AMD, creator of the performance tablet category, today announced a new innovation for hybrid PCs that delivers uncompromised mobile PC experiences when in tablet mode or when connected to its base keyboard. Hybrid PCs are a new market segment between full notebooks and pure tablets that AMD plans to demonstrate, along with stand-alone performance tablets, at Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona, Spain next week.

AMD Turbo Dock technology automatically adjusts performance of the AMD accelerated processing unit (APU) higher while a hybrid PC is docked and being used for more complex tasks like content creation. Likewise, AMD Turbo Dock is designed to lower power consumption when in tablet mode, helping to save battery life and extend movie or video watching, as well as web browsing time.

AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the North American launch of its Gaming Evolved title "Crysis 3". Working closely with Crytek, elite AMD engineers optimized "Crysis 3" to enable incredible performance on AMD Radeon graphics cards, powered by the award-winning AMD Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture. The AMD/Crytek alliance accelerates "Crysis 3" with the world's fastest1 graphics processing unit (GPU), the AMD Radeon 7970 GHz Edition. This announcement comes just two weeks after the launch of the highly-acclaimed "Never Settle: Reloaded" bundle from AMD.

"'Crysis 3' is designed and optimized to be played on AMD Radeon graphics. No other GPU delivers the visual experience or next-generation features of AMD Radeon," said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, AMD Graphics. "Our close collaboration with Crytek means the robust AMD GCN architecture is fully exploited by 'Crysis 3' code paths. We set out to deliver the best gaming experience possible for enthusiasts, and frankly we've accomplished this through the Gaming Evolved program. The best way to enjoy it is through the 'Never Settle Reloaded' bundle."

AMD hedged its low-power CPU bets on the "Bobcat" micro-architecture for the past two years now. Intel's Atom line of low-power chips caught up in power-efficiency, CPU performance, to an extant iGPU performance, and recent models even feature out-of-order execution. AMD unveiled its next-generation "Jaguar" low-power CPU micro-architecture for APUs in the 5W - 25W TDP range, targeting everything from tablets to entry-level notebooks, and nettops.

At its presentation at the 60th ISSC 2013 conference, AMD detailed "Jaguar," revealing a few killer features that could restore the company's competitiveness in the low-power CPU segment. To begin with, APUs with CPU cores based on this micro-architecture will be built on TSMC's 28-nanometer HKMG process. Jaguar allows for up to four x86-64 cores. The four cores, unlike Bulldozer modules, are completely independent, and only share a 2 MB L2 cache.

Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, announced estimated graphics chip shipments and suppliers' market share for Q4'12.

The news was disappointing for every one of the major players. AMD dropped 13.6%, Intel slipped the least, just 2.9%, and Nvidia declined the most with 16.7% quarter-to-quarter change, this coming on the heels of a spectacular third quarter. The overall PC market actually grew 2.8% quarter-to-quarter while the graphics market declined 8.2% reflecting a decline in double-attach. That may be attributed to Intel's improved embedded graphics, finally making "good enough" a true statement.

You may have read our report from earlier today, covering the main points that AMD was trying to make in its recent teleconference with the European press (which includes us). While in the call, we were a little jolted by the choices of words some of AMD's executives used to describe their company's consumer graphics outlook for 2013, how they believe they can hold out for almost the entire year with little or no major updates to their product stack, and more interestingly, a few above-the-belt jabs at NVIDIA and its upcoming GeForce GTX Titan product.

The crux of AMD's emergency meeting with the press was to bust some misconceptions spread in the press over the last couple of weeks, to tell them a Graham's Number of times that they still hold the fastest single GPU on the planet, which powers the fastest graphics card there is (ASUS ARES II). The most ironic part of AMD's emergency meeting with the press was the one in which they called GeForce Titan NVIDIA's emergency/knee-jerk reaction to AMD's getting cozy with game developers, and netting some of the biggest PC game launches of the season for its Never Settle Reloaded bundle.

ASUS today announced the TUF Series SABERTOOTH 990FX/GEN3 R2.0, the world's first AMD-based motherboard to feature PCI Express 3.0 for use with next generation high performance graphics cards. Up to three DirectX 11 graphics cards with 28nm GPU technology can be used via NVIDIA SLI or AMD CrossFireX to create desktop PCs with formidable graphics performance.

SABERTOOTH 990FX/GEN3 R2.0 also features renowned ASUS TUF Series thermal design for superior heat removal. Like all TUF Series motherboards, it undergoes military and server-grade testing to ensure absolute stability, reliability, and longevity. SABERTOOTH 990FX/GEN3 R2.0 is backed by a five-year warranty.

