AMD Tuesday announced it is extending its A-Series portfolio to include 13 new dual- and quad-core APUs (accelerated processing units) for desktops and notebooks.

The expanded series will offer four new desktop and eight new notebook APUs, all of which will deliver a boost in both graphics and performance, AMD said.

The new A-Series APUs combine up to four x86 CPU cores and up to 400 Radeon cores to deliver higher quality graphics and dedicated HD video processing. AMD Dual Graphics technology can also be found within the new line-up, boosting visual performance up to 144 percent when select APUs are combined with an AMD Radeon HD 6500 graphics card, according to the chipmaker.

AMD Steady Video technology, designed to stabilize videos during playback, also eliminates any chance of unsteady or jerky visual clips when using the new APUs.

AMD’s revamped A-Series may especially pique the interest of gaming and high-performance computing (HPC) enthusiasts – and not just because of its graphics. The refresh includes, for the first time in the chipmaker’s history, two unlocked desktop APUs. The quad-core A8-3870K and A6-3670K can be overclocked by up to 500MHz for the CPU and 200MHz on the GPU, allowing end users to tune both x86 and graphics settings within a single processor.

AMD spokesperson Miriam Cox said that, while overclocking may not necessarily appeal to the masses, the unlocked AMD Steady Video and A6-3670K APUs are still expected to create some buzz in the market. What’s more, over-clockable APUs may provide a platform for hobbyists and HPC enthusiasts to further explore performance and graphic optimization.

The A8-3870K APU is priced at $135, while the A6-3670K APU is $115. Pricing details for the rest of the A-Series will be available over the next “several weeks,” AMD said.

Source

Chip maker Intel said Monday its fourth-quarter revenue will be lower than expected due to hard disk drive supply shortages.

Intel [INTC 24.045 -0.965 (-3.86%) ] shares tumbled more than 3 percent after the company made the announcement, which came before the opening bell.

Intel said it now expects fourth quarter revenue of $13.4 billion to $14 billion. It had previously forecast revenue of $14.2 billion to $15.2 billion for this all-important holiday quarter.

Analysts polled by FactSet are expecting revenue of $14.65 billion.

Intel is by the world’s largest maker of microprocessors, the “brains” of computers.

The company says it expects PC sales to be up sequentially during the quarter. But it says companies are reducing inventories and microprocessor purchases because of hard drive shortages.

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ASUS, ASRock and MSI Intel X79 board pricing in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is known for it’s cheap and good electronic products. Of course that would include the latest Intel X79 boards and CPUs.

To date, only three brands are available in the market. They are ASRock, ASUS and MSI. The only model that is mATX form factor is from ASRock.  Pricing ranges from HKD 1799 to HKD 3790. Below is a chart that shows the different models and pricing. (1 USD = 7.7915 HKD, 1 SGD = HKD 5.98).

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Extreme cooling is something that we don’t usually do. Sometimes it is good to know how far one can push the processor. We had the opportunity to witness the latest LGA2011 processor on LN2.

The test was conducted at the Plug Fest event held at ParkRoyal Hotel in KL. The Indo team tested the ES processor from and was able to achieve 5.4GHz using LN2. The CPU vcore voltage was raised to 1.62v for the test. Cinbench 11.5 CPU result 15pts
More details can be seen at the link below :

Link

This morning, we sighted the Intel Core i7 3960X selling at Low Yat Plaza in Kuala Lumpur. There is no bundle (with board) pricing attached. This processor is priced at RM 3550 (~SGD1450, USD1122). The price is USD is definitely more than the suggested listed price of USD 990 by USD 132.

A reader of ours sent us a link on hwbot that report on the availability of the upcoming processor with board and heatsink bundle. That isn’t really a surprise as leaks are like that always happen in China. If you live in China, you can already buy your Sandy Bridge-E system.

Costs:

Intel Core i7 3960X @ +/_ USD $1200
Intel Core i7 3930K @ +/_ USD $900
Intel Core i7 3820 @ +/_ USD $550
MSI X79A-GD65 8D @ +/_ USD $470
Special Bundle: i7 3930K + MSI X79-GD65 8D + Corsair H60 @ USD $1200

Today, we just witnessed an overclocked LGA2011 processor. The processor runs on the Intel X79 Express chipset mainboard with a regular heatsink. We observe the temperature at IDLE, it reads around 45 degrees.

