Advancements in PC graphics technology could be on the verge of a slump, according to GPU major AMD. In an interview with German publication Heise.de, AMD vice president of global channel sales, stated that his company doesn't believe there will be a DirectX 12 API, at least not as far as the company can see. The timing of this statement is particularly important, as both AMD and NVIDIA are expected to unveil next-generation graphics products by the end of the year.

Neither Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system, nor the rumored Windows "Blue" 8.1, could ship with a newer DirectX version. Taylor was responding to a question from Heise about next-generation GPUs and technologies they could be built around, to which he replied that normally, new DirectX versions stimulate introduction of new GPU architectures, but there won't be a DirectX 12, and so the company's next-generation GPUs will integrate other technologies. Answering another question, Taylor hinted that Battlefield 4, EA's upcoming entry to the hit online FPS multiplayer franchise, could be part of the company's next "Never Settle" bundle.Source: Heise.de

MSI’s new CX61 and CR61 15.6-inch multimedia laptops pack Intel's new generation Core i processor for the ultimate in computing power. What's more, to meet the needs of increasing high resolution of today's HD multimedia, the CX61 and CR70 come equipped with cinema-level SRS PC Sound and faster transfer ports, including USB 3.0, which is ten times faster than USB 2.0, HDMI 1.4, which can handle the latest HD resolution, and the new generation Bluetooth 4.0, which connects more quickly and covers a wider area.

Eric Kuo, associate vice president for global sales, MSI Notebook, notes that the CX61 and CR61 feature a cutting-edge processing platform that employs the most advanced nano production technology, enhancing great processing performance over the previous generation. They are also ready for the Windows 8 upgrade when it comes out. For details, please visit MSI's website. Furthermore, to handle HD multimedia with increasingly higher resolution, the CX61 and CR61 pack powerful features like SRS PC Sound, USB3.0, HDMI 1.4, and Bluetooth 4.0. In addition, the CX61 sports the most advanced performance-level discrete graphics card—the Nvidia GeForce GT640M discrete graphics card, giving you the absolutely fastest, smoothest multimedia performance available bar none, making it "Your multimedia companion!"

Eurocom Corporation, a developer of High Performance Mobile Workstations and Hardcore Mobile Gaming Rigs is adding the AMD Radeon HD 7970M GPU to the Neptune 2.0 and Racer 2.0 high performance notebooks. The addition of the MXM 3.0b spec AMD Radeon HD 7970M offers gamers and enthusiasts a new level of ultra high performance GPU computing with AMD Enduro for insane battery life by taking advantage of AMD's existing ZeroCore Power and Power Gating battery-saving features.

“Hardcore gamers, enthusiasts, your dreams have come true! The AMD Radeon HD 7970M is the best graphics GPU in terms of overall price and performance on the market . The AMD Radeon HD 7970M, combined with Intel XTU and Intel XMP gives gamers and power users full control of their powerful EUROCOM super-notebooks ” Mark Bialic, Eurocom President.

Hightech Information System Limited (HIS) today made the world’s first USB 3.0 to HDMI adapter available – the HIS Multi-View+Sound. Delivering a fast and easy way to expand your visual computing experience across multiple screens, the HIS Multi-View+Sound turns your computer into a gaming and multimedia center.

AMD today released this month's major update to its Catalyst software suite, Catalyst 11.7 WHQL. The new driver introduces a few major bug fixes, and provides WHQL-signed support for the recently released AMD A-Series APUs, apart from Radeon GPUs and AMD 8-series and 7-series chipset-integrated graphics. AMD claims to have fixed all outstanding issues related to cursor-lag; a variety of system hangs noted when using HDMI or DisplayPort outputs have been fixed; a number of video playback issues, some generic and some application-specific, were resolved; the "checkerboard" pattern display corruption issue related to Eyefinity on CrossFire setups in DirectX 10 games was fixed; and flickering issues related to Portal 2 were fixed. The driver doesn't introduce any new features or performance improvements, but with greater stability, improved performance should naturally follow.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 11.7 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit | Windows 7/Vista 32-bit | Windows XP 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit

A list of changes follows.

MSI has introduced its new GE620DX gaming laptop, featuring the Intel second generation Core i7-2630QM quad core processor (core speeds of 2.00GHz) and nVidia's top-end GeForce GT 555M discrete graphics card. Not only does the GE620DX offer more powerful graphics performance and enhanced resolution, it supports nVidia's PhysX and Microsoft's DirectX 11 for great graphics with more detailed and convincing details, like cooler explosions and more realistic flowing water, to maximize your gaming pleasure.