Over the last weekend, AMD hosted a teleconference with the press in which it charted out its strategy for 2013. Older reports led us to believe that the company's next-generation GPU lineup won't launch any time before Q4, but the press overlooked another possibility, that AMD could make additions to its existing HD 7000 series product family, before Q4.

The current Radeon HD 7000 appears "complete," due to the fact that there are products covering nearly every competitive price point. With the introduction of the GeForce GTX Titan, NVIDIA could gain two products in the price-range of $900-$1200, the other being GTX 690. AMD's various board partners, lead by TUL-affiliated ones, and HIS, launched the HD 7990 around the $800 mark, and ASUS topped things up with the Republic of Gamers ARES II at an unreal $1,600 point, which AMD claims is the fastest graphics card money can buy.

Gigabyte rolled out a new mini-ITX motherboard based on the AMD E350 "Zacate" APU, for entry-level PC and home-server builds, the E350N-WIN8. As the name might suggest, the board is designed to run Windows 8 with its entire feature set, including Fast Boot. It does that by replacing legacy AwardBIOS on older variants, with modern AMI UEFI, backed by Gigabyte's Dual-UEFI redundant BIOS technology that protects against failed BIOS updates. The E350N WIN8 uses a fairly big (SFF-safe) fan-heatsink to cool the APU, while a tiny heatsink cools its companion A45 FCH chipset.

The AMD E350 packs two x86-64 cores clocked at 1.60 GHz, with a maximum memory support of 16 GB, and AMD Radeon HD 6310D DirectX 11 graphics that rides on 80 stream processors. The APU is wired to two standard-size 240-pin DIMM slots. The lone expansion slot, sadly, is a legacy PCI. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin and 4-pin ATX connectors. Connectivity includes four SATA 3 Gb/s ports, eight USB 2.0/1.1 ports (four on the rear panel, four by headers), serial RS232 (COM) and parallel (LPT) ports, PS/2 mouse and keyboard connectors, and display outputs that include D-Sub (VGA) and HDMI (with 7.1-channel digital HD audio). Expect a sub-$100 price point.

EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana based premium water cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to officially release the EK-VGA Supremacy HWBOT Edition, the first fruit of the collaboration between EK Water Blocks and HWBOT. EK-VGA Supremacy HWBOT Edition is a highest performance universal GPU water block built off EK-Supremacy cooling engine. It is a special edition of world-renown EK-VGA Supremacy waterblock featuring 100% metal construction.

EK-VGA Supremacy is a direct successor of the world renown EK-VGA Supreme HF waterblock launched in 2010. It's main improvements are:

• Better flow: due to improved design up to 20% higher flow compared to EK-VGA Supreme HF
• Better cooling performance: up to 2°C lower GPU temperatures

AMD's product manager for desktop graphics products Devon Nekechuk, in an interview with Japanese publication 4Gamer.net, revealed that his firm won't be launching any new Radeon GPUs in 2013, and that the company would instead play out the year on its current Radeon HD 7000 series' performance, with price adjustments and possible performance increments through driver updates. In a slide released to 4Gamers.net, AMD pointed that its Radeon HD 7900 series (high-end), HD 7800 series (performance), and HD 7700 series (mainstream), will carry on the company's mantle "throughout 2013."

This announcement is indication that GPU makers have decided to slow things down from the streak of rapid new GPU launches that lasted from some time around 2007, running up to 2012, which can be heavily taxing in terms of R&D costs for either companies. We know for sure that NVIDIA is clearing its backlog of consumer GPU development by releasing the GeForce GTX "Titan" graphics card in a couple of weeks' time, and we know from older reports that NVIDIA could launch a "refreshed" GeForce Kepler lineup, that largely retains the GeForce Kepler silicon while topping up with subtle changes (clock speeds, software features that don't involve redesigning the silicon, etc.,) but AMD coming out in the open with this announcement could change everything. NVIDIA has the opportunity to save a few coins by sticking to its current lineup (plus the upcoming GTX "Titan,") and responding to competition from AMD by price-adjustments and timely driver optimizations of its own.

