16 processor companies and four IP suppliers are going after the rapidly evolving mobile devices market, according to a report released by Jon Peddie Research (JPR).
A team of scientists at Chungbuk National University in South Korea have created a transistor that's only 2nm in size, which happens to be the smallest in the world. By comparison, the current generation of Intel processors use 32nm transistors.
According to the list of Intel 2nd Generation Core laptop CPUs, vPro-enabled processors include the standard voltage i5-2520M, i5-2540M, i7-2620M, i7-2720QM, i7-2820QM, and i7-2920XM, low voltage i7-2629M and i7-2649M, and ultra-low voltage i5-2537M, i7-2617M, and i7-2657M.
ZiiLABS, a chip designing company of Creative, is unveiling their new ZMS-40 chip that combines a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU with 96 media processors of their proprietary "Stemcell" design. In their reference platform "Jaguar" this ZMS-40 chip will deliver twice the performance of their previous ZMS-20 chip while reducing power consumption up to 50 %. 58 GFlops of graphic processor power means that ZMS-40 is at least twice as more powerful as PowerVR SGX in iPad 2.
Alienware has rebooted its Aurora gaming desktop, giving it new aggressive styling and loading it with the latest hardware. The vents along the top of the case not only give the new Aurora a distinctive look, but also aid in airflow to cool the system.
US-based Altera has announced that it has launched its new series of SoC FPGA, which is on the ARM technology. The SoC FPGA combines the dual core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore Processor, 28 nm Cyclone V and Arria V FPGA fabric, high bandwidth interconnect, peripherals and error correcting code (ECC) secured memory controllers.
If you are wondering how well the new AMD FX CPU will overclock, you are not alone. AMD let us have some behind-the-scenes access a couple of weeks ago and is now allowing us to show off the results. We shot a lot of video and show you AMD FX overclocking on water, phase change, and liquid nitrogen.
AMD has released its long-expected AMD FX processor line, and -- as also expected -- they're shipping them unlocked, thus warming the cockles of overclockers' hearts. Early testing, however, reveals others' cockles to be somewhat chilly.
Just a couple of weeks ago we took the cover off of AMD's Llano processor for the first time in the form of the Sabine platform: Llano's mobile derivative. In that article we wrote in great detail about the architecture and how it performed on the stage of the notebook market - it looked very good when compared to the Intel Sandy Bridge machines we had on-hand.
USB 3.0 ports are becoming an ever more common addition to laptops and desktop PC motherboards. But any manufacturer wanting to add the fastest USB ports to their products can't currently rely on chipset makers to provide it as standard.
AMD has updated its A-Series line of processors for mainstream laptops and desktops with new chips it says operate at faster speeds, deliver better graphics performance and include other enhancements.
After last week's news that AMD would be releasing the tantalizingly-Bulldozer but strictly server-oriented Interlagos chip, we were all a little worried about the fate of its long-awaited desktop counterpart Zambezi -- and the rebirth of the rig builder's favorite "FX" moniker.
With the imminent release of new desktop CPUs, including the new FX and A series, AMD is taking the inevitable step of slashing the pricing on its existing processors to clear out inventory. If you want a bargain on a slightly older CPU, now may be the time to strike.
Clock rates start at 2.8GHz for the slowest 8-core processor, and scale up to 4.2GHz for the top-of-the-line quad-core. The suggested retail prices are incredibly competitive: $115 for the low end FX-4100, $245 for the FX-8150, and every chip is multiplier unlocked.
AMD's first desktop Fusion processors were detailed on Thursday, and the company marked their debut with a confident blast at its megacompetitor, Intel.
Advanced Micro Devices, which you may know better by its initials AMD, has announced that it has shipped out roughly five million of its Fusion processors since their creation. The processors, which are used mainly in netbooks are beginning to take down Intel's market domination, at least when it comes to the world of netbooks and tablets.
Even as Intel introduces its latest consumer PC processor with six cores inside, its main rival AMD is making history in another part of the industry. The company announced today that it has launched the Opteron 6200 family of processors; previously known by its code name Interlagos, it is the first ever processor to support up to 16 cores on one chip.
As if the anticipation for AMD's new Bulldozer processors isn't already high enough among enthusiasts, the company may up the ante further by including a liquid-cooling solution with boxed versions of the new chips, according to X-bit Labs. Such a move would entice overclockers to look at AMD's latest and greatest,...
AMD CEO Rory Read said that the company is currently shipping 28-nm GPUs for revenue, indicating that two new Radeon HD 7000 Series cards are on the way.
It was January, 2009 when AMD released their first 45 nm product to the desktop market. While the server market actually received the first 45 nm parts some months earlier, they were pretty rare until AMD finished ramping production and was able to release the next generation of Phenom parts into the wild.
At the annual Hot Chips conference, AMD provided some new details on the innovative Bulldozer architecture behind the upcoming FX Series for desktops and Opteron server processors.
AMD updated their CPU offerings today with the AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition. Before anyone gets too excited, this is just a simple clock speed update to the Phenom II lineup, and not their next-generation Bulldozer processors. The new PII 980 Black Edition is tuned to 3.7 GHz, making it one of the highest factory-clocked processors on the market.
AMD is now shipping its Llano 32nm APUs (Accelerated Processing Units) to customers, suggesting desktops and laptops using the new chip will be available in mid-2011 as promised. The company's interim CEO, Thomas Seifert, made the announcement during a conference call this morning to discuss a change in AMD's supply agreement with its manufacturing partner, GlobalFoundries.
AMD this morning announced that the new 32nm Llano platform version of its Fusion Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) has started shipping, althought don't expect it inside new PCs and laptops just yet.
Today, AMD announced revenue shipments of the first processors based on its new x86 "Bulldozer" architecture. Initial production of the world's first 16-core x86 processor, codenamed "Interlagos," began in August and shipping to customers is already underway.
AMD has just announced that its Bulldozer-based server-oriented Interlagos CPU has now begun shipping to OEMs and retailers, with availability pegged for the fourth quarter -- October, hopefully. Interlagos, or the Opteron 6200 as it is now officially known, is the world's first 16-core x86 processor, and is pin-compatible with Socket G34 (Magny-Cours/Opteron 6100) motherboards.
A longtime favorite of performance enthusiasts and overclockers around the world, AMD today announced it has achieved the Guinness World Record for the "Highest Frequency of a Computer Processor," by overclocking the upcoming 8-core AMD FX desktop processor.
