AMD today unveiled nine new mid-range and entry-level AMD Opteron 4300 Series and 3300 Series server processors increasing performance per watt versus the previous generation to maximize compute capabilities in power-constrained environments1, while delivering outstanding value to cloud providers and web hosts. The AMD Opteron 3300 Series processors provide enterprise-class features in a low power envelope at a desktop processor price, making it ideal for web hosts and small- and medium-sized businesses.

The AMD Opteron 4300 Series processors offer up to 15 percent better performance versus the prior generation, based on SPECint benchmark results2. And SPECpower results show up to a 24 percent improvement in performance per watt. As with the AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors, these are socket compatible with the previous generation processor, providing an effortless upgrade path for customers.

AMD today announced its collaboration with Ubisoft to support the highly anticipated next chapter in the "Far Cry" franchise, "Far Cry 3," launching today in North America. Developed in conjunction with the AMD Gaming Evolved program, "Far Cry 3" is fully optimized for a premium PC gaming experience, harnessing the power of AMD Radeon graphics including native support for AMD Eyefinity and AMD CrossFire technologies, enabling industry-leading multiscreen experiences and high-performance gaming. By working closely together, AMD and Ubisoft have enhanced the "Far Cry 3" experience, allowing gamers to become fully immersed in an epic struggle to survive in one of the most lawless and challenging PC gaming environments to date.

"AMD and Ubisoft have worked together to make 'Far Cry 3' a state-of-the-art gaming experience on the PC, the world's most powerful gaming platform," said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, Graphics Business Unit, AMD. "The AMD Gaming Evolved program aims to put gamers and developers first, and we're making sure we deliver on our promise. By working with industry-leading developers like Ubisoft, we're not only helping to develop cutting-edge titles, we're also advancing the state of PC graphics for gamers."

AMD's Radeon HD 8000 "Sea Islands" family of GPUs may arrive some time in Q2-2013, but they won't arrive without a specifications overhaul. While NVIDIA is counting on performance enhancements to come out of higher clock speeds on existing silicon, while maintaining current (or lower) power-draw, with its "Enhanced Kepler" family of GPUs that will include the "GK110" juggernaut, AMD is counting on physically bigger chips with more components. AMD could step up transistor counts of its chips by as much as 20 percent, on existing 28 nm process.

According to a report, the biggest chip from AMD's fold could pack 5.1 billion transistors, amounting to 2560 stream processors, and an updated raster processing engine, with 48 ROPs ("Tahiti" has 32). While the Radeon HD 8970 maxes out the chip's capabilities, the HD 8950 could feature 256 fewer stream processors, at 2304. It could also go light on the clock speeds. AMD's performance-segment chip, codenamed "Sun" could see a similar stream processor increase to 1792, with the Radeon HD 8870 maxing it out, and HD 8850 featuring 1536. It maintains the memory bus width and raster engine layout of its predecessor.

AMD has now made available an updated version of its Catalyst 12.11 graphics drivers. Known as the Beta11, this latest release features all the goodies of previous Catalyst 12.11 Beta builds and brings improved performance in Far Cry 3 (up to 25% with 8xMSAA, SSAO enabled @ 1600p, and up to 15% with 8xMSAA, HDAO enabled @1600p) (the newly-released AMD Catalyst 12.11 CAP2 must also be installed)

To download the Catalyst 12.11 Beta 11 and Catalyst 12.11 CAP2 see this page.

According to industry sources, AMD pushed launch of its next-generation Radeon HD 8000 "Sea Islands" family of GPUs to the second quarter of 2013 (April-June). The delay comes in the wake of the company going through reorganization within its ranks, in response to poor market performance in Q3-2012. The company originally planned to launch its GPUs before the end of 2012. NVIDIA plans to launch a refreshed lineup of Kepler GPUs in 2013.

In an effort to raise cash in crunch-time, AMD plans to sell its Austin Texas campus (aka "Lone Star Campus") for around $150M to $200M. The company would then lease the campus back for 12 to 15 years. The 58-acre campus was built for at a cost of an estimated $270 million, and opened in 2008. Company spokesman Drew Prairie, in a statement to Reuters said "There are favorable economic conditions in the part of Austin where the campus is located," adding "Contingent on finding an investor who wants to do a multiyear lease-back, it's a good opportunity for us to unlock the value of the real estate to fund operations."

