Gizmodo: Amd

AMD X3 Tri-Core Processor Reviewed (Verdict: Get a Quad-Core Chip)

matt buchanan — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:31:00 EDT

Maximum PC has reviewed AMD's tri-core 2.4GHz Phenom X3 8750 CPU. It performs like you'd expect—in between quad and dual cores. Fine, but it's $195. You can pick up AMD's top quad core, the X4 9850 for only $235, or Intel's Q6600 (which mercilessly beat down the X4 9850 in benchmarks) for $224 now, or hell, $200 in a few weeks. So just get a quad core. Maximum PC also hints that a Core 2 Duo might keep pace with the tri-cores, but they're keeping that under wraps for now, bastards. [Maximum PC]

AMD's "Shanghai" Chips Revealed

Jason Chen — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:37:53 EDT

The rat race continues: Shanghai will be 45nm, have up to 12 cores, include the long awaited Hypertransport 3.0 for socket-to-socket and southbridge communication, and can emulate quad channel memory. For more: [DailyTech]

Alienware's Updated Aurora Gaming Desktop Starts at $999

Sean Fallon — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:30:00 EDT

Alienware has injected life into the Aurora line with a new gaming rig fitted with quad-core AMD Phenom 9850 processors, your choice of ATI Radeon 3870 X2, HD3850, or HD3870 graphics cards (single or CrossFire configuration), up to 4GB Dual Channel DDR2, and tons of HDD space. Naturally, tricking this thing out with all of the higher-end options is going to make the price ridiculous in a hurry, but a $999 base is about as good as it will get for an Alienware. [Alienware via PC Mag]

Question of the Day: Do You Prefer AMD or Intel CPUs?

Sean Fallon — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:50:07 EDT

The age-old battle between Intel and AMD is resurrected every year as the two duke it out for control of your computer. Back in the day, when I was broke and into building PCs, I often opted for AMD because of budget restrictions. After I graduated, performance was the objective which, at the time, meant a switch to Intel was in order. I took a case by case approach to the debate between Intel and AMD, but many PC builders out there have fierce loyalties to one side or the other despite their ups and downs. So the question is: Do you prefer AMD or Intel processors?

Toshiba Satellite Laptops: New Fusion Look, Charge-Anytime USB Ports, Cheaper Prices

Wilson Rothman — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:20:00 EDT

Mr. T's favorite laptop maker rolled out slick, useful and budget-minded updates to its Satellite line today. First up, the 13.3" U400, 14.1" M300, 15.4" A300 and 17" P300 have a new look called "Fusion," a shiny finish with pinstripes and smoothed edges, not unlike that sucka HP's successful smooth-n-shiny-n-pinstripey look. The eight shots in the gallery make the design look a bit greenish, so we'll have to wait to pass final judgment. It's one thing to look nice on the outside, but like T, these have a lot going on on the inside, too...

The laptops will all have "Feather-Touch" multimedia touch-sensitive keys and a webcam with facial-recognition security login, presumably more for fun than true security. They will all also have Sleep-and-Charge USB ports, which will charge stuff even when the laptop is asleep or powered down, provided the laptop is plugged into a wall socket.

At the same time, Toshiba introduced two totally new laptops, the A200, with a starting price of $600 including 15.4" widescreen, DVD SuperMulti drive 160GB drive, 1GB of RAM and an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processor. The company also introduced the 17" L350 with built-in webcam, ATI Radeon X1250 graphics and DVD SuperMulti drive for $750. [Toshiba releases: Redesigned laptops; Cheap laptops]

AMD Phenom X3 Triple Core Processors Are Crippled Quad Cores in Disguise

matt buchanan — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:30:48 EDT

Part of AMD's multi-core Phenom blast today is the Phenom X3 8000, "the world's only triple-core x86 processor," which we heard about a few months ago. They're supposed to bargain chips for budget consumers, but they're a nicer bargain for AMD, actually, since it lets them dump bug-plagued quad-core Phenomsby disabling a core. But if performance is your top concern, you might want to steer clear of the whole Phenom batch anyway. We're still waiting for AMD's 45nm chippies, personally. [Hard OCP, Anandtech]

AMD Quad-Core Phenom X4 9850 Reviewed (Verdict: Owned by Intel Quad Cores)

matt buchanan — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:57:39 EDT

The Phenom X4 9850 is at the top of AMD's latest heap of quad-core Phenoms. It's free of the performance-sapping bug that plagued the first batch of Phenoms, and AMD hopes it'll claw back some ground from Intel. Maximum PC stacked it up against two quad-cores from Intel—the mid-rangeish Penryn Core 2 Quad Q9300, as well as an older Core 2 Q6600. Ouchies for AMD, the Intel pair blew past it.

The Penryn-based Q9300 "owned the night," with the Q6600 trailing, and Phenom in back of both. It wasn't "so far behind as to be dead in the water" but "it doesn't quite go head-to-head with the Penryn lite." (They call the Q9300 Penryn-lite because it has half the cache of the higher-end Penryn quad-cores.)

The 9850 X4 is the fastest AM2 chip around, however, so if you're sticking with that board "it's a pretty good upgrade." The bigger problem is that AMD still has nothing to touch Intel's top quad cores, and won't for months, at least. [Maximum PC]

AMD Finally Shows Off Its 45nm Processors

matt buchanan — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:41:14 EST

At CeBit today AMD finally showed off the fruits of its 45nm labors—one server and one desktop chip, a far cry from the 16 Intel launched with Penryn's debut back in January. But, given AMD's woes lately, on the technical and biznass fronts, we're just glad to see 'em.

On the other hand, AMD's refusal to specify when in the second half of '08 they'll launch is a bit worrying—December would basically put them a year behind Intel, and it wouldn't be the first time they've been late. Come on AMD, be awesome again, please. Update: Press release below.

