Displaying items by tag: AMD

AMD finally has a new CEO, after multiple ups and downs and more than a few replacements we find former Lenovo President and Chief Operating Officer Rory Read as the number one guy.  According to IBM Rory has an impressive resume that includes 23-year at IBM holding a number of management positions.

AMD’s CEO history has been somewhat murky since Hector Ruiz (the man most people loved to hate) transferred (for lack of a better word) from AMD proper to Global Foundries under the Asset Lite program and AMD put together to lower overhead costs. After Ruiz left Dirk Meyer (one of the men responsible for the Athlon CPU) took over. It was felt that AMD needed to return to its winning roots and that perhaps Myer would be the one to do it. However, legal bills and the after effects of the ATi acquisition hurt AMD who did not return to having a profitable quarter until after Meyer worked out a $1.25 Billion settlement with Intel over their extended Anti-Trust litigation. Meyer left the company in January of this year. Since that time Thomas Seifert has been the acting CEO. Thomas will return to the post of Chief Financial Officer.

We wish Mr. Read well and luck in brining AMD around and hope that he does have the skills to make headway. Still when we see him we will always remember Lenovo’s LePhone…


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Some specs on AMD’s next generation CPU Called Bulldozer have found their way on to the Internet. In what appears to be a conglomeration of leaked slides and other info from around the web. We took a look at some of this and compared it to what we know about AMD’s existing CPU architecture as well as what Intel has to offer with their Core line up.

First let’s talk about the existing AMD CPUs and why they tend to be so far behind Intel in some performance tests. The biggest issue that we have found is in the memory controller. Where the average Intel CPU shows 18-21GB/s worth of bandwidth even AMD’s top of the line Phenom II X6 tops out at between 14-16GB/s. This is a serious issue when you are dealing with multiple CPU cores and applications that are getting more and more bloated.  But why is this an issue? One of the reasons is AMD’s caching structure. Back in the days when AMD was on top their memory and cache performance was a key component of this success. Part of this was also due to the extremely low latency of DDR (I can remember buying CAS 1 DDR modules which just flew).  Then when the AM2 CPUs came out with reduced cache sizes and their DDR2 controllers (which were little more than the original IMCs improved to support DDR2) the much higher latency had a huge impact on AMD’s performance especially with the smaller cache available to the CPU cores. So while we knew the CPU was improved, the actual performance was negligible.

Moving  forward into the Phenom and Phenom II AMD had even more problems with memory performance on these CPUs this was despite them trying to add in more cache (and associations). The issue still revolved around the fact that the IMC for these processors had still not changed much in terms of core design. Nor had the caching structure; sure it had gotten larger but its overall performance had not improved much.

Now for comparison let’s talk about the technology behind each IMC. AMD’s Phenom II has a 144-bit DDR3 controller under the hood which according to AMD should be able to get you up to 21GB/s of memory bandwidth. The fact that we have never seen that is due to the cache structure each CPU core has two 64KB L1 cache blocks (Data and Instruction) 512KB (16-way associative) to work with while the total L3 shared Cache is limited to 6MB (64-way Associative).

Compared to Intel’s Core IMC (dual channel only) the CPU has two 64-bit Memory controllers, which allows their very different caching structure to operate a little more efficiently. Intel’s Core i7 has two levels of L1 cache per core (again Data and Instruction) each are 32KB while the L2 cache is at 256KB per core (only 8-way associative) and the L3 cache is bumped up to 8MB (16-way associative).  Now that 8MB is also shared with the IGP that is on the Core i7 and is also stretched by the extra thread per CPU, but the core design allows it to operate in a way that AMD’s just cannot (at this time). There is also a lot to be said for the streamlined instruction in the new Core CPUs as well as the smaller process size.

Bulldozer, on the other hand, shows up with two 72-bit wide DDR3 memory controllers (which still add up to 144-bits) this serves four Bulldozer modules (each has two Cores)   . The Caching structure is also different you get L1 at 128KB (still broken into two 64 KB blocks), 8MB of L2 Cache (2MB per Bulldozer Module) and 8MB of L3 Cache. Both the L2 and L3 are 16-way associative.  The last is interesting as it moves away from the massive 64-way Association that Phenom II had.

