AMD Launches Radeon Pro WX 7100, WX 5100 & WX 4100 Workstation Graphics Cards – The Most Efficient Yet

AMD Launches Radeon Pro WX 7100, WX 5100 & WX 4100 Workstation Graphics Cards – The Most Efficient Yet

Today AMD is launching its most power efficient workstation graphics cards to date featuring the company’s latest Polaris architecture. They are the the Radeon Pro WX 7100, WX 5100 and WX 4100 graphics cards.

These three new boards represent the company’s first ever full range of products to bear the new Radeon Pro brand name. As well as the brand’s new color based on the YIn Mn blue pigment, chosen for its unique visual and power efficiency properties. The pigment was discovered on accident by Professor Mas Subramanian and hist team at Oregon State University.

AMD Launches Radeon Pro WX 7100, WX 5100 And WX 4100 Workstation Graphics Cards

The Radeon Pro WX 7100, WX 5100 and WX 4100 bring a new architecture, a new brand and a new brand image to market with a lens-like focus on energy efficiency. Which has been a center of AMD’s entire come-back theme with Zen and Polaris.

The company announced that the three new graphics cards have started shipping today and has shared the specifications of each of the three new boards which are actually quite impressive. All three cards feature a single-slot form-factor, four DisplayPort outputs and impressive power efficiency.

Radeon Pro WX 7100

The Radeon Pro WX 7100 is the most powerful of the three with an impressive peak throughput of 5.7 TFLOPS, trillion floating point operations per second. It feature a Polaris 10 XT GPU with 2304 GCN stream processors with a boost clock speed of 1.24Ghz. Paired with a 256-bit memory interface and 8GB of GDDR5 memory. The card is only 0.2 TFLOPS short of its Radeon RX 480 sibling, however it achieves this figure at a more impressive 130 watt typical board power rating. Compared to the 150W TBP of the RX 480.

Radeon Pro WX 5100

Moving down to the WX 5100 is where things get really interesting. This card is also based on Polaris 10, however this time it’s a slightly cut back version of the chip. Featuring 1792 GCN stream processors and a 1.09Ghz boost clock speed, the card achieves a 3.9 TFLOPS of peak throughput.
However, it’s rated at a much more frugal 75W TBP. Making it measurably more power efficient than its bigger brother. The card is so frugal in fact that it gets all of its power from the PCIe slot and does not have any external power connectors. The WX 5100 is paired to the same 256-bit memory interface and 8GB GDDR5 memory.  Which means there’s plenty of bandwidth to go around.

Radeon Pro WX 4100

Finally, we have the WX 4100. This card is powered by a Polaris 11 XT GPU. Featuring 1024 GCN stream processors and a 1.17Ghz boost clock for a peak throughput of 2.4 TFLOPS. The card features 4GB of GDDR5 memory, a 128-bit memory interface and a 50W TBP. Which means it also doesn’t come with any power connectors and relies entirely on the PCIe slot for all of its energy needs.

	WX 7100	WX 5100	WX 4100
Architecture	Polaris	Polaris	Polaris
Manufacturing Process	14nm LPP	14nm LPP	14nm LPP
GPU	Polaris 10	Polaris 10	Polaris 11
Stream Processors	2304	1792	1024
Boost Clock	1.24GHz	1.09GHz	1.17GHz
Texture Units	128	112	64
ROPs	32	32	16
VRAM	8GB	8GB	4GB
Memory Bus Width	256-bit	256-bit	128-bit
Form Factor	Single Slot	Single Slot	Single Slot
TDP	130W	75W	50W
Launch Date	Nov 10, 2016	Nov 18, 2016	Nov 10, 2016
Launch Price (MSRP)	$799	$499	$399

Availability, Pricing & Drivers

AMD has announced that starting this quarter the company will be implementing a new driver release scheduled for all of its workstation products, new and old. The company will start releasing drivers on the fourth Thursday of each quarter.

