CPU/Chipset News

[hellknight]

Damn... I need to swap the SMPS now.. I hope that the dealer agrees to swap...

[desiibond]

Some Initial Thoughts on Propus, AMD's Quad-core Athlon

source: http://pcper.com/article.php?aid=737

It appears as though we will not see the new Athlon II X3 and X4 products until later this Summer. My guess would be a late July/early August launch so as to get some momentum in the back to school crowd. Considering how the Athlon II X2 has performed, I am looking forward to the release of the other members of the Athlon II family. While they will not beat the Core 2 Quads at the same clockspeed, my guess is that they certainly will beat what Intel has at those specific price points.

my take: after reading the article, I have a strong feeling that AMD is getting ready a quad-core for the masses, most probably as cheap as 4k INR.

Let's wait and see.

[vamsi_krishna]

^ new technology at affordable prices are always welcome..

Same goes with the software too but why there are not understanding it. Milestone Understood that and dropped many big titles rates. I'm damn sure that GTA IV has been sold quite extensively in india due to the price Drop. i think every one should learn form that. paying 1000rs for OS to the company is no way inferior to paying 200rs for a pirate dealer. When will all the distributes listen to this..!

[desiibond]

AMD RS880 IGP 15 Percent Faster

link: http://www.nordichardware.com/news,9593.html

AMD's next generation chipset with integrated graphics is code-named RS880. Compared to previous integrated solutions from AMD the new Radeon HD 4200 chipset will be a great leap forward, with up to 15% better performance compared to the solutions of today. It sports DX10.1 and tweaked clock frequencies, which puts the HD 4200 on the same level of performance, in 3DMark06, as GeForce 6800GT or ATI X800XL, I.e. 1,800 points.

[comp@ddict]

If Athlon II comes for about 5-7k, it will be wonderful!

And then a RS880 IGP sounds good, to wait for DX11 hardware to be cheap.

[desiibond]

??? You meant Athlon II X4?

[comp@ddict]

Yup!

[desiibond]

It is going to be available inside 6k (atleast after 2-3 weeks from Release date). no L3 cache, reduced die size. It all shows that AMD is getting a quad core for the masses.

[MetalheadGautham]

It is going to be available inside 6k (atleast after 2-3 weeks from Release date). no L3 cache, reduced die size. It all shows that AMD is getting a quad core for the masses.

I truly hope you are right. I really have my eyes set on the Quad Core 45w CPUs from AMD now. That and 785G would make a perfect OpenCL, OpenGL 3.2, OpenAL, DirectX 11 capable energy efficient system for the masses.

I mean the pricing of Athlon II Regor is discouraging but maybe its because of 1MB L2 per core increasing production costs.

[desiibond]

yes. I am pretty sure about this. Anything above 6k and it will be a failure.

[desiibond]

Looks like Intel is having over-confidence

Intel recently detailed its strategy with the Core brand, and its various brand-modifiers (namely i3, i5, i7, and i9). The move to give some LGA-1156 processors the Core i7 modifier, based on the performance level they offer, particularly sparked off several debates about if the move actually benefits the consumers as much as it does to Intel. Back then, Intel did not divulge much about a number scheme that characterizes LGA-1156 Core i7 processors from their LGA-1366 counterparts. Fresh information suggests that Intel may have one such number-scheme in place that will demystify its lineup.

The LGA-1156 socket lineup will be spearheaded by quad-core desktop chips that will start selling from September 8, tentatively. These consist of a 2.66 GHz part, a 2.80 GHz part, and another 2.93 GHz one. Sources revealed much earlier that these could be priced US $194, $284, and $562, respectively. Among these three, the 2.66 GHz part lacks HyperThreading technology in its feature-set, and hence, will be placed in the Core i5 series. To further clarify the lineup, the following model numbers have been suggested:

* Core i7 870 - 2.93 GHz, LGA-1156, 8 MB L3 cache, HTT
* Core i7 860 - 2.80 GHz, LGA-1156, 8 MB L3 cache, HTT
* Core i5 750 - 2.66 GHz, LGA-1156, 8 MB L3 cache, HTT not available

Notice the Core i5 part to get the 700-series model number scheme, while the others, the 800-series. Currently the SKUs did not intrude into the Core i7 900 series, where Intel's Bloomfield-based LGA-1366 socket processors are positioned.

All three models listed above have rated TDP at 95W. Intel is also planning low-power versions of these chips. The Core i7 860S will be clocked at 2.53 GHz (while retaining the feature-set of Core i7 800 series), and a certain model clocked at 2.40 GHz. Both these chips have slightly lower TDPs at 82W. There is no official word from Intel on these details.

core i5 starting price for retailers to be at 194$. This means that it will be lot lot costlier than Phenom II range starting price. This could easily spell disaster if AMD cuts price even by 25$!!!

