General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Review

Posted: 18 Sep 2014 08:04 PM PDT

4K and SLI tested on Nvidia's high-end Maxwell card

Sometimes things don't go according to plan. Both AMD and Nvidia were supposed to have shifted to 20-nanometer parts by now. In theory, that's supposed to get you lower temperatures, higher clock speeds and quieter operation. Due to circumstances largely out of its control, Nvidia has had to go ahead with a 28nm high-end Maxwell part instead, dubbed GM204. This is not a direct successor to the GTX 780, which has more transistors, texture mapping units, and things like that. The 980 is actually the next step beyond the GTX 680, aka GK104, which was launched in March 2012.

Despite that, our testing indicates that the GTX 980 is still perceptibly faster than the GTX 780 and 780 Ti (and AMD's Radeon R9 290 and 290X, for that matter) in every game we benchmarked. (though there are a of couple games better optimized for Radeon hardware). When 20nm processes become available sometime next year, we'll probably see the actual successor to the GTX 780. But right now, the GTX 980 is here, and comes in at $500. That seems high at first, but recall that the GTX 680, 580, and 480 all launched at this price. And keep in mind that it's a faster card than the 780 and 780 Ti, which currently cost more. (As we wrote this, AMD announced that it was dropping the base price of the R9 290X from $500 to $450, so that war rages on.) The GTX 970 at $400 may be a better deal, but we have not yet obtained one of those for testing.

In other news, Nvidia told us that they were dropping the price of the GTX 760 to $219, and the GTX 780 Ti, 780 and 770 are being officially discontinued. So if you need a second one of those for SLI, now is a good time.

Let's take a look at the specs:

GTX 980 GTX 970 GTX 680 GTX 780 GTX 780 Ti R9 290X
Generation GM204 GM204  GK104  GK104  GK110  Hawaii
Core Clock (MHz)  1126  1050  1006  863 876  "up to" 1GHz
Boost Clock (MHz)  1216  1178  1058  900 928  N/A
VRAM Clock (MHz)  7000  7000  6000  6000 7000  5000
VRAM Amount  4GB  4GB  2GB/4GB  3GB/6GB 3GB  4GB
Bus  256-bit  256-bit  256-bit  384-bit  384-bit  512-bit
ROPs  64  64  32  48 48  64
TMUs  128  104  128  192 240  176
Shaders  2048  1664  1536  2304 2880  2816
SMs  16  13  8  12  15  N/A
TDP (watts)  165  145  195  250  250  290
Launch Price  $549  $329  $499  $649  $699  $549

On paper, the 980 and 970 don't look like much of a jump from the 680. In fact, the 980 has only 128 shaders (aka "CUDA cores") per streaming multi-processor (SM). Performance tends to increase with a higher number of shaders per SM, so how did the 980 GTX perform so well in our benches, despite having a worse ratio than all the other cards? Well, Nvidia claims that they've improved the performance of each CUDA core by 40%. Provided that this calculation is accurate, the GTX 980 effectively has about as many CUDA cores as a 780 Ti. Add the GTX 980's bigger clock speeds, and performance should be higher.

You probably also noticed the unusually low price for the GTX 970. The GTX 670 launched at $400 in May 2012, and the GTX 570 launched at $350 in December 2010. These earlier two cards were also had more similar specs compared to their bigger brothers. For example, the GTX 570 had 480 CUDA cores, while the 580 had 512 cores. This is a difference of just 6.25%, although the memory bus was reduced from 384-bits to 320-bits. In contrast, the 970 gets nearly 20% fewer CUDA cores than the 980, though its memory bus remains unchanged. As we said, we haven't gotten a 970 in yet, but, based on its specs, we doubt that we can compensate with overclocking, as we've been able to do in the past with the GTX 670 and 760, and the Radeon R9 290.

Nvidia also says that the official boost clock on these new Maxwell cards is not set in stone. We witnessed our cards boosting up to 1,253MHz for extended periods of time (i.e., 20 seconds here, 30 seconds there). When the cards hit their thermal limit of 80 degrees Celsius, they would fall down as low as 1,165Mhz, but we never saw them throttle below the official base clock of 1,126MHz. In SLI, we also noted that the upper card would go up to 84 C. According to Nvidia, these cards have an upper boundary of 95 C, at which point they will throttle below the base clock to avoid going up in smoke. We were not inclined to test that theory, for now.

