Trend for bashing AMD

A few years ago it was fashionable to bash Intel's Pentium 4 as a braindead architecture. It is now trendy to bash AMD. One" PC doctor" at ZDNet goes as far to say that:

"When I look at AMD’s current product line, all I see is a forest of deadness. Intel has products trump every category of products going. Server, desktop, mobile, low-end, high-end, dual-core, quad-core. Intel has all these markets stitched up."

Like any design, the K10 is a trade-off. And most trade-offs were made in favor of the applications in the server and HPC market, at the expense of games and other desktop applications.



A 2 GHz Barcelona is capable of keeping up with the best 65 nm Xeons in those applications.

It is pretty clear why AMD focused on the server market. Without a complete redesign it is not possible to beat Intel's integer crunching power and the fast and big L2-cache and that is exactly what a modern game needs. Barcelona built further on the K8 architecture and inherited the relatively inflexible integer pipeline. While Core 2 has sophisticated reordering of loads and stores, Barcelona does a limited reordering of loads. While Core 2 offers a 32 entry queue to the integer units, Barcelona has 3 rather inflexible separated 8 entry queues.

So the right way forward for AMD was to focus on HPC and server applications where it could leverage it's strong points. We can bash AMD for being so late, and coming up with relatively low clocked CPUs, but even a 2.8 GHz Phenom would not have raise AMD's ASP significantly in the desktop market.

Projecting the bad performance of the desktop chip to say that "AMD's products are a dead forest" is ... just silly. AMD is very competitive in the HPC / Server market.

Quoted from : Anandtech weblog by Johan de Gelas

AMD Puma is nearly ready

Underdog chipmaker AMD says it is seeing unprecedented uptake by PC makers for its forthcoming “Puma” notebook platform. Upwards of 100 notebooks are being designed with Puma chipsets, said John Taylor, of AMD's Graphics Division, speaking at a technology update event in Singapore.

According to Taylor, notebook manufacturers are recognizing Puma’s key advantages over competing notebook platforms (read: Intel Centrino), particularly in the area of graphics.

AMD has devised a system called “hybrid graphics” where an integrated GPU does the low-powered 2D and 3D work (for example, Vista’s GPU-accelerated windowing system) while a discrete GPU chip can be fired up instantly to take on the heavy lifting 3D tasks when a demanding application like a game or Google Earth is loaded.

For example, a Puma-based notebook might come with AMD’s RS780M integrated GPU for basic graphics work (which in itself provides up to four times the performance of current generation Radeon X1200), as well as an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 with full DirectX 10.1 support. In notebooks, this hybrid graphics capability will be called AMD PowerXPress.



PowerXPress means you'll be able to have a low-power consumption integrated GPU doing your light graphics work, but a full-blooded discrete GPU can kick in with full force if you start doing anything that needs 3D graphics heavy lifting. The rest of the time it sits quietly, consuming next to no power.

On the CPU front, Puma-based notebooks will be based on the AMD Turion X2 Ultra mobile processor which uses Hypertransport 3 bus for extremely fast (20.8GB/s) data transfer between CPU and chipset, power management that can turn whole segments of the chip off on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis to save power.

Finally, AMD says its “WiFi certified” program means notebook makers will have a lot more flexibility in building notebooks with parts that are certified as compatible with the WiFi standard by the vendor-neutral WiFi forum, rather than Intel’s competing Centrino certification. Puma notebooks will offer 802.11a/b/g/n networking from vendors such as Broadcom, Atheros, Marvel and Ralink.

We can expect to see the first Puma-based notebooks launched at Computex Taiwan in June.

Advance tickets are sold out for F4 Japan Concert

F4 Concerts are on its way to Tokyo and Osaka this October
30,000 advance booking tickets are sold out, snatched $120 millions
Fans urge for more showings

After two and a half years separation, F4 will reunite again for Japan Concerts. Shortly after the announcement for online advance ticket booking, 30,000 registration quotas for the 3 shows are full rapidly in only a few days. Fans strongly complaint about the insufficient openings and urge the organizers to add more showings. Whether it is feasible to extend for more showings remain as an unknown. Nevertheless, F4 snatched $120 millions from only 3 shows, revealed how amazing their extra-ordinary profit-potentials.

