Power efficiency is a critical performance metric for our discrete graphics products.  This should come as no surprise for those who follow the overall industry trends: Consumers are more aware of the impact their product choices make on the environment; products in the industry are moving toward thinner and lighter form factors; and rising energy costs can significantly impact the cost of ownership of new PC products.  The net result is that consumers  value energy efficient products across the board.

Someone with a more traditional view of the enthusiast graphics market might think that the highest end graphics products are isolated or exempt from these trends and driven only by the need for higher peak performance.  In reality, this is certainly not the case.  At AMD, our focus on power efficiency via thin-and-light capable products designed to run on battery power has actually helped result in more power efficient products across the stack; particularly in our enthusiast products which have enjoyed major performance improvements alongside major efficiency improvements.

In recent years, AMD has proven itself to be a leader in power efficiency with the introduction of technologies such as PowerPlay™  and AMD PowerTune technologies¹.  These features  are fast becoming must-haves because of how strongly end users value power efficiency.

Most recently, AMD has further demonstrated its leadership in this field with the introduction of the AMD Radeon™ HD 7900 series graphics cards which feature a new bleeding edge and revolutionary capability known as AMD ZeroCore Power Technology¹.   AMD ZeroCore  Power technology is a game changer which cuts long idle power down to a small fraction of what was previously achievable; which is something we know that our enthusiast audience will truly appreciate.

So how does it work?

When GPUs aren’t tasked with heavy graphics or compute workloads, they are intelligently managed to power down to their minimum working states through a number of techniques such as engine/memory clock reductions, reduced voltages and power gating.   This works to minimize power during static screen and other very low workloads where graphics cards can idle at less than  their peak power.

However, in the long idle state – where the display is blanked but the rest of the system remains in an active power state – AMD ZeroCore Power technology takes GPU efficiency to a whole new level.  When systems enter the long idle state and applications are not using background GPU resources, AMD ZeroCore power technology  powers down all major functional blocks of the discrete GPU and reduces overall chip power consumption to well under one Watt.  And while core GPU blocks (such as the compute units, display blocks, video engines and memory interfaces) are  shut down and consuming zero power, the rest of the system is still available to do what it needs to do.  So if you leave your PC on to share/stream/serve content, to simplify remote access or to simply make sure it’s ready to go at the flick of a mouse, AMD ZeroCore Power technology makes it happen with near-zero graphics power.

For the ultra-enthusiast, AMD ZeroCore Power technology takes things a step further to enable scalable power savings:  With AMD CrossFire™ technology, the additional GPUs are always held in the AMD ZeroCore Power state when they’re not in use.  This means that AMD CrossFire™ users can scale up their performance with negligible idle power increases and no acoustic penalties.

As you can see, ZeroCore Power is a huge leap forward for AMD in delivering low power and high efficiency graphics. And given it took us less than one year to morph this innovation from a notebook GPU hardware capability to a groundbreaking capability for the desktop AMD Radeon™ HD 7900 series, it’s innovation we can all get excited about!

–

1. AMD PowerPlay™, AMD PowerTune and AMD ZeroCore Power are technologies offered by certain AMD Radeon™ products, which are designed to intelligently manage GPU power consumption in response to certain GPU load conditions. Not all products feature all technologies – check with your component or system manufacturer for specific model capabilities.

Korhan Erenben is the Manager of Technical Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links sites and no endorsement is implied.

Well, to kick off the day on Friday, we overclocked an AMD FX processor to 7.036 Ghz playing StarCraft 2. We were running on a dual AMD Radeon™ HD 6990. Our Guinness announcement made quite the buzz last month and players at IGN were excited to see the action in person.

gamers take part in some Battlefield 3 action on AMD Eyefinity technology at IPL3

We also played StarCraft 2 in an AMD Eyefinity technology 3×1 portrait configuration last Friday. SC2 players from around the world travelled to Atlantic City last week to compete in the IPL 3 tournament and we had the opportunity to host them in our AMD lounge. We were running the AMD Eyefinity technology setup on dual AMD Radeon™ HD 6990 graphics cards.

Gamer TL Alive from Team Liquid (far left) in the AMD lounge during IPL 3

Last, but certainly not least, we had players in and out of the AMD lounge playing Battlefield 3 all day. Not a terrible way to spend a Friday afternoon, that’s for sure.

The AMD Radeon™ graphics team has lots of events in the near future, so be sure to follow us on Twitter @AMDRadeon (www.twitter.com/AMDRadeon) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/AMD) for updated photos, news and announcements.  Play on!