Next Page: Voxels, new anti-aliasing, and VR

The company also says that its delta color compression algorithms have improved bandwidth requirements by about 25 percent on average (it varies from game to game). This extra headroom provides more space for increased frame rates. Since DCC directly affects pixels, this effect should scale with your resolution, becoming increasingly helpful as you crank your res higher.

You can also combine these gains with Nvidia's new Multi-Frame Sampled Anti-Aliasing (MFAA). This technique rotates a pixel's sampling points from one frame to the next, so that two of these points can simulate the visual results of four sampling points whose locations remain static. The effect starts to shimmer at about 20FPS, whereupon it's automatically disabled. But when running well, Nvidia claims that it can be 30 percent faster, on average, than the visually equivalent level of Multi-Sample Anti-Aliasing (MSAA). Like TXAA (Temporal Anti-Aliasing), this technique won't be available on AMD cards (or if it is, it will be built by AMD from the ground up and called something else).

Unfortunately, MFAA was not available in the version 344.07 beta drivers given to us for testing, but Nvidia said it would be in the driver after this one. This means that the package will not be complete on launch day. Support will trickle down to the older Kepler cards later on. Nvidia hasn't been specific about timelines of specific cards, but it sounded like the 750 and 750 Ti (also technically Maxwell cards), will not be invited to this party.

Another major upgrade is Voxel Global Illumination, or VXGI. Nvidia positions this as the next step beyond ambient occlusion. With VXGI, light bounces off of surfaces to illuminate nooks and crannies that would otherwise not be lit realistically, in real time. Ordinarily, light does not bounce around in a 3D game engine like it does in meatspace. It simply hits a surface, illuminates it, and that's the end. Sometimes the lighting effect is just painted onto the texture. So there's a lot more calculation going on with VXGI.

But Nvidia has not made specific performance claims because the effect is highly scalable. A developer can choose how many cones of light they want to use, and the degree of bounced light resolution (you can go for diffused/blurry spots of light, or a reflection that's nearly a mirror image of the bounced surface), and they balance this result against a performance target. Since this is something that has to be coded into the game engine, we won't see that effect right away by forcing it in the drivers, like Nvidia users can with ambient occlusion.

Nvidia is also investing more deeply into VR headsets with an initiative called VR Direct. Their main bullet point is a reduction in average latency from 50ms to 25ms, using a combination of code optimization, MFAA, and another new feature called Auto Asynchronous Warp (AAW). This displays frames at 60fps even when performance drops below that. Since each eye is getting an independently rendered scene, your PC effectively needs to maintain 120FPS otherwise, which isn't going to be common with more demanding games. AAW takes care of the difference. However, we haven't had the opportunity to test the GTX 980 with VR-enabled games yet.

Speaking of which, Nvidia is also introducing another new feature called Auto Stereo. As its name implies, it forces stereoscopic rendering in games that were not built with VR headsets in mind. We look forward to testing VR Direct at a later date.

Lastly, we also noticed that GeForce Experience can now record at this resolution. It was previously limited to 2560x1600.

Until we get our hands on MFAA and DSR, we have some general benchmarks to tide you over. We tested the GTX 980 in two-way SLI and by itself, at 2560x1600 and 3820x2160. We compared it to roughly equivalent cards that we've also run in solo and two-way configs.

Next Page: SLI Benchmarks!

Here's the system that we've been using for all of our recent GPU benchmarks:

Part Component
CPU Intel Core i7-3960X (at stock clock speeds; 3.3GHz base, 3.9GHz turbo)
CPU Cooler Corsair Hydro Series H100
Mobo Asus Rampage IV Extreme
RAM 4x 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws X, 2133MHz CL9
Power Supply Thermaltake Toughpower Grand (1,050 watts)
SSD 1TB Crucial M550
OS Windows 8.1 Update 1
Case NZXT Phantom 530 

Now, let's take a look at our results at 2560x1600 with 4xMSAA. For reference, this is twice as many pixels as 1920x1080. So gamers playing at 1080p on a similar PC can expect roughly twice the framerate, if they use the same graphical settings. We customarily use the highest preset provided by the game itself; for example, Hitman: Absolution is benchmarked with the "Ultra" setting. 3DMark runs the Firestrike test at 1080p, however. We also enable TressFX in Tomb Raider, and PhysX in Metro: Last Light.

