Archived news: October 2010 - December 2010

On December 9, Lenovo announced two laptops, IdeaPad Y460p and Y560p, and new IdeaCentre K330 desktop PC. Lenovo's press release pronounced that the laptops will feature 14" and 15.6" displays, Intel Core i7 processors, up to 8GB DDR3-1333 memory, and up to 750 GB HDD, but no specific details were given at the time. Days ago, more detailed specifications of the IdeaPad Y460p laptop emerged on Lenovo website. The specs supply information on all integrated components, as well as a list of supported microprocessors, which include upcoming Sandy Bridge mobile CPUs from Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 families.   [Full story]

Just in time before Christmas, we published a series of stories covering impending refresh of mobile AMD microprocessor line-up. Several new mobile CPUs are already shipping in notebooks, while large number of them, revealed by "Service and Maintenance manual" for HP G42 and Compaq Presario CQ42 notebooks, are still anticipated. One of these processors, V Series V160, is now available in Dell and HP notebooks.   [Full story]

In addition to a part number, Motorola processors have two extra pieces of information on the package - 4- or 5-letter mask set code (similar to core stepping), and a datecode. I started collecting mask and datecode information for all Motorola 68K processors, and some pieces of it already made it into CPU pages. To see how it looks please check Motorola XC68030RC25 CPU page. I also added about 70 mask set pages - these are linked from CPU pages. I don't have data on Motorola 68000 and 68010 mask sets yet, and not all data, that I have collected so far, is displayed on the 68K CPU pages. I will add more data, and fix the CPU pages in the coming weeks.

In less than a month Intel is going to introduce a brand-new Sandy Bridge micro-architecture by launching a variety of CPUs from server, desktop, and mobile market segments. At about the same time Intel will refresh a few mobile families with new models, based on older technology. We expect that Intel will release at least 6 new mobile microprocessors based on enhanced Nehalem and Core microarchitectures. So far we reported on two of them, dual-core Celeron U3600 and Core i5-480M. Two other unannounced mobile processors, Pentium Mobile P6300 and Core i3-390M, recently surfaced in several ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo notebooks.   [Full story]

One week ago we published specifications of new Turion II Neo Dual-Core K685 and K645 microprocessors, that mistakenly appeared ahead of time on Italian AMD website, and were removed afterwards. At the time of writing of that article we couldn't find any notebooks shipped with the K645 CPU. One week later, the Turion II Neo K645 arrived in Inspiron M301z laptop, sold on Dell Singapore website.   [Full story]

If you followed recent releases of notebooks and mobile devices, you may remember Acer Iconia laptop, unveiled one month ago. Unique feature of the Iconia is a dual touchscreen display with a sleek touch interface, that should be perfect for those, whose online life revolves around Facebook, Youtube and Flickr, and other big and popular sites. The Iconia notebook was reported to use Core i5-480M, i5-560M and i5-580M microprocessors. Two i5-5xx models were launched in September 2010, whereas the 480M is not officially released yet.   [Full story]

Less than two weeks ago, AMD launched two new six-core microprocessors. AMD flagship model, 1100T Black Edition, almost immediately cropped up in stores. The second introduced X6 processor, Phenom II X6 1065T, is not as fast as the 1100T due to 400 MHz lower core frequency, but requires about 25% lower power. The 1065T at this time is not available even for pre-order, although it just made its first appearance in OEM systems.   [Full story]

The biggest event of the next month for the computer industry is, perhaps, the launch of Intel "Sandy Bridge" microarchitecture. As a part of this launch, Intel is going to introduce new Core i5 and Core i7 mobile CPUs. Although details of these processors were known to computer enthusiasts for months, not many people may know that Intel will also update their mid-class and budget lines of Westmere-based microprocessors. One of these processors is a low-power Celeron U3600, which was recently sighted in notebook PCs from Acer and Dell.   [Full story]

