Technologic

AMD: GPUs to accelerate Servers in two years

2010-02-09T20:19:00.003+08:00

The GPGPU revolution is well underway, and the next stop seems to be the lucrative server arena. From an information point of view, a vast majority of servers are the ideal applications for GPGPU acceleration, as they are often required to perform repetitive processing. There is no doubt GPGPUs can accelerate specific server processes several times over CPUs. However, so far, the only drawback has been the form factor of server systems. Servers are clearly designed for CPU usage, with no real space to fit in graphics cards. It is possible to replace the form to fit in PCI-e GPUs. This is not an option many server data centers are likely to opt for, however. Instead, the two year timeline given by AMD might simply allude to the availability of Fusion APUs. More next page.

Read More:
AMD: GPUs to accelerate Servers in two years

[Rumour] Intel's Sandy Bridge to integrate up to 2 GPUs

2010-02-09T20:19:00.001+08:00

Intel's next generation Sandy Bridge, arriving in Q1 2011, is rumoured to have up to 2 GPUs on die. What is most impressive is that the entire package will be a single monolithic die. Thus, we are talking about a quad core CPU + 2 GPUs on a single die. It is not clear as to why Intel would use 2 GPUs on one die, however. Though the next generation Intel IGPs are rumoured to be far superior, they will still pale in comparison to mainstream discrete GPUs from ATI or Nvidia. More next page.

Read More:
[Rumour] Intel's Sandy Bridge to integrate up to 2 GPUs

AMD Reveals More Llano Details at ISSCC: 32nm, Power Gating, 4-cores

2010-02-09T20:18:00.000+08:00

After cashing Intel’s check and appearing more competitive than expected against Clarkdale 2010 is like a fresh start for AMD. The news gets better.

Late last year AMD said that before the end of 2010 it would be sampling its first APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) - codenamed Llano. Today AMD is announcing that the first Llano samples, built on Global Foundries 32nm high-k + metal gate, SOI process will be sampling to partners in the first half of this year.

For those not in the know, Llano is AMD’s first hybrid CPU-GPU with on-die graphics. The graphics core is a derivative of AMD’s DirectX 11 Evergreen lineup (the same lineage as the Radeon HD 5970, 5870, 5850, 5670, 5570, 5450, etc...). AnandTech

AMD Phenom II X6 “Thuban” Processors to Get Dynamic Speed Boost Technology.

2010-02-06T16:16:00.000+08:00

In an attempt to provide maximum possible performance for enthusiasts, Advanced Micro Devices plans to implement a dynamic performance boost technology into its six-core processors known as Phenom II X6 “Thuban”.

There is a clear trend towards increase of the number of cores inside central processing units (CPUs), just five years ago a dual-core chip was a dream, whereas now we are approaching six-core microprocessors. The software is, unfortunately, seriously behind the hardware and many applications still cannot take advantage of additional cores, but fully depend on clock-speeds. In order to provide maximum possible performance in such programs, developers of CPUs implement special dynamic performance boosting technologies that disable certain cores and overclock the rest.

At present only select Intel Corp.’s microprocessors feature Turbo Boost technology that can accelerate certain cores when they are needed while slowing down the unneeded cores. However, with the introduction of AMD Phenom II X6 “Thuban” processors similar capability will also be available on chips from Advanced Micro Devices, sources close to the company revealed to X-bit labs.

Radeon HD 5800 users get gray screen fix

2010-02-06T16:13:00.000+08:00

SRC

AMD has released a Catalyst driver hotfix for a so-called "gray screen" problem affecting Radeon HD 5800 users. The hotfix is available from AMD's support knowledge base as two downloads: one for Windows 7 and Vista and another for Windows XP, all in either 32-bit or 64-bit variants. Both downloads appear to concern only Radeon HD 5800 graphics cards.

The knowledge base entry describes the hotfix as follows:

Alleviates some of the intermittent grey screen and vertical line corruptions that may randomly appear during normal usage when using an ATI™ Radeon HD 5800 series graphics card

A search for complaints about the problem reveals this thread on AMD's Game forums, where users have been detailing the issue (and providing screenshots) since late November 2009. In another thread, one forum member quotes AMD's support staff as saying the problem had to do with a Windows 7 update, and AMD was "looking at it" as of December 30. The company wasn't able to get a fix in the Catalyst 10.1 release that came out last week, though.

