amd

AMD readies new server platform for 2009

Paul Mah — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:00:18 -0400

Code-named Fiorano, AMD's new server platform is due out in the second half of 2009. Designed with the "Shanghai" 45-nanometer processors in mind, it will come with full support for HyperTransport3, and an advanced virtualization capability called IOMMU that allows virtualization to extend to the level of the system's I/O traffic. In addition to supporting the second generation of PCI Express, Fiorano also will represent the first time that AMD will build its own chip set for servers. While AMD is willing to talk about its new platform strategy, not much is known about Shanghai at this point, other than that it will have four processing cores and come with 6MB of L3 cache.

To read up more about this story:
- check out this eWeek article

Intel relents on USB 3.0 to appease Nvidia, AMD

Paul Mah — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:36:02 -0400

To appease Nvidia and AMD, Intel on Wednesday released the draft specification of what it calls the Extensible Host Controller Interface (xHCI). This specification provides a standardized method for USB 3.0 hardware to communicate with USB 3.0-specific software. Nvidia and AMD had earlier threatened to develop their own USB 3.0 specification unless Intel opened up this aspect of the specification. The two companies have since signed an agreement to use Intel's USB 3.0 specifications instead. Coming at 10 times the speed of USB 2.0, USB 3.0 clocks in at roughly 5 gigabits per second, with devices expected to appear in 2009. At this point, Intel says that the specification is "90 percent" complete.

For more on USB 3.0:
- check out this CNET News article

AMD takes $948 million in charges

Paul Mah — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:04:50 -0400

Chipmaker AMD has said it would take charges totaling a whopping $948 million for the second quarter of this year. The majority of the charges are related to the acquisition of ATI Technologies in 2006, according to a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A fuller picture emerges when the latest charge is combined with the $1.77 billion impairment charge that AMD already took in the last quarter of 2007. What happened is that AMD essentially had written down 50 percent of the $5.4 billion that it assigned against ATI during the acquisition.

AMD has also been conducting layoffs, and has taken aggressive cost-cutting measures in order to break even by the end of the year. This is in the wake of AMD reporting a loss of $358 million in the first quarter. The company's second-quarter financial result is scheduled to be released on July 17.

For more information on this report:
- check out this InformationWeek article

Intel unveils Centrino 2 platform

Paul Mah — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:03:45 -0400

In the latest salvo against arch-rival AMD, Intel is releasing a total of five new processors as part of its Centrino 2 platform that is designed to do tasks like high-definition video playback, yet deliver improved battery power. Clock speeds range between 2.26 GHz and 3.06 GHz for the five processors, with a trio of them running on 25 watts of power instead of the typical 35 watts. The new Centrino 2 platform itself consists of a package that includes a processor, a related chipset, and another chip for wireless communications.

Where power consumption is concerned, Intel has the upper hand as it has shifted over to manufacturing processes that lower both the cost and energy consumption per chip. In fact, it appears that Intel plans to unveil additional processors within the next 90 days, including the first ever quad-core offerings targeted at the mobile segment

For more on Intel's new Centrino 2 platform:
- check out this eWeek article

Department of Energy’s supercomputer breaks petraflop barrier

Paul Mah — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:15:05 -0400

In a historical first, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) supercomputer has broken through the landmark barrier of one petaflop--or one quadrillion floating point operations per second. The feat was achieved by DOE's Roadrunner supercomputer last month, and announced at the International Supercomputing Conference yesterday afternoon.

Roadrunner is built by IBM with a hybrid of 12,960 modified Cell processors--used in Sony's PlayStation 3 console--and 6,912 Opteron processors from chip maker AMD. It was designed to perform calculations to certify the reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, without the need to conduct underground tests.

Barring a surprise, last-minute entrant, the new record will put Roadrunner at the No. 1 position on the TOP500 supercomputer list. The significance of the win is apparent when you compare it to former No. 1 BlueGene/L, with just 0.48 petaflops per second.

