AMD Radeon HD 7xxx Series

Hi everyone!

My apartment has been finalized, my stuff has all been listed, sorted and all that remains now is the keys and the move. From the look of things, I will be moving on/after the 28th. This apartment should be empty by the 30th.

Today I wanted to talk about AMDs newest video cards, The Radeon HD 7xxx series. The name for AMDs newest architecture is Graphics Core Next (GCN.) It is a 28nm GPU architecture which enabled AMD to fit a whopping 4.3 billion transistors, in effect increasing the density by greater than 60%. This is also AMDs first ever design for general computing, it can be used to handle workloads which until now were exclusively the domain of the CPU. The new architecture has also improved DirectX 11 tessellation from previous Radeons. AMDs Power Tune also helps improve performance by performing real-time analysis and increasing the GPU's clockspeed for applications that require more power. The GCN architecture also has three key technologies which help it deliver greater image quality and textural accuracy.

Partially Resident Textures (PRT)


PRT can utilize enormous texture files with minimal performance impact by streaming small bits of the textures into the GPU as needed giving compatible games with an almost endless supply of unique texture data. This will enable new games to utilize ultra-high resolution textures with the same performance as today's smaller textures.

Improved Anisotropic Filtering (AF)


AF is a technique available on every modern GPU with assists the GPU to make sure that every texture remains razor sharp. The GCN Architecture is optimized to produce superior results when AF is enabled.

Improved DirectX 11 Tessellation


The GCN Architecture has been optimized to deliver up to 4x the performance of the Radeon HD 6000 Serues.

In addition, it also features AMD ZeroCore Power Technology which ensures that power efficiency by powering down the GPU when your monitor is off.

So which cards should you consider to take advantage of AMDs newest offerings? Below is a list of all the cards I think are great buys.

AMD Radeon HD 7750


ASUS HD7750-1GD5-V2

Core Clock : 820 MHz
Stream Processors : 512
Memory : 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
Dimensions : 7.8in x 5in x 1.7in










Great for a budget build, the GCN Architecture will ensure you still get great results gaming and during everyday use. Designed with general home computing in mind, it does not an external power connection. Selling for US$109.99.

XFX Double D

Core Clock : 900 MHz
Stream Processors : 512
Memory : 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
Dimensions : 8.8in x 4.4in x 1.5in





For those who want a little more power while still staying in budget, The XFX Double D is the way to go. This one will require a 6-pin PCI-E power connector. Selling for US$ 124.99.

AMD Radeon HD 7770 Ghz Edition


ASUS HD7770-DC-1GD5-V2

Core Clock : 1020 MHz
Stream Processors : 640
Memory : 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
Dimensions : 9.3in x 5.5in x 1.7in








A step up from the 7750, This card has CrossFireX Support so you can you more than 1 GPUs to increase performance. Selling for US$ 139.99. ASUS also has a 2GB version of the 7770. Check it out here.

MSi R7770-2PMD1GD5/OC

Core Clock : 1020 MHz
Stream Processors : 640
Memory : 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
Dimensions : 9.25in x 4.37in x 1.5in
Price : US$ 124.99





AMD Radeon HD 7850


ASUS HD7850-DC2-2GD5

Core Clock : 870 MHz
Stream Processors : 1024
Memory : 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
Dimensions : 10.2in x 4.5in x 1.7in








Part of AMDs Mid-Range Series, The ASUS version features amazing stability and good heat dissipation. CrossFireX enabled and selling for US$ 259.99.


AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition


GIGABYTE GV-R787OC-2GD

Core Clock : 1100MHz
Stream Processors : 1280
Memory : 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
Dimensions : 11.02in x 5.27in x 1.6in




A great offering from Gigabyte, this card will run most of your games in high setting with ease. A good card for you money. Selling for US$ 329.99.

AMD Radeon HD 7950


SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950

Core Clock : 810 MHz
Stream Processors : 1792
Memory : 3GB 384-bit GDDR5
Dimensions : 10.4in x 3.93in








One of the best 7950s money can buy, the Sapphire version also takes up less space inside your computer case. Capable of playing your games at ultra-high settings, this card is definitely worth the consideration. Selling for US$ 389.99.

Other good cards to consider
XFX FX-795A-TNBC US$ 389.99
ASUS HD7950-DC2-3GD5 US$ 409.99

AMD Radeon HD 7970


MSi R7970 Lightning

Core Clock : 1070 MHz
Stream Processors : 2048
Memory : 3GB 384-bit GDDR5
Dimension : 12in x 5.33in x 1.57in





You get the bone crushing power of the 7970, the awesome performance of MSi, what more do you want? Selling for US$ 544.99.