]]> http://blogs.amd.com/play/2011/10/11/recap-from-ign-proleague-tournament-in-atlantic-city/feed/ 2 http://blogs.amd.com/play/2011/10/10/amd-and-felicia-day-bring-you-%e2%80%9cdragon-age-ii%e2%80%9d-web-series/ http://blogs.amd.com/play/2011/10/10/amd-and-felicia-day-bring-you-%e2%80%9cdragon-age-ii%e2%80%9d-web-series/#comments Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:25:12 +0000 Guest Blogger http://blogs.amd.com/play/?p=2781 By Felicia Day, from the web series “Dragon Age: Redemption”

Four years ago I started my web series “The Guild” about a group of online gamers.  Five seasons and over 125 million views later, we have been one of the most referenced examples of successful web series to date. I’ve had the opportunity to pursue other projects since “The Guild” took off, but it wasn’t until Bioware/EA and AMD encouraged me to create a web series set in the premiere video game fantasy world that I decided the opportunity was right. I’m so glad I did!

Last year I was approached by Bioware/EA to create a web series based in the world of their hit franchise “Dragon Age”. Dragon Age II was to be released, and the new graphics technology, powered by AMD promised a new experience for fans.  As a HUGE fan of the game, I jumped at the opportunity. When I heard I heard that the proposal included taking the character I created for the web series, Tallis, and making her a companion in a piece of DLC content for Dragon Age II after release, I was overly excited.. The project is a first of its kind and, for me as a gamer, a dream come true.

It was a very ambitious proposition to produce a web series that creates a fantasy world from scratch and even more so to make the DLC component believable while translating a character from film to video game. Luckily, AMD entered the picture by supporting Bioware to add an enhanced graphics experience for the players of Dragon Age II and the DLC: Mark of the Assassin.  Players are able to interact with my character in a full translation of my character from film screen to virtual screen.

AMD was also key in sponsoring the web series, which allowed us to create the scope and attract the talent for a first-class experience.  These types of sponsorship models are rare, but exciting in a landscape of web video where all the rules are being broken.  The opportunity to create new ways of telling stories and reach audiences in a new way is always an option, but it takes very forward-thinking sponsors to make projects actually happen.

As we usher in a new era of entertainment, there is so much room for innovation, but that requires out-of-the-box thinking from the people who produce and support these ventures. I appreciate the trust and support from EA/Bioware and AMD and hope that many others enjoy watching Tallis’ story and playing with her as a companion in the DLC!

Felicia Day is collaborating with AMD as a part of her web series “Dragon Age: Redemption.” Her postings are her own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.

• We introduced the 9-series desktop chipsets at Computex,
• Unveiled the reincarnated AMD FX processor brand at E3 2011,
• More AMD FX fun at Comic Con 2011,
• And set a Guinness World Record last month.

There is a ton of excitement about the first ever 8-core desktop AMD FX CPU and here’s how to ensure that all you do-it-yourself PC builders have a smooth transition to the new processor:

1. Get the right motherboard: Make sure your PC sports a motherboard with an AMD 9-series chipset, which includes the all-new AM3+ socket that the AMD FX CPU requires. Remember, the AM3+ socket is backward compatible with AM3 AMD CPUs so you can install the motherboard now. The following device manufacturers offer 9-series motherboards: ASRock, ASUS, Biostar, ECS, GIGABYTE Technology, Jetway and MSI.

2. Ensure you have the latest BIOS: To make sure you have the latest BIOS, plug in an AMD AM3 socket CPU (AMD Sempron™, AMD Athlon™ II or AMD Phenom™ II processor), check your BIOS and verify that with the manufacturer’s website. If the BIOS versions match, you are good to go. Otherwise, prior to installing your AMD FX CPU download the most up-to-date motherboard BIOS directly from the motherboard manufacturer (Uncertain of how to do this? There’s a wealth of YouTube videos with easy to follow instructions). If you do not have an AMD AM3 socket CPU, contact your seller for instructions. Here’s a sampling of BIOS instructions from a few top motherboard manufacturers:

• GIGABYTE: http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3880#bios
• MSI: http://www.msi.com/product/mb/990FXA-GD80.html#/?div=BIOS
• ASRock: http://www.asrock.com/mb/download.asp?Model=990FX%20Extreme4&o=BIOShttp://www.asrock.com/mb/download.asp?Model=990FX%20Extreme4&o=BIOS
• ASUS: http://usa.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/M5A99X_EVO/#downloa

3. Pair AMD FX with a high-end AMD Radeon™ graphics card: To unleash the power of the AMD FX CPU when it launches, you’ll of course want an equally powerful graphics card. AMD recommends matching the AMD FX CPU with an AMD Radeon™ HD 6850 graphics card or higher. As always, make sure you have the latest drivers – includingAMD OverDrive™ software – installed to get the most of your system.*

Follow these steps to be sure your PC is fully equipped to experience the unlocked and unrestrained power of AMD FX when the CPU hits the market this quarter.

* AMD’s product warranty does not cover damages caused by overclocking, even when overclocking is achieved using AMD OverDrive™ software.

Adam Kozak is a product marketing manager at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites, and references to third party trademarks, are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied.