AMD hUMA wants to speed your APU memory use, no joke

Heterogeneous Uniform Memory Access may sound like the orderly queue you make outside the RAM store, but for AMD, hUMA is an essential part of squeezing the best from its upcoming Kaveri APUs. Detailed for the first time today, hUMA builds on AMD’s existing Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA) – integrating CPUs and GPUs into single, multipurpose chips – by allowing both the core processor and the graphics side to simultaneously access the same memory at the same time.

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That’s important, since currently the CPU and GPU on an APU have to wait for time-consuming memory block management to take place in order for both parts to access it. If the GPU wants to see the same data that the CPU is seeing, that data has to be replicated in two places.

hUMA, however, would do away with that copying process, since it would make the memory visible to both CPU and GPU simultaneously. Called bi-directional coherent memory, it will mean less time involved for both halves of the APU to track data changes, as well as introduce efficiencies in memory management, since they’ll have a better understanding and control over what free memory there is, and what they can use at any one time.

The upshot is systems that take less time for processing, as well as software that’s easier to code since developers won’t need to consider memory block management when they’re trying to integrate GPU acceleration. Instead, that will all be handled dynamically by the hUMA system.

The first evidence of hUMA in the wild will be AMD’s upcoming APU refresh, codenamed Kaveri. Revealed back at CES, full details on Kaveri are unknown, but the APU will be a 28nm chip and is tipped to include up to four of AMD’s Steamroller cores, Radeon HD 7000 graphics, and a 128-bit memory controller with support for both DDR3 and GDDR5 memory.

AMD expects to have its Kaveri APUs on the market in the second half of 2013.

[via Notebook Review; via HotHardware]


AMD hUMA wants to speed your APU memory use, no joke is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

AMD Radeon HD 7990 review roundup: fast, quiet, but no world beater

Now that the veil has been lifted from the AMD Radeon HD 7990, it’s time for the usual enthusiast review sites to reveal their thoughts — and benchmarks — on the latest graphics card from Sunnyvale. As we’ve mentioned, the 7990 has effectively two 7970 GPUs on board, promising over 8 TFLOPS of power and the chops to handle full 4K resolution under maximum settings. However, it’s a pricey little thing at around $1,000, which doesn’t set it too far away from the competition and its unique cooling system means an airy case is a must. What do our sample of reviewers think? Find out in our roundup after the break.

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AMD Radeon HD 7990 Announced With 4k Resolution Support

AMD Radeon HD 7990 Announced With 4k Resolution SupportBack in 2012, NVIDIA revealed their monster graphics card, the GeForce GTX 690 which would cost gamers a whopping $999. Now it looks like it’s AMD’s turn to turn things up with their latest GPU, the Radeon HD 7990 which like the GTX 690, is definitely not for the casual gamer. Priced at $1,000 and available in about two weeks’ time, this is a GPU that definitely has a lot of power behind it as the company is claiming that the GPU will have no problem running games at 4k resolution and maximum detail setting!

The Radeon HD7990 will feature over 8 terraflops of processing power, 8.6 billion transistors, 6GB of RAM, PCI Express 3.0 support and a new cooling system which supposedly will be 3dB quieter than the NVIDIA Titan, and 10dB softer than the GTX 690. Like we said above, this GPU is definitely not for the casual gamer, and while 4k resolutions have yet to become the standard, we guess the hardcore gamer looking to future-proof their gaming rig might see this as a worthwhile investment.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: iPad Display Unit Hacked To Run As External Monitor At Full Resolution, Apple’s WWDC Starts On June 10 With Focus On iOS 7, OS X,

    

AMD details $999 Radeon HD 7990 graphics card, says it handles all top games at 4K

AMD details Radeon HD 7990 any game at 4K resolution for $999

We’ve seen plenty of the Radeon HD 7990 in action with Battlefield 4, but it’s taken AMD a little while to furnish us with full specs and pricing for its in-house reference design. Now that all the info is here, in the run-up to commercial availability in two week’s time, it’s finally possible to judge the pros and cons of what is arguably a very niche product. Read on past the break and we’ll do just that.

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AMD G-Series X embedded chips tip company’s advance beyond PCs

With the AMD Embedded G-Series System-on-Chip, AMD will first be working with a single-chip solution that’ll employ both AMD Radeon 8000 Series graphics and their “Jaguar” CPU architecture at once. This announcement of AMD’s SOC design marks the company’s rumored significant push beyond the PC industry for intelligent devices of all kinds.

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Noting that they’ve got their eyes on intelligent machines from smart TVs to interactive digital signage, “informational kiosks”, and set-top boxes, AMD has also made it clear that they’re interested in jumping in on what’s called “Surround Computing”. This term is identified by AMD’s Mark Papermaster as an era where computers become a seamless part of the daily lives of human beings.

