An online store from the U.S. has started to accept pre-orders on yet-unannounced Intel Core i-series “Skylake-S” central processing units. The fact that a store lists the new chips along with their product codes indicates that they are already in Intel Corp.’s database for resellers and the chipmaker is ready …
Read More »SK hynix SC300 256GB SSD Review
Today we take a look at the new Solid State Drive from SK hynix – the SC300 – in 256GB capacity. This drive is due to be launched in the United Kingdom over the coming weeks and faces stiff competition from many more established brands. SK hynix have many years …
Read More »Intel reportedly delays Atom x3 4G ‘SoFIA’ to early 2016
Intel Corp. reportedly plans to delay the launch of its advanced mainstream Atom x3 “SoFIA” application processor with integrated 4G/LTE baseband to early 2016. The company needs to polish off its software, which is why it will miss certain business opportunities because of the postponement. The Intel Atom x3-C344C with …
Read More »MediaTek: We do not plan to acquire Nvidia’s Tegra business unit
MediaTek, one of the world’s largest suppliers of multimedia system-on-chips for consumer electronics and telecommunication devices, has reportedly offered to buy Nvidia Corp.’s mobile chip business unit in order to enter the market of solutions for automotive applications. The company has already denied such a plan, but there is no …
Read More »Xilinx tapes-out world’s first 16nm FinFET+ system-on-chip
Xilinx, a leading designer of field-programmable gate arrays as well as special-purpose system-on-chip solutions, on Wednesday said that it had taped-out one of the world’s first SoCs to be made using TSMC’s 16nm FinFET+ process technology. The new chip will be used for self-driving vehicles, industrial Internet-of-Things and 5G wireless …
Read More »Sapphire R9 390 Nitro 8GB Review
Today we look at a sub £300 graphics card from AMD partner Sapphire. The R9 390 Nitro is a model from Sapphire's new range and features Black Diamond Chokes and a large triple fan cooler to keep temperatures in check. The card ships in an overclocked state and is priced …
Read More »AMD offers to personalize Radeon R9 Fury X with custom plates
AMD’s Radeon R9 Fury X looks impressively stylish thanks to its short printed-circuit board and simplistic design of its cooling system. Nonetheless, some end-users – especially modders – may find the new flagship from AMD too basic. The GPU developer proposes such users to create their own front plate for …
Read More »U.S. clears acquisition of IBM’s chip unit by GlobalFoundries
GlobalFoundries this week said that the U.S. authorities had approved its acquisition of IBM’s microelectronics business unit. From now on, GlobalFoundries will make various important semiconductors for the U.S. military and government agencies. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has reviewed the proposed transaction between IBM and …
Read More »Nvidia preps low-cost GeForce GTX 950-series graphics cards – report
Nvidia Corp. is working on two new affordable GeForce GTX 900-series products that will replace low-cost graphics cards released last year. The new adapters will be powered by the second-generation “Maxwell” architecture and their performance is expected to be comparable to that of the GeForce GTX 960. Nvidia’s GeForce GTX …
Read More »Qualcomm has no plans to split the company up – chairman
Despite of pressure from investors, Qualcomm has no plans to split the company up and spin off chip business to concentrate on lucrative technology development and licensing, according to the chairman of the company. Qualcomm is not only the world’s biggest supplier of application processors for mobile devices, but is …
Read More »Seasonic celebrates its 40th year in the PSU business
Logically, if you start out by creating apparatus and methods to test power supplies, you naturally have a deeper understanding of the product's internals. When Mr Chang started Seasonic in 1975, that was exactly his approach. Now, 40 years on, Seasonic has established itself as the most successful PSU manufacturer …
Read More »AMD: Technologies we are developing will make impact 3-5 years from now
Advanced Micro Devices is experiencing difficult times because of business decisions made several years ago. At this point AMD is developing its “Zen” and “K12” microprocessors, which are expected to make AMD competitive in the CPU market again. However, many new technologies, which are in the works today, will have an impact …
Read More »Nvidia is developing new ‘Maxwell’-based Quadro, Tesla cards
Nvidia Corp. is developing three new cards for the professional markets: two new Quadro graphics adapters as well as a new Tesla accelerator for high-performance computing applications. The latest drivers from Nvidia add support for Nvidia Quadro M5000, Quadro M4000 as well as Tesla M60 boards, reports VideoCardz web-site. The …
Read More »Microsoft might be interested in buying AMD, according to source
In a bid to revive its chip design operations, Microsoft Corp. may acquire Advanced Micro Devices, according to a source familiar with the matter. The software giant approached AMD several months ago, the source indicated. The result of the talks is unclear. Microsoft Corp. has been selling game consoles for …
Read More »Sapphire R9 390X Tri-X 8GB Review
