We have seen it in the latest AMD roadmap and we have been told about it very recently by Intel. Yes that’s right they are both making huge pushes to develop ultra low power chips for mobile devices like smartphones, tablets and netbooks. However, Intel and AMD are being reported as highly uncompetitive by many across the industry due to the fact ARM can produce chips for a substantially lower cost in larger quantities. The reason for the lower costs in the ARM industry has been put down to the comparatively high number of companies producing ARM processors which is driving costs down as companies fight to undercut each other in price and become more efficient. While as usual Intel and AMD have no competition but each other which has led to them struggling to innovate and push prices down.

Intel’s variant of the ultra low power processors we are referring to here is the 32nm Medfield Atom based processors which feature TDPs of 11W and the ones coming out later this year will feature a TDP of 10W. Intel has said that these chips are aimed at smartphones. Whilst AMD, as we have seen from the 2012-2013 roadmap, will unveil Hondo later on this year which will likely contain 2 x86 cores and Radeon class IGP graphics on a TDP of just 5W. The plan from AMD is to take this even further in 2013 and release the Temash APU which will feature the 28nm manufacturing process and a target of just 2W power consumption. But again as innovative as these designs are, AMD and Intel need to work harder on bringing these prices down if they want smartphone manufacturers to start using their chips.

Source: DigiTimes

AMD introduced a new CEO back in August, Rory Read is the man. He joined amidst what can only be described as a crisis time for AMD. With the high end CPU market collapsing for AMD, his primary task has been to set AMD off in the right direction doing things they are good at, which he has done by focusing on APUs and graphics cards. But his task also involved getting rid of and removing those who contributed towards the marketing and performance failure of Bulldozer. Hence he has now officially announced that AMD will be parting ways with current Senior Vice President and CSO Emilio Ghilardi.

There have been a lot of changes at AMD recently, for example the AMD CMO Nigel Dessau left in January and Rajan Naik was appointed as a replacement CSO/ Senior Vice President back on January the 9th before the current CSO Emilio Ghilardi was even given the official boot. AMD had this to say on the matter:

AMD today announced the departure of Emilio Ghilardi as senior vice president and chief sales officer, effective immediately. Rory Read, AMD president and chief executive officer, will serve as interim chief sales officer while the company actively seeks a replacement.

“I’d like to thank Emilio for his contributions to the business and wish him well in his future endeavors,” said Read. “Developing relationships with our customers that are grounded in a foundation of trust through consistently delivering on our commitments is critical, and we are making progress toward that goal. AMD enters 2012 with significant momentum, and we are building upon that momentum by embracing the shifts occurring in the industry and marrying market needs with innovative technologies to become a consistent growth engine.”

Mr. Ghilardi joined AMD from Hewlett Packard in 2008.

Source: Press Release

The latest rumours on Nvidia’s Kepler 28nm architecture have been compiled into a neat table by the team over at CPU World. The table suggests that the 600 series cards will be based off three main chips the GK 104, GK 106 and GK 110. There will also be 7 single GPU cards and then 1 dual GPU card, the GTX 690. Although it is very important to stress right now that these are simply rumours about Kepler that have no specific evidence for proof. They have originated from somewhere in the Far East and were released on the same day AMD released its 2012-2013 roadmap.

CPU World summarises the performance expectations of Kepler based on these rumours:

The GTX680 will offer approx 45% better performance than AMD Radeon HD7970, which is it’s direct competitor. GTX670 will be a 20% improvement over HD7950, while GTX660Ti will perform 10% better than HD7950. GTX660 is said to perform similar to GTX580. GTX650Ti will equal the performance of GTX570, and GTX650 will replace GTX560. Finally, GTX640 will have GTX550Ti performance. This ties in with previous rumors, which have all indicated similar performance expectations.

Source: CPU-World

AMD’s Athlon II line of quad core processors are the workhorses of many budget desktop systems. The FM1 package Athlon II processors make a very attractive proposition to most consumers, the only current one on the market the Athlon II X4 631 processor packs four cores at 2.6GHz on a 100W TDP and gives improved performance over the AM3 Athlon II processors whilst being slightly cheaper. Now AMD has made two more variants, as expected they consist of essentially the same processor with a bit of TDP and frequency tweaking. Even though they are based on the FM1 platform both these CPUs do not have integrated graphics on them hence why they are branded Athlons not APUs.