Open Concert in Japan for the first time

March 2006, F4 held concert with 5 showings in Hong Kong. Once again, the 4 members will reunite to hold concert in coming October. This is their first time to open concert in Japan. Accordingly, there will be 3 concerts, scheduled on October 7th and 8th at Tokyo Nippon Budokan and on October 17th in Osaka. Beginning 21st of this month, fans started to register online for advance ticket bookings through the official fan clubs of Jerry Yan, Vic Zhou, Vanness Wu and Ken Chu respectively.

Online advance bookings are full

Based on our understanding, F4 will hold 3 concerts in Japan. Each showing is able to accommodate 10,000 audiences. If the openings are divided evenly among the 4 official fan clubs for advance booking, each artist enable to offer 7,500 quotas. According to our investigation, all quotas are being filled up in less than a week ever since registration was open for online advance booking. However, even one is able to register with the official fan club, he or she has to undergo for a ticket lottery in May. Presently, the registration does not guarantee a ticket to watch the concert.

Fans urge for more showings

Many fans are quite disappointed for the limited quotas. It is so hard to even get a single ticket. Other than voiced out their eagerness for more showings online, fans even made complaints with F4's management company Fulong. Zhi Xiang Li, the manager from Fulong who is in charge of coordination, indicated that there are thousands of members in each fan club of F4. Running a ticket lottery is the only way to give all a fair chance for the ticket.

In respect to fans earnest requests for more showings, Zhi Xiang Li expressed that it is impossible to extend for more showings at once. Many factors have to be taken into considerations, such as the artists availabilities, venue coordination in Japan, as well as the schedules of the production team. Therefore, more has to be negotiated with the Japanese counter-parties. Whether it could be pushed-through remain as an unknown.

This is another reunion of F4 since 2006. No matter it will come with more showings or not, the 30,000 concert tickets, each worth $4,000 (NTD), drawn $120 millions gain from the 3 concerts alone. No doubt, F4 is definitely the strongest profit-generating idol band.

Source: Liberty Times
Reported from Taipei by: Yi Wei Ci

Get ready for Phenom X3 Toliman B3

Today mark the availability of AMD Phenom X3 8650, not just paper launch or abroad launching, but the actual product now sold in Indonesia and also in my own town. Wow! This is very fast and un-expected.

Three models available for channels and it's already a B3 revision silicon. Well, hope this will entice people to buy more AMD Phenoms.

There isn't a lot of new information go over with AMD's Phenom X3 processors. First all the processors are denoted with an 8x50 series as opposed to the 9x50 of the Phenom quad core counterparts so it should be fairly easy to tell if a CPU is quad or triple core. Also all triple cores released to the channel are the B3 revision with the TLB fix and no performance penalty, although some OEMs have been selling 8x00 series triple core Phenoms without the fix. Due to one less core power consumption is also lower with the Phenom 8x50 processors rated for a 95W max TDP.

The architecture on the triple core Phenom remains unchanged. The only difference is one core is disabled for whatever reason, whether a bad core or because one core might be lagging behind in clockspeed compared to the others it allows AMD to use as many dies as possible and provide a processor that fits in between quad and triple cores for a very reasonable price.

The 8750 which runs at 2.4GHz will be launching at $195, $165 for the 8650 at 2.3GHz and $145 for the 8450 at 2.1GHz. Three cores for under $150 isn't bad at all. This also allows for AMD to fill out it's Cartwheel platform, with a 780G motherboard for around $100 you get good integrated video, UVD chip for HD decoding. Then add in a triple core Phenom X3 8450 for $145 and for total $245, a cost of Intel's cheapest quad core, you can get a very good setup. This seems especially formidable for an HTPC or a computer for those who want multi-tasking power but may not need the fastest processor for gaming or are looking at a second PC.

Reviews:
AMDZone
X-Bit Labs
Icrontic
Legit Reviews
Tech Report
Anandtech
Firing Squad
Bjorn3D
Lost Circuits
PC Perspective
InsideHW

Energy Efficient AMD Athlon X2 4450e and 4050e

AMD today announced two new 45-watt processors, the Energy Efficient AMD Athlon X2 4450e and AMD Athlon X2 4050e. The former is clocked at 2.3GHz and the latter at 2.1GHz. Both feature 1MB of L2 cache, and the chips are based on AMD's 65nm process technology.

