CPU, APU & Chipsets News - Page 140

All the latest CPU and chipset news, with everything related to Intel and AMD processors & plenty more - Page 140.

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AMD want their APUs in 2020 to feature 25x the energy efficiency

Anthony Garreffa | Nov 30, 2014 4:03 AM CST

AMD is hoping for some serious improvements in the energy efficiency of its APUs by 2020, where the chipmaker is aiming for a massive 25x improvement. In order to reach this goal, AMD will have to outpace historical energy efficiency by over 70%, but the company is optimistic that it can do this.

The company has goals in terms of energy efficiency, where it wants to have "more performance with less power", as well as "long battery life, sleek light weight form factors, cool and quiet computation" mixed with "lower energy consumption and utility bills, lower Total Cost of Ownership" and a "reduced environmental impact".

Using a comparison of a 35W notebook processor released this year, versus a 35W processor from two years ago, the new notebook processor is twice as fast. You can say that the energy efficiency has improved by 200% as well, but the older 35W processors no longer fit into notebooks. AMD needs to find a way to reduce power consumption, as well as increasing the performance of the processor. Up until now, we've seen Intel and AMD do one or the other, but not both to the extent of 200% leaps each time.

Continue reading: AMD want their APUs in 2020 to feature 25x the energy efficiency (full post)

Intel unleash amazing employee benefit sale

Chris Smith | Nov 21, 2014 10:02 PM CST

Intel's Retail Edge Program's end-of-year benefits have been released. If you're an employee of certain technology companies (mobile phones included), you can join up to this project and reap the sale rewards. This information has been provided through Chiphell's online forum.

There are two main deals on offer, seeing Intel clear out their Core i7-5930K 3.5 GHz processor's for as low as $159 US, alongside their Core i7-4790K 4.0 GHz for a crazy $79 US.

If you think you're eligible for this program, you can register through your employee's certification to the Intel sales network. Once tasks are completed, you add 'points' to your account, allowing you to reach certain levels of discounts ranging from Producer, to Rockstar and finally Rock Legend - providing the best pricing.

Continue reading: Intel unleash amazing employee benefit sale (full post)

Intel teases its Haswell-EX processor, which will feature 36 threads

Anthony Garreffa | Nov 20, 2014 7:11 PM CST

During the 2015 IEEE international Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in February 2015, Intel will reveal more technical details about its upcoming Haswell-EX processor. This processor will be the most complex CPU the company has ever made.

Intel's Xeon E7 v3 "Haswell-EX" processor will work in motherboards with up to eight sockets, packing 18 cores (and 18 Hyper-Threaded cores) for a total of 36 threads per CPU. We will also have 45MB of last-level cache (LLC), quad-channel DDR4 support, PCI Express 3.0 and much more. The new Intel Xeon E7 platform will usher in new reliability, availability, scalability (RAS) capabilities, something that will bring Intel closer to the older Itanium-based servers.

The Haswell-EX processor will be using Intel's 22nm Tri-Gate technology, packing in an insane 5.56 billion transistors, making it one of the most complex x86-based processors ever made.

Continue reading: Intel teases its Haswell-EX processor, which will feature 36 threads (full post)

Intel giving $15 cash to those who purchased Pentium 4 powered PCs

Roshan Ashraf Shaikh | Nov 5, 2014 6:35 PM CST

As a result of a class-action lawsuit against HP and Intel, the chipmaker will have to give $15 to those who have purchased an Intel Pentium 4 processor about 15 years ago.

As of now, this applies to those who are residing in the United States and have purchased computers for personal/general use with Intel Pentium 4 processors between November 20, 2000 and June 30, 2002. The lawsuit points out that Intel and HP have deliberately manipulated benchmark scores for the Intel Pentium 4 processors at the time it was facing tough rivalry from AMD. There were also allegations that Intel Pentium III and AMD Athlon line ups at the time performed better in comparison to Pentium 4 line ups.

