Desktop variants of AMD “Richland” APUs in the socket FM2 package, will arrive this June. Three of the first models to be released to the market, the A10-6800K, the A10-6700, and the A4-4400, could already be in stock with certain retailers, and were pictured. The A10-6800K (AD680KWOA44HL) features four x86-64 cores based on the “Piledriver” micro-architecture, 4.10 GHz core clock speed, 4.40 GHz maximum Turbo Core frequency, and Radeon HD 8670D graphics, clocked at 844 MHz. It features an unlocked base-clock multiplier.

The A10-6700 (AD6700OKA44HL) features the same graphics core as the A10-6800K, but features 3.70 GHz CPU clock speed, 4.30 GHz maximum Turbo Core frequency, and an upwards locked base-clock multiplier. The A4-4400 (AD4400OKA23HL), on the other hand, is an entry-level dual-core chip with 3.70 GHz core, 3.90 GHz Turbo Core, and Radeon HD 8370D graphics.

*** Please see the table below for more details about AMD Fusion S-Series “Richland” CPU line up:

Source

Although Haswell processors will be released in June, there’s pretty much nothing left that has not been leaked, including photo’s, benchmarks, specifications, new technology .. and now the prices as well. The flagship Haswell model, Core i7-4770K with unlocked multiplier, was already spotted this week in some stores in Europe. The Haswell processor can be also pre-ordered from several online stores in US. What’s more, the stores list a handful of other Haswell SKUs, including i5-4670K.

PCSuperStore currently has Core i5-4430, i5-4570, i5-4570S, i5-4670, i5-4670K, i7-4770, i7-4770K and i7-4770S on pre-order, with prices ranging from $197 to $368.

The table below shows how these prices stack up against prices of Ivy Bridge products from the same store:

With one exception, all Haswell microprocessors are currently 4% – 13% more expensive than Ivy Bridge counterparts. Pre-order prices tend to drop a bit when it gets closer to launch, but at this point it is impossible to tell whether they will drop to Ivy Bridge level, or will be a few percent higher reports cpuworld.

Source

Google Chromebook pixel goes on sale for USD 1299 onward, will you buy one? Belo are the specs

The Google Chromebok PIxel comes with a 12.85″ high res screen with resolution of 2560×1700. It has a Gorilla Glass multi touch screen and it weighs 3.3lbs and 0.64″ thin.

The device comes with 1TB Google drive online storage for 3 years. There is a LTE version of the device priced at USD 1449. The WIFI edition is at USD 1299.

According to a report on PC World, Intel decided to quit the PC motherboard business by shutting down its Desktop Board brand. To company will begin shrinking its motherboard product line with the arrival of socket LGA1150 Core “Haswell” processors, and eventually leave the market within 3 years. One can draw three distinct inferences from this move. First, Intel’s Desktop Board lineup is too bloated, and the desktop form-factor is on a rapid decline in relation to the rest of the PC industry. Second, with the emergence of new high-volume brands in the motherboard industry, Intel is finding its lineup out of place.

Third, and more interestingly, this could be a move by Intel to pacify other motherboard vendors about the impending transition of a bulk of the motherboard volume from changeable CPU socket to hardwired BGA, which is bound to happen in a couple of years from now. Other vendors expressed apprehensions over the transition to BGA believing such a more could make Desktop Board put them out of business. Intel’s Desktop Board team will instead spend resources in developing new form-factors such as the NUC.

Source: http://communities.intel.com/thread/34217

Intel prepares 8 series chipsets ready for Q2 2013 and might be displayed at CeBIT 2013 Germany

For those who are preparing to fly to CeBIT exhibition, you might be able to see the 8 series chipset motherboards on display at various booths there.

Motherboard manufacturers are all ready, for the next generation of Intel chipsets, the 8 series.

The 8 series will consists of Z87, H87, B85, H81. All will spot a different socket 1150.

According to the tweet, the Z87 and the rest will be available as early as Q2 2013 but the H81 will be delayed.

So get ready for another change of socket type soon. After this generation, the future processors will be soldered on board and most likely you won’t have much of a chance but to get a board with CPU together as a ‘bundle’.

On the other hand, the actual Haswell processors will not be available till June. So, you might end up having boards on sale without processors just like before.

SAN FRANCISCO A A report that Advanced Micro Devices Inc. was exploring its options lit up the chip maker’s stock in late trading, but investors might want to watch what happens first.

AMD (AMD) issued a statement after the market closed on Tuesday stating that it “is not actively pursuing a sale of the company or significant assets at this time.” Earlier, Reuters reported that the company had hired investment bank J.P. Morgan, a move that potentially could lead to a sale of the company or some of its assets. Read more about AMD’s statement.

