Haswell Laptop specs! NEC LaVie L to launch in Japan

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards, Processors, Systems, Mobile | May 14, 2013 - 03:54 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: haswell, nec

While we are not sure when it will be released or whether it will be available for North America, we have found a Haswell laptop. Actually, NEC will release two products in this lineup: a high end 1080p unit and a lower end 1366x768 model. Unfortuantely, the article is in Japanese.

IPS displays have really wide viewing angles, even top and bottom.

NEC is known for their higher-end monitors; most people equate the Dell Ultrasharp panels with professional photo and video production, but their top end offers are ofter a tier below the best from companies like NEC and Eizo. The laptops we are discussing today both contain touch-enabled IPS panels with apparently double the contrast ratio of what NEC considers standard. While these may or may not be the tip-top NEC offerings, they should at least be putting in decent screens.

Obviously the headliner for us is the introduction of Haswell. While we do not know exactly which product NEC decided to embed, we do know that they are relying upon it for their graphics performance. With the aforementioned higher-end displays, it seems likely that NEC is intending this device for the professional market. A price-tag of 190000 yen (just under $1900 USD) for the lower end and 200000 yen (just under $2000 USD) for the higher end further suggests this is their target demographic.

Clearly a Japanese model.

The professional market does not exactly have huge requirements for graphics performance, but to explicitly see NEC trust Intel for their GPU performance is an interesting twist. Intel HD 4000 has been nibbling, to say the least, on the discrete GPU marketshare in laptops. I would expect this laptop would contain one of the BGA-based parts, which are soldered onto the motherboard, for the added graphics performance.

As a final note, the higher-end model will also contain a draft 802.11ac antenna. It is expected that network performance could be up to 867 megabits as a result.

Of course I could not get away without publishing the raw specifications:

LL850/MS (Price: 200000 yen):

• Fourth-generation Intel Core processor with onboard video
• 8GB DDR3 RAM
• 1TB HDD w/ 32GB SSD caching
• BDXL (100-128GB BluRay disc) drive
• IEEE 802.11ac WiFi adapter, Bluetooth 4.0
• SDXC, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, USB3.0, 2x2W stereo Yamaha speakers
• 1080p IPS display with touch support
• Office Home and Business 2013 preinstalled?

LL750/MS (Price: 190000 yen):

• Fourth-generation Intel Core processor with onboard video
• 8GB DDR3 RAM
• 1TB HDD (no SSD cache)
• (Optical disc support not mentioned)
• IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi adapter, Bluetooth 4.0
• SDXC, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, USB3.0, 2x2W stereo Yamaha speakers
• 1366x768 (IPS?) touch-enabled display

Lian Li Announces New Mini-ITX Chassis with a Curve-Shaped Design and Front Acrylic Window – PC-Q30

Subject: General Tech, Cases and Cooling | May 14, 2013 - 03:20 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Lian Li, PC -Q30, mini ITX, case

Lian Li has just released a very unique case for those who want to show off their internal components, the PC-Q30.  The unique curved chassis will certainly make your system stand out as no other competitor is offering a case with this particular look.  It is mini-ITX so their are some space constraints for the highest end systems but you can still fit a good system into the (W)223mm x (H)357mm x (D)300mm chassis.

May 14, 2013, Keelung, Taiwan - Lian-Li Industrial Co. Ltd, today announces a new brushed aluminum Mini-ITX chassis – PC-Q30. With its curve-shaped design and large acrylic front window the fully aluminum PC-Q30 allows users to show off their systems, and is sure to be the talking piece of any room.

Whether in the living room, bedroom, or office, the PC-Q30 with its curve-shape and brushed aluminium finish takes visual command without being ostentatious. Additionally, DIY builders can put their stylized internal components and intricate builds on full display – as they should not be hidden from sight.

Thanks to the two expansion slots on the top of the chassis, the PC-Q30 supports graphics cards up to 200mm (7.8”). For storage, up to four 2.5” hard drives or SSDs can be mounted in the removable hard drive cage at the bottom of the chassis.