The lawsuit states that Intel secretly wrote benchmarks which would favour Pentium 4 processors. The company also paid software companies to make changes to favour Pentium 4's performance scores for third-party benchmark software, so that it will stand out against AMD. The benchmarks that were in question were WebMark2001 and SysMark 2001. Both companies have denied these allegations but said that they were willing to settle the matter via compensation. You do not require to show a purchase invoice that you've bought a Pentium 4 powered PC during that time frame, but you will need to present some proof such as the retailer's details and date of purchase.

Continue reading: Intel giving $15 cash to those who purchased Pentium 4 powered PCs (full post)

Intel begins teasing its next-gen Broadwell-E CPUs, not out until 2016

Anthony Garreffa | Oct 24, 2014 8:27 PM CDT

Intel may have just launched its Haswell-E and X99 platform, but that doesn't stop the chipmaker from teasing its upcoming HEDT (high-end desktop) processor train from slowing down. We're now hearing about the next-gen HEDT tech, Broadwell-E, which will be based on Intel's 14nm technology, using the same LGA2011v3 package.

The new CPU will not be an architectural change, but it will provide smaller changes over what we have with the current Haswell-E processors. The new Core i7 Broadwell-E will be built on Intel's 14nm process, and will feature between 6 and 8 cores based on their, you guessed it, Broadwell microarchitecture. These cores will feature up to 20MB of L3 cache, and is pin-compatible with current Haswell-E, meaning we have quad-channel DDR4, too.

Intel could provide the full 40-lane PCIe interface, instead of the cut down 28-lane PCIe interface that the entry-level HEDT currently has. We should expect a 140W TDP, even with the die shrink, when the Broadwell-E processors launch in 2016.

Continue reading: Intel begins teasing its next-gen Broadwell-E CPUs, not out until 2016 (full post)

Next-gen AMD APU 'Carrizo-L' to be available in December

Roshan Ashraf Shaikh | Oct 8, 2014 11:27 AM CDT

AMD would be announcing its next generation notebook APU Carrizo-L in December. The processor is based on a 28nm quad-core architecture based on their Excavator core.

The notebook APU will have support for 2133MHz DDR3 memory. The news reported pointed out that Carrizo-L will succeed AMD's Beem and Mullins APU which is currently positioned for entry-level notebooks and tablets. It was also pointed out that this will also be 'officially' compatible with Windows 10. The rest of the operating systems, such as Windows 8.1, Ubuntu and SLED operating systems were added on the list.

The APU is designed for entry-level notebooks and will be placed to compete against Intel Pentium and Celeron series processors. But as far as mainstream segment is concerned, AMD would not be releasing the full-fledged Carrizo APU before March 2015 which will be succeeding after the long running Kaveri APUs. According to another report, Carrizo will be supporting both DDR3 and DDR4 along with an on-package memory die. It is also speculated that Carrizo series will have a desktop APU variant, which will be using the existing FM2+ socket motherboards. The expected timeframe for the desktop variant is also assumed for March 2015 launch.

Continue reading: Next-gen AMD APU 'Carrizo-L' to be available in December (full post)

AMD teams with Synopsys IP for 14/16nm APU/GPU products, teases 10nm

Anthony Garreffa | Sep 21, 2014 12:47 AM CDT

AMD has announced a new multi-year agreement with Synopsys IP that will see the chipmaker receiving a slew of Synopsys DesignWare intellectual property on its advanced 16/14nm technologies, as well as its upcoming 10nm FinFET technology. AMD will be handing over specific IP and engineering resources to the company. Considering NVIDIA just catapulted it's more-than-impressive GeForce GTX 900 series, there's never been a better time for AMD to partner up with someone who can handle the move to smaller processes.

The agreement sees AMD securing interface, memory compiler, logic library and analog IP from Synopsys, where it will use these technologies to create future generations of its chips on the 14nm and 16nm FinFET manufacturing process, eventually moving onto the 10nm process down the track. Synopsys will reportedly hire around 150 of AMD's IP & R&D engineers and receive access to AMD's leading interface and foundation IP. AMD will be saving money with this deal, but provides some holes in its resources, while Synopsys is only gaining from this deal.