Launched in May 2010, AMD "Nile" ultrathin platform included 5 microprocessors from four different dual-core and single-core "Neo" families. Six months after the launch, we have all indications that AMD is planning to release new models for that platform. We already know three expected Neo models, Turion II Neo K645 and K685, and Athlon II K145. Today we discovered that yet another unannounced processor, dual-core Athlon II Neo K345, is shipped in Inspiron M101z laptop by Dell Australia.   [Full story]

Yesterday we published a story revealing not-yet officially released Phenom II Triple-Core N870 microprocessor in Dell Inspiron M501R notebook. We suspected that that processor would be a part of future refresh of AMD mainstream "Danube" platform. Today we found more mobile processors from the upcoming refresh. Hewlett Packard recently updated "Maintenance and Service Guide" for Compaq Presario CQ42 and HP G42 notebooks, and added unannounced AMD model numbers and their brief specifications.   [Full story]

As the launch of Intel mobile Sandy Bridge microprocessors is getting imminent, we expect that AMD will respond to it with new versions of their low-power and mainstream mobile processors. Earlier this week we published two stories covering new models from AMD Ultrathin 2010 platform, Athlon II Neo K145, and Turion II Neo K645 and K685. AMD mainstream 2010 platform is getting refreshed too, and one of the new processors for that platform is a triple-core Phenom II N870.   [Full story]

AMD Ultrathin "Nile" platform was introduced in May 2010, together with AMD mainstream 2010 platform, codenamed "Danube". Since then the mainstream platform was refreshed once, when at the end of the third quarter AMD quitely released slightly faster versions of most of their mainstream processors. The ultrathin platform was not refreshed back then, but there are all indications that this may happen soon.   [Full story]

Acer added another configuration with more powerful single-core AMD Neo microprocessor for its Aspire One 721 netbook (see "related Links" below for a link). While the original version of the netbook was shipped with Neo K125 CPU, operating at 1.7 GHz, newer netbook uses Neo K145 which runs at 1.8 GHz.   [Full story]

Yesterday we reported on the launch of three new AMD desktop microprocessors, Athlon II 445, Phenom II X2 565 BE and Phenom II X6 1100T, which quickly became a focus of many hardware reviews all over the net. The CPUs also appeared in official AMD price list, and their specifications were added to product pages on the AMD website. Today, AMD added specifications of three additional models - Sempron 150, Athlon II X2 B28 and Phenom II X6 1065T.   [Full story]

Six month ago we reported about Intel plans to discontinue large number of Core 2 mobile microprocessors in the 3rd and 4th quarters 2010. Today Intel posted several Product Change Notification (PCN) documents, the contents of which confirms earlier reports.   [Full story]

With the launch of three new desktop processors today, AMD also dropped prices on many older models. Majority of price cuts were insignificant, typically in the range from 3% to 10%. The price of one microprocessor, Phenom II X4 970, was increased by $5, or by about 3%.   [Full story]

In the past month, we published a few stories about upcoming desktop AMD microprocessors. The stories revealed pre-order availability of Phenom II X6 1100T and dual-core Phenom II 565 CPUs, in-stock availability of triple-core Athlon II 455 at Amazon.com, and a reference to quad-core Phenom II 975 model on the latest public AMD roadmap. Three of these processors, Phenom II X6 1100T BE, Phenom II X2 565 and Athlon II X3 455, were officially released by AMD today, and their specifications are already available on AMD website.   [Full story]

In the middle of November, a few US and European stores added the fastest upcoming six-core AMD microprocessor, Phenom II X6 110T BE, to their price-lists. While at first the processor was available only for pre-order or special order, about three weeks later these processors started to appear in stock in Europe.   [Full story]

While specifications of many Sandy Bridge desktop microprocessors were known for quite some time, since July of this year, prices and release dates of these models were unknown until last week. At the end of November Expreview revealed prices and launch dates of all Sandy Bridge-based desktop models. Expreview also published specifications of Pentium CPUs, that will be introduced in February and in the second quarter 2011.   [Full story]

