Processors - Page 121

A little birdy has learned today that Intel is apparently looking to have a new PCI Express interface implemented into future chipsets. And no, it's not to do with PCI-E 3.0 which is already a definitive inclusion on the cards.

What the company is looking squarely at is an interface PCI-SIG doesn't currently have a slot or port specification for - that being PCI-Express 2.0 x2. Why x2? Intel's basis of reasoning for it is to provide a more balanced and cost effective means for third parties manufacturing devices such as 2-port SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 controller chips, without bottlenecking their performance.

While most of these types of devices currently maintain their tiny package size thanks to using a single lane (x1) PCI-E connection, the devices tend to heavily saturate it and bottlenecks are often seen. Shifting said device to a x4 slot on the other hand is simply overkill, while retracting from the already limited lanes available in total on current desktop chipsets.

The first three models of Intel's upcoming next-gen "Sandy Bridge-E" Core i7 processors has been made available. We're still going to see an Enthusiast and Performance release, Performance including BClk multiplier-unlocked six-core chips as well as locked quad-core chips. The new series is set to include the 3000 series of processor model numbering, this means that the new processors will be part of Intel's 3rd generation Core processors, even though they're based on the Sandy Bridge architecture.

Leading the CPUs will be the Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition, six-core (12 threads with HTT) has a stock clock speed of 3.30GHz with 3.90GHz Turbo Boost, features 15MB of L3 cache. This chip is expected to have a four figure price tag. This will of course have its BClk multiplier unlocked for some insane overclocking. Next we have the Core i7-3930K which is again a 6 core, 12 threaded chip with a stock clock speed of 3.20GHz and Turbo Boost speed of 3.80GHz, inclusive of 12MB of L3 cache and features an unlocked BClk multiplier.

The most affordable LGA2011-based CPU will be the Core i7-3820 which is a quad-core, 8 threaded chip with a stock clock speed of 3.60GHz and Turbo Boost of up to 3.90GHz. With just 10MB of L3 cache, it is definitely the smaller sibling in the family. This chip has its BClk multiplier locked.

We've seen some impressive overclock results out of our in-house A8-3850 sample with Shane kicking it into high gear at around 3.7GHz without too much effort - this using a trusty Corsair AIO water cooling solution on a GIGABYTE A75-UD4H.

But if you think that's pretty impressive, try this on for size :-

That aint no photoshop folks. What you can see there is 4906MHz, not too far off the magic 5GHz mark with an A8-3850 CPU. Of course, though, this couldn't have been achieved without the help of :-

Doing what they do best, CPU World has fished out some fresh details on an expansion to Intel's range of mobile processor offerings. A new ULV (ultra low voltage) 32nm Celeron M model has just been released, The Celeron 787, and also four new Core i7 chips.

The Celeron 787 is just a little single core chip which clocks in at 1.30GHz with a single thread, 1MB of L3 cache, a 17W TDP and carrying a price of $107.

As for the four new Core i7s, these are scheduled to debut in Q4, comprising three quad-core variants and a dual-core one. The quad core models include the i7-2960XM Extreme Edition, i7-2860QM and i7-2760QM, with the dual-core being the i7-2640M.

It was only a few weeks ago that reports were out that Intel's next-gen Sandy Bridge-E and Waimea Bay platform had been delayed until 2012 but new information has popped up and is suggesting that Intel is trying very hard to get the new platform onto the market this year. This means that Intel will have to make some compromises on a lot of the platform features.

According to sources, Intel is having issues with the platform in the form of issues with storage, PCI Express problems and even CPU revisions. This sounds like bad news for a company wanting to launch their next-gen enthusiast platform. There are various platform SKUs coming in the form of Patsburg -A, -B, -D and -T. The X79 chipset is known as Patsburg-X and was meant to be similar to what Patsburg-D brings to the table.

Patsburg-D is set to offer not only four additional SATA/SAS 6Gbps via the SCU but also a PCI-Express 3.0 uplink to the CPU where Patsburg-T gains another RAID level but other than that is identical to the Patsburg-D. Patsburg-X was meant to obviously come with the features of the -D version but since Intel has run into various issues, they've decided to downgrade the feature set and it will be more in line with the Patsburg-B flavor of chipset. What does this mean? Prepare for tears.

Right now, AMD would be on top of the world. Their Radeon series of GPUs are phenomenally successful with their next-gen 7000-series just around the corner, their APU is rolling out right now, and they're already powering consoles; the Wii and Xbox 360. Rumor has it that they might end up getting jiggy with all three console makers come next-gen. The Wii-U is set to be AMD-based and now its looking like the Microsoft and Sony console will be powered by AMD solutions.

Both Microsoft and Sony have of course not verified this news, but HardOCP have a reliable tipster roaming the halls of E3 last week. Based on their information, they say that AMD's future console dominance is already a "done deal." Of course, NVIDIA will be... green... with envy but keep in mind they are powering a slew of Tegra 2-based Tablets and Smartphones. AMD are also set to have an opportunity to win contracts for microprocessors for the next PlayStation.

Right now, all three consoles are sporting Power-based IBM processors, even the PlayStation 3's Cell chip has a PowerPC component sharing die space with SPE co-processors.

AMD have shown off their upcoming Llano APU at a press event in Los Angeles.

Development of the Cell processor that powers the PlayStation 3 has not stalled, IBM are continuing to develop chips and supply hardware for future gaming consoles, a company executive said.

KitGuru have an exclusive interview with AMD Marketing Director, Bob Grim.

We've known for a while now about "Zosma" which is the codename for AMD's Phenom II X4 900T series of processors scheduled for launch soon after the company's X6 (six-core) "Thuban" processors hit the market; on the 26th of this month to be exact.

