Displaying items by tag: AMD

Microsoft today in Redmond before a bunch of journalists introduced the next generation Xbox, which, despite rumors that suggested otherwise, wears a simple name - Xbox One. Although the core purpose of this unit is designed for gaming, Microsoft decided to create a central ultimedia device through which we will watch TV, listen to music and surf the internet. To make the use of all the multimedia features more comfortable Microsoft has created a so-called Snap Mode, which, according to what can be seen should allow fairly easy manipulation of different applications that we use.

It looks like Intel is branching out in other directions in terms of operating system partners. Currently they work with both Microsoft and Apple as the primary processor for systems running these two competing OSes. Now Intel is looking to the tablet and mobile market as they cozy up with Google’s Android. Although the announcement is fairly recent many have heard the rumblings through a few teasing comments made on the internet.

A couple of days ago the internet lit up with AMD’s announcement of their new Jaguar SoCs. These new G-series embedded processors were boasting some rather healthy improvements in performance including a claim of a 113% increase in performance over older x86 SoCs and a rather bold claim of a 125% increase in performance over Intel’s Atom. But while the new embedded APU with its 8000 series GPU should have been big news all on its own, what really caught people’s attention was a little x in the corner. As it turns out this X is intended to denote an x86 version of the G-Series SoC…

Some of you might remember the days of the “P” rating CPUs. It was an interesting time when you never really knew what you were actually getting in terms of clock speed. Instead you were able to get a CPU named something like P333 or P500. This was an attempt by some manufacturers to show their “P”erformance rating in relation to Intel’s Pentium. Cyrix, AMD, and a couple of others used this to sell CPUs. Unfortunately everyone knew that the P did not really stand for performance it really meant Pentium equivalency. A Cyrix P667 was supposed to perform as well as an Intel Pentium 667 (at least on paper). Sadly this just confused the market more and we all had the fun of trying to figure out what our CPUs were really doing. Now we might be seeing the trend return, but perhaps in reverse as AMD has announced the Centurion CPU.

AMD expanded their offer of embedded solutions with a new generation APU's based on the Jaguar architecture. The new APU's, or better to say SoC's because beside x86 cores and graphics combine and southbridge functions with TDP ranging from 9-25 watts depending on the model, and will replace existing embedded APU Solutions from Series G on the market. Architecture Jaguar is used in the chip that will power the upcoming Playstation 4, and probably a new Xbox.

There has been an interesting shift in the market over the last few months as we watch another former AMD engineer/executive return to the fold. AMD has announced that Raja Koduri will be bringing his graphic expertise back to AMD. Koduri was preceded by Mark Papermaster and Jim Keller who both left Apple for AMD last year. These returns are interesting in that Apple was once seen as the company to work for and, according to many analysts, had an almost unlimited earning and growth potential. However, after the death of Steve Jobs Apple has slumped and the once loud predictions of Apple reaching $1,000 per share are long gone as the stock continues to drop.

As more and more quarterly reports pour in, AMD decided to join with their own, which is not as fantastic as some other have, but it's better than what we have expected from AMD, the eternal loser. Thus, the total loss of the first quarter of this year is $143 million, which is better than the loss in the final quarter of last year ($473 million) and in the same quarter last year, when they amounted to even $590 million.

Apart from the evolution of the APU model, AMD could aslo have exclusive edition of FX chip for enthusiasts in preparation. According to unofficial information, the company is preparing a limited series of processors based on Vishera design or model FX-8350.

AMD has officially unveiled Radeon HD 7790. The card is by performance and price located between 7770 and 7850 and based on the new chip codenamed Bonaire XT, comprised of 2.08 billion transistors.

Sapphire has introduced a special edition of the Radeon HD 7950 for owners of Mac Pros. The card is currently the most powerful existing  graphics solution for Mac Pro, and support should be valid also for the future generation that will be available from later this year.