Two weeks ago, we published a story about AMD Phenom II X6 1100T model appearing on pre-order lists of online stores. Since then we discovered a few other interesting tidbits about forthcoming Phenom II CPUs, including Phenom II information on AMD website, Phenom II 565 model pre-order, and CPU support updates for new Phenom IIs.   [Full story]

Intel price list was updated today with new microprocessor, Pentium E5800. Intel website doesn't have CPU specifications yet, but these are known from previously published stories.   [Full story]

In the middle of September Intel launched new Atom platform, which included eight Atom E600-series System-on-a-Chip (SoC) models, and EG20T Platform Controller Hub. During the launch, Intel announced plans to release in 2011 a variation of E600 SoCs, codenamed Stellarton, that would integrate the E600 CPU core with Altera Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Two days ago, on November 22, these SoCs were formally introduced.   [Full story]

Tomorrow Christie's auction house is going to auction Apple 1 computer as a lot #65. In addition to the computer itself, the lot also includes cassette interface and cassette with BASIC language, Apple 1 operation manual, circuit diagrams, and $741.66 invoice for both Apple 1 computer and cassette interface. Christie's expects to sell the lot for 100,000 GBP - 150,000 GBP, or $160,300 - $240,450.   [Full story]

"Jump to CPU Page" field, located on many information pages, and "Compare CPU" field on CPU pages, use the same type of script that matches supplied manufacturer, family, part and/or model numbers with the actual CPU part or CPU page. This script was enhanced to match core name, socket type, processor frequency and FSB, and last level cache size. For example, you can now search for "Pentium 166 MHz", or "Regor 3.2GHz". To search for FSB, add "FSB" to the search string, like this: "533FSB" or "533 fsb" (case is not important). To search for last level cache, add "KB" or "MB": "512KB", or "2 MB". In addition to that, the matching algorithm was changed. It now tries match exactly all words in the typed string, and, if it fails to do so, it will do partial match. As an example, typing "Athlon II" will return only two part numbers for Athlon II processor (exact match for family name), whereas before it would return Athlon II / II X2 / II X3 / II X4 CPUs. Searching for "National 2901" will not result in exact match, because "National" is not a full manufacturer name. Therefore, the script will switch to partial match, and display all National Semiconductor parts from 2901 family.

As you may be aware, AMD is planning to introduce several Phenom II and Athlon II processors in the 4th quarter 2010. Planned Phenom II models are quad-core Phenom II 975 BE, operating at remarkable for K10 microarchitecture 3.6 GHz, and six-core 1065T and 1100T microprocessors. One of these models, AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition, recently appeared in price lists of a few online stores.   [Full story]

Biostar published CPU support list for socket 1155 motherboards, which includes a number of upcoming Core i5 and Core i7 Sandy Bridge microprocessors. Processor frequency and Thermal Design Power characteristics in the published data match those from the earlier reports, that appeared months ago. The list references Core i5-2300 processor, that we first reported on three days ago.   [Full story]

Digitimes today divulged model numbers of upcoming low- and ultra-low voltage mobile microprocessors, based on Sandy Bridge microarchitecture. Low-power models include low-voltage Core i7-2610LM, 2620LM and 2640LM microprocessors, and two ultra-low voltage models - Core i7-2630UM and Core i5-2530UM. In addition to these processors, Intel will also launch mobile Celeron B801. Details, such as frequency and features, are not known.   [Full story]

Part numbers of OEM and boxed desktop microprocessors, based on upcoming Sandy Bridge micro-architecture, were published today on Intel's website. S-Spec numbers of these CPUs were also made public. This information confirms model numbers of upcoming Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors, that were revealed in July - August of this year. Also, there will be one new quad-core model, Intel Core i5-2300.   [Full story]