The Athlon II X4 641 comes with a core clock of 2.8 GHz, 4 MB of L2 cache, and a 100 W TDP, while the Athlon II X4 638 features a 2.7 GHz clock, 4 MB of L2 cache, and a TDP of 65 W. Both CPUs are priced at $81 (pricing is for 1000-unit tray quantities).

Source: CPU World

G.Skill,has announced the brand new Ares series of low profile performance DDR3 memory. With a low profile heat spreader design (3.2cm in height), G.Skill Ares series DDR3 memory modules are the perfect choices for building high performance PCs with large CPU coolers, small form factor desktop computers or any other systems with more restricted space.

Every Ares memory kit is hand-tested with G.Skill rigorous internal validation process to ensure the maximum stability and compatibility with both Intel and AMD platforms.

Compliant with the latest Intel XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) function, G.Skill Ares series DDR3 memory provides PC enthusiasts and extreme gamers a trouble free overclocking experience on Intel platforms, while enjoying the enhanced memory bandwidth. G.Skill Ares specifications are listed as below. Specifications are subject to change without notice. For further details please check the G.Skill website.

As we all know last Tuesday was the official release date for AMDs 7950 graphics cards. We’ve already taken a look at one of the offerings from XFX, but now its Sapphires turn to take centre stage and show us what they can do to spice up the reference design to their tastes.

The 7950 that Sapphire have sent us to tinker with is their Radeon HD 7950 Overclocked Edition. Fresh out of the Sapphire factories, we see this card launched with a 100Mhz overclock on the GPU core, giving it the right to display the OC label, but more crucially we see a remake of a heatpipe cooler design rather than a vapour chamber arrangement that is appearing more and more from other manufacturers.

With the 7950 OC coming to us at a slightly closer reference level when comparing to the XFX Black Edition Overclocked that we looked the other day, naturally we expect it to perform in a similar manner and being very close to reference point, which we can get a feel for what a more stock like card can do in rivalry to its bigger brother; the 7970.

Overclocking and processing performance aside, the basis behind this card is to do with the cooler and how it performs under load and more so when the end user takes it and overclocks it themselves to the next level. Its how it will perform then that matters. And that is what we are hoping to see as we go through our testing.

AMD today launched the AMD FirePro V3900, which enables best-in-class workstation experiences at an entry-level price point. By leveraging AMD’s latest graphics features, including AMD Eyefinity technology, the AMD FirePro V3900 provides up to 95% better application performance than the competition. The AMD FirePro V3900 will be available in select workstation systems today and will be sold for USD$119 MSRP at select online resellers.

“The AMD FirePro V3900 is the most powerful entry-level professional graphics card on the market today,” says Sandeep Gupte, general manager of Professional Graphics, AMD. “Armed with advanced multi-display capability of AMD Eyefinity technology, extensive certifications for professional applications and blazing fast performance, it offers best-in-class value for our technical and business customers.”

Engineered for professionals looking for optimized graphics performance at entry-level pricing, the AMD FirePro V3900′s 1 GB of DDR3 RAM drives memory bandwidth of almost 29 GB/s, maximizing GPU performance for the highest level of user experience.3 And through AMD’s productive relationship with workstation solution providers, graphics professionals will have access to the AMD FirePro V3900 in a range of industry-leading systems from HP and others.

“HP makes workstations that meet the needs of the world’s most demanding customers and feature the latest technologies,” says Jeff Wood, vice president of Worldwide Marketing, Commercial Solutions Business Unit, HP. “The AMD FirePro V3900, in combination with our HP Z Workstations, offers robust performance for professional workstation applications, providing HP customers with a seamless user experience at an affordable price.”

AMD FirePro products are tested and certified with many leading software applications to ensure compatibility, stability, and optimal performance. OpenGL 4.2 and OpenCL support means users can render and manipulate models using the broadest range of tools and applications and know the graphics card is compatible with current and future software applications.

“The AMD FirePro V3900 certainly delivers the performance, reliability and compatibility that CAD professionals are looking for when undertaking the latest design projects,” said Nick Iwaskow, Senior Alliances & Partnership Manager, DS SolidWorks Corp. “Coupled with the best 3D CAD solutions from Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. it can enhance the design process for professionals everywhere.”

The AMD FirePro V3900 has received certification for a variety of applications including AutoCAD, UGS NX, PTC Creo, SolidWorks and Autodesk 3Ds Max.

Source: Press Release

eTeknix Tech Review Of 2011 – The industry’s most action packed year yet?

