Advanced Micro Devices’ next-generation “Zen” micro-architecture promises to significantly increase performance of the company’s central processing units next year. Even though AMD will introduce high-end microprocessors based on “Zen” in 2016, it will take a long time before a significant share of AMD’s chips will adopt its new architecture. AM4 …
Read More »Intel delays ramp of 10nm mass production due to poor yields – report
Intel Corp. has again delayed installation of equipment necessary to produce semiconductors in high volume using 10nm process technology. It is believed that Intel experiences yield ramp issues, just like in case of its 14nm manufacturing tech, which is why it does not make sense for the company to buy …
Read More »Nvidia is considering a price-cut of high-end graphics cards
Nvidia Corp. is mulling to reconsider prices of select high-end graphics cards in order to further strengthen its positions in the market advanced graphics solutions. If the company proceeds with the plan, it will get considerably harder for Advanced Micro Devices to regain market share it lost to Nvidia in …
Read More »ECS is mulling to quit own-brand mainboards business – report
Elitegroup Computer Systems has reportedly announced that it will not actively promote its own-brand mainboards aimed at the DIY [do-it-yourself] market going forward. The company will continue to produce motherboards for its clients, but will eventually quit the market of platforms for enthusiasts. ECS used to be one of the …
Read More »AMD officially launches the Radeon R9 Fury X 4GB
Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday officially launched its new flagship graphics processing unit as well as a card based on the GPU. The new graphics processor is the first chip in the world to use all-new high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which is a high-profile innovation on its own, to boot, AMD has …
Read More »AMD ‘Raven Ridge’: Mainstream APU with ‘Zen’ cores due in 2017
Advanced Micro Devices will release microprocessors based on “Zen” cores only for high-end desktop computers next year. Mainstream PCs will get the company’s new micro-architecture in 2017, when the company rolls-out its “Raven Ridge” accelerated processing units, according to a media report. Next year AMD will offer its “Bristol Ridge” …
Read More »UMC: 14nm FinFET technology will be ready for tape outs by year end
United Microelectronics Corp. said on Tuesday that it has successfully taped out a test chip from ARM using its 14nm FinFET fabrication technology. The company also revealed that the new manufacturing process will be ready for customer tape outs by the end of the year. UMC and ARM recently taped …
Read More »Intel’s ‘Kaby Lake’ to succeed ‘Skylake’ next year
Intel Corp. has changed its roadmap once again and delayed its code-named “Cannonlake” processors to an unknown date. Next year the company will introduce “Kaby Lake” processors made using 14nm FinFET process technology. Intel’s “Kaby Lake” processors will feature two or four cores, a new generation integrated graphics engine, a …
Read More »GlobalFoundries is evaluating 22nm FD SOI technology
Modern FinFET process technologies help to reduce power consumption of modern chips while increasing their clock-rate potential. Unfortunately, it is extremely expensive to design FinFET chips, which is why many chip developers cannot afford creation of new solutions. In a bid to help such companies to release new chips, GlobalFoundries …
Read More »Intel to aggressively increase shipments of solid-state drives
Intel Corp. produces very advanced solid-state drives for various applications, but its market share is below 10 per cent. A media report claims that Intel plans to significantly boost shipments of its SSDs in the future and will significantly increase market share next year. According to TrendFocus, Samsung Electronics controlled …
Read More »Samsung drops prices of DDR4 memory to gain market share
DDR4 memory is yet to become mainstream DRAM technology, but Samsung Electronics is reportedly reducing prices of its DDR4 chips in a bid to gain market share. Samsung’s actions may trigger further drops of memory pricing in the future. At present DDR4 memory is used only by high-end desktop as …
Read More »Intel’s 28-core Xeon ‘Skylake’ CPUs to support 6TB of DRAM, LGA-3467 form-factor
Intel Corp. is working on a brand-new server platform code-named “Purley”, which will include Xeon microprocessors based on the “Skylake” micro-architecture with up to 28 cores and will feature a number of platform-level innovations. The new multi-core chips will not only sport extraordinary amount of cores and new features, but …
Read More »Nvidia and Samsung still cannot finalize chip manufacturing deal
Earlier this year Nvidia Corp. officially named Samsung Electronics its manufacturing partner. However, as it appears, the companies still have not signed any actual deals because negotiations are proceeding with difficulties. The consequence of prolonged negotiations could result in later-than-expected release of Samsung-made Nvidia chips. Nvidia wants Samsung Electronics to …
Read More »AMD is considering breakup, spin-off graphics business unit – report
Chief executive officer of Advanced Micro Devices has ordered a research to review possibilities of splitting the company in two or spinning off a multimedia chip business unit, a media report claims. The company is mulling different options, as it desperately wants to become competitive against Intel. AMD itself denies …
Read More »VR headsets could boost GPU sales, bring billions to AMD, Nvidia – analyst
Virtual reality hardware market is something that does not really exist today. Oculus VR sells its virtual reality headsets to game developers, Samsung supplies Gear VR to hardcore enthusiasts, other VR gear just cannot be bought for money. But many believe that already next year sales of virtual reality headsets …
Read More »Rebadging of graphics adapters: Past, present and future