A 140mm fan in the rear of the chassis expels hot air, while ventilation on the top and side allows for cool air to enter. A small form factor power supply up to 125mm (4.9”) is placed on rubber pads in order to reduce vibrations.

The front of the PC-Q30 is minimalistic in aesthetics and houses the dual LED illuminated power button that glows blue when on and red while loading. The I/O panel with two USB 3.0 ports and HD audio connections is located on the left side of the front of the chassis to not interrupt the elegant aesthetics.

Price and Availability
The PC-Q30 will be available in June in the US and Canada for the suggested retail price of US$149

Microsoft turns Windows Blue into a subscription based service pack?

Subject: General Tech | May 14, 2013 - 03:02 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: microsoft. windows blue, win8, oops

Windows Blue is now officially Win8.1, coming sometime before Christmas and free to anyone currently running Win8 according to the links at Slashdot.  We've talked about Microsoft's upcoming OS refresh many times at PC Per, from their plan to replicate the subscription model of Office365 to the inclusion of their Cloud services like SkyDrive.  This will not be a new OS, merely tweaks added to the existing kernel focusing on the GUI and especially the new Start Screen.  It isn't a reversal of the new look, nor does it lessen the emphasis on touch screens but it could make some compromises for those who prefer a mouse, keyboard and desktop.

"Several readers sent word that Microsoft has officially dubbed the upcoming revision to its flagship operating system "Windows 8.1," retiring the code-name "Windows Blue." They also said the update would be freely available to anybody with Windows 8. It will be available through the Windows Store. "Reller declined to provide an exact release date for Windows 8.1, but said that Microsoft is 'very sensitive to the timing of the holidays.' Ideally, Microsoft will be able to provide devices with Windows 8.1 pre-loaded in time for the holiday 2013 season, Reller said, but those who purchase a Windows 8 device later this year will be able to easily upgrade to 8.1."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Your Flying Car? Delayed again, but you WILL get it, says Terrafugia @ The Register
• Adobe lets you pay now and later and later again @ The Tech Report
• Intel's Thin Mini-ITX platform: nine months later
• Will your power supply work with Haswell? Seasonic announce compatible units @ Kitguru
• Blackberry announces Q5 QWERTY smartphone as BB10 hits 120,000 apps @ The Inquirer
• Blackberry announces BBM for iOS and Android @ The Inquirer
• http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2268009/blackberry-announces-bbm-for-ios-and-android @ TechARP

Dell XPS 10 32GB Dual-core Windows RT @ $300

Subject: General Tech | May 14, 2013 - 01:52 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: deals

If you know someone who is looking for a tablet that does a bit more than an eReader but doesn't need the power of an x86 based model, the Dell XPS WinRT tablet makes a good compromise.  The dual core Snapdragon S4 @ 1.5GHz will power the 1366 x 768 10.1" screen when surfing and the included Office Home & Student 2013 RT will help with productivity.  At $150 off the normal price it is a good deal.

To get the 10.1" XPS 10 32GB Tablet configuration, follow these steps:

1. Start here at Dell's direct store
2. Configure as per needs (optional), click Review & Add to cart button at the top
3. Proceed to final checkout/payment
 

Also available:
10.1" XPS 10 32GB Tablet + Soft-Touch Case $329.98
10.1" XPS 10 32GB Tablet + Dockable Keyboard $399.99
10.1" XPS 10 64GB Tablet + Dockable Keyboard + 4G LTE $549.99

NVIDIA Announces Shield Pricing, Taking Pre-orders

Subject: General Tech, Mobile | May 14, 2013 - 09:06 AM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: tegra 4, tegra, shield, project shield, nvidia

Solid information about the NVIDIA Shield (no longer called Project Shield) is finally becoming available with a blog post written up today on NVIDIA's website.  The company will begin accepting pre-orders from users that have previously signed up for the Shield mailing list while the rest of you will have to wait until May 20th to plop down your money. 

