The ratio Maxwell : R7/R9 seems to go down a bit. That's a good sign, competition is important!

Still no separate "R7 300 series" or "R9 300 series" in the list. I suspect that the added "R7 series" are the "R7 300" GPUs and that the "R9 300" GPUs are hidden in the "R9 200 series"... why else should the R9 200 get that much growth?

Today finished the NDA embargo of AMD's Polaris architecture and several sites have articles about it.

http://techreport.com/review/29514/amd-sets-a-new-course-for-radeons-with-its-polaris-architecture

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-polaris-14nm-finfet,30823.html

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9886/amd-reveals-polaris-gpu-architecture

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/71178-amd-polaris-gpu-architecture-preview.html

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/AMD-Polaris-Hardware-261587/Specials/AMD-Polaris-Daten-Release-1182286/

I won't post everything about it. Instead, I'll post a couple of slides and part of the Tom's article

Here's the Tom's article

Polaris Is Already Up And Running

Even though we’re half a year away from expected availability, AMD had one surprise for the attendees of its RTG summit in Sonoma, CA that might suggest a timing advantage over its competition: the first Polaris-based GPU running Star Wars Battlefront after less than two months back from the fab. This isn’t going to be a desktop bruiser. Rather, AMD is looking to arm compact notebooks with a GPU capable of 1920x1080 at 60 FPS—a previously-unattainable milestone in the form factors it’s talking about.

So, in the demo we saw, AMD standardized on that 60 FPS performance mark and compared the power consumption of two Core i7-4790K-based platforms—one with Polaris and another with Nvidia’s desktop GeForce GTX 950—using the Medium quality preset. The system with AMD’s board averaged 86 W, whereas the other machine was closer to 140 W. Nvidia’s GTX 950 is a 90 W board, and we’ve seen it close to that figure. So, if you take 90 away from 140, you get about 50 W of system power use.

Although it didn’t do any additional math in its slides, AMD might have us believe that this implementation of Polaris is in the 36 W range. If true, that would put it in the ballpark of a GeForce 940M, based on GM108 with 384 shaders, at GeForce GTX 950’s performance. And AMD’s Koduri said his team is just getting started on optimizations for the GPU—about a dozen SoC-level power features haven’t been enabled yet.

We were left to wonder about shader count, clock rates and on-board memory, but we did discover that AMD is still using GDDR5 for this particular chip’s target market, and that the GPU itself was manufactured on GlobalFoundries’ 14nm process.

Finally, you can see the two PCs up and running at the end of this video, that also details the hardware used

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g3eQejGJ_A

Specs:

• i7 4970K @80% Power limit
• Asus H97I-PLUS
• 16GB DDR3
• 120GB SSD

The GTX 950 card uses the 358.87 drivers

The first news of 2016!

1-Mods and fan projects, lots of news today

• JC3-MP Announced – Multiplayer Mode From The Team Behind Just Cause 2’s Fan MP Mode http://www.dsogaming.com/news/jc3-mp-announced-multiplayer-mode-from-the-team-behind-just-cause-2s-fan-mp-mode/
• The Witcher 3 HD Reworked Project – Version 2.2 Now Available, Improves Spruces Textures http://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-witcher-3-hd-reworked-project-version-2-2-now-available-improves-spruces-textures/
• Brutal Doom V20b + Hell on Earth Starter Pack (32 New Levels) Are Now Available http://www.dsogaming.com/news/brutal-doom-v20b-hell-on-earth-starter-pack-32-new-levels-are-now-available/
• Red Orchestra's Darkest Hour mod gets another huge update http://www.pcgamer.com/red-orchestras-darkest-hour-mod-gets-another-huge-update/
• New Screenshots Released For Half-Life Opposing Force & Blue Shift Fan Remakes http://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/new-screenshots-released-for-half-life-opposing-force-blueshift-fan-remakes/

2-Gaming News

RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER TO BE BUNDLED WITH NVIDIA’S GEFORCE 970 & 980 GPUS

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/rise-of-the-tomb-raider-to-be-bundled-with-nvidias-geforce-970-980-gpus/

Now here is a surprise. We all know that Rise of the Tomb Raider is advertised as an AMD Gaming Evolved title. After all, the game will be taking advantage of TressFX 3.0. However, it appears that this upcoming title will be bundled with NVIDIA’s GeForce 900 series cards.

