ATI Radeon HD 5970

ATI Radeon HD 5970

And here it is, the ATI Radeon HD 5970, the fastest graphics card in the world.
All hail its mighty rendering pathways and the gods of silicon for bringing us this technological wonder.
It's faster than any graphics card we've ever tested, it's bigger than any graphics card we've ever tested and it houses more technology than you could shake Stephen Hawking at. So why then are we feeling so utterly underwhelmed?
We had pricing issues with the original ATI Radeon HD 5870; its £320 price point making a mockery of AMD's previous successes with more svelte, cheaper cards than the monolithic strategy of its Nvidia rivals.
In today's market such expensive cards are less viable purchases and more tech demos.
We're not just talking about the financial climate either, in this gaming world where most titles are developed for three year-old console technology you hardly need the sort of power such cards are touting, unless you've got a couple of 30-inch panels strapped together.
The same obviously rings true for a card that's sitting dangerously close to £600; it feels even less like a viable consumer card and more the sort of thing to ensure competition once Nvidia's DX11 Fermi cards hit our test benches in a month or so.

We're also slightly dubious as to how many of these cards you'll actually see in the wild. Reference and manufacturer boards have been made available to us, but we still find it difficult to track down any 5800-series cards in the country. Most retailers are out of stock - the supply just isn't there.
AMD assured us that the 5970 launch is coinciding with a ramping up of its 40nm production which should mean thousands of chips being produced every day.
Whether it will produce enough to cover demand for both 58xx series cards and the 5970 we'll have to wait and see.
But that's all by the by if the beast performs like the beast we're told it is.

Radeon HD 5800 video cards

Radeon HD 5800 video cards

We've just received word that ATI have just sent out the design kit to its ATI partners this week. So what does that mean? Well it means that come January we'll begin to see companies offer their own design of Radeon HD 5800 series video cards, this also means that ATI probably have confidence in their supply of chips come early next year as well.

This is good news for everyone, for starters the supply will mean that if you're looking for a HD 5800 series, you shouldn't run into any dramas. Secondly with the launch of the Fermi based boards from NVIDIA, ATI only partners like Sapphire and HIS can work at making a product that will compete with the green teams new model, which is no doubt going to beat a stock HD 5870 for the simple fact that it needs too.
While we can't confirm 100%, come January we should see models like the Atomic from Sapphire, TurboX from HIS and other pre overclocked models from partners producing ATI products.

ATI 5800 series

It's been more than two months since AMD launched the Radeon HD 5000 series, the world's first DirectX 11 cards manufactured in TSMC's troubled 40nm process. Sadly, two months on, it's virtually impossible to get HD 5800 cards in most markets and the situation isn't much better when it comes to 5900 series products. AMD execs said the shortage should be resolved by the end of November, but it's obvious AMD is still struggling to meet demand.A quick search on our price search engine reveals that you're much more likely to get struck by lighting than find an HD 5850 in European retail. Getting an HD 5870 is somewhat easier, as it's available in a couple of stores at €400+. The cheaper HD 5850 is a much better deal, as it should sell for around €200.Oddly enough, getting a dual-GPU HD 5970 is a bit easier, but its still far from widely available. Prices range from €575 to over €640, not what we'd call cheap.Fortunately, HD 5700 availability has greatly improved over the past several weeks. They are readily available in most major EU markets and the prices are very competitive. HD 5750 prices start at under €100 and this sounds like a great deal for casual gamers or consumers on a budget. An HD 5770 will cost you at least €121, but most sell for €130+.We can only hope AMD manages to muster some stock over the next couple of weeks, but with Nvidia's Fermi nowhere in sight, there is no doubt demand for 5000 series products will remain strong over the next couple of months.

ASUS demos Eee PC 1201T with Athlon Neo

What is the first Eee PC netbook from ASUS to run on a chip other than Intel's has been spotted. The Eee PC 1201T offers the option of a 1.6GHz AMD Athlon Neo CPU but otherwise shares the specs of the Eee PC 1201HA, which has an Intel Atom processor. There is also 2GB of RAM, and the 12.1-inch display has 1366x768 resolution. Also, the 1201T can play back 1080p video thanks to its ATI Radeon HD3200 graphics processor.
The hard drive is 320GB in capacity, and there is also 2GB of cloud storage offered. There is no word on which operating system ships with the 1201T, but it is likely to be Windows 7 Starter. An Ethernet port and a Wi-Fi connection are the options for connecting to the Internet. Bluetooth 2.1 is also onboard.
There is also a VGA port, three USB 2.0 ports, and an audio output. A six-cell battery powers the Eee PC 1201T and is said to provide up to four hours of operation.

Apple plans to disable support for Intel Atom

Apple plans to disable support

According to some sources, Apple plans to disable support for Intel Atom processors in version 10.6.2 of the operating system Mac OS X, reports AppleInsider. This will be done to ensure that Mac OS X could not be put on the netbook.
Intel Atom processors were presented in early 2008 for low-cost laptops, known as netbooks. Not wanting to wait for the release of a product from Apple, some technically literate users have to put on netbooks operating system Apple, which is at odds with the rules of the license agreement (Apple OS can be put only on the Macintosh).
Meanwhile, the new product is still expected. According to some unofficial estimates, again, in early 2010, the company intends to submit a touch tablet with no physical keyboard, which will cost about $ 700. For comparison, the cheapest MacBook is $ 999.or Intel Atom

AMD Phenom II X4 965 And Intel Core i5 750

AMD Phenom II X4 965 vs Intel Core i5 750

PC Specialist supplied us with what at first glance appear to be two identical PCs. They share the same accessories, the same system case and monitor and almost identical internal components. Identical, apart from the core processor architecture. The Vortex HD 750 is based on Intel's Core i5 750 processor, whereas the Fusion HD 965 uses AMD's Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition. They both cost around £1,000 including VAT and delivery.

PC Specialist supplied us with what at first glance appear to be two identical PCs. They share the same accessories, the same system case and monitor and almost identical internal components. Identical, apart from the core processor architecture. The Vortex HD 750 is based on Intel's Core i5 750 processor, whereas the Fusion HD 965 uses AMD's Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition. They both cost around £1,000 including VAT and delivery.
The core specification for both PCs is the same: 4GB Corsair XMS3 1600MHz DDR3 provides system memory, with a 1TB Seagate ST3100333AS hard drive for storage. They also both include a 22x LG DVD burner. Graphics duties are taken care of by one of AMD's latest ATI Radeon HD 5770 cards, with 1GB GDDR5 memory. Power comes courtesy of a 600W FSP Quad Rail PSU and everything's housed in a CoolerMaster Sileo 500 system case, finished in matt black, with internal damping helping to keep the PCs quiet.
An Acer V243H monitor provides a 24in 16:9 format display with full-HD 1080p resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. A trio of inputs covers VGA, DVI and HDMI. Speakers, wireless keyboard and mouse are all provided by Logitech.
Both systems use Asus motherboards - a M4A79XTD Evo for AMD, and P7P55D for Intel. These are closely-matched in specification, although the latter has an extra PCI slot and a pair of extra USB ports. Both offer Express Gate and good overclocking capabilities.
AMD Phenom II X4 965 vs Intel Core i5 750: Performance
Our WorldBench 6 test reveals overall system performance when running a selection of popular desktop applications. When pitted directly against each other, the Intel-fuelled Vortex HD 750 took the lead by around 4%, scoring 130 points compared to the 125 points of the Fusion HD 965.
Taking a closer look at the scores for the individual applications which make up WorldBench 6, we see that the Intel system is faster in all tests by varying amounts, except for tests involving Firefox, where the AMD PC takes a small lead.
And we do mean small: we're talking about a difference of around 10 seconds in a task taking three minutes. Overall, the performance differences between the two architectures are small enough to make no difference to most users.
AMD Phenom II X4 965 vs Intel Core i5 750: Gaming
Both of these PCs make great gaming systems. The ATI Radeon HD 5770 offers very good performance as well as support for the latest DirectX 11 features from forthcoming games as well as those built in to Window 7 and Windows Vista. While you may get better raw speed out of an older card (think: Radeon HD 4890), you'll miss out on quality-enhancing features such as tessellation, which gives increased object detail, and depth-of-field lens effects which give 3D scenes considerably more realism.
Both these features are used to great effect in the Unigine Heaven benchmark which, along with STALKER Call of Pripyat, we've used to evaluate performance running DirectX 11 games. We've also included our regular Crysis and FEAR tests for reference.
With graphics performance largely down to the graphics card, there's little difference in gaming performance between the two. Occasional differences of one or two frames per second do occur however, and usually in favour of the AMD-based PC. For example, the Fusion HD 965 managed 21.34 frames per second when running Crysis at 1920x1080 at the "very high" quality level with DirectX 10. The Vortex HD 750 managed 21.1 frames per second on the same test.
However, on older games and when running tests at lower resolutions the Intel-based system comes out on top, scoring 66.9fps compared to 61.3 frames per second when running Crysis at 1024x768 in the "high quality" mode and using DirectX 9.
Both DX11 tests produced similar results - the AMD system delivering a very small performance lead over the Intel system. In Unigine, for instance, we saw a 0.5fps difference in AMD's favour at 1920x1080 resolution.
What this does suggest is that for gaming, the Fusion HD 965 is every bit as good as the Vortex HD 750 despite its lower performance at WorldBench 6.
AMD Phenom II X4 965 vs Intel Core i5 750: Power Consumption
We compared power consumption figures of the main systems, when sitting idle and when running the Unigine Heaven benchmark. Because the configurations of both systems are the same, any differences in power consumption can be attributed to the processor and motherboard selection.
Intel came out on top: where the AMD-based Fusion HD 965 consumed 103W at idle and 163W under load, the Vortex HD 750 required only 59W and 120W respectively.
Lower power consumption is not only greener, it also means you may get away with quieter cooling fans, and increase scope for overclocking.
AMD Phenom II X4 965 vs Intel Core i5 750: the verdict
These systems are closely matched in general performance, with often hair-splitting differences in gaming performance. The Intel-based PC delivers better application performance with considerably better power consumption; while the AMD-based machine can deliver fractionally better games performance, plus a price advantage of £60. This may not seem much but you could always apply this saving elsewhere, offsetting the extra electricty you'll be consuming, for example, or adding a second hard drive.
AMD Phenom II X4 965 vs Intel Core i5 750: the processors
The AMD Phenom II x4 965 and Intel Core i5 750 offer broadly similar performance. They're both quad-core processors which are great for multi-tasking and multi-processing, but there are some key differences:
* The AMD chip runs at a faster clock rate of 3.4GHz compared to the 2.67GHz of the Intel.
* They also have different cache architectures, the Phenom II X4 having 6MB of Level 2 cache compared to 8MB in the Intel Core i5. They also have different methods of interfacing with system memory and the graphics subsystem, although these differences result in relatively minor performance differences in real-world applications.
* According to the specifications, the Core i5 also has lower power requirements than the AMD chip - a fact that's bourne out by our own test results.
* It's also worth noting that the Phenom II X4 965 BE is currently AMD's flagship desktop CPU; this is most certainly not the case with the Intel processor which is part of a range containing many faster processors, some of which are available as drop-in upgrades for the Core i5 750.