The cost?  $349.  Newegg, Gamestop, Micro Center and Canada Computer will carry it.

If you want to sign up for official June release schedule of the Tegra 4 powered mobile Android gaming device, you'll have to head over to shield.nvidia.com. 

NVIDIA does point out in the blog that the PC game streaming feature that I truly believe is the one thing that makes Shield a compelling gaming device, will be launching as BETA feature.

And GeForce game streaming, launching as a beta feature, will give SHIELD the power to access your NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPU-powered computer from the comfort of your couch. We’re working on streaming your favorite PC games to SHIELD, including great titles from Steam.

High level features of the device, for those of you that are unaware, include:

• Tegra 4 – The world’s fastest mobile processor delivers rich graphics and unbeatable performance thanks to 72 GPU cores, four CPU cores and 2GB of RAM
• Console-grade controller – Precise control thanks to dual analog joysticks, a full-sized D-Pad, left and right analog triggers, full-sized bumpers and A/B/X/Y buttons
• Multi-touch display – 5-inch, 720p retinal multi-touch display for high-fidelity visuals
• Integrated speakers – Custom, bass reflex, tuned port audio system – we think this is SHIELD’s sleeper feature
• Wi-Fi – 802.11n 2X2 MIMO game-speed Wi-Fi for seamless game streaming
• Pure Android – Latest Android Jelly Bean operating system from Google, for access to Android games and apps
• There’s more – We put into SHIELD everything we would want in a premium mobile gaming device: 16 GB memory, GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, a mini-HDMI output, micro-USB 2.0, a microSD storage slot, a 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack. See the full spec sheet, here.

We took a look at the NVIDIA Shield device at CES this year and posted a video of our experiences, so check it out below. 

NVIDIA has also posted a separate blog that talks about some of the upcoming Android games that will highlight the power of the Tegra 4 mobile processor including Broken Age and Costume Quest from Double Fine, Chuck's Challenge from Niffler and more. 

I think many people at NVIDIA as well as in the media are very curious to see what the reaction of Shield will actully be upon its release.  I am very excited to test it out in real-world, long term usage models but I definitely have doubts about the market's desire for another mobile gaming platform. 

Leave me your thoughts in the comments below!!

Sony Profitable, Expects Its PlayStation 4 Launch to Keep It That Way

Subject: General Tech | May 13, 2013 - 11:37 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: sony, semi-custom business unit, ps4, gaming, financial report, amd

Sony, a company with an annual profit of 436 billion Yen ($458 million USD) in its fiscal year ending March 31, 2013 saw PS3 and PS2 sales decline and a slight bump up in PSP and PS Vita sales. In a recent earnings call covered by Euro Gamer, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Masaru Kato stated that the company expects this year to be even better with the launch of its upcoming PlayStation 4 console. Sony does not believe it will incur any significant losses with the PS4 and that sales will "increase significantly." Unlike the PS3 which used a Cell chip that was expensive to develop, the PlayStation 4 uses mostly-traditional PC hardware. With the upcoming console, AMD did the majority of the development legwork which saved Sony money. As a result, Sony believes that the PS4 will turn a profit much faster than it took the PS3.

Looking into Sony's next fiscal year ending March 2014, the company is putting a renewed focus on smartphones and smart TVs. In the previous year, Sony saw combined PS3 and PS2 sales decline to $16.5 million from $18 million the prior year. Sony expects to sell approximately $10 million worth of PS3s in the upcoming fiscal year. While the company's PS2 console had a wild ride, it is no longer included in the company's sales forecast. Sales of Sony's mobile PSP and PS Vita gaming consoles are expected to decrease to a mere $5 million as well. Basically, Sony has a lot riding on its PlayStation 4 console. It expects to see its next-generation console make up for the decreased sales of its existing hardware.