Eric Kuo, associate vice president for global sales, MSI Notebook, points out that MSI's superior Premium Sound and THX TruStudio Pro wrap around sound team up to offer you the perfect combination of sound and visuals for the ultimate multimedia experience. This gaming dream machine also boasts an exterior with awesome high tech lines. The letters "MSI" are emblazoned in the center of the GE620DX’ cover in luminescent white script which is set off by the metal brush finish. Not only is this machine a dream to play, it's a dream to look at, too.

MSI, the global leading brand of All-in-One PCs, has released its new touch model- Wind Top AE2070 in response to the increasingly demand of touch capability. The perfect 20-inch, multi-touch LCD screen with MSI proprietary "Wind Touch 4" smart user interface and value-added software allow you to connect social networks and embrace the digital life all at one move of your finger tips.

The built-in Intel 2nd generation Dual-core Processor G620 and Intel HD Graphics 2000 deliver breathtaking graphics performance you can enjoy seamless videos and vivid image in the best response time. Wind Top AE2070 also provides hardware upgrade options so you can customize the AE2070 with Intel Core i3 CPU or NVIDIA GeForce GT540M high-performance graphic card based on your own need. Experience the revolution of all-new touch control technology from now on.

Are you still messing around with one of those old-style keyboards? In the heat of battle, do you sometimes find that you left the game, because you accidently hit the Windows "Start" key and by the time you get back, your character is already dead? If so, MSI has heard your cry. It got together with leader in professional gaming equipment manufacturing SteelSeries to forge a keyboard for the serious gamer. Not only is the new keyboard much more durable, the Windows key has been moved to the right side of the keyboard where you're less likely to strike it when the adrenaline's pumping. The GX780 also comes with a 30-color LED backlit keyboard with five modes to throttle up your visual experience.

Eric Kuo, associate vice president for global sales, MSI Notebook, notes that the GX780 not only sports Intel's second generation Core i7-2630QM quad core CPU and nVidia's DirectX 11-supporting GeForce GT 555M discrete graphics card, it also has four DDR3 slots and accelerated dual hard disk architecture endowing it with impressive computing powers, making it equally suited for the digital content creator as it is for the serious gamer. The GX780 also comes with smart wrap around sound courtesy of Dynaudio and THX TruStudio Pro and a 17.3” full HD high resolution display to guarantee the ultimate multimedia experience.

NVIDIA today released its first WHQL-signed 270 Series GeForce software suite. The package provides the latest driver software for GeForce discrete, integrated, and notebook GPUs, ION GPUs, GeForce HDMI audio, and the latest stable releases of NVIDIA PhysX, and NVIDIA 3DVision. Version 270.61 WHQL packs official support for the recently released GeForce GTX 590, GTX 550 Ti, GTX 560 Ti, supermassive performance increases (such as 516% in Dragon Age 2 (GTX 580 SLI 2560x1600 8xAA/16xAF Very High, SSAO on)) specific to GeForce 400 and 500 series; and of course, a stable version of NVIDIA's driver auto-update software.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 270.61 WHQL.

A list of changes follows.

Rovi Corporation today unveiled Roxio Game Capture and Roxio PC Game Capture, two affordably priced products that offer a straightforward way for gamers to quickly and easily capture and share PC and console game play videos.

In-product tutorials help everyone get set up quickly and immediately begin to capture and showcase their latest campaigns, adventures, ball skills, and race sequences. Gamers may use the products to post their high scores, tips & tricks, game reviews, or even a feature-length movie, or Machinima, based on game play footage. See the products in action here.

AMD today announced that leading original design manufacturers (ODMs) are choosing AMD’s 2011 low-power platform for a new generation of PC designs ranging from ultrathin notebooks to all-in-one desktops. Nearly two dozen unique ODM whitebook and high definition PC (HDPC) designs based on the AMD C- and E-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) are expected to be available for distribution and purchase in the first half of the year.

“AMD Fusion APUs provide significant advantages in power and design simplicity over competing multi-chip solutions, translating into unique and innovative PC form factors, and ultimately an amazing user experience,” said David Kenyon, corporate vice president, Worldwide Channel Marketing, AMD. “We are working closely with our ODM partners to help them build the small-form-factor, long-battery-life PCs that can help them differentiate from the competition and succeed in today’s competitive market.”