The chip maker’s assertion that it was “not actively pursuing a sale” may be telling, because it could mean that it did already considered this option, or looked at the sale of some of its intellectual property, and decided against any such action.

It could be an acknowledgment that AMD would have a tough time finding a merger partner. The company’s biggest rival is Intel Corp. (INTC), the world’s largest microprocessor maker. Both companies are seen as behind in the mobile-device market — while their biggest partner, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), embraced technology by rival ARM Holdings PLC (ARMH), by developing the new Surface tablet for its chip designs.

It’s not clear at all which company might actually want to acquire AMD. So investors who were cheering the potential of a merger or asset sale might want to rethink the whole scenario.

Source : Marketwatch

It is been years since overclocking has changed the motherboard industry. In the old days, most manufacturers are quite primitive and worried about RMA. They restricted the voltage ranges available in BIOS and only give you some leeway for overclocking.

Today, most if not all of the manufacturers are embracing the overclocking phenomenom by unlocking the capabilities of the processors with large range of options in the BIOS for extreme overclocking.

Of course, there are companies who are shouting with their world record, 7GHz, 7.5GHz. Some will claim they have high class components, multi layer anti whatsoever components to last longer. Some are said to be military certified. The weird thing is that some of these companies can’t even get their BIOS right to run at default speeds!

Most users do not know is that, with the additional resources put in to cater for this niche group of overclockers, motherboard costs have sky rocketed over the years. Is it fair that 99% of the end users are paying more to subsidise this niche group ?

In fact, since motherboard manufacturers are so confident about LN2 overclocking, to record levels, why don’t they just be bold enough to make LN2 CERTIFIED motherboards. Those who do not require LN2 can go for other boards since most of them don’t really need LN2 as it is an impractical solution to cooling a system other than for higher benchmark numbers.

Discuss

The world goes round and when the younger brother is threatening the bigger. It is time to bring it home and teach him the right way.

Well, that is what has been circulating on the net a few days back. ASUS is buying ASRock. If the acquisition goes through, it will definitely have an adverse effect on ASUS, ASRock and all the other companies that have deals with them.

It will be back to square one, perhaps ASRock will be back to be responsible for mid range board while ASUS makes the high end boards. In fact, it was supposed to be this arrangment back in the days when it first started up. It was a seperate division set up to attack ECS which takes up most of the low end board market.

In the past, ASUS has somewhat ‘merged’ with Gigabyte back in 2006 in a joint venture “Gigabyte United“. So, will this be another so called consolidation exercise.

Whether you like it or not, motherboard industry has shined for the past decade. It is a sunset industry for DIY market but it may shine in the OEM space. With so many seperate entities now merged into a chip, those who relied on third party add on features like USB 3, audio codec will soon intense competition from either INTEL or AMD since they can package in all the functionalities into a chip making all board works the same way except with some different colours or heatsink designs.

Comment below or in our forum.

Source

With the new FM2 boards available, we took the chance to compare the A10-5800K (3.8GHz) and compare it to the Intel core i5-3570K processor in terms of it’s performance, overclockability etc.

Tbe Trinity FM2 A10-5800K has a built in graphics core of Radeon 6670D which runs at 800MHz which seems to outrun the Socket FM1 and Core i5 3570K in graphics component test.

The AMD A10-5800K is catching up with it’s Intel counterpart especially in the data crunching and data transcoding department but it will probably need to improve it’s design to match the speed. It has improved from it’s FM1 design but still require more time to evolve.

Generally the AMD A10-5800K is a good alternative if you have little budget for a PC with on board graphics.

Read our review of the BIOSTAR Hi-Fi A85X motherboard review with more detail numbers.

http://en.ocworkbench.com/tech/review-of-biostar-hi-fi-a85x-socket-fm2-trinity-motherboard-with-a10-5800k-processor/

AMD has unveiled it’s Trinity APUs and hope that this would create competition and cause Intel to slash it’s price to compete with them.

In the past AMD has been the alternative to Intel. In fact it has a strong following until recent years with it’s Socket FM1.

We spoke to a number of distributors and they are hesistant to bring in AMD FM2 boards and CPUs as there is not much of a demand in this region. Users who have high spending power naturally goes for Intel.

Adopting the new FM2 socket, AMD has released several Trinity APUs including quad-core A10-5800K, featuring integrated Radeon HD 7660D GPU, A10-5700, A8-5600K, A8-5500 and dual-core A4-5300.

Currently, Intel Core i3 series processor prices range from US$117-138, while AMD’s new Trinity APUs are priced at US$69-129.

The processors are pretty affordable and with motherboards at 70% of the price of Intel motherboards. It might also spur the sales of Intel processors and motherboards as vendors might start slashing prices, probably in a matter of time.