Either way, a profitable Sony is a good thing, and I hope that the upcoming console is priced to sell while also resulting in a tidy profit for the company. I expect the Xbox-PS3-PC gamer flame-war to be especially entertaining this year, as the consoles are essentially using lower-end PC hardware (heh) and the two consoles specs are more-similar than ever.

Semi-Custom Business Unit Creates New Revenue Stream For AMD

Subject: General Tech | May 13, 2013 - 10:28 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: x86, SoC, semi-custom chip, Patent, ip, APU, amd

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has an extensive intellectual property (IP) portfolio. The company has a range of products from CPUs and graphics cards to video acceleration hardware. It is also the only other major player to have a license to build chips with the x86 ISA. With the launch of its Semi-Custom Business Unit, AMD plans to take advantage of the engineering experience and patent portfolio to create a new revenue stream. AMD will work with other companies to create customized processors that integrate custom IP cores and technology but use AMD's existing products as a base to cut down on engineering time and R&D costs.

The first such customized chip is the System on a Chip used in Sony's PlayStation 4 gaming console. AMD intends to market its modular SoC technology and custom IP integration services to makers of set top boxes, smart TVs, tablets, PCs, networking hardware, and High Performance Computing applications. AMD argues that using its Semi-Custom Business Unit to create a customized SoC is cheaper and faster to design and produce than a fully-custom design, which makes sense since most of the engineering work is already done. AMD could stand to make quite a bit of extra money here, especially if it can land design wins for governmental and industrial design contracts. Intel's x86 license scarcity may actually benefit AMD here, in fact.

AMD's Semi-Custom Business Unit consists of an engineering team led by AMD Corporate Vice President and General Manager Saeid Moshkelani. I think doing this is a smart move for the x86 underdog, and it will be interesting to see how well the division does for the company's bottom line.

Nokia Launching $149 Lumia 928 With WP8 On May 16th

Subject: General Tech | May 12, 2013 - 06:16 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: wp8, Qualcomm MSM8960, nokia, lumia 928, lumia

Nokia will be launching a new Windows Phone 8 smartphone next week that trades in the traditional colorful Lumia designs for a sleek black or white finish. The Nokia Lumia 928 smartphone will be available on Verizon Wireless in the US.

The smartphone features a 4.5” WXGA OLED display with a resolution of 1280x768. The front of the phone resembles a flat rectangle with slightly rounded corners while the back is slightly curved. On the front below the display are capacitive buttons and above the display is a 1.2MP webcam that is capable of shooting still images or 720p HD videos. Three high amplitude microphones are also included. The Nokia 928 smartphone also uses a rear PureView 8.7MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics capable of shooting 1080p30 HD video. This main camera has optical image stabilization and a Xenon flash for still images (and a LED flash for video).

On the inside, the Nokia Lumia 928 is powered by a dual core Qualcomm MSM8960+WTR processor clocked at 1.5GHz, 1GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, and a 2000mAh battery. Wireless charging and an NFC radio are also included. Of course, the Lumia 928 is running Microsoft’s latest Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system.

The Lumia 928 will be available at Verizon (both in-store and online) for $149. A $50 mail in rebate will bring that price down to $99. On top of that, for a limited time, you can get $25 of Windows Store credit to spend on apps and games. From the specifications, it seems like a decent midrange smartphone so long as you do not need any Android or iOS exclusive applications.

Seasonic Releases Information On Its Haswell-Ready Power Supplies

Subject: General Tech, Cases and Cooling | May 11, 2013 - 09:17 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: seasonic, haswell, Power Supplies, PSU, 0.05A

Following the announcements from other power supply manufacturers, Seasonic has now released a list of its own power supplies that are compatible with Intel's upcoming Haswell processor. The new Haswell CPUs, set to launch June 3rd, incorporate new C6 and C7 sleep states that draw as little as 0.05A from the 12V PSU rail. Because of the low load, some existing power supplies will have issues with the new sleep states and could result in system instability. In light of that, many manufacturers are validating their existing lineups to determine which ones are compatible.