AMD today announced availability of the updated AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) Software Development Kit (SDK) v2.3 with full support for the first AMD Fusion Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), OpenCL 1.1 and AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series graphics. AMD APP technology enables AMD GPUs and CPUs to work together to run many demanding computing tasks faster than possible with just the CPU alone.

AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing SDK v2.3, previously known as the ATI Stream SDK, empowers software developers to write new applications that can take full advantage of the parallel processing power of heterogeneous computing platforms, such as those based on new AMD E-Series and C-Series APUs that combine a multi-core CPU and DirectX®11-capable GPU on a single die.

ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and the world’s largest channel manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards and mini-PCs, today introduces three new do-it-yourself friendly mini-ITX platforms – the new ZOTAC ION-ITX R, S and T-series. The new ZOTAC ION-ITX R, S and T series reinvigorates the ION-ITX series with an added boost of graphics power.

Next-Generation NVIDIA ION graphics and a dual-core Intel Atom D525 processor combine to deliver a perfect balance of performance and energy-efficiency in the new ZOTAC ION-ITX R, S and T series. High-definition video playback capabilities enable the ZOTAC ION-ITX R, S and T series to deliver a premium multimedia experience with hardware decode acceleration for smooth playback of high-definition Blu-ray 3D and streaming Internet video content.

GIGABYTE, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, introduces a powerful new addition to its Super Overclock Series: GTX 460 SOC (GV-N460SO-1GI). To qualify for Super Overclock Series, a GPU must go through GIGABYTE’s innovative GPU Gauntlet Sorting process and it must be equipped with Ultra Durable VGA or VGA+ boards. Designed specifically for overclocking competition and gaming battle, GIGABYTE’s secret weapon GTX 460 Super Overclock Edition is built with NVDIA GeForce GTX 460 GPU.

Based on 40nm processor and advanced GDDR5 memory technology, the powerful new GPU consists of ground-breaking features including Microsoft DirectX 11 and NVIDIA PhysX which leads to incredibly immersive HD gaming experience and unrivaled performance. GV-N460SO-1GI also features WINDFORCE 2X, 7 phase PWM design, OC Guru graphic card smart tuner and voltage read point.

NVIDIA announced today the expansion of its award-winning line of NVIDIA Quadro professional graphics solutions based on the NVIDIA Fermi architecture. The mid-range Quadro 2000 with 192 NVIDIA CUDA processing cores and the entry-level Quadro 600 with 96 CUDA processor cores now bring the computational and visualization benefits of the breakthrough Fermi architecture to all segments of the market.

The Quadro 2000 delivers 1.5 times the geometry performance of the previous Quadro graphics processing unit (GPU) mid-range solution and utilizes the new NVIDIA Scalable Geometry Engine technology to deliver dramatically higher performance across leading CAD and DCC applications such as SolidWorks and Autodesk 3ds Max.

AMD today launched the most powerful processor ever created, found in its next-generation graphics cards, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series graphics cards, and the world’s first and only to fully support Microsoft DirectX 11, the new gaming and compute standard shipping shortly with Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. Boasting up to 2.72 TeraFLOPS of compute power, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series effectively doubles the value consumers can expect of their graphics purchases, delivering twice the performance-per-dollar of previous generations of graphics products. AMD will initially release two cards: the ATI Radeon HD 5870 and the ATI Radeon HD 5850, each with 1GB GDDR5 memory. With the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards, PC users can expand their computing experience with ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology, accelerate their computing experience with ATI Stream technology, and dominate the competition with superior gaming performance and full support of Microsoft DirectX 11, making it a “must-have” consumer purchase just in time for Microsoft Windows 7 operating system.

“With the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cars driven by the most powerful processor on the planet, AMD is changing the game, both in terms of performance and the experience,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Products Group, AMD. “As the first to market with full DirectX 11 support, an unmatched experience made possible with ATI Eyefinity technology, and ATI Stream technology harnessing open standards designed to help make Windows 7 that much better, I can say with confidence that AMD is the undisputed leader in graphics once more.”

The CUDA architecture continues to blaze a trail as the leading platform for developing and running GPU Computing applications, with support for C, OpenCL, DirectX Compute, Fortran and other languages and APIs. The latest CUDA 2.2 Beta contains a host of significant new features, including:

Hardware debugger for the GPU
Linux developers can now use a debugger on CUDA-enabled GPUs that offers both the familiar interface of the popular open-source GDB debugger and the ability to debug kernels as they execute on the GPU. The GPU-side debugger has all the features that developers expect from GDB, including the ability to have breakpoints, watch variables, inspect state, etc., as well as additional functions for CUDA-specific features.

VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced the first expansion HD module for the VIA EPIA-P710, the VIA P710-HD. Featuring the powerful 4300E embedded graphics processor from S3 Graphics, this first Pico-I/O module for stackable Pico-ITXe boards delivers Hi-Def video playback and advanced graphics in an extremely low power, compact form factor.

With multiple display support including dual DVI and HDMI, the VIA P710-HD module opens up a new realm of possibilities to system integrators of multimedia intensive embedded applications. Sophisticated digital signage, arcade gaming, kiosk and POI applications can now take advantage of multiple digital display configurations and cutting edge Hi-Def playback of resolutions up to and beyond 1080p.

Microsoft's Ben Basaric, product marketing manager for Windows products, confirmed to PC Games Hardware that the next major update to the DirectX API, DirectX 11 would accompany Windows 7, the next major consumer operating system software by Microsoft. This, overwriting his own statement given to the website earlier that he wasn't sure if DirectX 11 would be ready to ship with the OS upon its launch. Furthermore, he also indicated that Windows Vista will have access to the updated API, although not sure at what point in time.Source: PCGH

Microsoft has released its latest update to the DirectX end-user runtime. The update patches DirectX installations on all current Microsoft PC, workstation and server operating systems. Microsoft releases updates to the DirectX end-user runtime on a bi-monthly basis, with security, performance enhancements and features usually forming the update. The latest update or the entire redistributable (for offline installations) can be downloaded from Microsoft here.

Microsoft has released a handful of details about DirectX 11, the latest version of the company's API.

• Full support (including all DX11 hardware features) on Windows Vista as well as future versions of Windows
• Compatibility with DirectX 10 and 10.1 hardware, as well as support for new DirectX 11 hardware
• New compute shader technology that lays the groundwork for the GPU to be used for more than just 3D graphics, so that developers can take advantage of the graphics card as a parallel processor
• Multi-threaded resource handling that will allow games to better take advantage of multi-core machines
• Support for tessellation, which blurs the line between super high quality pre-rendered scenes and scenes rendered in real-time, allowing game developers to refine models to be smoother and more attractive when seen up close

Source: Shacknews

We are barely into experiencing DirectX 10 / 10.1 games with proper levels of detail with upcoming titles demanding hardware, and Microsoft already has plans for DirectX 11, the next big version of this API set. Microsoft will show off DirectX 11 at the XNA Gamefest which is scheduled to take place on July 22 and 23 in Seattle, United States. This year’s Gamefest is to be centered by DirectX 11 and the advancements that are proposed to be brought about.

Thankfully Microsoft isn’t doing a ‘Vista’ this time around, this new multimedia and gaming API will be built for both Windows Vista and the upcoming Windows 7 operating systems. The API could be released to public anytime in late 2009.

There are several implications of this:

Let's face it, the ATI RV770 and its derivatives have become a rage. Everybody loves this chip and wants a card based on this, be it the card that made NVIDIA slash their prices, the HD4850 or the HD4870 which rivals the GeForce GTX 260 at a decent price. In surveys conducted by several websites, be it TweakTown or Hexus.net, majority community members chose ATI as a brand over NVIDIA, rougly indicating that the HD4000 series has done an excellent repair job with ATI and its brand value.

Nothing (exciting) is going NVIDIA's way these days, their notebook graphics division has taken a beating over the recent faulty parts issue. The NVDA stock is a little volatile at the stock market these days, after the company announced it predicts weaker earnings this quarter financial year. Here's something to ponder: If NVIDIA predicts weaker earnings, how come talks are they have something to counter the R700, which AMD already made statements about, saying it will "overwhelm the GeForce GTX 280"?

Microsoft has released a new update for DirectX, which is recommended for all users of Windows 2000 and newer (including Vista and Server editions). You can download the web installer here (validation required), or the 69.5MB redistributable version here. There doesn’t seem to be any information about the changes in this version, although they are most likely to be minor performance and security updates.

Microsoft has just released the November update for DirectX 9.0c. At present only the end-user web installer is available, but this is the version which should suit most techPowerUp! readers best anyway. Although it’s only a minor update, everyone should update to prevent any potential problems in new games and to ensure full compatibility with future drivers. The download is between 10KB and 212.6MB depending on how up-to-date your current version of DirectX is and it is for all versions of Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista. Download here.