It appears that the recent reports on the Internet have been correct and that the Sunnyvale, California-based Advanced Micro Devices has now detailed its latest Radeon graphics card, the much-anticipated HD 5970, a dual-GPU monster designed to be the fastest graphics card in the world. Featuring full support for Microsoft's DirectX 11 and the company's recently introduced Eyefinity multi-display technology, this card is expected to deliver a noticeable performance boost over any other card that is currently available on the market.

“With the arrival of the ATI Radeon HD 5970, the fastest graphics card in the world, we’ve cemented AMD as the unquestioned graphics leader,” said Matt Skynner, vice president and general manager, AMD Graphics Group. “With the holiday shopping season right around the corner, the new card, coupled with the awesome power of ATI Eyefinity technology, is the ultimate setup for serious gamers.”

Getting right down to the technical specifications of the new card, it looks like previous reports have been right on target, as it comes with a GPU clock speed of 725MHz and a processing power, for single precision, of 4.64 TeraFLOPS. The new Radeon card comes with 2GB of GDDR5 memory that was clocked at 1GHz (with 4GHz data date), and 2 x 2.15 Billion transistors. There are 3200 Stream Processors, 160 Texture units and 64 ROPs, while the card's TDP has been specified at a maximum of 294W. Interestingly enough, according to AMD, it reaches 42W in idle mode, something that has been enabled by a unique feature that will disable one of the GPUs, when the PC is in Idle.

One thing you should keep in mind is that, this is a monster of a card, by all definitions. It's design might lead to some modifications of your ATX chassis, as this card is 13.3-inches long, which could raise some problems, even for owners of full-tower cases.

With those specs and the fact that NVIDIA currently has nothing on the market that could beat the Radeon HD 5970, expect prices to be high. In fact, according to the world's second largest chip maker, these cards will be available for a MSRP of US$599. The prices are likely to go down when NVIDIA launches its Fermi-based cards, or by the time the 40nm yields at TSMC would improve.

[ Read More »» ]

Sunnyvale, California-based Advanced Micro Devices has announced today the debut of a couple of new desktop processors, part of the company's extending line of Athlon II chips. With Windows 7 just around the corner, these new parts are expected to provide system builders and users alike with a choice for an affordable CPU that can also perform decently for its price range. The new lineup of Athlon II CPUsincludes dual-core,triple-core and quad-core models in total of eight new chips, six of which are part of the chip maker’s energy-efficient lineup.

The lowest priced model, announced today by the world's second largest PC manufacturer is the dual-core Athlon II X2 235e, designed to provide consumers with a clock speed of 2.7GHz and a TDP of 45W. As a matter of fact, all of AMD's new energy-efficient Athlon II processors have been designed with a 45W TDP. The aforementioned 235e model will become available for a price tag of US$69, in thousand-unit quantities, according to AMD.


The new lineup includes the Athlon II X2 240e, 400e, 405e, 600e and 605e, all of which are designed to work with a TDP of 45W and sport clock speeds of 2.8GHz, 2.2GHz, 2.3GHz, 2.2GHz and 2.3GHz, respectively. The Athlon II X2 400e and 405e models are part of AMD's triple-core offering, while the last two are part of the expanding line of quad-core CPUs. Price wise, these models are rated at prices of US$77, US$99, US$102, US$133 and US$143, respectively.



In addition to all of the aforementioned models, the chip maker also announced the triple-core Athlon II X3 425 and Athlon II X3 435, designed with a 95W TDP and core speeds of 2.7GHz and 2.9GHz, respectively. These two will be made available for US$76 and US$86 in thousand-unit quantities and according to early reviews users should be very pleased with the performance/price ratio that the US$435 model offers, especially when compared to similarly-priced Intel Core 2 Duos.