AMD Demos 45nm Native Quad-Core Processors for Server, Desktop
— Customer Testing of Product Samples Underway —

HANNOVER, Germany. — March 4, 2008 —AMD (NYSE: AMD) demonstrated at the CeBit electronics exhibition its first 45nm quad-core chips running multiple operating systems and a range of processing intensive applications. The processors were produced in Dresden, Germany, in AMD's Fab 36 300mm manufacturing facility, using an advanced 45nm process co-developed with IBM.

AMD 45nm transistors are engineered to enable greater performance-per-watt capabilities in AMD processors and platforms. AMD combines new processes and materials with leading edge technologies, such as immersion lithography and AMD's fourth-generation strained silicon, for a highly-manufacturable, highly-efficient production process.

This important milestone is the first of many as AMD moves toward delivery of 45nm products later this year. The first 45nm chips demonstrated by AMD include the "Shanghai" product for server and "Deneb" for desktop platforms.

[AMD, CW]

Dell Ditching Proprietary Parts

Sean Fallon — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:15:48 EST

One of the best arguments for building your own PCs is that you make the decisions regarding parts, which means you don't have to scrap the whole system or buy sub-standard hardware from the manufacturer when it is time to upgrade. This is especially true for gaming rigs. Dell, one of the biggest offenders when it comes to this issue, has announced that proprietary parts like power supplies and motherboards will be a thing of the past.

Apparently, pressure from critics and competing devices like the Blackbird 002 from HP prompted the change— which is also evident in their decision to offer support NVIDIA's dual-card SLI or AMD's dual-card CrossFire cards. They have even taken an extra step towards openness by offering support for NVIDIA's Enthusiast System Architecture. The first gaming PC to feature these upgrades will be the "affordable" new XPS 630, which starts at $1249. [Maximum PC]

AMD Tri-Core Phenom Chips Coming to Dell Computers

Adrian Covert — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 20:30:05 EST

Amid rumors of Dell dropping AMD processors, TG Daily has discovered Dell actually plans to release a new line of Optiplex PCs with AMD Tri-Core Phenom processors. They also report Dell plans to feature AMD chips in future consumer products later this year. [TG Daily]

Rumor Smashed: Dell Still Stocks AMD-Based Computers Online

matt buchanan — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:13:18 EST

Only one consumer desktop—the Energy Star 4.0 Inspiron 531, but still a smattering of business wares, from notebooks to servers. [Dell]

ATI Breaks Teraflop Barrier with Radeon HD 3870 X2 GPU

Wilson Rothman — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:07:26 EST

Remember that honkin' ATI graphics card we showed you at CES? The one that was 1,000 times as fast as a Cray-1? Well, it's official, making its debut today as the $450 ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2. It's the first GPU to break the teraflop barrier, and is nearly double the performance of the HD 3870 you spent all your money on back in November. Press release with technical details after jump. [Product Page]

AMD Delivers Enthusiast Performance Leadership(1) with the Introduction of the ATI Radeon(TM) HD 3870 X2
— Industry's First Teraflop Consumer Graphics Card Redefines High-Definition Performance for 1080P Gaming and beyond —
SUNNYVALE, Calif. —(Business Wire)— Jan. 28, 2008 AMD (NYSE:AMD) today announced the immediate availability of the ATI Radeon(TM) HD 3870 X2 graphics processor, expanding the visual boundaries of PC entertainment well beyond the 1080P High Definition (HD) threshold. The industry's first graphics processor to break the Teraflop (one trillion floating point operations per second) barrier, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 nearly doubles the performance of the award-winning ATI Radeon(TM) HD 3870 introduced in November 2007.(2)

Through an elegant yet aggressive design, the 55 nanometer process-based ATI Radeon 3870 X2 combines two ATI Radeon HD 3870s on a single graphics board, connected through integrated CrossFire(TM) technology. ATI Radeon 3870 X2 is also the first performance-leadership graphics product in the world to support Microsoft's upcoming DirectX(R) 10.1 technology. The ATI Radeon 3870 X2 delivers a new class of price and performance leadership with unbelievable enthusiast value at a suggested retail price of US $449.

This launch follows on the success of the recently released ATI Radeon(TM) HD 3400 and ATI Radeon(TM) HD 3600 series graphics products, completing a comprehensive portfolio of next-generation 55nm GPUs that deliver unparalleled price, performance and energy efficiency from entry-level to performance-leadership class products.

"PC gaming enthusiasts demand the ultimate in performance and scalability for their HD gaming experience and the ATI Radeon 3870 X2 sets the standard by which all should be compared in this segment," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Product Group, AMD. "With this launch we reaffirm our commitment to enthusiast performance leadership and send a clear message that the ATI Radeon 3870 X2 is the new gold standard of the PC gaming world."

Ultimate Performance

With the upcoming introduction of Microsoft's DirectX 10.1 specification, gamers can expect more realistic gaming environments while developers have access to an increased amount of tools and resources to enhance overall image quality. Through delivering top-to-bottom DirectX 10.1 support, ATI Radeon HD 3000 series users can enjoy a more complete gaming experience now and in the future.

"We're pleased to see our newest DirectX 10 technology brought to market so soon with the introduction of AMD's latest enthusiast hardware," said Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Games for Windows, Microsoft. "One of the greatest advantages of PC gaming is the rapid pace at which the experiences evolve and improve. ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 delivers on the promise of DirectX 10 gaming with significantly improved visuals and enhanced performance."

ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 will also provide support for ATI CrossFireX(TM), the innovative next-generation AMD multi-GPU technology designed to support up to four GPUs. Software support to enable ATI CrossFireX is planned for late Q1 2008.

Ultimate HD Experiences

With the launch of ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2, AMD continues to support the industry-leading Unified Video Decoder (UVD) and ATI Avivo(TM) HD for exceptional platform efficiency and image quality for H.264 and VC-1 high definition content. Enhanced HDMI functionality is also offered via integrated HDCP and audio for HDMI video.