Though AMD does mention through Papermaster that this Surround Computing era includes mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, the G-Series being presented this season is being shown as extremely versatile, working even with deeply embedded and/or “headless” systems. These headless systems work without any input devices or displays, this requiring no graphics solution onboard – CPU power at the heart, that is.

With this first AMD Embedded G-Series SOC, the company supports both Windows Embedded 8 and Linux while working with a range of applications: electronic gaming systems, SMB storage, industrial control and automation, IP-TV, set-top boxes, digital signage, medical and network appliances. AMD has sent word that they’ll have general availability for manufacturers of the AMD G-Series SOC in the second quarter of this year while market-ready products will be appearing soon after.

Have a peek at the AMD tag portal for more information on this series as it appears and watch closely as the company continues to advance beyond the standard PC market. This is an significant time for AMD as they continue to make interesting business moves and announce products at a rate not often seen by the company – stay tuned!

[via AMD]


AMD G-Series X embedded chips tip company’s advance beyond PCs is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Daily Roundup for 04.23.2013

DNP The Daily RoundUp

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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AMD reveals G-Series X embedded chips, drops a little ARM-powered bombshell

AMD reveals G Series embedded chips, drops an ARMpowered bombshell in the process

We’re no strangers to AMD’s embedded processors, designed for specialist applications such as casino gaming and dashboard infotainment systems. But this latest announcement of an updated G-Series processor reveals something totally unexpected. It’s not just that the chip contains four Jaguar cores of PlayStation 4 fame, or that it also includes a Radeon 8000 GPU and I/O module on a single piece of silicon — although that’s all interesting enough. The key thing is actually the “X” in the lower right corner of the logo, which signifies that this is an x86 chip of the type we’d normally expect from AMD. The question is this: Why bother even mentioning the “X” when everyone knows AMD is an x86 stalwart already? Read on and we’ll explain its true significance.

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Black HTC One peeks out of AT&T and Sprint web stores, promises to be available soon

Stealth black HTC One peeks out of AT&T and Sprint web stores, promises to be available 'soon'

Torn between getting an HTC One right now and waiting for that sleek black variant? We know the feeling, and the folks at Sprint and AT&T aren’t making it easier: both providers have tossed up a product page for the color. Unfortunately, a solid street date is nowhere to be seen — Sprint only promises that it’ll be available “soon.” The tease won’t make the wait any more bearable, but if you want to ogle that press image a bit more, check out the product pages at source.

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Via: Phone Arena

Source: Sprint, AT&T

Ex-AMD CTO Raja Koduri returns from 4-year Apple job

This week the man known as Raja Koduri has returned to a position with GPU company AMD from a 4-year appointment with Apple. So this former AMD CTO left to work with Apple four years ago, has worked there ever since (with the likes of some of the top minds on the GPU industry), and is now back to work with AMD. And this isn’t the only former AMD employee to jump back aboard!

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It’s not often that we see a major company like Apple losing employees in the first place, much less to a company where they’d hired them from in the first place. But there it is: Raja Koduri has re-joined AMD as Corporate Vice President of Visual Computing. This title also lets us know that AMD is entering a new era: this is the first time they’ve combined GPU hardware and software under a single title.

Last year AMD also re-hired (read: snatched back) a former employee of theirs from Apple in CPU man Jim Keller. If you have a peek back at SlashGear’s original report on Jim Keller, you’ll see that such a switch is always a news bit in and of itself. Both Keller and Koduri working for AMD once again doesn’t necessarily spell anything really negative for Apple, but for AMD things are certainly looking up.

Speaking with Anand Lal Shimpi this week on his return, Koduri made it clear that he sees AMD as having challenges in the near future, but not challenges that will be insurmountable. It’s likely that some real System-on-chip results will be coming out of this new appointment.

Have a peek at our AMD tag portal to see how AMD is rolling in to 2013 with some real power in both the GPU and CPU universes, and expect some strong moves from the company in the next few years as well!


Ex-AMD CTO Raja Koduri returns from 4-year Apple job is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Graphics chip designer Raja Koduri heads back to AMD after four-year stint at Apple

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Well, it looks like AMD had a bit of news up its sleeve that it chose not to drop during its earnings call yesterday. The Wall Street Journal has confirmed that famed graphics chip designer Raja Koduri is heading back to the company, which he left in 2009 to take on the graphics CTO role at Apple. Presumably, Koduri will again be performing some similar duties at AMD, but the company isn’t offering any further details just yet apart from saying that it’s “very pleased” about the move.

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Source: The Wall Street Journal