[ Read More »» ]

Late last month there were some reports indicating that the world's leading chip maker Intel was planning to update its line of Solid State Drives with the introduction of the new 32nm-based solutions. The launch of the new SSDs was supposed to occur in the following two weeks from the report,consequently providing end-users with a choice for a more energy-efficient alternative to other SSDs on the market. However, it now appears
that the much-anticipated SSDs will make their debut early next week, on Tuesday.

The news comes from a recent article on the Inquirer, where the first round of rumors initially surfaced approximately two weeks ago. According to them, new information that they have just come across, indicates that Intel will launch the next-generation SSDs on the 21st of July, which is next-week, on Tuesday. These new Flash-based storage solutions will be powered by the new 32nm flash chips and will provide users with an increase of energy efficiency, better price tag and higher storage capacities.



Intel's upcoming SSDs are expected to become available in capacities of 320GB, 160GB and 80GB and deliver a boost of energy efficiency, compared to the chip maker's previous generation of SSDs. They will most likely be launched in a notebook-ready 2.5-inch form factor and could prove as a noteworthy alternative to other SSDs currently available on the market.

The Inquirer further reports that Intel's new SSDs have also been designed to address a different issue that has been encountered in the adoption of SSDs as a general storage solution. Apparently, these new drives will be considerably cheaper than their direct competitors, which will allow Intel to increase its share in this still growing market. To find out whether that will be the case, we still have to wait a couple of days, until the Santa Clara, California-based chip maker decides to take the official wraps off its new products.

[ Read More »» ]

ASRock, one of the world’s leading vendors of motherboards and computer platforms, has recently expanded its product offering with the introduction of yet another X58-based motherboard, adding to the company's already launched X58 'SuperComputer' and 'Deluxe' models. The new solution, dubbed X58 Extreme, has already been showcased at Computex and is expected to make its way on the shelves of retailers worldwide. As with the other Core i7 platforms, the new motherboard is ready to provide users with support for the latest hardware components on the market.

The ASRock X58 Extreme is clearly intended for high-end users and computer enthusiasts, as it's built to support Intel's fastest processors to date, as well as multi-GPU technologies from both NVIDIA and AMD. The board boasts an advanced V8 Power Phase Design, Intel XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) memory, CrossFireX and SLI technologies as well as ASRock's Smart BIOS, OC Tuner and Intelligent Energy Saver features.

As with other X58 platforms, the system is ready for Intel's latest Core i7 CPU, including the newly released Core i7 975. There are six, triple-channel DDR3 memory DIMMs with support for up to 24GB of memory, three PCI-Express x16 graphics slots for high-end graphics and 6 SATA II connectors. Among some of the unique features that ASRock has enabled on its latest platform, we must highlight the Hybrid Booster, which includes a CPU Frequency Stepless Control, the ASRock U-COP and the Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.).

Unfortunately, there are no details available regarding the board's pricing and availability, but it should make its way on the shelves of local retailers very soon, adding to the company's growing line of Core i7-supporting platforms. With the launch of the latest model, ASRock looks to provide its customers with a complete line of Intel-based platforms.

[ Read More »» ]

During this year’s Computex 2009 show, NVIDIA took the stage with a number of new Ion- and Tegra-based products, showcased by some of the company’s partners. Despite rumors prior to the debut of the computer show in Taiwan, the Santa Clara, California-based graphics maker didn’t reveal any details regarding its much-anticipated 40nm-based graphics processing units. However, the launch of the new Ion-based PCs, as well as the highly anticipated Tegra devices, confirmed NVIDIA’s business orientation, becoming a company that is involved in more than just graphics.

While we weren’t able to make it to Computex ourselves, we looked for the chance to find out more about what the graphics maker is preparing in the near future, as well as the company’s opinion on the current computer industry. The opportunity was just around the corner, as NVIDIA was actively promoting its latest technologies around the world, holding press events to demonstrate some of the things that were on display at Computex. We took this opportunity and sat down for a one-on-one with the company’s Igor Stanek, Product PR Manager for our region. We wanted to go through some of the most important aspects of the manufacturer’s business, taking into consideration the latest rumors that surfaced on the Internet.

