With the introduction of Google Android Wear operating system, hardware makers developing ultra-low-power chipsets started to unveil their platforms for wearable devices, such as smart-watches or smart-eyewear. Imagination Technologies, a leading designer of general purpose processing cores as well as multimedia and graphics processing engines, said this week that it …
Read More »Intel reveals code-named ‘Braswell’ microprocessors for low-cost PCs
Intel Corp. this week revealed the name of its new-generation code-named Braswell system-on-chip that will power upcoming value notebooks and desktops. The new chip will be made using a leading-edge process technology and will combine relatively high performance, small footprint, low power consumption and low cost. Intel did not reveal …
Read More »Plextor’s first PCI Express SSD finally available next week
Plextor is about to start selling its first solid-state drives with PCI Express x16 interface next week. The new-generation Plextor M6e PCIe SSD will be available starting next week exclusively via a store in the U.S. and then will go for sale worldwide starting the 14th of April. Plextor M6e …
Read More »NZXT Source 530 Case Review
Today we are going to take a look at the NZXT Source 530 case which has been designed to offer a balance between features and affordability. It is available for around the £80 mark, targeting a mass audience. There are a number of other manufacturers who have strong offerings around …
Read More »Micron starts volume production of DDR4 memory
Micron Technology, one of the world’s leading makers of dynamic random access memory, said Wednesday that it had started to produce next-generation DDR4 memory in volume. The company and its partners will begin to officially ship servers featuring Intel Corp.’s Xeon E5-2600 v3 and Micron’s DDR4 memory in the second …
Read More »GlobalFoundries to make semi-custom APUs, CPUs, GPUs for AMD
Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday announced plans to slightly boost its purchase commitment from GlobalFoundries by around $50 million this year compared to last year. As part of the agreement, the contract maker of chips will manufacture not only its traditional central processing units (CPUs) and accelerated processing units (APUs) …
Read More »AMD Radeon R9 295X2: pictured, specifications revealed
A Chinese web-site has published what it claims to be the first image of the Radeon R9 295X2 graphics card. The cooling system of the new dual-GPU flagship graphics adapter code-named Vesuvius looks similar to a teaser published by AMD on Monday, so the product may actually be the real …
Read More »Qualcomm confirms plans to support Microsoft DirectX 12
Although Qualcomm took part in the announcement of Microsoft Corp.’s DirectX 12 application programming interface, the company’s plans regarding support of the new API were not completely clear. Last week an executive of Qualcomm confirmed that the future Adreno graphics cores will fully support DirectX 12. The current Snapdragon 800 …
Read More »AMD teases Radeon R9 295 X2 in Twitter: Two is better than one
Advanced Micro Devices has published an image that resembles a cooling system for graphics cards. It is believed to be the cooling system of AMD’s upcoming dual-chip Radeon R9 295 X2 graphics card featuring two code-named Hawaii graphics processing units. The publication is virtually a confirmation of the new product …
Read More »Toshiba launches application processor for wearable devices
Toshiba Corp. has introduced its first application processor designed for wearable computing devices. The system-on-chip will be available later this year. The new ApP Lite TZ1001MBG chip will power such devices as activity monitors, smart watches, bracelet- and glasses. Toshiba ApP Lite TZ1001MBG integrates ARM Cortex-M4F processor (with 48MHz clock-rate) …
Read More »AMD to launch dual-chip Radeon R9 295 X2 in coming weeks – report
Earlier this week Nvidia Corp. rather unexpectedly unveiled its GeForce GTX Titan Z dual-chip graphics card that carries two GK110 graphics processing units. At present, the novelty, which is yet to emerge on the market, is formally the world’s highest-performing graphics solution for consumers. Nonetheless, there is a rival coming …
Read More »Micron joins OpenPower, set to co-develop next-gen datacenters
Micron Technology, one of the world’s leading makers of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), NAND flash memory and various storage solutions for enterprise datacenters, on Friday said it had joined the OpenPower foundation, an open development community based on the Power microprocessor architecture, as a platinum member. The OpenPower foundation, …
Read More »Gigabyte GTX780 Ti Windforce OC Review (1080p, 1600p, 4K)
Nvidia's GTX780 Ti has been a big seller in 2014, leading the high end performance market. We have reviewed many GTX780 Ti's since the official Nvidia release last November, but due to reader demand today we look at one of the fastest overclocked models from Gigabyte. Their Windforce OC model …
Read More »WD debuts My Passport Pro dual-drive solution with Thunderbolt
Western Digital Corp. has announced its first portable storage solution featuring Thunderbolt interconnection. The My Passport Pro dual-drive storage device has user-selectable RAID functionality to deliver needed performance or reliability for the most demanding applications in the field, without the need for power adapters or extra cables. WD MyPassport Pro …
Read More »AMD FirePro W9100: Hawaii GPU goes to work with 16GB of GDDR5
Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday introduced its first professional graphics card based on the code-named “Hawaii” graphics processing unit. The new solution for CAD, CAM, DCC and other professionals boasts unbeatable DP FP compute performance in addition to whopping 16GB of memory and six 4K display outputs. As expected, the …