Pricing source : Digitimes

September 2012 is drawing to a close and October would be an interesting month for AMD as they will launch their new Socket FM2 processors. Although processors are not available as yet, boards have surfaced on manufacturers website. Information about the processors have also been posted almost on every site. We managed to get a glimspe of the almost ready FM2 processor A10-5800K. Here is how it looks like.

The unlocked chip A10-5800K has 4MB Cache rated 100W and has a max. clock speed turbo at 4.2GHz. The internal graphics clock is rated at 800MHz and has 384 cores. AMD did not reveal actual pricing but it should be in the range of USD 120 in units of 1000. The processor will be available from Oct 2 2012.

According to a news article on techworld australia, it is said that the upcoming Advanced Micro Devices’ latest A-series quad-core desktop processors runs at up to 4.2GHz, but can be overclocked to 6.5GHz with liquid nitrogen cooling, the company said.

The two unlocked processors, which we have already listed as A10-5800K and the A8-5600K
are faster and cheaper than competitive Intel chips, said AMD desktop products manager Adam Kozak during a conference call to discuss the new chips.

Compared to the equivalent Intel, the AMD is in the US$100 to $150 price range, Kozak said. Intel’s unlockable processors start at $216, according to a Sept. 2 price list.

The chips are based on the Piledriver microarchitecture, which is also used in the latest laptop processors code-named Trinity released by AMD starting in the middle of this year. AMD’s internal benchmarks revealed the new chips provide 25 percent to 37 percent overall faster system performance than the older desktop chips code-named Llano, which were released last year.

The unlocked chip A10-5800K has 4MB Cache rated 100W and has a max. clock speed turbo at 4.2GHz. The internal graphics clock is rated at 800MHz and has 384 cores. The A8-5600K has a maximum clock speed of 3.9GHz and 256 graphics cores with 760MHz GPU clock speed.

AMD did not reveal actual pricing but it should be in the range of USD 120 in units of 1000. The processor will be available from Oct 2 2012.

Source

Intel users who buys the Core i5 series usually go for the faster encoding speed and support of new technologies on new boards e.g based on Intel Z77 chipset.

In fact, something that most intend to forget is the raw power of the processors. In fact, when the Socket FM1 processors were introduced, it was not well received.

Picture courtesy of TomsHardware showing the difference of Socket FM1 vs FM2.

Today, we took a look at our old records and did a comparison and found that our Socket FM1 A8-3850 actually outperform our Core i5-3570K processor in terms of graphics capabilities. This is especially in games frame rates and openGL tests. Although it is fast, graphics encoding is behind Intel’s.

So, will the Socket FM2 processors going to change that or will there be any breakthrough ? Discuss.

If you are an Intel user, you would probably be aware of XMP. AMD in it’s upcoming motherboards featuring the Socket FM2 will support AMP. AMP or AMD memory profile it AMD’s version of the Intel Extreme Memory Profiles (XMP) which amounts to known-safe automatic overclock settings. The AMP profiles are stored in the DDR3 memory modules and can be read by supporting motherboards. With such ram modules, it is easy to configure the board to work well with these RAMs as the voltages, ram timings are already preset.

So far, Biostar, ECS and ASRock Socket FM2 boards will feature this capability. It will be useful for users who just wants less headaches plug and play solution. For those who loves to meddle with ram timings, this might not be that important as you can manually adjust your ram timings anyway.

So, will you buy AMP certified modules at a premium ? Discuss.

BIOSTAR Officially Launches Latest AMD “Trinity” Based Hi-Fi Motherboard with Exclusive Integrated BIOSTAR Hi-Fi Technology

September 19, 2012, Taipei, Taiwan – BIOSTAR, a manufacturer of motherboards, VGA cards, industrial computer systems and other peripherals, has officially launched their latest edition to their high-end motherboard lineup, the Hi-Fi A85X. This newest ATX form factor motherboard supports all AMD Socket FM2 CPUs and offers native support for SuperSpeed USB 3.0 and dual-channel memory up to DDR3 – 2400 in over-clocking mode. Socket FM2 is a CPU socket used by AMD’s upcoming Trinity Fusion APU’s which will also utilize AMD’s new A85X chipset. The Hi-Fi A85X has also received the official Windows 8 hardware certification from Microsoft.
One feature set that sets the BIOSTAR Hi-Fi A85X above and beyond typical motherboards is the integrated BIOSTAR Hi-Fi technology called “Puro Hi-Fi Technology”. Marketing Manager Eric Tung gets excited when given a chance to explain the value proposition with these motherboards. “It’s pretty cool how we have put a unique power delivery system just for the audio aficionados out there, like me” explained Eric. “With our professional quality sound and video capabilities on this board, a user can set up a full PC based home theater system with full THX support and true 7.1 surround sound…I mean the real thing, this isn’t simulated. You have to hear it to believe it”, he enthused.