Mr. Igor Stanek was kind enough to provide us with a perspective on what NVIDIA is focusing on, as well as on what to expect from the future line of ARM-based Tegra devices. Unfortunately, we could not find anything about the much-rumored next-generation GPU architecture, allegedly called GT300, whose existence is still a mystery. However, we do have some useful insights into what is to come from NVIDIA. Now, without further ado, we will let you go through the interview itself.

NVIDIA is evolving from a company that was mainly focused on delivering graphics cards for computer enthusiasts and supporting the latest games in the industry to one that is set on providing solutions that could power a complete computer system. What can you tell us about that?

I.S: GPUs are used by gamers around the world to play the latest games at their best. GPUs though have become a power warehouse, thanks to their parallel architecture. The industry and the scientists have now realized that they can use this incredible parallel computing architecture to do other things than games. CPUs are no longer increasing in clock speed yet consumers are demanding more from their PCs today than ever before. In order to provide the much needed performance to deliver on these consumer expectations, the only path available is to go multi-core or parallel – i.e., add more cores and split demanding workloads across them. Due to the very nature of computer graphics, GPUs excel at doing many things at once and are ideally suited to this new heterogeneous computing environment. If you look at what Microsoft and Apple are working on with their new OSes you understand how GPUs are rapidly becoming the most desired chip inside the PC; the upcoming Windows 7 and Snow Leopard use GPU to full extent.

Scientists are using it to accelerate calculation by a factor they were never able to achieve before with CPUs. We consider ourselves a company that provides specific solutions to the resolution of complex problems; whether they are common or most complex ones in medical, astrophysics and more. We develop tailored solutions in different fields; one example is our Quadro business where we develop products that solve specific problems like SDI capture, multi display financial visualization. Dedicated 1U GPU racks, etc.

After seeing all those new Tegra-based and ARM-based devices at Computex this year, can you project a future where an ARM-based device can provide users with everyday computing?

I.S: It all depends on your definition of everyday computing. When you use a Tegra chip your everyday computing is not limited to typing email and surf the web; you expect things that you do on your regular PC but in a smaller footprint. These devices deliver desktop-class Internet browsing with Flash video and animation acceleration and high-definition video playback, all with cell phone-class power management – making days of HD mobile Internet experiences a reality.

Consumers are looking for an always-connected device for social media applications such as Facebook and YouTube, as well as great multimedia performance for recording and watching HD movies and videos on the go. Tegra includes an entire computer-on-a-chip, including an ARM 11 core processor, so to answer your question, yes Tegra, which includes an ARM process, is a fully capable and modern device that fits your communications and entertainment device in your pocket.

Putting that into perspective, can we think about a future without x86?

I.S: I don’t think anybody is saying x86 is out of the picture, but CPUs are losing their breath and GPUs becoming much more important. It’s very simple. Just check how much time you need for transcoding of video on ION and how powerful CPU you need to match ION speed. I think that future is in well balanced PC with CPU and GPU living in harmony. CPU will have more control tasks in operating system and GPU will be focused for most of visual computing staff including some heavy computational tasks. This is the architecture of the future. I believe that PC with 1000 USD CPU and Intel integrated graphics card is already history.

Tegra has been one of the main highlights at Computex this year. How important is Tegra for your future product lineup?

I.S: Tegra is a strategic line of products for NVIDIA. The world is going mobile and expectations are for low power always on, always connected and powerful devices that can do HD is growing rapidly.

Should we expect more Tegra devices to become available in the near future?

I.S: The response from our customers is phenomenal. Tegra is strategic to us and we have a great roadmap that we are sharing with our ecosystem, as I said our partners are extremely satisfied with performance, features and especially the low power used by these devices. We cannot announce products on behalf of our customers, but there are many coming

Do you think Microsoft will play a significant role in the adoption of Tegra?

I.S: Microsoft Windows Embedded CE is a great operating system and we support it with our Tegra devices. We do also provide support for Google Android.