Other good cards to consider
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7970 OC US$ 479.99
XFX Double D FX-797A-TDBC US$ 479.99
ASUS HD7970-DC2-3GD5 US$ 479.99

I feel that in the near future, AMD will come out the 7990 to compete against the GTX 690. I will talk about it when that comes.

That's it for now folks, thank you for reading. Kiyoshi Out!
Psst... Hey... Spread the word! +1, Subscribe,Tweet ^_^ Thank you for reading.

Intel Motherboard 2

Hi everyone!

I will now briefly return to the world of Intel Motherboards as I had left the post incomplete last time. Today we will be talking about the LGA2011 socket and the LGA1155 (which contains both the Ivy Bridge and the Sandy Bridge.)

LGA2011


The LGA2011 is Intel's Enthusiast Extreme line of CPUs which represent what the Intel platform is truly capable of. The 2011 is also quad channel ram compatible and also supports PCI-E 3.0.

ASRock X79 Extreme6

One of ASRock's best selling 2011 motherboards, the Extreme6 comes with a host of good options and a very nifty color scheme. Supporting a maximum of 64GB Ram in a Quad Channel Setup, The Extreme6 also has 3 PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots. 5 Sata III connectors and 4 USB 3.0 connectors. Selling for $249.99.









Other Good ASRock Motherboards are :
Fatal1ty X79 Champion
X79 Extreme9



Gigabyte G1.Assassin2



The G1 series is Gigabyte's gaming motherboard series and as such is good at overclocking and also features a Creative CA20K2 chip which provides support for X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity and EAX Advanced HD 5.0 Supports a maximum of 32GB Ram with 3 PCI-E 3.0 x16 connectors, 4 Sata III and 2 USB3.0 connectors. Selling for $349.99.







ASUS Rampage IV Extreme

Another great motherboard from ASUS. Supports 64GB of Ram and 5 PCI-E 3.0 x 16 slots, 4 SATA III connectors and 4 USB3.0 connectors. You can never go wrong with ASUS! Selling for $429.99.













LGA1155


For a while now, one of the main complaints against Intel was that they would change their cpu socket with every new release which in turn prompted people to buy new motherboards thereby increasing their expenditure. Intel listened this and when it introduced the 3rd Generation of Intel CPUs, it kept them on the same socket type (LGA1155.)

ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional

The Fatal1ty Professional is a rock solid motherboard which supports 32GB of Ram in Dual Channel mode, 2 PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots, 1 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot, 6 SataIII connectors and 6 USB3.0 connectors. Retailing for $229.99.











Other good boards from ASRock are
Z77 Extreme9
Z77 Pro4-M (A Micro-ATX Board)



Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H

A good budget option from Gigabyte it supports 32GB of Ram, 1 PCI-E 3.0 x16 slot, 1 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot, 2 Sata III Connectors and 4 USB3.0 connectors. Retailing for $119.99










Other good boards from Gigabyte are
G1.Sniper 3
GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB WiFi


ASUS Maximus V Gene

An amazing Micro ATX gaming board offering from ASUS. Supports 32GB Ram, 2 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots , 4 SATA III connectors and 4 USB3.0 connectors. It also boasts a SupremeFX III audio chipset. Retailing for $209.99










Other good boards from ASUS are
P8Z77 WS
P8Z77-V LE
Sabertooth Z77

And there you have it folks! The latest, and in my view great motherboards for Intel. Next post I will talk about the 3rd Generation Intel Processors but until then,

Kiyoshi Out! ^_^

GPU AMD Lineup

I changed my decision about using a single post because I did not want it to get too long and possibly bore you incase you are reading my posts thoroughly. So here is part 2 of the gpu post

AMD

Creating both CPUs and GPUs, AMD has some of the best cards around to offer and they are the other major force in the world of GPUs along with NVIDIA. These two companies pretty much run neck and neck with NVIDIA generally thought to be better for maxing out performance on single monitor setups and AMD preferred for +2 monitors setup. A single AMD card is capable of running more monitors then a single NVIDIA card.

The lineup I was focused on at the time of my build was the AMD HD Radeon 6900 series. 

Radeon 6950

 Running on 1408 Stream Processors, the 6950 has native support for up to 4 simultaneous displays all of which can run with independent resolutions, refresh rates and video overlays. 