AMD today announced a new global distribution agreement with Symmetry Electronics, a distribution leader in the embedded market which includes digital signage, industrial control, automotive, manufacturing and machine-to-machine technologies. Symmetry Electronics will immediately begin to promote, sell and support the full line of AMD embedded products including the newest family of AMD Embedded R-Series accelerated processing units (APUs).

This new development underscores AMD's commitment to expanding its presence and penetration in the embedded market, specifically around the need for high-performance, low-power graphics solutions.

A renowned brand of graphics card maker - VTX3D, unfolds a might weapon to HD7870 series with VTX3D HD7870 Black Edition. The VTX3D HD7870 Black extends the benefits of VTX3D HD7870 series, but taking advantage of progressive GPU design, showing extraordinary performance than before.

The new model consists of ground-breaking feature which runs at a clock of 925MHz, and 6.0 Gbps for memory, even allowing higher frame rates in games by using AMD PowerTune with boost which overdrives core frequency to dynamically overclock up to 975MHz. Also, VTX3D HD7870 Black features 92mm ultra large fan and 3 heat pipes design, which can significantly reduce heats and keep the temperature low.

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 Q3'12.

The news was terrific for Nvidia and disappointing for everyone the other major players. From Q2 to Q3 Intel slipped in both desktop (7%) and notebook (8.6%). AMD dropped (2%) in the desktop, and (17%) in notebooks. Nvidia gained 28.3% in desktop from quarter to quarter and jumped almost 12% in the notebook segment.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced the record highest clock speed 7.86GHz on AMD's A10 5800K APU using the GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4 motherboard.

Attending an AMD Extreme OC show on 20th Nov. in Taipei Taiwan, GIGABYTE's overclocking team, The Killers (featuring HiCookie, S.Dougal and John Lam), took part in an overclocking demonstration achieving two new records on AMD's new Vishera and Trinity platforms. The GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4 motherboard was able to push the AMD 5800K to an incredible 7.86GHz, more than twice the 3.8GHz stock clock. The AMD FX8350 processor was pushed to 8.47GHz using a GIGABYTE 990FXA-UD3 board.

Global Foundries could soon howdy-neighbor TSMC in upstate New York, with the Taiwanese semiconductor giant looking to set up a fab there. According to an X-bit Labs report, TSMC began groundwork on its US venture by consulting with Deloitte, to look for viable sites in Rensselaer, Saratoga and Oneida counties, that have abundant water, power, and gas to operate 3.2 million square feet buildings with 1,000 employees, 40 percent of which are college-graduated engineers.

Deloitte also took a look around Luther Forest Technology Campus, where Global Foundries' Fab 8 is located. A little earlier this week, Bill Owens, a Congressman from upstate New York flew to Taiwan, to meet with TSMC CFO Lora Ho to pitch upstate a little more. TSMC is a principal foundry partner of companies such as Qualcomm, NVIDIA, and AMD.

According to industry sources we spoke with, multiple leading AMD add-in board partners lack plans to launch Radeon HD 7870 "Tahiti LE" graphics cards. The new performance segment SKU is slated for November 27, and already lacks an AMD reference design. The new SKU is being designed as a limited-edition model, targeting limited markets, to help AMD score big on the winter shopping season. Earlier this week, Club 3D defied the November 27 launch date to release the HD 7870 jokerCard, which is believed to stick to the final specifications of "Tahiti LE." Since TUL is the contract manufacturer for Club 3D, one can safely confirm that two AIB brands owned by it, PowerColor and VTX 3D, will announce HD 7870 "Tahiti LE." Incidentally, the three are also among the only AIBs with a Radeon HD 7990 dual-GPU graphics card, apart from HIS.

Based on the 28 nm "Tahiti" silicon, the limited edition Radeon HD 7870 "Tahiti LE" is configured with 1,536 Graphics CoreNext stream processors, a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface holding 2 GB of memory, and clock speeds of 925 MHz core, 975 MHz PowerTune boost, and 6.00 GHz memory (192 GB/s). It is said to be priced competitively with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 660, while being allegedly 15% faster.

Despite losing in market share to Intel, AMD has reason to cheer as its APU gambit is beginning to pay off. According to the latest architecture- and core count-specific sales figures for AMD given out by Mercury Research detailing Q3-2013 in context of two preceding quarters, APUs make for nearly 75% of AMD's processor sales, and the company's recently-launched "Trinity" line of desktop and mobile APUs are off to a flying start.