A check on the CPU monitor shows that the CPU is running at a multiplier of 41X with CPU CLK set to 120MHz. This gives us a reading of 4.92GHz. The memory was running DDR3-2400 at CAS 10. CPU Vcore was 1.51v.

From the readings, it looks like the new Core i7 would be a pretty good overclocker. Who cares about LN2 when you can achieve such high speeds even on AIR. The retail processor should do better.

INTC is trading at 24.71  +0.12 (0.49%)

AMD Share price moved up 7 cents up 1.44% to $4.93. The increase in share price could be due to the launch of new series of AMD FX processors which challenges the performance of Intel Core i5/i7. The improvements can be seen from it’s multimedia encoding capabilities.

AMD FX-8150 is the flagship model AMD introduced on OCT 12 2011 and AMD will be holding a briefing in Taipei this afternoon too.

Will AMD be able to deliver the orders in time. The AMD LIano APU is still not readily available in most markets.

AMD (NYSE) closed at $4.93 (1.44%) 12 Oct 2011.

Unlock Your Record Setting AMD FX Series Processor Today
With the first eight-core desktop processor, enthusiasts and overclockers get an amazing PC experience at unheard of prices

SUNNYVALE, Calif. —10/12/2011
AMD (NYSE: AMD) today unleashed the AMD FX family of CPUs, delivering a fully unlocked and customizable experience for desktop PC users. The AMD FX series of desktop CPUs includes the first-ever eight-core desktop processor, enabling extreme multi-display gaming, mega-tasking and HD content creation for PC and digital enthusiasts – all for less than $245 (suggested U.S. retail price). This marks the first retail availability of processors that use AMD’s new multi-core architecture (codenamed “Bulldozer”), which is included in AMD’s upcoming server CPU (codenamed “Interlagos”) and the next-generation of AMD Accelerated Processing Units.

“AMD FX CPUs are back with a vengeance, as validated by the recent feat of setting a Guinness World Records® title for ‘Highest Frequency of a Computer Processor,’” said Chris Cloran, corporate vice president and general manager, Client Group at AMD. “While overclockers will certainly enjoy the frequencies the AMD FX processors can achieve, PC enthusiasts and HD media aficionados will appreciate the remarkable experience that AMD FX processors can provide as part of a balanced, affordable desktop system.”

All AMD FX CPUs offer completely unlocked processor clock multipliers for easier overclocking, paving the way for PC enthusiasts to enjoy higher CPU speeds and related performance gains. Additionally, these processors use AMD Turbo Core Technology to dynamically optimize performance across CPU cores enabling maximum performance for intense workloads.

Starting today, the below AMD FX CPUs will be available from global retailers. Additional AMD FX CPUs and systems based on the AMD FX processors will be available for purchase following the initial launch.

■FX-8150: Eight cores, 3.6 GHz CPU base (3.9 GHz Turbo Core, 4.2 GHz Max Turbo), $245 suggested retail price (U.S.)
■FX-8120: Eight cores, 3.1 GHz CPU base (3.4 GHz Turbo Core, 4.0 GHz Max Turbo), $205 suggested retail price (U.S.)
■FX-6100: Six cores, 3.3 GHz CPU base (3.6 GHz Turbo Core, 3.9 GHz Max Turbo), $165 suggested retail price (U.S.)
■FX-4100: Four cores, 3.6 GHz CPU base (3.7 GHz Turbo Core, 3.8 GHz Max Turbo), $115 suggested retail price (U.S.)
Without spending a small fortune, users can combine an AMD FX CPU with an AMD 9-series chipset motherboard and AMD Radeon™ HD 6000 series graphics cards to create the AMD “Scorpius” platform for an astounding gaming and HD entertainment experience. As part of the “Scorpius” platform, AMD FX CPUs also support AMD CrossFireX™ technology, which allows the combination of multiple graphics cards in a PC for stunning visual experiences, and AMD Eyefinity technology support for super resolution on up to six monitors.1 With AMD CatalystControl Center™ / AMD VISION Engine Control Center, users can get regular updates to help improve system performance and stability, and to add new software enhancements.

Bulldozer is the codename Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has given to one of the next-generation CPU cores after the K10 microarchitecture for the company’s M-SPACE design methodology, with the core specifically aimed at 10-watt to 125-watt TDP computing products. Bulldozer is a completely new design developed from the ground up.  AMD claims dramatic performance-per-watt improvements in HPC applications with Bulldozer cores. Products implementing the Bulldozer core were originally planned for release during the second quarter of 2011.