AMD announce that is has begun shipping its new Llano processors to OEM manufacturers. The Llano APU is the latest of AMD's Fusion core processors combining the core processing and graphics processing capabilities in a single unit. The quad-core processors pack a fair amount of bang for the buck and will change the game for entry-level desktops.
Recent subpar CPU launches and product cancellations have left AMD in an ugly position, but reports that the company is preparing to jettison its x86 business are greatly exaggerated and wildly off base.
PC Gamer reports that a leaked processor road map from AMD reveals that the company is working on a desktop CPU with a whopping 10 processor cores inside.
AMD today announced the next generation in mainstream consumer computing with the availability of the new high-performance AMD Fusion A-Series Accelerated Processing Units (APUs). Enabling truly immersive computing experiences in consumer notebooks and desktops, the AMD A-Series APUs enable brilliant HD graphics, supercomputer-like performance and over 10.5 hours of battery life.
AMD's upcoming four-, six- and eight-core processors, code name Zambezi, is based on its Bulldozer architecture and will target Intel's flagship 9000 series six-core desktop CPU's. AMD's Zambezi processors will feature AMD's TurboCore 2.0 technology and will be listed under their FX line-up.
Introducing a new processor architecture takes a colossal effort. AMD's modular Bulldozer design ran into its share of resistance at launch. Can a handful of software updates turn the company's flagship FX-8150 into the powerhouse AMD promised?
X-bit labs has a scoop of AMD info to share with us this week, as it has put together the above chart detailing what it expects the company's APU roadmap will look like for the remainder of the year. Published a couple of days ago, this data has now been partially corroborated by the snoops over at DigiTimes, who confirm a couple of the model names and agree that AMD is planning an initial Q3 rollout of five Llano chips, to be followed by even more processors coming in Q4 of 2011.
AMD's Bulldozer is finally here, after years of development -- and its performance is significantly worse than anyone expected. The situation is ugly enough that it may explain why so many executives left AMD over the past twelve months, and why the company was so tight-lipped about their departure. Bulldozer's general performance has been widely covered; our goal here is to drill into why the CPU performs the way it does rather than covering it in a wide range of real world scenarios.
ARM chips are standard fare in smartphones and tablets, but the company's attempts to break into the notebook market with products such as the Smartbook have failed. The company believes that Microsoft will help change that with the release of Windows 8 for the ARM platform. CEO Tudor Brown told Digitimes that ARM believes it will have a whopping 40 percent of the global notebook market by 2015.
ARM Holdings is the UK-based company that creates the processor architectures and instruction sets used in today's mobile devices. ARM recently announced its newest processor, the Cortex-A7, which is a low-power core designed to be used in conjunction with more powerful high-end Cortex-A15 cores. Despite its small scale, the A7 could revolutionize system-on-a-chip (SoC) design going forward.
While everyone in the IT racket is trying to figure out how many Intel Xeon and Atom chips can be replaced by ARM processors, Steve Furber, the main designer of the 32-bit ARM RISC processor at Acorn in the 1980s and now the ICL professor of engineering at the University of Manchester, is asking a different question, and that is: how many neurons can an ARM chip simulate?
The president of ARM Holdings has sought to temper the expectations around ARM-based servers, saying those systems might not ship in volume before 2015.
IDC on Thursday predicted that ARM will capture a 15 percent share of the PC microprocessor market by 2015, as the company dials up development of processors for laptops and desktops.
Big news from ARM over the past few days. The processor architecture, once strictly an embedded affair for low-power devices, is going big. Not only has ARM announced it's going 64bit, HP has announced it's going to build servers with ARM processors. It seems all the pieces are now in place for ARM.
ARM will announce its first 64-bit processors later this year for servers and high-end smartphones, and is also taking steps to build up software support for the processor designs, said CEO Warren East earlier this week.
AMD's gradual roll-out of its Llano accelerated processing units (APU) continues, with information on new dual-core and triple-core desktop processors being leaked. At the same time, the company is looking to halt production of Phenom II CPUs to make room for the new chips.
Continuing its innovation leadership, ASUS is excited to announce availability of its P8Z68-V Pro and P8Z68-V motherboards at leading resellers in North America* featuring the Intel® Z68 Express chipset along with ASUS' award winning DIGI+VRM and UEFI BIOS technologies. ASUS is driving the integration of diverse new technologies into its Z68-based motherboard lineup.
As ASUS' newest AMD based board, the Sabertooth 990FX offers future-proof technology in a sleek package. The board is designed around the AMD 990FX chipset, supporting the next generation of AMD processors, and looks to give the competition a run for the money.
Applied Materials, the number one supplier of silicon chip fabrication systems to every big-name player (Intel, IBM, AMD, TMSC, Samsung...) has revealed the first commercial machine that can create transistors by manipulating single layers of atoms. Dubbed the Centura Integrated Gate Stack system, this machine will be the key to creating 22nm high-? transistors, and a major proponent in the shift to sub-22nm FinFET "3D" transistors.
This month, we talk about new Llano-based APUs with unlocked core and graphics clock multipliers, Intel's upcoming Atom CPU refresh, and a few notable price adjustments. Then, we bid farewell to a few favorite processors that are quickly disappearing.
November was a busy month in the CPU world, with the introduction of Intel's LGA 2011 platform and the Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition CPU. The Core i7-3930K and Core i7-2700K processors also made it to online retailers, in addition to AMD's FX-4100.
AMD's long-awaited FX-series CPUs arrived in October, and we discuss the impact that the company's Bulldozer architecture has on gaming. AMD also introduced other products into retail, including its Phenom II X4 960T, A4-3300, and Phenom II X2 270.
The month of May saw AMD make significant price cuts to its aging Athlon and Phenom families. Additionally, we have more news about the upcoming CPU and GPU hybrid, AMD's (code-named) Llano APU! Intel's prices didn't move much this month, unfortunately.
FinalWire has announced the release of the latest version of its diagnostics and benchmarking program, AIDA64 v2.00, which is great news for anyone who wants to ensure that their PCs are running smoothly.
The Hot Chips 23 symposium on high-performance chips kicks off at Stanford University next week. The makers of processors for smartphones, desktops, servers, and networking gear are polishing up their powerpoints to amaze and daze each other from August 17 through 19.
It's been known for some time now that AMD will be releasing eight-core processors as part of its Bulldozer lineup, but we just haven't had any idea how much the company plans on selling them for. Some leaked information has provided an answer: around $300.
Supercomputer manufacturer Cray will be offering the option of using GPUs in its next generation of high-performance computing systems, the company announced Tuesday.
