May 26

Researchers boost multi-core CPU performance with better prefetching

Posted in: processor, processors, research, study, Today's Chili

CPUPiling on cores is one way to boost performance, but it’s not necessarily the most efficient way — researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new prefetching technique for processors that could boost performance by up to 40-percent. As you may know, any data not stored in a CPU’s cache must be pulled from RAM, but as more cores are added they can create a bottleneck by competing for memory access. To counter this designers use prefetching to predict what information will be needed and grab it ahead of time, but guessing wrong can hurt performance. Researchers tackled this problem from two fronts: first, by creating a better algorithm for divvying up bandwidth, and second, by selectively turning off prefetching when it might slow the CPU. Full PR and an abstract of the study being published June 9th are after the break.

Continue reading Researchers boost multi-core CPU performance with better prefetching

Researchers boost multi-core CPU performance with better prefetching originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 18:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceNorth Carolina State University  | Email this | Comments

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May 26

Madfinger announces new Shadowgun game, with Tegra 2 and Kal-El support

Posted in: Android, android market, android tablet, AndroidMarket, AndroidTablet, app, game, NVIDIA, phone, processor, tablet, tegra 2, Tegra2, Today's Chili

Madfinger Games, the Czech Republic-based company behind Samurai II: Vengeance, has just announced Shadowgun — a futuristic, shoot ’em up game for Tegra 2-equipped Android phones and tablets. Available on both the Tegra Zone app and Android Market, Shadowgun promises to bring console-quality graphics and performance to mobile platforms — presumably with the extra geometric detail and high-res textures we’ve seen in other Tegra 2-tailored games. Madfinger is also developing a version for devices powered by NVIDIA’s forthcoming quad-core processor, alluringly known as Project Kal-El. Price and availability have yet to be announced, but you can find more information in the PR after the break.

Continue reading Madfinger announces new Shadowgun game, with Tegra 2 and Kal-El support

Madfinger announces new Shadowgun game, with Tegra 2 and Kal-El support originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 10:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Droid Life, Android Central  |  sourceMadfinger Games  | Email this | Comments

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May 24

AMD Llano quad-core APUs and Zambezi octa-core CPUs get priced, the former listed inside an HP dv6

Posted in: AMD, HP, leak, price, pricing, processor, rumor, shipping, speculation, Today's Chili

Don’t mistake the relative quietness from AMD on the APU front for inactivity. Ever since announcing the first shipment of its Llano Accelerated Processing Unit in April, the company’s been working behind the scenes to ramp up availability to OEMs, and somewhere along the supply chain a gracious soul has been found who’s leaked the bulk pricing for those chips. The new quad-core A Series processors start off at $110 for an A6-3450 and max out at $170 for an A8-3550P, but there’s also mention of octa-core FX processors, which will weigh in at $320 a piece and reputedly compete with Intel’s 3.4GHz Core i7-2600K. The latter are built around AMD’s Bulldozer modules (wherein one module counts for two cores) and look to be the manifestation of the company’s Zambezi CPUs, which could come without an integrated graphics processor as is available on the Llano and the rest of AMD’s Fusion line.

Just to whet appetites further, we’ve also come across an HP dv6 on an obscure German retail site, offering a 1.6GHz A6-3410MX APU, 6GB of RAM, and a most reasonable €590 price. There’s obviously no promised delivery date, but this should be the first of many such appearances in the coming days as we build up towards Computex 2011. Something tells us AMD won’t be holding back when the Taipei electronics show gets started.

