Sign up for our Technology Newsletter 
AMD Goes Richland
There have been more than enough leaks dealing with Richland, AMD’s successor to the Trinity powered Virgo platform, and we even had a chance to see some leaks regarding its successor, codenamed Kaveri. As you may already know, Richland is planned to last through 2013 and it is clear that this is very important chip for AMD.
Based on the Piledriver architecture and built using 32nm technology, Richland will feature an integrated GPU that will be upgraded to Radeon HD 8000 series, a generation ahead of Trinity. As you know, there has been a lot of leaks regarding the Richland parts and the quad-core A10-6800K with Radeon HD 8670D graphics is expected to pack quite a punch. Best of all, Richland will still use the same FM2 socket.
According to our sources, the NDA will be lifted on 12th of March, 8am EST, and we are sure that we will see at least a couple of reviews as well as some additional info regarding the price and the availability date.
Will Intel’s Haswell Debut With Bugs?
According to a report over at Hardware.info that managed to get their hands on an internal Intel document, it appears that Intel’s Haswell platform might have a problem with its USB 3.0 host controller.
Although it is not as serious as the Cougar Point SATA 3Gbps bug, the USB 3.0 controller on Haswell platform will have issues with the S3 sleep mode and devices that are connected via USB 3.0 port. Apparently, when waking from S3 sleep, applications that are accessing the data from, for example, USB 3.0 storage device might freeze and force the user to reopen them manually.
Thankfully, the bug will be more of a nuisance rather than a problem as any loss of data is excluded. Intel does not plan to delay the launch and it is still scheduled for mid-2013, according to an Intel representative comment for Hardware.info. Intel is apparently still researching what other consequences this issue could possibly have and plans to resolve the problem in a future CPU stepping.
Intel Takes A Shot At ARM
ARM chips practically rule the mobile chip market, but Intel is trying to carve out a foothold with its new x86 chips, with relatively little success.
Intel claims its parts can outperform ARM chips in benchmarks and its manufacturing process lead should help it deliver faster and smaller chips. However, in spite of Intel’s claims, few vendors seem interested in its mobile chips.
Speaking to CNN, Intel mobile chief Mike Bell stressed that Intel has the software and systems competence to be the most successful player on the market. He pointed out that Intel can develop software to get the most out of its hardware and that Intel single core chips outperform multicore ARM designs.
“It’s a question of whether you’d rather have a jet engine or two propellers,” said Bell.
Granted, Bell has to tout the company line, but his engine comparison works both ways. Crop dusters and ultralight planes don’t need jet engines, or two piston engines for that matter. That is what really matters and Intel knows it. Not everyone needs a turbojet or turbofan, and not everyone needs an Intel core, especially not in mid- to low-end devices.
Intel believes its next generation 22nm mobile parts, with integrated LTE, will allow it to score some tablet and smartphone partners in late 2013 or 2014. However, Intel will have nothing to take on new A15 class ARM chips this year.
Quantum Computing Making Strides
Researchers at the University of Innsbruck in Austria have managed to transfer quantum information from an atom to a photon, which is being seen as a breakthrough in the making of quantum computers.
According to Humans Invent the breakthrough allows quantum computers to exchange data at the speed of light along optical fibres. Lead researcher on the project Tracy Northup said that the method allows the mapping of quantum information faithfully from an ion onto a photon.
Northup’s team used an “ion trap” to produce a single photon from a trapped calcium ion with its quantum state intact using mirrors and lasers. No potential cats were injured in the experiment. The move enables boffins to start to play with thousands of quantum bits rather than just a dozen or so. This means that they can get a computer to do specific tasks like factoring large numbers or a database search, faster.
AMD Debuts R5000
AMD has released its Firepro R5000 graphics card that has video over IP capabilities.
AMD typically promotes its workstation class Firepro cards using CAD/CAM software, however this time the company is relying on remote viewing as the big selling point for its latest workstation graphics card. AMD’s Firepro R5000 has a GPU that uses its Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture and Teradici PC video over IP technology to send graphics output over the network.
AMD used its Pitcarin GPU coupled to 2GB of GDDR5 memory in the Firepro R5000. However it isn’t AMD’s GPU that is the big selling point of the Firepro R5000 but rather Teradici’s Tera2240 chip that encrypts display output before sending it out on the network, while supporting up to 60fps (frames per second).
AMD’s Firepro R5000 is intended to be used in render farms, with each final image being sent over an IP network to the end host, and the firm claims that the technology can be used in education, financial and media environments.
The Firepro R5000 is a single slot graphics card that has two mini Displayport outputs that can drive two 2500×1600 displays, however it can also drive a further four remote displays at 1920×1200 resolution by sending data over its RJ45 Ethernet port.
Both AMD and Teradici talked up the low configuration overheads of the Firepro R5000.