1. Gigabyte GV-R695OC-1GD

Price : $239.99

Core Clock : 870Mhz

Memory : 1 GB 256-bit GDDR5

CrossFireX Ready

Dimensions : 11.4in x 5in

A very popular card with very good ratings, the Gigabyte 6950 is a serious contender for your money if you are considering a Radeon HD 6950 card.

2. XFX Double D HD-695X-CDFC

Price : $259.99

Core Clock : 800 Mhz

Memory : 2GB 256-bit GDDR5

CrossFireX Ready

Dimensions : 10.08in x 4.38in 

XFX makes some very good cards which also have the added benefit of being smaller then several of their rivals. 

3. Sapphire 11188-22-20G

Price : $249.99

Core Clock : 820Mhz

Memory : 2GB 256-bit GDDR5

CrossFireX Ready

Dimensions : 10.2in x 4.3in

Sapphire is also another company which has some impressive cards under its belt. 

Radeon HD 6970

The 6970 has 1536 stream processors which lets it run games on the highest settings on multiple monitors. If you have the money, go for it!

1. XFX HD-697A-CNFC

Price : $349.99

Core Clock : 880Mhz

Memory : 2GB 256-bit GDDR5

CrossFireX

Dimensions : 11.3in x 4.38in

Another solid option by XFX with some very impressive results. The card is on the longer side which is my only concern. As always keep the size in mind when choosing to fit it in a Case. 

2. ASUS EAH6970 DCII/2DI4S/2GD5

Price : $406.46

Core Clock : 890Mhz

Memory : 2GB 256-bit GDDR5

CrossFireX

Dimensions : 11.7in x 5in

One of my favorite cards from one of my favorite companies. Also is huge!! So in checking Newegg recently, I noticed alot of the cards from the 6950 and 6970 series are gone so I am scrambling to find some links for these cards. I will update my posts if I find some more famous vendors but until then these links will have to do.

There are two more card series which I have not put in to my blog. They are the NVIDIA GTX 590 and the AMD Radeon HD 6990. Both cards are actually a dual gpu on a single card. The reason I did not is because I am having a hard time finding good links to put. Newegg is out of stock on all 6990s and does not even list the gtx 590 so you can search around for them but I will list their stock specs 

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590

Cuda Cores : 1024

Core Clock : 607 Mhz

Memory : 3GB 384-but GDDR5

AMD Radeon HD 6990

Stream Processors : 3072

Core Clock : 830 Mhz

memory : 4GB 256-bit GDDR5

Both are blazing fast, with the 590 being less noisier. 

With that out of the way the card that I chose was 

The XFX 6950. The budget I had was a strong reason for me picking this card and also that I could play nearly all the games at the highest settings and on multiple monitors as well. My final build will contain 3 monitors and at this time am not willing to purchase two cards to do either SLI or CrossFireX and with the budget constraints I have, decided that the XFX one with 2GB of Ram will be good fit for my build. Also I wanted to make an all AMD build. My next build will be an Intel NVIDIA build so please do not think I am a AMD fanboy but I still think that all companies have something unique to offer and as such should all be viable options for your build. 

Kiyoshi out.

GPU NVIDIA Lineup

I will attempt to use a single post to detail both Nvidia and AMD video cards and then tell you which card I went with. First we will take a look at Nvidia

NVIDIA


NVIDIA is an amazing company with a very impressive portfolio of products. Known primarily for their video cards, Nvidia has also delved in to the world of mobile processors with their TEGRA lineup of Dual-Core and Quad-Core mobile processors. They offer blazing fast graphics card and are always at the cutting edge of Video Card technology.

The lineup that I was most interested in at the time of my build was the Nvidia GeForce GTX 5 Series.

GTX 560

The GTX 560 is a very good card which has 336 Cuda Cores and is capable of running games in DirectX 11 at 1080p resolution and beyond. Some good choices in the range are as follows:






1. EVGA Superclocked 02G-P3-1469-KR which has a core clock of 850Mhz, 2GB of GDDR5 Memory, Max. Resolution of 2560 x 1600 and is SLI Ready. The is 8.25 inches long which is a very important thing to note because if the card is too big for your case you might no be able to fit it easily so always always try to find out what the dimensions are. Currently selling for $209.99.

2. ASUS ENGTX560 DCII TOP/2DI/1GD5
Price : $209.99
Core Clock : 925Mhz
Memory: 1GB GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimesions : 9 in x 4.4 in (L x W)

Another very good card to have. The Ram may look smaller to you but if you plan on gaming on only one monitor you should have no problems with this card. 2GB of memory will give you more stable performance on 2 monitors.