The Custom Engineering unit of supercomputer maker Cray and the bespoke ruggedized, military-grade system maker Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES) have joined forces to prototype a super-dense microserver based on Intel's mobile Core i7 processors.
Just in time for the start of CES 2012, ZiiLabs has announced its latest media-focused system-on-a-chip (SoC). This time the wholly-owned subsidiary of Creative has packed 100 cores onto the silicon, combining four Cortex-A9 units operating at 1.5GHz with 96 “StemCell” floating point units. Called the ZMS-40, it’s engineered to be used in mobile devices running the Android operating system.
Chipmaker AMD has had a busy 2011. Its low-power E-Series and C-Series processors have found a niche in netbooks and ultra-thin laptops. The A-Series, its first 32nm processor, is just now finding its way into laptops bringing a new level of graphics performance to mainstream PCs without discrete GPUs. As a result, AMD has been regaining a little market share.
The Kühler H2O 620 from Antec is another all-in-one water cooler which does not need any maintenance during its lifetime, and it is recommended for people who want a very easy installation, without the hassle of building a complete water cooling loop from scratch.
Last week, we had an in-depth look at Antec's KÜHLER H2O 920. We concluded that despite the good performance, it was let down by its noise and reliance on high RPM fans to achieve its full potential. On the whole, it still proved to be an improvement over previous all-contained liquid cooling (ALC) units such as the CoolIT Eco and the Corsair H50, not surprising given the thicker radiator of the KÜHLER H2O 920.
There are so many coolers out there, but they are all different types. They range from tower coolers to low profile to water cooling. Over the past few years we have seen a lot of different coolers and designs, but the ones that have been used most frequently are the AIO (all-in-one) water coolers, where everything is included into a closed loop while giving you the benefits of water cooling along with being affordable and easy to setup.
Getting rid of the heat generated by your CPU is one of the things we as enthusiasts constantly struggle with while we attempt to keep the CPU alive when looking for those last few MHz. Air cooling has come a long way in the past few years with solutions that vary from mild to wild. Liquid cooling, or "Water" cooling as it is known, has gathered an immense following over the past few years as parts and "kits" become available to allow the novice entry into the world of liquid cooling.
Antec has brought another compact water cooling system to the market, the Kühler H2O 920, which comes with a bigger radiator, more powerful PWM fans in a push-pull configuration, a multicolored LED and software customization through ChillControl V.
Antec has been getting more serious about its cooling solutions lately and earlier this year Antec introduced its KUHLER 920 model. If you don't need extreme water cooling, these types of coolers are definitely the way to go in terms of noise and ease of installation.
Liquid cooling for the computer is nothing new. In fact, some of the earliest computers used liquid cooling solutions. Liquid cooling has enjoyed a significant rise in popularity during the past few years, and many manufacturers have developed products to supply the needs of this segment of the PC aftermarket. Traditionally, the would-be watercooler would have to scrounge and/or make the various components for a system.
Arctic Cooling are known for offering some really great CPU coolers for reasonable price ranges. Today we'll be looking at one of their latest coolers, the Freezer 13 Pro. Let's see how it performs...
The computer case's choice is a major concern when building a computer. The one you choose can be based on many factors including price, features, and looks. A case is a necessary component in any build as it provides a shelter for your Motherboard, CPU, and GPU in addition to many other I/O devices. Not only is it a shelter, it also provides a means to keep heat producing components cool.
Cooler Master is a manufacturer of many different computer components that I've always enjoyed working with. Over the many years of its life, Cooler Master has developed hundreds of different products from computer cases, processor heatsinks, power supplies, and even some dabbling in laptop cooling. We all know of its incredibly popular HAF case series and Hyper series coolers. Regarded as probably one of the best, if not THE best, bang-for-your-buck heatsink out right now is the Cooler Master Hyper 212+.
Today we'll be looking at a new Cooler Master CPU cooler, the Hyper 612 PWM. This cooler, which is yet to be available for purchase, offers a large heatsink, 6 copper heatpipes and a 120mm PWM fan for both silence and cooling. While its support for an additional fan may give you extra cooling, the cooler might not fit in all cases. Read on further to find out if this large cooler will work for you.
It almost seems that since the dawn of high-end custom gaming machines, Cooler Master has been there to support the never-ending market of keeping our systems cool. Recently seen in the news, pictures have been speckled about the Internet regarding the Cooler Master Storm Enforcer. Back in 2009, we reviewed an original Storm Scout from Cooler Master. It performed well for its price and offered a sleek, stealthy look along with a comprehensive list of features. This Storm series could easily follow in the footsteps of the prolific HAF line of cases, which offers great performance, quiet operation, and loads of room to house the latest components -- including the giant video cards of today's market.
Today we are reviewing the Corsair Hydro Series™ H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler. This cooler may look very familiar in that it is a step down from the flagship Corsair H100, but still carries much of the same DNA. Basically the H80 is about $10 less expensive with a lot less radiator to worry about.
A few months back Corsair and Antec both released new high performance liquid coolers and in the process gave enthusiasts a tough decision on which to buy. In our review the CoolIT co-designed H80 from Corsair just outperformed the Antec/Asetek based Kühler 920 and so for those looking for the lowest temperatures that would seem the obvious choice.
We have seen more massive heatsinks and radiators released into the market, and as we know, typically that larger surface area means better ability to dissipate heat than the smaller ones. We've seen this with a few self-contained water cooling packages from Corsair and CoolIT over the past few years.
One of the main remarks we had when testing all the different all in one cooling solutions was the size of the radiator, which limited the heat dissipation. Secondly the modern units generate a fair amount of noise, if it's user opted for maximum cooling capacity.
Corsair's Hydro series of CPU coolers has effectively taken self-contained water cooled units from being niche products and placed them directly into the mainstream. The success of the series seemed to have happened almost overnight, as even enthusiasts using high-end heatsinks began clamoring for the original H50 shortly after its release.
Corsair's H60 liquid CPU cooler comes to us with different technology than we saw with its H50 and H70 as Corsair has switched up supply sources. Corsair is touting a micro-channel cold plates and a split-flow designed manifolds. But, will it blend?
Overclockers Club has the Corsair Hydro Series H80 water cooler on the test bench today for a little review action. If you need an all-in-one water cooler, this could be what you are looking for. For more on Corsair's Hydro Series, check out our evaluations of the H50, H60, H70 and the Corsair H100.
