IBM, Samsung, Globalfoundries, and more looking to beat Intel to 28nm market

Sure, Intel’s one-upping AMD in the 32nm department, but IBM and its merry band of Technology Alliance members — including Samsung, STMicroelectronics, and AMD chipmakers Globalfoundries — are looking to ramp up the competition and develop even smaller, low power 28nm processors before Intel gets a chance to size down. The group additionally promises migration plans for companies who’ve got 32nm on their roadmap and want to maybe shrink a few of the later, already planned models. Early risk production for the 28nm chips are planned for second half 2010, which means it’s very unlikely we’ll be seeing them in consumer gadgets until at least 2011.

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IBM, Samsung, Globalfoundries, and more looking to beat Intel to 28nm market originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 05:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AMD releases another notebook roadmap, does not release Fusion chips

Well, well, a new AMD roadmap promising a superior hybrid CPU/GPU chip sometime in the distant future. That doesn’t sound like the same old vaporware refrain we’ve been hearing about Fusion since 2006 at all, does it? Yep, everyone’s favorite underdog is back in the paperwork game, and this time we’ve got a sheaf of pointy-eared details on the company’s upcoming notebook plans, all culminating in the “Sabine” platform, which is wholly dependent on Sunnyvale actually shipping a mobile variant of the delayed Fusion APU in 2011 once it finds the Leprechaun City. In the meantime, look forward to a slew of forgettable laptops getting bumped to the “Danube” platform, which supports 45nm quad-core chips, DDR3-1066 memory, and an absolutely shocking 14 USB 2.0 ports. Ugh, seriously — does anyone else think AMD should suck it up, put out a cheap Atom-class processor paired with a low-end Radeon that can do reasonable HD video output, and actually take it to Intel in booming low-end market instead of goofing around with the expensive, underperforming Neo platform and a fantasy chip it’s been promising for three years now? Call us crazy.

[Via PC Authority; thanks Geller]

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AMD releases another notebook roadmap, does not release Fusion chips originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When netbook processors compete, everyone wins

When netbook processors compete everyone wins

You know the drill: the Atom is the king of all netbooks, with a domain stretching as far as the eye can see. But, upstarts like the Via Nano and AMD’s Athlon Neo are encroaching on Intel’s domain, and Crave took the time to pit examples of the three against each other in a series of benchmarks to see which should rule the land. Rather sadly for us, each of the three tests had a different winner, with the Atom N280 excelling in multi-tasking, the Nano U2250 best for iTunes encoding, and the Neo MV-40 quickest under a Jalbum-based benchmark. So you know what that means: everyone gets a prize, nobody has to go home crying, and you should just go ahead and buy whichever netbook you like best already.

Update: It’s actually unclear which proc won which test, as the table at the source shows one thing, but the text swaps the Neo and Nano around. But, again, there’s not much between these three.

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When netbook processors compete, everyone wins originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Apr 2009 07:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP’s 12.1-inch Pavilion dv2 on sale and photographed

Ah, there we go. Not quite a week after HP’s Pavilion dv2 was spotted on sale in Thailand, the Blu-ray-packin’ ultraportable has now surfaced here in North America. Starting right now, prospective buyers can select a machine directly from HP, and if you’re still curious to see what exactly you’ll be buying, there’s even a link to a few hands-on images for your perusal. Oh, advice on financing? Sorry, that one’s on you.

[Thanks, Chad]

Read – HP Pavilion dv2 on sale
Read – HP Pavilion dv2 hands-on

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HP’s 12.1-inch Pavilion dv2 on sale and photographed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA GTX 275 / ATI Radeon HD 4890 review roundup

Unless you’ve started your weekend early, you have probably realized that both NVIDIA and AMD announced new GPUs this morning. Coincidental timing aside, it sure makes things easy for the consumer to eye the respective benchmarks and plan out their next mid-range GPU purchase accordingly. A whole bevy of reviews, tests, graphs and bar charts have hit the web this morning extolling and panning the pros and cons, but without getting too deep in the nitty-gritty, we can sum things up pretty easily with this. NVIDIA’s GTX 275 showed performance that placed it perfectly between the GTX 285 and GTX 260, and in all but a few off-the-wall tests, it outpaced the ATI Radeon HD 4890 (albeit slightly). Granted, the HD 4890 was called the “fastest, single-GPU powered graphics card AMD has ever produced” by HotHardware, though apparently even that wasn’t enough to help it snag the gold across the board. If you’re hungry for more (and you are, trust us), take the rest of the day off and dig in below.

