Microsoft on the BUILD conference announced some more information about DirectX 11.2, which will come with Windows 8.1 and Xbox One. Possibilities of a new API, that will provide an even greater level of detail in future games, was demonstrated by vicepresident of Windows department, Antoine Leblond.

During the next week, Nvidia will officially introduce another video card from GeForce 700 series. Now the time has come for GeForce GTX 760 (without Titanium labels), and the last unofficial information suggests somewhat different specifications than we previously expected.

In addition to the GeForce GTX 770, Nvidia has unveiled their line-up from the GTX series chips for laptops this week. Featured models are GeForce GTX 760M, 765M, 770m and 780m, all with support for GPU Boost 2.0 and with higher performance than the previous generation.

AMD could introduce the next generation of GPU chips, based on the GCN architecture 2.0 in the third quarter of this year. Unofficial sources say two chips have code names Curacao and Hainan, which will be made in the existing 28-nanometer manufacturing process.

AMD kicked an interesting product out the door today in the form of their Operton X-Series APU SoC. You might remember that the possibility of this APU was leaked a while ago by an inadvertent inclusion on a slide showing the Operton X logo. Everyone knew this was going to fold over into an x86 APU based SoC and the launch was just a matter of time. Now the lid is off and we can talk about the Opteron X (Kyoto) and where AMD sees this new product in their server business and in the market as a whole.

For its first fiscal quarter, which ended on April 28 for the company,Nvidia reported a better-than-expected operating results. The total revenues of the company ere $954.7 million, a decline of 14% compared to the previous quarter, but an increase of 3.2% compared to $924.9 million company had achieved in the same period a year earlier.

There has been an interesting shift in the market over the last few months as we watch another former AMD engineer/executive return to the fold. AMD has announced that Raja Koduri will be bringing his graphic expertise back to AMD. Koduri was preceded by Mark Papermaster and Jim Keller who both left Apple for AMD last year. These returns are interesting in that Apple was once seen as the company to work for and, according to many analysts, had an almost unlimited earning and growth potential. However, after the death of Steve Jobs Apple has slumped and the once loud predictions of Apple reaching $1,000 per share are long gone as the stock continues to drop.

AMD has officially unveiled Radeon HD 7790. The card is by performance and price located between 7770 and 7850 and based on the new chip codenamed Bonaire XT, comprised of 2.08 billion transistors.

Nvidia is developing another graphics card for the commercial market based on chip GK110. The card should be slightly less powerful and therefore a bit cheaper than the already presented GeForce GTX Titan, and the formal presentation is expected between July and August this year.

Sapphire has introduced a special edition of the Radeon HD 7950 for owners of Mac Pros. The card is currently the most powerful existing  graphics solution for Mac Pro, and support should be valid also for the future generation that will be available from later this year.