Of course we are still only seeing 1MB of L3 per real core, but we might have hope for AMD yet. That is IF these changes to the caching and memory will amount to something. Time will tell on this one as we all know and we all are certainly waiting to see just how this new CPU (the first real new CPU in a long time) from AMD will do. I would love to see this new CPU show that AMD can still produce great products, after all it will only push Intel in making improvements of their own and at that point… the consumer wins.

Image and source ComputerBase.de

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When I hear the name of nVidia’s next-gen GPU code named Kepler all I can hear is Cave Johnson from Portal 2 saying, “Now if you're part of control group Kepler-7, we planted a tiny microchip, about the size of a postcard, into your skull.”  It is interesting in that Kepler is supposed to be nVidia’s 28nm GPU offering. True a 28nm GPU is a lot smaller than a post card but the other half of Cave Johnson’s statement does seem to have some very nVidia parallels… “Most likely you've forgotten it's even there, but if it starts vibrating and beeping during this next test let us know, because that means it's about to hit about 500 degrees so we're gonna need to go ahead and get that out of you pretty fast.”

Now, I am saying this with humor, but we have seen some rather hot GPUs from nVidia over the years. If Kepler has the same issues that Fermi had then the first run could be quite the space heater.  Of course, if you ask the typical gamer they will more than likely tell you that they do not care as much about the heat as long as the FPS is through the roof.

Which brings us to the real crux of the issue, nVidia has already admitted that they will be at least a month or more behind their original timeline for this release (like Fermi) and they will be far behind AMD’s Southern Islands. In the gaming and GPU market it is often the person that gets to market first that wins the acceptance. This is not like the DX11 shift when it was Fermi Vs the Other Islands from AMD where there were almost no compelling games using that technology. Now we are looking at a few good DX11 games so we are going to see people looking to pounce on the next generation products as long as they are faster than what is currently on the market from both companies and the prices are right.

nVidia really needs to get on the ball to get their timelines back in order or they do stand to lose quite a few Holiday sales to AMD which will hurt their own sales numbers when they finally do get Kepler out the door.

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We have taken our walk around of the Gigabyte 990FXA-UD5 and found we like the design and many of the features packed into the system. In the second half of our test we will be diving into what you can get out of it when you put in under the stress of rendering, gaming and general purpose computing. We do have concerns with this new product as it has really been built with a newer CPU in mind (one that is not ready as of this writing). Still one of the things that AMD has always worked on is backwards compatibility. With that in mind we are breaking out our Phenom II 1100T and getting ready for some testing.

Now that the AMD Llano CPU with its Fusion architecture is out and we have seen some of what it can do you knew it would only be a matter of time before the call to overclock this new CPU was put out.

Gigabyte is partnering up with HWBot for their A75 OC Challenge. This new overclocking contest is simple; Gigabyte wants you to push this new CPU+APU to it limits using any Gigabyte A75 Based motherboard.




There will be 5 stages you will have to submit clocks and scores for,
Stage 1 – 3DMark11 Performance Preset
Stage 2 – 3DMark Vantage Performance Preset
Stage 3 – PCMark 7
Stage 4 - Unigine Heaven DX11
Stage 5 – UCBench 2011

This contest will continue through the month of August. For more information check out the full PR

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Hyper 612 PWM CPU Cooler – Immense Power and Control


Chino, California – August 2nd, 2011 - Cooler Master, an industry leading chassis, thermal solution, peripheral, and accessory manufacturer, unleashes the overwhelmingly powerful Hyper 612 PWM CPU Cooler. Striking a delicate balance between cooling potential and noise, the Hyper 612 PWM outperforms all-in-one liquid coolers and high-priced counterparts alike while maintaining minimal noise levels.


Innovative design and materials

The Hyper 612 PWM CPU Cooler is designed for optimum heat dissipation at low fan speeds thanks to wider fin gaps, a PWM fan with a special fin blade design, and a precise heat pipe layout that directs each of its six heat pipes across CPU "hot zones". Employing this unique heat pipe layout allows the heat pipes to multiply into twelve virtual heat pipes that cool the hottest parts of the processor.