AMD rushed out a new beta version of its Catalyst driver suite, which addresses the issue of improper performance scaling on the new 3DMark, on CrossFire multi-GPU setups. The new Catalyst 13.2 Beta 5 adds a CrossFire profile for 3DMark v1.00 launched on Monday (04/02). Along the way, it also introduced a couple of performance improvements in some highly specific scenarios. For systems running Far Cry 3 at 2560 x 1600 pixels, with 8x AA, performance could go up by 10 percent. With a refined profile, the driver could dole out up to 40 percent higher performance in Crysis 3, on CrossFire setups.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 13.2 Beta 5

It's not retirement time for AMD's 45 nm "Regor" silicon just yet, with the company announcing the Athlon II X2 280 value dual-core processor. Built in the socket AM3 package (compatible with AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+ motherboards), and based on the company's K10.5 micro-architecture, the chip features two x86-64 cores clocked at 3.60 GHz, 1 MB of L2 cache per core (2 MB total), an instruction set that includes SSE3 and SSE4A, and a dual-channel integrated memory controller that supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory types. The chip can take advantage of HyperTransport 3.0 interface, with a maximum data-rate of 4.0 GT/s. It features a rated TDP of 65W, and is designed for entry-level desktops. It is priced at US $49.99.

AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced today that Bernd Lienhard, 48, has joined the company as corporate vice president and general manager of its Client Business Unit, reporting to Dr. Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager, Global Business Units. In his role, Lienhard will apply his 22 years of experience in the semiconductor industry to lead AMD's client business as it expands its product lineup to include differentiated system-on-chip (SoC) solutions targeted at high-growth mobility and traditional client markets.

"A pivotal part of AMD's ability to win in high-growth markets is having the right leadership team in place with a diversity of semiconductor industry knowledge. Bernd's track record and experience translating business strategy into operational execution across large teams makes him the ideal leader for our client business," said Dr. Su. "Bernd's deep background of growth across a wide range of markets will accelerate our client business as we bring our strongest-ever line-up of APUs and first SoCs to market in 2013 and continue our expansion into ultraportable and ultra low-power form factors."

While digging through documentation for the latest version of AMD Display Library (ADL), we discovered evidence that AMD is working on a real GPU dynamic overclocking technology akin to NVIDIA's GPU Boost. Such a technology could manipulate GPU (and possibly memory) clock speeds, and voltages across multiple power states, taking into account processing load and temperatures. ADL allows third-party applications low-level interactions with AMD display drivers. Current generation Radeon graphics cards use Overdrive 5 and the feature-set it comes with, and so the new technology, along with Overdrive 6 could feature on upcoming generations of AMD GPUs.

Listed under Overdrive 6 capabilities, AMD documented three new definitions, one which indicates that a GPU's core/engine clock can be changed within a range (ADL_OD6_CAPABILITY_SCLK_CUSTOMIZATION), one that its memory clock can be changed within range (ADL_OD6_CAPABILITY_MCLK_CUSTOMIZATION), and one that monitors its activity/load (ADL_OD6_CAPABILITY_GPU_ACTIVITY_MONITOR). The three are ingredients of a dynamic OC technology in the works.

NVIDIA's next high-end graphics card, the GeForce "Titan" 780, is shaping up to be a dreadnought of sorts. It reportedly ships with 6 GB of GDDR5 memory as its standard amount. It's known from GK110 block diagrams released alongside the Tesla K20X GPU compute accelerator, that the chip features a 384-bit wide memory interface. With 4 Gbit memory chips still eluding the mainstream, it's quite likely that NVIDIA could cram twenty four 2 Gbit chips to total up 6,144 MB, and hence the chips could be spread on either sides of the PCB, and the back-plate could make a comeback on NVIDIA's single-GPU lineup.

On its Radeon HD 7900 series single-GPU graphics cards based on the "Tahiti" silicon (which features the same memory bus width), AMD used 3 GB as the standard amount; while 2 GB is standard for the GeForce GTX 680; although non-reference design 4 GB and 6 GB variants of the GTX 680 and HD 7970, respectively, are quite common. SweClockers also learned that NVIDIA preparing to price the new card in the neighborhood of $899.

When we first heard of NVIDIA launching its GK110-based consumer graphics card by as early as February, it took us by surprise. Intimidating naming (GeForce Titan 780?) aside, the graphics card is hoping to better NVIDIA's current-generation flagship, the dual-GPU GeForce GTX 690, in a single-GPU package, but does the graphics card market really need NVIDIA to launch its card at the moment? Perhaps not, but the answer lies not with AMD and competition in the graphics card market, but Sony, and competition between PC and console platforms.