As of the time of publication, the following power supplies from Seasonic are compatible with Haswell and the new sleep states.

Platinum Series

• 1200W
• 1000W
• 860W
• 760W

Platinum Fanless Series

• 520W
• 460W
• 400W

X-Series

• 1250W
• 1050W
• 850W
• 750W
• 650W

G-Series

• 650W
• 550W
• 450W
• 360W

M12 II Evo Edition Series

• 850W
• 750W

Stay tuned to PC Perspective for more information on PSU and Haswell compatibility.

• Haswell-compatible PSU list(s):
  • Corsair PSUs
  • Enermax PSUs

HIS Launches Factory Overclocked HD 7850 IceQ X^2 Turbo Graphics Card

Subject: General Tech | May 11, 2013 - 08:12 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: radeon hd 7850, ICEQ Turbo, his, hd 7850, GCN, amd

HIS has launched a new factory overclocked graphics card based on AMD's Radeon HD 7850 "Pitcairn" GPU called the IceQ X^2 Turbo. The new card uses a custom PCB and IceQ X^2 cooler.

The IceQ X^2 cooler uses two 75mm fans to cool an aluminum fin stack that is connected to the copper GPU contact plate with copper heatpipes. The HSF is surrounded by a black shroud. HIS claims that its custom cooler runs at a quiet 28dB when the card is idle.

The HIS HD 7850 IceQ X^2 Turbo is a factory overclocked card. HIS has taken a standard HD 7850 GPU with 1024 stream processors and clocked it at 1GHz, which is a 140MHz overclock over the reference 7850 clockspeed. The card is further paired with 2GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at the reference 1200MHz (4800MHz effective) on a 256-bit bus. An 8-phase VRM keeps the overclocked components fed with stable power. It offers up a single DVI, one HDMI, and two mini-DisplayPort video outputs.

Because of the custom cooler, it should be possible to push the HD 7850 GPU even higher, although exactly how much higher will depend on the individual card.

The HIS IceQ X^2 Turbo does not have any official pricing information yet, but it should be priced somewhere around $220 since the already-available single fan IceQ X Turbo card is currently priced at approximately $210 at online retailers.

Also read: The AMD Radeon HD 7850 gets frame rated!

NZXT Launches $30 Sentry Mix 2 Fan Controller

Subject: General Tech | May 10, 2013 - 07:37 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: nzxt, sentry, sentry mix 2, fan controller

NZXT has launched its new Sentry Mix 2 fan controller. Featuring an audio equipment theme, the Sentry Mix 2 fits into a single 5.25” bay. It features a matte black bezel with six glossy black sliders that are recessed into the bezel to ensure compatibility with PC case doors. Below the fan speed sliders are LEDs that can be changed to one of five colors (white, blue, green, orange, red).

The Mix 2 is the successor and replacement of the original Mix fan controller, and it uses a redesigned PCB. The controller has six sliders that are connected to six 4-pin fan outputs. The fan controller is powered by two 4-pin Molex power connectors and can draw a maximum of 180W. Each fan channel can draw a maximum of 30W. The sliders are analog rheostats that are also compatible with PWM controlled fans.

The Sentry Mix 2 comes with a 2 year warranty. The fan controller should be available soon with an MSRP of $29.99. More information can be found on NZXT’s website. As far as fan controllers go, I could see myself using this one as it keeps the LED bling to a minimum.

Jen-Hsun doesn't beleive in your so called economic downturn

Subject: General Tech | May 10, 2013 - 05:21 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: eranings, Q1 2013, nvidia, jen-hsun huang

NVIDIA seems to have completely ignored the economic downturn that has affected so many tech companies and posted gains in both revenue and profit for Q1 2013.  The entire PC market may have shrunk by 10% but NVIDIA's profits were up 16.7% compared to 12 months ago, though when looking at GPU sales alone they did see about a 5% decline.  Now that NVIDIA has branched out into mobility and HPC however, their total sales are up by 3%.  The Register postulates that part of the reason their sales did not decline as much as other manufacturers is their focus on high end GPUs which are immune to the erosion being caused by sales of mobile devices such as tablets.  Get the whole set of numbers here.

