Archived news: July 2010 - September 2010

At the end of July, and then again at the end of August, we discovered 10 upcoming AMD mobile microprocessors from Danube platform in specifications of HP ProBook 6455b / 6555b and HP Pavilion dv6 notebooks. Days ago, AMD added characteristics of all but one of these microprocessors to "The 2010 AMD Mainstream Platform" page. The Danube platform page includes 9 new models, comprising of power-efficient and standard-power microprocessors from single-core V140 to quad-core P940 and N950. We don't know yet whether this is a preparation step for upcoming launch, or an indication that the microprocessors are already launched. Even if the processors are not officially released yet, all of them are already shipped in numerous notebooks.   [Full story]

Two days ago MIPS Technologies introduced new multiprocessor IP core MIPS32 1074K CPS (Coherent Processing System). The IP processor targets a variety of internet-connected devices and home networking products, such as digital TVs, set-top boxes, and tablet computers. The MIPS32 1074K is not dependent on foundry process, and, combined with standard cells and memories, can be used to built custom microprocessor products with 1 - 4 cores, operating at frequencies up to 1.5 GHz.   [Full story]

It seems that all latest desktop AMD OEM microprocessors end up in Hewlett-Packard PCs. Just two days ago we learned about HP Pavilion Elite HPE-410f and HPE-460z desktop computers, now available in stores with Phenom II X6 1045T CPU. Earlier this year we reported on Sempron 180 processors, spotted in Compaq Presario CQ3211CX and three other PCs, Sempron 145 and Athlon II X2 220 CPUs in HP Compaq 6005 Pro computers, and there were a few others. This time we discovered that two new quad-core OEM microprocessors with model numbers 840T and 960T are shipped in HP Pavilion Elite HPE-400z series PC. The Phenom II 840T is also available in HP Pavilion Slimline s5660f computer.   [Full story]

Today, Intel ark database (ark.intel.com) was updated with specifications of microprocessors released last Sunday. In addition to 8 Core i5, Core i7 and Mobile Celeron CPUs, that we covered in yesterday's new story, Intel published specifications of 4 other models - Core i5-460M, Core i3-380M, and mobile Pentium P6100 and P6200. All four processors have the status "Launched" in the database. Apparently, the CPUs were a part of yesterday's big launch, but were not included in Intel's price list because the pricelist, for unknown reason, doesn't show any Pentium, Core i3 and Core i5-4xx mobile families.   [Full story]

Earlier this week, on September 21, AMD unveiled 10 new desktop microprocessors. New models included 6 standard-power CPUs, one ultra-low voltage processor, and three energy-efficient "e" models. We just found out that, on top of adding new microprocessors to Athlon II and Phenom II families, AMD also cut prices on energy efficient parts. We also learned prices of recently introduced "e" models.   [Full story]

Eight Core i7, Core i5 and Celeron branded microprocessors were added today by Intel to the price list. The new processors are aimed at budget and high-performance mobile markets, and include standard-, low- and ultra-low power models. The cheapest new CPUs, Celerons T3500 and P4600, are priced below $100, while more powerful models with HyperThreading, Turbo Boost and Vpro features cost as much as $346.   [Full story]

Earlier this month we stumbled upon specifications of two HP computers with unreleased Phenom II 1045T microprocessor. These findings were published on September 11 on our site. Today, we learned that two other HP computers with the same processor are sold on Hewlett-Packard website.   [Full story]

This month, we published specifications of two new ultra-low voltage (ULV) microprocessors for mid-class ultra-thin notebooks - Core i3-380UM and Core i5-470UM. Another two high-performance ULV microprocessors were revealed earlier this year in a leaked Intel roadmap. According to the roadmap, the two models, Core i5-560UM and Core i7-680UM, are planned for the 4th quarter 2010.   [Full story]

CPUID database now uses new site design.