Zosma is basically a cut down version of Thuban with two cores disabled, giving the potential to unlock the other two cores and get a six-core Phenom for quad-core Phenom money (sub-$200 bracket).

News first started to emerge of an upcoming monster 12-core processor from AMD some weeks ago after it was leaked by an online retailer. In fact, AMD today announced its new range of Opteron 6000 processors to the world. You can read that announcement over here at their press release.

The lucky lads over at AnandTech managed to get hold one of these new server based processors from AMD, specifically they got their hands on the Opteron 6174 model. Not only did that get one, but they got two along with the required other hardware to compare this 2.2GHz part against the latest Intel Xeon processors in a dual CPU configuration.

According to a report by Fudo, Intel intends on launching a completely unlocked retail shipping processor in early June, which is Computex time here in Taiwan.

Multiplier unlocked processors are not a new thing, but they are usually always reserved only for media samples or for early development and testing.

There's been a bit of a hole in AMDs mobile lineup for a while now when looking at Intel and its dominance with the Pine Trail/Atom families for the ever-growing netbook market. But it looks like the company's been at the drawing board for a while and we learn today that they do indeed have something on the cards.

A day after Intel lifts the NDA on its latest bad boy that is the 6-core Gulftown monster, leaked slides have made their way onto the web which paint a clearer picture for AMDs processor release plans throughout the remainder of the year.

Intel had planned for a big brother to Atom N450 to be launched come March 1st (today) in the form of the Atom N470, but decided to jump the gun on itself and make a brief announcement over the weekend introducing the faster Atom series processor for netbooks and nettops.

Looks like the ION2 chipset for Intel's Atom may be delayed. Originally it was supposed to hit the streets before the end of 2009, but now we hear rumors that it will not hit until sometime late in Q1 2010. Why the delay? Well, due to the delayed acceptance of the original ION, OEMs are reluctant to see ION 2 come out as it would cut into sales of the devices they are currently selling. This if true is sort of underhanded but not unexpected. Still I hope this is not the real reason as it would not look good for NV. After all holding back improved products to make a few more dollars on existing ones is sort of anti-consumer now isn't it?

So this means that we wont see ION 2 until after CES just so a OEMs can sell a few more original ION systems. As far as seeing ION 2 at CES, I doubt it unless it is a mock up that says it will have ION 2 inside on the label. On the good side the new ION 2 will be significantly more powerful than te current one as it will pack upwards of twice the shaders in the first ION. Battery life is also being extended as well.

Intel plans to release no less than 13 Westmere-based 32nm processors under its Xeon E5000, L5000, X5000, and W3600 families towards the end of Q1 next year.

Six of these will be hexa-core Xeon CPUs which include the X5680 (3.33GHz / 130W TDP), X5670 (2.93GHz / 95W TDP), X5660 (2.80GHz / 95W TDP), X5650 (2.66GHz / 95W TDP), L5640 (2.26GHz / 60W TDP) and single-socket W3680 (3.33GHz / 130W TDP).

After hearing the ringing cries of the death of Intel's Larrabee circle around the internet we now may just be hearing hints that Larrabee is not completely dead (it feels much better). The rumor comes from a small (and very short) interview conducted by PC Games Hardware. In it they speak with an unnamed Intel rep explaining the death of the consumer version of Larrabee and if you look closely even saying they there might be a chance of a Larrabee in the future.

The key phrase that will get some going is "Our first Larrabee product will not be launched as a standalone discrete graphics product, but rather be used as a software development platform for internal and external use." As you can see it is directly saying that there will be more than one but that the first will be for development only. This is probably a great move on Intel's part as it will potentially allow some time for the ecosystem needed for a project like this to be created in the background (and with help).

Of course this does not say that there will be a Larrabee for the consumer but a later comment does again point us back in this direction. The statement, "we remain committed to delivering world-class many-core graphics products to our customers. Additional plans for discrete graphics products will be discussed some time in 2010." is our second indication that we may see a consumer based Larrabee product in the future.

So, while we all have to mourn the loss of Larrabee for now; we can look forward to Intel addressing this in the future. What that product will be only Intel knows but we can hope that it will indeed be something new and not just a refresh of their aging GMA product line.

For a while now we've been hearing about the possibility of Intel bringing out an E8700 to market which would top the lineup of Wolfdale cored Core 2 Duo processors.

An E8700 had been listed on Intel's website quite a whiles back which stated it uses the Wolfdale core and runs at a stock clockspeed of 3.5GHz (using a 10.5x multi) and has a TDP rating of 65 watt. All other specifications match the rest of the Wolfdale family.

The Atom has been an amazing product for Intel. It has become the de facto CPU under the hood of almost every netbook and in fact has become part of the definition of a netbook for most consumers. But as with many things it has reached the point of stagnation. Consumers are fickle and really do want change. Although many will complain about new products and how much they cost, etc. They will still get bored unless those new items are dangled in front of them from time to time.

Well, Intel has that new bait. As we have told you before the Pinetrail CPU (Atom Plus one package GPU) will be launching soon. Probably in the middle of December (that is just a guess but we think it is close to the mark) to get some interest built up. We will see products with this new technology under the hood being displayed by the time CES 2010 rolls around.

But with the new Pinetrail you are not just getting a new (well old) GPU shoehorned onto the packaging but also a built-in memory controller and a few new speed and multi-core offerings. These will be the N450 1.66GHz Atom Pineview and the Dual Core 1.66GHz D510 and D410. The last two are probably earmarked for nettops and not likely to show up in your garden variety netbook.