Asustek to push WiMAX-based notebooks in 2008

Asustek Computer will cooperate with Intel and Sprint Nextel to push WiMAX technology by launching WiMAX-based notebooks in 2008, announced Asustek chairman Jonney Shih, at CES 2008.
Asustek is planning to adopt WiMAX technology in its mainstream and performance level notebooks plus low-cost PCs, including the VX2 and U6 notebooks, the enterprise-based V1, UMPC R50A and mainstream F88 notebook, with the company's next generation Eee PC to also feature built-in WiMAX technology, noted Shih. WiMAX-based products will account for 15% of the company's own-brand notebook shipments, noted the chairman, adding that prices will start from US$999.
The company is optimistic that 20% of notebook users will start using WiMAX technology before the end of 2009. However, due to the faster build up of WiMAX infrastructure in the US, Asustek will initially focus its WiMAX lineup in the US, detailed Shih.
The growth of the notebook market in 2008 will still depend on factors such as the worldwide gasoline prices and the US subprime mortgage crisis, noted Jerry Shen, president of Asustek. Shen added that even in the worst scenario, Asustek's notebook shipments will still see a 20% on-year growth and possibly even 30%.
In related news, Shih revealed that Asustek's second generation Eee PC, which will feature 8- and 8.9-inch display panels, will be launched in the second quarter of this year.

Not interesting for Sri Lankans still though :P

AMD introduces ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series for notebooks

AMD has announced the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series, a new family of discrete graphics solutions for high-definition gaming and video on notebook PCs. The initial offerings consist of the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 series and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3600 series both of which are optimized for AMD's upcoming Puma notebook platform, according to the company.

The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series offers support for DirectX 10.1 enabling a higher level of visual quality through new lighting and rendering techniques designed to enhance the realism and quality of 3D games. New PCI Express 2.0 support enables faster throughput and greater overall system performance as compared to PCI Express 1.1. Notebook users can play the latest Blu-ray and HD DVD movies in 1080p resolution using ATI Avivo HD technology, which frees the CPU for other tasks. With a choice of digital outputs, notebook users can connect to a variety of displays featuring DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort support on a notebook platform. These new notebook graphics chips provide battery efficiency and greater performance-per-watt, delivering exceptional battery life for enthusiast users, according to AMD.

The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series also features ATI PowerPlay Technology which dynamically delivers the optimal balance between performance and power to suit performance requirements for extended battery life and superior performance-per-watt operation.

The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 and 3600 series are currently shipping in notebooks from Asustek including the M50 and F8 series. Additional products in the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series are scheduled for availability from notebook manufacturers in the first half of 2008.

AMD announces that it's still alive

APPARENTLY CONCERNED that the rumours of its demise are premature, AMD has announced something called AMD LIVE!^TM

The Sunnyvale, California chipmaker's new branding will cover both hardware and software, AMD said in a statement released today.
AMD LIVE! Ultra stickers will adorn new high-definition media centric desktop and notebook PCs powered by AMD chipsets codenamed "Spider" and "Puma" and running AMD's multi-core Phenom desktop and Turion notebook processors with ATI Radeon graphics. Systems bearing the AMD LIVE! tags are expected from the likes of Acer, Asus, Alienware and other PC OEMs sometime in 2008.
To go along with the new AMD LIVE! Ultra PCs, there will also be the AMD LIVE! Explorer media library software application.
In its press release AMD said, "AMD LIVE!^TM Explorer offers an immersive, 3D approach to browsing a PC's complete digital media library while also enjoying a video, TV program or Internet access in the same window."
Yay, AMD lives!
That's great and all, AMD. But all your fans will be a lot happier if you'll get back on the stick and turn out some seriously faster and more powerful CPUs

Nvidia Formally Unveils Hybrid SLI, New Integrated Graphics Processor.

Nvidia Corp. formally announced on Monday its highly-anticipated Hybrid SLI technology. The new feature is projected to balance power consumption and computing power requirements of high-end personal computers and improve graphics performance of mainstream machines. Unfortunately, half a year after the first official mentioning, Nvidia does not provide availability timeframe for certain Hybrid SLI features.

