Hasta La Gadget!

While there has been a lot of speculation recently about which platforms the OnLive Google TV app will support for gameplay, the company is confirming support for / collaboration with Marvell’s 1500 HD SoC Google highlighted for its v2 hardware. While no specific devices are mentioned, there’s a Marvell brain in the Sony Google TV box we recently reviewed and the upcoming Vizio Co-Star, so unless a manufacturer blocks it, we’d expect to be able to install it and get playing — Gaikai purchases notwithstanding. Not mentioned in the press release (after the break) is LG’s custom CPU for its Google TVs, but since we’ve already got video evidence of it running there, we’re simply left waiting for the app to launch for the full console gaming experience sans-console.

Continue reading OnLive reaffirms support for Marvell powered ARM Google TV boxes

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment

OnLive reaffirms support for Marvell powered ARM Google TV boxes originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Chipzilla didn’t get its position as the king of semiconductors by twiddling its thumbs, folks. It became a Valley behemoth by delivering us faster and better silicon, and its latest $4.1 billion purchase — a 15 percent stake in silicon manufacturing equipment maker ASML Holding NV — should help keep Intel atop the CPU heap. You see, Intel’s in the process of retooling its chip manufacturing process to use bigger diameter silicon wafers, which’ll make those Ivy Bridge, ValleyView and other future chips cheaper for all of us. Such retooling can take years to implement, which is likely why Intel was willing to plunk down so much cash to ensure nothing futzes with its manufacturing timetable. The company’s investment will presumably give it the clout to get ASML’s crucial lithography equipment on the fast track to completion. Hop to it, fellas, we want our CPUs at bargain-basement prices, and we want them now.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Intel to buy 15 percent of silicon fab equipment maker ASML, wants manufacturing machines made faster originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jul 2012 01:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon S4 processors, built on a 28nm process, have proven so popular that TSMC has said that it’s struggling to manufacture the chips. Qualcomm has recognized that it needs to keep up with demand, and has signed an agreement with an unlikely partner: Samsung. The terms of the deal with Samsung haven’t been disclosed, but an additional partner, United Microelectronics, will begin making 28nm chips by the fourth quarter of this year.

Samsung currently produces its own Exynos chip for its Galaxy devices, and supplies Apple, among others, with ARM Cortex chips for various mobile devices. The company can’t use its own Exynos chips in US devices, however, due to LTE modem incompatibilities, causing phones like the Galaxy S III to be equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 instead which features an integrated LTE modem. It’s a pretty strange situation all around, but business is business at the end of the day.

UMC, meanwhile, will reportedly supply between 3,000 and 5,000 wafers for 28nm CPU creation per month. That’s around 20 to 33% of what TSMC currently produces for Qualcomm. The new chips have already passed verification, so you can expect to see them making their way into devices in the not too distant future. Another interesting tidbit: UMC has licensed a 20nm process, something which ARM and TSMC also set their gaze on back in October. That would lead to further performance improvements and better power management.

[via IntoMobile]

Samsung signs deal to produce Qualcomm’s 28nm chips is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Tired of the year wait (or more) in between new silicon architecture offerings from Chipzilla and AMD? Well, if some Wolfpack researchers have anything to say about it, we’ll measure that wait in months thanks to a new CPU core design tool that automates part of the process. Creating a new CPU core is, on a high level, a two step procedure. First, the architectural specification is created, which sets the core’s dimensions and arranges its components. That requires some heavy intellectual lifting, and involves teams of engineers to complete. Previously, similar manpower was needed for the second step, where the architecture spec is translated into an implementation design that can be fabricated in a factory. No longer. The aforementioned NC State boffins have come up with a tool that allows engineers to input their architecture specification, and it generates an implementation design that’s used to draw up manufacturing blueprints. The result? Considerable time and manpower savings in creating newly designed CPU cores, which means that all those leaked roadmaps we’re so fond of could be in serious need of revision sometime soon.

Researchers partially automate CPU core design, aim to fast track new PC processor production originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 07:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Abstract  |  IEEE Micro  | Email this | Comments

AMD may be struggling to keep up with Intel in terms of raw performance, but the company continues to push ahead with its APU solutions. The latest come in the form of the Embedded G-Series, designed for low-power and small form factors. AMD say that the TDP of the new chips is 4.5W, but average draw is just 2.3W. That makes it ideal for use in embedded point-of-sale, transportation, and medical markets.

The company hopes that the x86 compatibility paired with support for various display technologies will make the APU an ideal choice for businesses and industries. The G-Series has support for VGA, DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort, so there’s an easy migration path for engineers. On top of that, there are numerous motherboard designs already available for the platform, ranging in size all the way up to MiniITX.

Crucially, AMD is hoping that price will be the real deciding factor: “With the AMD G-T16R APU, we were striving for that critical balance of performance, power efficiency and cost for power, and cost-sensitive embedded applications, and we’ve achieved it.” Anyone currently using the Geode platform should see a nice bump in power management and performance, with the G-Series consuming 7% less power while featuring three times the performance.

AMD say that the G-Series will support the Windows Embedded Compact 7, Green Hills INTEGRITY and Express Logic ThreadX operating systems. The platform will also be available through to 2017, giving customers some peace of mind.

AMD Embedded G-Series APU targets low-power x86 markets is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.