2011 was a jam packed year for the tech industry, with exciting developments across the board from Intel’s release of the revolutionary Sandy Bridge architecture at the very start of the year to AMD’s release of the HD 7970 at the very end of the year. Not to mention everything in between including the release of the Windows 8 developer preview, the Thailand floods and AMD’s Bulldozer release. Now a month has passed from 2012 and we have had enough time to reflect on all the major developments of 2011 and would like to bring you our topical review of the year.

We will be taking a look at the year on a month by month basis giving you what we think were the most important developments in each month. As you might expect there is a particular emphasis on Intel, AMD and Nvidia as they tend to be the source of most developments within the hardware market. But we also musn’t forget the contribution given to the excitement of 2011 by the likes of HP with the whole TouchPad saga, the rather messy PR battle undertaken between the giants MSI and Gigabyte as well as the sneak peak at what is to come from Microsoft with the Windows 8 developer preview.

The best all-round Intel CPU yet?

We hope you enjoy our tech review of 2011 and here is what’s on offer:

Quarter 1

January : The Sandy Bridge launch: A revolution in the CPU market?

February: The B2 Revision Sandy Bridge Motherboard saga and the introduction of Thunderbolt to Apple computers.

March: AMD and Nvidia fight it out with the dual GPU giants: The HD 6990 and GTX 590 get launched.

Quarter 2

April: AMD board partners get existing boards ready for AM3+while AMD launches the HD 67X0 cards.

May: AMD partners debut 990FX motherboards whilst Intel hits back with the introduction of Z68.

June: AMD launches desktop APUs under the codename Llano while Nvidia dominate the mobile GPU market with the launch of the GTX 580M.

Quarter 3

July: The Thai floods send hard drive prices on the way to the roof while AMD hit back at Nvidia with the HD 6990M

August: HP announce the TouchPad cancellation whilst ASUS debut the monster MARS II graphics card.

September: Microsoft teased us with the Windows 8 developer preview whilst MSI and Gigabyte get their dirty linen out in public over PCI-E Gen3 motherboards.

Quarter 4

October: AMD launch Bulldozer, Or is that Faildozer?

November: Intel raises the bar once again as Sandy Bridge-E arrives.

December: AMD redeem themselves with launch of the world’s fastest single GPU card: the HD 7970.

AMD's saving grace?

AMD has always been known for struggling to create enough supply to meet demand for its products but it looks like things could be changing. According to some sources AMD announced at its 2012 Financial Analyst day that it has already begun mass production of Trinity APU chips at the IBM foundries. This means in addition to the AMD-founded company Global Foundries and the independent TSMC, AMD will now have the production capacity of IBM available to it as well. Currently Global Foundries produces all AMD’s desktop processors and FM1 APUs, while TSMC produces chipsets and BGA (mobile) APUs. Now with IBM taking on the task of producing Trinity APUs AMD should have more than enough capacity to keep on top of demand and drive prices down.

What makes AMD’s partnership with IBM for manufacturing a significant development is the fact that IBM can handle high-volume production, and has a proven track-record with semiconductor manufacturing process R&D, it also holds a wide range of silicon fabrication IP, rivaled only by Intel. Chips manufactured at IBM will only add to the volumes created by Global Foundries, Big Blue won’t completely replace it as AMD’s foundry partner. The ability to ship in greater volumes plays a significant role in scoring design wins, apart from pure performance of the product. For example, Lenovo would want to be absolutely sure you can ship in large quantities before designing a major product around your chip.

Source: Xbit Labs, TPU

AMD as was reported about a month ago is working on its own version of the Ultrabook, but obviously to power this it is going to need ultra low voltage processors to combat those offerings from Intel. AMD thinks it has come up trumps with Trinity. According to initial testing AMD’s 17W A6 Trinity APU scored 2355 3D Mark Vantage points whilst Intel’s Sandy Bridge equivalent scored 1158 3D Mark Vantage points, but it doesn’t take a genius to work out that isn’t exactly a ‘Fair Test’. With Ivy Bridge expected to deliver 30% improvement over Sandy Bridge we can expect the same Ivy Bridge part to give about 1500-1700 3D Mark Vantage points. However, even taking those generational increases into consideration Trinity still takes a significant 56% lead.