Nvidia’s new Hybrid SLI technology will have two modes and that will target different applications: the HybridPower, which will switch off discrete graphics core and use only integrated graphics engine when high performance is not needed, whereas GeForce Boost will make integrated graphics processor (IGP) to assist discrete graphics processing unit (GPU) and boost performance when it is required.

For typical games and 3D applications, GeForce Boost can kick in automatically, resulting in a greatly enhanced consumer experience, as technically Nvidia GeForce Boost is nothing more than an SLI configuration. However, currently there is no driver that can automatically switch between discrete and integrated graphics processors transparently to end-users. While Nvidia promises that transparent transition “will be available in a future software driver” for HybridPower, it does not indicate their availability date. According to some media reports, currently switching to or from discrete GPU requires system restart.

“From the introduction of programmable GPUs to the rapid adoption of our multi-GPU SLI technology, Nvidia has repeatedly pioneered and innovated to solve difficult problems for the industry. We believe Hybrid SLI technology is one of the most important innovations we’ve come up with to date,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, chief executive of Nvidia.

Nvidia plans to release a full lineup of Hybrid SLI-capable graphics and motherboard products in 2008. New Hybrid SLI-capable products include the upcoming Nvidia nForce 780a SLI, nForce 750a SLI, and nForce 730a core-logic sets for AMD microprocessors, which will be released next month, as well as the new GeForce 8200-series chipsets that feature built-in DirectX 10 IGP. Nvidia Hybrid SLI notebooks as well as desktop products designed for Intel microprocessors will be available next quarter.

“Hybrid SLI delivers new multi-GPU technology to a large segment of the PC market, delivering consumers a level of PC graphics performance and power efficiency never before seen,” Mr. Huang added.

Meet Intel Wolfdale: Core 2 Duo E8500, E8400 and E8200 Processors Review

These days Intel refreshes their dual-core Core 2 Duo processor lineup. The new CPUs manufactured with 45nm process boast a lot of advantages compared to their predecessors. We would like to offer you our extensive write-up about them...

Not so long ago we thought that in early 2008 we will be focusing on comparing the new AMD Phenom processors against the refreshed Intel Penryn manufactured with 45nm technological process. However, these expectations didn’t come true, and both – AMD and Intel – should be blamed for that.

It is true, at this time AMD cannot deliver mass quad-core processors working at competitive frequencies. The currently available Phenom models lose even to previous generation quad-core Intel processors, not to mention the more advanced CPUs. It is quite logical that Intel doesn’t have any significant stimulus to refresh their quad-core processor line-up, because there are simply no worthy competitors to the pretty successful Core 2 Quad on old 65nm cores these days. That is why the launch of new Core 2 Quad processors known as Yorkfield has been postponed for an indefinite period of time, at least until February or March 2008. And although Intel has found an excuse – an alleged problem in the upcoming processors caused by EMI in 1333MHz front side bus when these CPUs are used in hypothetical mainboards with 4-layer PCB design – it doesn’t sound convincing at all.

As for us, we have to state to our disappointment that it doesn’t make sense to compare Phenom against Penryn, because the former is uncompetitive, and the latter is still illusive and remains only an upcoming solution for the time being.

Nevertheless, there are more than enough interesting topics for discussion in the today’s processor market. Although Intel decided to postpone the launch of their quad-core processors on 45nm cores, the Core 2 Duo processor lineup will be refreshed with a few new models. They are going to announce three new processor models with Wolfdale codename within the next few days. They will be Core 2 Duo E8500, E8400 and E8200. These CPUs are based on the revised core manufactured with 45nm process and belong to the same Penryn family as the postponed Yorkfield CPUs. We certainly can’t disregard the arrival of mass Wolfdale processors, which promise to raise the performance bar for Intel’s dual-core solutions to a totally new qualitative level. They feature higher clock speeds, larger L2 cache and a number of other improvements. And the most pleasing thing about them is their cost, set at the same level as that of older Core 2 Duo solutions.So, in the second half of January 2008 Intel is going to massively update their dual-core processor lineup in $160-$260 price range. This particular event became the main topic of our today’s article that will dwell on the new promising Intel processors and the changes they will bring to the mainstream desktop market.