First Fermi cards to be GTX 480 and 470

2010-02-02T19:49:00.001+08:00

First Fermi cards to be GTX 480 and 470

Written by Slobodan Simic
Tuesday, 02 February 2010 09:46
Straight from Nvidia tweet A short tweet on Nvidia's Twitter accounts has revealed what appears to be first two cards that will be based on the Fermi architecture, the GTX 480 and GTX 470. This will at least clear some confusion and the average consumer can still buy cards keeping in mind that bigger number means new and better card, at least it should until Nvidia starts with more rebranding. The Fermi will apparently be the 400 series, and for a while it has been known that two cards are going to launch as soon as Nvidia gets it ready. The specifications of these two models were apparently too long for a tweet so we'll have to wait a bit more to get these from Nvidia. Even the Nvidia partners have stop talking about dates but everyone hopes that these will be available right after CeBIT. You can find the "Fun Fact of the Week" tweet here.

Codemasters to gain additional investment

2010-01-19T16:41:00.000+08:00

Codemasters to gain additional investment

Written by David Stellmack
Tuesday, 19 January 2010 03:26
Cash infusion does not indicate a problem Software developer and publisher Codemasters will be getting an additional infusion of cash from Balderton Capital and Goldman Sachs. Whispers indicate that the company is hurting in the money department due to recent releases not performing as well as the company would have liked. While Codemasters has had some success recently with the release of Dirt 2, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Raising has not received the reviews or sales that the company has expected. Still, the company has several upcoming releases which are expected to do well this year, including the first release of the Formula One franchise from the studio that will be multiplatform with releases for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. In addition, development of a sequel to the highly successful GRID is also said to be in development. The investment is said to be diluted heavily by a restructuring of the stock. Codemasters’ sale was up last year with the company having much success in markets outside North America. Sources indicate that the infusion of cash will help the company with its continued aggressive growth plan to help the company capture a larger market share in North America, which the company feels is necessary for the long-term growth of the company.

NVIDIA GF100 Architecture

2010-01-19T12:08:00.000+08:00

NVIDIA GF100 Architecture

)

PC Perspective
AnandTech
Hardwarecanucks

Thanks to adrianlee

Intel axed consumer Larrabee

2009-12-06T07:06:00.001+08:00

IINTEL HAS FINALLY done what we had all expected it to do, and pulled the plug on the consumer version of Larrabee. In a statement today, Intel said that the chip will be a development platform and an HPC part, but there will be no retail version, at least not any time soon.

Read more on SemiAccurate, Anandtech

HD5970 review links

2009-11-20T07:03:00.001+08:00

A day late due to works :D

thanks to adrianlee for the link compilation

Radeon HD 5970 Single card and Crossfire review
PC Perspective - AMD Radeon HD 5970 2GB Review - AMDomination
Powercolor Radeon HD 5970 2GB Graphics Card - Introduction - DriverHeaven.net
Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 2GB OC Edition Review
Legion Hardware
techPowerUp :: ASUS EAH5970 2 GB GDDR5 Review :: Page 1 / 35
ATI Radeon HD 5970 Dual-GPU Powerhouse Review - HotHardware
techPowerUp :: HIS Radeon HD 5970 CrossFire Review :: Page 1 / 28
ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB: The World's Fastest Graphics Card : Introduction - Review Tom's Hardware
HEXUS.net - Review :: AMD ATI Radeon HD 5970 2,048MB graphics card: usurper of the throne : Page - 1/13
AnandTech: The Radeon HD 5970: Completing AMD's Takeover of the High End GPU Market
ATI Radeon 5970 Performance Preview
ATI HD 5970 Review - Page 1 - Introducing the HD 5970
Introduction - AMD ATI Radeon HD 5970 Video Card Review | [H]ard|OCP
ATI Radeon HD 5970 Review: Dual-GPU Graphics - TechSpot
Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 2GB Video Card Introduction :: TweakTown
Radeon HD 5970: Review of the fastest DirectX 11 graphics card - Test, Review, Radeon HD 5970, Hemlock, DirectX 11, Benchmark, Graphics Card, GPU - PC Games Hardware
ATI Radeon HD 5970 Hemlock Video Card | ATI Radeon HD 5970,Hemlock,Video Card,ATI Radeon HD 5970 Hemlock Video Card Benchmark Performance Dual GPU Cypress-XT Video Card Review | Benchmark Reviews Performance Tests

AMD powers 4 of top 5 Supercomputers

2009-11-17T03:26:00.001+08:00

AMD powers 4 of top 5 Supercomputers

The new edition of TOP500 is out - and it is a surprise to see AMD heavily featured in the fastest supercomputers. Of the top 5 supercomputers in the world - AMD products find there way into all but one. Surprisingly, we have to look at #5 for the first showing of Intel.