For more about the Roadrunner supercomputer:
- check out this BetaNews article

AMD scoffs at Nvidia’s 'huge, monolithic' approach

Paul Mah — Tue, 27 May 2008 07:36:50 -0400

AMD's ATI graphics chip unit will not build monolithic chips like what Nvidia is doing, according to an AMD executive. Nvidia, however, countered that smaller doesn't necessarily mean better. Hence, the stage is set for graphic chips that will power the next generation of computers.

Nvidia is approaching the problem with a strategy to design for the highest performance at all cost, and it shows in the upcoming GTX-280, which will come with an accompanying large transistor count. AMD, on the other hand, is adopting an approach of putting two separate chips on one board, which it claims will be much more power efficient.

In a way, the disparate approaches adopted by AMD and Nvidia could be said to mirror the yesteryear battle between CISC and RISC processors. Will one method turn out better than the other? Only time will tell.

For more on graphic chips:
- check out this CNET News.com blog

HP working to fix Windows XP SP3 problems

Paul Mah — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:26:19 -0400

HP has confirmed that the existence of an endless-reboot problem with certain systems that are based on processors from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) after the installation of Windows XP service pack 3 (SP3). Working in tandem with Microsoft, HP says it is attempting to fix the problem. A patch is expected to be released and distributed to customers this week via its automated HP Update service that will nullify the endless reboot problems, among other issues.

The reboot problem appeared to stem from the fact that HP utilized the same images meant for Intel-based system with those running on AMD-based systems. Upon booting up, SP3 searches in vain for a non-existent Intel driver, resulting in an endless loop. If you are affected, you might want to check out this article on how to recover from this error.

For more on HP and Windows XP:
- check out this eWeek article

AMD announces 6 and 12-core CPUs

Mehan Jayasuriya — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:32:41 -0400

The quad-core race might only be heating up now, but that isn't stopping AMD from stepping its game up in the war for more core. We've reported before that 6 and 12-core chips from AMD were a distinct possibility and it looks like we were right on the money: AMD has officially added 6 and 12-core parts to their roadmap. Both the 6-core "Sao Paulo" and the 12-core "Magny-Cours" will be based on an all-new platform called "Maranello," not Barcelona. According to AMD, 12-core CPUs will be easier to manufacture, so they've decided to cancel the 8-core Barcelona and skip over that generation all together. According to the roadmap, 6-core AMD chips should be available next year, with 12-core models following in 2010.

For more on the forthcoming CPUs:
- see this New York Times article

Quad-core CPUs heating up

Mehan Jayasuriya — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:58:41 -0400

No, quad-core chips aren't heating up literally--though they do get quite hot if your case isn't properly ventilated. Rather, the quad-core CPU market is heating up, thanks to price cuts and a number of different parts on the market. Intel has sold 10 million quad-core chips since their introduction in late 2006, and AMD is expected to announce that it has sold 1 million of its quad-core parts shortly. Sure, quad-core CPUs still represent only about 3 percent of the overall market, but with more and more businesses turning to x86 servers, you had better believe that figure is going to grow. “I don’t think anyone had imagined how popular the low-cost quad core server parts were going to be at the time,” said Dean McCarron, Founder and Principal at Mercury Research.

For more on the quad-core market:
- see this ZDnet article

AMD quad-core Phenom plagued by incompatibility issues

Mehan Jayasuriya — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:58:09 -0400

Poor AMD just can't seem to catch a break these days. While the company has managed to get their oft-delayed quad-core Phenom CPUs into the market, it looks like the chip has managed to hit a bit of a snag. Apparently a thermal frequency mismatch prevents the high-end 9750 and 9850 Phenoms from functioning properly with motherboards that use AMD's popular 780G chipset. According to AMD, chips like the 9750 and 9850 that have a Thermal Design Power (TDP) envelope of 125 watts should be paired with the 790 motherboards instead. If you're planning to drop some quad-core Phenoms into your servers or workstations, make sure you've got a compatible motherboard inside first.

For more on the compatibility issue:
- see this CNET article