"In the first quarter of fiscal 2014 ended on April 28, Nvidia's overall sales rose by 3.2 per cent to $954.7m. Big Green was able pull $77.9m to the bottom line, up 16.7 per cent compared to the year-ago period – even while investing in a substantial bump-up in research and development costs – thanks to a shift to higher margin products in both the discrete graphics and Tesla GPU coprocessor lines."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Microsoft plasters IE8 hole abused in nuke lab PC meltdown @ The Register
• Tripping on microdoses of Dyad @ The Tech Report
• Power2U AC/USB wall outlet @ LanOC Reviews
• Plugging into the Puzzle @ Techgage
• Casio G-SHOCK GA-110-1AER Watch @ NikKTech
• 8 Free to Play Games That Are Too Good to Be True @ Techspot
• ModRight Xtreme Super Large Anti-Static Mod-Mat @ Modders-Inc

Corsair has, well, Haswell PSU support chart

Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Cases and Cooling, Processors | May 10, 2013 - 04:23 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: c6, c7, haswell, PSU, corsair

I cannot do it captain! I don't have the not enough power!

We have been discussing the ultra-low power state of Haswell processors for a little over a week and how it could be detrimental to certain power supplies. Power supply manufacturers never quite expected that you could have as little as a 0.05 Amp (0.6W) draw on the 12V rail without being off. Since then, companies such as Enermax started to list power supplies which have been tested and are compliant with the new power requirements.

Above is Corsair's slightly incomplete chart as of the time it was copied from their website, 3:30pm on May 10th, 2013; so far it is coming up all good. Their blog should be updated as new products get validated for the new C6 and C7 CPU sleep states.

The best part of this story is just how odd it is given the race to arc-welding (it's not a podcast so you can't Bingo! hahaha!) supplies we have been experiencing over the last several years. Simply put, some companies never thought that component manufacturers such as Intel would race to the bottom of power draws.

Deal for May 10th - Dell Inspiron 15R Special Edition @ $780

Subject: General Tech | May 10, 2013 - 04:05 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: deals

Dell's Inspiron 15R Special Edition 15.6" is powered by a i5-3230M 2.6GHz, 8GB 1600MHz RAM and a 2GB Radeon HD 7730M.  The screen is 1080p as it should be for a machine capable of gaming and the audio is also better than average, Waves MaxxAudio 4 + Skullcandy speakers.

To get our recommended Inspiron 15R Special Edition configuration, follow these steps:

1. Start here at Dell Home direct store
2. Configure as per needs (optional), click Review & Add to cart button at the top
3. Add to cart
4. Apply coupon code: 0H9Q3PQ6L3744C in shopping cart and proceed to final checkout/payment

17.3-inch Dell Inspiron 17R Special Edition Laptop also available.

NVIDIA Releases First Fiscal Quarter 2013 (Q1’13) Results

Subject: General Tech | May 9, 2013 - 07:50 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: tegra 4, nvidia, grid, financial results

NVIDIA has released the results of its first fiscal quarter of 2014. Overall, NVIDIA had a positive first quarter with total revenue of $954.7 million and a net income of $77.9 million. During Q1 2014 the company announced its Grid VCA for enterprise customers and Tegra 4 and Tegra 4i for the mobile market. NVIDIA’s shareholders saw an Earnings Per Share (EPS) of 13 cents, which is up 30% versus the same quarter last year. Interestingly, NVIDIA has announced that it will be returning $1 billion to shareholders through increased dividends and buying back shares.

