Perhaps, A-series accelerated processing units (APUs) from Advanced Micro Devices do not offer extreme levels of performance, but since AMD does not really update its top-of-the-range FX-series products, many of its fans turn their heads to the hybrid Fusion chips that feature both x86 and graphics processing engines. In a …
Read More »Nvidia: Mantle does not bring any tangible benefits
Although many game developers have decided to support AMD’s proprietary Mantle application programming interface (API), whereas Intel Corp. even expressed interest in exploring the API, Nvidia Corp. has been relatively quiet about one of its arch-rival’s key technologies. This does not mean that the company does not have any opinion …
Read More »AMD to keep FM2+ socket till 2016, no DDR4 for AMD’s chips next year
Advanced Micro Devices has reportedly chosen to take a rather conservative approach to development of its desktop platforms. Instead of adding support of the DDR4 memory to its next-generation code-named “Carrizo” accelerated processing unit, the company decided to stick to the DDR3 and therefore the FM2+ socket. While this is …
Read More »Sony PlayStation 4 to get Blu-ray 3D support ‘soon’
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe said that the PlayStation 4 video game console will “soon” be able to playback Blu-ray 3D movies. The move will automatically make the console one of the most popular BD-3D players, but will it help the standard to become more popular? “Coming soon: PS4 system software …
Read More »AMD launches ‘Core is back’ campaign, readies mysterious APU launch?
Advanced Micro Devices this week started a mysterious “Core is back” campaign by publishing a video on its Facebook page. The campaign is clearly designed to promote AMD’s Fusion accelerated processing units, heterogeneous chips containing x86 and highly-parallel graphics processing cores. The video shows how applications (depicted as monsters) fight …
Read More »AMD posts higher revenue for the quarter, but still loses money
Advanced Micro Devices this week reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2014. The company did not manage to take advantage of corporate PC replacements, like its rival Intel did, but sales of chips for video game consoles allowed the firm to post rather significant increase in revenue compared …
Read More »AMD ‘Carrizo’ specifications, block-diagram get published
The first specifications as well as a block-diagram of AMD’s next-generation code-named “Carrizo” accelerated processing unit (APU) have been published by a web-site. Despite expectations, the “Carrizo” will not support high-bandwidth memory (HBM) technologies, at least, in its mainstream implementation. Nonetheless, the new chip will carry a fair amount of …
Read More »Sony wants to attract Nintendo Wii owners to PlayStation 4
One of the things that Nintendo has consistently failed to do so far is to make owners of its previous-generation Wii game console to buy its new-generation Wii U system. Apparently, Sony Computer Entertainment thinks that it can persuade customers of its rival to get its PlayStation 4 instead of …
Read More »AMD preps two new GPUs made using 28nm HPM process technology
Although Advanced Micro Devices said earlier this year that it would use 20nm process technology from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. for its future chips, it looks like the company readies two new graphics processing units (GPUs) that will be made using TSMC’s 28nm HPM [high-performance mobile] process technology. Synapse Design, …
Read More »AMD’s Carrizo APUs rumoured to feature integrated HBM memory
One of the advantages that some of Intel Corp.’s integrated graphics processors (IGPs) have compared to AMD’s IGPs is a large level four cache that is used to store frequently used data. While at present AMD’s integrate graphics adapters are still faster compared to Intel’s, in the future the latter …
Read More »AMD unveils new A10-7800 ‘Kaveri’ APU with configurable TDP
Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday introduced a new accelerated processing unit (APU) based on the code-named “Kaveri” design that is aimed at mainstream desktops with limited power consumption. The new APU comes without unlocked multiplier and thus cannot be easily overclocked, however, it has user-selectable thermal design power (TDP), which …
Read More »AMD’s upcoming ‘Tonga’ GPU may replace Radeon R9 280
Advanced Micro Devices is reportedly proceeding with the plan to release its new graphics processing unit (GPU) code-named Tonga already in August. The new GPU will reportedly offer performance similar to that of the Radeon R9 280-series graphics cards, but it is completely unclear whether it will actually replace the …
Read More »Diamond gives away AMD Radeon R9 295X2 graphics card
Diamond Multimedia, a supplier of graphics adapters and other hardware, on Thursday announced the Diamond AMD Radeon R9 295X2 graphics card giveaway competition. The company will give the world’s highest-performing dual-GPU graphics solution to one lucky winner in early July. In a bid to join the contest, you need to …
Read More »The market is moving to commodity processors – writer
The world of processing units is altering. With the ARM architecture entering the market of servers and the Power architecture available for licensing by third parties, a lot is going to change within the next five years. Thanks to the fact that similar processing technologies will be available from different …
Read More »Intel approached AMD about access to Mantle
Intel Corp. has asked its arch-rival Advanced Micro Devices to provide it access to the Mantle application programming interface (API), AMD said last week. While in its current form Mantle can hardly bring any tangible benefits to Intel, the latter could redesign the API in order to allow software developers …