Architecturally, Intel's Nehalem based Xeon CPUs are vastly superior to AMD's Shanghai based Opterons. However, six core Opterons do have a core count advantage. Even with 50% more cores, the quad core Xeons often sneaks past their Opteron rivals. There are applications which prefer the higher core count - and perhaps this is something supercomputer makers consider.

The world's fastest supercomputer is the Jaguar, previously powered by quad core Opterons - now featuring over 37,000 six core Opterons. The result is an incredible 2.33 PFlops theoretical performance, and 1.73 PFlops through the LINPACK benchmark. Previous champion Roadrunner is pushed down to second, featuring a mix of Cell and Opteron CPUs. AMD make it three in a row with Kraken - which is a basically Jaguar lite with fewer six core Opteron CPUs. In #4 is JUGENE which features neither Intel or AMD - but IBM's Power processors.

Read More >>

Intel capitulates, pays 1.25B USD to AMD

2009-11-12T23:28:00.002+08:00

Intel capitulates, pays 1.25B USD to AMD

11/12/2009 by: Theo Valich - Get more from this author

We have just received news from Drew Prairie of AMD that the anti-trust lawsuit that was supposed to start in March 2010 is not going to happen. In a press release published minutes ago, "Intel Corporation and Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) today announced a comprehensive agreement to end all outstanding legal disputes between the companies, including antitrust litigation and patent cross license disputes."

The agreement means that AMD and Intel signed a new 5-year cross-license agreement over the x86 technology, "with both companies giving up any claims of breach from the previous license agreement." This statement is heavy in several orders of magnitude - first of all, AMD is now clear to have the relationship with GlobalFoundries as it is right now, and decades-old requirement for an x86 license is now a thing of the past [owning own manufacturing facilities].

Also, under the terms of settlement, Intel will pay AMD a sum of 1.25 billion US dollars and "agreed to abide by a set of business practice provisions. As a result, AMD will drop all pending litigation including the case in U.S. District Court in Delaware and two cases pending in Japan. AMD will also withdraw all of its regulatory complaints worldwide."
However, this deal does not include the recent lawsuit brought forward by NY State, even though we would now expect for that lawsuit to wind down – we might be wrong here, though.

This is a historic day for the x86 world in more ways than one and gives you a clear reason why Bruce Sewell traded a "retirement at Intel" for calm waters of Apple Inc. However, this agreement also paves the way for nVidia receiving an x86 license in case that Court of Delaware sides with nVidia in two open cases [cross license patent agreement between nVidia and Intel in regards to nVidia chipsets, Intel integrated graphics and Larrabee].

We view this agreement as a very positive step forward for Intel who decided to change its practices – this decision was obviously brought forward by Paul Otellini, who will be marked in history of Intel as the person that didn't just achieve greatest revenue and profit in history of the company, but also as the CEO who decided to change the semiconductor giant and abandons illegal practices. Now AMD can focus on innovation, while we have to see what kind of agreement will come between Intel and nVidia.

AMD to Sample Bulldozer Architecture in 2010, Sets Product Priorities

2009-11-12T22:47:00.001+08:00

AMD to Sample Bulldozer Architecture in 2010, Sets Product Priorities

As part of its Financial Analyst Day for 2009, AMD listed out its priorities for the year ahead, looking into 2010. While the company has lived up to its development targets for this year by releasing a full-fledged lineup of PC and server processors built on the 45 nm process, increasing its market share with graphics products, and releasing the first DirectX 11 compliant (back then referred to as 'next generation') GPU, the year ahead looks equally ambitious for AMD.

AMD set the following product priorities for 2010: to deliver four new winning PC platforms in the first half of 2010, improve battery life of its notebook platform, expand homegrown DirectCompute 11 and OpenCL developer tools, propagate DirectX 11 graphics to notebooks, launch the company's first 12-core Opteron processor, and more interestingly, sample the company's next-generation "Bulldozer" architecture to industry customers, along with sampling the company's first Fusion-design "Bobcat" processor, which integrates the CPU with GPU, along with sampling some of the company's first processors built on the 32 nm manufacturing process.

