, quick charge USB ports and dual-LAN support with both Intel i211 and Killer E2201 chips onboard.

Microsoft is sparing no efforts in promoting DirectX 12 native multi-GPU as the go-to multi-GPU solution for game developers, obsoleting proprietary technologies like SLI and CrossFire. The company recently announced that it is making it easier for game developers to code their games to take advantage of multiple GPUs without as much coding as they do now. This involves the use of a new hardware abstraction layer that simplifies the process of pooling multiple GPUs in a system, which will let developers bypass the Explicit Multi-Adapter (EMA) mode of graphics cards.

This is the first major step by Microsoft since its announcement that DirectX 12, in theory, supports true Mixed Multi-Adapter configurations. The company stated that it will release the new abstraction layer as part of a comprehensive framework into the company's GitHub repository with two sample projects, one which takes advantage of the new multi-GPU tech, and one without. Exposed to this code, game developers' learning curve will be significantly reduced, and they will have a template on how to implement multi-GPU in their DirectX 12 projects with minimal effort. With this, Microsoft is supporting game developers in implementing API native multi-GPU, even as GPU manufacturers stated that while their GPUs will support EMA, the onus will be on game-developers to keep their games optimized.

AMD posted resources that help game developers take advantage of the AMD CrossFire multi-GPU technology, through its GPUOpen initiative. In a detailed blog post on its GPUOpen website, AMD detailed that since its Radeon Software Crimson Edition drivers, the company has been offering CrossFire API as an extension of DirectX 11. While it posted a detailed CrossFire Guide with developer resources, in its GPUOpen blog post, AMD also posted the basics of the simplest way to take advantage of a multi-GPU setup - alternate frame rendering (AFR), in which GPUs render alternating frames of a 3D scene, theoretically multiplying frame-rates.

In this episode of TechPowerUp News, we talk about DirectX 12 mixed multi-GPU, and how it could change things if AMD and NVIDIA let it stick around; GDDR5's new lease of life in GDDR5X, Apple's record Q3 results, and Philips' quirky, moody new monitor.

One of biggest features of DirectX 12 is its asymmetric multi-GPU that lets you mix and match GPUs from across brands, as long as they support a consistent feature-level (Direct3D 12_0, in case of "Ashes of the Singularity"). It's not enough that you have two DirectX 12 GPUs, you need DirectX 12 applications to make use of your contraption. Don't expect your older DirectX 11 games to run faster with a DirectX 12 mixed multi-GPU. Anandtech put Microsoft's claims to the test by building a multi-GPU setup using a Radeon R9 Fury X, and a GeForce GTX 980 Ti. Some interesting conclusions were drawn.

To begin with, yes, alternate-frame rendering, the most common multi-GPU method, works. There were genuine >50% performance uplifts, but nowhere of the kind you could expect from proprietary multi-GPU configurations such as SLI or CrossFire. Second, what card you use as the primary card, impacts performance. Anandtech found a configuration in which the R9 Fury X was primary (i.e. the display plugged to it), and the GTX 980 Ti secondary, to be slightly faster than a configuration in which the GTX 980 Ti was the primary card. Mixing and matching different GPUs from the same vendor (eg: a GTX 980 Ti and a GTX TITAN X) also works. The best part? Anandtech found no stability issues in mix-matching an R9 Fury X and a GTX 980 Ti. It also remains to be seen how long this industry-standard utopia lasts, and whether GPU vendors find it at odds with their commercial interests. Multi-GPU optimization is something both AMD and NVIDIA spend a lot of resources on. It remains to be seen how much of those resources they'll be willing to put on a standardized multi-GPU tech, and away from their own SLI/CrossFire fiefdoms. Read the insightful article from the source link below.

NVIDIA today announced updates to its GPU-accelerated deep learning software that will double deep learning training performance. The new software will empower data scientists and researchers to supercharge their deep learning projects and product development work by creating more accurate neural networks through faster model training and more sophisticated model design.

The NVIDIA DIGITS Deep Learning GPU Training System version 2 (DIGITS 2) and NVIDIA CUDA Deep Neural Network library version 3 (cuDNN 3) provide significant performance enhancements and new capabilities. For data scientists, DIGITS 2 now delivers automatic scaling of neural network training across multiple high-performance GPUs. This can double the speed of deep neural network training for image classification compared to a single GPU.

AMD announced an initiative to deliver the best possible VR experience for developers and users through new AMD technologies and partnerships. The first output of AMD's initiative is LiquidVR, a set of innovative technologies focused on enabling exceptional VR content development for AMD hardware, improved comfort in VR applications by facilitating performance, and plug-and-play compatibility with VR headsets. The upcoming LiquidVR SDK makes a number of technologies available which help address obstacles in content, comfort and compatibility that together take the industry a major step closer to true, life-like presence across all VR games, applications, and experiences.