On November 8, Marvell announced new Armada XP (Extreme Performance) platform based on ARM V7 core. The platform consists of 5 system-on-a-chip (SoC) models, that offer varying level of performance - from single core MV78130 with minimalistic features, and to quad-core MV78460 with greater number of I/O ports. Depending on integrated features, Armada XP chips may target enterprise-class cloud and web servers, as well as home server-type appliances like Networked Attached Storage or media servers.   [Full story]

On September 1, we published a story about just discovered Intel Pentium E5800 microprocessor. Since then, there was no additional information about the CPU, until now. Earlier this month Fujitsu updated specifications of various ESPRIMO desktop computers, and added Pentium Dual-Core E5800 model to a list of compatible CPUs.   [Full story]

Almost two months ago we reported on two upcoming ultra-low voltage microprocessors, Core i3-380UM and Core i5-470UM. On September 26, Intel updated price list with 8 new mobile CPUs, which didn't include 380UM and 470UM models. In the next few days after that Intel published specifications of just released 8 microprocessors, as well as specs of two new Pentium models, Core i3-380M and Core i4-460M CPUs, that were not in the price list. That time too, the update didn't include ULV i3-380UM and i5-470UM parts. Finally, 6 weeks after September's mobile CPU refresh, details of the i3-380UM and i5-470UM models emerged in ark database on Intel's site.   [Full story]

I added new page that shows recently completed eBay auctions for early and/or rare processors and integrated circuits. The data on the page can be filtered by manufacturer / family / part number, therefore it may be more useful in some way than searching on Ebay, although it doesn't include as much information as eBay provides. Also, all data will be submitted manually, so it's likely that some eBay auctions could be missed, or many auctions for common chips would be ignored. The "interesting auctions" page will show data for last month or two (currently undecided), but CPU collectors will have access to the data even after that time. I hope the page will be useful for researching recent prices for rare and early chips and CPUs to collectors, as well as sellers.

Phenom II X4 840T microprocessors were launched in the third quarter 2010, but so far they were available only in OEM systems from Hewlett-Packard, and no processors made it into retail stores. Last month a handful of 840T parts appeared on auction sites in Asia.   [Full story]

Earlier this month, we published specifications of upcoming Xeon E3-1200 series microprocessors. At the time, we knew that Xeons will be paired with Intel C206 chipset, but didn't have any details of it. Recently, we learned that the Xeon E3-1200 CPUs will be supported not by one, but by three slightly different chipsets - C202, C204 and C206, and we also found their partial specifications.   [Full story]

Approximately a week ago many hardware sites reported availability of not-yet released Intel Xeon X5690 microprocessor in the D900F Panther mobile server from EUROCOM. The availability of upcoming Xeon was short-lived, and, after a few days, the Xeon X5690 was taken down from the list of configurable processors.   [Full story]

I added National Semiconductor Geode SC3200 family page, and CPU specifications for all chips from that family.

In the second quarter 2010 AMD launched a slew of embedded microprocessors for AM3 and compact ASB2 platforms. The launch spanned four different families from Athlon II Neo to Phenom II XLT, and included two Turion II Neo models - N40L and N54L. As we recently learned, there are two other embedded Turion II Neo models, that were already launched earlier this year, or are about to be launched.   [Full story]

I added National Semiconductor Geode SC3200 family page, and CPU specifications for all chips from that family.

AMD has 5 new Opteron 6100-series high-, standard- and mid-power microprocessors in the works. Two models come with 8 cores, and remaining three models have 12 CPU cores. All new processors are designed to work in socket G34.   [Full story]

AMD Phenom II X4 830 model was released months ago, but it's still unfamiliar to many computer enthusiasts, perhaps with the exception of owners of some Hewlett-Packard built PCs. We found 4 different computer models with this CPU, all manufactured by Hewlett-Packard: HP Pavilion p6540f, HP Pavilion Slimline s5560f, HP Pro 3125 Minitower PC and HP Pavilion Elite HPE-400z series desktop PC.   [Full story]

Toshiba recently announced two notebooks from new Satellite Pro C660D series. Toshiba C660D-10C laptop, currently shipped in Europe, comes with Athlon II Dual-Core Mobile P340 microprocessor, operating at 2.2 GHz core frequency. The second laptop, Satellite Pro C660D-12M, is not yet available, and it will include upcoming AMD Athlon II P360 microprocessor.   [Full story]

Design of benchmarks database search pages was changed to be in line with the new site design. The change was purely cosmetic, and no new functionality was added to the pages. I do have some improvements planned for the benchmarks database in the near future.

