Hasta La Gadget!

AMD gave us a tease of its next-generation Steamroller architecture in 2012, but things weren’t looking good for pro users when the initial timeline had current-generation Piledriver technology as the focus for Opterons in 2013. Thanks to a newer investor presentation, there’s a glimmer of hope for the workstation and server users among us. Its roadmap shows Steamroller-equipped Opteron variants arriving this year, with an Excavator follow-up coming at an undetermined point in the future. There’s nothing about specific timelines and models, as you might imagine — AMD isn’t going to spoil its plans quite so readily — but the presentation reminds us that Steamroller will put an emphasis on the parallelism that’s oh so vital to high-end computing. We’re mostly glad to hear that IT backrooms will have something genuinely new to play with while we’re off enjoying its Kaveri counterpart at home.

Filed under: Desktops, AMD

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Via: X-bit Labs, TechEye

Source: AMD (PDF)

Samsung announced its new flagship GALAXY S 4 last night in New York City in full broadway style, and just today we confirmed that the new device runs Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon 600 chipset in the US, while other regions will be getting Samsung’s new Exynos 5 Octa processor, which the company will be putting into production starting sometime in Q2 2013.

New details are pretty slim, but the new chip’s architecture is based on the Cortex-A15 chip, and the Exynos 5 features a mixture between the Cortex-A15 and the A7 to offer the best of both worlds: four Cortex-A15 cores for intensive tasks, along with four more Cortex-A7 cores that handle the lighter stuff.

Samsung claims that this setup offers up to 70% more efficiency compared to using only Cortex-A15 cores. Samsung says that the new Exynos processor will be manufactured using the company’s latest 28-nanometer design, which increases power efficiency and produces less heat — two things that are crucial for a good chip.

The GALAXY S 4 is obviously the first device to sport the new processor, and we’re positive that more devices will make their way to the forefront sporting the new chip. If you’re not familiar with Octa-core processors, don’t worry, as we’ll be posting an in-depth “SlashGear 101″ primer later today. Stay tuned!

Samsung announces production of Exynos 5 Octa chip is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Having produced the graphics chips that powered both the original Xbox and the PlayStation 3, it was a surprise to see NVIDIA‘s name left out of Sony’s big PlayStation 4 reveal event last month. But there was AMD, picking up the empty spot left by NVIDIA, powering the PS4 with its 8-core “Jaguar” CPU and Radeon GPU. So, what happened? While we don’t know the specifics of how AMD won the contract, NVIDIA’s senior VP of content and tech Tony Tamasi tells GameSpot that his company, “Didn’t want to do the business at the price those guys [Sony] were willing to pay.”

In so many words, Tamasi says NVIDIA weighed its options against other potential products the company would be working on — rather than producing discreet tech for a single console manufacturer, thus being unable to use said tech elsewhere — and decided against it. “We had to look at console business as an opportunity cost. If we say, did a console, what other piece of our business would we put on hold to chase after that?” he tells the game site.

NVIDIA is indeed working on a variety of new products, including an Android-powered Tegra 4 gaming handheld called Project Shield. That’s in addition to its bread-and-butter business of PC GPU development — the company recently unveiled its Titan GPU, a $1,000 card with enough power to keep your gaming graphics needs met for years to come (or at least we sure hope so at that price).

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Sony, NVIDIA

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Source: GameSpot

We knew way back at CES that Qualcomm had a few lower-end chips up its sleeve, but now it’s official: the Snapdragon 400 and 200 have been formally detailed in a company blog post thrown up today. Following in the footsteps of the high-end Snapdragon 800 and 600, these units are being aimed at “the mid-tier and entry level smartphone segments.” The 400 options include dual Krait CPUs running at up to 1.7GHz per core, quad ARM Cortex-A7 CPUs humming along at up to 1.4GHz per core, and an Adreno 305 GPU. You’ll also find support for TDSCDMA, DC-HSPA+ (42Mbps), 1x Advanced, W+G CDMA, and multi-SIM capabilities of Dual SIM, Dual Standby (DSDS) and Dual SIM, Dual Active (DSDA), as well as support for up 13.5 megapixel camera sensors, 1080p video capture / playback and Miracast wireless display tech. For the number nerds, Snapdragon 400 processors now include the following part numbers: 8226, 8626, 8230, 8630, 8930, 8030AB, 8230AB, 8630AB and 8930AB.

As for the 200, you’ll get quad ARM Cortex-A5 CPUs at up to 1.4GHz per core, an Adreno 203 GPU, HD video playback, GPS, LPDDR2 RAM, multi-SIM support and the ability to handle up to 8 megapixel camera sensors. Snapdragon 200 processors now include the following part numbers: 8225Q, 8625Q. Unfortunately, pricing is being kept under wraps, and it seems that Qually is going to leave it to its wondrous partners to actually announce new hardware that’ll be powered by its latest duo. With Mobile World Congress kicking off in a matter of days, something tells us you won’t have to wait much longer for the nitty-gritty.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets

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Source: Qualcomm

MediaTek may have only just reached quad-core smartphones in earnest, but its aims are expanding — in a more literal sense. The company’s Xie Qingjiang says that plans are underway to build a tablet-specific processor that would ship in the third quarter of the year. While other details are scarce, it’s safe to say the chip will take advantage of all the extra breathing room for more performance. The real questions surround just who will use the new creation: there’s no guarantee that Acer will find a fit for the design inside of its future 8- and 10-inch budget slates, for example. When MediaTek is seemingly making generational leaps in a matter of months, though, we suspect that there won’t be a shortage of customers.

Filed under: Tablets, Acer

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Via: Unwired View

Source: Sina (translated)