The Bulldozer cores will support most of the instruction sets currently implemented in Intel processors (including SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AES, CLMUL, and AVX) as well as future instruction sets proposed by AMD (XOP and FMA4).

The higher end models has 8 cores and they are FX-8170, FX-8150, FX-8120 and FX-8100. These models have 8MB L2 cache and is 125W  TDP. The FX-6120 and FX-6100 are 6 cores with 6MB L2 and FX-4120 and FX-4100 are 4 quad cores with 4MB L2 Cache. The hex cores and quad cores are all 95W TDP. All models support memory of 1866MT/s. They are all multiplier enabled and supports turbo cache. It fits existing AM3+ AMD 990FX boards and they are on 32nm SOI manufacturing process. The processor speed information can be found tabulated below.*

*Subjected to changes.

Benchmarks can be read here -> http://en.ocworkbench.com/tech/first-look-at-amd-8-core-bulldozer-processor-fx-8150

The expected Zambezi parts are summarized in the table below:

 recently launched the AMD E-450 and E-300 APUs, running at 1.65 GHz and 1.3 GHz, respectively. Systems based on the E-450 and E-300 deliver exceptional performance and value.  Like systems based on the E-350, they also feature excellent video playback, DirectX 11-capable graphics and extremely power efficient x86 performance.

The AMD APU is revolutionary in many ways but it is important to highlight the significant contribution of power efficiency and battery life for mobile lifestyles.  Before the AMD APU, many entry level notebooks did not have great battery life.  The AMD E-450 and E-300 enable fantastic mobility and a great computing experience.

What you are seeing in the video are systems powered by the AMD E-450 and E-300, demonstrating that these systems:

• Offer better battery life than competing systems based on our competitor’s products
• When looking at scripting software to simulate real world workloads in productivity and gaming, these systems deliver the same or better performance in a more power efficient manner
• Offer better power efficiency and better platform thermals, which can result in cooler user experience

Digitimes reports that AMD has announced revenue shipments of the first processors based on its new x86 Bulldozer architecture. Initial production of the world’s first 16-core x86 processor, codenamed Interlagos, began in August and shipping to OEM customers is already underway.

Compatible with existing AMD Opteron 6100 Series platforms and infrastructure, Interlagos is expected to launch and be available in partner systems in the fourth quarter of 2011. Many of the initial shipments have been earmarked for large custom supercomputer installations that are now underway

Research firm IDC, recently released its Q2 data on the microprocessor market.  According to the latest report, AMD seems to have improved over Q1 2011 and gained some share.

IDC’s report mentions that AMD’s share in total PC microprocessor market increased by 1.5% in Q2 2011 compared to previous quarter. However if we dig deeper it seems that the company gained share in notebooks and desktops but continued to perform poorly in servers where its share further declined to 5.5%. Although AMD is expected to launch its bulldozer CPU in later half of this year, we have reduced our market share expectations for the full year 2011 from slight gains to slight losses.

However, the notebook market share gain was a positive surprise and consequently we have adjusted our expectation in the category slightly upwards.

Price estimate for AMD stands at $9.90 , implying a significant premium to the market price.

Source

AMD shipped about one million Llano APUs in June and 1.3-1.5 million units in July, and with the appearance of the company’s new Llano APUs in the fourth quarter, annual shipments of Llano in 2011 should reach 7.5-8 million units, according to sources from motherboard players.

The sources pointed out that AMD is pushing its 40nm-based C series (Ontario) and E series (Zacate) APUs for the entry-level market, while it is pushing 32nm-based Llano-based APUs for the mid-range to performance and mainstream markets, and is pushing 32nm AM3+ FX series (Zambezi) processors for the high-end market in the fourth quarter.

In 2012, AMD will launch a new APU series codenamed Krishna using a 28nm process from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), targeting mini PCs, and all-in-one PCs with an APU series codenamed Trinity to replace Llano for the mainstream market, adopting a 32nm process from Globalfoundries. For the high-end market, AMD will launch an APU series codenamed Komodo.

Source : Digitimes

Intel Sandy Bridge-E processors to be delayed to 2012

We have seen some of these boards at Computex 2011. This new boards featuring the Intel X79 chipset will support the upcoming Socket 2011 Sandy Bridge-E processor.