3. MSi N560GTX-M2D1 GD5
Price : $189.99
Core Clock : 810 Mhz
Memory : 1GB GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9.37 in x 4.41 in

Another very good card but the longest of the three I have mentioned. Space is always at a premium inside your case so always make sure your case can fit said card.

GTX 560 Ti

The 560Ti is an updated 560 with more Cuda Cores then 560. It has two editions the standard one has 384 Cores and a Limited Edition which has 448 Cores. The 560 has been one of the most popular cards NVIDIA has made which is why they came out with two more editions of it featuring more cores.




1. EVGA 012-P3-2078-KR
Price : $299.99
Core Clock :  810 Mhz
Memory : 1.25 GB of GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 10.5in x 4.38in

An awesome card to consider as it can keep up with and even outperform a stock GTX 570. and overclocked can perform like a GTX 580. A worthy one to consider. This is the 448 Core Limited Edition. The rest are the standard 384 Core models.

2. MSi N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC
Price : $269.99
Core Clock : 880Mhz
Memory : 2 GB of GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9.37 in x 4.37 in

MSi also makes some very good gpus. Their Twin Frozr line has two fans as opposed to the usual one fan which gives a better cooling option.

3. EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR
Price : $249.99
Core Clock : 850 Mhz
Memory : 1GB GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9 in x 4.38in

So it should be apparent at this point that EVGA makes some of the best NVIDIA video cards out in the market. That is why at least one card is always mentioned in my list.

4. ASUS ENGTX560 TI DCII TOP/2DI/1GD5
Price :  $239.99
Core Clock : 900Mhz
Memory : 1GB GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9in x 4.4 in

One of my favorite companies with one of my favorite cards. DC II stands for DirectCU II which is a dual fan design with three 8mm flatten copper heat pipes directly in contact with the GPU to provide a more cooler operation temperature and as a result, a longer lifespan.

GTX 570

Built to replace the GTX 480, The 570 is an impressive card with 480 CUDA Cores and capable of a maximum digital resolution of 2560x1600 (As per NVIDIA's reference card design.) Built to fill the niche between the 560 and 580.





1.  EVGA 025-P3-1579-AR

Price : $339.99
Core Clock : 732Mhz
Memory : 2.5GB 320-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9 in x 4.38in

As always a very solid design by EVGA, this card is a very strong contender and can play any game at max settings.

2. ASUS ENGTX570 DCII/2DIS/1280MD5

Price : $339.99
Core Clock : 742 Mhz
Memory : 1.2 GB 320-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 11.5in x 5in

One of my favorite cards with the only gripe being the size of the thing. It's pretty big! As always plan accordingly.

3. MSi N570GTX Frozr III PE/OC

Price : $329.99
Core Clock : 770Mhz
Memory : 1.2GB 320-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 9.57in x 4.53in

Another solid effort by MSi, The Frozr III has the higher core clock out of the three and size is also good.

GTX 580


NVIDIA's fastest DirectX 11 GPU with 512 Cuda Cores. The 580 is the very best 5 series card from NVIDIA and if you the money, you can not go wrong with it.





1. EVGA 03G-P3-1591-AR

Price : $659.99
Core Clock : 772 Mhz
Memory : 3GB 384-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 10.5in x 5.5in

The very best effort by EVGA yielded this amazing card. It is a liquid cooled card with no fans running in it and if you have the money, nothing beats it.

2. EVGA Superclocked 015-P3-1582-AR

Price : $429.99
Core Clock : 797 Mhz
Memory : 1.5GB 384-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions 10.5in x 4.38in

Another very solid card by EVGA. Get this and you will be set for a long time playing any game at the highest settings.

3. Gigabyte GV-N580UD-15I

Price $389.99
Core Clock : 795Mhz
Memory : 1.5GB 384-bit GDDR5
SLI Ready
Dimensions : 11.02in x 5.39in

This card has 3 fans for some very impressive cooling! The only gripe would be of course the size as it is hitting 11 inches. Make room for it! Overall an impressive effort by Gigabyte.

There you have it folks. Those are the cards from Nvidia which I was interested in. If you are on a budget, I would recommend the GTX 560Ti. It's popularity has not waned even a bit after the Nvidia 6 series was launched (Will talk about that in a later post.) If you have the money then I would suggest the GTX580 but all in all any of these cards should keep you happy for a while!

My next post will be about AMD Cards and of course which card I ended up going with.

Till then,
Kiyoshi out!