Digital Electronics Last News

Sources close to ATI, graphics product group of Advanced Micro Devices, said that graphics cards with 1GB of memory based on the company’s latest high end graphics processing unit (GPU) are an initiative of certain add-in-board (AIB) suppliers, but not the chip designer itself.

The possible introduction of ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT graphics cards with 1GB of GDDR4 memory onboard has been discussed for several weeks with some even referring to it as to ATI Radeon HD 2900 XTX product, which AMD kept in its pocket to launch at a time it needs to compete against its rival Nvidia Corp. with something more advanced than currently shipping Radeon HD 2900 XT 512MB.

However, Advanced Micro Devices has decided not to officially unveil higher-speed graphics card with 1GB of memory, possibly due to the lack of interest in picking up GPUs capable of operating at clock-speed higher than 742MHz, a costly task that may still not allow the company to capture a significant market share.

It is unclear whether AMD plans to introduce ATI Radeon HD 2900 XL or Pro versions based on graphics processors with disabled execution units or with lowered clock-speeds.

The company still allows its partners to supply pre-overclocked high-end graphics cards. As a result, a number of ATI’s partners, among which is Diamond Multimedia, decided to offer Radeon HD 2900 graphics cards with 1GB of GDDR4 memory, which are going to be faster than currently shipping 512MB GDDR3 version. Clock-speeds of the parts are likely to vary, as those graphics cards are made at special requests of AIB companies.

The new ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT with 1GB of GDDR4 memory onboard can be pre-ordered from an online store for about $610 (649 CAD). Earlier it was reported that Radeon HD 2900 XTX 1GB had its chip clocked at 742MHz, whereas GDDR4 operated at 2050MHz. But according to specs published by the Internet store, the novelty has 825MHz chip and 2100MHz memory.

Officials for AMD did not comment on the news-story.

Advanced Micro Devices’ positions in the market of workstations have never been really strong primarily due to the fact that not a lot of system builders used AMD’s chips in business-oriented personal computers. While along with popularization of AMD Opteron processors the company’s market share began to increase slowly, the introduction of new dual-core and quad-core Intel Xeon processors have managed to fight nearly everything back.

Back in Q2 2006 the market share of uni-processor (UP) and dual-processor (DP) AMD Opteron workstations was 3.6% and 13.3%, respectively, which was not even close to Intel’s 96.4% and 86.7%, but still was historically highest. But then Intel introduced its Core 2 micro-architecture along with dual-core as well as quad-core processors and started to fight back the lost share, which lead to logical results: Intel Xeon chips commanded 98% of UP and 92% of DP workstations in Q1 2007, whereas AMD Opteron central processing units could be found only in 2% of single-processor and 8% of dual-processor workstation systems, a report from Jon Peddie Research estimates.

“We’d expected AMD’s share to moderate or level off by the time Intel improved its dual-socket Xeon platform in mid-2006, but we hadn’t anticipated the decline we’ve seen. The extent of Intel’s rebound will put that much more pressure on AMD to deliver quad-core Barcelona soon – and with better performance than Xeon,” commented analyst and JPR workstation report author Alex Herrera.

Considering that Intel has been adding more competitive quad-core chips into the lineup recently, it can be expected that Q2 2007 will also bring AMD nothing but losses in the workstation segment. Moreover, as quad-core AMD Opteron chip for UP workstations code-named Budapest is only expected to become available in Q4 2007 at the earliest, Intel’s platforms may capture even higher market share this year.

Overall, the workstation market continues to pleasantly surprise. As expected, quarterly growth rates have subsided a bit from the 25 – 35% increases (year-to-year) JPR had seen in late 2005 and early 2006, but they remain strong. All told, the industry shipped 674 thousand workstations in the Q1 2007, up 15.2% over the same quarter of 2006. Average selling prices (ASPs) held flat, allowing revenue to also increase a healthy 15% to around $1.7 billion, according to the research firm.

A recent survey by X-bit labs has found that while there are still a lot of mainboard producers, the most popular among computer enthusiasts is Asustek Computer and no other motherboard maker can boast with similar popularity. Despite of aggressive marketing campaigns, popularity of the “new age” suppliers of computer platforms is similar to Asrock, a low-cost arm of Asus.

According to the results of the poll, mainboards from Asustek Computer are preferred by 44.1% of respondents, an unprecedented result. Companies like Gigabyte Technology, Abit and DFI have much lower support: 13.1%, 10.3% and 9%, respectively. MicroStar International, another large maker of motherboards, is preferred by 6.9% of those, who participated in the survey. The remaining mainboard makers are not popular among computer enthusiasts.

It is interesting to note that in spite of truly aggressive marketing campaign and media acclaims of “Designed by Nvidia” mainboards based on the company’s nForce 680i chipset and its derivatives, popularity of such brands as EVGA, XFX and BFG Technology is pretty low: only 2.5%, 0.5% and 0.3% respectively of the poll participants would choose a motherboard from them. Even mainboards from Intel can claim support of 3.8%.