Can you tell us something about the alleged GT300 that has been rumored in the media recently?
I.S: I am not aware of that code name.

What can you tell us about your next-generation chips, transitioning from 55nm to 40nm?

I.S: We don’t comment about unannounced products.

There were reports about TSMC’s problems with their 40nm manufacturing node. What can you tell us about that?

I.S: That is a question you should ask TSMC. We have new mobile parts being announced shortly that will be using 40nm process. It’s not all about process though; it’s also about efficiency of the architecture. 40nm process coupled with this efficient architecture works well for Notebooks, so we are launching this first on notebook.

During Computex AMD took the opportunity to showcase the world’s first 40nm DirectX 11 GPU, revealing a couple of videos with their next-generation solutions. How do you comment on that?

[ Read More »» ]

Cyberlink, a leading provider of multimedia software applications for computer systems, has just announced that it has been successfully collaborating with AMD to optimize their multimedia solutions for the ATI Stream technology. The partnership between the two companies will enable Cyberlink applications to take full advantage of the performance delivered by AMD's Radeon GPUs. In addition, Cyberlink has also announced that it has worked with NVIDIA to showcase CUDA-optimized solutions at this year's Computex show in Taipei, Taiwan.

“As a leading developer of many of the most popular consumer photo and video applications, CyberLink consistently looks for new ways to improve the user experience and is employing ATIStream technology to deliver great results faster than ever before,” said Godfrey Cheng, director of technical marketing for graphics products at AMD. “CyberLink’s engineers have successfully taken advantage of our advanced graphics products as well as ATI Stream technology to significantly speed up video conversion, editing, playback and transfer for consumers.”

As part of the collaboration between Cyberlink and AMD, computer users attending this year’s Computex show in Taiwan, will be able to set their eyes on GPU-optimized multimedia applications. Cyberlink's PowerDirector and MediaShow Espresso will provide users with an enhanced visual experience, thanks to the optimization with the computer's GPU. The same goes for NVIDIA's CUDA-enabled GPUs, which will also increase performance of the PowerDVD 9, Power Director and MediaShow Espresso.

“CyberLink has demonstrated an ongoing commitment to GPU computing by utilizing NVIDIA CUDA technology in their portfolio of multimedia solutions,” said Michael Steele, general manager of Visual Consumer Solutions at NVIDIA. “The maturity and flexibility of the CUDA architecture is what has enabled CyberLink to deliver a wide range of compelling features on NVIDIA GPUs first. We anticipate many more innovative developments to come.”

Optimized for NVIDIA's CUDA and ATI Stream technologies, Cyberlink's multimedia applications will be showcased during Computex, providing attendees with an insight into what GPU-optimization can deliver.

[ Read More »» ]

Santa Clara, California-based Intel is expected to update its lineup of Core i7 processors with the addition of two new models, both of which will be targeted at the high-end enthusiast market segment. The upcoming top high-end CPU model, dubbed Core i7 975, will become Intel's new flagship consumer CPU as it will boast a core speed of 3.33GHz.

The lower-powered Core i7 950 will boost a core speed of 3.06GHz. Both
models are expected to become available at the end of May.


According to a recent update of the chip maker’s pricing list, the new CPUs should be out on May 31. The highly rumored Core i7 975 model will be priced at US$999, while the Core i7 950 will be available for US$562. The price difference between the two is significant but doesn't necessarily reflect the difference in clock speed. While the higher-end Core i7 975 will boast a core speed of 3.33GHz, the Core i7 950 will be featured at a frequency of 3.06GHz.


The updated price list also hints at some other new Intel processors, part of the company's extensive lineup of Core 2 Quad CPUs. Before the launch of the company's new Nehalem-based processors, a couple of new mid-tied versions of the Core 2 Quad S models will be made available. On April 19, Intel will introduce the Core 2 Quad Q8400 and the Core 2 Quad Q8400S, both of which will be featured at a core speed of 2.66GHz. Price-wise, these new models will be offered for US$183 and US$245, respectively.
On the same day as the new Core i7 processors, Intel will reveal the Core 2 Duo E7600, priced at US$133, the Pentium Dual-Core E6300 and the Celeron Dual-Core E1600, priced at US$84 and US$53, respectively.