Read More »AMD readies enhanced Radeon R9 290X ‘Hawaii’ graphics solution
Back in early January it was reported that the Hawaii graphics processing unit from Advanced Micro Devices might be more powerful than AMD publicly disclosed because of deactivated units. So far the theory has not been proven, but this may change soon. A famous overclocker said on Friday that AMD …
Read More »Ubisoft: Far Cry 4 with ultra-high settings will look the same on PC, PS4 and XB1
Far Cry 4 is expected to be one of the best-looking video games ever made, judging by the trailers that Ubisoft published earlier this month. What is somewhat surprising is that according to a representative of the game developer, the game will look equally good on all modern platforms, including …
Read More »Sony still cannot meet PlayStation 4 demand in Europe
The PlayStation 4 video game console from Sony Computer Entertainment has been on the market for over seven months now. Nonetheless, Sony still cannot meet the demand for the system in Europe. A good news is that the things are improving and the tight supply situation may soon be over. …
Read More »AMD to increase energy efficiency of APUs by 25 times by 2020
Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday unveiled a rather bold strategy called 25X20 under which it intends to dramatically increase energy efficiency of its accelerated processing units by the year 2020. In the next six years AMD plans to further optimize power consumption of its chips and also increase their performance, …
Read More »Ubisoft expects new console cycle to be shorter and prices to be lower
The launches of both Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 were pretty successful since gamers had waited many years for the systems to arrive. While it remains to be seen how successful the XB1 and the PS4 will eventually be, Yves Guillemot, the chief executive officer of Ubisoft, believes …
Read More »Sales of graphics cards dropped significantly in Q2 – report
Sales of graphics cards significantly dropped in the second quarter this year, according to a media report. In fact, shipments of discrete desktop graphics processing units have been declining for years now, but this time the drop of demand is attributed to crypto-currency miners. While the actual sales figures of …
Read More »Asus gives free Cerberus headset to buyers of Radeon R9 290 cards
High-performance graphics cards are not really affordable, so are high-quality gaming headsets. But what if you need to have both? Make compromises? Apparently, Asustek Computer and Overclockers UK have a solution: you buy an Asus Radeon R9 290-based graphics card and get a headset for free. For a limited time …
Read More »AMD reorgs further: sets up two business groups, shuffles execs
Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday announced “the latest” step in its strategic transformations. Starting from the 1st of July, AMD will consist of two large business groups led by Lisa Su and John Byrne, two executives who have been very efficient in their current roles. In a bid to further …
Read More »AMD: wearable devices today are mostly a fad
While Intel Corp. is clearly interested in making chips for wearable computing devices as well as smart home appliances, Advanced Micro Devices plans to take a wait-and-see approach. The company believes that while wearables will have a lot of practical applications going forward, developing chips for them today is too …
Read More »Sony preps white PlayStation 4, has no storage upgrade plans
Sony Computer Entertainment has introduced a new colour variation of the PlayStation 4 video game console at the E3 trade-show. The new flavour will come in “glacier white” and will be available worldwide starting this fall. Since the PS4 is already very successful on the market, the company decided not …
Read More »AMD: next-gen game consoles may arrive sooner than we think
Chief financial officer of Advanced Micro Devices said that the next generation game consoles from companies like Microsoft Corp., Nintendo and Sony Corp. may emerge on the market sooner than we might think. The life-cycle of the currently available systems may be shorter than those of Sony’s PlayStation 3, Microsoft’s …
Read More »AMD reportedly plans to outsource chipset development to Asmedia
Advanced Micro Devices reportedly plans to outsource development of its core-logic sets to Asmedia, a controller chip developer co-owned by Asustek Computer. While the plan may further reduce AMD’s costs and potentially will allow to quicker respond to market demands, it will also shrink AMD’s ability to offer fully-integrated platform …
Read More »AMD unveils mobile A-series ‘Kaveri’ APUs, FX-series APUs
Advanced Micro Devices this week introduced its first accelerated processing units (APUs) based on the code-named Kaveri design aimed at mobile computers . The new chips bring AMD’s latest technologies, including the heterogeneous system architecture (HSA) and the Radeon graphics with the GCN architecture, to mainstream and thin laptops. The new …
Read More »Asus unleashes Ares III, proclaims it ‘the world’s fastest graphics card’
Asustek Computer this week officially unveiled its new Ares III dual-GPU graphics card that belongs to the Republic of Gamers family of products. The new graphics board is expected to provide performance that will be higher compared to that of the dual-chip Radeon R9 295X2 thanks to very high overclocking …
Read More »Sales of Sony PlayStation 4 reportedly exceed eight million units
The adoption rate of Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 4 video game console continues to set records, if the unofficial information about its sell-through numbers is to be believed. As of mid-May life-to-date sales of the PS4 were eight million units. Apparently, the PlayStation 4 continues to sell very well seven months …
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