Author: batteryforpc

After what seems like ages, there seems to be news on the high-end AMD GPU front. An AMD device codenamed “ATI-102-D18802” recently passed RRA certification and while this might seem like just a random string of digits, I used to trawl the now-dead Zauba all day long for relevant shipping entries which followed the same naming convention – and was quickly able to decipher it. The GPU in question is a much powerful variant of the Navi GPU (judging from the nomenclature) and here is the full story. That said, considering this is based on just a certification which could end up being scrapped/revised again for all we know, please do keep a pinch of salt handy.

AMD’s Big Navi GPU gets getting its RRA certification, Radeon graphics cards preparing for a comeback in the high-end GPU market

I am sure AMD wanted to keep this under wraps and make a comeback, but as they should know from Zen, the leak scene reigns supreme in the end. Before I go any further, I want to clarify that passing an RRA certification is usually the first step in the final phase of getting a product to market. It can take anywhere from 3 months to 6 months before you finally see a polished product hitting the shelves.

The RRA certification is something all consumer ASICs have to go through in South Korea – just like in the US. Unlike the States, however, RRA publishes its certifications in the public domain, which is great for us because it allows us to sniff out interesting new GPUs that are in the official pipeline. The AMD ATI-102-D18802 GPU received its RRA certification yesterday, meaning AMD has not only finalized its plans for the upcoming GPU but submitted it to the authorities as well (no more changes in design are now possible).

The naming convention at play here is the one AMD used for shipping manifests during the Zauba years and something we were able to readily decode. To give you a recap: Hawaii boards were named C6XXXX, Tonga boards C7XXXX, Fiji boards C8XXXX, Polaris boards C9XXXX, Vega boards D12XXX and small Navi boards were named D18XXX.

In fact, if we are being specific about it, then the exact code names were:

Hawaii XT had the C67101 code name.

Tonga had the C76501 code name.

Fiji XT had the C88001 code name.

Polaris 11 had the C91103 code name.

Vega 64 had the D12201 code name.

‘Small’ Navi had the D18205 code name.

You should be able to see a very clear pattern here. The first couple of digits represent the generation while the succeeding digits represent the relative performance metrics. The reason I know we are looking at a Navi GPU is because the three-digit alphanumeric sequence is the same: namely D18. The succeeding three digits represent the relative performance of the GPU and 805 represents a much more powerful variant of Navi compared to 205.

Considering it just passed the certification, we are likely looking at the RDNA2-based full Navi die that will support ray tracing at a hardware level. This is the same GPU that will power the next-generation PlayStation 5 and the Xbox as well (remember AMD designed Navi for the consoles, read more about that over here). In all likelihood, we are finally catching our first glimpse of “big” Navi. You might remember my exclusive published a year and a half back that predicted that the flagship Navi part won’t land earlier than 2H 2019 or early 2020. Well, there you have it, folks, it’s finally happening.

I do want to turn on the cold shower a bit here, however, just because a GPU has passed RRA certification does not mean you will see it on the shelves anytime soon. In fact, a minimum of 6 months is a very good time frame to keep in mind and this can easily extend to over a year. We spotted Vega almost a full year back on RRA before it was finally released – which should give you an idea of the time frames involved.

Asus is rolling out a new gaming monitor that has the potential to be a nice upgrade, based on the specifications. However, that will depend in large part on how pricing shakes out for the new TUF Gaming VG249Q.

On paper, there is not much to complain about. The monitor is built around a 23.8-inch (we’ll just call it 24 inches) IPS panel, so it should offer better visuals and a much large viewing sweet spot than a TN display.

It’s a Full HD 1080p (1920×1080) monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time. That latter figure is an MPRT (moving picture response time) rating and not gray-to-gray, and I’ve never gotten a concrete answer on how the two measurements compare, as touted on some gaming monitors. Blur Busters offers a bunch of technical details, though, if you’re curious. In short, it uses backlight strobing to sort of trick your eyes into seeing a faster response time. Asus calls these Extreme Low Motion Blur (ELMB).

Size—23.8 inches (16:9 aspect ratio)

Color saturation—72 percent NTSC

Panel type—IPS

Resolution—1920×1080

Brightness—250 nits

Contrast ratio—1000:1 (typical)

Viewing angles—178 degrees (horizontal and vertical)

Response time—1ms MPRT

Refresh rate (max)—144Hz

This also supports AMD’s FreeSync technology.

Connectivity options consist of HDMI, DisplayPort, and VGA ports (one each). There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack and onboard 2W stereo speakers, but no built-in USB hub.

On the ergonomics side, the stand supports making tilt, swivel, pivot, and height adjustments.

We’ll have to wait and see how this stacks up against the VG248QE, which we list as the best monitor for gaming in the 1080p category. The VG248QE uses a TN panel, though, so the TUF Gaming VG249Q potentially offers the same resolution and fast speed in a higher quality package.

There’s no word yet on when the VG249Q will be available or how much it will cost. So for now, if you’re looking for something relatively cheap, have a look at our list of cheap gaming monitor deals.

Google may be one of the world’s biggest smartphone makers but it has come up with a way to help people use their device less.

Dubbed the Paper Phone, the tech giant’s latest experiment is aimed at promoting “digital wellness” by offering a simple solution to smartphone addiction.

It allows users to give up their phone for an entire day by putting any information needed – such as contact details, map directions and meetings – into a printable, phone-sized booklet.