[ Read More »» ]

AMD's upcoming RV790-based Radeon HD 4890 graphics card continues to make its appearance on the Internet, showing up in one form or another, before the Sunnyvale, California-based graphics maker had a chance to officially unveil it. According to the latest details, the company's upcoming 55nm-based single-GPU graphics card will
be capable of providing its users with an impressive performance level, one that will likely place it as a direct competitor to NVIDIA's current GeForce GTX 285 graphics card.

The guys over at ocheaven managed to score some screenshots of the 3DMark 06 and 3DMark Vantage results of the new Radeon card. As you can see in the pictures below, the RV790 GPU is good for an impressive score of 16096 and P10996, in 3DMark 06 and 3DMark Vantage, respectively. Unfortunately, we don't know what graphics drivers were used for the new card, but these scores could go higher with some improved drivers.

Aside from the early revealed 3DMark scores, the new card is expected to boast a core speed of 850MHz and an impressive memory clock of 3800MHz. The card should come with 1GB of GDDR5 memory and should be equipped with a 55nm GPU and 965 million transistors. It is meant to allow AMD to gain a better market share in the enthusiast and high-performance segment, where the company has no competitor for the newly released GeForce GTX 285 and GTX 295 cards from NVIDIA.

Unfortunately we still have no details on an official release date, but according to earlier reports, AMD's new single-GPU flagship model should make its debut sometime in early April. With the new card, there have been rumors about Advanced Micro Devices planning a new dual-GPU model based on the new RV790 GPU. This will potentially be titled Radeon HD 4890 X2 and compete with NVIDIA's GTX 295.

[ Read More »» ]

After much anticipation, it appears that the specifications and performance results of AMD's first 40nm-based graphics card have finally been made public. As it turns out, the first Radeon graphics card to sport a 40nm manufacturing process will come out sometime in April and will be part of ATI's current HD4000 series of cards. Dubbed HD4750, the new card is built using a 40nm RV740 graphics processing unit.

The first details of the new Radeon 40nm chip have been made public in a recent review article on Guru 3D, which has managed to score an engineering sample of the yet unofficial card. The guys over at Guru 3D have put the card through its paces and provided a number of technical specifications that could change by the time the card will be officially announced, in April this year.

The new chip hasn't been designed for the high-end market segment as it will be a successor to the company's current RV730 GPU, featured in the Radeon HD 4650 and HD 4670 graphics cards. It boasts 640 stream processing units and has GPU core speed of 650MHz, although the reference core speed of the card could be set to 700MHz, when it will be launched. One of the more interesting aspects of the new product is the fact that it will boast 128-bit memory. This might sound as bad news at first, but the framebuffer bandwidth of the card will not be affected, as AMD decided to use GDDR5 memory. Consequently, this has basically enabled the card to benefit from a memory clock of 3200MHz.

The specifications on the card that was tested by the guys over at Guru 3D were not yet finished, which means that performance may vary when it will be launched. However, if the price is going to be around $99, then AMD might have a real money maker on their hands, as this card will provide users with a fair gaming experience for the price of an entry-level one. In addition, a CrossFire setup using this card will up the performance level for less than $200.

[ Read More »» ]

After Intel had its time in the spotlight, earlier this month, announcing its plans to accelerate the adoption of the 32nm process technology, it appears that time has come for AMD to take the stage and showcase some of its upcoming products, thus keeping an open interest in the upcoming products of the Sunnyvale, California-based chip maker. The company has recently given a first working demonstration of what should become the company's next-generation Opteron processors, codenamed “Istanbul.”