"Alienware prides itself on staying at the forefront of HD gaming innovation so that our brand stands for the best possible experience for our customers," said Patrick Cooper, director of product group, Alienware. "With the launch of the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 in our Area-51 ALX CrossFire platform, we can push the boundaries of visual realism one step further and provide enthusiast gamers with the perfect blend of next-generation features, performance and platform efficiency."

Ultimate Efficiency

The ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 is the first enthusiast graphics processors to use TSMC's 55nm process technology. The smooth transition to 55nm has allowed for a 2X increase in performance-per-watt over the previous generation. Through an elegant board design, the ATI Radeon 3870 X2 delivers exceptional acoustics that are roughly equivalent to a single ATI Radeon HD 3870. When combined with ATI PowerPlay(TM) technology, the ATI Radeon 3870 X2 delivers exceptional idle power efficiency with the ability to dynamically raise or lower GPU power depending on the usage scenario.

The ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 launches with broad availability and ecosystem support from AMD's Add-in-Board (AIB) and Systems Integrators (SI) partners. AIB partners building boards based on the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 include Asus, ASK, Club3D, Diamond Multimedia, HIS, ITC, Jetway, MSI, Sapphire, Triplex, Tul and Visiontek. Systems integrators launching ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 series include ABS, Alienware, Canada Computers, CyberPower, Falcon-Northwest, iBUYPOWER, Maingear, Systemax and Velocity Micro.

About AMD

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD) is a leading global provider of innovative processing solutions in the computing, graphics and consumer electronics markets. AMD is dedicated to driving open innovation, choice and industry growth by delivering superior customer-centric solutions that empower consumers and businesses worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.

(1) Performance comparisons using ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 versus NVIDIA 8800 Ultra using 3D Mark 2006, Supreme Commander, Call of Juarez, BioShock and Unreal Tournament 3 at 2560X1600 on AMD Phenom 2.6GHz CPU, AMD 790FX chipset, 2GB DDR2-800, Windows VISTA 64bit and ATI Catalyst display driver v. 8.45

(2) Performance comparisons of ATI Radeon HD 3870 versus ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 using 3D Mark 2006, Supreme Commander and Unreal Tournament 3 at 2560X1600 on AMD Phenom 2.6GHz CPU, AMD 790FX chipset, 2GB DDR2-800, Windows VISTA 64bit and ATI Catalyst display driver v. 8.45

AMD's Strategy for Bringing HD to the Masses

Wilson Rothman — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:52:10 EST

We just met with AMD's CTO Phil Hester, and he clued us in on a few cool high-def processing tricks that the company will pull this year:

• The Puma mobile chipset, due out in Q2 of this year, is able to play the Transformers HD DVD (intense MPEG-4 AVC) and still have 40% to 60% of the processor left over. Normal laptops today use almost 100% of their processors on Transformers, and still drop tons of frames.

• Hybrid Crossfire will enable a cheap-o PC with integrated graphics to deliver a 1.7x speed bump when combined with a cheap-o discrete graphics card.

• A beta plug-in for Adobe Premiere is coming soon which will allow you to offload video encoding to the GPU, delivering a massive speed increase of 6x to 10x. Basically, you'll be able to encode in half the time it takes to play back, without paying a ton for the processor. [AMD]

ATI R680 Graphics Card Is 1000X Faster Than a Cray-1 Supercomputer

Wilson Rothman — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:48:27 EST

We just got a nice look at the R680, the upcoming enthusiast graphics card from ATI that is, apparently, as fast as 1000 Cray-1s. We're not allowed to say exactly how fast that is, but maybe you want to hazard a guess. The details are all hush-hush but assume that what people have already written is more or less true, and this bad boy will be hitting store shelves pretty soon. Here are two more pictures for your ~~jealousy~~ enjoyment:

[ATI @ AMD]

Giz Intern Smokes Competish at Tiger Direct AMD PC Building Contest

Wilson Rothman — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:34:59 EST

Last night, our weekend intern Eric Sheline made his mama proud by finishing fourth in the 11th annual Tiger Direct AMD Acer PC building contest. You'll recall in years past that Blam finished both 3rd and 5th, which means that Sheline basically tied his master, and smoked over 80% of the seasoned editors in the process. Jump for shots of the grinning intern with his winning PC, and a video of our fearless leader in last year's event.

The Nostalgia Video

[Tiger Direct]

Intel Delays 45nm Quad-Core CPUs to Give AMD a Breather

matt buchanan — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:45:35 EST

Rather than continue hammering on AMD while they're down, Intel is apparently taking AMD's troubles as a little break of their own, delaying the launch of three 45nm quad-core Core 2 processors (Yorkfields) until Feb. or March, depending on AMD's release schedule for its upcoming tri-core and Phenom processors. This kind of reminds us of when Toyota wanted to raise its own prices to help out GM and Ford, which makes us sad. We prefer the far bloodier and more competitive processor wars of a couple years ago. [Digitimes via Inquirer]

Afternoon News: Boffins Galore, Spectrum Auction, Rock, Paper, Scissors and More

Benny Goldman — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:59:43 EST

• Joining the other boffins we've discussed today is this Indian boffin, who invented a flying carpet by attaching a powerful motor to a thin sheet of fabric. By the way, we have not used the word "boffin" on this site since 2004. Boffin! [Wired]
• The FCC announced the participants in the 700MHz spectrum auction. If I were a betting man, I'd go with the Paul Bunyan Rural Telephone Cooperative FTW!!1! [TechCrunch]
• HP paid Staples $100 million to not stock competitor's ink, and made the money back by charging $8,000 for a gallon of their own ink, according to a lawsuit. The official charge: Dorkateering. [Ars]
• New Scientist claims it has the secret to winning Rock, Paper, Scissors. The battle of wits has begun! [Telegraph]

Afternoon News: Harry Potter Is Too Close for Comfort, DirecTV Breaking Promises?, Best Buy's Profits Soar and More

Benny Goldman — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 16:00:00 EST

• Daniel Radcliffe, a/k/a Harry Potter, just bought an apartment in Manhattan. Coincidentally, it's only four blocks from our NYC headquarters. Luckily we have our own Dark Lord Balthazaar to protect us from his spells. [Gridskipper]
• Less than two weeks remain for DirecTV to add 15 more HD channels in order to reach their promise of 100 by the end of 2007. Hope you like the sound of Drying Paint HD, Growing Grass HD and Water Boiling HD, DirecTV customers. [Broadband Reports] [Thanks, Erin!!]
• Toshiba is joining IBM, AMD, Samsung, and others to work on 32nm chip technology. Now the alliance is just an wind, fire and heart away from summoning Captain Planet. [Reuters]
• XM Satellite Radio has settled its lawsuit with Universal Music Group over the time-shifting recording capabilities of XM's Inno player. Surprisingly, the terms still allow for the creation of more time-shifting devices. [Digital Trends]
• Best Buy's profits spiked 52% this quarter, due to fewer promotions on flat-panel TVs. Thanks a lot, Best Buy. [Market Watch]

ATI Has Triplets Thanks to AMD's New 55nm Processors

Haroon Malik — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:50:00 EST

AMD has just announced they shall be releasing three new graphics processors. ATI's R680 is the new model grabbing all the attention, thanks to its dual 55nm processor core. AMD were clear in stating the 55nm processors have identical specifications to those used in an earlier model, but the older RV670 GPU contained only one 55nm Phenom processor. The R680 will bring twice the fun with its dual core goodness and CrossFireX support.

AMD are also set to revise two existing models, the RV610 and RV630, which will both be treated to new 55nm processors, but shall remain otherwise identical. We know that Phenom cores have had a tough time courting favor with the experts, and though the new AMD triplet seem great on paper, we'll reserve judgment till they are unwrapped and put to the test. The products will all hit next month. Happy New Year, gamers. [Daily Tech]

AMD Trashtalks Intel Big Time, Claims All Innovation

Mark Wilson — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:40:35 EST

In a recent interview with Gulf News, AMD's CEO Hector Ruiz took the gloves off and went straight for Intel's throat. Angry about Intel following AMD's lead in areas like X86-64 (64-bit) technology yet dominating the market, Ruiz let loose to the media.

"If you look at the last five years, if you look at what major innovations have occurred in computing technology, every single one of them came from AMD. Not a single innovation came from Intel.

Oh, but there's more!

Intel continues... to abuse their monopoly and that's why around the world governments and regulatory agencies continue to go after them.

Oh, no he didn't. Oh, yes he did. [gulfnews via theinquirer]

AMD Launches FireStream 9170, First Stream Processor With Double-Precision Floating Point Technology

Matt Buchanan — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 03:00:44 EST

AMD's launching "the world's first Stream GPU with double-precision floating point technology," the FireStream 9170, and the AMD FireStream SDK for Stream processors. Running a cool $2000, the 55nm chip pulls less than 150 watts of juice while pumping out 500 GFLOPS of computing power.

Also packed onboard is 2GB of GDDR3 memory, which, combo'd with asynchronous direct memory access, "ensures data can flow freely without interrupting the stream processor or CPU." This parallel-processing piece of badassness will hit the market in the Q1 2008.

AMD Delivers First Stream Processor with Double Precision Floating Point Technology
AMD FireStream 9170 and supporting Software Development Kit unlock Stream-based Accelerated Computing

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - November 8, 2007 -AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the AMD FireStream 9170 Stream Processor and an accompanying Software Development Kit (SDK) designed to harness the massive parallel processing power of the graphics processing unit (GPU). AMD leveraged its unique collective expertise in both GPUs and CPUs to deliver the first integrated hardware and software development solution that meets the needs of the demanding high-performance computing (HPC) market. AMD plans to deliver the FireStream 9170 and supporting SDK to market in the first quarter of 2008. With this launch AMD expects to achieve another important milestone on the path to Accelerated Computing by delivering the first in a series of next-generation heterogeneous compute architectures.

"With a broad range of customer engagements underway, notably customers in the oil and gas, financial and engineering analysis industries, AMD is delivering on its vision of Accelerated Computing with breakthrough benefits for our enterprise customers," said Rick Bergman, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Graphics Products, AMD. "Leveraging the immense graphics processing capabilities acquired from ATI and the HPC domain expertise of AMD, we are developing strong relationships with system vendors and the supporting technology eco-system to deliver processing innovation through an open platforms approach."

AMD FireStream 9170
The AMD FireStream 9170 will be the world's first Stream GPU with double-precision floating point technology tailored for scientific and engineering calculations. Competitively priced at an MSRP of $1999 USD, it features up to 500 GFLOPS of compute power, rivalling many of today's supercomputers, and providing dramatic acceleration for critical algorithms. This second generation Stream Processor is built with 55 nm process technology and consumes less than 150 watts of power - delivering an exceptional performance per watt. In addition, the reduced heat dissipation allows it to function in dense design configurations. The FireStream 9170 is a single card solution with two GB of onboard GDDR3 memory to compute large datasets without CPU traffic. The asynchronous direct memory access (DMA) ensures data can flow freely without interrupting the stream processor or CPU.

"GPUs have long been known for their immense parallel processing performance but many challenges still remain in driving widespread customer adoption for general purpose compute," said Jon Peddie, President, Jon Peddie Research. "Leveraging its unique capabilities in high-performance CPU and GPU technologies, AMD is well positioned to drive an integrated hardware and software proposition that can deliver the best of both processing worlds to its HPC customers."