Back in July and August we published two articles revealing model numbers and brief specifications of upcoming AMD mobile microprocessors, including new Athlon II models. We reported that Athlon II Dual-Core Mobile P340 CPU was sighted in HP Pavilion dv6 and HP ProBook 6455b / 6555b notebooks. It appears that this Athlon II processor is already shipped in Dell Inspiron M5030 notebooks.   [Full story]

As we already reported today, AMD refreshed all active desktop Athlon II and Phenom II families with 6 new standard-power models. These microprocessors were not the only ones released today. AMD also launched 4 low and ultra-low power Athlon II CPUs - dual-cores 270u and 250e, triple-core 420e, and quad-core 615e.   [Full story]

Today AMD launched 6 new desktop models, which span across six different Athlon II and Phenom II families. Also, two budget-class models, Sempron 145 and Athlon II X2 220, are now available as boxed processors. The new processors are offered in a wide range of prices, from budget dual-core Athlon II 265 at $76 and up to high-performance Phenom II 1075T at $245.   [Full story]

Phenom II X6 1075T is the latest six-core CPU, which is about to be launched by AMD. First reports, emerged in January of this year, suggested May release date for this and three other six-core models. At the end of April, AMD announced only two processors, 1055T and 1090T, while another 1035T model was spotted in May in OEM Dell systems. The Phenom II 1075T was postponed until the third quarter, and, just a few days ago, first boxed 1075T CPUs materialized in retail stores.   [Full story]

A few days left before AMD officially announces new refresh of Athlon II and Phenom II microprocessor line-ups. In this refresh AMD is going to introduce new dual-, triple- and quad-core Athlon II CPUs with model numbers 265, 450 and 645, and three Phenom II microprocessors - dual-core 560, quad-core 970, and six-core 1075T.   [Full story]

At the end of July we published preliminary specifications of Sempron 180 microprocessors. Recently, we acquired one the these Semprons, ran a series of benchmarks on it, and compared them with test results of other budget AMD and Intel CPUs. This mini-review presents partial benchmarking results and our thoughts of them, and it will be useful for those who consider buying either pre-built system with this Sempron CPU, or OEM version of this microprocessor.   [Full story]

Today AMD quietly added Athlon II X2 210e model to a list of its desktop CPU products. The 210e is a dual-core CPU from a budget Athlon II line of microprocessors.   [Full story]

First information about forthcoming Core i7 Extreme model with processor number i7-990X appeared in June of this year. More details about the CPU were reported by Fudzilla in the second half of August. Today Intel published boxed part number and S-Spec number for the Core i7-990X, confirming impending release of this model.   [Full story]

Yesterday Intel launched Queens Bay platform, aimed at automotive infotainment systems, media phones, smart grid and automation devices, and other embedded applications. The platform consists of 8 highly-integrated microprocessors from Atom E600 series, and Platform Controller Hub EG20T.   [Full story]

ARM Technologies and Chinese company Nufront announced System-on-a Chip, NuSmart 2816, based on dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processor, operating at frequencies up to 2 GHz. Besides two CPU cores, the SoC includes graphics and video processors and various peripherals. The 2816 will target ultra-thin laptop, netbook, tablet and nettop markets, and the first NuSmart-based product will be available for display at Consumer Electronics Show 2011 in Las Vegas. Nufront plans to introduce more NuSmart systems-on-a-chip in 2011.   [Full story]

One-of-a-kind piece of computer history was sold on Ebay last month. Thomas "Todd" Fischer, former employee of IMSAI Manufacturing Corporation and one of the founders of Fischer-Freitas Company, offered for sale a computerized dollhouse built by IMSAI for marketing purposes in 1977. The dollhouse was sold for $1,226.   [Full story]

New version of AMD six-core microprocessor with model number 1045T appeared recently in specifications of two Hewlett Packard desktop PCs aimed at US market - HP Pavilion Elite HPE-410y and HP Pavilion Elite HPE-447c. According to the specifications, the HPE-410y PC was introduced in August 2010, and it will be sold in United States. The HPE-447c desktop computer was introduced on August 25th, and it will be offered in US and Canada.   [Full story]

In two recently published Product Change Notification documents, Intel informed its customers about planned discontinuance of Core 2 Quad Q9000 and Q9100, and Core 2 Extreme X9100 and QX9300 microprocessors. The last date, when these models can be ordered, is March 25, 2011, and the last shipment date of OEM version of these processors is September 30, 2011.   [Full story]