AMD 2014 GPU Shaping Up
It looks like AMD has changed its mind about 8000 series graphics, part of the Solar System range of products are slowly showing up in the market.
We got an idea that at some point in the latter part of 2013 there will be some new Sea Islands based graphics line from AMD. What we refer to as the HD 8000 series will come at some point, but AMD can actually end up branding some of these new parts as HD 7000 series products as well.
We were more interested in the big picture, when and whether we will see an entirely new generation in 2014, let’s call it 9000 series for now. Multiple sources have told us that AMD will stick with discrete graphics for the foreseeable future. In 2014, we should see the new HSA generation as well as a steady roadmap for the future beyond 2014.
Remember, AMD still makes quite a bit of money on graphics. It doesn’t makes a lot, but it doesn’t build GPUs at a loss either. Its graphics integrated in CPUs, APUs if you will, also help AMD sell more cores and this is why AMD will stick with making new graphics cores in the future. Technology developed for high-end discrete graphics will trickle down to APUs over time.
Winning all three consoles, including the already launched Nintendo Wii U as well as the soon to launch Xbox 720 (next) and Playstation, 4 will definitely help AMD to perform even better in the future and build closer relations with developers.
Nvidia will have someone to fight in this market and AMD will continue to make discrete graphics cards, as well as notebook chips. Both companies will fight for as much market share as they possibly can and analysts who claim either of them is about to ditch the discrete market is dead wrong.
MSI Shows Off Lightning
MSI’s Geforce GTX 680 Lightning-L graphics card has showed up in Japan and it is possible that we will it in other markets as well.
Apparently not much has been changed compared to the original GTX 680 Lightning, as the PCB and feature set look about the same. The only thing that is different are the clocks. Set at 1019MHz and 1084MHz for base and boost GPU, they are somewhat lower. For comparison, the original GTX 680 Lightning worked at 1100MHz for base and 1176MHz for Boost GPU clock.
The new Lightning is still cooled by MSI’s Twin Frozr IV GPU and it comes with 2GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 6008MHz. With the same feature set it is expected that this SKU will have a rather decent amount of overclocking headroom as well, depending on the GPU below the cooler, of course.
Although it has not been officially launched, we will surely keep an eye out for it in other markets as well.
Will Intel Haswell V2 Be Efficient?
Comments Off on Will Intel Haswell V2 Be Efficient?
It is being said that Intel made a bold battery life claim that hasn’t been really advertised by the company so far.
At this point it doesn’t benefit Intel to announce it, as such news can change in a heartbeat, but it looks as if the Haswell 2 chip platform, a part of Shark Bay 2013 platform, should have significantly better battery life than the previous Ivy Bridge 2012 generation.
Our sources close to Intel claim that we can expect as much as up to 70 percent more battery life compared to an equivalent Chief River (Ivy Bridge) platform. This is a huge success. Compared to an existing generation platform and even in the Shark bay Ultrabook baseline feature Intel dares to share that we can expect whole-day battery life.
When Intel and other companies talk about all-day battery life, it usually means a working day, or eight hours, so don’t be tricked into thinking that whole day battery life means 24 hours. Most Ultrabooks today can deliver 5 to 6 hours and it looks like this is about to change with Shark Bay Ultrabooks, that are expected in Q3 2013.
Haswell just got a bit more attractive in our eyes as it will bring a lot of computing power and decent battery life that makes it much more competitive against tablets. It appears that Haswell convertible notebooks really have a chance in the war against ARM based tablets, but they will still be pricier.
AMD Delays Cards
While some people are packing in smoking, AMD thinks it is a good idea to pack in releasing new graphics cards, at least for a year or so.
AMD marketing manager Robert Hallock told Megagames that the company has no intentions to release Radeon HD 8000 series cards for the foreseeable future.
“The HD 7000 Series will remain our primary focus for quite some time,” he said.
When pressed he said that AMD and its partners are happy with the HD 7000 Series, and it will continue to be its emphasis in the channel for the foreseeable future. There had been some rumours that an HD 8000 Series was being developed. However AMD has never confirmed it and so far there has been no proof that any were ready to show up.
Hallock’s comments lend credibility to rumours that the HD 8000 family won’t be out before Q4 2013.
AMD Releases Vishera
Although it was detailed back in August last year, AMD has just now officially released its new “affordable” Vishera based FX-4130 quad-core socket AM3+ CPU.
The new CPU is part of AMD’s 4100-series and is based on Vishera core design with four Piledriver cores. It works at 3.8GHz base clock and can “turbo” up to 3.9GHz. It packs 4MB of L2 and 4MB of L3 cache and has a 125W TDP.
According to the slide over at Xbitlabs.com, the FX-4130 replaces the FX-4100 with the same US $101 price but should provide between 3 and 9 percent more performance.
As things get better with Globalfoundries and their 32nm process technology, AMD is expected to introduce new models based on cut-down versions of Vishera, according to the report.