http://www.cpu-world.com/ This channel includes CPU and MCU-related news http://www.cpu-world.com/Images/RSSLogo.gif (c) 2010 Gennadiy Shvets en-us http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012022102_Ivy_Bridge_graphics_performance_estimates.html Less than two months remains until the launch of the latest Intel micro-architecture, codenamed Ivy Bridge. New micro-architecture will feature many performance enhancements, and one of them is a beefed up on-chip Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). According to previously leaked documents, Ivy Bridge should perform considerably faster in graphics applications than Sandy Bridge microprocessors. Expreview ran a number of benchmarks on engineering sample of unlocked i5-3570K Ivy Bridge processor with HD 4000 graphics, and compared results to second generation i5-2500K with HD 3000. The results, collected by Expreview, confirmed previously leaked performance estimates. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-21T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012022101_Atom_D2550_to_launch_in_March.html Intel Cedar Trail platform for netbooks, nettops and mobile devices was introduced last fall, and at the launch time it consisted of two desktop D2500 and D2700 "Cedar View" microprocessors. In December Intel released mobile N2600 and N2800 models, also based on Cedar View core. At about the same time, Cedar Trail datasheet on Intel website was updated with details of three unreleased CPUs. We recently learned from our sources that one of these upcoming microprocessors, Atom D2550, will be launched in March. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-21T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012022001_NVidia_preparing_GTX_560_SE.html NVidia is said to be preparing another card in the GTX 560 line-up, this time a GTX 560 SE. We have previously seen GTX 560 (and OEM), GTX 560 Ti (and OEM) and GTX 560 Ti 448 cards. GTX 560 SE will have a salvaged GF114 based core, with 228 SP and 48 TMU. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-20T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012021801_AMD_to_release_more_Bulldozer_FX_CPUs.html With the first Trinity APUs expected sometime around the middle of the year, and Vishera CPUs with a Piledriver core expected in Q3, Donanimhaber have uploaded a slide containing details of 3 Zambezi CPUs (with a Bulldozer core) that are expected during Q1 2012. We have already posted preliminary information about FX-6120, and AMD have now added FX-8120 and FX-4150 to the line-up. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-18T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012021702_Pitcairn_to_Launch_in_March_Kepler_in_April.html AMD's Pitcairn GPUs, the last of the GCN line-up, are to be launched in March, according to sources at Digitimes. Radeon HD 7990, the highest end GCN model, is also expected but there are no release dates yet. The same source says that NVidia will be releasing the first of the Kepler line-up in April. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-17T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012021701_Intel_Atom_Z2610_to_be_released_in_Q2_2012.html Last month Intel announced Atom Z2460 chip from Medfield platform, oriented at smartphones and other mobile devices. Later this year the company will introduce other Medfield processors, or, to be more correct, systems-on-a-chip. Some details of one of these SoCs, that will use Atom branding and Z2610 processor number, were revealed by Fudzilla yesterday. [Updated Feb 21] Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-17T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012021503_AMD_launches_HD_7750_and_HD_7770_graphics_cards.html AMD today officially released the Radeon HD 7770 "GHz Edition" and HD 7750 graphics cards. Built on the Cape Verde GPU core, and using the GCN architecture introduced with Tahiti, these are AMD's new entry level discrete graphics cards, and offer a competitive power/performance ratio within their target price range. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-15T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012021502_Details_of_Ivy_Bridge_Core_i3_CPUs_leaked.html One of the most anticipated events of the year will be the launch of Ivy Bridge micro-architecture and related products. The first Ivy Bridge "third-generation" processors will be introduced in April, and more products will follow in the second and third quarters. Details of upcoming Core i5 and i7 CPUs were revealed last November, and slides with specifications of more budget-oriented Core i3 chips were leaked this week by Zol.com.cn. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-15T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012021501_AMD_Trinity_Desktop_APU_Specs_Revealed.html Our last report on the upcoming Trinity APU gave details of part numbers for the Trinity range, including Brazos 2.0 and Vishera. Donanimhaber have now leaked further details, with a slide showing specs for the Trinity A-Series APUs. Trinity will use a new socket, FM2, which is similar to FM1 with a few pins repositioned, and it will have a Piledriver CPU core, which is the updated Bulldozer core. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-15T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012021402_Radeon_HD_7750_and_HD_7770_Available_for_Pre-Order.html AMD's Cape Verde graphics cards, Radeon HD7770 and HD7750, are available for pre-order at US retailers. Full specs (including the number of compute units and stream processors) are not listed, but the listings show that recent rumors of GPU clock speed were correct. Radeon HD 7770 will have a core speed of 1000MHz, and Radeon HD 7750 will operate at 800 MHz, with factory overclocked models immediately available from various manufacturers. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-14T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012021401_Intel_releases_Core_i7-3820_processor.html Socket 2011 platform, and consumer-class processors for the platform were introduced three month ago. The first two models were Core i7-3930K and i7-3960X, based on "Sandy Bridge-E" core. The third socket 2011 SKU, also planned to launch last November, was Core i7-3820. The processor was delayed by three months, and only yesterday Intel added this model to official price list. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-14T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012021301_New_Intel_Sandy_Bridge-EP_CPUs_spotted.html This quarter Intel plans to introduce Xeon E5-1600 products for uni-processor systems, based on Romley (socket 2011) platform. We originally reported on three E5-16xx quad-, 6- and 8-core models. Our reader Rob Dunkley spotted two new entry level Xeon E5 microprocessors, and complete list of Xeon E5-2600 SKUs, on Fujitsu CELSIUS M720 configuration page. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-13T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012021202_AMD_s_CPU_and_APU_Line-Up_thru_Q3_2012.html A slide has been leaked by Donanimhaber that shows AMDs product line-up for the next 2 quarters in the APU and CPU markets. The slide shows that we will be seeing Trinity A8- and A10-series in Q2, replacing Llano A8 in the high end APU sector. At the same time, Brazos 2.0 will replace Brazos in the mobile range. The rest of the Trinity range will be available in Q3, along with Vishera, the replacement for Zambezi in the performance sector. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-12T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012021201_Intel_to_retire_Core_i3-550_and_i3-560_CPUs.html Last December Intel published several Product Change Notifications (PCN) that revealed company plans to discontinue 19 desktop processors in June 2012. The list of discontinued CPUs included a mix of Westmere- and Sandy Bridge-based models ranging from Pentium to Core i7. Yesterday Intel notified its customers about discontinuation of two additional socket 1156 microprocessors, Core i3-550 and i3-560. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-12T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012021101_Transactional_Synchronization_Extensions_in_Haswell.html Intel have released details of their new Transaction Synchronization Extensions (TSX) programming model and instruction set that will be introduced with Haswell. These new extensions will help with synchronization of shared memory in multithreaded apps that use memory locks, by combining a lot of small locks into one large lock. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-11T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012021002_Haswell_to_launch_in_March_-_June_2013.html The latest Intel CPU roadmap has been seen at Donanimhaber, and shows that Haswell is currently expected to launch between March and June 2013. Using socket 1150, Haswell will be built using the same 22 nm production process as Ivy bridge. Interestingly, there is no sign of Ivy Bridge-E to replace Sandy Bridge-E for socket 2011 systems before the end of H1 2013, suggesting that SB-E may have quite an extended lifecycle. [Updated Feb 14] Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-10T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012021001_AMD_to_refresh_Opteron_6200_series_CPUs.html AMD "Maranello" platform, and the first Opteron 6200-series "Interlagos" processors were introduced about three months ago. At the launch, AMD released a mix of standard-power 4-, 8-, 12- and 16-core models with 115W TDP. Additionally, the company introduced mid-power and high-power 16-core Opterons. Sometime this year, 6200-series lineup will be refreshed with 6 new SKUs, one for each aforementioned power/the number of cores combination. The new models will feature 200 MHz higher clock and Turbo Core frequencies at the same power level as currently manufactured Opteron 6200s. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-10T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012020901_Researchers_Boost_GPGPU_Performance_by_20_.html It has become the norm for many recent mainstream CPUs and APUs to have an integrated GPU on the same silicon. With technologies such as CUDA and OpenCL, it is possible to harness the computing of the GPU (both integrated and discrete GPUs) to perform certain, repetitive computing tasks. However, with current technologies, the CPU and GPU, even if on the same silicon, are rarely working together so are not as efficient as they might be. Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a technique that allows GPUs and CPUs on the same silicon to work together, boosting CPU performance by an average of over 20%. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-09T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012020803_AMD_Respond_To_Rumors_That_They_Will_Be_Using_IBM_Fabs_.html Following several reports around the internet, we reported yesterday that IBM will be using IBM fabs to help produce their upcoming Trinity APUs. AMD have told xbitlabs that this information is not true, and that in fact IBM have merely given consulting support to Global Foundries. AMD chief executive Rory Read had reported that that IBM are one of AMD's manufacturing partners, helping to solve supply issues with their latest chips. This implied that IBM were helping with the manufacture, and was reported as such. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-08T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012020802_AMD_Launches_FirePro_V3900_Entry_Level_Workstation_Graphics.html AMD launched their new entry level workstation graphics card, the FirePro V3900, on February 7. With almost double the performance of it's predecessor, FirePro V3800, the card is available from select resellers for $119, $20 more than the V3800. AMD say "The AMD FirePro(TM) V3900 is the most powerful entry-level professional graphics card on the market today." Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-08T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012020801_AMD_quietly_introduces_two_Athlon_II_X4_CPUs.html With the launch of "Llano" microprocessors in the middle of last year, it seemed like AMD was going to retire their older Athlon II and Sempron brands, that are commonly associated with mid-class and budget K10-based processors. Despite of introduction of new "A-Series" and other "-Series" families, the company continued to use "Athlon II" and "Sempron" names for "Llano" products, that didn't have on-chip GPU. The first Athlon II branded Llano model for socket FM1, quad-core 631 with 2.6 GHz frequency, was launched last summer. It was followed by Athlon II 651 in November. Yesterday AMD added another two Athlon II CPUs to AMD product database. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-08T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012020702_AMD_To_Use_IBM_Foundries_For_Trinity_Production.html At last weeks Financial Analyst Day, AMD announced that they will be using IBM as a third foundry, alongside Global Foundries and TSMC, to produce the wafers for it's next generation Trinity APUs. Currently, 40 nm E-Series, W-Series and Z-Series APUs are manufactured at TSMC, and 32 nm Llano APUs are manufactured at Global Foundries. Trinity will be manufactured by both Global Foundries and IBM, using a 32 nm SOI process. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-07T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012020701_Prices_of_Xeon_E3-1200_v2_CPUs.html Current Intel Xeon lineup consists of E7 family for multi-processor servers, Xeon 5500/5600 series for two-way systems, and E3-1200 series for single-processor workstations. First generation of Xeon E3-1200 microprocessors was launched a year ago, and it was built on 32nm Sandy Bridge micro-microarchitecture. Second generation of E3-1200 series, dubbed E3-1200 v2, is coming in the second quarter 2012. These chips will be based on unreleased at this time Ivy Bridge micro-architecture, and they expect to improve performance and power consumption over the first generation of E3 CPUs. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-07T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012020602_Latest_NVidia_Kepler_Rumors_-_Specs_Dates_and_Pricing.html Following hot on the heels of the AMD roadmaps revealed at their analyst day last week, Indian website lenzfire.com have published detailed specs for the full range of Kepler GPUs, including prices and projected release dates. As is usual with rumors, the details differ from previous rumors, but they do appear to give a reasonable overview of what to expect. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-06T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012020601_AMD_desktop_roadmap_for_2012_2013.html Last week we published AMD roadmaps for graphics cards, and mobile and server processors. All of these roadmaps were made public last Thursday during Financial Analyst Day event. Additionally, the company published 2012/2013 desktop roadmap, which revealed new features of their upcoming FX CPUs and accelerated processing units, and confirmed previously rumored cancellation of "Komodo" desktop CPUs. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-06T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012020401_AMD_2012-2013_mobile_APU_Roadmap.html During Thursday's Financial Analyst Day, AMD revealed details of their 2012 and 2013 APUs. There will be 3 models, including Trinity for the performance market, Brazos 2.0 for low power devices, and Hondo for ultra-low power devices. These new products will feature up to 4 cores, with an improved Piledriver CPU core and a superior integrated GPU, compared to the expected competition. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-04T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012020303_AMD_2012-2013_Graphics_Roadmap.html At the AMD 2012 Financial Analyst Day (February 2), AMD revealed details of their 2012-2013 Roadmap, including what they have planned for the graphics market. For 2012, we have Southern Islands, for which the first couple of cards are already shipping. This is the HD 7900 series GPUs, with the GCN core. In 2013, we will see "Sea Islands", which will introduce a new GPU architecture, alongside some new Heterogeneous Systems Architecture (HSA, the new name for Fusion System Architecture) features. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-03T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012020302_AMD_server_roadmap_for_2012_2013.html During Financial Analyst Day even yesterday AMD disclosed new server roadmap for 2012 and 2013 years. In a surprise move, the company canceled "Terramar" and "Sepang" processors, and replaced them with less ambitious "Abu Dhabi" and "Seoul" designs, that will preserve compatibility with existing G34 and C32 platforms. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-03T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012020301_Fake_Core_i7-990X_CPU.html I'm sure most readers have come across fake electronic hardware, either personally or through reading/watching news articles. CPUs are no exception, and in the forums here at CPU-World there have been many threads discussing fakes. Some of them are very well made, and sometimes produced in very large quantities. Others are relatively easy to spot. One that is easy to spot is an Intel Core i7-990X discussed on the Intel forums. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-03T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012020102_AMD_Radeon_HD_7950_Released_-_Prices_and_Specs.html Yesterday (January 31), AMD released the next in their new line of graphics cards for general sale. The Radeon HD 7950 uses a cut-down version of the Tahiti core used in the Radeon HD 7970, released on January 10. With what appears to be 2 different reference designs, one designed to offer superior cooling and the other designed to be quieter. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-01T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012020101_Pre-order_prices_for_upcoming_AMD_FX_CPUs.html Last Sunday Intel listed three new Core i5 desktop microprocessors in company's official pricelist. Another desktop Core i7 model will be launched in two weeks. It seems that AMD also prepares to refresh their FX line of desktop processors, targeted at computer enthusiasts. We recently spotted available for pre-order unreleased FX-4170 and FX-6200 CPUs. Also, AMD is going to offer in US a variation of FX-8150 model with liquid cooling. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-02-01T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012013101_Launch_dates_of_AMD_HD_7x00_graphics_cards.html Today, on January 31st, AMD is going to launch HD 7950, the second graphics card from HD 7000 series. This GPU has fewer stream processors, and somewhat lower core and memory clock speeds compared to previously released HD 7970. The HD 7950 should also be cheaper than the 7970. A number of more affordable HD 7xx0 cards will be coming later in the first quarter of this year. [Removed at MSI request] Gennadiy Shvets 2012-01-31T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012013001_Tilera_announces_availability_of_36-_and_16-core_CPUs.html Fabless semiconductor company Tilera Corporation, formed in 2004 to develop many-core processing solutions, have announced immediate availability of TILE-Gx36 and TILE-Gx16, the first members of their new TILE-Gx range of 64-bit processors, and evaluation systems to use with them. In line with the company's commitment to produce high-performance processors with low power consumption, these processors offer greater performance per watt than other comparable systems. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-01-30T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012012901_Three_new_Core_i5_CPUs_added_to_Intel_pricelist.html We previously reported on several new Core i5 desktop microprocessors, expected in the second week of February. Core i5-2380P, i5-2450P and unlocked i5-2550K Sandy Bridge CPUs will come with slightly increased core frequency, and with disabled on-chip GPU. A week earlier than anticipated Intel added all three SKUs to official price list. The company also added prices for 4 single- and dual-core Mobile Celeron models, that were launched earlier this month. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-01-29T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012012801_AMD_Radeon_HD_7950_Pre-Order_Pricing.html AMD Radeon HD 7950 graphics cards have shown up for pre-order on a number of websites. In line with our previous article detailing the expected specs, all models have 3 GB GDDR5 running at 5000 MHz, with 384-bit bandwidth, with 1.5 GB models expected later. There are 1792 Stream Processors. The cards require one 150W (8-pin) PCI-E power connection and one 75W (6 pin) connector. All the cards have 1 x DVI-I, HDMI, 2x Mini DisplayPort, and double slot coolers. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-01-28T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012012701_Intel_Crystal_Forest_Gladden_platform_to_launch_in_Q2.html In March Intel is expected to launch Romley server platform, which will be comprised of Xeon E5 microprocessors, and "Patsburg-B" C600 series chipset. Later in the first half of this year Intel will introduce another platform, codenamed Crystal Forest-Server. This platform will also work with Xeon E5-2600 processors, but it will utilize Cave Creek chipset. Cave Creek chipset will be also used by embedded platform, codenamed Crystal Forest-Gladden. The platform will be available in the second quarter 2012. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-01-27T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012012602_Intel_Offers_Performance_Tuning_Protection_Plan.html Typically, when you buy electronic parts and equipment they are only guaranteed to work according to published specs. If you overclock a part of your computer (usually the CPU, memory and/or graphics card) and it burns out you are not covered by the standard warranty. Most companies offer a limited warranty, which doesn't cover damage done by overclocking (classed as misuse), although some companies offer more flexible replacement terms as long as a non-working part cannot be seen to have been modified. Intel are now offering an added level of warranty protection, at a price, for those who wish to overclock their recent, high-end unlocked desktop SKUs. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-01-26T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012012601_Gigabyte_adds_GPU-less_Core_i5s_to_CPU_support_lists.html As was originally reported by VR-Zone, three new Core i5 microprocessors are coming in February. In addition to i5 standard features, such as 4 CPU cores with Turbo Boost technology, 6 MB L3 cache and no Hyper-Threading, all three models will also have one thing in common: they will lack on-chip graphics unit. Last week Gigabyte added new SKUs to socket 1155 CPU support lists, confirming previously reported specifications. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-01-26T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.cpu-world.com//news_2012/2012012401_Intel_prepares_Core_i3-3120ME_and_i3-3217UE_CPUs.html Next Intel micro-architecture, codenamed Ivy Bridge, will launch in less than three months. Along with desktop and mobile microprocessors, based on new microarchitecture, Intel will release several embedded models. We previously reported on 5 embedded Core i7s, and now we found details on Core i3-3220ME and i3-3217UE embedded CPUs. Gennadiy Shvets 2012-01-24T00:00:00-05:00