>>And AMD game being bundled by Nvidia. What a crazy world we live in!

AWESOME GAMES DONE QUICK 2016 MARATHON IS A GO, HAS ALREADY RAISED $116K, ENDS ON JANUARY 10TH

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/awesome-games-done-quick-2016-marathon-is-a-go-has-already-raised-116k-ends-on-january-10th/

Awesome Games Done Quick is one of our most favourite gaming marathons. For one whole week, gamers speedrun lots of video-games from all platforms (from PC to Game Boy Advance). This marathon started yesterday, will last until January 10th, and all of its donations will be sent directly to the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

IOS RPG THE QUEST IS SUDDENLY ON PC

http://www.pcgamer.com/ios-rpg-the-quest-is-suddenly-on-pc/

The Quest is the game that nearly made me buy an iPod Touch. I resisted, and now many years later, The Quest has suddenly come to PC, with higher-definition art in the bargain. The irony is that there are too many damned RPGs around and I probably won't get to it for ages, but I'm glad that I no longer have a good reason to buy an iPhone.

OCULUS TOUCH CONTROLLER HAS BEEN DELAYED TO "SECOND HALF OF 2016"

http://www.pcgamer.com/oculus-touch-controller-has-been-delayed-to-second-half-of-2016/

Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey tweeted last week that the Oculus Rift VR headset remains on track for a commercial launch in the first quarter of 2016. The Oculus Touch controller is going to take a little longer than expected, however: It had originally been slated for release "shortly after" the rollout of the Rift, but the company announced today that “we need more time” to perfect it.

HERE'S A VERY BRIEF LOOK AT CYAN WORLDS' OBDUCTION

http://www.pcgamer.com/heres-a-very-brief-look-at-cyan-worlds-obduction/

Myst developer Cyan Worlds wants to wish you a happy new year, in the only way they know how: with a freaky alien world full of puzzles and (hopefully) badly acted FMV. Their new trailer for Obduction shows off such a world, and I cannot wait to explore it, prod a few levers, then give up, as I have with all of Cyan Worlds' previous games.

>>Here's the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYGE_zp-fOU

ACTIVISION GOBBLES UP MLG IN $46 MILLION TAKEOVER

http://www.pcgamer.com/activision-gobbles-up-mlg-in-46-million-takeover/

I wonder if MLG touched the sides as it slid down Activision's capacious gullet? With barely a squeak, the ailing esports firm has become part of the publishing behemoth in a takeover deal worth $46 million cash. Or rather, MLG continues to operate as MLG but Activision has acquired the bulk of its assets and associated liabilities. As part of the deal, CEO Sundance DiGiovanni has been ousted and replaced with former MLG CFO Greg Chisholm.

FOOTBALL MANAGER 2016, GRAND THEFT AUTO V & HUNIEPOP ARE THIS WEEK’S BEST SELLING PC GAMES

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/football-manager-2016-grand-theft-auto-v-huniepop-are-this-weeks-best-selling-pc-games/

The latest PC UK retail, Steam Digital and Green Man Gaming charts have been revealed and as we can see, Football Manager 2016, Grand Theft Auto V and HuniePop are this week’s best selling games in UK, on Steam and on GMG. You can view the full charts after the jump!

I honestly didn't expect AMD to transition to 14nm for their lower end parts when but I guess lower power maybe worth it since it gives them extra clocking headroom ...

I never doubted that AMD would update all their range of cards... Mostly because it would be weird to see a rebadged 380 as a 470 performing worse than the newer 480 and also using more power.

Also, lower end chip tend to have better performance/watt ratios than higher end stuff, so choosing those parts to demonstrate the improved efficiency isn't too unexpected. But a comparison with a 970 would have been a lot more valuable .