The most popular chips in AMD's stable are its "Bobcat" Zacate series low-power APUs, which are being built into entry-level computing devices such as netbooks, nettops, and all-in-one desktops. The chips make up 39 percent of AMD's sales in Q3, followed by another APU line, the A-Series "Trinity", which is available in desktop and mobile variants, offers a combination of a fast integrated graphics processor with up to four CPU cores, and makes up 26.1 percent of AMD's sales. AMD's A-Series "Llano" can still be bought in the market, and makes up 7.4 percent of AMD's sales in Q3.

AMD has now made available a fresh beta version of the Catalyst 12.11 drivers. Known as the Beta 8, this latest release features all the goodies of previous betas and brings the following additions:

● Improved performance up to 5% in Max Payne 3
● Single GPU performance updates for Far Cry 3
● Improved CrossFire scaling for Planetside 2 (Crossfire scaling is still limited to ~30% at 2560x1600)
● Resolves the Skyrim lighting issue (missing a lighting pass) for the AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series
● Resolves the hang encountered playing Dishonored on the AMD Radeon HD 6000 and AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series
● AMD Catalyst 12.11 Beta 8 for Linux includes significant performance improvements for Left for Dead 2

The Catalyst 12.11 Beta 8 can be found on this page.

AMD is proud to support Nintendo's newly launched Wii U home console as the supplier of custom AMD Radeon HD GPU technology. As announced at E3 in 2011, the custom-for-Nintendo AMD graphics processor enables Wii U to provide exciting, immersive game play, brilliant HD video and game graphics and new forms of interaction for consumers. Since 2001, AMD technology has been included in more than 118 million Nintendo Wii and GameCube hardware units around the world.1

The AMD GPU will help bring Nintendo's popular franchises into HD for the first time with new innovative game-play experiences, and the new Wii U GamePad controller, which creates a second window into the game world. "Wii U and its GamePad controller offer completely new and unexpected game-play and entertainment experiences," said Genyo Takeda, General Manager, Integrated Research & Development Division, Nintendo Co., Ltd. "We chose AMD to support our HD gaming efforts with its best-in-class graphics capabilities, and we're proud to call them a technology partner."

AMD is planning to officially launch its new performance-segment SKU codenamed "Tahiti LE" on November 27. According to a new HT4U report, there won't be an AMD-reference design, and its AIB partners will be free to use their existing HD 7900 series boards to carve out the new SKU. We know from slightly older reports that "Tahiti LE" is being designed to occupy a price point between the Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition and the Radeon HD 7950, and will be a limited edition, launched in select markets, to cash in on the winter shopping season.

Integrating new AMD Opteron 6300 processors, a full range of ASUS servers and server boards offers greater flexibility with five expansion slots and extreme computing power via support for up to four CPUs and two GPUs in select models (RS920A-E6/RS8, RS924A-E6/RS8 servers) to accommodate the needs of data center, enterprise and HPC applications. The dedicated BIOS developed by ASUS to make the most of the new processors is now available at the official ASUS support site.

RS920A-E6/RS8 and RS924A-E6/RS8 servers have been designed with a 4-way layout that supports up to four AMD Opteron 6300 processors on a single board, delivering extreme computing power and enhanced scalability. With each Opteron 6300 processor utilizing 16 cores, the new ASUS servers can sustain up to 64 cores as well as a maximum 512GB memory. They ship with four PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots plus one dedicated slot for an ASUS PIKE RAID card. This layout offers more flexible system setup and upgrade options, with an internal design that allows for up to twin double-deck graphics cards. The combined CPU/GPU power on offer creates high-output hybrid computing that matches the processing-intensive demands of HPC and data center applications.

AMD has collaborated with the University of Frankfurt's Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) to deliver a new standard in power-efficient supercomputing with the SANAM supercomputer, securing the number two ranking on the latest Green500 List. The supercomputer will aid FIAS in quantum chromodynamics research.

Powered by 420 AMD FirePro S10000 dual-GPU server graphics cards based on AMD Graphics Core Next Architecture, the SANAM supercomputer redefines supercomputing with its incredible power efficiency.

ZOTAC International, a global innovator and manufacturer of graphics cards, mainboards and mini-PCs, today launches the new A75-ITX WiFi B-series and A55-ITX WiFi B-series mini-ITX platforms for 2nd Generation AMD A-series APUs. The new socket FM2 platforms enable users to harness the power of the latest AMD Trinity APU architecture featuring AMD Radeon HD 7000 series graphics processors for perfect CPU and GPU synergy in a compact mini-ITX form factor.