The results of the survey generally reflect the market trends, when larger makers of computer platforms can deliver products that have better feature-set and quality compared to products smaller suppliers may deliver. However, there is an interesting exception: only 0.7% of polled would choose a mainboard from Foxconn, who is one of the world’s largest producers of electronics. Such situation can be explained by the fact that the brand is relatively young and Foxconn has not been really aggressive in promoting it. Another reason could be in the fact that even computer enthusiasts cannot get really familiar with the company’s product lineup, as the firm’s model names used to be very hard to hard to understand until very recently, when the company reconsidered its model naming scheme (e.g, 975X7AB-2.0-8EKRS2H vs. P35A).

X-bit labs polled over 5500 of its readers in the second half of May and in the first half of June, 2007.

Despite of various demonstrations of how additional NAND flash cache can improve performance of modern computers and take advantage of Microsoft Windows Vista additional capabilities, mainboard makers are still reluctant to install appropriate hardware on their products.

Intel Turbo Memory (previously code-named Robson) technology allows Microsoft Windows Vista to pre-cache certain types of data and speed up its loading by using special NAND flash-based cache. The new operating system features an array of technologies, including SuperFetch, ReadyBoost, ReadyDrive, and ReadyBoot that can take advantage of the flash cache, which can also be located on a system’s hard disk drive.

But Intel Turbo Memory does not come for free. At this point makers of mainboards can either install a special Turbo Memory 1GB module for desktops, which costs $23, or install a special type of Intel’s I/O controllers and a flash memory chip. The latter option would cost motherboard makers considerably less: up to $3 for a south bridge and from $7 to $10 a 1GB flash chip or chips.

But even a tiny addition to a mainboard’s price in the current market conditions make motherboards makers upset and unenthusiastic about the success of the technology. According to a news-story at DigiTimes web-site, several motherboard makers think the performance boost from Turbo Memory is not obvious, and therefore they predict the technology will only attract high-end users in the desktop market. Perhaps, mainboard makers bet on hybrid disk drives, which also include flash cache.

Neither Intel, nor officials for mainboard makers commented on the news-story.

• Gambling On Net
• My Music Blog
• Body Piercing Blog notes
• Laptop TechNews
• Medical Tech News
• World Medical NewsBlog
• The Movies and DVD weblog
• US and World Music News
• Don’t smoke please
• Famous stores of The Web

Even though Intel’s latest platform for mobile computers code-named
Santa Rosa brings a massive amount of innovations, end-users are adopting the new platform slower than expected, according to an analyst report. The reasons for that are not explained, but it is highly likely that the problem lies in the lack of obvious benefits of new notebooks for customers.

According to American Technology Research analyst Doug Freedman sales of the Santa Rosa platform may have slowed recently, reports Associated Press news agency.

“While this is likely just a near-term bump in the road given the lack of competitive parts from Advanced Micro Devices at the moment, we believe the stock could be impacted if this story gains legs in the news,” Mr. Freedman wrote in a client note.

The Santa Rosa mobile platform, which was launched back in May, features a number of innovative technologies, including higher-performance central processing units, more powerful graphics engine, faster wireless network technology, Intel Turbo Memory technology as well as some other improvements.

But the general public may not necessarily need really speedy microprocessors or fast wireless network controller which advantages can only be realized in specific environments. According to the analyst, both Sony Corp. and Hewlett Packard have decided against using Intel Turbo Memory technology, as the companies found the product was not a cost-effective means of improving computer performance.

Lackluster welcome of the new mobile computer platform by end-users is an indicator that that the demand for notebooks is decreasing overall and that end-users may not need the new technologies in their everyday life, something, which may catalyze a crisis for the whole industry.

Advanced Micro Devices will start using a new marking scheme for its future microprocessors after years of using model numbering scheme designed to mimic high clock-speeds of microprocessors by Intel Corp. The question is whether the new way of marking chips will actually help end-users to better understand what kind of microprocessor they are getting.

AMD’s new processor naming scheme will consist of two letters and four numbers, which will describe product classification, power consumption and relative performance within the lineup, reports a news-story by DigiTimes web-site. A similar naming scheme is presently used also by Intel Corp. for its central processing units.

• The first letter represents market positioning of the product. E.g., G represents premium product, B represents intermediate/mainstream product and L represents value product.
• The second letter reflects thermal design power of the chip. For example, P represents over 65W, S around 65W and E less than 65W.
• The first digit of the four-digit number indicates the product family: 1000 represents single-core AMD Athlon or AMD Sempron, 2000 represents dual-core AMD Athlon, 6000 represents dual-core AMD Phenom, 7000 represents quad-core AMD Phenom processors.
• The second digit indicates relative clock-speed within the product family.
• The two remaining digits will be used for the future upgrade functions, said Leslie Sobon, director of product and brand management in AMD.

For example, AMD Athlon X2 BE-2350 processor is a mainstream-class dual-core microprocessor with less than 65W power consumption (45W).