[desiibond]

Intel Corporation today reported second-quarter revenue of $8.0 billion. Excluding the effects of the European Commission fine, the company had non-GAAP operating income of $1.4 billion, net income of $1.0 billion and EPS of 18 cents. On a GAAP-basis, the company reported an operating loss of $12 million, a net loss of $398 million and a loss per share of 7 cents.
"Intel's second-quarter results reflect improving conditions in the PC market segment with our strongest first- to second-quarter growth since 1988 and a clear expectation for a seasonally stronger second half," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. "Intel's strategy of investing in new technologies and innovative products, combined with ongoing focus on operating efficiencies, continues to yield benefits that are evident in our strengthening financial performance."
To read the complete earnings release, click here.

[amitash]

core i5 at nearly 200$? what are they thinking? do they want AMD to come up?

[desiibond]

that's price for SKUs and the market price should be more than 200$. And I am suspecting entry level price of atleast 12k for core i5 in India.

[vamsi_krishna]

will core i5 has 6 cores?

learned from core i7 which has seven cores.

[comp@ddict]

LOL Core i7 has 4 cores^^^^

http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/14615/1/1/1/

WOW look at this. AMD's EE X4 !!!

[vamsi_krishna]

damn, i didn't know that.

Thanks for enlightening me.

[desiibond]

Looking at the way things are going, AMD seems to have a solid position here. With Phenom II and Athlon II rocking, they are going to take the lead now in innovation.

[SunnyChahal]

Looking at the way things are going, AMD seems to have a solid position here. With Phenom II and Athlon II rocking, they are going to take the lead now in innovation.

Don't know about Athlon II but I'm using Phenom II and it's seriously rocking! Well, hope AMD kicks Intel in their ar$e.

[amitash]

@comp@ddict's post: Whats interesting here is that the P2's 100% load power consumption is the same or above that of the i7's...interesting.

will core i5 has 6 cores?

learned from core i7 which has seven cores.

lol, i5 has 4 cores and 4 threads, i7 has 4 cores and 8 threads, the 8 threads appear virtually as 8 cores in the OS, so there is a misconception that the i7 has 8 cores..

Looking at the way things are going, AMD seems to have a solid position here. With Phenom II and Athlon II rocking, they are going to take the lead now in innovation.

I dont think the "lead" is coming any time soon...because:

1.intel have 77% of the marketshare and AMD have 23%...for amd to go past intel, its going to take a long long time...mainly because, after the core i5's and i8's come out, intel will dominate the higher mid and high end circuits, and already intel dominate the laptops and portables section...

2.The pricing of the core i5 is actually justified...it is meant as a direct competetion to the phenom 2 955 using ddr3 memory (and lets face it, p2 955 performs much better with ddr3 than ddr2, and its improving fast, and in other countries the price difference between ddr2 and ddr3 is negligible)...asuming the core i5 will be around 12-13k here, the p2 is also around 13k here.....And as the core i5 is supposed to perform equal/better than p2, it all depends on motherboard pricing...if the p55 mobos can be kept at 150-180$ range, then i feel intel will easily take back more of amd's market share.

3.Lastly, i sincerely doubt AMD's making enough profit...They got some of the market share from intel and nvidia mainly because of their extremely low pricing compared to the others...but is it too low? are they making enough profit to actually spend more on innovating new technology? or is it just a survival tactic? whatever it is, it doesnt look like they are truly going to equal or better intels money and might any time soon.

As for the gfx card market, here again nvidia seems to be winning...their market share went up 3% whereas amd's slid down 3%...Mainly because nvidia have slightly faster cards at slightly higher prices....newegg says, you can buy an hd4890 for as low as 199$...but you can also buy a gtx275 for as low as 215-219$....it all comes down to: "would you pay 15$'s more for a card?" the answer to that will be yes in most cases, as consumers dont mind paying abit more when they buy a new config.

[topgear]

In performance front Intel is still the winner with their core i7 series..........

But AMD is slowly grasping the market of upto 5-8K procs for eg. Phenom II X2 550 performs neck to neck with e8400 @ only 5K

Even AMD Phemom II even the 955BE can hardly beat a QX9770

So phenom is still competing with intel 9xxx series.

The only thing AMD is selling now hot cake is their their pricing & they haven't moved to a newer socket design unlike intel

[desiibond]

@amitash,

1) by lead I meant leading in technology the way they did till Intel came out with core 2. With the rise in sales and market share, they will soon be in profit. I still remember thatn about 2yrs ago when AMD bought ATI, I said that 2010 will be the year that the merger will work and many said that AMD will struggle for few years due to lack of heavy funding in R&D. Now, it just takes a year or two for AMD to start showing the way in uP technology. Overtaking Intel in marketshare is not going to happen anytime soon.

2) Maybe core i5 was released to compete with X4 955 but look at the price of X4 940. If AMD slashed the price of X4 940 further, will you buy core i5? Do note that core i5 will be lot slower than core i7 when it comes to gaming and video rendering, which means the least priced core i5 is actually a competitor to X4 940. Also, AMD is getting ready more Phenom II X4 processors and also Athlon II X4 processors. I hope they do to Intel what they did to Nvidia with HD4xxx cards (choke them with regular new releases)

3) AMD has always been aggressive with pricing. Intel and Nvidia spends a lot on advertising and AMD does very little advertising when compared to the other two. In the end, there isnt' much that AMD is losing. We need to thank them for the current low pricing of GPUs and CPUs.

