Archive for the ‘amd’ tag

Hardware 8 - Many CPUs, Dream PCs and mobile gaming

Posted at 18:17 by Podcast with 9 comments

Podcast
We're back with another Hardware Podcast - so good it's spelled in capitals. Rich, Harry and Clive get together to talk about all the hot (and just power-efficient) hardware of the last fortnight. Tune in to hear what we think of Intel's Atom (clue - it's not very good, is it?) VIA's new Nano processor and news on what Intel's up to.

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Hardware Podcast 7 - this time it's loud!

Posted at 17:37 by Clive Webster with 11 comments

Clive Webster
First off, apologies for not getting this up yesterday, and for it being so quiet the first time - the podcast fairy has been pretty slack this week. This is the seventh hardware podcast, and Rich, Harry and Tim are joined by Asus bod Iain Bristow. If any other manufacturers would like to join us for pod, please let us know and we'll try to organise it. Up for discussion are:

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One, Two, Seven - get ready for the recovery

Posted at 15:32 by Tim Smalley with 7 comments

Tim Smalley
Over the past six months or so, it has become increasingly difficult to get excited about the computer hardware industry. Regular bit-tech readers have probably noticed my own output has dropped a little.

I've been focusing on the bigger picture (which included a lot of strategic work and a bit-tech site design refresh), and also turned some of my attention to new projects within Dennis that I'll be working on while I continue my role as Editor of bit-tech.

The lack of excitement is, in many respects, down to the recession - companies have been pulling down the hatches and boarding up windows while they weather the storm. There's been nothing exciting to talk about and it has been difficult to get hugely enthusiastic about the industry's future when nobody has announced a major technology breakthrough.

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Written on 21st September 2009
Tags amd, directx 11, dx11, enthusiast, gaming, intel, nvidia, pc, windows 7

Is LGA1366 the most future-proof choice?

Posted at 10:29 by Clive Webster with 46 comments

Clive Webster
I was chatting to Rich yesterday about P55 and socket LGA1156, and how its imminent arrival makes it pretty tricky to pick a CPU type with decent upgrade potential. LGA775 isn't going to see anything new, so a Q9650 is pretty much the pinnacle of Core 2; meanwhile on the AMD side, it really doesn't seem that Socket AM3 has much further to go. However, we know Intel plans future LGA1366 releases, so this seems like the best option if you desperately need an upgrade now.

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Written on 16th July 2009
Tags amd, bus, choices, core i7, intel, lga1156, lga1366, lga775, lynnfield, motherboard, p55, upgrade

AMD could move all ATI GPUs to SOI at 32nm - here's why

Posted at 10:58 by Tim Smalley with 7 comments

Tim Smalley
One of the most interesting discussions we had last week was with silicon manufacturing firm Global Foundries, and it talked about its future following its separation from AMD.

Naturally, we talked about process technology and where the industry is heading, and bit-tech came away with a good idea of how Global Foundries hopes to succeed where AMD couldn’t, becoming a leader in silicon manufacturing technology.

Ever since AMD acquired ATI, the new combined company has talked at length about its plans to integrate the GPU onto the CPU die. This decision has been greeted with polarised reactions; Nvidia argues that the integrated GPUs will be ‘outdated’ while AMD and Intel, which later announced its intention to do the same, say it’s the natural progression of technology as CPUs becomes more parallel and GPUs become more general purpose.

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Series 3, Episode 2 - Netbooks, SSDs and Intel is fined £948 million

Posted at 16:35 by Podcast with 8 comments

Podcast
Episode 2 of Series 3 of the all new combined Custom PC and bit-tech podcast is here. CPC Editor Alex, Deputy Editor James are joined by bit-tech’s Richard and Joe. The main topic of discussion is of course the massive £948 million fine the EU has imposed on Intel, along with AMD’s most recent attempt at a netbook, and the fact that it looks like time has finally been called on Duke Nukem Forever.