» Read full story

Nvidia says "No" to x86 CPUs and Globalfoundries

2009-11-10T01:35:00.001+08:00

Nvidia diversifying to the CPU business is an ancient rumour, which recurs with every generation or two. No surprises then, that a version of the same rumour - that Nvidia is developing an x86 CPU - has been doing rounds on the internet over the last week. In an interview with CNET, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has outright denied the rumour, with a "No.". Mr. Huang goes on to say "Nvidia's strategy is very, very clear. I'm very straightforward about
it. Right now, more than ever, we have to focus on visual and parallel
computing".More next page.

Read More:
Nvidia says "No" to x86 CPUs and Globalfoundries

[Rumour] Nvidia Fermi final silicon to be A3 revision, Q2 2010?

2009-11-10T01:34:00.001+08:00

Fudo of Fudzilla, one of the few reporters calling for a November/December 2009 release (a rumour which has now been squashed), suggests Nvidia Fermi is only going to ship with an A3 revision.Currently, we are at A2, which was rumoured to have been taped out in WW42, which was end of October 2009. What is baffling is how Fudzilla is speculating a January 2010 release date when we are still one silicon behind, and they themselves claimed in a previous article GPU retail availability takes 3-6 months from tape out. More next page.

Read More:
[Rumour] Nvidia Fermi final silicon to be A3 revision, Q2 2010?

Intel has found the bug in the TRIM firmware

2009-11-07T11:29:00.002+08:00

Intel has found the bug in the TRIM firmware
Written by Andreas G 06 November 2009 22:36

Intel got a day of praise after launching the TRIM firmware for its G2 series of SSDs. Then a bug was discovered. It could corrupt the new 34nm drivers and render them unaccessible for the user. The firmware was removed immediately and since October 27th Intel has been working hard on a solution to the problem. It now says it has found the bug, but it hasn't found a solution to the problem.

The bug is said to only affect 64-bit systems and Windows 7 is prioritized according to a statement found in the SSD support forum.

Intel has replicated the issue on 34nm SSDs (X25-M) and is working on a fix. If users have downloaded 02HA firmware and not upgraded, Intel recommends they don’t upgrade until further notice. Intel is pursuing the resolution of this as a high priority. No related issues have been reported by users who have successfully upgraded to 02HA firmware via the firmware upgrade tool (version 1.3).”

Even if it hasn't been able to come up with a working firmware it looks to be close to a solution.

NVIDIA mocking Intel

2009-11-07T11:29:00.001+08:00

NVIDIA mocking Intel
Written by Andreas G 06 November 2009 21:48

NVIDIA started arguing with Intel again earlier this week by accusing it of taking advantage of its dominating position and delaying the launch of new technology and functions, specifically USB 3.0 in this case. As it turns NVIDIA didn't get much of a response and instead decided to launch the site Intel's Insides which presents caricature mocking Intel.

Among the caricature we find Intel VP Paul Otellini in the shape of a Godfather in the true spirit of Marlon Brando, Bill Clinton (in relation to the Lewinsky affair) and Intel's Larrabee graphics circuit as a ticking time bomb. Even Moses gets to play a part in the mocking of Intel.

Blows below the belt or just entertaining reading before the weeks is up to you to decide. Intel has more than enough to hit back at NVIDIA if it wants to, but right now it just looks like NVIDIA is trying to awaken the bear that sleeps.

MDF - Marketing development fund, handed out to faithful partners

More at Intelsinsides.com.

NVIDIA hiring x86 engineers

2009-11-07T11:28:00.000+08:00

NVIDIA hiring x86 engineers
Written by Andreas G 05 November 2009 19:35

There have been rumors of NVIDIA peeking at the possibilities of developing x86-compatible processor. There haven't been any real proofs of this even if statements made by NVIDIA staff have hinted that there are plans. Rumors have grown stronger as the company has started hiring engineers that used to work at x86 code morphers Transmeta.

NVIDIA is afraid of being left out of the x86 market when both AMD and Intel have started integrating graphics circuits into their CPUs, which will harm NVIDIA's chipset sales and to some extent its share of the discrete graphics card market.

''Nvidia could become a supplier of x86 CPUs by necessity to preserve both GPU and chipset revenue.'' - Doug Freedman, analyst at Broadpoint AmTech

According to analysts NVIDIA is believed to be working on its own x86 solution where acquisitions of other processor makers, e.g. VIA Technologies, is far less likely. x86 licenses does not transfer that way either.

At the same time there are other things pointing to NVIDIA getting ready for battle on the x86 processor market. The hiring of x86 CPU engineers could be helpful for its development of GPGPU technologies. NVIDIA haven't made any official statements which means all of this comes served with a pinch of salt but right now it feels like the company is in enough trouble without the incredible tough x86 market.