On September 8, 2010, ARM announced new microprocessor design, Cortex-A15. The new design incorporates from 1 to 4, or more, cores, and can be clocked as high as 2.5 GHz, while featuring energy consumption level comparable to older designs. The new microprocessor targets existing smartphone, mobile computing and home entertainment markets, and, thanks to new virtualization and large memory support features, is powerful enough for use in enterprise market. The Cortex-A15 is available for licensing. Known licensees of this design include Samsung, ST Ericsson and Texas Instruments.   [Full story]

For well over a year Phenom II X4 965 was the highest clocked microprocessor manufactured by AMD. Launched in August 2009, Phenom II X4 965 has 4 cores operating at 3.4 GHz, which is at least 200 Mhz higher than the next fastest clocked AMD CPU. In the next two weeks AMD is going to introduce new model that will beat the 965 by 100 MHz. The new processor is a quad-core Phenom II 970.   [Full story]

There was wealth of information published on upcoming ultra-low voltage Core i7 and Core i5-5xx microprocessors. First news stories about them appeared as early as April of this year, and even more information was uncovered when an Intel roadmap was leaked in May. Strangely enough, there were no reports of less powerful and less expensive ultra-low voltage (ULV) microprocessors from Core i3-3xx and Core i5-4xx CPU line-ups. Finally, at the beginning of September two of these processors, Core i5-470UM and Core i3-380UM, appeared in notebooks from such manufacturers as Acer, Dell, Fujitsu and Hewlett-Packard.   [Full story]

IBM announced that new zEnterprise systems, powered by the world's fastest microprocessor, will start shipping September 10. The systems are offered in five configurations, M15, M32, M49, M66, and M80, that differ by the number of available processor cores and supported memory size. In the maximum configuration, the top model M80 can accommodate 96 processor cores, or 24 z196 CPUs, and support up to 3 TB of memory.   [Full story]

On September 3, STMicroelectronics announced new FLI7540 System-on-a-Chip (SoC) aimed at high-performance TV sets and set-top boxes. The FLI7540 SoC integrates 2 microprocessor cores, Faroudja video processing, 3D accelerator, audio/video decoding and a number of peripherals. Coupled with FLI2520 video enhancing IC, the FLI7540 provides rich user interface, access to Internet content, improved video quality, and reduced power consumption for the next generation of TVs.   [Full story]

Phenom II X3 740 triple-core microprocessor appeared in the news more than a year ago. While it was included in AMD roadmaps and frequently referenced in motherboard CPU support lists, it was never sold in retail as a boxed processor. OEM version of this processor is now available at Newegg for $88.99 with $5.99 shipping.   [Full story]

It's been three weeks since the launch of the fastest Pentium E5700 CPU with 800 MHz FSB, and Intel has yet another Pentium E5000-series microprocessor in the works. New model has processor number E5800, and comes with 3.2 GHz core frequency.   [Full story]

In the past one and half months, we covered most of mobile Intel microprocessors scheduled to launch in the third quarter of this year. The only processors, that we haven't described in detail, are high-performance standard-power Core i7-640M, and low- and ultra-low power Core i7-660LM, i7-680UM and i5-560UM CPUs. Today, we present all information on the Core i7-640M CPU known to us.   [Full story]

In the third quarter 2010, Intel is planning to release another wave of standard- and low-power mobile microprocessors. As part of this launch, Intel will present two budget CPUs - Mobile Celerons T3500 and P4600. We compiled known information about these microprocessors, and added recently discovered data such as part and S-Spec numbers, and what laptops these processors will be shipped in.   [Full story]

Today Intel updated price list with 3 new budget and mid-performance desktop models - Core i3-560, Pentium E6800 and Celeron E3500. Intel also added to the price list Pentium E5700, Atom N550 and Xeon W3670 microprocessors that were released earlier this month. In addition to this, price of Core i7-950 microprocessor was slashed by 48%, from $562 to $294, and the price of Xeon W3550 was reduced from $387 to $294.   [Full story]

AMD added Athlon X2 5200+ CPU to a desktop microprocessor line up on their website. Like two other members of Athlon X2 family with part numbers AD5000OGJ22GI and AD5000ODJ22GI, the 5200+ model is based on newer technology than now obsolete Athlon X2 7xxx series of CPUs.   [Full story]

Many computer enthusiasts are familiar with locked features on AMD Athlon II and Phenom II microprocessors, that is when a CPU is manufactured with a standard set of features, but certain features, like extra cores or L3 cache, are "turned off" due to internal defects or other reasons. Buying one of these processors and using well known method of unlocking the features gives people a chance to "upgrade" their CPU for free. Intel decided to take this approach to a new level, where a processor is released with locked features, that can be unlocked for a price. The first such processor is Pentium G6951.   [Full story]

We applied new design to all CPU news pages, and we've made two small changes:

• "CPU specifications" information was moved into a sidebar.
• We added "Related Links" box, that contains links to related family pages, as well as "Add comment" and "Link to this page" links.