With that said, I'm not sure the chip used for that demo is a low end chip. In the video they say that the new node and architecture allows them to reach higher fequencies yet at the end of the video, when they show the hardware used, it says

GPU: next-gen "polaris" gpu engineering sample @850E/.8375V"

Now I don't know if that 850E mean 850MHz, but if it is indeed the frequency, it would be kind of low(-ish). And the voltage is also very low.

Meanwhile, Nvidia has presented its Pascal GPUs! But has also done it in a weird way:

NVIDIA ANNOUNCES DRIVE PX 2 - PASCAL POWER FOR SELF-DRIVING CARS

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9903/nvidia-announces-drive-px-2-pascal-power-for-selfdriving-cars

(and it's also low end Pascal chips)

The news:

1-Mod

• Macho Man mod makes deathclaws scarier http://www.pcgamer.com/macho-man-mod-makes-deathclaws-scarier/

2-VR devices

OCULUS RIFT PRE-ORDERS BEGIN JANUARY 6

http://www.pcgamer.com/oculus-rift-pre-orders-begin-january-6/

The promise of a finished Oculus Rift will be available for purchase at 8AM PST on Wednesday, January 6. That's when pre-orders for the consumer version begin. That's also when "everything you need to know to order your Rift" will be revealed, which presumably includes the small matter of the price. The recommended hardware specs were revealed back in May.

>>You can discuss this story on AbbathTheGrim's thread: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=211988

DEV KIT BACKERS TO RECEIVE FREE OCULUS RIFT

http://www.pcgamer.com/dev-kit-backers-to-receive-free-oculus-rift/

Well this is nice. Oculus Rift backers who pledged enough to get the Dev Kit 1 will receive a free Kickstarter Edition Oculus Rift. That's 'free' rather than free of course, because you'll have dropped a lot of money on the Rift already to qualify, but it's a sterling show of gratitude to a community without which Palmer Luckey might not be a borderline billionaire. As with every Rift, the Kickstarter edition will be bundled with EVE Valkyrie and Lucky's Tale.

NEW VIVE PRE VR HEADSET FEATURES FRONT-MOUNTED CAMERA

http://www.pcgamer.com/new-vive-pre-vr-headset-features-front-mounted-camera/

HTC and Valve have revealed the second phase of Vive VR's evolution. The Vive Pre virtual reality suite includes redesigned wireless controllers, a slimmer headpiece, screen improvements and a front-mounted camera to hopefully stop users from bumping into things. It's described as a "developer edition", so the final consumer edition due in April may be different.

>>You can discuss about this story at Vasto's thread: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=212031

3-Gaming News

STEAM SURPASSES 12 MILLION CONCURRENT USERS

http://www.pcgamer.com/steam-surpasses-12-million-concurrent-users/

What do you get if you add a great big Christmas holiday to a winter sale and subtract the people too wary of Steam's recent data spillage to play any of their games over the break (that's none, by the way)? Twelve million. Twelve million has become Steam's peak concurrent user record, less than a year after it first passed nine million.

STEAM SALES 2015 REPORT – GENERATED $3.5 BILLION, SOLD OVER 350 MILLION PAID GAMES

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/steam-sales-2015-report-generated-3-5-billion-sold-over-350-million-paid-games/

And there is nothing stopping this train. Steam Spy has published its final Steam Sales 2015 report. And as we can see, Valve’s distribution service has sold over 350 million paid games, generating around $3.5 billion in 2015.

>>For more data and discussions, go to NiKKoM's thread: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=212014

RUMOUR: NEXT ASSASSIN’S CREED GAME COMING IN 2017, WATCH_DOGS 2 COMING IN 2016

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/rumour-next-assassins-creed-game-coming-in-2017-watch_dogs-2-coming-in-2016/

Kotaku has leaked some interesting new information about the next Assassin’s Creed and Watch_Dogs games. According to Kotaku’s sources, Ubisoft will not release a Assassin’s Creed title in 2016. Instead, it is rumoured that the next Assassin’s Creed will be released in 2017. Not only that, but it is said that the sequel to Watch_Dogs will come out in 2016.