CPUID browse page and CPUID tabs on CPU pages now can show two additional features for AMD microprocessors: "Nested page tables", and "64-bit SSE instructions" / "128-bit SSE instructions". CPUID tab title on the CPU pages was updated to display the number of matching part numbers in the CPUID database. And the last addition is for those, who want to interpret CPUID data himself, either to determine support status for other (not decoded) features, or to verify displayed features. Each CPUID page now has "See raw CPUID data" link at the bottom of the page, that will bring another page with submission's raw CPUID data from our database.

In August of this year, Xbit labs published a story hinting at two variations of AMD Phenom II X4 970 microprocessors: Deneb-based boxed version with C3 core stepping, and Thuban-based OEM version with two cores disabled. On September 21st AMD launched boxed version of the 970 microprocessor with Deneb core, but up to this moment there were no traces of the second, Zosma-based, Phenom II 970. Recently we acquired and tested an OEM version of Phenom II X4 model, which is based on Zosma core.   [Full story]

One month ago AMD refreshed lineups of Athlon II and Phenom II microprocessors, adding various standard-power models, as well as energy-efficient Athlon II X2 250e, X3 420e and X4 615e CPUs. At the time we speculated that "we won't see new Athlon II 'e' models in retail any time soon". It turns out that our assumption was incorrect, and two out of the three new low-power Athlon IIs are already in stock in a number of online stores.   [Full story]

New low-power Xeon model with L3403 processor number surfaced on Intel's website. Xeon L3403 is not a new model, as, according to Intel's ark database, it was launched in the second quarter 2010. Nevertheless, no references to this model, or associated CM80616005496AB part number and SLBRX S-Spec number can be found on the net at this time.   [Full story]

Within last 3 weeks, both AMD and Intel refreshed mobile CPU lineups. Intel introduced new dual-core standard-power processors in all market segments, from budget Celeron line to high-performance Core i7 family, as well as a few low- and ultra-low voltage Core i5 and Core i7 microprocessors. AMD released faster versions of almost every single model from V Series, Athlon II, Turion II and Phenom II families. With 10 new mobile CPUs, AMD's platform refresh looked as extensive as Intel's update. But it gets even better. We found that three additional mobile processors from AMD are available now.   [Full story]

Intel's price list was updated today with new prices for a few desktop and mobile microprocessors. Official Intel price was dropped for Core i3-550, Pentium E5700 and Pentium E6700 CPUs by 13 - 15%. The price of dual-core Celeron E3400 CPU was slashed by 21%. Two LV and ULV Core i7 mobile microprocessors, i7-640LM and i7-660UM, got cheaper by 6% and 9% respectively.   [Full story]

Three days ago we published a roundup of notebook PCs shipped with new AMD Phenom II microprocessors. Today, we publish a roundup of notebooks based on V Series and Athlon II budget families, and Turion II mid-class family of mobile CPUs.   [Full story]

In the first quarter 2011, Intel is going to introduce Sandy Bridge micro-architecture by launching a mixture of desktop, mobile and server-class microprocessors. While the launch of desktop processors will include mid-class and high-performance Core i3, i5 and i7 families, budget Pentium and Celeron families will stay with Core and Nehalem microarchitectures for another quarter or two. One of the confirmed upcoming budget processors is a Core-based Pentium E5800 for socket 775. Another new model, we just learned about, is a Pentium G6960 for socket 1156.   [Full story]