AMD FireStream SDK
The AMD FireStream SDK is designed to deliver the tools developers need to create and optimize applications on AMD Stream processors. Built using an open platforms approach, the AMD FireStream SDK allows developers to access key Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and specifications, enabling performance tuning at the lowest level and development of third party tools. Building on AMD's Close to the Metal (CTM) interface introduced in 2006, the Compute Abstraction Layer (CAL) provides low-level access to the GPU for development and performance tuning along with forward compatibility to future GPUs. For high-level development, AMD is announcing Brook+, a tool providing C extensions for stream computing based on the Brook project from Stanford University. In addition, AMD also plans to support the AMD Core Math Library (ACML) to provide GPU-accelerated math functions, and the COBRA video library accelerates video transcode. Also available are third-party tools from top industry partners including RapidMind and Microsoft.

In addition, AMD is now a charter participant in HP's new HPC Accelerator Program, offering HP customers best practices and guidance for these technologies, and ensuring that accelerator hardware and software is qualified for HP servers running HPC applications.

"As innovative new HPC technologies like Stream Computing emerge, it is imperative we work with our partners to ensure an open systems approach to enable new levels of processing efficiency and performance," said Winston Prather, vice president and general manager of HPC at HP. "As part of HP's new HPC Accelerator program, we're working closely with AMD and our customers to deliver an optimal mix of hardware innovation and open, collaborative development environments to ensure delivery of best-in-class HPC platforms."

About AMD
Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is a leading global provider of innovative processing solutions in the computing, graphics and consumer electronics markets. AMD is dedicated to driving open innovation, choice and industry growth by delivering superior customer-centric solutions that empower consumers and businesses worldwide. For more information, visit www.amd.com.
*1 *Based on 320 stream cores and engine clock rates of 775-800MHz
*2 *Refers to maximum TDP of AMD FireStream 9170

[AMD, Flickr]

Despite record sales and boosted revenues ...

Matt Buchanan — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:23:32 EDT

Despite record sales and boosted revenues compared with last quarter, thanks to the debt-loaded ATI acquisition and the bloody price war with Intel, AMD's finishing Q3 $396 million in the red. [Ars]

AMD To Make Tri-Core Processors

Mark Wilson — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 09:30:31 EDT

AMD, in a move to differentiate their processor line, has decided to begin selling three core processors. Is it weird? A little. But customers will see speed boosts. And, as the Inquirer points out, the tri-core could allow AMD to salvage bad quad-core chips while offering consumers a wide range of models at various pricepoints.

AMD also went on record with the statement, "Seriously, who doesn't want a threesome? You never hear people asking for a foursome. It's the threesome that's all the rage." OK, they may not have actually said that. [theinquirer]

AMD Launches Quad-Core Opteron, a.k.a. Barcelona

msparkes — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 04:01:06 EDT

AMD is finally launching its Barcelona quad-core server chip today, although it's officially being called the Quad-Core Opteron. Intel may have been beating AMD to higher clock speeds recently, but the Barcelona offers some performance and power-saving advantages that should level the playing field again.

Saving power is becoming increasingly important in server rooms now, both because of the high cost of electricity and from pressure to become greener. AMD has developed a system, called CoolCore, where individual parts of the processor are turned off when they're not needed.

There will be nine chip options, all manufactured with 65nm technology, and all with 512KB of level two cache per core and 2MB shared. The top of the range 2GHz 8350 is expected to be priced at $1,019 for quantities over 1,000, with options all the way down to $209. There are expected to be more than 50 products launched this week using the chips, from Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Dell. [AMD]

AMD: Intel Made $60 Billion in "Monopoly Profits"

Matt Buchanan — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 17:00:56 EDT

AMD has a new presser out declaring that between 1996 and 2006, Intel socked away over $60 billion of "monopoly profits" into its "monopoly coffers." It also claims that if there were "full competition" in the processor market, we would save over $81 billion, which sounds awesome.

Now, I'm not an economist, so I can't really judge the conclusions, but if you skip down to the fine print, you'll see that the study's conductor, ERS Group is an "an economic and financial consulting firm retained by AMD's outside counsel, O'Melveny & Myers LLP." But like I said, I'm not an economist, so I'm not making any judgments. [AMD Press Release, Image via Flickr]

AMD's New Chips Leak

Mark Wilson — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:47:56 EDT

AMD has been surprisingly quiet with their 65nm chips, and now we might know why. The company seems to be having problems with leakage in their new processors, a common problem with shrinking components, where electricity can literally burrow out of a semiconductor and even blow entire circuits. Hit the link for the test results that are brining people to this conclusion. I'm no expert microprocessor/electricity/counting expert, but I know big, bad numbers when I see them. [test via theinquirer]

Although we said AMD would make the Q4 2007 ...

Wilson Rothman — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 08:40:19 EDT

Although we said AMD would make the Q4 2007 ship dates of Phenom chips, the '07 shipments are not going to be "substantial," says AMD's honcho. Better luck in 2008! [Reg Hardware]

AMD Quad Core Phenom Gaming System in the Flesh (and Blood)

Wilson Rothman — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 14:00:00 EDT

We just got the chance to play around with AMD's newest quad core system, the Phenom RD790 and a pair of ATI HD2900XT graphics processors. There's a whole lot of cooling going on, thanks to John Woo's new game Stranglehold. AMD is still mum on pricing and final specs, though they did reaffirm their desire to ship this sucker in "early Q4" of this year, so like October? The system managed the Havoc physics engine with ease, jumping into sepia-toned "tequila" time and into a zoom mode that gave a bullet's eye view of the action. Lack of specs notwithstanding, the experience was mesmerizing, right up to the point where one of the bad guys in the game took a bullet in the nuts, and I actually felt his pain. Wanna see?

Windows XP RobuDOG Plays Ball And Takes Pictures

kevinhall2 — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 12:21:34 EDT

The Windows XP-running RobuDOG is part robopet, part photographer. The dog's colorful noggin is packed with all sorts of goodies, including infrared sensors for guidance and an "intelligent, programmable" color camera. So, while using its 17 servo-powered joints and articulated ankles to run and kick a ball around—something it's supposed to be better at than your average dog—the RobuDOG will also be able to take snaps of the action.