[Thanks, Shashwat and Vygantas]

AMD Llano quad-core APUs and Zambezi octa-core CPUs get priced, the former listed inside an HP dv6 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 May 2011 04:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink WCCF Tech, MyDrivers  |  sourceDigiTimes, Passiontec.de  | Email this | Comments

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May 20

Intel goes ULV for laptops to combat the oncoming tablet horde

Posted in: intel, laptop, Laptops, notebook, Notebooks, processor, processors, roadmap, Today's Chili

Intel CPUIntel has been talking up its x86-powered smartphones and battery-sipping Atoms for tablets quite a bit recently, but the company hasn’t forgotten its roots in traditional PC form-factors. At an investor event in San Francisco, CEO Paul Otellini announced a significant change to its line of notebook CPUs — ultra low voltage will be the new norm, not just a niche chip for high-end ultra-portables. The baseline TDP for future CPUs will be in the 10 to 15 watt range, a huge drop from the 35w design of the mainstream Core line and lower than even current-gen ULV chips (which bottom out at 17w). The company also plans to make NVIDIA eat its words by putting the pedal to the metal on die shrinks — releasing a 22nm Atom next year followed by a 14nm version in 2013. That could mean our fantasy of true all-day battery life in a sleek and sexy laptop will finally come true. Don’t crush our dreams Intel!

Intel goes ULV for laptops to combat the oncoming tablet horde originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 May 2011 10:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceArs Technica  | Email this | Comments

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May 19

Nokia’s Windows Phones will feature dual-core ST-Ericsson U8500, says STMicroelectronics chief

Posted in: dual-core, DualCore, Microsoft, nokia, plans, processor, roadmap, rumor, schedule, speculation, Today's Chili, windows phone, WindowsPhone

As you’ll no doubt be aware, Qualcomm currently enjoys a stranglehold on processing hardware inside Windows Phone handsets. Its Snapdragon chip stars in both Microsoft’s original and updated chassis spec for the platform, but its hegemony may soon be coming to an end. STMicroelectronics (the ST in ST-Ericsson) boss Carlo Bozotti is cited by Forbes as saying that Nokia will use ST-Ericsson hardware to power at least some of its Windows Phones. The dual-core U8500, a long-time Nokia favorite, is touted as the first such system-on-chip to appear, with its successors helping to populate Nokia’s expansive WP lineup in 2012. The only intel we’ve had so far on Nokia’s initial handsets for the new OS revolved around Qualcomm-based devices, so even if ST-Ericsson is indeed going to infiltrate the Windows Phone ecosystem, it doesn’t look likely to be among the very first Nokias out of the gate.

Nokia’s Windows Phones will feature dual-core ST-Ericsson U8500, says STMicroelectronics chief originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 May 2011 01:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceForbes  | Email this | Comments

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May 19

AMD quad-core A8-3530MX processor for laptops to debut in June?

Posted in: AMD, processor, Today's Chili

Turkish website Donanimhaber has correctly pegged some early NVIDIA details in the past, and it’s now back with a leak of a new AMD Fusion chip that’s said to be a part of the company’s upcoming “Sabine” platform. Dubbed the A8-3530MX, the 32nm, quad-core processor purportedly clocks in at 1.9GHz and boasts 4MB of Level 2 cache, and it can apparently be boosted to 2.6GHz in TurboCore mode. Otherwise, it’s said to pack an integrated Radeon HD 6620G graphics core, along support for for both 1,600MHz DDR3 RAM and low-power DDR3L memory. Of course, all of that it still unconfirmed by AMD itself but, if Donanimhaber is to be believed, we should be seeing this one hit laptops sometime June.

AMD quad-core A8-3530MX processor for laptops to debut in June? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 15:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Electronista  |  sourceDonanimhaber  | Email this | Comments

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May 19

Intel admits Apple ‘helps shape’ its roadmap, keeps foot lodged firmly in mouth

Posted in: Apple, intel, plans, processor, processors, roadmap, Today's Chili

We knew Intel and Apple had a close working relationship when it came to developing Thunderbolt, but now an exec from Santa Clara has taken the declarations of mutual admiration to the next level. Tom Kilroy, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s Sales and Marketing Group, told a Reuters tech summit that Apple isn’t merely important to his company’s plans, it actually “helps shape [Intel’s] roadmap.” Those are strong words coming from the world’s biggest maker of processor chips, one that you wouldn’t expect to be beholden to any hardware or software partner. Additionally, it marks the second time this week that Intel has indirectly slighted Microsoft, the first one being a damning analysis of Windows 8 on ARM by fellow Intel SVP Renee James. It’d be easy to conclude that we’re seeing cracks developing in the old Wintel bond, but we reckon it’s more likely that Chipzilla is simply finding the wrong words to express otherwise benign thoughts. Hit the source link for more from Mr. Kilroy.