The intention behind shifting to a fixed release schedule is to ensure the flow of regular updates for users whilst maintaining the highest possible level of reliability and stability. All drivers will go through the usual certification processes set by industry players like Autodesk, Adobe, Dassault Systemes and others. In addition, AMD will also be intensifying its own internal testing efforts to exceed what the industry players are already doing.

The Radeon Pro WX 7100 and WX 4100 will be available on-shelves next Thursday, Nov 10, at $799 and $399 respectively. The Radeon Pro WX 5100 will be available a week later on the 18th of November at $499.

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Microsoft Refunds Windows 10 Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Player

Microsoft Refunds Windows 10 Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Player

It seems that Microsoft has refunded an unlucky Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Windows 10 player who bought the legacy version of the shooter to play some Modern Warfare Remastered multiplayer.
According to reddit user “Hayz00s” his sibling was faced with only 2 players looking for a Modern Warfare Remastered multiplayer match on Windows 10. This due to the fact that the Windows Store version doesn’t support crossplay with players on Steam and vica versa.

“No, you can only play these titles with other users of Windows 10 on Windows Store”, Activision wrote on their official Infinite Warfare support website.
As expected, the Steam is by far the most popular platform for PC players and Windows Store players are left with only a handful of people playing the multiplayer mode of the title.
Luckily, it seems that Microsoft is being courteous and that its giving out refunds. According to “Hayz00s”, his little brother ended up calling Microsoft to ask for a refund. “It was very easy,” hayz00s told a writer at Motherboard Vice in a private Reddit message. “He said they were very courteous and didn’t give him any trouble trying to get the refund.”

This doesn’t appear to be Microsoft’s doing for once as Microsoft’s UWP toolset
doesn’t prevent cross-play functionality, as seen with CD Projekt RED’s upcoming GWENT card game. According to a Microsoft spokesperson, “cross-play between devices and platforms” is supported for partners who want to enable it.

Hopefully, Activision will find a way to enable cross-play between the Steam and Windows Store version of the game as PC gamers shouldn’t be segregated from each other.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare the Call of Duty; Modern Warfare Remastered are available now for PC, Xbox One, and PS4. For the time being, Modern Warfare Remastered is only available by purchasing Infinite Warfare but recent rumors claim that a stand-alone Modern Warfare remastered version might be released in the near future.

As always, we will keep you updated.

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AMD Zen Based Summit Ridge Processor Family To Have Dedicated Overclocking Variants – Aimed at Enthusiasts and Overclockers

AMD Zen Based Summit Ridge Processor Family To Have Dedicated Overclocking Variants – Aimed at Enthusiasts and Overclockers

AMD’s upcoming enthusiast processor lineup based on the Zen architecture would allegedly be featuring special variants aimed at overclockers. The rumor comes from Bitsnchips who are saying that these processors will be part of the Summit Ridge family.

AMD Summit Ridge Family To Feature Specialized Variants For OC Aimed at Enthusiasts

The rumor points out that there would be at least one such variant in the Summit Ridge family. The part will feature 8 cores based on the Zen architecture. These special, enthusiast-grade chips would ensure high OC margins but also ship with higher frequencies compared to standard 95W variants. The TDP would remain at 95W for the higher clocked variants given that these are cherry picked.

It seems like these variants would be similar to Intel’s “Unlocked” series processors. Intel K-Series chips are also aimed at a similar market however, these are the only chips in Intel Core lineup that can be overclocked. AMD on the other hand, offers unlocked multiplier across all chips. But the special variants would generally be optimized for overclocking and enthusiast use.

The special OC variants will be shipping at higher prices compared to regular 8 core variants and would require some decent AM4 motherboards to churn out their true potential. Last but not least, the chips are said to ship without any heatsink cooler, that would otherwise be available with normal variants. AMD did launch the Wraith (reference) cooler a while ago however, it seems like you would need bigger toys with OC chips.