GTX 980 GTX 680 GTX 780 GTX 780 Ti R9 290X
Tomb Raider  33  19 25  27  26
Metro: Last Light  46  21  22  32  30
Batman: Arkham Origins  75  51  65  78  65
Hitman: Absolution  42  27  40  45  50
Unigine Valley  45  30  43  48  41
Unigine Heaven  39  64  35  39  34
3DMark Firestrike  11,490  6,719  8,482  9,976 9,837

(best scores bolded)

To synthesize the results into a few sentences, we would say that the 980 is doing very well for its price. It's not leapfrogging over the 780 and 780 Ti, but Nvidia indicates that it's not supposed to anyway. It dominates the GTX 680, but that card is also two years old and discontinued, so the difference is not unexpected or likely to change buying habits. The R9 290X, meanwhile, is hitting $430, while the not-much-slower 290 can be had for as little as $340. And you can pick up a 780 Ti for $560. So the GTX 980's price at launch is going to be a bit of a hurdle for Nvidia.

Performance in Metro: Last Light has also vastly improved. (We run that benchmark with "Advanced PhysX" enabled, indicating that Nvidia has made some optimizations there. Further testing is needed.) Loyal Radeon fans will probably not be swayed to switch camps, at least on the basis of pure performance. Hitman in particular does not appear to favor the Green Team.

We were fortunate enough to obtain a second GTX 980, so we decided to set them up in SLI, at the same resolution of 2560x1600. Here, the differences are more distinct. We've honed the comparison down to the most competitive cards that we have SLI/CF benchmarks for. (Unfortunately, we do not have a second GTX 680 in hand at this time. But judging by its single-card performance, it's very unlikely to suddenly pull ahead.) For this special occasion, we brought in the Radeon R9 295X2, which has two 290X GPUs on one card and has been retailing lately for about a thousand bucks.

GTX 980 GTX 780 GTX 780 Ti R9 295X2
Tomb Raider  66  45  56  50
Metro: Last Light  70  52  53  48
Batman: Arkham Origins  131  122  143  90
Hitman: Absolution  77  74  79  79
Unigine Valley  80  72  87  41
Unigine Heaven  73  60  77  65
3DMark Firestrike  17,490  14,336  16,830  15,656

(best scores bolded)

While a solo 980 GTX is already a respectable competitor for the price, its success is more pronounced when we add a second card—as is the gap between it and the 780 Ti. It still continues to best the GTX 780, getting us over 60 FPS in each game with all visual effects cranked up. That's an ideal threshold. It also looks like Nvidia's claim of 40 percent improved CUDA core performance may not be happening consistently. Future driver releases should reveal if this is a matter of software optimization, or if it's a limitation in hardware. Or just a random cosmic anomaly.

Next Page: 4K benchmarks and conclusion

So, what happens when we scale up to 3840x2160, also known as "4K"? Here we have almost twice as many pixels as 2560x1600, and four times as many as 1080p. Can the GTX 980's 256-bit bus really handle this much bandwidth?

GTX 980 GTX 680 GTX 780 GTX 780 Ti R9 290X
Tomb Raider  16  8.7*  26  28  28
Metro: Last Light  36  12  18  19  18
Batman: Arkham Origins  35  25  43  44  38
Hitman: Absolution  20  15  37  40  45
Unigine Valley  19  15  30  30  26
Unigine Heaven  19  11  23  23  18

(best scores bolded)

*TressFX disabled

The 980 is still scaling well, but the 384-bit 780 and 780 Ti are clearly scaling better, as is the 512-bit 290X. Metro: Last Light is the only clear success for the GTX 980. (We don't include 3DMark because it doesn't have an option to run above 2560x1600.) We had to disable TressFX when benchmarking the 680, because the test would crash otherwise, and it was operating at less than 1FPS anyway. At 4K, that card basically meets its match, and almost its maker.

Maybe the 980's story improves if we add a second card? Here's 4K SLI/Crossfire. All tests are still conducted at 4xMSAA, which is total overkill at 4K, but we want to see just how hard we can push these cards. (Ironically, we have most of the SLI results for the 290X here, but not for 2560x1600. That's a paddlin'.)

GTX 980 GTX 780 GTX 780 Ti R9 290X R9 295X2
Tomb Raider  33  41  44  52  53
Metro: Last Light  43  21  27  29  26
Batman: Arkham Origins  68  99  103  67  66
Hitman: Absolution  42  63  75  75  75
Unigine Valley  39  43  40  24  19
Unigine Heaven  34  33  44  17  34

(best scores bolded)

It does appear that the raw memory bandwidth of the 780, 780 Ti, and 290X come in handy at this resolution, despite the optimizations of Maxwell CUDA cores. That Metro: Last Light score remains pretty interesting. It's the only one we run with PhysX enabled (to balance out using TressFX in Tomb Raider). It really does look like Maxwell is much better at PhysX than any other GPU before it. That tech isn't quite common enough to change the game. But if the difference is as good as our testing indicates, more developers may pick it up.