Designed for mainstream and enthusiast power users who run multiple processor-intensive applications, these desktop processors can reduce power consumption by nearly 30% when compared to previous generation AMD processors for greater performance-per-watt over AMD's standard power desktop processors without compromising performance.

AMD Intros Phenom X4 Stepping B3 & Phenom X3

Advanced Micro Devices, the world’s second largest maker of x86 central processing units (CPUs), unveiled this week its new quad-core AMD Phenom X4 microprocessors that lack the well-known TLB erratum and also boast higher clock-speed compared to predecessors, thus, providing higher performance and efficiency.

As expected, AMD unveiled AMD Phenom processors 9550 (2.20GHz), 9650 (2.30GHz,), 9750 (2.40GHz) and 9850 Black Edition (2.50GHz) which feature 2MB of level two cache (512KB per core) as well as 2MB of level-three cache. All the chips utilize B3 stepping of the core that lacks TLB erratum present on B2 stepping central processing units. All the new microprocessors have 95W thermal design power (TDP), except model 9850 Black Edition and certain versions of model 9750, which have TDP of 125W.

The most important thing is that AMD have adjusted their price policy in a very smart way. Namely, the official price for AMD Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition processor is set at $235, which is less than what the cheapest quad-core Intel processor is currently selling for. AMD Phenom X4 9750 will be offered for $215, while the youngest model – Phenom X4 9550 – is priced at $195.

Besides, AMD also officially announced their triple-core processors known as Toliman. At this time they will only be distributed among AMD OEM partners and will not get into retail.

Reviews :
AMDZone
Tech Report
Sharky Extreme
AnandTech
X-Bit Labs

Wish To See You Again

Wish To See You Again (Zhe Li Fa Xian Ai) drama is airing in Taiwan and the VCD now already available in Indonesia from PT. Mediantara.





Websites:
CTS
Comic Ritz

AMD 780 Chipset - Like Never Before

AMD has released a marketing video on YouTube for their new 780 chipset.



Another video on gaming demonstration between AMD780G vs Intel G35:



The new chipset family integrates a DirectX 10 IGP allowing for better graphics performance without a dedicated GPU. One of the interesting features of the 780 is that it will be able to work in some form of CrossFire with a dedicated GPU when one is installed. It is also capable of disabling the dedicated GPU when it is not needed in order to conserve power.

The 780G chipset has an integrated ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics along with ATI's Hybrid Graphics technology. The 780G is capable as-is with multiple-monitor support, and can also give consumers tremendous flexibility with a broad range of video interfaces, including DisplayPort, DVI and HDMI. The AMD 780G chipset brings a full HD experience with support for the latest and most demanding formats, including VC-1, MPEG-2 and H.264 to the mainstream PC. Featuring the AMD Unified Video Decoder (UVD), it directs HD playback to the better-suited GPU rather than to the CPU so consumers may enjoy a smooth HD viewing experience — no lag, stalling or dropped scenes —in the latest HD-DVD and Blu-ray titles.

The 780V chipset is essentially the same, though it substitutes ATI Radeon 3100 graphics, resulting in a chipset for less expensive motherboards. The 780V chipset is less HD oriented, as shown in the graphics subsystem nomenclature.

Both chipsets use new SB700 South Bridge that supports 12 USB 2.0 and two USB 1.1 ports, up to six 3.0Gb/sec SATA ports with support for eSATA, HD Audio, a single PATA controller for legacy devices, and a whole host of power-saving features. There's support for RAID modes 0, 1, and 10.

For more information click here : http://www.amd.com/780g

Reviews:
AMDZone
Tech Report
Tom's Hardware
Legit Reviews

Sempron Dual Core

AMD will be introducing Sempron Dual Core, model number Sempron 2100+ with 1.8GHz and 512K L2 cache, which is better than the Celeron Dual Core E1200 with 1.6GHz and 512K L2 cache. AMD Sempron 2100+ processors adopt a 65nm process. Pricing in the China market is set at RMB 399 (US$ 55). Due to the cheap price and potential of AMD's own-brand RS780 and 690G IGP chipsets, the CPU has been popular with consumers in China prompting them support AMD's platform.



Early benchmark:

Happy Chinese New Year

F4 greeting us Happy Chinese New Year



And here the casts of "Wish To See You Again" on CTS