“A lot of people feel like they spend too much time on their phones and miss out on the things that are right in front of their eyes. But it’s hard to use our phones less because we’ve come to depend on them,” explains a video showcasing the Paper Phone.

“We’ve come up with a simple way to have a digital detox. All you need to do is choose the things which are important to you and our app will print out your very own paper phone.”

Google is not the first tech firm to attempt to address issues relating to digital addictions, with Apple’s latest iOS 12 update including a feature called Screen Time that allows users to set limitations on how much they use their iPhone or iPad.

Google has also included similar features in Android, while apps like Quality Time monitor how much time someone spends on certain apps and provides incentives to cut down.

Several studies have pointed to the negative impact that social media and excessive smartphone use can have on people with regards to their mental health.

Earlier this year, the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) launched Scroll Free September in an attempt to get people to take back control of the technology in their lives by cutting back on social media.

In the same way Dry January aims to encourage people to abstain from alcohol, the Scroll Free September campaign hoped to prompt people to reconsider their use of apps like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

“Many of us are guilty of becoming consumed by social media and whilst there are many benefits to using the various platforms which are available, it’s important to take some time out,” said Chris Elmore, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on social media and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.

“Whether it’s scrolling before bed stopping you sleeping, following aspirational and unattainable accounts denting your self-esteem, or the ever-presence of phones getting in the way of your face-to-face interactions with friends and family.”

Google said about its Paper Phone: “We hope this little experiment can help you try a digital detox from technology and help you focus on the things that matter the most.”

It seems as though the an upgraded version of Apple’s AirPods have been rumoured for months. We had a minor upgrade earlier this year, but all those came with was better connectivity and battery life. Both are very useful, but not the kind of thing people were expecting. Now, though, Apple’s gone and made the AirPods Pro official.

The first thing you might notice about the AirPods Pro are that they have a brand new design. Rather than that rubbish design that always seems content to sit in your ear without any sort of secure fit, these are in-ear earbuds. In other words Apple has promised they have a better seal and fit than AirPods have before. As with most in-ear buds, those tips are removable, made from silicone, and come in three different sizes to better suit your unique ear shape.

That seal is quite important too, since these come with active noise cancellation, which has been rumoured for next-gen AirPods for what seems like forever. That’s done with two microphones that can remove the background noise in a way Apple says is custom to you. The same is true for the ‘Adaptive EQ’, which Apple says will automatically tune the low and mid frequencies of the music according to the shape of your ear.

Other features include Siri control (obviously) water and sweat resistance (good) and a ‘transparency mode’ that lets you listen to the AirPods while still being able to hear what’s going on around you. In case you want to hear tannoy announcements or something. So far, so standard.

Apple has also included a new force sensor on the stem, which can be used to control what you hear, though users can also use the iOS Control Center or the Apple Watch to do some of that as well.

Battery wise Apple is promising four and a half hours of listening time (or three and a half hours talk time), and as usual you can use the case to top them up for a maximum of 24 hours use. The case also features wireless charging as standard.

Micron has surpassed the record set by G.Skill Trident Z, which was set a mere month and a half ago. Micron set the new record speed of DDR4 ram to 6024.4MHz which might not seem like a lot of a difference until you learn that this RAM was rated for 4000MHz. This means that the Micron was able to overclock this ram to an amazing 151% off the original base clock.

Micron was able to achieve a new DDR4 memory frequency world record of 6016.4MHz With AMD’s Ryzen 3000 CPUs

Micron had to make a dry ice rig to cool both the CPU and the RAM, otherwise, that would’ve most definitely overheated. The rig that was attached to the motherboard by the end of the record-shattering run was covered in condensation and icy build up (Pictured below).

All this ice and condensation got all over the components of the PC, making this not an option for normal everyday use.

The specs that helped achieve this accomplishment is a Ryzen 5 3600X with a core clock of 2208.4Mhz rather than the stock base clock of 3800MHz, The Micron team underclocked the CPU to make the DDR4 memory difference really show during the recording-breaking test. The Motherboard that this test used was X570 ROG Crosshair VIII Impact motherboard. The RAM that ended up breaking the record was a single 8GB Ballistix, which ended up topping at the frequency of 6024.4MHz.

“We’re thrilled to have partnered with Ballistix to achieve this new world record,” said Albert Chang, general manager of the motherboard BU for ASUS. “Both overclocking teams worked tirelessly to fine-tune BIOS settings on our newly-released ROG CROSSHAIR VIII IMPACT board to unleash the capabilities of the Micron die. Setting the new world record of 6024 MT/s with Ballistix Elite 4000 memory on our new ROG AMD X570 motherboard is a powerful demonstration of the engineering excellence ASUS ROG and Micron bring to the gaming ecosystem.”

It is stated that the engineering teams from both ASUS and Crucial worked tirelessly, setting multiple records by adapting and changing BIOS settings to perfect the RAM. They changed everything from the multiplier in the BIOS settings to the timing of the RAM itself to further set this RAM apart other runs to shatter the previous record. The record-breaking frequency is posted on HWBOT, and the valid CPU-Z screenshot can be found here.

Ballistix within the last five months set three overclocking world records, this is a big achievement for Micron who owns both Ballistix and Crucial (Ram manufacturing companies), While Ballistix’s ram is more focused the gaming community, while Crucial is more focused on providing a good cost to performance ratio.

With this breaking the previous record set by G.Skill which broke the 6GHz speed limit which was previous thought to be impossible to pass with DDR4, with DDR5 coming out earlier next year, how can they push DDR4 before DDR5’s release?