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Written on 23rd May 2009
Tags amd, duke nukem forever, fine, intel, netbook

Full coverage: EU fines Intel £948 million

Posted at 15:11 by Alex Watson with 107 comments

Alex Watson
The EU has fined Intel £948 million ($1.45 billion) for violating EC Treaty antitrust rules on the abuse of its dominant market position. Commissioners found Intel guilty of illegal business practices on two counts - Intel had given wholly or partially hidden rebates to computer manufacturers on condition that they bought all, or almost all, their x86 CPUs from Intel. Secondly, Intel was found guilty of making direct payments to computer manufacturers to halt or delay the launch of specific products containing AMD's CPUs.

We've rounded up the key quotes from all three major players in this case - the EU, AMD and Intel itself. Click the links to read the full stories.

"Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for computer chips for many years. Such a serious and sustained violation of the EU's antitrust rules cannot be tolerated" – EC Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes didn't hold back when revealing the verdict.

"Our experience to date has been that when investigators look at the facts, Intel loses" – Nigel Dessau, AMD's Chief Marketing Officer weighs in on the ruling.

"We believe the decision is wrong and ignores the reality of a highly competitive microprocessor marketplace – characterised by constant innovation, improved product performance and lower prices, he continued. There has been absolutely zero harm to consumers. Intel will appeal." - Intel CEO and President Paul Otellini responds.

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Written on 13th May 2009
Tags amd, antitrust, eu, intel

Series 3, Episode 1 - Phenom II isn’t that bad and cats still need rescuing

Posted at 18:08 by Podcast with 34 comments

Podcast
The podcast returns for a third series, powered up by the addition of the bit-tech team and some new microphones from Shure. CPC Editor Alex, Reviews Editor Clive and bit-tech main man Tim take a look at the big stories in tech from the last month, including new graphics cards from ATI and Nvidia, and the Phenom II X4 955 BE which sees AMD returning to form. Tim talks about getting his new laptop, the Thinkpad, X301 and the panel then look ahead, taking in Windows 7 and DirectX 11. The games chart returns, but it looks depressingly familiar. Fortunately one of the team is still playing Mass Effect.

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Written on 8th May 2009
Tags amd, ati, geforce, phenom 2

Overclocking the ATI Radeon HD 4770

Posted at 15:40 by Tim Smalley with 12 comments

Tim Smalley
One thing we unfortunately had to cut out of our AMD ATI Radeon HD 4770 review yesterday was overclocking. Understandably, a number of our readers asked why we'd not bothered to overclock the card.

The answer is that we simply ran out of time when we made the decision to double (and triple) check all of our Far Cry 2 performance numbers when the new Radeon came out on top against the cards we'd compared it to. Although the results were theoretically possible - compared to the much-loved Radeon HD 4850, it has a higher pixel fillrate and very similar theoretical shader throughput (it's just four percent lower), we wanted to be not just doubly sure, but triply sure before publishing our conclusions.

Yesterday afternoon, I dragged myself back down into the benchmarking sweatshop that is the bit-tech and Custom PC labs to find out how well our reference card overclocked. It's worth noting that it's not the only Radeon HD 4770 we've got in house - there are a couple of partner cards already and we'll be looking at them in due course - but we've only focused on overclocking the reference card for now.

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Written on 29th April 2009
Tags 4770, amd, ati, overclocking, radeon hd 4770, rivatuner, tweaking

Where are all the AMD AM3 motherboard reviews?

Posted at 10:22 by Richard Swinburne with 17 comments

Richard Swinburne
We know a lot of our readers want to see AM3 motherboard reviews and we have been trying to accommodate this request since February - honest! Fanboys have been crying bias and that couldn't be any farther from the truth - here's why.

We have been working on no less than three 'new' AMD motherboards since we completed our Socket AM3 processor review at the start of February, but the problems have been continual, and no manufacturer has been left unmarked by the spattering of not quite there yet.

Normally we'd just go ahead with a review since the products are all ready on sale, but with each one we want to get to the bottom of their wierdness before we post a review. Also, we'd usually keep the inevitable debugging process sort of thing between ourselves and the parties involved but as it stands we don't know when we'll be able to get you a full review so we thought at least we'd keep you updated on our already delayed progress.

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Written on 7th April 2009
Tags achi, am3, amd, asus, gigabyte, msi, overclocking, reviews




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