Q1 2014 is an interesting quarter, as it is up year over year, but down significantly versus the previous quarter (Q4’13). NVIDIA’s Q1’14 revenue of 954.7 million is up YOY 32% from $924.9 million in Q1’13, but down 13.7% from $1.1 billion in the previous quarter. The dip is likely attributable to the fact that its Q1’14 is the quarter after the holiday rush at the end of Q4. Considering it is still up versus last year, the dip versus last quarter shouldn’t be taken as a bad sign. Net income follows a similar pattern, with net income down 53.2% versus last quarter’s $174 million, but up 29% YOY (Q1’13 net income was $60.9 million).

The financial results seem to indicate that NVIDIA is continuing to grow and remain profitable. According to NVIDIA, the company expects to see operating expenses and revenue increase in Q2’14 to $448 million in and approximately $975 million respectively. Further, NVIDIA expects growth to continue throughout 2014 as it launches new Tegra 4(i) SoCs and expands its server/business offerings with its GRID technologies.

You can find NVIDIA's full financial report on the company's website.

Say farewell to the days of RAM deals

Subject: General Tech | May 9, 2013 - 01:25 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: ddr3, DRAM

It looks like the days of cheap RAM may be coming to a close, not just for the consumer but also for manufacturers of graphics cards, cellphones and anything else with onboard RAM.  What began as a slow rise in prices is now becoming a shortage, something guaranteed to bring prices up.  In Acer's case they will be out of stock by the end of the month while ASRock stockpiled RAM in this quarter to retain supplies to sell over the coming quarter.  As DigiTimes points out, competition is going to become fierce and you can expect both lower supplies and higher prices on the new components you want to buy over the summer.

"Commenting on the issue, Acer chairman JT Wang pointed out that DRAM prices are likely to continue rising as many DRAM makers have switched their production lines to manufacturing smartphone DRAM, leaving insufficient capacity to supply the PC industry. Even If DRAM makers decide to switch back capacity, it will still take about 3-4 months for the process to be completed, Wang said."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• 'Quantum network? We've had one for years,' says Los Alamos @ The Register
• Facebook crashes into networking with open switch @ The Register
• Tool Reveals iPad and iPhone User Locations @ Slashdot
• Deep, deep dive: Hyper-V @ The Register
• Raspberry Pi housed inside a computer monitor @ Hack a Day
• Spotify spews 'unencrypted' FREE MP3s all over creation @ The Register
• Buffalo AirStation N600 Dual-Band Wireless Router Review @ Legit Reviews
• Graham Linehan announces a one-off special of The IT Crowd @ The Inquirer
• Win NZXT and Phanteks hardware! @ Kitguru

Podcast #250 - Haswell Iris Graphics, Intel Silvermont, AMD HD 9000 Series Rumors and more!

Subject: General Tech | May 9, 2013 - 11:30 AM | Ken Addison
Tagged: Volcanic Islands, ssd, silvermont, Seagate, podcast, pcper, iris pro, iris, Intel, haswell, gamer memory, amd

PC Perspective Podcast #250 - 05/09/2013

Join us this week as we discuss Haswell Iris Graphics, Intel Silvermont, AMD HD 9000 Series Rumors and more!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Jeremy Hellstrom, Josh Walrath, and Morry Teitelman

Program length: 1:19:46

1. Week in Review:
   1. 0:03:20 Intel announces Haswell Iris Graphics
   2. 0:12:00 Intel Silvermont Architecture for Atom
   3. 0:27:15 Enermax TriAthlor 550 watt power supply
2. 0:30:25 This week we thank you for IGG support!
3. News items of interest:
   1. 0:35:40 AMD Unveils New Gamer Memory
   2. 0:45:00 AMD to erupt Volcanic Islands GPUs as early as Q4 2013?
   3. 0:52:00 Haswell overclocked to 7 GHz??
   4. 0:53:30 Micron P420m PCIe SSD
   5. 0:54:20 Seagate 600 and 600 Pro SSDs
   6. 0:55:50 Gigabyte Teases Its New UEFI BIOS for Z87
   7. 0:57:40 Asrock Announces Z87 Line up
   8. 0:59:00 Unreal Engine 3 compiled at asm.js
   9. 1:00:00 Hardware Flashback: ASUS K7M
4. 1:06:45 Hardware/Software Picks of the Week:
   1. Ryan: AMD Gamer Memory
   2. Jeremy: BitTorrent Bundle
   3. Josh: Upgrade your sound on the K7M
   4. Morry: Paracord - best for resleeving your PSU
5. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
6. http://pcper.com/podcast
7. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
8. Closing/outro