Next Generation AMD CPUs And APUs

WCCFTech	AMD Raven Ridge	AMD Gray Hawk	AMD Summit Ridge	AMD Bristol Ridge
Product Architecture	Zen	Zen+	Zen	Excavator
Process Node	14nm	7nm	14nm	28nm
CPU Cores	Up to 4	Up to 4	Up to 8	Up to 4
GPU Architecture	Vega	Navi	N/A	Caribbean Islands
TDP	TBA	TBA	65W-95W	35-65W
Socket	AM4	AM4+	AM4	AM4
Memory Support	DDR4 & HBM	DDR4 & HBM	DDR4	DDR4
Launch	2017	2019	Q1 2017	October 2016

AMD Zen Based Summit Ridge Chips Arriving On Desktops in Q1 2017

The desktop lineup based on the Zen architecture will be known as Summit Ridge and is expected to arrive in first quarter of 2017. These chips will be available to a wide range of audience who are planning to build gaming and enthusiast grade PCs.

The Summit Ridge platform is very impressive as it rids AMD of their existing and old AM3+ and FM2+ platform. The AM4 platform which will support the new chips comes with a slew of new features and capabilities such as support for the latest DDR4 memory, PCI-e Gen 3.0 and next-gen I/O support. AMD will have several SKUs in the works, ranging from quad core to octa core models. All multi-threaded and featuring overclock support.

AMD was very proud to showcase performance parity of their 8 core Summit Ridge chip to be on par with Intel Broadwell-E 8 core part. The Intel part comes at a price of $999 US so AMD will tackle it with a more aggressive price. Those looking forward to building gaming PCs can also expect tons of performance from this platform. In fact, these would be a worthy upgrade if you are planning to get a Vega GPU next year which will be coupled with HBM2 memory.

AMD X370 For Enthusiast AM4 Motherboards:

AMD X370 is the chipset for overclockers and tweakers who need robust platforms. This chip provides the ultimate low-level control to its users and delivers ultimate graphics card bandwidth. By bandwidth, AMD is referring to max PCI-Express lanes as this is the only chip in the stack that supports multi-GPU functionality. The chipset supports both, CFX (CrossFire) and SLI.

AMD has mentioned two full x16 (Gen3) lanes for GPUs. AIBs can add additional lanes through a PLX chip but that would add to the cost. X370 features full overclocking support with a very sophisticated GUI that will allow the best overclock tools and experiences. Since all AM4 CPUs have an unlocked multiplier, record breakers will definitely put X370 boards to the test on liquid and LN2 setups.

The X370 platform would be recommended to overclockers and enthusiasts who want to try out these overclock-aimed Zen processors. We should also remember that AMD has previously tried to sell higher clocked Piledriver chips (FX-9000 Series) to enthusiasts. These chips were faster clocked variants with high clocks, high TDP and high prices. They didn’t turn out to be a massive success and AMD is expected to do better this time around with Zen. AMD can follow Intel’s footsteps who have seen a general year-to-year success in sales with their “K” series products.

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Nvidia’s Latest Driver Package Installs Unwanted Telemetry

Nvidia’s Latest Driver Package Installs Unwanted Telemetry

Telemetry is probably one of the most controversial sides of software as of late. In an age where privacy is quickly becoming a privilege rather than something taken for granted, it helps for software vendors to be very careful that no toes are trodden on. In a recent discovery by MajorGeeks, it was found that telemetry has been included in the latest driver version of Nvidia and not only are we unsure as to what the purpose of the new code is, but there also doesn’t seem to be any upfront way to opt out of it.

Has Nvidia become the NSA? Probably not; driver telemetry is usually harmless and occasionally useful

There were some reports by users on reddit saying that the log shown by the source is made up/fake so we did a fresh install of the latest driver package and can confirm that the telemetry processes do exist. The changelog doesn’t appear to list any newly included telemetric function and the process itself doesn’t seem to be doing anything much. From the looks of it, this will report back telemetry in the case of a driver crash or other extreme scenario. Since the telemetry was added after installing the complete driver package, at this point we aren’t completely certain whether the Nvidia Geforce drivers are to blame or Geforce Experience is.