Easy installation of fans and dual fan design options

Break the bonds that tie you to wire clips and fan screws with the included quick-snap brackets. With these brackets changing, adding, and cleaning fans becomes a simple matter of a few moments to remove and reattach everything. Those with more extreme cooling needs may attach an optional second fan with the extra included quick-snap fan bracket. The Hyper 612 PWM comes equipped with a high performance PWM controlled fan that can be adjusted via BIOS or OS-based motherboard tuning applications. Be it overclocking or stock speeds, PWM enables the included fan to become a versatile cooling option that tailors noise and performance to any need.




Specifications

Product	Hyper 612 PWM
Model	RR-H612-20PK-R1
CPU Socket *	Intel Socket LGA1366 / 1156 / 1155 / 775 AMD Socket AM3 / AM2+ / AM2
Dimension	140 x 128 x 163 mm (5.5 x 5 x 6.4 inch)
Heatsink Dimension	136 x 100 x 163 mm (5.4 x 3.9 x 6.4 inch)
Heatsink Material	Copper base / Aluminum fins / 6 Heatpipes
Heatsink Weight	806g (1.78 lb)
Fan Dimension	120 x 120 x 25 mm (4.7 x 4.7 x 1 inch)
Fan Speed	600 – 2000 RPM ±10%
Fan Airflow	24.9 – 82.9 CFM ±10%
Fan Air Pressure	0.3 – 2.7 mm H2O ±10%
Fan Life Expectancy	40,000hrs
Bearing Type	Long Life Sleeve
Connector	4-pins
Noise Level	9 - 36 dBA
Rated Voltage	12 VDC
Operating Voltage	6 – 13.2 VDC
Rated Current	0.22A **
Input Power	2.64W
Fan Weight	104g (0.23 lb)

* For the latest CPU support information, please visit our website.
** Tested and certificated under a safety current of 0.37A.

About Cooler Master
Cooler Master was founded in 1992 to provide the world’s best thermal solutions. Since its establishment, the company continues to invest in product development to provide leading-edge innovations. Cooler Master’s line-up includes heat sinks, fans, chassis, power supplies and computing accessories. Headquartered in Taiwan with branch offices located across Europe, America and APAC, Cooler Master offers unsurpassed service to our customers. For more information on Cooler Master, please visit www.coolermaster.com.

With AMD’s 8-Core Bulldozer getting ready to hit the streets we now find that we may have a potential price for this new CPU from AMD. According to a contest being held by AMD for fans in the US and Canada the new FX 8150P Bulldozer CPU should go for around $300. This little bit of news popped up on the net after the gang over at insideris.com dug into the announcement of the contest.

When looking at the contest page (and scrolling down a little) they found that AMD dropped in a line that stated “Top tier prizes: Five (5) AMD FX series eight-core processors. Approximate Retail Value: $300 USD each”. This puts the new 8-Core (Octo-Core) CPU in the same price range as the Intel Core i7 2600k. The question now is, can the Bulldozer keep up with the 2600k? After all we have seen what this CPU is capable of and know that even at stock speeds it is very powerful. We do hope to get one in the lab to find out the answer to this question and you can bet we will be sure to pass this on to you once we find out. For now, I guess we all can speculate and listen to the Intel Vs AMD rhetoric (and secretly get a kick out of it).

So today most of the big companies had their quarterly earnings calls. We heard from Intel, Microsoft, Apple, and many others.  Most had both good news and bad some of this was surprising, some not so surprising. Despite assurances that Intel will “atomize” us (thanks for that one Francois) Intel reported that sales of the Atom CPU have dropped off. One of the big reasons for this is the increase in ARM’s presence in the market and a small showing by AMD with their new E350 CPUs.

When you hear the term Crosshair several things come to mind. The first is probably the two lines that intersect inside the optics on a targeting scope (which were originally real hairs). The next could be the options in most of your first person shooter games. If you are an AMD enthusiast you might think of Asus’ Crosshair line of motherboards for AMD CPUs. It is this last one that we are going to dive into and talk to you about today. The Crosshair line is fittingly named, as it relates to accuracy, and performance. Asus has worked hard to make sure these boards represent the highest level of performance for AMD CPUs. Although not the most current available we are taking a look at the Hydralogix enabled Crosshair IV Extreme. This is a $299 890FX based board with Lucid’s Hydralogix multi-GPU technology hanging out on the board. We are going to look at its design and features today and will follow this up some single GPU performance testing shortly.