AMD's core design for Bulldozer

AMD's core design for Bulldozer


Anandtech has painted a clearer picture today as to what methods AMD plans to use to build its upcoming 'Bulldozer' CPU family. The way in which AMD arranges the cores and resources with this architecture is quite different to anything we've seen before.

Henceforth AMD is referring to the number of integer cores on a processor when it counts cores. So a quad-core Zambezi is made up of four integer cores, or two Bulldozer modules. An eight-core would be four Bulldozer modules.
It's a distinct shift from AMD's (and Intel's) current method of counting cores. A quad-core Phenom II X4 is literally four Phenom II cores on a single die, if you disabled three you would be left with a single core Phenom II. The same can't be said about a quad-core Bulldozer. The smallest functional block there is a module, which is two cores according to AMD.
The article is a well documented piece that helps give a better perspective on what AMD's main point of focus is with regard to this upcoming major refresh that is hoped to put Intel on its back foot.

'Netbooks can't be just cheap laptops’

ARM processors power almost 90% of the mobiles sold around the world, 70% of digital still cameras and about 70% of printers. Now, it hopes to challenge Intel Atom’s dominance of netbooks . Graham Budd, COO of the UK-based ARM, who was in Bangalore on Monday for the company’s Technology Symposium, talks about the advances in ARM-based netbooks.
Do you think netbooks will take a significant share of the PC market? In India, it hasn’t really taken off.
The current Atom-based netbooks are basically cheap laptops without all the features of a laptop. People who buy a netbook also think they are buying a cheap laptop. And then they get disappointed that it can’t do what a laptop does. Netbooks have to be built as a separate category, and the products have to be similarly differentiated. The ARM processor based ones that are being created will bring that differentiation. What is this differentiation? It will provide a rich internet experience, as good as X86 processor ones. The boot time will be faster, the battery life will be substantially higher, and the cost will be lower . ARM-based netbooks will also be smaller because we don’t have to put in a fan to cool the processor , as its energy consumption is very low. All this will help to create a category between a smartphone and a laptop. So, if somebody who is used to accessing the internet on a smartphone wants a fuller web experience, he could reach out to a netbook.
Why would costs be lower, and how much do you think the price would go down to?
I believe that before long the netbook price will go down to below Rs 10,000 ($200). The reason is partly our business model, where we license out our designs to multiple chipset developers. The competition amongst them brings costs down and raises the level of innovation. This is also the reason why you have seen such a lot of innovation in mobile phones.
When do you see ARM based netbooks becoming visible in the market?
You will see many models based on our Cortex A8 processor being launched in the first half of 2010. We have also now introduced the Cortex A9, which can help create more powerful netbooks. (The Atom chip this year is likely to claim 94% of the netbook market. But analysts like Robert Castellano of market research company The Information Network estimate that by 2012, ARM-based netbooks will overtake Intel-based ones. PC maker Asus’s head, however , said he didn’t see a market for an ARM based netbook that was launched recently).
What trends do you see in mobile phones?
The adoption of smartphones is rising exponentially, even as the growth of entry level and mid-range phones is slowing down. This is because of internet connectivity , 3G, and greater affordability of smart phones.

Intense Intel-AMD rivalry set for light laptops

The chief executives of Intel and Advanced Micro Devices indicated this week that competition will heat up in the market for sleek, inexpensive laptops running Windows 7.
Both CEOs addressed this new market during conference calls after their companies reported earnings this week. Ultrathin laptops are inexpensive, light laptops--typically between $500 and $800--that are sold in a market segment just above less expensive Netbooks.
Intel CEO Paul Otellini on Tuesday said his company is gearing up to supply more power-efficient chips that contain two processing cores for better performance. "The bulk of the units that have shipped to date were single-core versions of the products," Otellini said. "You'll see a number of laptops show up in retail with the dual-core versions for the holiday season...more ergonomically designed, thinner, lighter," Otellini said.

And AMD's CEO Dirk Meyer chimed in on Thursday. "You'll hear more...next month about the product lineup that we'll be rolling out over the next two years, which will include increasing focus on those small form factor notebooks," Meyer said during AMD's conference call. In the more immediate future, Meyer said AMD will have a "broader assortment of (ultrathin) platforms walking into the Christmas cycle."
To date, this new category of laptops has had a minuscule market-share impact because there was little perceived difference between a Netbook and an ultrathin, according to Bob O'Donnell, IDC research vice president. "A lot of people said this is not actually that much faster, so you're going to see a very rapid transition to all dual-core," he said.
Windows 7 should accelerate sales too. "I think we will see better sales next year," O'Donnell said, as HP, Dell, and others bring out ultrathins with Windows 7.
The category received a boost recently with the rollout of HP's Pavilion dm3, which starts at $549 with an AMD processor and $649 with an Intel processor. The dm3 is expected to be available starting October 22 with the launch of the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system.
Other high-profile ultrathins include the $548 Acer Aspire Timeline (at Wal-Mart) and the $549 Dell Inspiron 13.
Because ultrathins are more expensive than Netbooks, they are more profitable for Intel. "Part of Intel's strategy is to pull people up from a Netbook," said O'Donnell.
AMD, on other hand, is focusing solely on the space "between Netbooks and mainstream notebooks," Meyer said, adding that AMD, in effect, created the ultrathin category with the introduction of the 12-inch HP Pavilion dv2 back in January. "We created that category really in partnership with the HP," Meyer said.

AMD:- AMD ATI Radeon 5700 & HD 5800

The most technologically advanced and feature rich GPUs AMD has ever created.

Features & Benefits
Expand your visual real estate with ATI Eyefinity Technology, with revolutionary multi-display capabilities that let you see more and get more done
Accelerate the most demanding applications with ATI Stream technology and do more with your PC.1
With full support for DirectX 11, these GPUs enable rich, realistic visuals and explosive HD gaming performance so you can dominate the competition.