New York blasts Intel in an antitrust suit

2009-11-07T11:27:00.000+08:00

New York blasts Intel in an antitrust suit

Ugly details revealed, it just keeps getting worse

by Charlie Demerjian

November 4, 2009

IT LOOKS LIKE the brown stuff has hit the rotating blades in the ongoing Intel vs AMD antitrust lawsuits. New York's Attorney General Andrew Cuomo just filed suit against Intel for all sorts of nasty things.

You can read summaries of it on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal websites. The lawsuit is the result of a long investigation, and the complaint is filled with all sorts of juicy quotes.

The first sentence of the first paragraph reads, "Intel has engaged in a systematic worldwide campaign of illegal, exclusionary conduct to maintain its monopoly power and prices in the market for x86 microprocessors, the 'brains' of Personal Computers ('PCs')." These are not minced words, and it goes way downhill, fast, for Intel, from there. "But Intel has instead used threats and coercion, bribing and bullying to preserve its market dominance," it reads.

The New York lawsuit and the details exposed in it back up what we have been hearing for years, especially things like ECAP that were mentioned over and over when talking to OEMs over the years. In short, the suit lays Intel's behavior out, in detail, and it is very ugly.

As a response, Intel is denying everything, saying that consumers have benefited from lower prices. AMD execs could not immediately be reached for comment, but one theory is that a champagne cork hit the PBX in Building 1 of the company's campus in the Lone Star State.

As we go through the document, we will post updates in the forum and in followup articles as appropriate. This lawsuit spreads enough dirt out for public display to plant a silicon forest in northern New York State in.S|A

Update: The PDF is posted in this thread on our forums. Discuss.

PC Graphics Market Soars Over 21% says Jon Peddie Research

2009-10-27T23:00:00.000+08:00

PC Graphics Market Soars Over 21% says Jon Peddie Research

Third quarter shipments of graphics processors jumped an amazing 21.2% over Q2, which was already a great quarter clearly signaling the holidays will be robust for PCs and the industry in general. AMD showed the biggest jump in quarter-to-quarter growth at 30% followed by Intel at 21%. Intel shipped the most parts at 63 million, over twice as many as its nearest competitor NVIDIA.

"A total of 119.45 million units were shipped in the third quarter, exceeding the record 111 million units that shipped in Q3, 2008," said Dr. Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research in Tiburon, California. "So the market has caught up with, and exceeded, last year's highs. The crash of fall 2008 is now behind us."

Portables lead the way
Notebook shipments led the market again topping out at almost 56 million units with discrete graphics processors jumping more than 36% over Q2 indicating what the OEMs think will be the hot sellers in Q4.

Peddie notes that, "Integrated graphics in notebooks, which includes the popular netbooks, increased 27% over Q2 - a great gain but less than discrete. Netbooks will remain popular but they will not have the high market share they had during the recession when they were just introduced. Rather, consumers are expected to "buy up" in the next quarter.

"The channel is full and the products in it will have to be sold off before the OEMs and their resellers take a chance of seeing the channel becoming overstuffed. That suggests that while Q4 is typically a good quarter for PCs, the quarter-to-quarter growth in Q4 may not be as robust as Q3. Graphics are a great leading indicator," Peddie said, "The graphics go in before the PC is built or shipped.

Unigine's DX11 Heaven 1.0 benchmark tools released

2009-10-23T17:31:00.000+08:00

Download link : http://unigine.com/download/ , http://unigine.com/download/files/Unigine_Heaven-1.0.msi

QUOTE

Features:

* Support of DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11 and OpenGL
* Comprehensive use of tessellation technology
* Advanced SSAO (screen-space ambient occlusion)
* Volumetric cumulonimbus clouds generated by a physically accurate algorithm
* Dynamic sky with light scattering
* Interactive experience with fly/walk-through modes
* Benchmark mode

Software requirements:

* .NET framework 2.0 (Windows version only, optional)
* OpenAL (included into Windows installer)
* Latest stable video drivers

Hardware requirements:

* Tessellation feature REQUIRES a GPU with DirectX 11 support!
* ATI Radeon HD 2xxx and higher or NVIDIA GeForce 7xxx and higher (recommended: NVIDIA 8800 / AMD 4800 series)
* 256 Mb of video memory

AMD goes 32nm SOI with Fusion GPU-CPU

2009-10-16T22:14:00.001+08:00

AMD goes 32nm SOI with Fusion GPU-CPU
Written by Andreas G 16 October 2009 13:30

AMD is living in a schizophrenic world where it's CPUs has been badly beaten by Intel's kind for many years, at the same time it moving from one great product to the next with its graphics cards. Intel will launch its first CPUs sporting an integrated graphics circuit next year. This is something AMD has been planning for a long time and even if it will take longer to introduce these it has a lot better GPU technology to bake into them.