The market for all in one cooling solutions is booming. Corsair initially had a good lineup with their Asetek Hydro H50 and H70 coolers. Though they jumped on the CoolIT wagon to enter a more niche market. There was more than just the demand for good cooling. Casemodders and gamers want control over LEDs, Fans, being able to create and monitor different fan profiles,... Corsairs answer is the Link software, a rebrand of the CoolIT Maestro software.
The Corsair H80 is an all-in-one water cooling solution for the CPU, boasting high efficiency cooling at an extremely reasonable price (under $100 at most retailers) for a water cooling setup.
Corsair began selling the Hydro Series H100 water cooling kit back in July and it quickly became the company's flagship liquid cooling solution to keep your CPU nice and cool. It also marks the first time that Corsair released a cooling unit that uses a dual 120mm radiator for even better cooling performance. With the use of a 240mm radiator it does limit the number of cases that it can be used in and adds to the cost, but Corsair wanted to bring a kit out for die hard gamers and enthusiasts!
Corsair's Hydro Series self-contained liquid cooling solutions have hit the mark and filled a void in the market. While the Corsair Hydro Series was not the first to market, it has easily gained the most traction with consumers due to the marketing and the Corsair brand identity. CooliT and Asetek have been there and have actually partnered with Corsair on the Hydro Series build-ups -- Asetek on the H50 and H70, with CooliT on the H60, H80 and now H100. The Hydro Series H50 and H70 were the first of the series, offering the consumer significant improvements over the stock cooling solutions from both AMD and Intel. Even though fully capable of handling mild overclocks, the popularity of the Hydro series needed to address the user looking for a bit more. Not everyone has the ability to handle the financial commitment or confidence to build a custom liquid cooling system, but just about anyone can handle the lower financials of the Hydro series and can install a pre-built, pre-filled liquid cooling solution. The popularity of this kind of solution proves this, as enthusiasts are always looking for a better mousetrap when it comes to cooling performance and overclocking. Coming in at around $120, the H100 is not by any stretch of the imagination low buck, but with a 240mm radiator the costs will be there. Each generation and iteration of the Hydro Series seems to improve cooling performance, so let's see if the H100 will follow this trend and deliver best-in-class performance.
Unlike Intel LGA sockets of the past, the new LGA2011 socket uses a whole new mounting system. To account for this some manufacturers are providing new mounting kits for existing LGA1366 coolers; some even have special edition LGA2011 versions of existing coolers. The upside to the new mounting system is that there is no extra backing plate anymore; it's built into the socket.
If you need a cooler for your Sandy Bridge--E CPU--or just about any other Intel processor--the Intel RTS2011LC Liquid Cooling Solution is a decent choice, but prepare for some headaches while working with it.
From the fanless spinning heatsink we learnt one very important thing: dust and detritus is a killer when it comes to cooling. There are other limitations to air cooling, of course, which is why overclockers only feel at home amongst watery tubes and reservoirs, but in ready-made, consumer-oriented gear, dust is by far the trickiest enemy to overcome. Curiously, though, MSI seems to have worked out a painfully simple solution: just spin the fan in the opposite direction.
The NZXT HAVIK 120 is a smaller version of the HAVIK 140, which we tested some time ago, and reached a good performance level. The HAVIK 120 has four 8 mm heatpipes and two 120 mm fans. Let's find out if it is also a good performer.
NZXT have made a name for themselves in the enthusiast community already through products like the Phantom, showing that they understand what power users want and need in their PC components. Today we'll be evaluating their first stab at another key area of performance PC building, the CPU cooler. The Havik 140 builds on existing design trends in air cooling, while adding NZXT's own take on things. Read on to see how this cooler performs.
NZXT has been around the PC aftermarket for a number of years now, and in that time have released some very high-quality and innovative products that have garnered kudos from reviewers and consumers alike.
NZXT is best known for being a computer chassis manufacturer that designs cases for gamers and enthusiasts. Over the last few years NZXT has started to venture into other market segments, and they now have products ranging from fan controllers to power supplies. As of last month NZXT expands their portfolio even further by launching a high-end CPU cooler they are calling the HAVIK 140.
With NZXT having expanded its product portfolio on multiple occasions throughout the years, the introduction of its first-ever CPU cooler, HAVIK 140, almost didn't even come as a surprise. But, how good is it? Well, it's big, has dual fans, aims for silence, and looks aesthetically-pleasing, so it holds a good chance of impressing.
Now if you read the name Phanteks and thought "who?" well so did I, but recently they have been getting some buzz over their first offering the PH-TC14PE. A little information from Phanteks website About Us page.
Thermalright is a long time tried and true brand here at [H]. Very rarely have we seen a product from Thermalright that did not deliver a solid product to enthusiasts in one way or another. The new Macho aims to hit the value, quality, and performance segments...all at the same time.
It really seems that no matter how many CPU Coolers we test more and more land on our front door and aside the fact that we still haven't switched onto an fully working Intel X79 (LGA2011) based system this is not really a bad thing, especially for consumers. A few days ago we were the first to test the latest Archon Rev.A by Thermalright which as you probably know comes with a large 150mm fan (largest we've ever seen on a CPU Cooler) and managed to produce impressive cooling efficiency numbers, for a single fan solution that is. Today with us we have yet another one of the latest CPU Cooler to hit the shelves of stores again by Thermalright, the True Spirit 140.
The next review sample in our Xigmatek lineup is the AEGIR SD128264. Xigmatek has been around for a little over 5 years, and has established itself well and rather quickly in the air cooling arena. They have impressed many consumers with good quality products and performance at an affordable price level. Xigmatek's "ICE" philosophy is well-illustrated in the company and its products.
Dubbed Ivy Bridge, the 22nm processors promise superior graphics power and energy efficiency compared to their predecessors, and now we know some of their product names and some specs.
Boosting up microprocessors -the heart of modern computers- at the speed of light, reducing consumptions and costs, may now be a reality thanks to the development of a new high-performance chip, the results of which have been published in Nature Photonics.
Are Intel's aging exclusivity agreement, the rumored 2010 testing of AMD processors at Apple, and Intel's new "Attack of the Air Clones" really a coincidence?
When it comes to the world of computer processors it is all about what it going to happen next. Even if the current generation of processors can do everything that you want them to that tantalizing prospect of what else a new processor could do for you is one that simply cannot be resisted.
Magma Design Automation has declared that Magma software has been utilized by eSilicon to tape out a MIPS32 1074Kf coherent processing system-based three-way microprocessor cluster whose normal performance will be nearly 1.5 GHz and inferior performance will be 1 GHz.