AMD :- AMD ATI Radeon HD 5800

ATI Radeon 5750 and ATI Radeon 5770 continue the ascension of AMD’s graphics label ATI on the market. They will have prices up to $160 and will ship soon to PC builders.
The main feature of these cards is that they scale back to 128-bit memory bus and fewer effects cores but continue to keep full DirectX 11 and OpenGL 3.x feature sets, like the 5800 series do. Support for multi-display Eyefinity is not discontinued. Still dual-slot cards, they are consuming less power – 86 Watt for the 5750 and 108 Watt for the 5770.
The range leader 5770 has 800 cores, half the cores of the predecessor 5870, but has the same 850 MHz main clock and 1 GB of GDDR5 memory at 1.2 GHz. The other card, 5750, has 720 cores, a 700 MHz main clock and 512 MB or 1 GB of GDDR5 memory at 1.15.GHz.
The Radeon HD 5770 card will cost $159. As for the Radeon HD 5750 card, two prices are available, following the two versions: $109 for the 512 MB of memory card and $129 for the 1 GB of memory one.
Manufacturers are waiting for these cards and are expected to have them available very soon.

GTX285 SLI on Intel Core i7 975XE

WHILE THE ATI HD5870 LAUNCH stole the graphics headlines this past month, Nvidia is still doing pretty well with the GTX285, its flagship single GPU solution based on the GT200b chip.

Or, to be more precise, the major OEMs are putting out their own vastly improved versions to boost performance of the chip prior to the somewhat (*cough*) delayed arrival of Nvidia's next generation GT300 GPU series. Most of them, like Asus, Gigabyte and EVGA, have created optimised custom versions combining higher-bin GPUs with improved board design, better components, faster memory and usually a complete cooling replacement. And, oh yes, proper utilities for avid gamers to manage performance - and hopefully stability - in real time as they play.

The only problem is that, in both the Nvidia and ATI camps, such advanced solutions are seemingly allowed to appear only half a year or more after the actual reference card arrives, which is often too little, too late.

This is the Asus Matrix GTX285, probably the fastest GTX285 card around. It's a completely redesigned board with Japanese capacitors, lower GPU power noise, and real-time voltage and overclocking control, combined with a brand new 8mm thick dual heatpipe cooling system and a GPU settings reset button on the back. Here we have not one, but two of them in SLI, were running on the Core i7 975XE, the top end Intel desktop CPU and the Asus Rampage II Extreme, the top end Asus desktop mainboard. To complete the test setup we used 12GB of Kingston DDR3-2000 Core i7 compatible memory.

The Asus card doesn't look remotely like any other GTX285 unit. The cooling system is larger and even visually looks more robust, yet the temperature on the GPU was between 11 and 14 degrees cooler, even when overclocked. So, the Asus ROG graphics team did some nifty design wizardry there, something I hope Nvidia will appreciate to have available right at the GT300 launch, in view of the ATI competition at the present moment.

So, rather than stick to the typical GPU speed here, I went straight with 705MHz GPU speed and correspondingly sped up memory at GGRD3-2523 and shader clocks at 1572 MHz, then ran the usual 3Dmark Vantage in both Performance and Extreme modes. I have adjusted the voltages for the GPU and memory up a little bit, but nothing extreme. I was keen to see how far it will go above the generic GTX285, and how close to the new ATI Radeon HD5870, which, by the way, seems to overclock well too.

Intel’s Latest Classmate PC

Intel recently sent a demo unit of their educational line of netbooks, dubbed Classmate PC, for review. I was excited to check out their offering if only to see what One Laptop Per Child’s biggest competitor was up to. While I was initially skeptical, what I found was an ecosystem that focused less on the stand-alone experience and more on the classroom.

At face value, Intel’s Classmate PC looks like a standard netbook. But the internals are ruggedly constructed and

resistant to the drops and rough handling kids are known for. Also notable is the nice large external handle for moving the unit around. Spec-wise, the unit sports a 1.6 Ghz Atom processor, 1 GB RAM, a 8.9″ wide screen at 1024 x 600, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and an integrated web cam. Additionally, my demo unit had a traditional 60 GB hard drive, but solid-state drives are optional. Individual units can be purchased online and retail for around $480.

One of the most touted features of the new generation is the tablet mode. The screen swivels and folds down allowing kids to interact with the software with a stylus or their fingers. Intel has been making a lot of noise about their palm rejection technology, which enables students to write naturally with their hand on the display. The only experience I have with tablet PC’s is with my Wacom-based Lenovo X60 Tablet which never suffered from that problem, so likely this is an evolution of traditional resistive-touch displays. Regardless, the feature seemed to work fine as I never experienced issues where my palm caused problems with the tablet recognizing what I was trying to do, and resting my palm on the screen whi

le writing was comfortable and natural. Additionally, the accelerometer rotates the display properly and quickly whenever I changed orientation of the laptop.

"Not Quite Van Gogh" made by myself using ArtRage

Windows XP Home was preinstalled on the system along with a sample of Intel’s educational software. The system booted quickly and navigating between and using apps was a pleasant experience. The touch screen is a nice addition to programs that support it, such as ArtRage, but is not always the most efficient method of input. Other educational-focused software includes an eBook Reader, a stylus-based notepad, and links to some kid-fri

endly websites. Additionally, the unit shipped with a touch-friendly launcher called Blue Dolphin that made common applications accessible right from the desktop and gave access to volume controls and an on-screen keyboard that are helpful when in tablet mode.

Much of Classmate PC’s potential comes when it’s used in conjunction with Intel’s classroom ecosystem. By itself, this laptop is a ruggedized netbook with some innovative hardware features. And while the software included in my review unit showcased these hardware capabilities fairly well, they did little to show the educational impact laptops in the classroom could have.

I spoke with the Regional Manager for Intel’s Classmate PC Activities in North America, Jeff Galinovsky, about the Classmate PC in depth. It’s clear Intel has put a large amount of its development effort into building out an infrastructure that allows teachers and students to leverage this technology in very exciting ways. In a classroom situation, each student can view content streaming from their teacher’s computer at their desk, on their device, as opposed to using a projector. While in the school, student’s laptops are locked down enabling only the content and applications that the teacher allows. Additionally, if students are allowed to take their laptops home, parents can deploy a policy that can lock down or monitor the computer in a similar manner as at school.

Besides controlling what kids can do with their laptops, teachers can get feedback from students by way of live quizzes to see if they understand a concept, allowing teachers to go back and cover material further if required. Teachers can also push out homework assignments and subsequently have those assignments turned back in over the network. And because the laptops are PC/Windows based, there is a large amount of 3rd party hardware and software that can be used to further the school’s educational goals.

Overall, the new Classmate PC’s are well built and it’s clear that a lot of time went in to figuring out how kids will want to use the hardware. I offered the Classmate PC to my three year old son who grabbed the laptop by the handle and sat down on the couch. In tablet mode and stylus in hand, he began experimenting with ArtRage figuring out how to paint in different colors. I helped him along, pointing out how to change brushes and write his name, and he had as much fun with it as he does his XO-1 from One Laptop per Child.

But in comparing OLPC to Intel’s offering, there are some distinct differences between the two organizations and their mission in making laptops for kids. In part 2 of this series, I’ll look at Intel’s approach to the education market, how it contrasts with OLPC’s, and how the world is big enough for two major players.

GeekDad previously covered the laptop educational market in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of its OLPC XO-1: Two Years Later series.

AMD ATI Radeon HD 5850

Auch wenn die Verfügbarkeit momentan noch schlechter ist als bei der AMD ATI Radeon HD 5870, haben mittlerweile einige Redaktionen Samples der HD 5850 erhalten. Über die Reviews wollen wir euch einen kleinen Überblick geben.

Radeon HD 5850 im Test: Der DirectX-11-Preisbrecher (Quelle: PC Games Hardware)

"Wie die Radeon HD 5870 lässt auch Atis HD 5850 ein klares Fazit zu: Die Spieleleistung liegt durchschnittlich minimal über dem Niveau von Nvidias Geforce GTX 285, welche momentan ab 270 Euro zu haben ist. Je nach Spiel ist die DX11-Radeon zwar einen Tick langsamer, dafür ist lässt sie die Geforce in einigen Titeln weit hinter sich."

AMD ATI Radeon HD 5850 single-card and multi-GPU evaluation (Quelle: HEXUS.net)

"What AMD/ATI has accomplished with the Radeon HD 5850 GPU is the distillation of the range-topping goodness in an eminently sensible fashion, made possible by the use of a smaller PCB allied to widely-available 4GHz-rated GDDR5 memory.

Overall, then, the ATI Radeon HD 5850 1,024MB sets a new performance and features standard at the £200 ($260) price point, and, taking value into account, we'd recommend most readers opt for one over the also-impressive HD 5870."

Radeon HD 5850 review (CrossfireX) (Quelle: Guru3D)

"So the bottom line is really simple: with the Radeon HD 5850 you gain a lot of features and will play your games at really good performance levels. There's very little to dislike here as not only do you have a state of the art graphics card in da house, you'll also have a very wide feature set available which is future proof. If your upgrade path is worth USD 259,- the Radeon HD 5850 comes very much recommended in our book."