According to a recent news-article on The Tech Report, AMD is also getting ready with its next-generation server processors, which will boast no less than six-cores. Codenamed Istanbul, the upcoming CPUs are meant to provide a straightforward upgrade to AMD's current “Shanghai” Opterons. The new chips will basically come as 45nm, six-core processors featuring 6MB of L2 cache and Socket-F compatibility. The new chips are designed to take advantage of some technologies that are available with the company's current Opteron lineup, including HyperTransport, support for two channels of DDR2 memory, per socket and the same 2P, 4P, and 8P infrastructure.


The chip maker has been showcasing its new silicon in action using the Task Manager on the Windows Server 2008 desktop, to demonstrate the activity indicators of each core on a quad-socket platform. A second demonstration included a dual-socket system and a primary Windows Server 2008 operating system. The system was used to host three separate virtual machines, including Windows Server 2003, Red Hat Linux, and SLES 11 x64, each one taking advantage of four dedicated cores. In the third demo, AMD wanted to demonstrate how the Istanbul chip can be used as a drop-in replacement for current Socket F systems.

Unfortunately, AMD did not detail any specific date for the official release of its next-generation Opteron processors, but according to earlier reports the new processors should make their debut later this year. However, given that the company already has a working sample, we might see the new Opterons earlier than expected.

[ Read More »» ]

Santa Clara, California-based Intel is expected to detail one of its highest-anticipated server processors at the upcoming International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco between February 8 and 12, 2009. The chip maker is expected to provide an early look at its first eight-core chip, which will be part of the company's Xeon family of processors. These chips are to provide a new level of performance for server systems based on a dual-socket motherboard.

Unfortunately, at this time, there aren't any details regarding the Xeon processors to be discussed at the February 9 presentation. According to the ISSCC programme, executives of the global leading chip maker will be discussing an 8-core, 16-thread Xeon processor, which will be manufactured using a 45nm process technology. According to additional info, said processor will also be featuring 2.38 transistors and support operation of up to 6.4GT/s.

As expected, Intel is yet to officially comment on the respective Xeon processor, which it will likely do during the ISSCC event. “We are presenting 16 papers at ISSCC, but don't have anything further to share at this point,” said Nick Jacobs, a company spokesman in Singapore.

According to the available details, Intel's presentation might just be related to the company's highly-anticipated Xeon processor that will be based on the Nehalem EP architecture. This server CPU is known to have been designed specifically for dual-socket servers and workstations. According to previous details, this processor line is due to be released sometime in early 2009.

The upcoming chips will sport some of the features currently available for Intel's other Nehalem-based chips, including the use of Intel's Quick Path Interconnect (QPI), which basically replaces the front side bus, featured on Intel's previous generation of Xeon processors. This feature boosts the computer's overall performance.

[ Read More »» ]

After having announced its Q4 2008 financial results, the Santa Clara, California-based chip maker Intel is said to be planning to postpone the release of its next-generation mainstream processors, codenamed Lynnfield. In addition, the company is also considering delaying the launch of the P55 chipset, which is now expected to be unveiled at the end of August or the beginning of September, along with the aforementioned CPUs. The chip maker is said to be considering an even further launch date of both products, depending on the market situation.

According to a recent news article on Digitimes, Intel has announced motherboard makers that it will postpone the release of both its P55 and Lynnfield products until later in the year. The two products were initially scheduled to be launched by the end of July this year, but the chip maker is now considering the ongoing economic decline, which is the reason why motherboard makers have found themselves with overstocked chipset inventory. Both of the aforementioned Lynnfield CPUs and the P55 chipset are expected as a refresh to the company's mainstream product portfolio. After the release of the P55, the chip maker is said to be planning the phase-out of its non-IGP P45 and P43 chipsets, also transitioning its 4-series IGP chipset to the entry-level.

Digitimes also reports that the company is expected to provide motherboard makers with engineering samples of its next-generation entry-level CPU, codenamed Havendale, in February this year. The design validation test (DVT) is expected to be completed in July to August this year, while mass production is slated for September to October. As with the Lynnfield CPUs, the company decided to postpone the launch of the new Havendale processors to January next year, thus allowing more time for its current entry-level CPU inventory.