Netbooks have been shoved aside by tablets, but Intel is carrying on with its forthcoming Cedar Trail platform and new Atom processors, even if their launch has been delayed by graphics driver issues.
Freescale is upping the Ante with the i.MX 6 series of mobile processors offering up to four ARM Cortex A9 cores at 1.2GHz each. That’s plenty for 3D rendering on your car infotainment system, music-making on your smartphone, maybe a little SETI action on your next smart refrigerator. Even 1080p30 video encoding is a said to be within these chips’ reach.
A reporter over at MobileTechWorld happened upon an internal presentation, written by Qualcomm, that tells the story of its upcoming system-on-a-chip technology. It outlines four new chipsets that you can expect to see in the systems of the near future.
GLOBALFOUNDRIES was kind enough to let HardOCP into its new Fab 8 facility in Malta, New York. While far from finished, this 28/20nm plant will be ramping to full production in 2012. Check out the video to understand the sheer scale of the largest construction project currently underway in the United States.
Qualcomm has been rather quiet in recent months as Nvidia and Texas Instruments both rolled out updates to their existing system-on-a-chip (SoC) ARM products. Now the Snapdragon maker has released details on its next generation S4 mobile processors, and isn't shy about poking fun at Nvidia's "little core." Qualcomm's custom architecture allows them to change the way the entire system works, but Nvidia is similarly confident in its own methods.
The quad-core Itanium 9300s were launched by Intel back in February 2010, and HP revamped its Integrity blade servers to make use of these chips and to allow for them to be snapped together in two or four units to make SMP servers using the extra QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) buses on the Tukwila chips. The base Tukwila-based Integrity blade debuting back in April 2010 was the BL860c, a two-socket blade with a dozen DDR3 main memory slots. When you snap two of them together with the SMP port (which is external to the blade on the front of the chassis), it becomes the BL870c i2, and when you link four of them, you get the BL890c i2.
Graphics processors have always been popular in workstations, but are increasingly handling a larger computational load and bringing supercomputer-like capabilities to complex scientific and math applications, according to a Hewlett-Packard executive.
Big Blue is getting ready to do a bunch of enhancements on its Power Systems lineup either this week or perhaps next week, but don't expect any kickers to the current eight-core Power7 processors, which first made their debut in February 2010 and were rolled out through the summer of last year.
It may seem odd that IBM would update two x86 servers when Intel is prepping its "Sandy Bridge-EP" Xeon E5 processors for launch in early 2012, but the cut-throat competition in the server racket waits for no chip launch. And thus, IBM is revving up two "value priced" Xeon-based servers to compete against Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and others without having to cut prices on existing System x machines with pricier components.
IBM is getting set to commercialize the management software behind the chip design cluster used by more than 3,000 engineers to create its homegrown server processors.
Today, IBM researchers unveiled a new generation of experimental computer chips designed to emulate the brain's abilities for perception, action and cognition. The technology could yield many orders of magnitude less power consumption and space than used in today's computers.
You may recall that last week AMD touted the exploits of a pair of pro overclockers, who were able to juice one of the chip company's new FX, or Bulldozer, processors to a world-record 8.429GHz. Now gaming PC vendor iBuyPower, which worked with AMD on that record-setting project, is giving you the opportunity to have...
Intel has published specs of new Atom D2000/N2000 series “Cedar Trail” processors for netbooks and mobile devices. The datasheet included specifications on previously released CPUs, and also information on three unreleased Atoms D2550 for nettops, and netbook-use N2650 and N2850.
Today we found the Intel Atom N2800 benchmark results in the PassMark database, which collects PC benchmark results done with their software on users’ systems. The N2800 Intel Cedar Trail dual-core 1.86GHz chip is listed with a score of 755 points.
Intel Corp has officially released the Intel Atom Z670 processor and accompanying "Oak Trail" platform, designed for use in tablets and other mobile computers.
Intel has refreshed its high-end x64-based server processors with the launch of the "Westmere-EX" chips, now known to the outside world as the Xeon E7s, and it wants some more money for them than you might have been budgeting.
Transistors. You won't find a single piece of electronics without them today. If you look at the processors in computers and mobile devices, they've all managed to continue to shrink, year by year, using more transistors in a smaller area and are also using less power and giving off less heat. Doubling the amount of components used on integrated circuits every year, or now two years, was what Gordon Moore had in mind back in 1965.
For those willing to spend $999 USD on a new processor, Intel has a new Core i7 part out that is stunningly fast. The Core i7 990X is the $999 successor to the previously reviewed Core i7 970 that ups the core frequency to 3.46GHz and provides a 3.73GHz Turbo Boost frequency. This six-core CPU with Hyper Threading works wonderful with Linux.
The Second Generation of the Intel Core Processor Family took off this past January with many early adopters pleasantly surprised by the abundance of speed, updated technologies, and better graphics integration. The high-end option in the 2nd Gen family is the beastly Core i7-2600K.
Intel's Sandy Bridge design impressed us nearly a year ago, but it was intended for mainstream customers. The company took its time readying the enthusiast version, Sandy Bridge-E. Now, the LGA 2011-based platform and its accompanying CPUs are ready.
With collaboration partners, Intel aims to deliver complete technology solution for exascale performance by the end of the decade.
Demonstrations from key supercomputing centers such as Forschungszentrum Juelich, Leibniz Supercomputing Centre, CERN and KISTI underscore momentum of Intel® Many Integrated Core Architecture.
Intel processor-powered supercomputers make up 77 percent of the latest TOP500 list of supercomputers and nearly 88 percent of all new entries in 2011.
You may remember in September last year Intel introduced the ability to upgrade some of its processors in software by purchasing a code. It sounded like a bizarre way to generate extra revenue to us, and meant an additional cost after purchase to upgrade your effectively crippled processor. Sales of these upgrade cards must have been significant though, as Intel has decided to introduce the same feature on some of its latest low-end Core and Pentium processors.
A total of 13 CPUs will be released on or around April 8: Seven desktop chips will be immediately available, all priced between $332 and $184 and targeted at the low- and mid-range market, the fastest being a Core i7-3770K. Six mobile chips spanning the entire price gamut will be available, including a high-end $1100 Core i7-3920Qm. Chipsets for both desktop and mobile will also be released, including the top-end Z77, and H77, Z75, and B75, and their mobile equivalents.
Intel has released new low-voltage versions of its second-generation Core processors designed to power a new class of so-called Ultrabooks. The first Ultrabooks, from companies such as Asus, Lenovo and LG Electronics, promise to combine the performance of full-fledged Sandy Bridge systems with the portability and long battery life of ultra-thin laptops and netbooks.
