HIS Radeon 7970 X2 Hands-On: Is This the World's Fastest Graphics Card?
Apple’s Online Radio Service to Challenge Pandora in 2013
HIS Radeon 7970 X2 Hands-On: Is This the World's Fastest Graphics Card?
HIS has PowerColor's Devil 13 in its sights and is aiming to bring the world's fastest graphics card to the market soon by coupling two Radeon 7970 GPUs.
Board Partner TUL has started selling its own dual-GPU design based on the Tahiti XT chip using several of its brands (PowerColor, VTX3D). Now HIS is joining the fray with its own take on the two-GPU Tahiti XT, which it calls the 7970 X2, making very sure to avoid the HD 7990 designation.
Like TUL's versions, HIS' new card uses an impressive, massive three slot cooler. The card itself draws its power from a full three 8-pin PCIe power connectors. The main difference compared to the competition is this: the card's two fans cool two separate heatsinks, since each GPU sports its own cooler. This allows the GPUs to run at no less than 1050 MHz, and HIS claims there is still some overclocking headroom left as well. That would make HIS' sample faster than PowerColor's Devil 13, which "only" reaches 1000 MHz when OC is enabled.
The two GPUs are connected using a Lucidlogix switch, which is a fairly uncommon find. Meanwhile, the memory frequency is cranked up to 1500 MHz-up from the 1375 MHz AMD specifies for the Radeon HD 7970.
Source: Tom's Hardware Guide
Apple’s Online Radio Service to Challenge Pandora in 2013
Apple Inc. (AAPL) has intensified talks with major music labels to start an advertising supported streaming-radio competitor to Pandora Media Inc. (P) by early next year, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations.
Discussions are centered in part around how to share ad revenue and a deal could be reached by mid-November, with Apple starting service in the first three months of 2013, said the people, who sought anonymity because talks are in progress.
With sales of music downloads slowing, Apple and record companies want to create new ways for customers to discover and buy digital music. To challenge Pandora, Apple is seeking licensing pacts with labels that allow more flexibility about what listeners hear. Pandora, the Internet radio leader, relies on a compulsory license that limits how often users can skip tracks and how many times an hour an artist can be played. Apple is also pushing for earlier access to new releases.
Executives from Vivendi SA (VIV)’s Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony Corp. visited Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, in recent weeks to learn more about its radio plans, the people said. Apple, the world’s biggest music retailer with more than 400 million iTunes accounts, wants listeners to be able to buy tracks as music streams or revisit what they’ve heard in auto-generated playlists, they said.
Apple is looking to create an app tailored for its iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, the people said. They said it won’t be focused on delivering music through a Web browser. Apple’s negotiations with record labels have centered around advertising, the people said. In addition to an upfront fee, record companies are seeking a percentage of ad sales and the ability to insert their own commercials for artists, they said. Apple sees the service as a way to grow its iAd mobile advertising platform, and is exploring ways to integrate iAd with iTunes to steer customers back to iTunes.
Source: Bloomberg
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