On Monday, August 23, Intel introduced new dual-core Atom CPU with processor number N550. According to Intel's press release, the microprocessor is already available in a dozen of new netbooks from such manufacturers as Acer, ASUS, Fujitsu, Lenovo, LG, Samsung, MSI, and Toshiba.   [Full story]

In the course of past 4 weeks, we published two articles about the second wave of AMD mobile microprocessors for Danube platform. So far we discovered quad-core Phenom II N950, triple-core Phenom II N850, and dual-core Phenom II Mobile N640, Turion II P540 and Athlon II P340 microprocessors. We also reported on upcoming single-core V series V140. Not long ago Hewlett-Packard updated maintenance and service guide for HP Pavilion dv6 notebook, and added a few not-yet launched models - Phenom II X4 P940, Phenom II X3 P840, Turion II X2 N550 and Athlon II N350.   [Full story]

All existing CPU comparison pages were converted to new design. The pages now provide a bit more information about compared processors - links to family pages, and "Where to Buy" links.

According to recent blog post on AMD website, AMD will no longer support 3DNow! instructions in future generations of their microprocessors. Two instructions from the 3DNow! set will still be available - PREFETCH and PREFETCHW.   [Full story]

CPU-World front page, CPU pages and S-spec pages were re-designed over the course of the last few weeks, and new pages are now online. The rest of the website will be gradually converted to new design in the course of the next two-three months. The purpose of the re-design was to improve website appearance, while providing similar or better site functionality. To do that, we moved secondary on-page information, like related links, related CPUs or S-Spec number, site search, into a sidebar, which freed space for more important stuff such as specifications, benchmarks, comments, news, etc.

Biostar updated CPU support information on their website, adding hexa-core Phenom II 1045T, which, according to Fudzilla, will be launched in this quarter. Biostar also listed three future Athlon II microprocessors - dual-core 270, triple-core 455, and quad-core 650.   [Full story]

Intel posted change notification document, informing its customers about upcoming modifications of boxed processor packaging. As part of these changes, Intel will shrink the size of box cartons and installation instructions / warranty manuals, and make changes to processor box labels, distributor box labels, plastic clamshell and fan packaging.   [Full story]

Two days ago, on August 16, Intel announced expanding its latest Atom D425 and Atom D525 CPUs into networked storage appliances market. The D425 and D535 Atom processors incorporate per-core 512 KB L2 cache, and support HyperThreading technology.   [Full story]

Today Fujitsu announced new notebook, LIFEBOOK SH530 with 13.3" LED screen, 4 GB of RAM and up to 500 GB of hard disk space. The most interesting fact about the announcement is the microprocessor used in the LIFEBOOK SH530: "Understanding speed is crucial in our increasingly fast-paced lifestyle, Fujitsu puts the latest Intel Core i5-460M processor and Intel HM55 Express Chipset together with the Windows Home Premium 64-bit operating system into the LIFEBOOK SH530."   [Full story]

Our friendly website CPUShack.com, which is owned and operated by one of well-known collectors in chip-collector community, John Culver, recently posted an article titled "The evolution of the Apple iPhone and its many CPU's - Even within a model". In the article John talks about iPhone application CPU, as well as other processors that manage underlying hardware. The article covers all generations of iPhone devices.   [Read more at CPUShack.net]

As we already reported one month ago, next year Intel plans to add 10 new models to 5600-series Xeon family. We previously published S-Spec and part numbers for Xeon E5603, E5606, E5607 and E5649 microprocessors. Today, we discovered S-spec and part numbers for two more Xeon CPUs - X5675 and X5690.   [Full story]