Even a blisteringly fast card can be brought down by high noise levels or prodigious heat. Thankfully, this reference cooler is up to the task. Keep in mind that this card draws up to 165 watts, and its cooler is designed to handle cards that go up to 250W. But even with the fan spinning up to nearly 3,000rpm, it's not unpleasant. With the case side panels on, you can still hear the fan going like crazy, but we didn't find it distracting. These acoustics only happened in SLI, by the way. Without the primary card sucking in hot air from the card right below it, its fan behaved much more quietly. The GTX 980's cooling is nothing like the reference design of the Radeon R9 290 or 290X.

With a TDP of just 165W, a respectable 650-watt power supply should have no trouble powering two 980 GTXs. Meanwhile, the 290-watt R9 290X really needs a nice 850-watt unit to have some breathing room, and even more power would not be unwelcome.

Since MFAA and DSR were not available in the driver that was supplied for testing, there's more story for us to tell over the coming weeks. And we still need to do some testing with VR. But as it stands right now, the GTX 980 is another impressive showing for Nvidia. Its 4K scaling isn't as good as we'd like, especially since Maxwell is currently the only tech that will have Super Dynamic Resolution. If you want to play at that level, it looks like the 290 and 290X are better choices, price-wise, while the overall performance crown at 4K still belongs to the 780 and 780 Ti.

For 2560x1600 or lower resolutions, the 980 GTX emerges as a compelling option, but we're not convinced that it's over $100 better than a 290X. Then again, you have MFAA, DSR, and VR Direct, (and the overall GeForce Experience package that's a bit slicker than AMD's Gaming Evolved) which might work some people, or for Nvidia loyalists who've been waiting for an upgrade from their 680 that's not quite as expensive as the 780 or 780 Ti.

Our amigo Wes Fenlon over at PC Gamer has a write-up of his own, so go check it out.

Toshiba Cutting Back on its Consumer PC Division

Posted: 18 Sep 2014 07:13 PM PDT

ToshibaCompany focusing on businesses more than consumers

It appears that the future of traditional PCs doesn't look too bright, at least where Toshiba is concerned. Toshiba announced that it is shifting away from consumer PCs and focusing more on business PCs as part of a restructuring effort. 

The electronics company feels that a focus on the more profitable business-to-business(B2B) field is better for it than the unpredictable business-to-consumer(B2C) market which saw declines in 2013 for the entire industry and early 2014. In response to the decline, it is downsizing by reducing its global workforce by 900 employees, about 20 percent of its non-manufacturing workforce, within the fiscal year as part of the restructuring efforts. 

Toshiba revealed that it would also withdraw its B2C resources from certain markets, but didn't say where, while focusing on developed countries that would also help to promote its B2B business simultaneously. However, the PC division isn't the only part of Toshiba that has gone through a restructuring process. It has already restructured its TV business back in 2013 when it reported a $1 billion loss for two straight years. 

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Final Fantasy 13 Trilogy Coming to PC, First Game Arrives Next Month

Posted: 18 Sep 2014 05:17 PM PDT

FF13

The latest Final Fantasy titles coming to PC

Square Enix has slowly been bringing the Final Fantasy franchise to the PC platform. After re-releasing Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII, the developer has been bringing some of the other older games in the franchise over.  However, Square Enix has announced that the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy is coming to the PC platform.

The first title in the popular JRPG series, released back in 2010 for consoles, is available for pre-order on Steam and Square Enix's online store. Those wishing to pre-order Final Fantasy 13 through Steam will get a 10 percent discount for a price of $14.39 (regular price is $15.99). FF13 Steam trading cards will also be available to those who purchase it on Steam. 

Final Fantasy 13 will launch on October 9. However, Square Enix did not provide a specific release date, or price, for Final Fantasy 13-2 or Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13, the latest installment of the franchise which was released back in February, except that they will be available "later next spring."

Have you played any of the Final Fantasy games on PC and are you looking forward to playing Final Fantasy XIII? Sound off in the comments below!

