Video Cards & GPUs News - Page 4

Sycom has just announced its new GeForce RTX 4090 and GeForce RTX 4080 graphics cards, with some AIO cooling and a built-in spirit level, if that's your thing.

Sycom's new GeForce RTX 4090 with a built-in spirit level

The Japanese custom PC maker has used a virtually identical cooler to the MANLI Gallardo range of GeForce RTX graphics cards, where it even has the same logo... but with the same cooler, Sycom has used a built-in spirit level and AIO cooler with some Noctua fans attached.

Sycom has replaced the GPU vapor chamber with an in-house AIO liquid cooling kit that is attached to an external radiator, but it doesn't match the style and aesthetics of the graphics card itself, which is kind of disappointing. The Japanese custom PC maker is using their semi-custom design inside of their pre-built G-Master Hydro gaming PCs, where customers can choose between NVIDIA's new flagship AD102-based GeForce RTX 4090, and the second-fastest Ada Lovelace-based GPU in the AD103-powered GeForce RTX 4080.

AMD will officially unleash its next-gen RDNA 3-powered Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Radeon RX 7900 XT graphics cards on December 13, but we're hearing some new information on exactly how the launch will play out.

AMD's new Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Radeon RX 7900 XT cards

First, AMD will launch its reference model Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Radeon RX 7900 XT graphics cards on December 13, but the custom AIB models from partners like ASUS, MSI, SAPPHIRE, and others will launch 1-2 weeks later according to the latest from BoardChannel news.

We've already heard and seen teases from ASUS, PowerColor, and SAPPHIRE for their custom Radeon RX 7900 series graphics cards, but it seems that we'll see the custom designs in the weeks after December 13... perfect timing for Christmas.

SAPPHIRE has just officially teased its next-gen Radeon RX 7900 series NITRO graphics cards, with a post on Twitter teasing the card and showing off the new design.

SAPPHIRE's upcoming Radeon RX 7900 series NITRO tease (source: SAPPHIRE)

Just like with previous AIB partners teasing their custom Radeon RX 7900 series graphics cards, SAPPHIRE isn't clear on which model they're showing off here -- the flagship Radeon RX 7900 XTX or the slightly cut-down Radeon RX 7900 XT -- but I would dare expect this is the SAPPHIRE Radeon RX 7900 XTX NITRO graphics card.

SAPPHIRE is rolling out with a redesigned look and new cooler, with a gray shroud that looks like it's flat and rocks three axial fans that are spinning in opposite directions. It's a far cry from the slick design of SAPPHIRE's Radeon RX 6000 series NITRO graphics cards, but we need to get some hands-on and eyes-on with SAPPHIRE's new Radeon RX 7900 series NITRO graphics cards before a final judgment is made on the look and style of the card. From the quick video, I'm digging the style so far.

Jon Peddie Research has pushed out a new report for the GPU market in Q3 2022, with the biggest drop in GPU shipments since the 2009 recession.

PC GPU vendor total market share (source: JPR)

GPU and CPU shipments dropped significantly year-over-year by 19% with GPU seeing a compound growth rate of 2.8% between 2022-2026, where they'll see an install base of 3.1 billion units at the end of JPR's forecast period. In the next 5 years, JPR predicts discrete GPUs inside of PCs will hit 26%.

Looking at the year-to-year total GPU shipments, these numbers aren't good: they're down 25.1% for all types of platforms and GPUs, while desktop graphics cards dropped 15.4% and notebooks by 30% which is huge: the largest since the 2009 recession. Who lost the most? AMD.

TSMC is going to be charging more for its bleeding edge 3nm chips according to a new report from DigiTimes, which suggests the company will be charging $20,000 for 3nm wafers.

TSMC's wafer costs from 2004 to 2022 (source: DigiTimes)

The current-gen 5nm designs that we're already enjoying with NVIDIA and its new GeForce RTX 40 series "Ada Lovelace" GPUs are made on a custom 5nm design by TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), as well as Apple and soon AMD's new Radeon RX 7000 series "RDNA 3" graphics cards.

Back in 2018, TSMC was charging $10,000 (USD) per 7nm wafer -- which TSMC's 7nm process node made millions of devices sing with silicon magic: Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Ryzen CPUs, Radeon GPUs, and so much more -- but in 2020 when it started pumping out 5nm wafers the costs were jacked up to $16,000 per wafer. But now, TSMC's next-gen 5nm wafers will reportedly cost $20,000 meaning next-gen CPUs and GPUs from AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA will be even more expensive than they are now.