Even though the new naming scheme is aimed to make it easier for consumers to distinguish various chips from AMD between each other, it is highly disputable whether typical end-users will remember that 6000-series chips contain two processing engines, 7000-series of chips feature quad-core technology, whereas 2000-series of products again have two cores. Moreover, the difference between 2000-series and 6000-series of products may not be clear or representative, which will make it impossible to see the difference in performance, for example, of AMD Turion 64 X2 and AMD Athlon X2 BE-2000-series.

• Best games for PC
• Best Games for Xbox360
• Cool Web scripts (php,asp,JS)
• How make gift youself
• I’m php coder
• Best games for PC
• Only start of adult-movies
• All Sony laptops(notebooks)
• Website templates blog

Nintendo Wii game console again managed to outsell both its rivals from Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. in May, according to data recently released by NPD Group. Not surprisingly, Microsoft Xbox 360 manages to outsell Sony’s PlayStation 3, while predecessor of the latter slowly loses popularity among gamers.

The lately released figures by NPD Group indicate that back in May Nintendo sold 338 thousand Wii consoles and 10 thousand GameCube consoles, Microsoft sold 155 thousand of Xbox 360 game machines, while Sony sold 82 thousand of PlayStation 3 and 188 thousand PlayStation 2 game consoles. Total market for non-portable game consoles was approximately 773 thousand units.

Total available market of non-portable game consoles was down slightly compared to April, which is inline with historical video game market trends.

Nintendo also dominates the market of handheld game console with 423 thousand of Nintendo DS and 80 thousand of Nintendo GameBoy Advance sold in May. Nevertheless, Sony also managed to increase sales of its PlayStation Portable to 221 thousand units.

The situation on the U.S. game console market has been stable in the recent months as previous-generation GameCube and PlayStation 2 gaming machines have been losing popularity. It should be noted, however, that both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 machines are also accepted by less and less people with only Nintendo Wii remaining fairly popular primarily among novices in video games.

• Linux 4ever Blog
• I like sex toys
• Politic news writer
• Real Cool Cars
• Save your health today
• Sport is sport
• Windows 4ever
• Find your dell laptop
• PC, PlayStation, Xbox games Guid

Ken Kutaragi, the former head of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and the man widely recognized as the “father” of all three PlayStation game consoles has retired from all executive positions at the company following major problems that the latest PlayStation 3 has faced in the past quarters.

As announced, on June, 19, the former chief of Sony’s game unit retired from his executive managements positions of chairman and group chief executive. Mr. Kutaragi will serve SCEI as honorary chairman of the group and will also continue to support Howard Stringer, chairman and chief executive of, Sony Corp., as a senior technology advisor. However, without the power of an executive, the “father of PlayStation” will hardly be able to seriously influence further development of the console.

Analyst and observers believe that along with departure of the creator of the original PlayStation, a whole era ends for Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Mr. Kutaragi has engineering background and was concentrated on creating ultimate hardware for the PlayStation. By contrast, Kaz Hirai, who has become the chief of SCEI, came to the game unit from Sony’s music entertainment division, has marketing background and is believed to have better working relationships with game developers that Mr. Kutaragi.

Ken Kutaragi came under fire when it turned out that the latest PlayStation 3 game console is expensive to manufacture and because of Blu-ray laser production problems the launch of the console in Europe had to be postponed.

Due to exceptional price of the PlayStation 3, which, perhaps, has no technical advantages over Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and is more than two times more expensive than Nintendo’s Wii, shipments of the gaming machine even to stores were below expectations of Sony. The company shipped 5.5 million PlayStation 3 gaming machines in the fiscal year through March 31, fewer than the 6 million the company had targeted. Meanwhile, Nintendo shipped 5.84 million Wii game consoles worldwide throughout the same period.

Intel Corp. has announced that it would improve micro-architecture of its IA64 microprocessors in the coming years. The details are unclear, but it looks like Intel is not going to drive Itanium down to the mainstream market, as the incoming IA64 chips will have even more features designed specifically for high-end servers.

Intel code-named Poulson processor, which will also belong to Itanium family or its successors, has been inside Intel’s roadmap for many years. However, until lately no details concerning it were available. At a recent press conference Intel finally released some details concerning the new product. Apparently, the chip will be made using 32nm process technology, will share a common chipset or platform with Intel Xeon processor and will have a new micro-architecture, while still being compatible with previous-generation Itanium and Itanium 2 processors.

“I consider it as big an architectural change as when the first Itanium 2 came out. We’re not trying to make major changes that will mess up the software. […] It’ll be completely compatible with prior Itanium,” said Rory McInerney, a director of engineering for Intel, reports TechWeb web-site.

Intel executives declined to provide details on Poulson, but did say it would have more than four cores per processor and more threads per core. Considering that the current Itanium 2 processors with two processing engines can execute up to two threads per core thanks to Intel Hyper-Threading technology, the new code-named Intel Poulson product will be able to execute more than that (e.g. 4 threads per core).
Read the rest of this entry »