AMD's Radeon HD 5850 arrives

"Well, there you have it. The Radeon HD 5850 manages to outshine the fastest single-GPU GeForce card overall while costing less, drawing less power, and producing less noise. We wouldn't be surprised to see Nvidia cut prices in the near future, but in any case, the 5850 is hands-down the second-fastest single-GPU graphics card on the market."

AMD’s Radeon HD 5850: The Other Shoe Drops

"The result of this is clear: the 5870 is the fastest single-GPU card, and the 5850 is the value alternative. Couple that with the fact that it’s cooler running, quieter, shorter, and less power hungry, and you have a very interesting card. Design-wise the 5850 lets AMD get Cypress in to slightly smaller cases that can’t fit full 10.5” cards, something NVIDIA was never able to capitalize on with the reference GTX design (we actually had several comments on this; apparently a good number of people can’t fit 10.5” cards). The 5870/5850 situation ends up closely mirroring the 4870/4850 situation as a result; the 5870 is still the card to get when price (and size) is no object, but the 5850 is there to fill the gap if you won’t miss some of the performance."

AMD's ATI Radeon HD 5850 Video Card Review

"For $259 the ATI Radeon HD 5850 smacks the competition then laughs. AMD has engineered this series smartly, doing what worked for it with the Radeon HD 4800 series. The Radeon HD 5850 uses the same GPU as the Radeon HD 5870 with some streaming processor units and texture units disabled with lower clock speeds. In our gaming experience, the 5850 performed appropriately compared to the Radeon HD 5870. AMD was smart in keeping the 32 ROPs intact on the Radeon HD 5850 and equipping the video card with 1GB of GDDR5 memory. With this combination, dual-card 5850 CrossFireX performance is stellar. We were easily able to run at high resolutions with AA and high in-game settings."

ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series Driver at AMD

ust a note, if you are the proud owner of a new Radeon HD 5800 series graphics card, you will receive the best performance by using the new Catalyst 8.66 RC6 driver at AMD. This driver is the officially supported driver for HD 5800 series and is the same driver AMD provided to us to test with in our launch evaluation. Catalyst 8.66 RC6 driver is based on Catalyst 9.10, which will be out in October, and has performance improvements over Catalyst 9.9, plus it enables Eyefinity. We recommend using this driver on your newly purchased HD 5800 series video card, since the driver included on most manufacturers CDs shipped with retail video cards is a modded Catalyst 9.9 driver. Happy gaming.

HP Launches Laptops, Netbooks

Hewlett-Packard has introduced a line of premium laptops to take on Apple's MacBook Air and Dell's Adamo, and has also launched a couple of thin and light notebooks and two netbooks.

HP launched the systems on Tuesday, in what analysts say is a slowly improving PC market brought on by a more stable global economy.

Among the new laptops were two premium models under the sub-brand Envy. The 13-inch model with an aluminum and magnesium case and etched-metal palm rest is less than an inch thick and weighs under four pounds, making it competitor to the Macbook Air andDell ( Dell)'s Adamo.

However, the Envy 13, which is powered by a 1.86 GHz Intel (NSDQ: INTC) Core 2 Duo processor, is more expensive than its rivals, starting at $1,700 versus $1,500. As a differentiator, HP has partnered with rapper Dr. Dre's Beats company in developing audio software for producing better sound. The system is available with an extended life battery for up to 18 hours of power.

For consumers seeking a faster system, HP launched an Envy laptop with a 15.6-inch display, an Intel Core i7 processor, and an ATI Mobility Radeon 4830 graphics processor from Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD). The Envy 15 has a magnesium alloy casing, is an inch thick and weighs just over five pounds. Prices start at $1,800.

Both laptops are scheduled to be available Oct. 18.

The HP ProBook 5310m is a lower-priced system for mobile professionals; the Pavilion dm3 is a lower-cost option for consumers. Both systems have a 13.3-inch screen and are less than an inch thick. However, the dm3 is about a half pound heavier, 4.2 pounds versus 3.7 pounds.

The ProBook 5310m is available with a Core 2 Duo processor or a less expensive Intel Celeron dual core chip. The dm3 is available with either an Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Neo Dual Core processor.

Both systems are scheduled to be available starting Oct. 22 with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s Windows 7 operating system. Prices for the dm3 start at $549 with an AMD processor and $649 with an Intel processor. The ProBook 5310 starts at $699 with the Celeron dual core and $899 with a Core 2 Duo.

Finally, HP unveiled the Mini 311 and Mini 110 netbooks. The Mini 110 is designed by Dutch artist Tord Boontje and is aimed at the youth market. The Mini 311 is being marketed as offering better graphics than other mini-laptops through an 11.6-inch high-definition widescreen display and Nvidia Ion graphic processors. The system sports a keyboard that's 92% of full-size, a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor and up to 3 GB of system memory.

Both systems are scheduled to be available this fall and have a starting price of $400.

In launching all the new systems, HP is in line with a couple of trends in the PC market. First is the popularity of netbooks, which have been the fastest growing segment of the PC market; and the growing popularity of low-priced thin and light laptops that are more mainstream than netbooks and have full-size keyboards.

In addition, HP and other computer makers are refreshing their product lines in anticipation of a stronger PC market. Global PC shipments rose 1% in the second quarter from the previous quarter, joining a number of other indicators that point to the start of a market recovery that's expected to continue through the rest of the year, according to researcher iSuppli.

AMD Quad-Core Athlon II Chip Priced Below $100

New AMD Quad-Core Athlon II Chip Priced Below $100
AMD is rolling out its first quad-core Athlon II processor at a price of $99 for system builders. The processor is part of AMD’s Mainstream Desktop Platform that combines both the computing chip and graphics capabilities from AMD’s ATI business. The rollout comes a day after iSuppli said that rival Intel had increased its lead over AMD in the global microprocessor market, in part because of AMD lowering the average price on its chips in the second quarter.

Advanced Micro Devices has rolled out a quad-core desktop chip for system builders priced at $99.

AMD announced the pricing for the 2.6GHz Athlon II X4 processors Sept. 16. Combining the processor with the 785G chip set, which includes ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics capabilities, brings the cost to about $170.

AMD officials touted the energy efficiency of the 45-nanometer processor platform and how the graphics capabilities—through DirectX 10.1 and ATI Stream technology—will support a fuller experience for users of Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 7 operating system.

Quad-core CPU for $99 ... from AMD

Don’t for one moment think that the war between Intel ad AMD is over and that Intel has won … with the launch of the Athlon II X4 620 we have now entered the era of affordable quad-core computing.

Intel might have the Core i7 and Core i5 range out, which in terms of performance leaves AMD in their dust, but this latest piece of silicon from AMD is just as influential.

The Athlon II X4 620 is a 2.60GHz Socket AM3, 45nm part with a 95W TDP and which is quite closely related to the Phenom II X4. The biggest difference is that while the X4 620 has 512KB of L2 cache per core, there’s no L3 cache. You can have a bargain price, or L3 cache … there’s no such thing as a free lunch!

What’s really special about the 620 is price. For the first time buyers can get their hands on a quad-core CPU for under $100. You could pick up a CPU such as the aging Phenom X4 9650 for around $110 before, but compared to the X4 620 the 9650 is a dinosaur. Pair it with a AMD 785G-based motherboard (which has an integrated ATI Radeon HD 4200 GPU) and 2GB of DDR3 RAM and you have the foundation for a really sweet, and cheap, system.

Does this mean quad-core CPUs for everyone? Well, the price point is attractive enough, but you still need to shop wisely. For example, the dual-core Athlon II X2 250 is a 3.0GHz part that’s some $13 cheaper than the X4 620. If you spend most of your time in front of a word processor then the X2 250 is a better buy. However, if you start editing photos, encoding or transcoding video, or even spend a lot of time in Microsoft Excel, those four cores could make your life a lot easier.

AMD eyes Intel, Windows 7 with $99 chip

Advanced Micro Devices will try to inject new life into the lackluster desktop PC market with the first sub-$100 quad-core processor aimed at Windows 7--and Intel.

It's all about mobile computing today. But AMD's Athlon II X4 quad-core processor will give consumers something to consider on the desktop when Windows 7 ships in October. The chip is priced at $99 for "system builders," according to AMD.

"The introduction of the new AMD mainstream desktop platform coupled with Windows 7, allows...a faster, higher performing experience at an attractive price point," said Mike Ybarra, general manager of Windows Product Management at Microsoft, in a statement.

Some reviewers were quick to praise the chip. "It's often hard to get excited about low-end and mainstream hardware," wrote technology Web site Hot Hardware on Wednesday. "However, AMD's new quad-core Athlon II X4 processors are something we can definitely get excited about."