>>To discuss this news, go to AbbathTheGrim's threads. AC: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=211980 # Watch_Dogs: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=211999

SPEEDRUNNER FINISHES FALLOUT 3 IN UNDER 15 MINUTES, SETTING A NEW WORLD RECORD

http://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/speedrunner-finishes-fallout-3-in-under-15-minutes-setting-a-new-world-record/

YouTube’s ‘Rydou’ has been able to speedrun Fallout 3 in under 15 minutes, thus setting a new world record for Bethesda’s title. In order to achieve that, Rydou has skipped dialogues and clipped through walls by quicksaving/quickloading.

More news!

GARRY'S MOD BREAKS TEN MILLION COPIES SOLD

http://www.pcgamer.com/garrys-mod-breaks-ten-million-copies-sold/

Garry's Mod was originally released as a Half-Life 2 mod in 2004, before being re-launched as a standalone sandbox physics games in 2006. Over the next eight years, it rang up a cool six million copies—an impressive achievement by any measure. But in the year and four months since then, it's sold another four million copies.

RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER ON PC JANUARY 28

http://www.pcgamer.com/rise-of-the-tomb-raider-on-pc-january-28/

Finally—we can stop saying 'exclusive' with derisory quote marks around it now. Rise of the Tomb Raider will be out on a second platform (that's the PC, if you hadn't pegged it) on January 28, as rumours from Amazon and Steam suggested it would be. Everybody breathe a sigh of relief.

THIS IS WHAT AN 80-PIECE CHOIR SINGING THE SKYRIM THEME LOOKS LIKE

http://www.pcgamer.com/this-is-what-an-80-piece-choir-singing-the-skyrim-theme-looks-like/

The Skyrim theme song Dragonborn is thoroughly epic stuff. You can't really dance to it, but it's got the sturm, it's got the drang, and it's got Max von Sydow in your head, telling you that it's time to kick ass and chew bubblegum—and boy, there is yet again a crippling shortage of bubblegum. The only thing that could possibly make it more epic is seeing it sung by an 80-member Swedish chorus fronted by singer Myrra Malmberg. So, here you go.

>>Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgScrn-wrCI

RAINBOW SIX SIEGE BLACK ICE DLC DELAYED

http://www.pcgamer.com/rainbow-six-siege-black-ice-dlc-delayed/

Originally pegged to appear in January, a Tweet from the official Rainbow Six account has confirmed that Siege's first map and Operator DLC, Operation Black Ice, will now arrive on February 2.

PAYPAL BACKERS FROZEN OUT OVER SHENMUE 3 KICKSTARTER REWARDS

http://www.pcgamer.com/paypal-backers-frozen-out-over-shenmue-3-kickstarter-rewards/

In a Kickstarter update posted in early December 2015, Shenmue 3 developer Ys Net rolled out a poll asking if rewards previously offered as Kickstarter exclusives should also be extended to post-Kickstarter PayPal backers. The studio said it didn't want to break its promise of exclusivity, but decided to put the matter up for a vote after receiving many requests to do so. “Keeping our promise to you is very important to us,” the studio wrote. “But at the same time, the PayPal site was set up precisely because fans could not back the Kickstarter and they feel they should not be penalized for that.”

>>Long story short, they've been given the middle finger.

THE WHITE MARCH PART 2 RELEASES FEB 16

http://www.pcgamer.com/the-white-march-part-2-releases-feb-16/

The conclusion to Pillars of Eternity expansion The White March was pegged for 'late January', and it has turned out to be very late January indeed—February 16.

Finally, I want to inform you that I won't post news tomorrow. It's the Three Wise Men holiday and that means family, dinner and the typical dessert so I won't be in proper conditions . If someone else wants to do it, I'll be thankful.

What do you think of the AC games?

Personally, I enjoyed all of them all from the first one (despite its flaws) to Revelations. And then came AC 3... and that's where my interest with the series died.

That's more or less how I would score them, I would only change the score of AC 2 and put it a bit higher than Brotherhood.

I used to get the AC games one year or so after launch. By then they were already quite cheap. It's one of the good things about Ubisoft, their games go down in price quite fast.

http://www.pcgamer.com/new-vive-pre-vr-headset-features-front-mounted-camera/