4) Yes. Nvidia gained a bit of market share. But if you look at the 40nm roadmap, I do think AMD/ATI has an edge here. Having partnership in Global Foundries, they won't face the issues with getting out newer 40nm cards and that is one reason why they brought out HD4770 so early. Nvidia may have increased their market share but they won't be able to make the gains the same way that they did during their 8xxx card time. They have to be aggressive with pricing all the time and if by any chance they get a bad architecture, they will be doomed.

[desiibond]

Intel records loss for last quarter (and they are blaming EU's antitrust fine for that)

With the charge, Intel reported a loss of $398 million on revenue of $8 billion. Revenue fell $1.4 billion from a year ago, when Intel reported a profit of $1.6 billion on revenue of $9.4 billion. Revenue also increased sequentially, up $879 million.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...2350233,00.asp

Looks like the recession and netbooks have hit them hard.

[amitash]

Recession has hit everyone hard....looks like a lean year for computers...and anyway, we have to wait for the release and benchmarks of the core i5 series

[damngoodman999]

@ amitash

Intel Always holds the Hand in INDIAN MARKET because they give more profit for the dealer where AMD started with Low margin for dealers - this is ONE big reason y AMD is downfall in INDIA

U should know that Newegg had sold 1000 quad core phenom 2 CPUs in 25 days - In America many of them gets AMD because the of the love remained with ATHLON processors - the glory days where pentium 4 got HIT

But before 6 years back INTEL was tend be the MONOPOLY in processor market , Intel never competes with AMD , but AMD aim was to overcome pentium its done successfully then AMD athlon was sold rapidly - then Intel regained their market with Never go down At any cause so they made EXTREME processors which AMD never comes close to it @ time of 2007 , But AMD is struggling to capture the top of the table which Intel will not give its part .

So always Intel is top on the performance list thats no doubt abt it in the future to ...

Budget + performance are now AMD's big weapon ! if INTEL reduces the price then AMD is out !

[amitash]

^exactly my point...if the core i5's can be the same price as the p2's and perform better, its doom for amd

[topgear]

Check this out :

gigabyte p55 lineup ( core i5 ) mobos Be sure you are on a high speed line on pc. Those images are really heavy

http://www.tomshardware.com/gallery/...0----jpg-.html


Now here is the news flash

At this year's Computex, behind closed doors, Gigabyte shared with us plans for its upcoming P55-based motherboard lineup. Not surprisingly, the company's strategy looks a lot like the approach it took with P45 and then X58: using as common a PCB as possible, design motherboards that, from the top down, slowly shed features as they drop in price, but never sacrifice core functionality.


This is an approach that has helped Gigabyte see quite a bit of success in the past several generations of product design, and one that I've pointed out to other vendors when they've asked my opinion on what Gigabyte was doing right.


The above image shows five boards, from the entry-level EP55-UD3R to the upper-end EP55-UD5. Between them, Gigabyte covers most of its bases, with 6 Gb/s SATA across the board, along with dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, CrossFireX/SLI multi-card support, DDR3 memory, and onboard FireWire (Update: Gigabyte let us know that SATA 6 Gb/s will not make it onto the company's P55 motherboards and will instead emerge with its X58 motherboard refresh. Additionally, it has been reported that Asus scrapped plans for 6 Gb/s SATA on its P55 lineup as well).


Notably missing, though, is the flagship, Gigabyte's P55-UD6. But although the platform wasn't in Gigabyte's documentation, the board exists and might just tempt enthusiasts waiting to see how Core i5 fares against i7, Core 2 Quad, and AMD's Phenom II.


In the pages that follow, we'll take you on a tour of the P55-UD6, plus another of Gigabyte's boards destined to hit a lower price point (but still enable many of the same features as the decked-out UD6.

http://www.tomshardware.com/pictures...-gigabyte.html

So Sata 3.0 will not be available on P55 chipset unlike x58 which will sport sata 3.0.

[comp@ddict]

AMD CPU Under-Volting

http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/14694/1/1/1/







AMAZING!!!

[topgear]

Toms Hardware managed to undervolt Phenom II X4 9550 B.E. to o.96V idle & 1.152 under load. The bios V setting was 1.175V 7 it's the lowest stable volt setting for for Phenom II x4 9550B.E.

Default



Min Stable ( Idle )



Min Stable ( Load )


The Overall power consumption reduced from 216W to 179W. Impressive

Refer to this page for more voltage difference & testing results :
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...om,2348-4.html

For Qx9650 :

Default Voltage: 1.256 V



Default Idle Voltage: 1.192 V



Optimized Peak Voltage: 1.072 V



Optimized Idle Voltage: 1.008 V (BIOS Configured)



Refer to this page for more info . The overall power consumption reduced from 185W to 148W

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...om,2348-5.html

[comp@ddict]

Wow, I wonder if I reduce the voltage of the Athlon II X4 630(2.8GHz) which has a TDP of 65W to get 45W.