Read More »Intel 730 Jackson Ridge 240GB SSD RAID 0 Review
KitGuru reviewed the Intel 730 Jackson Ridge Solid State Drive back on March 6th, and there was a lot of interest in the review. Since then Intel sent us over two more 730 drives and today we supplement our original findings by adding some RAID 0 results. As we covered …
Read More »Intel and Altera to co-develop 14nm multi-die devices
Intel Corp. and Altera this week said they would extend their collaboration to the development of multi-die devices that leverage Intel's world-class package and assembly capabilities. The multi-die devices will feature Altera's Stratix 10 FPGAs and SoCs made using 14nm process technology as well as other components. This will allow …
Read More »AMD and HP quietly debut FX-670K microprocessor
From time to time large PC makers unveil hardware that chip companies like Advanced Micro Devices would rather not discuss with the general public. Recently it turned out that some of the desktops sold by Hewlett-Packard carry a strange microprocessor called AMD FX-670K, which does not seem to be exactly …
Read More »HP denies plans to introduce breakthrough 3D printers in June
Although last week Hewlett-Packard announced plans to introduce its first 3D printers this June, the company by now has retracted the statement. It appears that HP’s 3D printing tech is not yet ready for commercial introduction and will only be demonstrated by the end of October. Chief executive of HP, …
Read More »Nvidia updates GPU roadmap: reveals Pascal GPU architecture
Nvidia Corp. on Tuesday publicly updated its graphics processing units roadmap for the coming years. The company removed its code-named Volta architecture from the plan and introduced Pascal architecture instead. The latter is believed to feature similar innovations to Volta, but to be even more significantly tailored for low power …
Read More »Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan Z: the first $3000 consumer graphics card
Nvidia Corp. on Tuesday introduced its new GeForce GTX Titan Z graphics card at its annual GPU Technology Conference. The graphics board carries two fully-featured GK110 graphics processing units on board and provides ultimate performance for video games in ultra-high-definition resolutions as well as general-purpose compute apps. Its price is …
Read More »AMD’s socketed Athlon “Kabini” AM1 chips priced, pictured, unveiled
Early this month Advanced Micro Devices introduced its new low-cost desktop platform based on Kabini chip design. The new AM1 platform comprises microprocessors carrying Athlon and Sempron brands with integrated graphics cores as well as new mainboards with FS1b sockets previously only used for mobile applications. What AMD did not …
Read More »New hardware will be needed to take fully advantage of DirectX 12
Although Microsoft Corp.’s DirectX 12 application programming interface will significantly improve performance of currently available hardware and most likely will enable new level of graphics quality, to fully benefit from the potential of the new API, new hardware will be needed, according to an Nvidia Corp.’s representative. Tony Tamasi, senior …
Read More »Native DirectX 12 games to emerge in late 2015 – reports
While Microsoft Corp. revealed yesterday that it will release preview version of its DirectX 12 application programming interface this year, its press materials did not disclose when to expect the final version of the API and games that take complete advantage of it. According to various media reports, it looks …
Read More »Transcend: SSD prices set to decline by 20 – 30 per cent this year
Adoption of solid-state drives has been growing rapidly in the recent years and will continue to do so this year, according to the chairman of Transcend. One of the main reasons behind growing popularity of SSDs is their declining prices, which will drop further in 2014. Peter Shu, the chairman …
Read More »Microsoft unwraps DirectX 12 for PCs, tablets, smartphones and Xbox
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday unveiled DirectX 12, the latest incarnation of one of the world’s most popular application programming interfaces. The new API can not only greatly improve rendering performance, but to also bring top-notch quality graphics to all Microsoft platforms, including personal computers, tablets/smartphones and even Xbox One. One …
Read More »Intel remains committed to 450mm wafers, but there will be a delay
Early last year Intel Corp. demonstrated the world’s first fully-patterned 450mm wafers and in mid-2013 started to construct D1X module 2 fab, which is supposed to act as a primary development facility for virtually all of Intel’s 450mm initiatives. It was expected that commercial production of chips on 450mm wafers …
Read More »Crytek to adopt AMD Mantle API for CryEngine
Advanced Micro Devices has announced that Crytek, a leading developer of video games and game engines, will adopt the company’s proprietary Mantle application programming interface for CryEngine. Once the latter gains support for Mantle, games based on CryEngine may get a performance boost on systems featuring AMD Radeon graphics based …
Read More »Exclusive Interview with Richard Huddy from Intel at GDC
When Lisa Graff, Intel VP for the Desktop Client Platforms Group, recently told KitGuru about her plans for 2014/2015, the focus was clearly on reinventing the desktop. As KitGuru reported a while back, there will be a resurgence on desktop for Intel going forward, which we believe will peak around …
Read More »How Intel plans to reinvent the desktop
The desktop is dead, that's something you'd think was pretty much cemented. Not for everyone of course, like those in corporate offices and certainly not for gamers – they need the space for those monstrous GPUs – but for the average consumer? Definitely. Just look at the climate we're in …
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