It's been two weeks since brief specifications of new mobile Athlon microprocessors emerged on AMD website. In the past, we published a few articles describing characteristics of these microprocessors, along with details on notebook PCs, where the processors will be used. As a follow up to those articles, we decided to publish a list of currently available laptops with the new AMD mobile CPUs.   [Full story]

Earlier this year we published an SSD roadmap for 2010 and Q1 2011. Although we do not specialize in SSD drives and non-CPU components, it happened that we stumbled on the roadmap, and we posted it. Recently we found yet another Solid State Drive roadmap for servers for Q4 2010 and the first quarter 2011.   [Full story]

Newegg has in stock OEM version of elusive Phenom II X3 715 triple-core microprocessor. Specifications of this processor popped up in CPU support lists of various motherboard makers as early as the third quarter 2009. Rumors about impending release of this model appeared in March - April of this year, but so far no information on this CPU was published on AMD website, and, before recently, no boxed or OEM versions of this model emerged in retail stores.   [Full story]

About a month ago, we published stories on two new budget AMD microprocessors - Athlon X2-branded CPU with 5200+ model number, and low power Athlon II X2 210e. In the past few days, OEM versions of these parts appeared in a few US online stores. The processors can also be obtained on eBay.   [Full story]

Earlier today we revealed Intel's plans to release new version of Xeon microprocessor for single-socket workstations. The W3690 is not the only one-way Xeon that we can expect at the beginning of 2011. In the first quarter Intel is going to replace most of Xeon 3400-series CPUs with new E3-1200 series, based on Sandy Bridge microarchitecture. Intel Xeon E3-1200 lineup consists of 11 low- and standard-power microprocessors with core frequencies ranging from 2.2 GHz to 3.5 GHz.   [Full story]

In the first quarter 2011, Intel is going to release faster Xeon model for uni-processor servers. The new CPU has model number W3690, and it comes with 6 cores, clocked at 3.46 GHz. Other CPU features are 12 MB level 3 cache, 130 Watt Thermal Design Power, and an array of technologies, including AES instructions, HyperThreading, Turbo Boost and Trusted Execution.   [Full story]

In August, Jetway Computer Corporation updated Q3 desktop motherboard roadmap, and added discontinuance notice for Intel socket 775 microprocessors. As stated by the roadmap document, Product Discontinuance Notices (PDN) were published for Core i7-975 and Celeron E3200 CPUs in Q3 2010, and the last order date for these CPUs is Q1 2011. In the first quarter 2011 Intel plans to issue PDNs for Core 2 Quad Q8300, Q8400, Q8400S, Q9505, Q9505S, Q9550, Q9550S and Q9650 CPUs. Discontinuance notices will also be posted for Core 2 Duo E8500 and E8600 models, and Pentium Dual-Core E5400 processor.   [Full story]

Researching current status of Phenom II X4 B97 microprocessor, we stumbled on specifications of currently shipped HP Compaq 6005 PC, that includes the B97 model, as well as two new business class CPUs - dual-core Phenom II X2 B57 and triple-core Phenom II X3 B77. We estimate that the B57 and B77 microprocessors were introduced in the second or third quarter 2010, and, perhaps, at the same time as the Phenom II X4 B97.   [Full story]

As you may be aware, Intel is planning to introduce 10 new microprocessors from Xeon 5600 series in the first quarter of next year. In two separate news stories, published in July and August, we provided specifications of several of these microprocessors - three Xeon E560x quad-core models, and 4 six-core Xeons. Recently we found additional information on three remaining quad-core Xeons with processor numbers X5647, X5672 and X5687.   [Full story]

I updated CPUID recognition algorithm of family name and model number for socket S1g4 AMD processors, Intel Core i3/i5/i7 Mobile CPUs, Pentium Dual-Core Mobile parts, and a few other families. I also fixed model number recognition for socket S1g3 CPUs.