The robomutt comes with 2GB of built-in flash memory, probably for scripts and pictures. With Windows XP and its b/g wireless capabilities, we're hoping it can just toss its snaps to Windows-based PCs around the house. What you might end up with is a cool gallery of your life as seen by your RobuDOG. That also means it will be able to use Windows programs geared toward robots, like Microsoft's Robotics Studio.

The RobuDOG uses a 500MHz AMD Geode LX800 processor, 512 MB of internal RAM, both an Ethernet and a USB port, and a speaker allowing it to bark. Developed in France, the RobuDOG is going to cost around 3,200 Euros, so expect to pay upwards of $4,400 to get it in the States. [WindowsForDevices via GearLog]

AMD announces Barcelona CPUs ship date in ...

Jason Chen — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:40:06 EDT

AMD announces Barcelona CPUs ship date in August. [Inquirer]

AMD Shows Off its Designer Chops with Concept HTPC

Louis Ramirez — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 18:25:24 EDT

If you thought the Hanger18 looked cool, get a load of AMD's concept PC. It was created by AMD to show manufacturers the kinds of designs they can dream up when using AMD's hardware (in particular AMD Live!, which is their media center platform). The PC features an embedded LCD, a slot-loading optical drive, and built-in media controls. If not for the solid gold color, I'd say this was one sexy beast. Do you guys dig it or hate it? – Louis Ramirez

AMD Creates "Ideal" Design for Media PCs [Electronista]

Toshiba Says Hello to AMD

Wilson Rothman — Tue, 29 May 2007 08:05:17 EDT

Intel may remain the big gorilla, but AMD is making a lot of friends. After Dell said it would offer chips with AMD, Toshiba decided to follow suit, with plans for 20% of its US and European models to sport the alterno-chip. The AMD models, the first of which are due towards the end of summer, will be—yep, you guessed it—cheaper than comparable Intel machines. But does that mean they won't be as good? – Wilson Rothman

Toshiba to use AMD chip in laptop PCs [Reuters]

Negroponte to Intel: You Suck!

Addy Dugdale — Mon, 21 May 2007 21:38:37 EDT

Nicholas Negroponte has started a bitch-fight against Intel because, according to him, they are trying to drive him out of business by underpricing their OLPC rival, the Classmate. He says that Intel "should be ashamed of itself" arguing that by bringing a low-cost laptop to developing countries, they hurt "his mission enormously." His mission. Intel's Chairman Craig Barrett calls the notion "crazy." I'm going to go a step further and say that Negroponte's arguments are absolutely stupid. Clickity-clack on the jump to see more about the OLPC vs Classmate clash.

Negroponte argues that he and his mission are a victim of the fierce Intel-AMD war, since the OLPC is powered by AMD processors. According to him, Intel is distributing materials to governments comparing the Classmate to the OLPC, with titles like "the shortcomings of the One Laptop per Child approach."

Barrett answered Negroponte's claims, declaring to the CBS that Intel is not trying to drive the OLPC out of business, merely bringing low-cost computers to young people through the world. "Someone at Intel was comparing the Classmate PC with another device being offered in the marketplace" he said, "that's the way our business works."

And indeed, it is. We don't really know about each laptop's true technical merits. Nobody really knows which one is better because there's no side-by-side reviews yet. We don't know about Intel or the OLPC's marketing arguments. We don't know exactly what either of them are saying about each other to governments across the world.

The only fact we know is that the OLPC has a $176 price tag and the Classmate costs $200: both are designed to bring computing and the Internet to children in developing countries at very low cost.

So I don't care if the Classmate is priced below cost or the OLPC is made with fairies' dust. The only thing myself and anyone, including Negroponte, should really care about is that there's not only one, but two cheap computers for emerging nations. And that, no matter how you look at it, is a Good Thing™.

If Negroponte is telling the truth and Intel's ulterior motive to underprice their Classmate is its own long-term "benefit" for the sake of market share, the only true winners are the kids, the recipients of those computers. And if Intel is trying to push their option by highlighting its strengths versus the OLPC and the governments decide to buy Classmates based entirely on technical merit, that will be good for Intel but the true winners will again be the kids. I'm sure those children won't give a damn about what type of processor these machines have (in fact, I doubt they will give a damn about a computer over a sandwich at this point, but that's an entirely different debate.)

And what about if the governments decide to buy an OLPC instead? Well, maybe that will force Intel to drop their prices even more and once again the kids will be the ultimate winners, as they will have more powerful machines for less money.

I don't know about you, but I read Negroponte's arguments and they seem to be related to only one thing: his ego. BBC News says that Negroponte complained at the beginning of the year that his concept had received a lot of criticism and "yet after that criticism they are either copying it or doing things perfectly in line with the concept. Yes people laugh at it, then they criticise it, then they copy it." Maybe it's time for him to realize that the idea of creating such a beast may be his in the first place, but the more companies and countries (like India wants to do for a tenth of the price) get into it, the better it will be for everyone.

According to unconfirmed rumors relayed by a totally drunk and unreliable source, Negroponte has also complained to his teacher about Barrett stealing his chocolate pudding at lunch and drawing moustaches over all his Spider-man comics. "That Barrett kid is mean, mean, mean! MEAN I SAY!" he reportedly whinged. – Jesus Diaz

'$100 laptop' sparks war of words [BBC News]

AMD Puma to Intel Centrino: "Surrender Your Laptops!"

Addy Dugdale — Fri, 18 May 2007 05:43:18 EDT

AMD is charging against Intel's current Santa Rosa dominance and future Montevina platforms with their Puma chipset. They said it has been designed for mobile computing from the ground up. I say it was about bloody time already.