Read the Full Story HERE

NVIDIA Details GeForce 9600 GT

NVIDIA's D9M makes its first appearance on corporate roadmaps


NVIDIA's newest mid-range processor, codenamed D9M, will make its official debut as the GeForce 9600 GT.
Corporate guidance from NVIDIA lists the initial GeForce 9600 GT
shipments come stock with a 650 MHz core clock and a 1625 MHz unified
shader clock.  Unlike the G84 core found on GeForce 8600 GT, D9M will
feature a 256-bit memory bus interface.  Coupled with a 900 MHz memory clock, NVIDIA calculates the memory bandwidth at 57.6 GB/s. 
The texture fill rate is estimated at 20.8 billion pixels per second. 
The company would not indicate how many shaders or stream processors
reside on the D9M core. Late last year, NVIDIA confirmed the D9 family will use TSMC's 65nm process node.  The company introduced its first 65nm processor shrink
in November 2007: the G92.
 
Other details of the D9M family have already surfaced.  ChileHardware published slides yesterday claiming the GeForce 9600 requires a 400W power supply that requires 26A on the 12V rail.  Unlike previous mid-range GeForce cards, the D9M
will require a 6-pin supplementary power connector.
NVIDIA publicly confirmed other details of D9M: DirectX 10.1 support,
Shader Model 4.0, OpenGL 2.1 and PCIe 2.0 support just to name a few. Further documentation from NVIDIA claims the 9600 GT will also support the Quantum Effects physics processing engine. Like all NVIDIA processors, the GeForce 9600 is also HDCP compatible,though final support still depends on vendor implementation. 
NVIDIA declined to comment on expected price of GeForce 9600. A representative for NVIDIA would comment that the performance increase between GeForce 9600 and GeForce 8600 is "almost double."

---

SAPPHIRE Announces AGP HD 3850

SAPPHIRE Technology has just announced support for legacy PC systems using the AGP graphics bus with a new product in its HD 3000 series which brings the latest graphics architectures and features to this industry standard platform.

The SAPPHIRE HD 3850 AGP is available with 512MB of GDDR3 memory, running at 846MHz (1.7GHz effective) and has a core clock speed of 700MHz. It is a standard ATX format card, compatible with the industry standard AGP interface and with its slim fan assisted cooler the card occupies only a single expansion slot in the PC.

The SAPPHIRE HD 3850 AGP shares the 320 stream processors and 512-bit internal ring bus memory controller of the latest PCI-Express models together with multiple rendering units and a programmable tessellation unit. This new product's unified shader architecture with support for Shader Model 4.0 and the forthcoming DirectX 10.1 combine to deliver the most outstanding graphics performance ever available to AGP users.

Now manufactured in a new 55nm process technology, the GPU in the HD 3000 series delivers high performance with lower power consumption than previous generations. A new feature known as ATI PowerPlay actively reduces power consumption depending on loading. On the AGP model, additional power is required via the 8-pin PCI-Express connector fitted, which can be provided from a standard power supply with an adapter cable (supplied).

The SAPPHIRE HD 3850 AGP incorporates the latest ATI Avivo HD Technology for enhanced Video display and features a built in UVD (Unified Video decoder) for the hardware accelerated decoding of Blu-ray and HD DVD content for both VC-1 and H.264 codecs, considerably reducing CPU loading. Two independent display output controllers provide support for two dual link DVI displays as well as TV-out and HD TV options. HDCP is supported.

SAPPHIRE HD 3000 series graphics cards are Microsoft Windows Vista Premium certified and supported by the ATI Catalyst suite of software, ensuring customers have ongoing access to software updates for performance, stability and added features.

Specifications: SAPPHIRE HD 3850 AGP