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Microsoft's Workforce Reduction Continues with 2,100 Additional Layoffs

Posted: 18 Sep 2014 01:46 PM PDT

Microsoft DoorMicrosoft's restructuring effort will see a total of 18,000 job reductions

Today was a tough one in Redmond. Continuing with a restructuring plan announced earlier this year, Microsoft today handed out an additional 2,100 pink slips as part of a second wave of layoffs. When all is said and done, Microsoft will have reduced its total workforce by 14 percent, or 18,000 workers, as it looks to become a more agile company that can move faster towards its goals.

The second wave of layoffs follow a first wave of around 13,000 job reductions. That leaves approximately 2,900 more job cuts to be made, though it's not clear when those will come and whether they'll happen all at once or in multiple waves.

"The reductions happening today are spread across many different business units, and many different countries. We will continue to go through this process in the most thoughtful manner possible, with the deepest respect for affected individuals and recognition of their service to the company," a spokeswoman for Microsoft told PCWorld in an email.

It's believed that most of the workers let go in the first round of layoffs were from Microsoft's Nokia Devices and Services division. Like the ones who were let go today, they were given severance packages.

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BitFenix Pandora Case Supports Custom Images on Front LCD

Posted: 18 Sep 2014 01:18 PM PDT

BitFenix PandoraSlap your mug on BitFenix's Pandora chassis

BitFenix today announced the release of its Pandora, a stylish and relative compact case made of brushed aluminum. In addition to its unique looks, the Pandora sports an integrated LCD panel (TFT) that measures 2.4 inches and is hidden discreetly behind the front panel. You can download software from BitFenix that allows you to upload your own images using a drag-and-drop interface.

"Simply connect the USB cable to your motherboard, download the software from the BitFenix website, and drag your picture file onto the software. In seconds, your image file will be displayed in full color – an easy and novel new way to add your own personal touch to your PC," BitFenix explains.

The design of the Pandora is inspired by the fact that an increasing number of PC users are plopping their rigs in the living room. To accommodate this trend, BitFenix wanted Pandora to look more like a modern entertainment appliance than a traditional PC. Mission accomplished, though it doesn't come at the expense of DIY amenities.

Pandora sports an optional side window. It has three 2.5-inch drive bays, two 3.5-inch bays, a 120mm top cooling fan, 120mm front cooling fan (with an optional mount for one more), five PCI slots, USB 3.0 and 2.0 support, and cable management cutouts. The case supports micro-ATX and mini-ITX motherboards.

Pandora should be available soon; no word yet on price.

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Newegg Daily Deals: Samsung 840 Evo 500GB SSD, Intel Core i5 4690, and More!

Posted: 18 Sep 2014 12:35 PM PDT

Samsung Evonewegg logo

Top Deal:

Waiting on a slow computer to finish a task can set your whole day back. Before you know it, you're late for your dentist appointment, and because your dentist is now hurried, he forgets to shoot your cheek full of Novocaine before drilling into your cavity. Ouch! How can you avoid such an unpleasant trip to the dentist? By checking out today's top deal for a wicked fast Samsung 840 Evo 500GB Solid State Drive for $210 with free shipping (normally $350 - use coupon code: [EMCPAWB26]). That's a steal, but no worry, nobody will press charges.

Other Deals:

Asus 27-inch 1920x1080 2ms Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor for $200 with free shipping (normally $240 - use coupon code: [EMCPAWD58]; Additional $20 Mail-in rebate)

WD Black Series 3TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5-inch Internal Hard Drive for $150 with free shipping (normally $180 - use coupon code: [EMCPAWB27])

Intel Core i5-4690 Haswell Quad-Core 3.5GHz LGA 1150 84W Desktop Processor for $210 with free shipping (normally $225 - use coupon code: [EMCPAWB29])

Asus Radeon R9 280 3GB 384-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready for $190 with free shipping (normally $225 - use coupon code: [EMCPAWB35]; Additional $20 Mail-in rebate)

Tesoro Injects Shrike Laser Gaming Mouse with a Higher DPI, More Color Options

Posted: 18 Sep 2014 09:45 AM PDT

ShrikeUpgraded rodent now features an 8200 DPI laser sensor

Gaming peripheral maker Tesoro went back and updated its Shrike Laser Gaming Mouse with a few improvements, including an upgraded 8200 DPI sensor (up from 5600 DPI). The updated Shrike also features an updated programmable software UI, improved RGB LED lighting, and new color options. There are now five color choices for the Shrike to match your setup -- black, orange, white, yellow, and brushed silver.