With a quad channel memory architecture, it is supposedly the successor to tri channel Intel X58.

Although the chipset will be launched as scheduled in Oct 2011, the processors are still having performance issues and bugs that needs to be ironed out.

According to various sources, there were indications that the intial launch date of November 2011 might be pushed back to early 2012.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc NYSE:AMD announced today about its participation with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), HP and Clarkson University in a significant research project that looks at the industry-wide challenge of channeling renewable energy directly to data centers.

Because wind and solar-derived energy can be irregular, the intended study will also examine critical questions of how to automatically shift a compute load between data centers and maintain reliability.

AMD is basically a Semiconductor – Broad Line industry company. The sales of company resulted $6.45 billion for last consecutive twelve months, and the company’s net income recorded $828.00 million. The company’s growth of its sales in recent quarter vs. year ago quarter recorded -4.80% which is below the Industry benchmark of 16.90% and below from Standard and Poor’s benchmark of 13.90%.

Company is on an optimistic track of growth as the gross margin of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc is 44.8% which is below the industry benchmark for gross margin of 57.9% and above the Standard and Poor’s benchmark for gross margin of 37.7%.

The stock price of company on July 29, 2011 decreased 1.08% and settled to the closing price of $7.34. The overall volume in the last trading session was 20.88 million shares. Its fifty two week range was $5.53-$9.58. The total market capitalization remained $5.05 billion.

AMD current stock price is moving above its 52 week low by 32.73% and moving below from 52 week high price by 23.38%. AMD last month stock price volatility remained 3.71%. In its share capital AMD has 687.54 million outstanding shares while company’s float is 686.32 million shares. Ownership of company is 71.88% institutional while insiders owning 0.10%.

Tech report reports that AMD released a graphic novel titled “The Legend of FX” last week in a rather strange effort to build some hype for the brand’s revival later this year. The Legend of FX takes some jabs at Intel while touting AMD’s superior graphics and improved performance, but it’s the recently posted cinematic trailer promoting the novel itself that brings a juicy tidbit: hidden at 0:15 is the date “September 19″ which some have taken as a hint for when FX will see the light of day.

WCCFTech claims to have confirmed a September launch date with Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers and says four processors will make the initial FX lineup — the FX-8150, FX-8100, FX-6100 and FX-4100.

The range-topping FX-8150 packs eight cores clocked at 3.6 GHz (or up to 4.2GHz in Turbo mode) and has a TDP of 125W, while the FX-8100 drops frequencies to 2.8-3.7GHz and the power rating to 95W. The six-core FX-6100 and quad-core FX-4100 will also have a TDP of 95W and feature base/Turbo clocks of 3.3/3.9 GHz and 3.6/3.8 GHz, respectively.

The chips are all based on GlobalFoundries’ 32nm process technology, come in an AM3+ package, and have a built-in dual-channel DDR3-1866 memory controller. They also feature 1MB of L2 cache per core, 8MB of shared L3 cache, and unlocked multipliers. A previous leak covered here mentioned four additional FX chips and a possible delay into Q4 of 2011, so until we get an official announcement from AMD we won’t know for sure.

Source

Sandy Bridge-E Model Numbers, Clock Speeds Surface

Here are details of the first three models of Intel’s “Sandy Bridge-E” Core i7 processors in the LGA2011 package. Some of these details were made public as early as mid-April. It was then analyzed that Intel was driving two distinct lines of LGA2011 client processors: Enthusiast and Performance, and within Performance, there were BClk multiplier-unlocked six-core, and locked quad-core chips. With the new series, Intel will move to the 3000 series of processor model numbering, indicating that the new processors will be part of Intel’s 3rd generation Core processors, even though they’re based on the Sandy Bridge architecture.

Before we move to the model numbers, here’s a quick run up of the brand extenders. “X” denotes Extreme Edition, “K” denotes “Unlocked” (BClk multipler unlocked). Leading the pack will be Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition. This six-core (6 cores, 12 threads with HTT) chip has a nominal clock speed of 3.30 GHz, Turbo Boost speed of up to 3.90 GHz, and features the full 15 MB of L3 cache present on the Sandy Bridge-E silicon. Expect this chip to have a four figure price-tag.

Next up, is the Core i7-3930K, with 6 cores, 12 threads, a nominal clock speed of 3.20 GHz, and Turbo Boost speed of 3.80 GHz; but 12 MB of L3 cache compared to 15 MB on the Extreme Edition chip. This chip features an unlocked BClk multiplier, making overclocking it possible.