In virtual reality, the concept of 'presence' is described as the perception of being physically present in a simulated, nonphysical world in a way that fully immerses the user. A key obstacle to achieving presence is addressing motion-to-photon latency, the time between when a user moves their head and when his or her eye sees an updated image reflecting that new position. Minimizing motion-to-photon latency is critical to achieving both presence and comfort, two key elements of great VR.

MSI, world leading in motherboard technology, is pleased to announce its release of the MSI X99S MPOWER motherboard. After MSI launched its X99S XPOWER AC motherboard on August the 29th it's now time for its brother, the X99S MPOWER motherboard, to assist in dominating the benchmarks. The MSI X99S MPOWER is a custom designed overclocking motherboard, specifically for enthusiasts demanding the highest performance and the best stability while still getting a ton of OC features.

The MSI X99S MPOWER motherboard is ready to take the new 8 or 6 core CPU's and DDR4 performance to the limit, proven recently by already breaking 26 records during the finals of MSI's overclocking contest, MOA 2014. OC Certified and Military Class 4 components make sure it can handle anything while retaining absolute stability. The next generation OC Engine helps to push the system to its limits with more flexible bClk overclocking, needed for breaking records. The MSI X99S MPOWER also comes with Quad Multi-GPU support, OC Essentials, Turbo M.2 32 Gb/s, SATA Express, Audio Boost and Intel Gigabit LAN.

Multi-GPU liquid-cooling setups can be tricky business, and if not done well, could look ugly. To address this, Koolance launched the CNT-VDBx series of connecting blocks for multi-GPU setups running GeForce GTX 780 or GeForce GTX Titan graphics cards, with the company's VID-NXTTN full-coverage block. These connector-blocks each relay coolant in "parallel" over multiple graphics cards, while looking good. The connecting blocks are little more than metal tubing covered by acetal tops to match full-coverage blocks. These blocks are sold in pairs, for 2-point (two card, CNT-VDB1), 2-point over 3 slots (two card, CNT-VDB2), 3-point (three card, CNT-VDB3), and 4-point (four card, CNT-VDB4) variants, priced at $39.49, $42.49, $50.99, and $59.99, respectively.

MSI, industry leader in motherboard and graphics card technology is happy to announce the availability of its complete Gaming motherboard lineup. At CeBIT 2013 the world got a first hands-on experience with the new models and the completely new look and feel of the motherboards and thanks to that we've received overwhelming positive reviews from gamers and media. As part of the 2013 series of motherboards, the new Z77 Gaming models will be available far into 2014. Together with the recently introduced Gaming Graphics Cards from MSI, they allow awe-inspiring PC builds from PC Gamers and Enthusiasts.

The MSI Z77 Gaming motherboards are designed to have as little lag as possible, to have the best possible input relay connections from your devices (mouse, keyboard and headset) and have the best audio set up integrated in the motherboard and have room for several graphics cards. These are but a few examples of how MSI has tried to perfect this Gaming motherboard for the enthusiasts who want the best hardware to get the best performance where it counts: in-game.

According to a VG 24/7 report, Sony began shipping development kits of its upcoming game console, PlayStation 4, codenamed "Orbis" to developers. The kit is described as being a "normal sized PC," driven by AMD A10 "Trinity" APU, and 8 or 16 GB of memory. We've known from reports dating back to April that Sony plans to use a combination of APU and discrete GPU, similar to today's Dual Graphics setups, where the APU graphics core works in tandem with discrete mid-range GPU. The design goal is to be able to play games 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution, with 60 Hz refresh rate, and with the ability to run stereo 3D at 60 Hz. For storage, the system has a combination of Blu-ray drive and 250 GB HDD. Sony's next-generation game console is expected to be unveiled "just before E3," 2013.

COUGAR, the fast-growing PC chassis & PSU manufacturer and branding company in Taiwan, catching the gaming fever aroused by the earlier finished LOL World Championship tournament, released their latest RX Power Supply Series.

Targeting the gaming fan boom after the big global gaming event, the COUGAR RX PSUs are rather humble yet more suitable and affordable to game newbies as compare to the PSUs that are focusing on high-end market of the business. The COUGAR RX Series' classic color mix of black and orange-red gives a masculine and playful character to the product. Its 14-cm fan can leisurely bring out the heat with lower rotating speed, which means: much lower noise, and is definitely a luxury addition to products in this price range. Not to mention that this Ultra-Quiet Fan can automatically adjust its RMP according to its current temperature.

