AMD announced today three new Opteron processors clocked at 2.6 GHz with 1 GHz HyperTransport bus. The chips also include new features like SSE3 and PowerNow! Support. The 152, 252 and 852 are priced at USD 637, USD 851 and USD 1,514, respectively (in 1,000-unit quantities). The two and four-to-eight-way models will be shipping in 30 days, while the 152 will not be available until the end of April. These are the first 90 nm Opterons based on a completely revised core.
IBM, Sony and Toshiba have disclosed more information about the future Cell processor. It will be comprised of a 64-bit Power processor and eight synergistic processor cores capable of massive floating point processing. A prototype presented at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, in San Francisco, integrated 234 million transistors with 90 nanometer SOI technology, but it is expected to be fabricated with 65 nm tech. Dubbed a “supercomputer on a chip”, the Cell will likely reach 4.6 GHz when it is available, in enterprise kits and inside Sony´s PlayStation 3.
Intel officially announced today its second generation Centrino platform. It includes new Pentium M chips (from 1.6 GHz to 2.13 GHz with 533 MHz frontside bus) and two new Mobile Express chipsets supporting the 533 MHz FSB, PCI Express, DDR2, Serial ATA, 8-channel HD audio and XD security feature. The only difference between the i915PM and the i915GM is that the latest includes GMA 900 integrated video. Intel released to other chipsets, the i915GMS and i910GML, supporting only 400 MHz FSB and aimed at small form factor and Celeron M based notebooks, respectively. The new Centrino will bundle current PRO/Wireless 2200BG (802.11b/g) and 2915ABG (802.11a/b/g) chips.
Tom´s Hardware Guide reports that Intel´s future dual-core processors will reach new heights in power consumption, with an increase of 13% from current Prescott Pentium 4s. Documents released to system builders and seen by the site specify the thermal design power (TDP) of Smithfield processors at 130 watts. This would represent an increase of more than 13% over the Pentium 4 5xx series (Prescott) and the upcoming 6xx series, which post 115 watts. The site suggests that Smithfield processors will thus require more powerful cooling solutions than the conventional cooling fans currently used.
AMD announced it will come out with a new energy-efficient mobile processor called Turion 64 in the first half of this year. The company stated that the chip – based on its AMD64 architecture – will provide notebooks with longer battery life, wireless compatibility, rich graphics and enhanced security, but didn’t mention specific chipsets or wireless chips. According to AMD, the move will not interfere with the Mobile Athlon 64 and Mobile Sempron product lines.
AMD is promoting its new holographic label as a way to ensure authenticity os its Processor-in-a-Box products. Last week, AMD aknowledged that a number of discarded K7 and K8 processors was found in ilegal possession of taiwanese companies. According to at least one report, police seized 60,000 remarked chips in a single company. Some remarked processors could have reached European and Asian markets. AMD´s new holographic label is based on Dupont Izon technology.
AMD publicly aknowledged on Tuesday that a number of discarded K7 and K8 processors was found in illegal possession of at least four taiwanese companies. According to some news sites, police seized 60,000 remarked chips in a raid on one of such companies. Some doctored processors are said to have been shipped to other asian countries and Europe, but AMD denies this allegation. The company advises consumers to buy chips only from authorized resellers.
AMD today introduced the AMD Alchemy Au1200 processor, a low-power system-on-chip solution designed to provide living-room quality video in portable devices. The chip has been optimized for personal media players (PMP) and enables DVD-quality displays, video transfers from digital recorders and longer battery life (400 mW consumption at 400MHz). It supports DDR1 and DDR2 memory and sports AES-128 data encryption. The Au1200 processor will be available in the second quarter in 333MHz, 400MHz and 500MHz speed options.
The Inquirer reports that the new Pentium 4 6XX family will be introduced in the end of February 2005. The chips will be initially available at 3 GHz to 3.6 GHz and feature 2 MB of L2 cache. Other capabilities will include Execute Disable security technology and Enhanced Speedstep, which manages performance and power consumption. According to the site, Intel will also introduce the i945 (Lakeport) and i955 (Glenwood), supporting not only the 6XX processors but also future dual-core parts.
AMD announced that the Opteron processor family will include PowerNow! technology with Optimized Power Management (OPM) beginning in the first half of 2005. According to the company, the PowerNow! feature will allow enterprise IT and workstation customers to decrease overall power consumption by enabling them to optimize performance-on-demand. The integration of PowerNow! technology with OPM can reduce power consumption in the datacenter by dynamically changing power states based on workload utilization.
IBM, Sony and Toshiba unveiled the first details of the Cell microprocessor that is to equip the PlayStation 3. According to the companies, it is a multicore chip comprising a 64-bit Power processor core and multiple synergistic processor cores capable of massive floating point processing, all optimized for compute-intensive workloads and broadband rich media applications. More info on the Cell processor will be relead during the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) on 6 February 2005. Other characteristics include:
Multi-thread, multicore architecture.
Supports multiple operating systems.
Substantial bus bandwidth to/from main memory, as well as companion chips.
Flexible on-chip I/O (input/output) interface.
Real-time resource management system for real-time applications.
On-chip hardware in support of security system for intellectual property protection.
Implemented in 90 nanometer silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology.
AMD extended its Mobile Sempron family with the release of a 3000+ model. It is clocked at 1.8 GHz and contains only 128 KB of L2 cache. The 90-nanometer 754-pin part supports 3D Now!, SSE2 and No Execute technologies. The Mobile Sempron 3000+ is priced at USD 134 in 1,000-unit quantities.
Nvidia may be closer to finally offering Intel chipsets. The companies announced the signing of a broad multi-year patent cross-license agreement and a chipset agreement for Intel's front-side bus technology. According to a press release, this will enable Nvidia to deliver the Nforce platform on Intel-based systems, but neither company elaborated on specific products.
Intel has finally launched the Pentium 4 570J, clocked at 3.8 GHz, which will be the highest clock available for some time, since the company recently dropped plans of a 4 GHz P4. The 90 nm chip uses an 800 MHz FSB and sports 1 MB of L2 cache. The J means that the processor supports the no-execute security bit.
Intel launched this week new versions of multi, dual and low voltage Itanium 2 processors. The multi-way products include the highly anticipated 1.6 GHz chip with 9 MB of L3 cache. The company also unveiled a MP version with the same clock and 6 MB of L3 and a 1.5 GHz model with 4 MB of L3. Other new products are two DP chips clocked at 1.6 GHz with 3 MB of L3 – available with 400 MHz or 533 MHz FSB – and a low voltage (62 W) chip clocked at 1.3 GHz with 3 MB of L3.