Intel admits Apple ‘helps shape’ its roadmap, keeps foot lodged firmly in mouth originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 07:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceReuters  | Email this | Comments

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May 18

D-Wave One claims mantle of first commercial quantum computer

Posted in: launch, now available, NowAvailable, on sale, OnSale, processor, Today's Chili
http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/18/d-wave-one-claims-mantle-of-first-commercial-quantum-computer/

Whether or not D-Wave has actually built a quantum computer is still a matter of debate (though, a study authored by the company and published in Nature claims to prove its success) but, whatever it is these crafty Canadians have created, you can order one now and start crunching qubits with abandon. The D-Wave One is the first commercially available quantum computer and, while its 128-qubit processor can only handle very specific tasks and is easily outperformed by traditional CPUs, it could represent a revolution in the field of supercomputing. As D-Wave scales up to thousands or tens-of-thousands of qubits, complex number theory problems and advanced cryptographic systems could crumble before the mighty power of quantum annealing… or at least give us faster Google searches. Just out of curiosity, we contacted D-Wave to see how much we’d have to cough up for a quantum desktop of our own, but we’ve yet to hear back.

Update: Joseph passed along an e-mail from the company with a little more information, including a price: $10,000,000. Yep, ten large, and we’re not sure that includes the liquid helium required to keep it cooled.

D-Wave One claims mantle of first commercial quantum computer originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 May 2011 16:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Forbes  |  sourceD-Wave  | Email this | Comments

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May 16

Samsung’s 11.6-inch Series 9 now shipping in the US, priced at $1,160

Posted in: amazon, bluetooth, intel, laptop, money, netbook, price, processor, samsung, shipping, SSD, Today's Chili, WiMAX
It’s been about a month since Samsung’s 11.6-inch Series 9 laptop first surfaced for pre-order on Amazon, and now it’s finally available for shipping. Touting a $1,160 price tag, this duralumin-enclosed little beast packs an Intel Core i3-380UM processor, 2GB of RAM and a 64GB SSD. The 2.3-pounder also ships with 802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 3.0 and WIMAX 4G capabilities, along with a 1.3-megapixel HD webcam and a 1366 x 768 display with 340 nits of brightness. The newest addition to the Series 9 family is available on Amazon, Circuit City and Tiger Direct, but if they don’t suit your fancy, you can check with Samsung to find a full list of retailers, below.

Samsung’s 11.6-inch Series 9 now shipping in the US, priced at $1,160 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 May 2011 09:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Netbook News  |  sourceAmazon  | Email this | Comments

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May 11

ZiiLabs outs dual-core ZMS-20 and quad-core ZMS-40 for Honeycomb tablets, clocks ’em at 1.5GHz

Posted in: Android, arm, dual-core, processor, tablet, tablets, Today's Chili, video

For now, the HTC Flyer can console itself for not having a second core (like all the other guys) by noting that its 1.5GHz clock speed is faster than any other tablet. Pretty soon, however, the choice between speed and core count might not have to be made at all, as ZiiLabs has just announced new dual-core and quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 systems-on-chip that run at the same 1500MHz speed as the Flyer. Dubbed ZMS-20 and ZMS-40, respectively, they’re taking the ZMS-08 legacy of focusing on HD video decoding even further, while also throwing in specific optimizations for Android Honeycomb tablets. The earlier-gen SOC was only picked up by parent company Creative, who inserted it in its ZiiO tablets, so let’s hope the new silicon proves compelling enough for us to see it in more manufacturers’ slates. Full PR and an intro video follow after the break.

Continue reading ZiiLabs outs dual-core ZMS-20 and quad-core ZMS-40 for Honeycomb tablets, clocks ’em at 1.5GHz

ZiiLabs outs dual-core ZMS-20 and quad-core ZMS-40 for Honeycomb tablets, clocks ’em at 1.5GHz originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 04:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink epiZENter  |  sourceZiiLabs  | Email this | Comments

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