A report in the the latest issue of Xbox World print magazine suggests that developer kits (devkits) of Durango (next-generation Xbox console), were implementing a "state of the art" 16-core IBM PowerPC CPU, its companion graphics processor is AMD-made, spec'd equivalent to AMD Radeon HD 7000 series, as previously reported. The 16-core CPU is said to have been implemented with a far-sight on the platform's longevity. "It's a ridiculous amount of power for a games machine - too much power, even. But remember, Kinect 2 could chew up four whole cores tracking multiple players right down to their fingertips, so it'll need a lot of power," the Xbox World article commented.

Sony's next-generation PlayStation, reportedly codenamed "Orbis", is known to be powered by an AMD x86-64 CPU with graphics based on its Southern Islands architecture, from the older report. We're now hearing that Sony may implement a multi-GPU solution of its own. According to an IGN.com report, the CPU in question will be a custom-version of AMD's A8-3850 quad-core APU. This should serve as indication that the processor cores will be based on AMD's K10 Stars architecture, rather than K15 Bulldozer/Piledriver.

The GPU, on the other hand, will be based on the "Southern Islands" architecture, and the IGN.com report pin points it to resemble Radeon HD 7670. The HD 7670 is a re-branded HD 6670, which is based on the 40 nm "Turks" GPU. Turks uses neither Graphics CoreNext nor VLIW4, but the older VLIW5 number-crunching machinery. The most interesting piece of information here is talk of a multi-GPU configuration between this Turks-based GPU, and the GPU that's embedded into the "Llano" APU. We know that the graphics core embedded into AMD A8-3850, the Radeon HD 6550D, can work in tandem with Radeon HD 6670 to yield an AMD Hybrid CrossFireX configuration called "Radeon HD 6690D2". This could be end up being Sony's graphics weapon of choice.

Microsoft's next-generation Xbox console, codenamed "Durango", will implement an "always-on" DRM, according to a VG 24/7 report. Always-on is a stringent anti-piracy measure that's already in use with some PC game titles published by Ubisoft, which requires the players to be connected to the Internet when playing. Even as its proponents (read: game publishers only), claim increased sales, it faces strong opposition from the gaming community. The Christmas 2013 (tentative) launch of Durango rides on the assumption that fast, always-on broadband Internet will have proliferated to every living room.

Next up, there's talk of Durango featuring a unique multi-GPU hardware design that doesn't resemble symmetric PC multi-GPU technologies such as NVIDIA SLI or AMD CrossFire, but instead, the two GPUs will be tasked with rendering the same object redundantly. Perhaps Durango features native flicker-free stereoscopic 3D capability, and the two GPUs are merely rendering the two planes? Once again, there's talk that these GPUs will be designed by AMD. The CPU of Durango will feature "four or six" cores. Lastly, Blu-ray disc is back as the storage medium, in these latest rumors.

Leading international mainboard and graphics card manufacturer MSI today announces the official release of its X79A-GD65 (8D), X79A-GD65, X79A-GD45, and X79MA-GD45 mainboards. The new mainboards are based on Intel's latest X79 chipset and uses the LGA 2011 socket supporting the 2nd generation Core i7 processors. The X79A-GD65 (8D) features with 8 memory DIMMs, supports 16GB DDR3 memory modules, bringing maximum capacity up to a staggering 128GB! For superior quality and stability, MSI X79 series mainboards adopts Military Class III components. With DrMOS II - the next generation of DrMOS with improved double thermal protection - the lifetime of components is maximized, even in warmer environments or when the machine is heavily overclocked.

MSI X79 series mainboards also feature the latest PCI Express Gen 3 bus and MSI's proprietary Click BIOS II for maximum performance and user convenience. When taking into account all of the other advanced technologies supported such as 3-Way NVIDIA SLI and 4-way AMD CrossFireX multi-GPU processing technology, THX TruStudio PRO sound, Multi-BIOS II, Control Center II, and Super Charger, MSI X79-series mainboards are simply the best choice for enthusiasts!

NVIDIA today announced the latest version of the NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit for developing parallel applications using NVIDIA GPUs. The NVIDIA CUDA 4.0 Toolkit was designed to make parallel programming easier, and enable more developers to port their applications to GPUs. This has resulted in three main features:

• NVIDIA GPUDirect 2.0 Technology -- Offers support for peer-to-peer communication among GPUs within a single server or workstation. This enables easier and faster multi-GPU programming and application performance.
• Unified Virtual Addressing (UVA) -- Provides a single merged-memory address space for the main system memory and the GPU memories, enabling quicker and easier parallel programming.
• Thrust C++ Template Performance Primitives Libraries -- Provides a collection of powerful open source C++ parallel algorithms and data structures that ease programming for C++ developers. With Thrust, routines such as parallel sorting are 5X to 100X faster than with Standard Template Library (STL) and Threading Building Blocks (TBB).