The most affordable LGA2011 chip will be Core i7-3820, with 4 cores, 8 threads, nominal clock speed of 3.60 GHz, Turbo speed of 3.90 GHz, and just 10 MB of L3 cache. Unlike the other two, this one has its BClk multiplier locked. All three models feature quad-channel DDR3 memory controllers, but it is likely that the lower-end models could also have lower DRAM multiplier limits. All three chips will have other features in common, including a PCI-Express 3.0 root complex that gives out two x16 links to drive graphics.

At Computex Taipei 2011, manufacturers displayed their latest Intel X79 LGA2011 boards. You can view some of them from this link.

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage ASUS showcase dual socket LGA1366 and LGA2011 ROG motherboard “DANSHUI BAY”

Computex Taipei 2011 INTEL Shows X79 mainboards ASUS CIX79 Deluxe, ASROCK X79 Extreme4, Gigabyte GD X79A-UD3 and the MSI X79A-GD65

Source

Quad-core processors, which are fairly commonplace in desktop PCs, will be in almost half of all notebooks sold within the next four years, according to market research firm IHS iSuppli.

In a report July 12, IHS iSuppli analysts said that by 2015, 49 percent of all notebooks will ship with quad-core processors. That will be up from about 9 percent this year, according to the analysts. In total, 160 million notebooks powered by quad-core chips will ship in 2015, up from 21.1 million this year.

Six-core chips also will make inroads, the analysts said. Currently there are no notebooks with six-core processors, they said. That will change by 2015, when 18 percent of notebooks will ship with six-core chips.

In 2015, 58.9 million notebooks will boast six-core chips, according to IHS iSuppli.

The numbers represent a natural progression, as chip makers like Intel and Advanced Micro Devices look to improve chip performance through the use of more cores rather than upping the chip’s frequency, according to Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst of compute platforms for HIS iSuppli.

“The cornerstone of PC performance, the microprocessor, is continuing to evolve to provide new levels of performance to the PC market,” Wilkins said in a statement. “For decades, the main focus for increasing microprocessor performance was in the area of clock speed, with suppliers battling to offer parts with the most megahertz or gigahertz. However, the competition now has shifted to the battle over cores, with suppliers racing to offer parts that boost performance by providing greater parallelism. The battle now has moved from the dual-core segment into the quad-core area—and next will spread to the six-core realm.”

IHS iSuppli analysts pointed to recent chip releases—such as Intel’s six-core Core i7-970 and AMD’s six-core Phenom II X6—as examples of offerings to come. Currently they’re aimed at desktops, but the chip makers will bring higher core counts to notebook processors as well.

Such chips are examples of the ongoing development of PC technology, even at a time when consumers are turning their attention to tablets, particularly Apple’s iPad. Both IDC and Gartner in April noted that in the first quarter, the worldwide PC market saw its first year-over-year decline in six quarters, due in large part to consumer interest in tablets.

“‘Good-enough computing’ has become a firm reality, exemplified first by [netbooks] and now media tablets,” IDC senior research analyst Jay Chou said in a statement at the time. “Macroeconomic forces can explain some of the ebb and flow of the PC business, but the real question PC vendors have to think hard about is how to enable a compelling user experience that can justify spending on the added horsepower.”

Despite the pressure on the market, PC OEMs and chip makers continue to improve the performance, design and features in the systems, IHS iSuppli analysts said. They also evolving the notebooks to fit user demands for all-day mobile computing. An example of that is in the move to integrate graphics technology onto the same piece of silicon as the CPU, which helps with power consumption.

Intel—which is the world’s top chip maker with 82.6 percent of the market, according to HIS iSuppli—is offering integrated graphics in its chips based on the new “Sandy Bridge” architecture, while AMD does the same with its Fusion APUs (accelerated processing units). Both vendors launched their integrated-graphics offerings at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in January. AMD is the world’s second-largest chip vendor, with 10.1 percent of the market.

Source

We have already reviewed a Gigabyte A75 board earlier. Today, we received yet another A75 board. This time round, it comes from ASRock. The A75 Extreme6 has 3 full length PCIe slots for CrossFire X. On the board itself, there is a label indicating that it supports DDR3-2500+. Before we go into the tests, let’s check what is inside the package.