AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT Graphics Cards for 1080p Gaming Launched in India

AMD announced the impending launch of a Radeon RX 5500 GPU series in early October, and now the Radeon RX 5500 XT has now been launched. With this new GPU, AMD is targeting gamers who want high performance at 1920x1080 without spending too much. According to AMD, gamers who play at 1920x1080 and 2560x1440 represent over 90 percent of the market, and the company is targeting these two groups with the new Radeon RX 5500 and the previously launched Radeon RX 5700 series respectively. There has not been any mention of other GPU models within the Radeon RX 5500 family, at least not yet, although the Radeon RX 5500 XT will be available in versions with either 4GB or 8GB of VRAM.

In India, AMD has announced indicative starting prices of Rs. 12,990 and Rs. 14,990 (both excluding taxes) for the 4GB and 8GB versions of the Radeon RX 5500 XT. Graphics cards in both configurations should be available from Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, ASRock, Sapphire, XFX, and PowerColor in various parts of the world starting today. Asus has announced that its customised Asus Dual Evo 5500 XT (8GB) model will be available priced starting at Rs. 17,500 in India, while a Strix series model (also 8GB) will cost Rs. 19,500 and go on sale a week from today.

AMD will not be creating a reference cooler, and so all graphics cards will be custom-designed versions. The company has shown off images of cards from all its AIB partners, and they appear to vary in size, but all feature either two or three fans. Partners will be free to modify clock speeds and power characteristics.

The Radeon RX 5500 XT GPU is built around the same RDNA architecture, 7nm manufacturing process, and PCIe 4.0 infrastructure as the higher-end Radeon RX 5700 series. The GPU features 1,408 stream processors clustered into 22 compute units. The reference boost clock is 1845MHz, while AMD's "game clock", or the speed that gamers should expect to see consistently, is 1717MHz. AMD has used 14GBps GDDR6 memory on a 128-but bus. The reference total board power requirement is 130W

Intel 'Ponte Vecchio' Xe Graphics Architecture, 'Sapphire Rapids' Xeon CPUs, OneAPI Toolkit to Power Aurora Supercomputer

Intel has disclosed an early overview of plans for the upcoming Aurora supercomputer, which it is building in conjunction with Cray for the Argonne National Laboratory, run by the United Sates Department of Energy. It is due to be delivered in 2021. The key components of the Aurora supercomputer will be 'Ponte Vecchio' GPUs based on Intel's Xe graphics architecture, and Xeon Scalable CPUs from the 'Sapphire Rapids' generation. This is the first time that Ponte Vecchio has been disclosed publicly. To tie everything together, Intel will be offering its new OneAPI software toolkit, which is said to allow developers to easily work with multiple CPU, GPU, and accelerator architectures.

Starting with Ponte Vecchio, Intel has been publicising its upcoming integrated and discrete Xe graphics processors for some time now, and is definitely planning to target gamers and PC enthusiasts. However, the bigger picture is that Xe will be an overarching framework that can be customised for different products. Intel has now confirmed that its Xe architecture strategy will address segments right from ultra-mobile graphics to gaming, and workstation graphics, as well as high-performance exascale-level AI and deep learning applications.

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X With 32 Cores Announced

AMD has announced two new high-end Ryzen Threadripper processors with up to 32 cores, as well as a new entry-level Athlon processor with integrated Radeon Vega 3 graphics. The company has also disclosed the official date of sale for its delayed 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X desktop CPU. The new Athlon APU model will go on sale from November 19, priced at $49 (approximately Rs. 3,470 before taxes) while the high-end processors will all be available starting from November 25. The 32-core Ryzen Threadripper 3970X will cost $1,999 (approximately Rs. 1,41,565) and the 24-core Ryzen Threadripper 3960X will cost $1,399 (approximately Rs. 99,073). AMD has also introduced the new sTRX4 socket which its third-gen Ryzen Threadripper CPUs will use. Motherboard manufacturers are expected to announce compatible new motherboards soon.

The third-generation Threadripper CPUs are based on AMD's Zen 2 architecture and manufactured using a 7nm process. They are expected to compete with Intel's recently announced 'Cascade Lake-X' lineup of X-series processors. Base clock speeds for the Threadripper 3970X and 3960X are 3.7GHz and 3.8GHz respectively, with a common boost speed of 4.5GHz. Both models feature multi-threading for up to 64 and 48 threads respectively. Both also feature 128MB of L3 cache and 280W TDP figures. They use the same modular 'chiplet' design as AMD's current-gen Epyc server CPUs. RAM support officially goes up to 256GB of quad-channel DDR4-3200. 