At the core of Puma there is their new Griffin 65nm mobile processor, with cores in separate power planes (so they can be managed separately and save energy), a new DRAM pre-fetcher (to increase efficiency on memory operations) and HyperTransport 3.0 (so you can travel through interdimensional portals and do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs).

On paper the Griffin is not that different from the Intel Core 2 Duos. However, the big news are in the chipset itself, which has features that are not present in Santa Rosa and even Montevina. You can read about them after the jump.

The AMD 780G can deliver DirectX 10 graphics acceleration, full high definition H.264 decoding with both HDMI and Display Port outputs and 5GHz PCI Express ports. As you know, Santa Rosa doesn't have any of these features. Montevina won't have 5GHz PCI Express support until 2010. AMD will also add the option for HyperFlash, which is a technology similar to Intel Turbo Memory.

Keep in mind that Puma is not here yet and these are only "platform details" announced by AMD. They have even pointed to a new platform called Fusion, which will feature CPU-GPU integration for laptops in 2009. Intel has said that they are also investigating that path but for the time being, my bet is that they are thinking "fusion-schmusion" as Santa Rosa takes over the world today. – Jesus Diaz

AMD "Puma" Mobile Platform Details Unveiled [Daily Tech]

AMD Breaks Out ATI Mobile Radeon HD 2000 Series Cards

Louis Ramirez — Mon, 14 May 2007 10:20:01 EDT

Last week might have been all about Intel, but today is AMD/ATI's morning. Aside from the new processors and desktop graphics cards, the company also ushered in its new mobile video cards ranging from the entry level Mobility Radeon HD 2300 to the top of the line Mobility Radeon 2600 XT. Unlike Nvidia's offerings, which all support DirectX 10, only ATI's mid and high level cards (the HD 2400, HD 2400 XT, HD 2600, and HD 2600 XT) will support DirectX 10. (The entry level HD 2300 will not). Otherwise, all of the cards will feature ATI's Avivo HD and PowerPlay 7.0, which provide better HD video processing and better battery management. The cards will be available in notebooks this month. – Louis Ramirez

Product Page [Press Release]

AMD Rolls Out Phenom X2 and Phenom X4 Processors, FASN8 Platform

Charlie White — Mon, 14 May 2007 09:32:29 EDT

Now it's official, AMD has bumped its Athlon processors off the high horse and replaced them with Phenom X2 (dual core) and Phenom X4 (quad core) processors, and the company says these new chips will be part of its enthusiast platform it calls FASN8. The company's saying that when you lash these chips together with its DirectX 10 ATI Radion HD 2000 series graphics cards shipped today, you'll get, well, some serious graphics performance. We'll believe it when we see it, but the ability to have two of these quad-core processors on one motherboard will surely make for some serious eight-way action.

AMD added lots of bluster along with the announcement, too:

With this announcement, AMD also unleashes some world-class marketing guff, calling these Phenom X4 chips the first "true quad core" processors, accusing "other products" of "packaging two dual core chips to form their quad core processors." Accusations such as this volley directed at Intel signal a hot chip war on the way.

It's going to take a lot for AMD to catch up to Intel, though, but the enhanced performance per watt of these chips, along with their Dual Socket Direct Connect architecture, 128-bit FPUs and shared L3 cache might just put a bit of heat on Intel for a while. We can't wait to see the benchmarks on these chips, because until we see the performance numbers, this just sounds like a lot of mumbo-jumbo. – Charlie White

Press Release [AMD]

AMD's Barcelona Chips Make a Quick Appearance

Louis Ramirez — Thu, 10 May 2007 13:02:40 EDT

Perhaps it's a mild case of jealousy, but the folks at AMD are trying to win back the spotlight from Intel by revealing their long-awaited Barcelona CPU.

They demoed a dual processor setup alongside a quad-processor rig for ultimate 4x4 power. The folks at [H]Enthusiast claim the octo-core set up was able to encode 1080p video to H.264 very close to real time. They also said the CPUs are good at keeping their cool (though they did have fans on each CPU). Now all we need is for AMD to hurry and get them out. – Louis Ramirez

AMD Barcelona in Action [HEnthusiast via Gadget Lab]

AMD's New Mobile Chipset Gives You 25% More Battery Juice

Louis Ramirez — Thu, 03 May 2007 20:20:05 EDT

We know what you're trying to do, AMD. You're trying to steal Intel's thunder by announcing your new M690 mobile chipset before Intel goes live with theirs. You're tempting us by telling us it'll deliver a 25% boost in battery life (that's over 5 hours) and that you'll be partnering with Nvidia (over your own child ATI) and Broadcom for integrated graphics and wireless. And y'know something, it works. But we're still gonna wait and see what Intel has to offer. Just 'cause you never know what else is out there. – Louis Ramirez

Press Release

Intel Graphics Business Still Champ, But Nvidia Is Showing Rocky's Pluck

Wilson Rothman — Wed, 02 May 2007 10:20:00 EDT

Lest ye forgot, the graphics-card wars are still a-ragin'. CPU maker Intel is still number one overall, with 38.7% marketshare, and they're making crazy gains in the laptop market as well, according to a fresh report. Is it because Intel is better, or just a more convenient choice for OEMs and shoppers? However there is some good news for GeForce fans, as Nvidia has finally beaten Intel. (At least for the quarter. And only in desktops.)

I don't have the dramatic chops to pull off a Spaceballs/Billy Madison/Blackballed physical challenge video depicting an Nvidia GeForce card knocking the crap out of an integrated Intel processor, like my good friend Brian Lam did with New Flame-Job Optimus Prime and anything he could find in his apartment. Instead, I will report the latest neck-and-neck results from John Peddie Research, and let you argue about the justice, or injustice, of the current marketplace, and see how well AMD and VIA are doing as well.

Intel is the one to beat, with 38.7% of the overall market, up from 37.4% last quarter, and a 55% market share of laptop graphics processors, up from 50%.