"AMD didn't just deliver on price, they also managed to produce quite a competitive product that was able to keep up with more expensive processors like Intel's Q8200 and AMD's own Phenom IIs," the review said. The closest competing quad-processor from Intel is the Core 2 Quad Q8200, priced at around $150 at resellers.

Other reviews, however, were more Tepid. "The Athlon II X4 620 is just $20 cheaper than the Phenom II X3 (triple core)...in terms of performance the triple-core chip will likely be faster than the Athlon II X4 620 in most cases, as it is also clocked 200MHz higher," TechSpot wrote.

Beyond price, AMD is also claiming energy efficiency, saying that the use of the latest 45-nanometer manufacturing process allows it to draw less power than a standard 75-watt light bulb. Until this year, AMD had been building its processor on a 65-nanometer process. Typically, the smaller the geometries of a chip, the faster and more power efficient it is.

The quad-core processor is used in combination with the 785G chipset, which integrates ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics silicon. The pricing of the chipset is separate from the processor.

Pricing for consumer-ready systems based on the Athlon II X4 processor were not immediately available.

ZT Systems will be selling systems later this month through Sears.com and Buy.com that are expected to be priced around $500, according to AMD spokesman Matt Davis. Other resellers, such as iBuypower and CyberPower, are also expected to bring out systems.

AMD unveils Sub-$100 Quad-Core CPU

AMD has introduced the first ever sub-$100 (Rs. 4,800 approx.) quad-core Athlon II processors. Previously codenamed Propus core based 45nm process manufactured quad-core AMD Athlon II X4 620 and 630 processors arrive with fanfare. Out of the both quad-core processors, Athlon II 620 has been priced under $100 (Rs. 4,800 approx.) while Athlon II 630 is priced at $122 (Rs. 5,900 approx.).

Both new 45nm process manufactured Athlon II quad-core processors fit into Socket AM3 and support DDR3 RAM at up to 1333MHz. Also, both Athlon II chips are backward compatible to AM2+ sockets and hence could be used on existing AM2+ Socket based motherboards. AMD's 2.6GHz Athlon II 620 is company's first sub-$100 processor for the budget conscious consumers.

The 2.6GHz Athlon II 620 comes with 2MB L2 Cache (512KB per core) and hyper-threading up to 4000MHz. The Athlon II 630 is clocked at 2.8GHz with 2MB L2 Cache (512KB per core) and hyper-threading support of up to 4000MHz. Both processors have Thermal Design Power rating of 95Watts.

AMD expects to pair these Athlon II CPUs with AMD 785G chipset that integrates ATI Radeon 4200 graphics and offers DisplayPort support. Basically this combination of Athlon II X4 with AMD 785G chipset is being hyped for Windows 7 goodness on budget desktop. At the moment, rival Intel's cheapest quad-core Intel Core 2 Quad 8200 is list for $150 (Rs. 7,200 approx.). It's unsure whether we'll see price cut in Intel chips just before Intel Developer Forum starting Sept. 22.

Intel fights $1.45B Europe antitrust fine

Chipmaking giant Intel Corp. is challenging a $1.45 billion fine European regulators want it to pay for alleged monopoly practices.

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) has asked a court to either throw out the ruling and fine altogether, or to “reduce substantially” the fine. It also asks that the European Commission be ordered “to pay Intel’s costs.”

Regulators said in May that Intel had used illegal rebates to companies making computers as a way to squeeze its Sunnyvale, Calif.-based rival Advanced Micro Devices Corp. (NYSE: AMD) out of the market.

In its appeal, Intel claims its rebate program didn’t interfere with AMD’s market access, and says in fact that AMD made higher profits in the area during the time under study.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel filed the appeal in the European Court of First Instance. This is the largest fine European regulators have ever charged in an antitrust action.

Both companies have a presence in the Albany, N.Y., region. Both conduct research at the University at Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, located on the Albany NanoTech campus.

AMD has joined with Advanced Technology Investment Co. (ATIC), based in Abu Dhabi, to create GlobalFoundries. GlobalFoundries is building a $4.2 billion chip plant at Luther Forest Technology Campus in Saratoga County. The plant will make computer chips for AMD and other semiconductor companies.

Intel In It For The Long Haul On EU Appeal

Intel (NSDQ:INTC) contends that the European Commission botched its antitrust case against the chip giant and is asking for a record $1.45 billion fine to be overturned, according to a summary of Intel's July appeal that was published Tuesday by the EC.

Intel expects a ruling on its appeal in 18 to 24 months, a legal spokesman for the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said. Intel approved the EC's summary of its 200-page appeal to the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg ahead of the summary's online publication by the European Court of Justice, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said Tuesday.

The EC, following an eight-year investigation, ruled in May that Intel gave secret rebates to computer manufacturers on the condition that they severely limit or completely exclude rival chip maker Advanced Micro Devices' x86 microprocessors in their products. A record European antitrust fine amounting to $1.45 billion was levied in Intel's fiscal second quarter of 2009, essentially assuring the world's leading maker of microprocessors of its first quarterly financial loss in 22 years.

Intel argues that the May ruling was based on a case that "fails to meet the required standard of proof in its analysis of the evidence," according to the EC summary. Mulloy said in July, when Intel filed the appeal, that the EC had "refused to look at some of the evidence and in some cases refused to get some other evidence that was available" in its investigation of the chip maker.

Intel is prepared for a very long process to get a new ruling from the Court of First Instance, which could go any number of ways, Mulloy said Tuesday.

"They could completely deny us, they could throw out part of the ruling, they could overturn the entire thing, or anything in between," he said.

Intel appeals EU $1.45b fine

Intel is asking the European Union to overturn that mammoth $1.45 billion fine the EU slapped it with last May, saying it’s a “manifestly disproportionate” fine, AP reports.

The European Commission found Intel used all kinds of dirty tricks, strong-arm tactics and kickbacks to the big PC makers to crush AMD. But Intel says the Commission didn’t provide enought proof to back up those kinds of assertions.

Intel says regulators are mistaken to judge these discounts as illegal without checking if they actually shut A.M.D. out of the market and had “immediate, substantial, direct and foreseeable effects” on sales to European customers.

The company says A.M.D. increased market share and profit during part of the 2002-2007 period and that A.M.D.’s “own shortcomings” were to blame with poor sales in some markets or with some computer manufacturers.

Intel Reaches Four-Year High in CPU Sales Share

Analyst firm iSuppli has placed AMD's second-quarter CPU market share at a level much lower than an August report, and said that rival Intel's share reached a four-year high.

In August, Mercury Research said that AMD's global CPU market share during the second quarter of 2009 slipped from 20.9 percent to 18.7 percent, slightly lower than in 2008. That study measured the market share data in terms of units sold.

But iSuppli said this week that AMD's second-quarter share was actually 11.5 percent when measured in terms of revenue, not units, down a percentage point sequentially and about half a percent from a year ago. Intel, meanwhile, recorded 80.6 percent of the microprocessor market, up 1.5 percent sequentially, and 1.4 percent from a year ago. This gave the company the largest share of global microprocessor revenue since it claimed 82.4 percent of revenue in the third quarter of 2005, iSuppli wrote in a report.

Global PC units climbed by 1 percent from the first quarter, but declined versus a year ago. That means that both Intel and AMD saw revenue declines, even as Intel increased its market share and apparently sold processors at higher prices. That hasn't apparently bothered AMD much, however, as the company has aggressively lowered prices, and launched a quad-core chip priced below $100 on Wednesday.

"AMD didn't benefit from the small sequential rise in PC sales because its average microprocessor pricing was lower than that from the first quarter of 2009," said Matthew Wilkins, the principal analyst for compute platforms at iSuppli, in the report.

Asus unveils P7P55D Series Hybrid Mobos

Asus has announced five new hybrid motherboards based on Intel P55 Express chipsets. With support for new LGA 1156 socket, the new P7P55D series motherboards are made using their Xtreme Design philosophy. Asus boasts of P7P55D series motherboards including Hybrid Technology which consists of Hybrid Processor, Hybrid Phase and Hybrid OS.
Asus boasts that the Intel P55 Express chipset, along with its 'Hybrid' technology, will enable advanced overclocking and improved power management. Asus also says the P7P55D Series is its first to support 6Gbps SATA I/O bandwidth.

In this technology, the Hybrid Processor will let users attain higher level overclocking performance with the Intel CPUs and Asus TurboV EVO, which works as the second processor. With the Auto Tuning tool, the system can be overclocked to an extreme yet stable state. Automatic overclocking tools like Auto System Level Up and real-time tweaking via TurboV Evo can be achieved for optimizing system performance. Asus TurboV Remote comes installed only on Premium and Deluxe motherboards.