Over the weekend, it surfaced that Sony would introduce its next-generation PlayStation console (codenamed "Orbis") later this month, and it would mark the beginning of the next-generation of game consoles. PlayStation 4 features an updated hardware feature-set, and promises to raise the bar with graphics detail that the console industry held with an iron fist for the past half decade. This presents a challenge for not only NVIDIA, but PC gaming in general. Here's how.

AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the arrival of its "Never Settle: Reloaded" game bundle, the sequel to last year's monumental "Never Settle" bundle. "Never Settle: Reloaded" delivers by bundling up to four of this year's most anticipated PC games -- "BioShock Infinite" by 2K Games and Irrational Games, "Crysis 3" by Electronic Arts, "DmC Devil May Cry" by Capcom and "Tomb Raider" by Square Enix -- with select AMD Radeon HD 7900 and HD 7800 Series graphics cards. The bundle highlights the continued commitment by AMD to ensure an incredible gaming experience on the world's top PC titles optimized for AMD Radeon graphics cards

"AMD knows gaming and in 2013 we plan to make a huge mark on the industry. Today we begin that journey by showing the world that the best PC game developers are AMD Gaming Evolved partners," said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager of AMD Graphics. "The 'Never Settle: Reloaded' bundle clearly stands apart from anything else in the market. Gaming has always been, and will remain, the core of the AMD Graphics strategy and success. In 2013, we plan to forge greater inroads into the gaming industry and it begins with packaging this year's biggest games with the best graphics hardware from AMD." The "Never Settle: Reloaded" bundle offers the following games when purchased with select AMD Radeon HD 7900 and HD 7800 Series graphics cards:

AMD stumped PC gamers last October by announcing its first Never Settle game bundle that sees its various AIB partners bundle 2~4 AAA game titles with their performance-thru-extreme segment graphics cards. In a bid to overcome post-X'mas slump, and build the brand in the run up to summer, the company released its Never Settle Reloaded bundles.

Based around games that launch within Q1, the bundle covers four new AAA titles: Tomb Raider (2013); Bioshock Infinite, DMC: Devil May Cry (2013); and Crysis 3. That's right, one of the biggest PC games of this season will be freely distributed with AMD Radeon graphics cards. Those buying a single Radeon HD 7900 series graphics card get Crysis 3 and Bioshock Infinite; a single Radeon HD 7800 series card gets you Bioshock Infinite and Tomb Raider (2013).

In addition to the FM2A85X-ITX, ASRock expanded its socket FM2 motherboard lineup with the FM2A85X Pro. This slim ATX form-factor motherboard, as the name suggests, is based on AMD A85X chipset, supporting socket FM2 APUs. By ATX standards, the board has a very slim feature-set, which should keep its price considerably low. To begin with, the FM2 socket is powered by a cost-effective 5-phase VRM, which draws power from an 8-pin EPS connector. It is wired to just two DDR3 DIMM slots (32 GB max., dual-channel DDR3-1866); and a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 connector.

In addition to a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 that's wired to the APU, the FM2A85X-ITX features another long slot, only this one is electrical 2.0 x4, and wired to the A85X FCH. Three PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and two legacy PCI make for the rest of the expansion slot area. The board features a total of eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports, but are spread apart in two clumps of four ports each. Connectivity is pretty basic: dual-link DVI, D-Sub, four USB 3.0 ports (two rear, two by header), 6-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, PS/2 mouse and keyboard; and a number of USB 2.0/1.1 ports. We expect this one to go for around $80, if not less.

In what could bring an ear-to-ear grin on DIY NAS/home-server builders, ASRock launched the industry's first mini-ITX motherboard with a total of eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports (of which one is eSATA 6 Gb/s). The new FM2A85X-ITX, as the name suggests, is a socket FM2 motherboard based on the AMD A85X chipset, in the mini-ITX form-factor. Everything on this board is just where you'd want it to be: the centrally-located APU socket is powered by a fairly strong 6-phase VRM, which along with ancillary phases, draws power from 24-pin ATX and 4-pin CPU power connectors.

The APU socket, which supports today's AMD A-series "Trinity" APUs, and likely tomorrow's A-series "Richland" APUs, is wired to two DDR3-DIMM slots supporting a maximum of 32 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1866 memory; and the lone expansion slot, a PCI-Express 2.0 x16. The AMD A85X FCH wires out seven internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports (with RAID 0/1/10 support), and an eSATA 6 Gb/s port. Display connectivity includes one each of dual-link DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. The board features a total of four USB 3.0 ports (two on the rear panel, two by headers). Gigabit Ethernet, 8-channel HD audio, PS/2 keyboard, and a number of USB 2.0/1.1 ports make for the rest of the connectivity. The ASRock FM2A85X-ITX is expected to be priced around US $110.