Today the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), together with The University of Texas at Austin, announced that they will deploy a 10 Petaflop HPC Linux cluster called "Stampede." When it is operational at the beginning of 2013, "Stampede" is expected to be among the most powerful computers in the world. Normally, we'd celebrate this important design, but for all of the Intel employees working on Intel® MIC Architecture for the past several years, this announcement has a very special meaning.
Intel is preparing to ship two low-powered Xeon processors for the high-density microserver market, and will deliver similar chips based on its Sandy Bridge and Atom architectures within the next two years.
Last week we reviewed the Intel Pentium G620 processor and found ourselves impressed by how well the these dual-core Pentium processors perform with the 32nm Sandy Bridge architecture. The Intel Pentium processor family is comprised of three SKUs, called the G620, G840 and G850.
Intel has notified its partners to prepare for a significant change in desktop processor supply in 2012, which clears the company's product portfolio to accommodate the Sandy Bridge-E processors as well as the upcoming 22 nm product generation.
Ahead of the big launch of its Ivy Bridge chips later this year, Intel has pushed out a handful of new Sandy Bridge processors, including a couple of Core i5 CPUs that lack integrated graphics. While the chip giant has made hay about the improved graphics included with Sandy Bridge, not all consumers winds up using...
It looks like Intel may have a two-pronged approach to combating the imminent debut of AMD's new Bulldozer desktop processors. Not only does the company plan to release its new Sandy Bridge-E "extreme" chips a few weeks after Bulldozer's launch, but it also appears to have another CPU up its sleeve to send out against AMD's new FX series.
As a result of recent announcements from Oracle, Intel is taking this opportunity to directly reiterate its plans for the Itanium processor. "Intel's work on Intel Itanium processors and platforms continues unabated with multiple generations of chips currently in development and on schedule," said Paul Otellini, president and CEO of Intel Corporation "We remain firmly committed to delivering a competitive, multi-generational roadmap for HP-UX and other operating system customers that run the Itanium architecture."
As expected, Intel has moved to silence any Bulldozer dissenters and released the 3.5GHz Core i7-2700k CPU, a 100MHz upgrade over the popular i7-2600k. Price-wise, the 2700k will cost around $360, $15 more than the 2600k, indicating that this is a new flagship processor rather than a replacement; the 2600k is not expected to come down in price. The i7-200k should be available from most online retailers over the next few days.
Over the holiday weekend, Intel released 16 new "Sandy Bridge" processors (11 desktop and five mobile), along with price cuts to existing "Sandy Bridge" chips.
Today is the day that Intel widens the CPU performance gap between itself and AMD with the release of Sandy Bridge-E processors, an update of its Extreme Edition chips using the company's latest and greatest microarchitecture.
If you're looking forward to improved performance from Intel's tiny Atom processors -- used to power netbooks and tablets -- the company has plans to deliver it. In fact, the chip giant says future versions will match the performance of AMD's desktop Phenom II chips. Which all sounds great -- if you're willing to wait until 2015 to snare a device with that speed boost.
Intel this month started shipping its first Celeron laptop processor based on Sandy Bridge architecture. It is a cheaper and stripped down version of the new Core i3, i5 and i7 counterparts.
Intel's dual-core Celeron 857 runs at a clock speed of 1.2GHz, has 2MB of RAM and is priced at US$134 for 1,000 units. The single-core Celeron 787 has a clock speed of 1.3GHz, 1.5MB of RAM and is priced at $107. Both processors have on-chip graphics and draw 17 watts of power.
Intel will dramatically shake up its microprocessor road map to meet the demand for very-low-power processors and to fend off the competitive threat from rival chip design company ARM, CEO Paul Otellini said on Tuesday.
The chip watchers at iSuppli say that Intel continued to gain processor market share even though it was hit by a bug in a chipset used with its "Sandy Bridge" desktop, laptop, and entry server platforms.
The additional protection plans offered by electronics companies are often of dubious value to consumers, but Intel has just launched one that may be a good value if you like to tweak your processor.
Intel rolled out the second generation of its Core vPro processor line on Monday, adding new encryption and identity protection features as well as enhanced performance.
The 18 chips, unveiled today, were formerly code-named Westmere-EX and follow on from the Nehalem-EX range of processors. Additionally, Intel also announced 11 entry-level server processors for its new Xeon E3-1200 family, but provided few details.
Enabling IT departments to better manage data-intensive environments through new security and reliability features and record-breaking performance, a new family of server processors that accelerate mission-critical computing have been announced by Intel.
Intel dominates the desktop market with AMD continuing to bite at its heels. But in mobile it's a very different story. ARM chips dominate, and Intel is attempting to gain a foothold in the growing smartphone and tablet markets.
Intel officials say vendors are beginning to use Atom processors to power tablets not only because the chips can run Windows 7, but also because they allow the devices to run multiple OSes, providing an advantage over rival ARM Holdings.
Intel has rolled out a handful of new Core i5 desktop processors, including one that raises the clock speed and qualifies for a new protection plan under which CPUs can be replaced.
In our desktop machines the Intel processor maxes out at 6 cores at the moment, but for the server market, Intel has just introduced a new range of Xeon chips with up to 10 cores available.
The tiny chip is capable of 1 teraflop of processing power--an esoteric way of calculating how fast a chip is at crunching numbers. By comparison, the fastest Core i7 can only crank out 109 gigaflops.
Intel's inability to crack the mobile market has been a growing blemish on their record, an increasingly sore spot that's seen the processor giant sit out the biggest new product category since the laptop. Sure, there have been tablets with Intel inside, but they've been solidly second-rate battery suckers. So how will intel catch up? By throwing Moore's law out the window, and upgrading its Atom processor at unprecedented speeds.
More details have emerged about Intel's forthcoming Sandy Bridge E processors, the high-performance line that will replace the Gulftown-based Extreme Edition CPUs. According to Turkish Website DonanimHaber (here's the original link in Turkish), the three new CPUs will be known as the Core i7-3000 Series, while also keeping the Extreme Edition moniker.
Intel's president and CEO Paul Otellini said in a conference call with Wall Street analysts after the market closed yesterday that the "Sandy Bridge-EP" Xeon E5 processors and their related "Romley" server platforms, are now in volume shipment and due to be launched during the first quarter, as was widely speculated.