The T-Probe microchip automatically switches power phase depending on the temperature and system load in real-time. Along with Stack Cool 3+, T-Probe serves as a power management tool for real-time power monitoring and controlling system performance as well as temperature.

The Hybrid OS feature integrates Windows' readiness to upgrade to Windows 7 along with Asus ExpressGate that gives access to common online apps in five seconds.

Prices:

P7P55D Premium - Rs. 22,750
P7P55D Deluxe - Rs. 18,650
P7P55D EVO - Rs. 16,375
P7P55D PRO - Rs. 14,450
P7P55D - Rs. 12,275

All prices are excluding taxes.

ASUS P55 motherboards

ASUS announces P55 motherboards

TAIWANESE TECH manufacturer ASUS has announced details of its latest motherboards, the P7P55D Series.

The firm said that the series boasts the Intel P55 Express chipset along with its own made-up 'Hybrid' technology, which enables advanced overclocking and improved power management, the company claims. ASUS also says the P7P55D Series is its first to support 6Gbps SATA I/O bandwidth.

Power efficiency has also been improved with the firm's Stack Cool 3+ and T.Probe, management tools that offer users real time monitoring and control of system performance and temperature.

The firm announced six motherboards in total that make up the P7P55D range. ASUS also announced some gamer-centric motherboards too, but you don't want to read about those during work hours. When you get home after work you can look those up on the ASUS website.

Meanwhile MSI launched its Xtreme Speed mainboard series. These also include the P55 chipset and add support for Intel's Lynnfield Core i7 and Core i5 processors. Overclocking on the Xtreme Speed boards can be handled by MSI's OC Genie, which will automatically search for the best BIOS settings for the board in order to boost performance. MSI said that this takes all of about one second.

MSI is offering a fifty per cent discount on its Xtreme Speed motherboards. Pricing starts at £85.50 including VAT.

We'll be testing one of those MSI boards shortly.

Asus Introduced 5 New Hybrid P55 Express Motherboards

Asus Introduced 5 New Hybrid P55 Express Motherboards - Asus has introduced five new hybrid P55 express motherboards, comprised with Hybrid technology. Based upon Intel P55 Express chipsets, Asus P7P55D series supports new LGA 1156 socket and are manufactured by using extreme design philosophy.

Asus brags about its five new P55 express motherboards are available with hybrid technology, consisting Hybrid phase, Hybrid OS and Hybrid processor. Along with hybrid technology, the Intel P55 Express chipset will enable modernized over clocking system and improvised power management.

It has been claimed by Asus that P7P55D series is the first one to affirm 6Gbps SATA I/O bandwidth. In hybrid technology, hybrid processor grants users to accomplish higher level of over clocking performance with the help of Intel CPUs and Asus TurboV EVO that works as a second processor. The system can be over clocked with the help of auto tuning tool to an extreme yet stable state.

Automatic over clocking tools like real time tweaking and auto system level up via TurboV Evo can be attained for achieving optimal system performance. Besides this, the Asus TurboV remote comes already installed only on premium and deluxe motherboards.

Depending upon the temperature and system load in real time, the T-probe microchip automatically switches the power phase and along with T-probe, Stack Cool 3+ will also serves as a power management tool for real time power monitoring and controlling system performance and temperature conditions.

The function of hybrid OS is to provide access to Windows 7 along with Asus express gate to common online applications within 5 seconds. The pricing list of all 5 hybrid P55 express motherboards (excluding taxes) is as follows:
1. P7P55D Premium - Rs. 22,750
2. P7P55D Deluxe - Rs. 18,650
3. P7P55D EVO - Rs. 16,375
4. P7P55D PRO - Rs. 14,450
5. P7P55D - Rs. 12,275

CRPF to have its own intel wing

The home ministry has given its nod for setting up of a separate intelligence wing within the CRPF, which has been extensively
deployed to fight Red ultras in naxal-hit states and to do counter-insurgency operations in Jammu & Kashmir and northeast.

As per the decision, each battalion of the paramilitary force will have an intelligence cell comprising about 10 personnel. At present, CRPF has to depend on state police for local intelligence.

"Though central agencies too have been giving inputs to CRPF on regular basis, the need was felt to involve the paramilitary personnel mainly to develop human intelligence in its area of operation," said an official.

Besides, the ministry has also approved setting up of vigilance cells in every range and sector. Currently, such cells exist only at the headquarters here. The need to set up vigilance cells in every range and sector was felt in the wake of disclosure of alleged irregularities in its recruitment system following CBI raids against a few top-ranking CRPF officials.

AMD and DirectX 11 Into Laptops

AMD and DirectX 11 Into Laptops

Advanced Micro Devices will bring its latest graphics hardware based on DirectX 11 to laptops by early next year, aiming to make graphics in Windows 7 smoother and more realistic.

AMD will first offer graphics cards with DirectX 11 for desktops, but it will deliver them for laptops early next year, said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager of AMD's products group, during an interview Thursday at an event in Alameda, California. The first laptops will get support for DirectX 11 through discrete graphics cards, and the technology will trickle down to integrated graphics cards by 2011.

The company has already demonstrated ATI Radeon discrete graphics cards for desktops with DirectX 11 capabilities, though the company has not announced release dates for the products. However, AMD said it would have an announcement related to DirectX 11 products on Sept. 23. The desktop products will be out by the time Microsoft Windows 7 launches on Oct. 22, AMD has said.

DirectX 11 is a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) that will come with Windows 7 and should allow for more realistic images and 3D experiences with games and movies. For example, DirectX 11 will let game developers create more realistic images through improved three-dimension modelling and faster frame rates. A feature called "Compute Shader" is designed harness the parallel-processing capabilities of GPUs (graphics processing units) to improve gaming on PCs.

The technology is also designed to boost the performance of online and high-definition video playback, and it will let users instantly convert video clips simply by dragging and dropping them from PCs to portable devices.

Beyond graphics, DirectX 11 will help Windows 7 recognize multicore systems, which will speed up multimedia and other applications, Bergman said. The tools distribute tasks over multiple CPUs and GPUs for simultaneous execution. Such capabilities could reduce the strain on the CPU while offloading more tasks to the graphics processors. For example, a user could watch a high-definition DVD being processed by the GPU while the CPU handles everyday processing tasks such as virus scans, he said.

DirectX 11 is the successor to DirectX 10 and 10.1, which came with Windows Vista. AMD may be the first to ship DirectX 11-equipped hardware if it launches a graphics card later this month. Nvidia has said it will support DirectX 11, but it hasn't provided a specific hardware release date.

AMD also supports the OpenCL standard, an alternative to DirectX, for which the company has released both CPU and GPU drivers. Apple uses the OpenCL standard in its current Mac OS X 10.6, code-named Snow Leopard, to break up the execution of tasks and manage tasks over multiple cores and other resources.

AMD ATI Radeon 5000 series GPUs for 4Q09

AMD ATI Radeon 5000 series GPUs for 4Q09

AMD is preparing to launch ATI Radeon HD 5700 series (Juniper XT/LE) GPUs – the Radeon HD 5770 and 5750 – in October of 2009 and 5870 X2 (R800) in November after the launch of ATI Radeon HD 5850 and 5870 GPUs on September 22, according to sources at graphics card makers.

In addition to graphics cards, AMD also plans ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5000 series GPUs for notebooks – the Mobility Radeon HD 5800 for high-end, 5700 for performance, 5600 for mainstream and 5400 for entry-level, the sources noted.

AMD recently revealed its AMD Vision branding which helps to make clear separations between different levels of AMD-based notebooks. In addition to the current three levels – Vision Basic, Vision Premium and Vision Ultimate – the company will add the high-end Vision Black to the categories in the first quarter of 2010

Acer:-Acer Shows Off AMD-based Ferrari One Netbook

Acer:-Acer Shows Off AMD-based Ferrari One Netbook

Taiwanese manufacturer Acer has quietly released a new netbook called the Ferrari One that integrates AMD's latest mobile venture, the Congo platform.

Andy Vandervell from Trustedreviews previewed the netbook and reports that the core of the Ferrari One will consist of an AMD Athlon X2 L310 processor, which is a dual core CPU running at 1.2GHz with 1MB L2 cache.

This is backed by a M780G chipset which used the HD-capable ATI Radeon 3200 integrated graphics card. Then, there's an 11.6-inch screen that displays 1366x768 pixels (HD-ready it is then), 2GB memory, a 250GB hard dsik drive and a card reader.

Other noteworthy characteristics include Dolby Home Therater, Support for an external video card, a chiclet keyboard with a multitouch mousepad and a rather stylish textured palmrest with the legendary Ferrari horse. The laptop is expected to come with Windows 7 Home Premium or Starter. PC Pro says that the Ferrari One will ship with 64-bit OS only.