Yesterday, we posted a story about upcoming Xeon W3670 microprocessor. In this story we speculated that the W3670 will be launched within a month, and possibly at the end of this month. We must admit that we were wrong about possible launch date, because the processor is already available. Today Intel added Xeon W3670 to ARK database, and the database currently shows processor's status as "Launched".   [Full story]

AMD today cut prices on all Phenom II and Athlon II microprocessors with 65W, 95W, and 125W Thermal Design Power. On average, prices of majority of Athlon II / Phenom II CPUs were lowered by 2% - 3%. Two models, Phenom II X4 965 and Athlon X4 640, were blessed with 16% and 23% price reductions.   [Full story]

Intel plans to release the second Xeon 3600 series CPU with processor number W3670. According to stories, published as early as April and May of this year, the W3670 was expected in the third quarter 2010. A few days ago the Xeon W3670 appeared on one of Intel's distributor sites, and that's a good indication that the processor will be launched within a month.   [Full story]

I spent some time working on back-end scripts, that build many CPU-World's web pages. The pages are built on in-house development system, then they're manually checked, and only then deployed to the CPU-World server. I got the scripts to the point where I can perform one-click build, and then one-click deployment. This will allow me to save some time that I may spend on improving the site, and reduce the time it takes to add visitor submitted content, like CPUID information, to CPU pages.

First rumored to be released in the second quarter of this year, Thuban-based six-core 1075T and quad-core 960T were postponed until the third quarter. While these models are not officially released yet, OEM versions of these CPUs emerged on eBay.   [Full story]

We recently completed benchmarking of our Athlon II X2 220 sample. As part of our CPU test procedure, we typically try to unlock any features that processors may have locked. In the case of this Athlon 220 microprocessor, we wanted to see if it's possible to unlock extra 1 MB of level 2 cache. When we tried to do this with our Athlon II 220, we weren't able to unlock the extra L2 cache, but, to our surprise, we discovered that we unlocked extra 2 cores and 6 MB L3 cache.   [Full story]

AMD is getting close to introducing a new wave of Athlon II and Phenom II desktop microprocessors. This time we will see a variety a CPUs from single-core Sempron 145 to six-core 1075T.   [Full story]

In June HKEPC Hardware website published release dates and prices of new Intel microprocessors coming in the third quarter. According to their story, Pentium E5700 was scheduled for August 8 release. Today Intel added the Pentium E5700 to ARK processor database with status "Launched".   [Full story]

We recently published specifications of a few forthcoming AMD Phenom II, Turion II and Athlon II mobile microprocessors, that we discovered in a HP ProBook 6450b / 6455b / 6550b / 6555b maintenance and service guide. A few days ago we found another new AMD mobile processor, V Series V140 CPU, referenced in specifications of eMachines D442 and E442 notebooks.   [Full story]

It seems that US stores were the last ones to get Phenom II X6 1055T with 95 Watt TDP. At the end of June, this model appeared in Japan. One month later, there were reports of the 1055T 95W processors selling in European stores. Finally, this six-core Phenom II surfaced in US store. TigerDirect currently has OEM version of this model for $189.99.   [Full story]

Some CPU pages may now include additional fields, that we didn't have before:

• Market segment - shows whether the CPU is aimed for desktop, mobile, server or embedded market.
• Turbo frequency - maximum processor's frequency in Dynamic Acceleration, Turbo Boost or Turbo Core mode.
• Low power frequency - minimum processor's frequency in low frequency (SpeedStep) mode or minimum power state (PowerNow / Cool'n'Quiet).
• Microarchitecture - CPU microarchitecture. In addition to the name, we may also provide family group name in parenthesis.
• Platform - microprocessor platform.
• Cache latency - latency of processor caches in cycles, as measured by latency.exe program (part of CPU-Z program).
• End-of-Life date - approximate date when the CPU was discontinued.

Four of these fields were also added to the CPU chart: Market segment, Turbo frequency, Microarchitecture and Platform. So far these fields are populated for small number of CPUs. Eventually they will be added to all applicable processors.