AMD has now starting sharing more information on its so called Fusion architecture that will bring CPU and GPU together in the same package and it has officially confirmed that the first Fusion circuit will be made with 32 nanometer SOI technology (silicon-on-insulator).

Unlike Intel that will use 45nm technology for the GPU portion and only 32nm technology for the CPU core, AMD will be going full on to use 32nm for both circuits. But then again Fusion is not expected to appear on the market until 2011, in the form of Llano.

AMD Llano will house up to four processor cores based on the Phenom II architecture, paired with 4MB L3 cache. While the integrated GPU will be based on Radeon HD 5000 technology sporting DirectX 11. How much work AMD has to put into tailoring the Radeon GPU to make it fit next to the Phenom II cores remains to be seen. At the same we're wondering about the CPU performance since 2011 is quite a long time to go without any significant architectural updates.

Intel to release Core i5 on January 3rd

2009-10-16T15:36:00.001+08:00

Intel to release Core i5 on January 3rd

Intel is set to release the first 32nm desktop CPUs on 3rd January 2010. Releasing first are the Clarkdale CPUs - part of the Westmere, or 32nm Nehalem die shrinks. A total of four models are expected, Core i5 650, 660 and 670, clocking in at 3.2, 3.33 and 3.46 GHz respectively. They will be priced at the $176, $196 and $284 respectively.

The other Clarkdale CPUs are the Core i3 530 and 540 covering $123-$150. The Core i3 CPUs will not feature Turbo mode. A budget Pentium G6950 is also expected at $84, without turbo, HT and 1MB less L3 cache.

Although Fudzilla clearly dates clearly dates the Core i5 Clarkdales at January 3rd, there is no mention of the Core i3 and Pentium models.

All Clarkdale CPUs come with an IGP on die, and fit into the LGA1156 socket that currently powers Lynnfield CPUs. The branding is quite a mess - further complicated by Core i5 7xx series, which are quad core Lynnfields. One might have suggested a simpler Core i7 for Bloomfield, Core i5 for Lynnfield and Core i3 for Clarkdale, but Intel did not want to differentiate them this way.

A further model, Core i5 661 is also expected. The only difference between this and the 660 is that the IGP will be clocked higher.

Once the Core i5/i3 Clarkdale CPUs hit market, it will effectively phase out the entire Core 2 range. AMD will pitch their quad cores against Clarkdale dual core/quad thread CPUs. That will be an interesting battle. Though Intel dominates the >$200 CPU market, AMD do have the better price/performance ratio in the mainstream <$200 segment. We can expect Clarkdale to fill in. It will be interesting to see how two highly-clocked cores of the powerful Westmere architecture go against four of AMD's aging K10-based cores. One thing is certain - Clarkdales will consume far less power, and will be cheaper for Intel to manufacture. Unfortunately for AMD, we are still a long, long way away from the next-generation Bulldozer architecture.

Zero from Megaman X4 make his debuts in Tatsunoko vs Capcom : Ultimate All Stars

2009-10-14T17:13:00.002+08:00

IGN put up some video shows Zero from Megaman X4 in action, with almost all his moves came from Megaman X4 series.

More Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars News & Previews

Cool huh?

Radeon HD 5900 coming

2009-10-14T06:31:00.000+08:00

Radeon HD 5900 coming
Written by Andreas G 14 October 2009 00:01

AMD just launched the Radeon HD 5700 series for the mid-range segment after launching the Radeon HD 5800 series for the performance users just a few weeks ago. We got word that the Radeon HD 5900 is being prepared for launch, but perhaps not for another couple of weeks, or even months, depending on how the development of Fermi goes over at NVIDIA.

As you perhaps remember back in April AMD brought in the slightly refreshed RV790-based Radeon HD 4890 to fight off NVIDIA's new high-end chips. The Radeon 5900 series will probably be somewhat of a deja-vu experience, where NVIDIA presents its news performer and AMD brings out the big guns.

"ATI Radeon HD 5900 Series" = ati2mtag_Evergreen, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_689C
"ATI Radeon HD 5900 Series " = ati2mtag_Evergreen, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_689D