AMD to erupt Volcanic Islands GPUs as early as Q4 2013?

Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Graphics Cards, Processors | May 8, 2013 - 09:32 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: Volcanic Islands, radeon, ps4, amd

So the Southern Islands might not be entirely stable throughout 2013 as we originally reported; seismic activity being analyzed suggests the eruption of a new GPU micro-architecture as early as Q4. These Volcanic Islands, as they have been codenamed, should explode onto the scene opposing NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 700-series products.

It is times like these where GPGPU-based seismic computation becomes useful.

The rumor is based upon a source which leaked a fragment of a slide outlining the processor in block diagram form and specifications of its alleged flagship chip, "Hawaii". Of primary note, Volcanic Islands is rumored to be organized with both Serial Processing Modules (SPMs) and a Parallel Compute Module (PCM).

So apparently a discrete GPU can have serial processing units embedded on it now.

Heterogeneous Systems Architecture (HSA) is a set of initiatives to bridge the gap between massively parallel workloads and branching logic tasks. We usually make reference to this in terms of APUs and bringing parallel-optimized hardware to the CPU. In this case, we are discussing it in terms of bringing serial processing to the discrete GPU. According to the diagram, the chip within would contain 8 processor modules each with two processing cores and an FPU for a total of 16 cores. There does not seem to be any definite identification whether these cores would be based upon their license to produce x86 processors or their other license to produce ARM processors. Unlike an APU, this is heavily skewed towards parallel computation rather than a relatively even balance between CPU, GPU, and chipset features.

Now of course, why would they do that? Graphics processors can do branching logic but it tends to sharply cut performance. With an architecture such as this, a programmer might be able to more efficiently switch between parallel and branching logic tasks without doing an expensive switch across the motherboard and PCIe bus between devices. Josh Walrath suggested a server containing these as essentially add-in card computers. For gamers, this might help out with workloads such as AI which is awkwardly split between branching logic and massively parallel visibility and path-finding tasks. Josh seems skeptical about this until HSA becomes further adopted, however.

Still, there is a reason why they are implementing this now. I wonder, if the SPMs are based upon simple x86 cores, how the PS4 will influence PC gaming. Technically, a Volcanic Island GPU would be an oversized PS4 within an add-in card. This could give AMD an edge, particularly in games ported to the PC from the Playstation.

This chip, Hawaii, is rumored to have the following specifications:

• 4096 stream processors
• 16 serial processor cores on 8 modules
• 4 geometry engines
• 256 TMUs
• 64 ROPs
• 512-bit GDDR5 memory interface, much like the PS4.
• 20 nm Gate-Last silicon fab process
  • Unclear if TSMC or "Common Platform" (IBM/Samsung/GLOBALFOUNDRIES)

Softpedia is also reporting on this leak. Their addition claims that the GPU will be designed on a 20nm Gate-Last fabrication process. While gate-last is considered to be not worth the extra effort in production, Fully Depleted Silicon On Insulator (FD-SOI) is apparently "amazing" on gate-last at 28nm and smaller fabrication. This could mean that AMD is eying that technology and making this design with intent of switching to an FD-SOI process, without a large redesign which an initially easier gate-first production would require.

Well that is a lot to process... so I will leave you with an open question for our viewers: what do you think AMD has planned with this architecture, and what do you like and/or dislike about what your speculation would mean?