Hasta La Gadget!

AMD has been willing to tease its 2013 ultra-mobile APU (accelerated processing unit) strategy through PCs like the Acer Aspire V5, but today it’s spilling the beans in earnest. The headliner for many is the company’s just-shipping Elite Mobility line, or Temash: the A4 and A6 designs are built for tablets, like Hondo was, but their Jaguar-based system-on-chip designs should be faster in both CPU and graphics power without a hit to battery life. AMD estimates that the Radeon HD 8280G video core in an Elite Mobility A6 is about five times faster a Clover Trail-based Atom and twice as fast as Hondo, but lasts about 45 percent longer on battery than an Intel Core i3. And that’s while untethered — that Turbo Dock feature is still in place to boost speeds by over 30 percent when a dock is around for extra cooling.

The E1, E2, A4 and A6 mainstream APUs based on Kabini, meanwhile, are all about tackling the Pentium and Core i3 chips that go into entry-level laptops. AMD reckons that the dual-core (E-series) and quad-core (A-series) parts are up to 88 percent faster overall than their ancestors, and can even punch above their weight class: the E1’s Radeon HD 8000-level graphics are up to 66 percent faster than those of a much thirstier, Trinity-era A4 chip. Battery life is a specialty as well, with up to 10 hours when idle and 9 hours of web use. That’s typically 2 to 3 hours more than Kabini’s Brazos ancestor could manage. AMD wasn’t specific on when these mainstream APUs would first ship when we were briefed, but we had the opportunity to benchmark an A4-based reference laptop. Read on past the break for the scores and some early impressions.

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, AMD

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Source: AMD

AMD might have already unveiled their HD 8000M series graphics back in December and at CES 2013, but they left out a certain chip in particular and saved it for today. The company unveiled the Radeon HD 8970M, which they claim is the world’s fastest laptop graphics chip, saying that it outpaces NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 680M graphics.

The new chip features AMD’s new “Graphics Core Next” architecture, and it’s quite a big jump up from the company’s HD 8800M series. The 8970M features 1,280 stream processors, and a clock speed of 850MHz with a memory speed of 1.2GHz. The new chip should be able to handle pretty much any new game you throw at it on your laptop.

As for the first laptop to get the new 8970M, it’ll be the MSI GX70, which will come with an AMD A10 quad-core processor, Eyefinity support, Killer gaming network card, and will have a 17.3-inch display with a 1920×1080 resolution. However, we should be seeing more laptops with the new graphics chip later this year, possibly next month at Computex.

Of course, you’ll be paying a pretty penny for any machine that will run AMD’s latest graphics chip, with the GX70 most likely exceeding well over $1,000, but they also have slower 8000M series chips that the company unveiled in January, including the 8500M, 8600M, and the 8700M. Of course, the 8500M may not live up to AMD’s 8970M chip, but the 384 stream processors along with the 650MHz clock speed and 1,125MHz memory speed should keep you humming along with most games while on the go.

AMD Radeon HD 8970M claims world’s fastest laptop graphics crown is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Did you think AMD showed all its mobile GPU cards when it launched the Radeon HD 8000M series in January? Think twice. The company has just unveiled the 8900M series, an adaptation of its Graphics Core Next architecture for desktop replacement-class gaming laptops. To call it a big jump would be an understatement: compared to the 8800M, the flagship 8970M chip doubles the stream processors to 1,280, hikes the clock speed from 725MHz to 850MHz and bumps the memory speed slightly to 1.2GHz. The net effect is about 12 to 54 percent faster game performance than NVIDIA’s current mobile speed champion, the GTX 680M, and up to four times the general computing prowess in OpenCL. The 8970M is more than up to the task of powering up to 4K in one screen, and it can handle up to six screens if there are enough ports.

We’ll see how long AMD’s performance reign lasts, although we won’t have to wait to try the 8970M — MSI is launching the GPU inside the new GX70 laptop you see above. We got a brief, hands-off tease of the 17.3-inch GX60 successor at the 8900M’s unveiling, and it’s clear the graphics are the centerpiece. We saw it driving Crysis 3 very smoothly on one external display while powering 2D on two other screens, albeit through a bulky set of Mini DisplayPort, HDMI and VGA cables. Otherwise, the GX70 is superficially similar to its ancestor with that chunky profile, an unnamed Richland-based AMD A10 processor, Killer networking and a SteelSeries keyboard. More than anything, price should be the clincher: MSI is pricing the GX70 with the new Radeon at $1,100, which amounts to quite the bargain for anyone whose laptop has to double as a primary gaming PC.

Filed under: Gaming, Laptops, AMD

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Source: AMD, MSI

Today, two new processors are joining AMD’s FX CPU line-up. They are the AMD FX-4350 and AMD FX-6350 procssors. Both processors are unlocked, and are compatible with 900-series motherboards. The AMD FX-4350 processor offers quad-core performance, while the AMD FX-6350 offers 6-core performance. They’re both designed to allow you seamless multitasking and much more enjoyability when it comes to watching videos or playing games.

The AMD FX-4350 CPU is a quad-core CPU that is clocked at 4.2GHz Base Turbo and 4.3GHz Max Turbo. It has 12MB of L2 and L3 cache and it offers 10% better performance compared to its predecessor, the AMD FX-4300. The AMD FX-6350 is a 6-core CPU clocked at 3.9GHz Base Turbo and 4.2GHz Max Turbo with 14MB of L2 and L3 cache. It’s designed to appeal to users who need a good CPU for HD video editing and 3D modeling.

Both CPUs are compatible with socket AM3+ motherboards. The AMD FX family is easily overclocked using AMD’s Overdrive and Catalyst Control Center software. However, AMD wants users to note that they’re overclocking their CPUs at their own risk, and that any damage caused by overclocking isn’t covered by AMD’s warranty, even if the users use AMD’s software to do it.

AMD’s high-end FX line-up was released two years ago, debuting with the first world’s first 8-core CPUs, the FX-8000 series. The FX-8000 helped win AMD the Guinness World Record for “Highest Frequency of a Computer Processor.” While not belonging to the FX-8000 series, the AMD FX-4350 and FX-6350 are no slouches. They are designed to work with the most intense programs and deliver good performance while also being easy on power usage. You are are able to purchase the FX-4350 for $122 and the FX-6350 for $132.

[via AMD]

Next-gen AMD FX 4350 and 6350 join the FX CPU family is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

While AMD announced its new Temash APU (alongside others) at this year’s CES, the only device we’ve seen sporting it was an intriguing reference hybrid that made the rounds at the show. Now, details of an Acer Aspire V5 notebook have emerged, indicating the company is preparing its first Temash-powered device for general consumption. Acer already has a trio of Aspire V5 models with Intel Core processors and NVIDIA handling the graphics, but a half-complete product page for an unannounced V5-122P-0643 swaps those components out for AMD’s wares. Formally called the AMD A6-1450, the Temash APU combines a quad-core 1GHz processor — or 1.4GHz in “Turbo” state — with a Radeon HD 8280 GPU. When put into tablets, it has an unusually low, sub-5W power envelope that allows for passive cooling. While we don’t know exactly what wattage this Acer notebook will have, the presence of Temash should bode well for battery life. Head past the break for more details.

Filed under: Laptops, AMD, Acer

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Via: MiniMachines

Source: Acer