Two weeks ago we published a story about new Core i3-380M and Core i5-460M CPUs, along with other forthcoming Core and Pentium-branded CPUs, spotted in Acer D732 laptop. Acer recently updated specifications for this notebook, and added Pentium P6100 and P6200 to a processor lineup.   [Full story]

At the end of June, we posted information about two upcoming embedded microprocessors, Mobile Celeron U3405 and Core i7 Mobile i7-660UE. Preliminary data and launch dates for these CPUs slipped into Intel's ARK database, and were quickly removed once the mistake was discovered. Today, information on these microprocessors appeared in the ARK database, again.   [Full story]

Last week Athlon II X2 220 OEM processors started to appear in US online stores. Cheapest prices for the CPU are currently in the range from $45 to $50 plus shipping. You may also get this processor from eBay for $54.99 with free shipping.   [Full story]

Intel posted four product change notifications on its website, notifying customers of planned discontinuance in 2011 of three desktop microprocessors: Core i7-975 Extreme Edition, Pentium Dual-Core E5300 and Celeron Dual-Core E3200.   [Full story]

I've made a few changes to CPU difference pages, that can be generated via "Compare with..." tool on CPU pages. The difference pages now include expanded version of CPU comparison tool, that allows visitors to compare one of the two processors with any other CPU. I also added ability to post comments on the differences pages. To make pages look more compact, I moved different sections into tabs - Specifications, Performance, Compare with..., and Comments. This change will apply to all newly generated pages.

CPU chart now has L1 cache information. L1 cache size is displayed differently from L2 and L3 caches, as it is broken down by cache type - code, data or unified. "Compare with..." feature on CPU pages was updated to include L1 cache size on generated CPU comparison pages.

More than 35 S-spec numbers were added to the S-Spec database. Majority of added numbers are for Xeon, and Core i3 / i5 / i7 processors.

In May, AMD launched first 12 mobile microprocessors from Danube platform, from single core V series V120 and up to quad-core Phenom II X920 BE. "Maintenance and Service Guide" for HP ProBook 6450b / 6455b / 6550b / 6555b notebooks shows a few new models that will be a part of the second wave of AMD mobile microprocessors.   [Full story]

We recently stumbled upon public AMD dealer product training document, that contains limited information about planned desktop microprocessors for the rest of this year. The document doesn't show any new processor models besides those that are already known from our stories, and from stories posted by other hardware news sites. Nevertheless, we decided to post two pages from the document as they confirm impending release of new Phenom II, Athlon II and Sempron models.   [Full story]

I added CPUID information from our CPU ID database to 300+ S-Spec pages. To make pages no too long, I put CPUID data into separate tab from S-spec data, and, moved comments into yet another tab. The S-spec pages now look similar to CPU pages. For example, here is how a SLBJJ page looks with the CPUID tab.

According to an AMD roadmap, published at the beginning of this year, Sempron 180 microprocessor was planned for the second quarter 2010. However, more recent AMD roadmap, published in the second quarter, didn't show Sempron 180, and the status of this model wasn't obvious. Recently, Sempron's part number and basic specifications popped up in a few online retail stores ...   [Full story]

I added "S-Spec / Stepping Code" field to the CPUID tool. When you submit CPUID data, please, enter S-spec number or stepping code into this field instead of putting it in the comment. For existing CPUID submissions I manually moved S-spec numbers and stepping codes from comments to the new field. I also added "Search for S-Spec / Stepping Code" search box to the CPUID database browse page.

"Compare with..." tool, located in the "Specifications" tab on many modern CPU pages, now generates benchmark graphs for compared processors if benchmarks are found in our benchmark database. For an example of generated page, see how it looks on the Core i3-530 vs Core i3 540 page.

As you may already know from publications on our and other hardware news sites, in the third and forth quarters of this year Intel will launch the next wave of mobile Arrandale-based CPUs: Core i7-640M, Core i5 models i5-560M and i5-580M, Celeron P4600, as well as Penryn-based Celeron T3500. Yesterday we reported on two other models that maybe launched at about the same time: Core i3-380M and Core i5-460M.   [Full story]

In the past two months, there were multiple reports about Intel mobile processors coming in the third and forth quarters of this year. The information came from Intel roadmap, leaked in May, and processors' release dates and prices, leaked by motherboard manufacturers in June. We already know that Intel will release high performance Core i7-640M, i5-560M and i5-580M CPUs, and budget Celeron P4600 and T3550 microprocessors by the end of this year.   [Full story]