Nvidia is holding steady with an overall 28.5% market share, but it is losing ground in the mobile space (20%, down from 22.9%) and gaining market share in the declining desktop market.

Of course, when it comes to discrete graphics cards, Nvidia still holds a commanding lead over AMD, whose overall market share has dipped to just 21.9%. Via and Silicon Integrated Systems are way at the bottom, experiencing small market-share declines of their own.

Want to defend your favorite underdog? Or explain why Intel's dominance is good for business? I'd love to hear it. The full press release is below. – Wilson Rothman

Jon Peddie Research Reports First-Quarter PC Graphics Shipments: Nvidia leaps to first place in desktop graphics chips displacing Intel
Overall market down 5.5% quarter-to-quarter; laptops soar 24.6% year-to-year

TIBURON, CA - May 2, 2007-Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's leading research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, today announced estimated graphics shipments and supplier market share for the first calendar quarter of 2007. Detailed First-Quarter results are available in the Q1 2007 edition of Jon Peddie's First Look, the firm's quarterly graphics survey. The companion report, Market Watch, provides an in-depth look at the PC graphics market and includes unit shipment and segment market share data, trend analysis, shipment forecasts, and profiles of major suppliers.

Q1'07 was disappointing overall in terms of graphics chip shipments, but some suppliers have reason to celebrate. "The Vista effect hasn't clicked in yet for the AIB suppliers, although Microsoft reports that shipments of Vista are meeting their expectations," Peddie added.

Jon Peddie Research estimates that the overall shipment of graphics chips dropped 5.5% quarter-to-quarter. Overall, shipments of graphics devices increased 5.3% year over year to reach 78.8 million graphics chips shipped in Q1'07.

"Normally Q1 will be flat or drop a little (from Q4); this year it fell with a thud" says Dr. Jon Peddie, President of Jon Peddie Research. "Graphics devices for the mobile market also declined quarter-to-quarter (Q4 to Q1), shipments were down 7.2%. Overall, however, the mobile segment continues to enliven the market, growing 24.6% year-to-year. Nvidia is the big success story in the mobile segment with three quarters of growth in a row."

The mobile graphics segment which has been the star performer delivered 23.9 million units, slipping 7.2% quarter-to-quarter, and grew a healthy 24.6% year-to-year.

"The laptop market continues to be the darling of the industry," says Peddie. "This quarter was the first decline we've seen in some time."

The desktop graphics segment saw shipments decline by 4.8% quarter to quarter to 54.8 million units, and it declined 1.4% year-to-year, but Nvidia took first place in market share.

JPR estimates that 23.9 million mobile graphics devices shipped in Q1'07, 18.74 million of which were integrated chipsets (IGPs) for notebooks. Mobile IGPs claimed a commanding share of 78.2% in the mobile graphics market, up 2.5% in market share from the prior quarter and 6.3% from the same period a year ago.

Intel led the mobile graphics market with a 55% share (up from 50%), AMD lost 0.2% to a 23.2% share, and Nvidia slipped to 20% (from 22.9%) market share gain for the quarter. SiS and VIA saw declines in market share.

In the discrete mobile segment, AMD saw shipments decline on a quarterly basis while Nvidia saw shipments increase sequentially. Nvidia grew its discrete mobile segment share from 59.1% in Q4'06 to 60.3% in Q1'07. AMD's segment share fell from 40.9% in Q4'06 to 39.7% in Q1'07.

"Timing is everything in the mobile market," says Peddie, "Nvidia is getting the benefit from having had its mobile parts lined up and ready to ship with Intel's recent laptop rollout."

In the overall PC graphics market, Intel saw a 1.3% gain in shipments in Q1'07, and was still the largest supplier of PC graphics devices worldwide. Nvidia was flat but remained the second largest supplier in Q1'07 and AMD's market share decreased. The following table lists the ranking and relative market share of the major graphics suppliers to the PC industry, based on unit shipments in Q4'06 and Q1'07,.

Rank Graphics Supplier Q1'07 Market Share Q4'06 Market Share
1 Intel 38.7% 37.4%
2 Nvidia 28.5% 28.5%
3 AMD 21.9% 23.0%
4 VIA Technologies 6.4% 6.7%
5 Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) 4.3% 4.5%
6 Others <1% <1%

About Jon Peddie Research

Dr. Jon Peddie has been active in the graphics and multimedia fields for more than 30 years. Jon Peddie Research is a technically oriented multimedia and graphics research and consulting firm. Based in Tiburon, California, JPR provides consulting, research, and other specialized services to technology companies, including graphics development, multimedia for professional applications and consumer electronics, high-end computing, and Internet-access product development. Jon Peddie's Market Watch and First Look are quarterly reports focused on the market activity of PC graphics controllers for mobile and desktop computing.

http://www.jonpeddie.com

ATI Leaks More R600 Details

Louis Ramirez — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 10:45:42 EDT

AMD has been teasing us with glimpses of ATI's next-gen DirectX 10 video cards, and the latest peek is the most tantalizing. The cards will all fall into the HD 2000-series umbrella (the HD stands for their Avivo HD technology).

At the top of the line is the Radeon HD 2900 XT with 320 stream processors (each one reducing dependence on the CPU), native CrossFire support (making it easier to pair two of these babies up), and integrated HDMI out with support for 5.1 surround sound. They will also support

128-bit HRD rendering and 16x anti-aliasing. The RV630-based cards will fall under the Radeon HD 2600 umbrella with Pro and XT versions and finally the budget RV610-based models will carry the Radeon HD 2400 name. There's no word on what kind of power consumption to expect from these cards, but hopefully we'll hear the official word from ATI soon. The cards are expected to roll out starting this month (which is around the same time we expect Nvidia's new 8800 Ultra card and their mid-tier cards as well). Let the war begin. – Louis Ramirez

Ed: There's no HDMI in either of these pics.

ATI Releases More R600 Details [DailyTech]