Connection-wise, the Ferrari One comes with Gb Ethernet, Bluetooth and WiFi (no 802.11n though) while a six-cell battery will make sure that the netbook runs for at least five hours (or at least Acer wants us to believe so).

Future AMD chip boasts 'human eye' reality

AMD demonstrated graphics chip technology that the company says approaches the arc and clarity seen by the human eye.

Eyefinity is a multi-display technology that will be part of future Radeon graphics chips designed to use up to six connected high-definition displays that can achieve "up to 12 times 1080p high-definition resolution, which approaches eye-definition optical clarity," the company said in a statement.

The goal is to create virtual environments so detailed that they seem optically real to the human eye. In a single PC, this yields a resolution of 268 megapixels, roughly equivalent to the resolution of a 90-degree arc of what the human eye sees, AMD said. By comparison, an average 19-inch LCD display today delivers a resolution of about 1 megapixel.

"The first I call immersive, panoramic computing. Many displays for one person," Solotko wrote. The user is surrounded with many displays creating an immersive reality or information environment--only possible previously on high-end workstations or simulators, according to Solotko.

The second model is many users using a single computer with multiple displays. "For example, one user enjoying dual monitor productivity, and a second user or group of users enjoying a movie or game on a third or fourth screen," he wrote. The basic premise is that it is a single session. One person is controlling the visual environment--one keyboard, one mouse. "Kind of like a...DJ who can launch applications for many to see," Solotko wrote.

When each screen has its own I/0 (mouse, keyboard, or motion controller) and supports a separate user session, this defines the third mode, according to Solotko. "A computer of the future with panoramic 3D gaming, multiple video playback, and access to 'cloud-based' resources on the internet on multiple displays," he wrote.

"Dad can be in the den playing Tom Clancy's Hawks (against his son) while his daughter is doing homework in her room and mom is managing finances in the office, all on the same, centrally managed PC."

AMD, Clevo Partner to Provide AMD-Powered Entry-Level Notebooks

AMD, Clevo Partner to Provide AMD-Powered Entry-Level Notebooks
AMD announced that Clevo, a global notebook manufacturer based in Taiwan, is now providing notebooks powered by AMD platform technology. Combining ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics, the AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor and the AMD M690G chipset, these new entry-level notebooks deliver advanced performance and mobility benefits.

The new Clevo notebooks deliver the multi-tasking performance and graphics power people need when enjoying 3D applications like maps, movies, online videos, digital photos, video games, music and TV programs at home or on the go.

Continuing its long-standing technology partnership with Clevo, AMD said it is focused on providing a highly differentiated solution that maps back to the top computing priorities. These include superior graphics and video capabilities and larger screen options than what is typically offered in similarly-priced netbook solutions for emerging mobile markets such as Brazil or Taiwan.

"With value-added resellers in more than 50 countries, our strong technology partnership allows both AMD and Clevo to deliver advanced, relevant technology to emerging mobile markets," said David Kenyon, VP, worldwide channel marketing, AMD. "Clevo is able to utilize AMD's distribution network to effectively reach international markets while both companies' customers can benefit from the comprehensive services and support Clevo provides."

"Today's buyer wants more for their money. Our customers expect advanced technology, the latest notebook designs with long battery life and exceptional visual performance, all at an optimal price," said Stephen Chien, VP, sales, Clevo.

"The decision to sell entry-level notebooks powered by AMD platform technology was an easy one. In addition to providing marketing resources to help influence and drive the retail sales cycle, AMD technology provides the great performance consumers need to manage their digital lifestyle at the right price," added Chien.

AMD:-Indian R&D centres design power chip of global standard

Indian R&D centres design power chip of global standard

A demand slump in the global semiconductor industry notwithstanding, Indian R&D centres of global chip majors are playing an
increasingly crucial role in designing products for global rollouts. Over the past few months, Indian centres have seen greater proportion of value-added semiconductor design being carried out, while in some cases, the captives have handled end-to-end product design.

Value-addition tops India’s growing reputation as a chip-design back-end, even though the country is yet to boast of a major fab or manufacturing unit. LSI Corporation India MD and vice-president Pravin Desale said: “The complexity of designs and platforms developed in MNC captives have grown. Earlier, most of them were leveraged to provide point activities: a few parts of the workflow and not end-to-end delivery. Gradually, the value-chain has expanded from product specification and architecture to integration at customer site and pre- and post-sales support.”

Industry watchers said while design centres have gained in expertise to move up the value-chain, a greater focus on local markets/emerging geographies is also fuelling development of global-level products. Since at a future date, a ready locally-designed product can always expedite go-to-market strategy.

Said Sanjiv Keskar, country manager-sales, FreeScale Semiconductor, “We are noticing a paradigm shift wherein the products designed in India are serving the global market. This is limited at the moment, but is likely to grow.”
FreeScale’s MCF52xx microcontroller catering to rising demand for larger memory and more connectivity, was one whose design was owned and executed fully from the India design centre.

AMD’s corporate vice-president of central engineering, Jeff VerHeul, said: “As part of our globalised strategy, the India R&D centre has been collaborating with other centres for latest cutting-edge products. AMD’s first 45 nanometre processor, Shanghai, is a result of a closely co-ordinated effort between India and the US — a reflection of the strategic role that India plays in global design activities.”

AMD started its hardware design team in Hyderabad in mid-2008 following an acquisition and it now accounts for almost 50-60% of the physical design work for the firm, including high-end graphic design. To boot, Intel’s India centre has designed the global major’s first six-core x86 microprocessor, the Xeon 7400 series. The team had planned and executed an end-to-end design, including front-end design, pre-silicon logic validation and back-end design. Sources say this was the first time a microprocessor was created in a design laboratory in India but an email questionnaire to Intel remained unanswered.

Engineers at Analog Device’s India product development centre work on high-performance analog design, embedded software development, among other things, and are involved in all stages of integrated circuit development from ‘concept to silicon to production’.

“The India centre is the home of the SHARC family of processor products, used in home and automotive audio systems. Engineers here work closely with the global team to develop high performance signal processing products for world-wide markets,” says S Karthik, engineering director of ADI’s India centre.

Concludes Biswadip Mitra, MD, TI India, which has had a research centre in Bangalore since 1985: “The TI analog front-end semiconductor devices (AFE) is a chip family whose development was largely carried out by engineers in TI India. Today, there is hardly any TI chip that is not touched by engineers at TI India.”

Autodesk :-Autodesk Autocad 2010 – 32 & 64bit – Crack Included-DOWNLOAD

Autodesk Autocad 2010 – 32 & 64bit – Crack Included DOWNLOAD

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Dramatically slash your design revision time with parametric drawing. By defining persistent relationships between objects, parallel lines remain parallel and concentric circles remain centered, all automatically.

Organize Sheet Sets
Organization isn%u2019t a luxury. The AutoCAD Sheet Set Manager organizes your drawing sheets, reduces steps to publish, automatically creates layout views, links sheet set information into title blocks and plot stamps, and performs tasks across a sheet set so everything is in one convenient place.

Save Time with Annotation Scaling
Spend less time creating and managing multiple items across multiple layers. With annotation scaling tools, you can create a single annotative-type object that automatically resizes to reflect the current viewport or model-space scale.

Easily Manipulate Text
Now you can easily manipulate text by viewing, sizing, and positioning text as you type. Adjust the text%u2019s appearance as needed using familiar tools common in text-editing applications, including paragraph and column tools to achieve professional-quality formatting.

Create and Edit Multiple Leaders
With multileader tools, creating and editing leaders is easy. Define multileader styles to ensure consistency across leaders, add multiple leader lines to a single leader object, and even include bubbles or blocks as leader content.

Automate Table Creation and Maintenance
Increase your productivity by automating the tedious task of creating and maintaining tables. You can define table styles to easily apply consistent table formatting including fonts, colors, borders, and much more.

Quickly and Easily Extract Data
Quickly and easily extract property data from objects in drawings (including blocks and attributes) and drawing information with the Data Extraction wizard. The extracted data can then be automatically output to a table or an external file.

Link Excel Data to AutoCAD Designs
Easily link Excel data to your AutoCAD designs for consistency and efficiency. Data links can be updated in both directions, eliminating the need to update tables or external spreadsheets independently. All linked information can easily be kept current and in sync automatically.

Standardize Drawings with Dynamic Blocks
Save time and standardize drawings with ease. With Dynamic Blocks, you no longer have to redraw repetitive standard components, and you can reduce your cumbersome block libraries in the process. Dynamic Blocks make individual block geometry editable and eliminate the need to define a new block for every variation of shape and size.

Speed Layer Management
Create and edit layer properties faster, and reduce errors at the same time. With the Layer Dialog box, changes are instantly reflected in the drawing as they are made in the dialog.