In April of this year we reported about new Clarkdale-based Pentium dual-core CPU with processor number G6951. In the past two days we found two notable references to this CPU, which makes us think that the G6951 is close to release date, and it could be launched next month together with other budget Celeron and Pentium microprocessors.   [Full story]

AMD already refreshed their lines of desktop Athlon II and Phenom II families two times in 2010. First time it happened in January, when AMD released standard-power Phenom II X2 and Atlhon II microprocessors, and second time it was at the end of April and in May, when AMD introduced 6-core Phenom II processors, and updated the whole line of Athlon II CPUs. In the third quarter AMD plans an incremental upgrade for many energy-efficient and standard-power Athlon II CPUs, and will introduce a few Phenom II models.   [Full story]

Today Intel silently launched three high-performance Core microprocessors. New models are six-core Core i7-970, energy-efficient quad-core Core i7-870S and quad-core Core i5-760.   [Full story]

Yesterday AMD published specifications of several Athlon II X2 and X3 microprocessors with C3 core revision. The specs include three Athlon II processors, that appeared previously in various motherboard CPU support lists, but it was not clear whether they were officially launched or not.   [Full story]

Three weeks ago CRN reported about new Xeon 5600-series microprocessors coming in the February of next year. Yesterday Intel posted part numbers and S-Spec numbers for some of the upcoming models.   [Full story]

The fastest at this moment socket 1156 quad-core microprocessor, Core i7-880, was launched on May 30. The processor is clocked at 3.06 GHz, and, with the help of Turbo Boost feature, the frequency can be bumped up to 3.3 GHz with all 4 cores active, or to 3.73 GHz for one active core.   [Full story]

I added a page that shows 50 last visited and 50 most popular CPU difference (compare CPUs) pages. That page will be updated daily. It's going to be the only page that will link to CPU difference pages directly. I'm not planning to add any other links to CPU comparison results due to their huge number. We have more than 6000+ microprocessors, co-processors and micro-controllers in our CPU Chart database, and the maximum number of unique CPU difference pages is 18,000,000+. Just to create an index, we will need to create 180,000 index pages assuming that we're going to post 100 links per page. If you're wondering whether we have 18,000,000 those difference pages on the site - no, we don't have them. These pages are generated on the fly, when somebody wants to compare two CPUs. Once generated, the pages will stay on our server.

Many CPU pages now have "Compare with..." tool, located above "General information" in the "Specifications" tab. The tool is used to compare current CPU with any other microprocessor from our CPU chart. To use the tool click on the "Compare with..." link. This will show a field where you can type in full or partial name manufacturer, family, model and/or part number of the second processor, and then select desired part from the list of matched CPUs. You will be redirected to a page that shows characteristics and major features of both microprocessors.

I added "Jump to CPU page" field to "Our tools" section on the CPU-World front page. How it works: type full or partial manufacturer name, family, model number or part number, and it will display a list of parts matching your text. Click on desired processor from the list, and you will go to specifications page for the CPU. For example, "Phenom 1055T" will show two 1055T models. "Intel 975" will show only one choice - Core i7-975. It gets even easier with some mobile processors. For instance, "520M" will show two choices for Core i5-520M mobile processor. The feature works with vintage CPUs too.

We recently posted two stories with release dates and prices for upcoming Intel desktop microprocessors. For these stories we used information originally published by HKEPC Hardware and Digitimes, and their source of data was "Motherboard makers".   [Full story]

More than one month ago, on June 1st, Intel introduced four new Atom microprocessors with DDR3 support - single-core Atom N455 and N475, available immediately, and single-core Atom D425 / dual-core Atom D525, available on June 21st.   [Full story]

In two recent news stories, Digitimes posted updated roadmap of Intel microprocessors for the third quarter of 2010. The roadmap covers high-performance and budget markets of desktop and mobile CPUs.   [Full story]

I've made a few changes to CPUID database browser page and CPUID tab on CPU pages. You can now filter results by specific part number on the CPUID browser page. If we have more than one CPUD submission for a part number, the CPUID tab for this part now tells how many submissions are in the database, and it links to a page with relevant CPUID submissions. For K7, K8 and K10 processors, that don't have CPUID data, we now show CPUID tab with a link to the download page for the CPUID tool.