Intel appears to have been affected by the ongoing global financial crisis in the same way as other major industry players have. The company has just reported a 90% profit drop in the fourth quarter of 2008. However, its Atom product segment has managed to rise by 50% to $300 million, confirming the increasing popularity of the netbook market segment.

[ Read More »» ]

Advanced Micro Devices is expected to unveil a new dual-core processor based on the company's newly-released Athlon Neo CPUs, designed for low-cost, thin notebook systems. The upcoming models will come out during the second half of this year and are likely to compete with similar products due to be released by the Santa Clara, California-based leading chip maker, Intel.

According to a recent-news article on IDG's InfoWorld, the Sunnyvale, California-based chip manufacturer is going to deliver the new dual-core processors as part of the Congo platform, designed to provide better performance and integrated graphics capabilities for ultraportable computer systems. The exact release date of said processors hasn't yet been specified, but the company is expected to unveil them sometime during the second half of 2009.

The upcoming dual-core Neo processors are built on the company's new single-core Athlon Neo CPUs, announced last week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The newly-released chips are part of the company's Yukon platform, which also includes ATI graphics controllers. In addition, the Neo processors have been designed with power-efficiency in mind, as they are meant to enable sub-notebook systems to provide a full PC experience within a small package.

AMD's Neo chips, rated at a maximum power consumption of 15 watts, are targeted at a new market, which falls between the higher-priced

full-fledged notebook systems and the lower-spec'ed netbooks. The company is positioning its new chips in this market, as it believes that the time span of the increasingly popular netbook category is rather short. According to AMD's Randy Allen, senior vice president of the computing solutions group, netbooks are attractive for some users, but fail to meet the demands of the mainstream computer market.

Instead of competing with the Atom, Advanced Micro Devices is planning on delivering a chip that could enable an effective combo between a processor, a chipset and a graphics chip, which should enable the necessary performance required by mainstream computer systems.

[ Read More »» ]

Intel's new quad-core Core i7 processors were only launched in late November, but desktop systems featuring the CPUs--from the likes of Dell, Falcon Northwest, Micro Express, and others--have already made an impact on PC World's Top 10 charts.

As explained in "Getting to the Core of Intel's New Core i7 CPUs," these new processors are the company's first to be based on its long-previewed "Nehalem" architecture. The Core i7 family doesn't just mean new CPUs, they use a new chipset, a new system bus, and a new socket structure; Intel's first major technology jump since mid-2006, when Core 2 CPUs showed up on the scene.


Mainstream Desktops

Three of the six PCs to debut in our newly refreshed Top 10 Power Desktop chart boast Core i7. The Micro Express MicroFlex 92B (our Best Buy) and our fourth-ranked Dell Studio XPS use the midrange 2.93-GHz Core i7 940 CPU, which costs about $580 on its own. Though both machines are competitively priced at less than $2000 (without monitor), each returned performance results only just behind the fastest system we've seen in the category: Polywell's $3950 Poly X4800-Extreme (ranked fifth). That system's 3.2-GHz X9770 processor, 4GB of speedy DDR3-1625 RAM, and two 10,000-rpm VelociRaptor hard drives (in a RAID 0 configuration) propelled it to a WorldBench 6 result of 141. By comparison, the Micro Express (3GB of DDR3-1333 RAM) and Dell (6GB of DDR3-1066 RAM) achieved WorldBench 6 performance scores of 138 and 136, respectively. Not too shabby at all. Polywell's newer, Core i7-equipped Poly X5800i desktop currently ranks 8th on our Power Desktop chart.