"The 2nd Generation AMD A-series APUs paired with our ZOTAC A75-ITX WiFi B-series or A55-ITX WiFi B-series are perfect together. The mini-ITX form factor enables compact systems while the 2nd Generation AMD A-series APU delivers a performance punch and provide adequate gaming capabilities from the integrated AMD Radeon HD 7000 series graphics processor," says Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International. "The high-definition video processing capabilities from the AMD Radeon HD 7000 series graphics processor makes the ZOTAC A75-ITX WiFi B-series and A55-ITX WiFi B-series perfect for home theater PC use as well."

ORIGIN PC announced today its full support for the IGN Pro League (IPL), the competitive video game league presented by IGN Entertainment. ORIGIN PC will power the league's next highly-anticipated event, IPL 5, with "The Official IPL PC." Taking place November 29th to December 2nd at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, IPL 5 will bring together the best professional gamers from around the world compete to for $300,000 in prizes playing three popular titles: League of Legends, Starcraft II and Shoot Mania Storm.

"Like with any sport, we want to enable the best possible playing experience, and to do that we want to outfit our pros with the best possible equipment," sible equipment," said David Ting, founder of the IGN Pro League. "ORIGIN PC's state-of-the-art machines will help players perform at the top of their game. We're thrilled to have them on board as a partner that will help raise the bar on the level of play at IPL 5."

AMD released Catalyst 12.11 Beta 7 software suite. The release is specifically designed to improve CrossFire scaling for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. It includes all changes of older Beta releases, and is based on the "Never Settle" Catalyst 12.11 driver, which is proven to improve performance on Radeon HD 7000 series graphics processors based on the Graphics CoreNext architecture.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 12.11 Beta 7

AMD is consulting with JP Morgan Chase & Co., to explore options, that could pull it out of its grim financial situation. These could include a sale. The company is struggling to find itself a role in an industry that's increasingly focused on mobile, away from PCs. On hearing the news, the company stock surged 18 percent before closing for the day at 5 percent up, at $2.09, on the NYSE. Some of these options could include a sale of its portfolio of patents to raise cash. With the emergence of ARM SoC industry, AMD finds itself holding valuable IP that could fetch cash.

In a statement to Reuters, a company spokesperson said: "AMD's board and management believe that the strategy the company is currently pursuing to drive long-term growth by leveraging AMD's highly-differentiated technology assets is the right approach to enhance shareholder value. AMD is not actively pursuing a sale of the company or significant assets at this time." Some analysts believe that AMD will not be able to reverse its decline in time, given the rate at which it's laying off engineers, others add that it might be difficult to buy AMD as a whole, since it's considered to be a "legacy company."

Swiss overclocker Christian Ney set a new memory OC record, clocking in at 1950.3 MHz (actual), 3900.6 MHz DDR. The record was made possible (apart from great skills), by G.Skill F3-2666C11-4GTXD 4GB DDR3-2666 MHz memory, AMD A8-3870K APU, Gigabyte A75-UD4H motherboard, and a liquid nitrogen pot made by K|ngp|n Cooling. A top performing memory module was picked from nearly a dozen modules. The 1950.3 MHz DRAM clock was supported by timings of 14-14-14-36. DRAM voltage is kept under the wraps. The CPUID and HWBOT validations can be found here, and here.

AMD today demonstrated its ongoing support for high performance computing by providing massive compute capability, performance and flexibility for the world's number one ranked supercomputer. This ranking, the sixth number-one spot for AMD-based supercomputers in the last five years, highlights AMD's commitment to enabling indispensable computing technology by offering competitive performance at low cost.

The top supercomputer, a Cray XK7 nicknamed "Titan" and containing more than 18,000 AMD Opteron processors, was cited in the latest list of the Top500 Supercomputer Sites and is installed at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Labs (ORNL).

It looks like Microsoft is using the old DirectX limitation trick to push PC enthusiasts to buy its latest operating system. According to a Hardware Info report that cites a post on Microsoft Answers Forum by Microsoft employee Daniel Moth, the company may restrict DirectX 11.1, of which the newest generation of GPUs from AMD and NVIDIA are compatible with, to Windows 8. Windows 7 users will have to make do with DirectX 11. The move could be a little harsh, as each new version of Windows has access to at least two new DirectX versions. Windows XP saw DirectX 8 and 9.x, Windows Vista DirectX 10 and 11. Microsoft DirectX 11.1 adds a few new features to its Direct3D component. In addition to a vendor-neutral stereo 3D platform, it adds a host of 3D API features.