Save Time with Dynamic Prompts and Menus
Focus on the design, not the tools. Dynamic Input displays a command line type of prompt right at the cursor so you can launch commands, view dimensions, and enter values without looking at the command line. With the Quick Properties menu you can dramatically save time by viewing and modifying relevant object properties right at your cursor.

Efficient User Interface Eases Working with Multiple Files
Working with several files doesn%u2019t have to be painful anymore. The Quick View feature uses thumbnails in addition to file names, so you can visually find and open the correct drawing file and layout even faster than before. Within the Menu Browser you can also quickly browse files, examine thumbnail images, and get detailed information about file size and file creator.

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Communicate Quickly and Easily with AutoCAD
Share critical design data securely, efficiently, and accurately with AutoCAD® 3D CAD software. Experience the benefits of native DWG%u2122 support, one of the world%u2018s most widely used design data formats, allowing you to keep everyone in the loop at all times. Take your ideas to the next level with presentation-ready graphics, rendering tools, and the best plotting and 3D printing capabilities in the business. It%u2019s communication at its best.

Save and Share Files with DWG
Save and share files with confidence. DWG%u2122 technology from Autodesk is the authentic and accurate way to store and share design data when working with anyone in the industry. Nothing offers more integrity and reliability for your data.

Enhanced PDF Support
Sharing and reusing designs has never been easier thanks to enhanced PDF support within AutoCAD. Publishing improvements include smaller file sizes and TrueType font support. And new import and underlay capabilities mean you can bring PDF files directly into AutoCAD drawings.

Publish and Import DWF Files Within AutoCAD
With built-in tools to publish and import DWF%u2122 files within AutoCAD, collaborating on projects is more seamless than ever. Autodesk® Design Review DWF viewing and markup software is the free*, integrated, digital solution for clients or vendors to view, print, and mark up designs without needing the original software.

Create Presentation-Ready Graphics with Autodesk Impression 3
Supercharge your design presentations with a hand-drawn look. Autodesk® Impression software lets you create compelling presentation-ready graphics directly from your DWG and DWF files.

Create 3D Models with Photorealistic Rendering
With the latest in 3D rendering technology, you can create stunning models in less time. Capabilities include a slider control that graphically displays the trade-off between time and rendering quality.

Send an AutoCAD Model to a 3D Printer
Do more than just visualize your designs%u2014make them real. Whatever you%u2019re designing can now be made into a physical prototype through a 3D printer, either your own or through a connected service provider.

Create Camera Animations with ShowMotion
With ShowMotion® technology, you have the power to create camera animations to navigate through your design. The ShowMotion control panel displays thumbnail images of the view categories and view shots saved in the drawing.

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Explore Your Ideas in Almost Any Shape Imaginable
Effective design requires being able to quickly and easily explore your ideas. 3D AutoCAD® software provides the capabilities to shape, expand, and visualize your ideas unlike ever before.

Unleash Your Imagination with Free-form Design Tools
You now have the power to design ideas in almost any form you can imagine. Simply push/pull faces, edges, and vertices to model complex shapes, add smooth surfaces, and much more.

Create and Edit 3D Solids and Surface with Ease
Shape your ideas in 3D just like you have in 2D. With an easy-to-learn environment for creating both solids and surfaces, you can now create and edit 3D shapes with the familiarity of 2D tools.

Create Photorealistic Rendered Images
Visualize your ideas like never before. Choose from more than 300 materials, apply photometric lighting, and control the display to create highly accurate, photorealistic rendered images.

Walk or Fly Through a Model with 3D Navigation
Walk or fly through a model with the click of a button. Quickly rotate and orient any solid or surface model with the Autodesk® ViewCube® 3D navigation widget. Pan, center, and zoom on any object with the Autodesk® SteeringWheels® 3D navigation feature.

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Customize AutoCAD for Your Unique Requirements
Your job is unique. Your software should be as well. Customizing your CAD system to meet your unique needs is easier than you ever thought possible. With AutoCAD® software you can configure your settings, extend the software, build custom workflows, and develop your own application or leverage one already built.

Programming Interface for Developing Specialized Applications
Take advantage of our flexible development platform to boost your productivity. With direct access to database structures, the graphics system, and native command definitions, you can develop specialized design and drafting applications to perfectly fit your needs.

Action Recorder Automates Repetitive Tasks
Save time and increase productivity by automating repetitive tasks without requiring the assistance of a CAD manager. Now you can record tasks, add text messages, and request user input, then quickly select and play back recorded macros.

Autodesk Partners Provide Thousands of AutoCAD Enhancements
Get a broad range of fully integrated and interoperable solutions for whatever you%u2019re designing from thousands of Autodesk software partners from around the world.

Development Support Through the Autodesk Developer Network
If you%u2019re creating innovative software built on AutoCAD, you%u2019ll want to join the Autodesk® Developer Network. Training and support ensure your AutoCAD plug-in or software tightly integrates with your workflow with the latest AutoCAD release.

Customizable and Expandable Ribbon User Interface
Pump up overall drafting productivity with the ribbon interface. The ribbon is both easily customizable and expandable so that it can be optimized for each user and can meet each company%u2019s standards.

System Requirements

For 32-bit AutoCAD 2010
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional or Home edition (SP2 or later)
Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon® dual-core processor, 1.6 GHz or higher with SSE2 technology
2 GB RAM
1 GB free disk space for installation
1,024 x 768 VGA display with true color
Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 7.0 or later
Install from download, DVD, or CD

or

Microsoft® Windows Vista® (SP1 or later) including Enterprise, Business, Ultimate, or Home Premium edition (compare Windows Vista versions)
Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon dual-core processor, 3 GHz or higher with SSE2 technology
2 GB RAM
1 GB free disk space for installation
1,024 x 768 VGA display with true color
Internet Explorer 7.0 or later
Install from download, DVD, or CD

For 64-bit AutoCAD 2010
Windows XP Professional x64 edition (SP2 or later) or Windows Vista (SP1 or later) including Enterprise, Business, Ultimate, or Home Premium edition (compare Windows Vista versions)
AMD Athlon 64 with SSE2 technology, or AMD Opteron® processor with SSE2 technology, or Intel® Xeon® processor with Intel EM64T support and SSE2 technology, or Intel Pentium 4 with Intel EM64T support and SSE2 technology
2 GB RAM
1.5 GB free space for installation
1,024 x 768 VGA display with true color
Internet Explorer 7.0 or later
Install from download, DVD, or CD

Additional Requirements for 3D Modeling (All Configurations)
Intel Pentium 4 processor or AMD Athlon, 3 GHz or higher; Intel or AMD dual-core processor, 2 GHz or higher
2 GB RAM or greater
2 GB hard disk space available in addition to free space required for installation
1,280 x 1,024 32-bit color video display adapter (true color) 128 MB or greater, Microsoft® Direct3D® capable workstation class graphics card

DOWNLOAD Autodesk Autocad 2010 – 32 & 64bit – Crack Included

DOWNLOAD Autodesk Autocad 2010 – 32 & 64bit – Crack Included

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New Intel Core i5-750, i7-860 and i7-870

New Intel Core i5-750, i7-860 and i7-870















Intel’s first Core i5 processor, the mainstream model from their Nehalem platform, is expected to make its debut on September 6th, along with two new Core i7 chips. Sources in the Taiwan motherboard industry state that Intel will begin shipping the Core i5-750, Core i7-860 and Core i7-870 from early September, with quadcore clock-speeds of 2.66GHz, 2.8GHz and 2.93GHz respectively. They’ll be joined in early 2010 by two energy saving versions, the Core i5-750s and Core i7-860s, running at 2.4GHz and 2.53GHz, but with 82W TDP rather than 95W. The Core i5 CPUs will have the same 8MB L3 cache, VT-x virtual machines and LGA 1156 socket support as the Core i7, but lack the Hyper Threading technology that allows the Core i7 processors to effectively double their core-count to eight. VT-d support is also missing, meaning virtual machines won’t have access to the host’s I/O. However there is automatic overclocking where heat and power makes it possible, taking the i5-750 to 3.2GHz, the i7-860 to 3.46GHz and the i7-870 to 3.46GHz. The three chips are expected to be priced at $196, $284 and $562 respectively, while the ’s’ low-TDP models, the i5-750s and i7-860s, will be $259 and $337 respectively.

Looks as though some stores in Asia are already stocking Intel's Core i5 processors, codenamed Lynnfield, as Chinese users already have their hands on the 2.66GHz Core i5 750.

The part, scheduled to launch early next month, has been picked up by users at Chinese websites coolaler.com and xfastest.com, and has undergone the customary process of being photographed and benchmarked.

Planning on a Core i5 build? Here's what you'll be getting your hands on in September.