If you've never heard of Synopsys, they are a leading power in silicon-proven IP for advance process technologies, with the company helping chip designers on a broad range of high-end IP for integration into system-on-chips, or SoCs, as well as delivering expert technical support. This power allows companies like AMD to come to them, in order to save money on pumping into their own R&D. But, AMD still packs a punch when it comes to the complex IP used in advanced microprocessors and GPUs. AMD will gain silicon-proven IP for its chips over the coming years, while handing over interface and foundation IP, as well as engineers to Synopsys, something the company explains will give it the ability to "focus its valuable engineering resources on its ongoing product differentiation and IP reuse strategy".

Continue reading: AMD teams with Synopsys IP for 14/16nm APU/GPU products, teases 10nm (full post)

Samsung rumored to be working on its on GPU

Anthony Garreffa | Sep 16, 2014 7:56 AM CDT

We found out not too long ago that NVIDIA was suing Samsung and Qualcomm, without going after any other companies, even if those companies used chips and parts from Samsung and Qualcomm, but now we might have found out why: Samsung is rumored to be working on its own GPU.

The news is coming from Fudzilla, and is just a rumor right now, but the company has been reportedly hiring people from the likes of AMD, NVIDIA and Intel. If Samsung were to be building its own GPU, it would be competing directly against Qualcomm and NVIDIA, with the latter having a very capable SoC with its Tegra K1 processor.

If Samsung did build its own GPU, it would save itself from having to license one from another company, as it would have nearly all of the components it needs for a flagship device built-in-house, from the screen, right down to the GPU.

Continue reading: Samsung rumored to be working on its on GPU (full post)

No new CPU architectures from AMD until at least 2016

Anthony Garreffa | Sep 9, 2014 12:29 AM CDT

Intel has just launched its new high-end Haswell-E platform, but what is AMD doing? Well, according to a recent interview with Bloomberg, AMD won't be releasing a new micro-architecture until 2016, with any CPU or APU products released between now and then based on current architecture.

AMD CEO, Rory Read, talked with Bloomberg, but didn't reveal any information on future microarchitecture, but he did say that the hardware coming out next year will be based on existing architecture, and won't be much better than what AMD has on the market now. Read said: "AMD engineers are now proving they can deliver new designs on time, something that didn't happen in the past."

In 2015, we can expect AMD to release new APUS that will be based on the low-power Puma+ and high-performance Steamroller architecture. Both of these architectures aren't expected to deliver much additional performance, but we should expect lowered power consumption and heat output.

Continue reading: No new CPU architectures from AMD until at least 2016 (full post)

Intel's Core i7-5960X CPU has already been overclocked to 6.2GHz

Anthony Garreffa | Aug 28, 2014 7:39 AM CDT

Intel will be launching its new Haswell-E based Core processors tomorrow, but some leaked benchmarks are already surfacing over at Videocardz and WCCFTech. When it comes to games, the new Core i7-5960X is around 14% faster than its predecessor, the Core i7-4960X.

The new Core i7-5960X is Intel's first 8-core processor for the consumer market, with a stock frequency of 3GHz, and Boost frequency of 3.5GHz. We have 20MB of L3 cache, 140W TDP and support for DDR4 memory. We should expect a price of $999, which isn't too bad for a processor of this calibre.

When it comes to 4K video editing the new Core i7-5960X is around 20% faster than the 4960X, and around 32% faster in 3D rending. 'Thayn3' in the coolaler forums was able to overclock the Core i7-5960X to 4GHz using just 1.2V, but there has been an insane overclock found online, with the new 16-thread CPU clocked up to 6.2GHz on LN2.

Continue reading: Intel's Core i7-5960X CPU has already been overclocked to 6.2GHz (full post)