TSMC has announced that it will be producing next-gen 3nm chips at its new factory in the USA, with its factory in Arizona not completely finished, but TSMC founder Morris Chang has provided the world with an update.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) founder Morris Chang said on Monday: "Three-nanometre, TSMC right now has a plan, but it has not been completely finalised. It has almost been finalised - in the same Arizona site, phase two. Five-nanometre is phase one, 3-nanometre is phase two".

Chang was speaking with reporters in Taipei after he returned from the APEC summit that was held last week in Thailand, that the next-gen 3nm fabrication plant would be in the same location as the 5nm plant being built in Arizona. TSMC will be holding a "tool-in" ceremony for its new Arizona plant, which will take place on December 6, with Chang being in attendance -- along with TSMC customers and suppliers, as well as U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

AMD is taking the perfect opportunity to jebait its competitor NVIDIA, teasing the company and its fiery 16-pin "12VHPWR" power connector melting, or catching fire on NVIDIA's new flagship GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card.

AMD's Senior Director of Gaming Marketing, taking a stab at NVIDIA (source: Twitter)

AMD's Senior Director of Gaming Marketing Sasa Marinkovic took to Twitter a couple of days ago with a rather simple, but spicy tweet: "stay safe this holiday season" and tagged the official AMD Radeon Twitter account, with a picture of the dual 8-pin PCIe power connectors on the upcoming RDNA 3-based Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Radeon RX 7900 XT graphics cards.

NVIDIA's entire flock of GeForce RTX 40 series "Ada Lovelace" graphics cards are using the new 16-pin "12VHPWR" power connector, while AMD is continuing on with the industry standard 8-pin PCIe power connectors on its new Radeon RX 7000 series "RDNA 3" graphics cards.

AMD is preparing a larger volume of RDNA 3-powered Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Radeon RX 7900 XT graphics cards for the big December 13 launch according to the latest rumors.

AMD's new Radeon RX 7900 XTX "RDNA 3" graphics card

MyDrivers has reported from sources of theirs in the upstream supply chain that AMD is increasing the number of orders for its upcoming RDNA 3-powered Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Radeon RX 7900 XT graphics cards... where we could see more Navi 31-based GPUs at launch than NVIDIA had of its GeForce RTX 4090 and GeForce RTX 4080 "Ada Lovelace" graphics cards.

We know from the current reports that NVIDIA has reportedly shipped out 160,000+ graphics cards so far -- that's both the flagship AD102-based GeForce RTX 4090 and AD103-based GeForce RTX 4080 -- with over 80% of those 160,000 cards being the higher-end GeForce RTX 4090. AMD will not be competing against the GeForce RTX 4090, even with its new Radeon RX 7900 XTX, which is being aimed directly at the GeForce RTX 4080.

NVIDIA has finally, finally weighed in on the explosive issue of 16-pin "12VHPWR" power connectors melting on their expensive new flagship GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards.

NVIDIA's official statement on the 12VHPWR power connector (source: NVIDIA)

After an extensive investigation and wicked video put out by the folks at GamersNexus, NVIDIA has released an official statement on what the hell is going on with the melting 12VHPWR power connectors. NVIDIA has said that they are "aware of about 50 cases globally" of melting GeForce RTX 4090 power connectors.

NVIDIA says that their findings to date suggest that the common issue with faulty GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards is that the 16-pin 12VHPWR power connector is "not fully plugged into" the graphic card. The company suggests that you plug in the power dongle (the 16-pin to 4 x 8-pin PCIe adapter) into the graphics card first, to ensure that the 12VHPWR power connector is firmly, and evenly plugged in, before you put the GeForce RTX 4090 onto your motherboard.

NVIDIA's monster new GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card is out in the wild, with reports from last week teasing the company had shipped 100,000+ of its AD102-based GPU... but now those numbers are climbing quickly.

Look at all of those GeForce RTX 4080 graphics cards, just sitting there (source: Sabin)

According to a few sources, NVIDIA has reportedly shipped over 130,000 of its flagship GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards... which is interesting to see, considering how expensive these graphics cards are. The new GeForce RTX 4090 has absolutely no competition on the market right now, and even when AMD launches its new Navi 31-powered Radeon RX 7900 XTX, it won't match the GeForce RTX 4090.

We are being told that NVIDIA has shipped 130,000+ of the flagship GeForce RTX 4090, and just 30,000 of the second-fastest Ada Lovelace GPU -- the GeForce RTX 4080. It shouldn't come as a big surprise considering the GeForce RTX 4090 is fantastically fast, and only a few hundred more dollars than the GeForce RTX 4080... leaving the AD103-based GeForce RTX 4080 sitting on retailer shelves.