AMD also claims its 25W A10 Trinity APU can deliver similar performance wins over Intel. This unit boasts 3600 3D Mark Vantage points which for an Ultrabook is a very high total indeed. Although currently there aren’t directly comparable Ivy Bridge 25W parts, AMD cites a 135% lead over Intel’s equivalent which it uses as the 17W Ivy Bridge unit mentioned earlier, so hardly a fair comparison to make. AMD doesn’t expect to win in core-per-core CPU performance but claims that its quad core processors are more than capable of competing with slightly more expensive Intel Hyper Threaded dual core processors when it comes to multi-threaded applications. Trinity should show up in Q2 this year.

Source: VR-Zone

AMD is struggling to compete with Intel in the processor market when it comes to performance, this has been a recurring theme over the past two years but the brilliant success of Sandy Bridge and drastic failure of Bulldozer has made the gap arguably the widest it has ever been in the history of the modern computer. Therefore, it comes as no great surprise that AMD is revising its roadmap for the year 2012 to take the focus of its priorities from the processor market across to its APU designs.

AMD will be pushing ahead with the launch of Trinity which will utilise both the latest 32nm piledriver cores (reportedly 25% faster than the Llano cores) and discrete class Radeon Cores (same as those used in the HD 6000 series we believe). In addition to this AMD will revamp the highly successful Brazos architecture bringing out Brazos 2.0 to reflect the newest version. AMD also plans the launch of the “Hondo” range of APUs, which in essence are intended for Ultra Low Power or ULP systems. The Brazos 2.0 and Hondo architecture will all utilise 40nm whilst the APUs will bring the 32nm technology to the table. You can see more details in the attached slides.

However, what’s still very interesting is AMD is still pushing ahead with CPU development. Maybe with not as much rigor as before but AMD will be developing Bulldozer Version 2, to be named PileDriver or Vishera and essentially this will be a refined version of Bulldozer and hopefully provide dramatically better CPU performance without the horrendous power consumption figures we have seen from Bulldozer so far.

2013 sees AMD bringing in the third generation of of the APU called Kaveri, the Brazos 2.0 replacement Kabini and the Hondo replacement Temash. As far as Graphics go the second generation of 28nm cards will be released under the code name sea islands. In terms of the CPU market it appears AMD will expect Vishera to be the mainstay of late 2012 and the entire 2013 with no new CPU processors planned.

Source: PC Perspective

Ushering the finest and most capable graphics card based on new AMD “Tahiti” 28nm GPUs, the ASUS HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP uses a factory-overclocked core and 3 GB of GDDR5. It is cooled by the exclusive DirectCU II, a dual fan thermal design with six copper heatpipes and a large dissipation area that leads to the lowest temperatures and quietest operation of any HD 7970 card.

ASUS DIGI+ VRM 12-phase digital power delivery comes to graphics cards improved with Super Alloy Power components, while overclockers are bound to appreciate the inclusion of exclusive VGA Hotwire hardware overvolting and GPU Tweak software tuning. The new cards further support adapter-free AMD Eyefinity 6.

Overclocked to 1000 MHz – 75 MHz higher than reference

The HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP ships tuned to 1000 MHz, 75 MHz up from reference. This boost in clock speeds creates noticeable performance improvement, helping make greater use of the generous 3 GB GDDR5 video memory. The default increase in speed indicates the proprietary ASUS HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP design’s amenability to overclocking and performance pushing, making better use of the 384-bit memory interface and PCI Express 3.0 standard, which works at up to twice the speed of PCI Express 2.0.

DirectCU II leads to the coolest and quietest HD 7970 card available

Further design and engineering improvements to the ASUS DirectCU II thermal architecture have resulted in its finest iteration yet. The new design consists of six all-copper heatpipes in direct contact with the GPU, in addition to a 20% larger dissipation area than any previous versions. Cooling effectiveness increases by up to 20% compared to reference, helping the card run with improved stability and reliability – critical to successful overclocking. Since the card stays so cool, the dual fans can operate at lower speeds, contributing to a 14 dB quieter than reference experience that helps gamers focus on the action instead of the noise.

First graphics card DIGI+ VRM digital power design with 12-phase Super Alloy Power

ASUS has brought its acclaimed DIGI+ VRM digital power delivery design from motherboards to graphics cards, with the HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP serving as the launch vehicle. DIGI+ VRM has been applied via a massive 12-phase power design that uses digital voltage regulators to increase power efficiency, widen the voltage modulation range, and improve overall stability and longevity. Power delivery components utilize exclusive ASUS Super Alloy Power formulation, which reinforces capacitors, chokes, and MOSFETs with better manufacturing and materials to increase heat tolerance and stress resistance. Cards with Super Alloy Power outperform reference variants and last longer, offering consumers better value.