The screenshot above shows the telemetry processes included in the new update and here are the steps needed to remove it:

• Download and run Microsoft Autoruns.
• Type nvidia in the filter box.
• You will find Telemetry in the Task Scheduler section and the nVIDIA Wireless Controller, and ShadowPlay services further down under the registry entries.
• Uncheck NvTmMon, NvTmRep and NvTmRepOnLogon to disable telemetry.
• Uncheck Nvidia Wireless Controller Service and NvStreamKms if you don’t use Shadow Play and nVIDIA wireless controller.
• If you get an error, close the program and right click on Autoruns.exe or Autoruns64.exe and “Run as Administrator.”

All the fearmongering aside, there is usually a pretty good reason for telemetry to be included in a driver suite. Not only does it help the vendor isolate repetitive problems that might occur, but it can allow it to measure their exact client base (which can help direct resources to segments that might not be getting full attention). That said, detailing the inclusion of any telemetry in change log is usually the best practice, as well as giving security conscious users a way to opt-out of it. 

Because telemetry can usually be used in anti-consumer ways as well. DRM and telemetry are two words that usually go hand in hand, and giving users a way out of this can help ease some of those accusations (not to mention it is in violation of the EULA).

We have reached out to Nvidia for comment and will give you an update as soon as we get one.

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AMD Releases Radeon Driver 16.11.1, Optimized for COD: Infinite Warfare & Modern Warfare Remastered

AMD Releases Radeon Driver 16.11.1, Optimized for COD: Infinite Warfare & Modern Warfare Remastered

AMD has released Radeon Driver 16.11.1 which has been optimized for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Modern Warfare Remastered.

Furthermore, the new 16.11.1 driver fixes some AMD Crossfire flickering issues in a few maps or locations in Battlefield 1. In addition, Crossfire freezing and hanging issues within Ubisoft’s The Division following extended periods of play, have also been resolved.

Last but not least, the new AMD Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.11.1 adds a Titanfall 2 Crossfire profile. Check out the release notes for AMD’s Radeon Driver 16.11.1 down below:

Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.11.1 Highlights

Support For:

• Call of Duty™: Infinite Warfare
• Call of Duty™: Modern Warfare Remastered

New AMD CrossFire profile added for DirectX®11:

• Titanfall™2

Fixed Issues

• AMD XConnect™ Technology will now allow Microsoft Office applications to migrate to iGPU on unplug.
• Flickering may be observed on some surfaces in a few maps or locations in Battlefield™1 in AMD CrossFire mode.
• Radeon R9 390 graphics series may experience a crash or application hang when running Unigine™ Heaven using OpenGL™.
• The Radeon WattMan feature may intermittently display a Radeon Software popup error regarding Radeon WattMan for non-supported products.
• The Division™ may experience an application freeze or hang when running in AMD CrossFire mode after extended periods of play.
• OBS screen capture may stutter after extended periods of use while capturing video and watching or streaming content in a web browser.

Known Issues

• A few game titles may fail to launch, experience performance issues or crash if the third party application “Raptr” has its game overlay enabled. A workaround is to disable the overlay if this is experienced.
• DOTA™2 may experience a crash when launched using the Vulkan™ API on some Graphics Core Next products.
• Battlefield™1 may experience an intermittent application specific error message popup citing graphics device removal
• Flickering may be experience while playing Overwatch™ in the main menu or viewing character models using AMD CrossFire mode.
• H.264 content playback may experience playback issues on internet browsers with hardware acceleration when also running gaming applications or content.
• FIFA 17™ may experience an application hang or black screen on launch for some select Hybrid Graphics or AMD PowerXpress mobile configurations.
• H.264 content may experience blocky corruption when streaming using P2P content players on some Radeon RX 400 series graphics products.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Modern Warfare remastered are out today for PC, Xbox One, and PS4. Battlefield 1 is also available right now for all platforms.

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