AMD introduced the FX-4130 value quad-core processor. Although slotted in the 4100 series, which suggests it being based on the older "Zambezi" silicon, the new FX-4130 is in fact based on the newer "Vishera" silicon, and the "Piledriver" micro-architecture. AMD is following a competitive (price-performance) approach to its CPU lineup, rather than a pure-performance one, and the FX-4130 is pitted by the company against the similarly priced Intel Core i3-2100.

The FX-4130 features four cores spread across two "Piledriver" modules, 3.80 GHz nominal clock speed with 3.90 GHz Turbo Core frequency, 2 MB L2 cache per module, 4 MB shared L3 cache, and an up to date instruction-set that includes AVX, AES-NI, SSE4.2, FMA, and XOP. Similarly priced Intel chips lack some of these instruction sets. With the FX-4130, AMD is packing a chunkier stock fan-heatsink than older FX-4000 series chips, which spins at lower speeds to keep the chip cool, and is hence less noisy. The new FX-4130 is priced at $99.99.

Hot on the heels of NVIDIA's GeForce 313.95 Beta drivers, AMD launched Catalyst 13.2 Beta, targeting EA's release of Crysis 3 multiplayer open-beta. The driver improves performance by up to 15 percent, but in highly specific scenarios, vaguely put by AMD as "in high MSAA cases." There is no general performance improvement announced, but that future Catalyst releases could address performance. Catalyst 13.2 Beta also addresses frame latency issues related to three titles, TES5: Skyrim, Boderlands 2, and Guild Wars 2. Single GPU performance for Devil May Cry is improved by up to 50 percent. CrossFire systems running Crysis 2 could see a 10 percent performance improvement. Lastly, a texture-flickering issue seen with DirectX 9.0c applications is resolved.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 13.2 Beta

Jetway Computer Corp., a leader in computer electronics and motherboard design and manufacturing, announced availability of the NF82 mini-ITX motherboard for AMD R-Series APU embedded processors, codenamed eTrinity. The eTrinity platform delivers a high-performance platform to SMB and embedded system integrators developing low-power small form factor mini-PC solutions with exceptional graphics performance.

Jetway is the first manufacturer to ship a mini-ITX motherboard supporting the new FS1r2 socket AMD R-Series APU. By using the FS1r2 socket, a system integrator can choose the price or performance they want, rather than be limited by a specific BGA processor soldered onto a motherboard. AMD is currently shipping four R-Series APU models through their AMD Authorized Embedded Distributors; Arrow, ASI, AVNET, Symmetry and Synnex. Below is a list of the available R-Series APU.

FinalWire Ltd. today announced the immediate availability of AIDA64 Extreme Edition 2.80 software, a streamlined diagnostic and benchmarking tool for home users; and the immediate availability of AIDA64 Business Edition 2.80 software, an essential network management solution for small and medium scale enterprises.

The new AIDA64 update offers optimized benchmarks for Intel Atom Z2760, implements support for OpenCL 1.2 Update and OpenGL ES 3.0, and provides GPU details for the latest AMD Radeon and nVIDIA GeForce graphics accelerators.DOWNLOAD: FinalWire AIDA64 v2.80 Installer (EXE), ZIP package

MSI rolled out a new value socket AM3+ motherboard, the 970A-G43. Based on the AMD 970 chipset with SB950 southbridge, the ATX form-factor board covers all the essentials for a single graphics card gaming PC build, on a tight budget. It uses a simple 5-phase VRM to power the AM3+ socket. The board uses an all solid-state capacitor loadout, by saving on MOSFETs. The CPU VRM uses inexpensive On-Semi DPAK fare. The socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 64 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz memory.

Among the expansion slots are a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (wired to the 970 northbridge), a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, wired to the SB950 southbridge), and two each of PCI-Express 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI. Storage connectivity is care of six SATA 6 Gb/s ports supporting RAID 0/1/5/10. A couple of 2-port USB 3.0 controllers wired out four ports, of which are two are given out by a standard front-panel header. Completing the package are 8-channel HD audio (Realtek ALC887), gigabit Ethernet (Realtek 8111E), and a handful of USB 2.0/1.1 ports. The board is driven by AMI UEFI BIOS. The 970A-G43 is priced at $89.99.