Easy DIY overvolting with VGA Hotwire

Derived from technology first implemented in ROG motherboards such as the Rampage IV Extreme, VGA Hotwire links headers on the motherboard and the graphics card with simple solder points. Users can alter voltages directly on a hardware level, resulting in more precise modification. Core, memory, and phase (PLL) voltages can be readily altered, opening up new overclocking opportunities.

Intuitive tuning via the GPU Tweak utility

Users who prefer a friendlier interface can utilize the ASUS GPU Tweak suite, which offers fast tuning of numerous card parameters, including clock speeds, voltages, and fan settings. GPU Tweak can control up to four cards at once through AMD CrossFireX. It features GPU clock and voltage syncing, plus 2D/3D switching and mode locking for higher 3D benchmarks. Users get more accurate system testing and higher scores in competitive overclocking scenarios. The utility offers auto driver/BIOS updates to keep cards in optimal working condition, and a handy monitoring widget that provides highly detailed multi-parameter information on demand. ASUS has also worked closely with Techpowerup to integrate GPU-Z into GPU Tweak, offering even more reliable graphics card data and tracking.

First HD 7970 card with four native DisplayPorts for six-screen AMD Eyefinity

The input/output logic of the HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP takes full advantage of the power of the hardware, offering users access to dual DVI and four DisplayPort connectors. As a result, one card can drive up to six screens – achieving HD/4K resolutions with no additional adapters. The efficient power of top-end 28 nm GPU technology means visuals look better than ever even on extremely large displays.

Also in: all-new ASUS HD 7950 DirectCU II TOP ships overclocked to 900 MHz

The HD 7950 DirectCU II TOP features the DirectCU II dual fan cooler and offers consumers superior performance compared to the 800 MHz HD 7950 reference card. ASUS has begun developing more enhanced versions of the HD 7950 that will feature additional exclusive ASUS technologies, including DIGI+ VRM and Super Alloy Power. These cards will ship during the remainder of Q1 2012. Further announcements will be made as products become available.

An overclocker by the name of Christian Ney at the HWBOT community has managed to achieved and validate a record overclock on AMD’s A8-3870K APU. The 6.067GHz achieved was made up of a base clock of 258.2MHz by a multiplier of 47. Although he certainly won’t be running this overclock 24/7, which a staggering core voltage of 2v this is sure to put his chip under immense pressure. The rest of the test system consisted of a Gigabyte GIGABYTE A75-UD4H motherboard and some Geil Evo Corsa DDR3 memory. As expected the whole set up was cooled by liquid nitrogen to be able to keep the temperatures stable. He was also reported to take the DDR3 to a brilliant 3505 MHz, just 95 MHz short of a world-record. CPU-Z validator rejected the submission we are not sure why but it probably has something to do with the abnormal core voltage and unusually high bus speed which normally sits at 100MHz.

Source: MyDrivers.com

The part number of the WindForce HD 7950 is the GV-R795WF3-3GD and it comes factory overclocked out of the box to a 900MHz level like many other card manufacturers offer, the memory maintains the standard 5GHz effective clock speed. The card is currently available for purchase on Newegg for $489.99 and on Scan for £395.27. 

Vertex 3D and HIS have both today launched their HD 7950s. Both are based off reference designs although non-reference variants will come later on from both companies. The cards both use the latest 28nm graphics core technology with cores clocked at 800MHz. They are both equipped with 3GB of GDDR5 video memory clocked at 5GHz effective. There is support for Direct X 11.1 as well as PCI Express Gen 3 technology. AMD Eyefinity technology is supported out of the box as well as support for CrossFireX which will allow up to four cards to be ajoined.

VTX3D HD7950 features the latest technology from AMD. Equipped with AMD PowerTune technology, which performs intelligent assessment of GPU’s real-time power draw to enable higher clock speeds and maximize performance in your favourite games. VTX3D HD7950 also supports AMD exclusive Eyefinity technology, bringing the ultimate immersive gaming experience with innovate “wrap around” multi-display capabilities. Furthermore, you can enjoy an enhanced visual experience with the latest AMD HD3D technology, which gives 3D support for Stereo 3D display, gaming, Blu-ray. It’s worth to mention that VTX3D HD 7950 has a new technology called ZeroCore Power, which shuts down the GPU during periods of long idle, and reduces the idle power under 3W. With AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) technology, users can easily unleash the massive parallel processing power of GPU and tackle demanding tasks like video transcoding with amazing speed.

Source: Press Release