Never heard of the Shrike? It's a rodent designed mostly for first person shooter fans. It has 128kb of built-in memory, an adjustable weight system, 8 fully programmable and independent buttons, high-speed motion detection and acceleration, 1,000Hz Ultrapolling, shooting speed control, rubberized thumb grip, and an adjustable full color LED.

With the updated software, Tesoro says its easier than before the customize and program the Shrike, both in terms of its LED lighting and creating macros.

No word on price or availability, though as a point of reference, the original Shrike (H2L) goes for about $50 street. If searching for the newer model, look for model number TS-H2LV2.

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Samsung's 20nm 6Gb LPDDR3 RAM Promises Longer Battery Life for Mobile Devices

Posted: 18 Sep 2014 08:56 AM PDT

Samsung 20nm 6GbLook for thinner, longer lasting mobile gadgets

Samsung said it has begun mass producing its 6-gigabit (Gb) low-power double data rate 3 (LPDDR3) mobile DRAM based on its 20-nanometer process technology (not to be confused with 20nm-class, which could mean anywhere from 20nm to 29nm). Why should you care? The new mobile memory chip is more efficient, which in turn will enable longer battery life in mobile devices. It could also lead to slimmer, less expensive mobile products.

The new 6Gb LPDDR3 has a per-pin data transfer rate of up to 2,133 megabits per second (Mbps). It takes four of them to comprise a 3GB package, which Samsung says is more than 20 percent smaller and consumes 10 percent less energy than the currently available 3GB package using the company's previously lowest process technology. The end product is an improvement in every way -- mobile memory based on Samsung's 20nm process is smaller, thinner, faster, and more power efficient.

"Our new 20nm 6Gb LPDDR3 DRAM provides the most advanced mobile memory solution for the rapidly expanding high-performance mobile DRAM market," said Jeeho Baek, vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Electronics. "We are working closely with our global customers to offer next-generation mobile memory solutions that can be applied to a more extensive range of markets ranging from the premium to standard segments."

Samsung says its new 20nm process brings about more than a 30 percent productivity gain. With that being the case, they should be cheaper to produce and could ultimately lead to price savings for the end user.

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Amazon Unloads Seven New Fire HD Tablets and E-Readers

Posted: 18 Sep 2014 08:33 AM PDT

Kindle FireLook who's ready for the holiday shopping season

Amazon decided that releasing a new Kindle Fire HD tablet wouldn't be enough, so the e-tailer went and added more than half a dozen new slates and e-readers. It begins with the introduction of two brand new Kindles starting at $79 (Kindle) and $199 (Kindle Voyage). The Kindle Voyage ups the ante with the thinnest design yet for a Kindle device (0.30 inches) and a next generation paperwhite display.

The $79 Kindle ($99 without Special Offers) is upgraded with a 20 percent faster processor, twice the amount of storage, and a touch interface. And starting at $199 (or $219 without Special Offers) for the Wi-Fi version and $269 for the Wi-Fi + 3G (or $289 without Special Offers), the Kindle Voyage comes with a built-in light with adaptive light sensor, 300 pixels per inch display (versus 167 on the standard Kindle), and PagePress sensor that makes it easier to turn pages.

Moving on, Amazon also released a pair of Fire HD Kids Edition tablets backed by 2-year "worry-free" guarantees -- if little Billy breaks his tablet, Amazon will replace it, no questions asked. The Fire HD Kids Edition comes in 6-inch ($149) and 7-inch ($189) models with choice of a blue, green, or pink kid-proof case.

Billed as a real tablet and not a toy, the Fire HD Kids Edition wields a quad-core processor, HD display, front- and rear-facing cameras, Dolby Digital audio, and access to Amazon's content ecosystem.

If you're keeping count, we're up to four new devices with three more to go. Two of them belong to the all-new Fire HD category. These are also available in 6-inch (starting at $99) and 7-inch (starting at $139, available in October) models with 8GB and 16GB capacity options. According to Amazon, the 1.5GHz quad-core processor stuffed inside these slates has 3x the graphics performance of the Samsung Tab 4.

Finally, there's the all new Fire HDX 8.9 powered by the latest generation quad-core 2.5GHz processor with a 70 percent faster graphics engine than the previous version. Amazon says it's 20 percent lighter than the iPad Air, and it's the first tablet with Dolby Atmos, which creates a new mobile headphone experience with multidimensional sound that flows above and around you, the company says. Pricing starts at $379.

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