Gaming Desktops

Meanwhile, the Best Buy on our new Top 5 Gaming PCs chart goes to Falcon Northwest's Mach V. Equipped with a high-end 3.2-GHz Core i7 Extreme 965 processor (about $1050 on its own) that's been overclocked to 3.8-GHz, a whopping 12GB of DDR3-1600 RAM, and two ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphic boards, the Mach V prevailed in almost every graphics test we threw at it. Even so, both the Xi MTower HAF-SLI and the Hardcore Computer Reactor (which rank second and fifth, respectively, on the chart) equaled the Mach V's record WorldBench 6 result of 163.


More On The Way

We're also in the midst of testing more Core i7 desktops. Reviews and benchmark results of systems from Gateway, Alienware, iBuyPower, CyberPower and AVA Direct will be featured on our Desktops Product Center over the next few weeks. And just to keep things interesting, reports suggest that AMD's upcoming Phenom II CPUs--and desktops with them--could arrive as soon as early January. Like you, we're looking forward to see how they might compare.

[ Read More »» ]

According to the latest news on the web, Advanced Micro Devices will make its upcoming Phenom II Deneb-based processor available for distributors in the last days of this year. Moreover, it seems that the Phenom II 940 at 3GHz and Phenom II 920 at 2.8GHz will start selling in the week beginning on December 29th.

The Sunnyvale company already announced its plan to launch its Phenom II chips at CES 2009, plus the new processors would become available for purchase starting with the second week of the next year. The chips the company will launch at CES are compatible with AMD's older AM2+ motherboards, a feature meant to help their adoption on the market.

Moreover, the chip manufacturer also plans to release Phenom II 9x5 versions of the Deneb core about a month or so after the initial launch of the new series. These processors, instead, are said to be compatible with the AM3 chipset and to feature support for DDR3. The best feature of these chips is that they will also be compatible with AM2+ motherboards.

It seems that the Phenom II chips are finally turning into reality and they are expected to help AMD regain some of its popularity. As previously stated, the chips bring along a lot of performance capabilities, while also being said to feature smaller prices and better overclocking capabilities than the Intel Nehalem products, their direct competitors.


Unlike the Nehalem-based Core i7 parts, which require a new motherboard, as well as fresh memory modules, AMD's Phenom II CPUs that work with the company's 780FX / GX motherboards will provide a cheaper upgrade option, which should facilitate their penetration of the market. On the overclocking capabilities of the processors, we should note that they have been reported to work at 4.2GHz while cooled on air, and to be able to peak 6.3GHz when cooled with liquid.

[ Read More »» ]

Intel's Core i7 processors are registering a good penetration of the market these days, as they bring a lot of performance improvements over existing parts, and users are looking closer and closer at the capabilities of the new chips. Some of them are looking so close that take the CPU and try to make it give its best. According to the latest news on the web, a user managed to overclock one of the processors up to the world record speed of 5510.09 MHz.

As the news states, the processor was paired with an ASUS ROG Rampage II motherboard, and the OC was performed by the same guy that leveraged the speed of an Intel Pentium 4 631 chip up to 8140.4 MHz last year. The ASUS motherboard features small buttons that enable real-time hardware adjustments, which are said to have proved helpful in this guy's attempt. Perhaps the capabilities of the motherboard helped a lot, but the speed still makes the Core i7 quite an impressively fast processor.

Intel's Nehalem-based CPUs have been subjected to a lot of performance tests as soon as they made it to the market and even before that, following the aggressive marketing strategies the chip manufacturer implemented for the architecture. Overclocking tests have proved successful many times, as proof of the quality of the new parts released by the company.

Even so, as we reported last week, AMD's upcoming Deneb processors, dubbed Phenom II, seem to feature greater overclocking capabilities. The chip has been said to be able to reach 6.3GHz, although the company appears to have preferred calling it “goes over 5GHz,” which means that the 6.3GHz speed is not official. At the same time, it was said that the actual speed the chip reached was under 6GHz but very close to it (5950MHz). For what it’s worth, Deneb might prove a better overclocker than Core i7, and that would mean AMD has made a jump forward, not a single step.

[ Read More »» ]