In the recent years both Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia Corp. sold similar graphics processing units under completely different names, a practice many consider as deceiving. While stagnation in the market of graphics adapters and rebranding of graphics cards is hardly a good thing for the consumer, both GPU developers …
Read More »AMD reveals specs of AMD Radeon R9 300-series: Old GPUs get new life
Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday revealed all the details about its new family of graphics cards, the Radeon R9 and the Radeon R7 300-series. As reported, the whole lineup is based on existing graphics processing units with minor speed-bumps to improve performance in certain cases and games. The flagship Radeon …
Read More »Chief exec of Nokia re-affirms: Nokia will develop smartphones again
Chief executive officer of Nokia Corp. this week reaffirmed that the company will design smartphones again in the second half of 2016. Officially, the company only wants to develop hardware and leave production, distribution and selling to other. Still, for end users it will mean the return of Nokia smartphones. …
Read More »AMD’s official Radeon R9 Fury X test results: World’s fastest GPU
Advanced Micro Devices this week officially unwrapped its new flagship single-chip graphics card based on the highly-anticipated “Fiji” graphics processing unit. The new AMD Radeon R9 Fury X graphics adapter has a number of advantages that can make it one of the world’s highest-performing solutions. In fact, according to AMD’s …
Read More »30% of notebooks to use SSDs in 2015 as prices drop – research
Nearly one third of modern notebooks are set to use solid-state drives as their primary storage systems in 2015, according to a new research. Thanks to major decreases of NAND flash memory pricing in the recent years, SSDs are now more affordable than ever, which means that mobile PCs will …
Read More »Launch date of Core i7-6700K and Core i5-6600K ‘Skylake-S’ revealed
Intel Corp. will officially unveil its next-generation mainstream microprocessors for enthusiasts in early August at the Gamescom trade-show. The introduction of the code-named “Skylake-S” microprocessors at a games conference will emphasize that the new chips are designed primarily for systems used to play video games. Intel intends to formally unveil …
Read More »Intel Core i7-6700K ‘Skylake’ de-lidded: small die and NGPTIM found
Although Intel Corp.’s upcoming Core i7-6700K “Skylake-S” chip will likely become overclockers’ new darling, it looks like it will have the same drawback as currently available mainstream microprocessors with unlocked multiplier: inefficient internal thermal interface. As reported, Intel Corp. started to ship production ready full-speed engineering samples of its next-generation …
Read More »Zotac quietly enters the SSD market
Zotac, a leading maker of graphics cards that belongs to PCPartner, has been gradually expanding its business for several years now. In addition to Nvidia GeForce-based graphics adapters, the company also offers mainboards, tablets as well as small form-factor PCs. This week the company quietly started to sell solid-state drives under …
Read More »Sony: PlayStation 4 will not get backwards compatibility
Although many people would like to use their PlayStation 3 game discs on their PlayStation 4 game consoles, Sony Computer Entertainment does not have plans to enable backwards compatibility with previous-gen titles. Initially, neither Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox One nor Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 4 were compatible with games designed for previous-generation …
Read More »AMD’s project Quantum systems are based on Intel Core i7 ‘Devil’s Canyon’
Advanced Micro Devices’ project Quantum small form-factor system concept is nothing but impressive. It promises to deliver leading-edge performance in all games in ultra-high-definition resolutions thanks to two AMD Radeon R9 Fury graphics processing units. Apparently, in order to provide truly uncompromised performance, AMD had to use Intel Corp.’s central …
Read More »Seagate unveils world’s first 2.5-inch 4TB HDD with 800GB platters
Seagate Technology on Wednesday introduced Samsung Spinpoint M10P hard disk drive, which features 4TB capacity and 2.5”/15mm form-factor. The drive will initially be used inside the company’s external HDD products, but HDDs based on the same leading-edge platters will address other applications eventually. Seagate, which acquired hard disk drive manufacturing …
Read More »G.Skill’s DDR4 memory hits 4.43GHz clock-rate
G.Skill this week announced that an overclocker has managed to push its 4GB DDR4 memory module to 4.43GHz, a new world record for this memory type. The overclocker used current-generation high-end desktop platform, so it is possible to expect that later this year this record will be beaten. Nick Shih, …
Read More »SK Hynix confirms mass production of first-gen HBM memory
SK Hynix, one of the world’s major producers of memory, on Tuesday said that it had begun volume shipments of its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) designed for bandwidth-demanding applications. The first products to use HBM will be AMD’s Radeon R9 Fury-series graphics cards, but eventually other devices will utilize the new …
Read More »Dual-GPU flagship AMD Radeon R9 Fury X2 graphics card pictured
Even though AMD’s new-generation dual-chip flagship graphics card is only expected to hit the market several months from now, the company already uses such graphics card for demonstrations. The new add-in board does not resemble current-gen dual-chip graphics adapters. The upcoming dual-chip AMD Radeon R9 Fury X graphics card – which may …
Read More »AMD unveils project Quantum: Ultra-small PC with extreme performance
Small form-factor personal computers have gained significant popularity in the recent years. A lot of people want to have tiny PCs that can perform everyday tasks without overheating or causing too much noise. Back in 2012, Intel Corp. introduced NUC [next-unit of computing] PCs that can deliver enough performance for …
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