Read – HotHardware GeForce GTX 275 review
Read – HotHardware Radeon HD 4890 review
Read – ExtremeTech GeForce GTX 275 and Radeon HD 4890 review
Read – DailyTech GeForce GTX 275 and Radeon HD 4890 review
Read – X-bit Labs ATI Radeon HD 4890 review
Read – ComputerShopper ATI Radeon HD 4890 review
Read – Guru 3D GeForce GTX 275 review
Read – Guru 3D ATI Radeon HD 4890 review
Read – PCPerspective ATI Radeon HD 4890 review

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NVIDIA GTX 275 / ATI Radeon HD 4890 review roundup originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP’s Pavilion dv2 spotted in the wild, on sale in Thailand

The first machine to rely on AMD’s Neo MV-40 processor has officially been spotted outside of a show floor, though you’ll have to jet to Bangkok if you’re looking to touch one yourself. The atypically well-specced 12.1-inch Pavilion dv2 has been spotted over in Thailand for around $720, and while it doesn’t look drastically (or at all, really) different than what we saw at CES this year, it’s good to see this bugger finally creeping into homes. Check the read link for a few more angles and impressions, and feel free to get your hopes up for a US release in the not-too-distant future.

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HP’s Pavilion dv2 spotted in the wild, on sale in Thailand originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Touchscreen-based CUPC-P80 UMPC just might double as a carputer

Comfile Technology’s CUPC-P80 isn’t quite a full-fledged UMPC, though it could definitely get away with posing as one. Realistically though, we suspect this one was engineered to control media and such within your vehicle. The 12v power system and the 10.2-inch display sure make it an ideal candidate for replacing that stock radio in your ’87 Taurus, and while the 500MHz AMD Geode LX800 isn’t potent enough to stream YouTube videos in high-def, it should be plenty to spin your latest Tears For Fears-filled playlist. Other specs include 512MB of RAM, an Ethernet port, 4GB of flash storage, three USB sockets and an SD card slot. The rig can be purchased now for $699 without an OS, or for $849 with Windows XP embedded.

[Via Zedomax, thanks Max]

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Touchscreen-based CUPC-P80 UMPC just might double as a carputer originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Havok and AMD show off OpenCL with pretty pretty dresses

Havok and AMD show off OpenCL with pretty pretty dresses

With all the talk about OpenCL and Snow Leopard together and how the spec will allow Apple’s upcoming hotness to exploit graphics accelerators, it’s easy to lose track of the place where the standard could make its biggest impact: gaming. Yes, OpenGL may have lost favor in that realm in recent years, but OpenCL looks to captivate the hearts and GPUs of gamers everywhere by applying some much-needed standardization to the physics acceleration realm, first shown in public at GDC running on some AMD hardware. Havok is demonstrating its Havok Cloth and Havoc Destruction engines, the former of which is embedded below, and we think you’ll agree it’s quite impressive. OpenCL allows such acceleration to switch between the GPU and CPU seamlessly and as needed depending on which is more available, hopefully opening the door to physics acceleration that actually affects gameplay and doesn’t just exist to make you say, “Whoa.”

Continue reading Havok and AMD show off OpenCL with pretty pretty dresses

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Havok and AMD show off OpenCL with pretty pretty dresses originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ATI’s 1GB FirePro V7750 GPU pushes serious pixels for pros

Earlier this month, AMD popped out a 512MB ATI FirePro 2450 quad-display card, but if that’s just not pro enough for your professional needs, have a gander at the company’s FirePro V7750. Sporting 1GB of GDDR3 frame-buffer memory, a 30-bit display pipeline and twin DisplayPort connectors + one dual-link DVI socket, this workstation powerhouse also features High Dynamic Range (HDR) rendering with 8-bit, 10-bit and 16-bit-per-RGB color component support. You’ll also get 320 stream processing units, full Shader Model 4.1 support for vertex and pixel shaders and a unified video decoder for H.264, AVC, VC-1 and MPEG-2 video formats. Show your CAD who’s boss for just $899.

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ATI’s 1GB FirePro V7750 GPU pushes serious pixels for pros originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel rated leading chip manufacturer again, AMD slips out of top ten

Intel rated leading chip manufacturer again, AMD slips out of top ten

This economic crisis has been tough for nearly every business worldwide, perhaps best evidenced by the number of corporate spats we’ve seen develop lately as everyone gets more and more protective of their respective turfs. While Intel and NVIDIA have lately been engaged in an epic war of PowerPoint presentations, fewer disputes have been bigger or longer-running than the one between Intel and its more direct competition, AMD. That “us inside” company just earned some bragging rights, being named the biggest processor manufacturer in the world again by iSuppli, with a 13.1 percent global market share. AMD, which came in tenth last year, dropped down to the number twelve position in 2008 after its revenue declined 7.8 percent compared to 2007. News was also bad for Texas Instruments, which dropped a position largely thanks to the success of mobile processors from Toshiba and Qualcomm. Don’t be so glum, TI, maybe successes from Russell Crowe’s favorite flavor of pico projector will make up for the difference.

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Intel rated leading chip manufacturer again, AMD slips out of top ten originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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