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

Vista SP1, XP SP3 delayed!

Mehan Jayasuriya — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:34:12 -0400

Uh oh. With Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3 both having been pushed out the door, most of us assumed that the long line of delays was over. Not so fast. Microsoft has been forced to postpone the release of both service packs, due to a compatibility issue with Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS), a management solution for small and midsize retail businesses. For the moment, the company has removed downloads for both service packs from its website, though it hopes to resume downloads once it can install a filtering system to prevent the service packs from being installed on machines running Microsoft RMS. "Once filtering is in place, we expect to release Windows XP SP3 to Windows Update and Download Center," a Microsoft spokesperson told PC Magazine.

For more on the delay:
- see this PC Magazine article

Compatibility Issue

AMD quad-core Phenom plagued by incompatibility issues

Vista SP1, XP SP3 delayed!