Today we take a look at one of the latest graphics cards from Sapphire – the new R9 390X featuring the latest version of their Tri-X cooling system. This top level graphics card ships in an overclocked state and features a custom triple cooler – shipping with 3x 90mm dual …
Read More »Micron: We will close technological gap with Samsung with 16nm DRAM
Micron Technology, the world’s third largest maker of computer memory, plans to close its process technology gap with market leader Samsung Electronics with its next-generation fabrication technology in the coming years. The firm hopes that its new manufacturing process will help it to lower costs and increase performance of its …
Read More »Seagate demos HAMR HDDs, vows to start shipments in 2017
Seagate Technology this week demonstrated a NAS packed with hard disk drives that use heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology. While the company claims that the NAS worked flawlessly, Seagate again reconsidered the launch timeframe for its HAMR HDDs and delayed them to 2017 – 2018. Nonetheless, the company is already …
Read More »Oculus VR: For now, virtual reality gaming is for hardcore gamers only
Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus VR, claims that while virtual reality gaming will make it to the mainstream market in the future, for a couple of years down the road it will remain a prerogative of hardcore and enthusiast gamers. The VR pioneer confirms that high prices of hardware …
Read More »Intel quietly introduces faster semi-custom 18-core Xeon E7 processor
Intel Corp. has quietly introduced its highest-performing x86 server microprocessor to date. The chip features a number of unique capabilities, such as on-the-fly reconfiguration of core-count and frequency, and is currently available to Oracle and its server customers. The Intel Xeon E7-8895 v3 “Haswell-EX” central processing unit features 18 cores …
Read More »Micron begins commercial shipments of 20nm GDDR5 chips
Micron Technology has announced that it had begun commercial shipments of GDDR5 chips made using 20nm process technology. The company did not reveal any details, but it is highly likely that Micron initiated shipments of its 8Gb GDDR5 chips several weeks ago. “We commenced shipments of our first 20 nanometer …
Read More »Micron: 50% of our SSDs will be based on TLC NAND in 2016
Micron Technology has been rather cautious about using triple-level-cell (TLC) NAND flash in solid-state drives and for a long time only used such memory for various removable storage applications. However, it appears that the company has finally solved all the challenges with such cheap NAND and plans to introduce an …
Read More »More details about GlobalFoundries’ 22nm FD-SOI emerge
GlobalFoundries has revealed additional details regarding its 22nm fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) fabrication technology. The manufacturing process will be ready for tape-outs in early 2016 and will be used for mass production of chips by late next year. While the tech has a number of advantages, the process is designed primarily …
Read More »Sapphire Nitro Range Introduced by Bill Donnelly: Exclusive
What promised to be a fairly straightforward launch sequence turned into a series of incredibly interesting stories that engaged just about every enthusiast user on the web. Whatever your personal opinions, AMD's latest product launch has certainly generated a lot of attention. We decided to invite Bill Donnelly from Sapphire …
Read More »PCI SIG to finalize OCuLink external PCI Express this fall
The PCI SIG has been developing external PCI Express interconnection for over three years now, but only later this year the organization will finalize the specification of the technology. The new cable will compete against Intel’s Thunderbolt 3. While the tech makes a lot of sense for various devices, it …
Read More »ECS: We will not quit branded motherboard market
Elitegroup Computer Systems has once again denied plans to stop making own-brand mainboards for the DIY [do-it-yourself] market. This is the second time this year when the company makes such denial. “We [ECS] feel regret to learn the untrue report from DigiTimes,” said Sunny Yang, the president of ECS, in …
Read More »PCIe 4.0 with 16GT/s data-rates and new connector to be finalized by 2017
PCI Express bus has been evolving for over ten years now. So far the technology has tripled its initial data rate, but the next step is taking a longer time. PCI SIG claims that the fourth generation PCI Express specification will be finalized in 2017 and will materialize this decade. The …
Read More »Transition to ‘Zen’ microarchitecture will take AMD years – document
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 »OCUK is cutting GTX 980Ti prices across the board
Last night, we got wind of some market rumours suggesting that Nvidia was considering cutting down the price of the GTX 980Ti a bit in light of the release of AMD's Fury X. Now today, Overclockers UK has announced a slew of deals on GTX 980Ti graphics cards, with models …
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 »Antec Signature S10 E-ATX Review
Antec's new Signature S10 is a big, tall, imposing E-ATX case with a number of interesting features. In a radical departure from the norm the chassis is organised as three chambers. The lower chamber contains the power supply and five 2.5-inch drive bays and is separated from the main chamber …
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