As usual when it comes to things like AMD vs Intel, there's been mixed reaction to the launch of AMD's Bulldozer, or FX series, desktop processors. Has it been a successful debut of the company's new platform, or further proof that AMD has a lot of work to do to catch up to Intel?
EMC's Isilon unit has revved up its product range by adding two systems that use Intel Westmere and Nehalem processors, with more than twice as much file throughput for its top-end S200 system. Big data here we come...
Based on information leaked from Chiphell, the new Ivy Bridge processors will have a maximum of 77 watts TDP (thermal design power), which is down from 95 watts for the current Sandy Bridge.
AMD today announced that leading original design manufacturers (ODMs) are choosing AMD's 2011 low-power platform for a new generation of PC designs ranging from ultrathin notebooks to all-in-one desktops. Nearly two dozen unique ODM whitebook and high definition PC (HDPC) designs based on the AMD C- and E-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) are expected to be available for distribution and purchase in the first half of the year.
Last month we discussed AMD's overall mobile roadmap and the significance of the company's upcoming "Trinity" APU, which replaces the aged-innards Llano APU. New, leaked roadmaps have surfaced this week that imply Trinity could ship during the first quarter of 2012.
Low-power PC platforms are obviously not built for gaming, but we punish two AMD and Intel systems with popular 3D titles anyway. The results don't shock and awe, but sometimes pleasantly surprise.
Electron-free magnetic microprocessors would use 1 million times less energy per flop than today's computers, according to researchers at the University of California-Berkeley. They would be so efficient, they would consume the least amount of energy allowed by the second law of thermodynamics.
Last month, we published a story on how AMD may have shifted its focus from Bulldozer to Bobcat in the wake of the former's disappointing performance. Since it ran, we've spoken to multiple independent sources that told us AMD's 28nm Brazos-based APUs were in serious trouble and would likely never see the light of day.
Multi-core processors promise a big performance boost for servers, PCs and even smartphones, but much work remains to get the most out of these new chips. North Carolina State University researchers are among those seeking to maximize what multi-core processors have to offer.
Tis the season of resolutions! And a top resolution for 2012 is to get organized. For people, a central part of getting organized is learning how to improve scheduling your time to fit all the tasks at hand. Improving scheduling is not just a human thing -- from an operating system (OS) viewpoint, better scheduling means that threads, processes or data flows are given more efficient access to system-level resources.
AMD processors based on the company's Bulldozer design have gotten hammered by tech reviewers for lower performance than expected on PCs. A few days ago, Microsoft actually released a hotfix that in theory would have boosted the performance of Windows 7 on PCs that have the Bulldozer processors.
To date, AMD's Llano processors have been great in mobile but a dubious desktop proposition, often lagging behind competitively priced dual-cores from Intel.
ARM today announced the latest AMBA 4 interface and protocol specification featuring the AMBA 4 AXI Coherency Extensions (ACE). Cache coherency is essential in multicore computing applications to efficiently maintain the consistency of data stored in local caches of a shared resource. The AMBA 4 ACE specification enables system level cache coherency across clusters of multicore processors, such as the ARM Cortex-A15 MPCore processors and ARM Mali-T604 graphics processors. This ensures optimum performance and power efficiency of complex heterogeneous SoC designs, and is designed to address next generation computing across mobile, home, networking and gaming applications.
AMD today announced immediate availability of two new AMD Embedded G-Series APUs (Accelerated Processing Units) with thermal design power (TDP) ratings of 5.5 and 6.4 watts, up to a 39 percent power savings compared to earlier versions1.
AMD today announced immediate launch and availability of its AMD Opteron™ 6200 and 4200 Series processors (formerly code-named "Interlagos" and "Valencia"). The new AMD Opteron processors are designed to give enterprises:
New CPU architectures don't come along very often -- which is why more details on the Harmony Unified Processing Architecture being built by Chinese developer ICube are so interesting. Historically, instruction set architectures (ISAs) are risky bets. Not only are they exceptionally difficult to design, it takes an enormous additional effort to create tools that can leverage new capabilities. Even then, companies face an uphill fight to persuade vendors and software developers to recompile existing software to take advantage of the new design.
Some performance junkies are waiting for the new Bulldozer platform to arrive, but AMD devotees who are looking to a upgrade their system now have a new processor option in the quad-core Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition.
Netbooks based on Intel's upcoming 'Cedar Trail' Atom CPUs - the N2600 and N2800 - may not show a big processing performance leap over their predecessors, but they will sport smart graphics core.
As aftermarket CPU coolers continue a trend of "bigger is badder", manufacturers must constantly tweak their designs to ensure compatibility across multiple platforms. Perhaps no one knows this better than Austrian company Noctua. Within the last year we've reviewed three coolers from them, the NH-D14, the C12P SE14 and the U9B SE2, and two of those feature their signature NF-P14 140mm fan.
Qualcomm announced that it is developing quad-core chips this week for Windows 8. Nvidia made a similar announcement earlier this year. And this week at Computex, Microsoft even floated the concept of a laptop running Windows 8 on top of an Nvidia quad-core processor, according to Anandtech.
GPU chipmaker Nvidia knows that it has to do more to grow its Tesla biz than slap some passive heat sinks on a fanless GPU card and talk up its CUDA parallel-programming tools. It has to keep delivering price/performance improvements, as well.
A radical tech coalition has produced an open-sourced music visualiser that modifies input video rather than generating patterns - and interestingly the box includes a system-on-a-chip that could one day compete with ARM. If just 80 units sell, the "Milkymist" will have already paid its way.
Oracle has brought true live migration of workloads to platforms using the Sparc T series of processors, by tweaking the VM Server for Sparc server hypervisor formerly known as logical domains -- LDoms, for short.
Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison made his fortune with software, but he'll take the stage today to show off the first servers powered by the company's new Sparc T4 processor.
Just last month, AMD staged an event to squeeze an amazing 8429.38 MHz out of its FX-8150 processor. The highest-clocked CPU in the world--it was a big production. And now they've been beat by a team of one.
Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin and the Australian National University claim to have conducted the first systematic power profiles of microprocessors
The latest data set published in the Steam Hardware & Software Survey suggests that processors with four cores are, five years after their introduction, ready to capture the top spot in gamer popularity.
Qualcomm expects the first Snapdragon-powered Windows 8 PC to arrive a year from now, marking the entry into a lucrative new business for the wireless chip company.
Quanta Computer -- the Chinese manufacturer that builds the majority of laptops in the world and that wants to break into the server racket in a big way -- has started shipping its first production machine based on massively multicored processors designed and manufactured by chip upstart Tilera.