DELL OPTIPLEX 7070 ULTRA MODULAR, ZERO-FOOTPRINT PC

Dell OptiPlex 7070 Ultra Modular, Zero-Footprint PC Launched in India

Dell Technologies on Friday unveiled its OptiPlex 7070 Ultra - a flexible, modular and zero-footprint PC which targets the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) and Information Technology Enabled Service (ITES) sectors.The PC has been launched at a starting price of Rs. 47,999 + GST (inclusive of keyboard and mouse). The company is, however, selling compatible display options separately

According to the company, the devices will get manufactured in India at its factory in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu.The Dell OptiPlex 7070 Ultra places the desktop PC into a monitor stand that reduces footprint. It allows for maximum use of desk space, improves productivity, and reduces IT investment.The OptiPlex 7070 Ultra can support up to three daisy-chained USB-C displays at once, thus, transmitting power, data, video and audio using 'DisplayPort' and giving users the ability to immerse themselves in their work for increased productivity.

GOOGLE PIXEL BUDS, PIXELBOOK GO, NEST WIFI, NEST MINI LAUNCHED AT MADE BY GOOGLE EVENT

Google Pixel Buds, Pixelbook Go, Nest Wifi, Nest Mini Launched at Made By Google Event

 

The biggest buzzword during Google's Made By Google event was ‘ambient computing'. Google used it the most when it unveiled the new Pixel Buds, which are now truly wireless headphones. The previous generation of this product was a neckband-style pair of headphones. The new Pixel Buds will be launching in 2020, at $179 (roughly Rs. 12,750).

The Pixel Buds are a pair of in-ear headphones, which look a bit like Samsung Galaxy Buds. Google claimed that these will feature noise isolation, and will last for five hours on a single charge (up to 24 hours via the charging case). You can access Google Assistant via the Pixel Buds, which are sweat and water resistant.

ASUS ZENBOOK PRO DUO UX581, ZENBOOK DUO UX481 LAUNCHED

Asus ZenBook Pro Duo UX581, ZenBook Duo UX481 Launched in India Starting Rs. 89,990

Asus on Thursday unveiled its dual-screen laptop series in India which comprises the ZenBook Pro Duo (UX581) and the ZenBook Duo (UX481) at a starting price Rs. 2,09,990 and Rs. 89,990, respectively. The company refreshed its ZenBook lineup with Intel 10th Gen Core processors - the ZenBook 13 (UX334), ZenBook 14 (UX434), and ZenBook 15 (UX534), for Rs. 84,990, Rs. 84,990 and Rs. 1,24,990, respectively. Asus also launched the VivoBook S431 for Rs. 54,990 and VivoBook S532 for Rs. 69,990.

With the ZenBook Pro Duo and ZenBook Duo, the company says it has paved way to a new form factor for laptops and come equipped with both a keyboard and a secondary touchscreen for input. 

The ZenBook Pro Duo (up to Intel Core i9-9980HK processor, GeForce RTX 2060) features a full-width 4K Asus ScreenPad Plus that works seamlessly with the main 4K UHD OLED display, while ZenBook Duo (up to Intel Core i7-10510U processor, GeForce MX250) features a full-length 1920p AsusScreenPad Plus that works with the main 1080p FHD LCD display. The ZenBook Pro Duo offers a 4K UHD NanoEdge OLED HDR display with a four-sided frameless design and ultra-slim bezels. The OLED touchscreen has a cinema-grade 100 percent DCI-P3 colour gamut and 100,000:1 contrast ratio. The screen-to-body ratio is 89 percent.

Sony A9 II Flagship Mirrorless Camera With Gigabit Ethernet, Improved Weather Sealing and Ergonomics Launched

Sony A9 II Flagship Mirrorless Camera 

 

         It's been two years since Sony launched its flagship A9 full-frame mirrorless camera, which was already a beast of a performer. Now, the company has quietly introduced a follow-up to that model, unsurprisingly called the A9 II. The new version doesn't add anything major over its predecessor but it does get some notable improvements in terms of ergonomics, stabilisation, and a faster wired and wireless connectivity. All of this is aimed at improving and speeding up the workflow of professional photographers. The new camera will be available in November for $4,500 (roughly Rs. 3,19,600).

             The storage and wireless connectivity also have big upgrades on the Sony A9 II. The USB Type-C port supports USB 3.2 Gen1 data transfer speeds and both SD card slots now support the faster UHS-II speeds. In order to ease up professional workflows, the A9 II includes a Gigabit Ethernet terminal, 5GHz Wi-Fi 802.11ac, and File Transfer over SSL or TLS encryption (FTPS) for added security. There's also a new Voice Memo function, where photographers can attach spoken information for a particular photo. This seems like a very useful addition as it will let photographers relay additional context about the photo to editors, for how it should be edited or where it has to be used.

Most of the other features on the Sony A9 II remain the same as the older model. The camera can shoot up to 20fps using the electronic shutter with no blackouts; 693 on-sensor phase detection autofocus points; 4K video recording up to 30fps; 3-inch touchscreen display and a 3.76M-dot resolution electronic viewfinder