Targeting audiophiles, HTPC enthusiasts and high-end gamers alike, Puro Hi-Fi sports an integrated independent audio power design with a built-in amplifier. The technology utilizes audio components with an independent power design for a significant reduction in electronic noise producing superb sound quality. The unique noise-blocking multi-layer PCB layout is conducive for an exceptionally clean signal. That design feature, together with a sampling rate of 192kHz/24-bit, delivers a high quality audio through an analog connection to your home theater system, multi-channel speakers or high-end headphones allowing you to enjoy true high-definition 7.1-channel surround sound.

Part of the Puro Hi-Fi design includes high-quality “Non-Polarized Electrolysis Electric audio capacitors” for each individual audio channel circuit delivering low noise, low distortion, and a wide bandwidth to achieve the highest sound resolution and sound expansion for the most realistic sound effects. Furthermore, the resistors used by the system are of the metal-oxide film type with metal oxides such as tin. The electric characteristics are that of greater stability and reliability than regular metal film resistors when operating in an extremely broad working temperature range. These special components are typically used in applications with high endurance audio demands.

With BIOSTAR’s implementation of four unique technologies, Puro Hi-Fi, THX, Lucid MVP and SmartSpeedLAN, the brand new Hi-Fi series of motherboards increases sound, network and graphics performance dramatically. For a powerful gaming masterpiece with even a limited budget, this new Hi-Fi series motherboard is the best choice and will become a new favorite among gamers and movie watchers.

New AMD A-Series APUs Win 2012 Best Choice of COMPUTEX TAIPEI Award

AMD today announced its AMD A-Series APUs (Accelerated Processing Units) are winners of the 2012 Best Choice of COMPUTEX TAIPEI award, the second consecutive win for the product family. The award is given by the Taipei Computer Association, a driving force behind the annual event and the leading technology organization in the country. Extensive reviews are conducted by a panel of esteemed government officials, academics, research analysts, editors-in-chief of key media outlets and industry experts to select winning products based on outstanding design and cutting-edge technology in nine product categories.

The second generation AMD A-Series APU combines the company’s latest multi-core x86 CPU core architecture and award-winning AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series graphics to provide an increase in performance of up to 29 percent on productivity applications (as compared with the first generation AMD A-Series APUs), an increase of graphics performance up to 56 percent, and deliver up to 12 hours of battery life. Its unique features enable improvements in the areas that matter most to consumers today, including entertainment, gaming and mobility, through a growing ecosystem of APU-accelerated applications.
“We are honored to receive this prestigious award from the Taipei Computer Association for the second consecutive year,” said Chris Cloran, corporate vice president, AMD Client Products. “The overwhelming market reception and industry accolades for the AMD A-Series APUs demonstrate that AMD is uniquely meeting the needs of our customers and a new generation of PC buyers.”

AMD and other award recipients’ products will be displayed at the Best Choice Award Pavilion by Taipei Computer Association at the upcoming 2012 Computex exhibition. In addition, AMD’s product showcase will be located at Booth #L0607 in the TWTC Nangang exhibition hall.

For developers interested in learning more about APUs and heterogeneous computing, AMD will be hosting the second annual AMD Fusion Developer Summit (AFDS) from June 11-14 in Bellevue, Washington. Summit participants will be able to engage in interactive sessions and hands-on labs to deepen their knowledge of APU programmability, and gain a better understanding of how software applications can take full advantage of their parallel processing power.

Visit the AMD APU website for more information about AMD APUs.

While everyone is trying to get their hands on the Intel Core i7-3770K, Xeon based on ivy bridge are available for sale in Japan. According to Akiba, there are 11 versions of Xeon processors. It ranges from the cheapest E3-1220 V2 to E3-1290 V2 (3.7GHZ) . The price ranges from 18580 to 79800 Yen.

A number of Xeon processors will also have Intel HD 4000 graphics core built in. e.g. those ending with 5 in the model name e.g. E3-1245 V2. These E3-1200 V2 processors do not support VT-D but supports ECC memory.

The TDP of these processors ranges from 45W-87W with the exception of low power E3-1220LV2 with a TDP of only 17W

Source

Gigabyte will release 3 new models of motherboard supporting new TB technology

http://forums.ocworkbench.com/forumdisplay.php?f=23

It is noted that several individuals and shops are selling parallel imported Intel Core i7-3770K processors at a premium price in Singapore. It is not known if these parts of covered for warranty as they are not allocated to this market.

So before you go and purchase the processors, please have a detail check on the source of goods and make sure the seller is able to handle your after sales support.