On May 4, 2011, Intel Corporation announced what it called the most radical shift in semiconductor technology in 50 years. A new three-dimensional transistor design will enable the production of integrated-circuit chips that operate faster with less power. Intel's 3-D Tri-Gate transistor will be used in 22-nanometer-technology microprocessors slated for high-volume manufacturing by the end of the year.
Intel's PC centric business model for its processors may be getting a major makeover. VentureBeat reports via unnamed sources that Sean Maloney, the new head of Intel China, will be making a keynote speech at next week's Compudex PC trade show in Taiwan. That speech will, according to the article, be devoted to telling its audience that the company will "accelerate its efforts to make chips that are more appropriate for tablet computers, smartphones, laptops, and low-power desktops." The story adds that while Intel doesn't plan to cancel any upcoming processors, it will be modifying its processor road map so that it will put its focus "on 15 watt or lower wattage chips."
Samsung Electronics has expanded its Exynos product portfolio with the introduction of a dual core ARM Cortex application processor called the Exynos 4212, developed on its sophisticated 32 nm High-K Metal Gate (HKMG) logic low-power process technology.
VR-Zone reports that Intel will ship its upcoming "Sandy Bridge-E" (LGA2011) Core i7 3820, 3930K and 3960X processors without a heatsink/fan combo in the box. The company will instead sell certified, compatible CPU coolers separately in a market that will already have readily available LGA2011-compatible solutions from big-name CPU cooler suppliers.
For the first time in as long as long as anyone at ExtremeTech can remember, Intel's next consumer CPUs -- the Sandy Bridge-E range -- will ship without a heatsink and fan. Curiously, Intel will still offer own-brand cooling solutions for the new chips, but they won't be included in the CPU's retail box.
For the past 18 months, SeaMicro, the upstart maker of microservers that are based on Intel's Atom processors, has heard from x86 competitors trying to keep it out of hyperscale data center server deals that the Atom cores are too wimpy to do heavy lifting workloads.
For the year, chip sales rose by 14 percent to $282 billion, a rebound that was felt across all sectors and global regions of the market. Among the more than 100 semiconductor makers tracked by IDC, Intel was once again the top dog, bringing in total revenues of $41.9 billion last year.
SiliconBlue® Technologies announced sampling availability of three new iCE40™ "Los Angeles" 640, 1K and 4K mobileFPGA™ devices including the LP Series (Low-Power) version and the HX Series (High-Speed) version targeting smartphones and tablets, respectively. Both the LP and HX Los Angeles mobileFPGA devices provide support for sensor management, high-speed custom connectivity and the convergence of HD video and imaging. Fabricated on TSMC 40-nm, low-power standard CMOS process, the LP and HX families provide twice the logic capacity of previous 65-nm devices.
Oracle is putting its money where its mouth is on the single-threaded performance of the future Sparc T4 processors. Or more precisely, it is putting Sparc customers' money where its mouth is.
Curious about AMD's plans for mobile products over the next 12 months? You've come to the right place. 2011 is an incredibly busy year for AMD -- the company has never launched so many new architectures across mobile, desktop, and server in such a short time. The following should give you a better understanding of AMD's current competitive positioning as compared to Intel, as well as what you can expect over the next year.
Silicon Valley startup SuVolta said it has licensed new technology to Fujitsu Semiconductor, allowing it to make microchips more energy-efficient so tablets and smartphones stay charged longer.
In what many are describing as a game-changer, Tabula Inc. has closed on $108 million in investment funds from Greylock, NEA, Benchmark Capital and others, to bring to market its 3PLD ABAX programmable chips that have thus far proven to be both faster and less costly than competitors, Xilinx and Altera, makers of the larger, more cumbersome, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).
AMD is laying the foundation for its Socket AM3+, Bulldozer-based Zambezi processors with the 990FX chipset, functionally identical to 890FX. The big news is that motherboard vendors are licensing SLI again, and we want to compare performance to Intel.
It's been nearly eight years since Intel canceled Tejas and announced its plans for a new multi-core architecture. The press wasted little time in declaring conventional CPU scaling dead -- and while the media has a tendency to bury products, trends, and occasionally people well before their expiration date, this is one declaration that's stood the test of time.
Chip company Adapteva has a crazy notion: Let's turn our smartphones into veritable supercomputers. And the way to do it? Up the ante in processing power. Not with just dual-core or quad-core processors. No, their Epiphany IV chip has a monstrous 64 cores.
Tilera on Tuesday announced a new general-purpose CPU with 100 processing cores, which the company hopes will provide headway into a server market dominated by Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.
Revolutionary low-power logic systems that will perform instant on/off logic operations are being developed by research scientists at the University of Southampton in partnership with the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan, and Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory.
Future computers may rely on magnetic microprocessors that consume the least amount of energy allowed by the laws of physics, according to an analysis by University of California, Berkeley, electrical engineers.
Supercomputer upstart Appro International has bagged a deal to supply Tsukuba University in Japan with an 800 teraflops machine based on Intel's impending "Sandy Bridge" Xeon E5 processors.
Intel and Advanced Micro Devices are not the only ones innovating in the x64 chip racket. VIA Technologies has carved out a niche for itself for low-powered chips suitable for netbooks, small form factor PCs, micro servers, and other embedded devices, and is double-stuffing its sockets with the QuadCore X4 chips to better compete with Intel's Atom and AMD's future "Bobcat" processors.
VIA Technologies and Centaur Technologies are back with what it is calling the world's most efficient x86 multicore processor on the planet. Seeing so much done with so little is impressive, but what is even more impressive is seeing four cores falling into a power envelope of less than 28 watts TDP.
VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced that it will demo the ultra compact ZOTAC ZBOX mini-PC featuring the VIA Nano X2 dual-core processor at the VIA Computex booth, TICC, room 201D. Powered by the VIA Nano X2 dual-core processor, the ZOTAC ZBOX features a palm-sized chassis measuring just 12 x 12 x 4cm, making it an ideal solution for integration into a home entertainment system as well as space constrained workspaces.
We tested 3DMark11, Bad Company 2, Lost Planet 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and Dirt 3 to give us a quick overall view of performance increases. We ran the games at 1680x1050 resolutions and "Medium"-ish quality settings to find a base frame rate on the APU of about 30 FPS. Then we applied our overclocked settings to see what gains we got. Honestly, I was surprised by the results.
AMD, the perennial second banana to Intel in microprocessors and memory products, is on the skids again. The company announced last week that it would trim 1,400 jobs or about 10 percent of its workforce.