Playing find the bottleneck

Subject: Processors | November 16, 2005 - 12:02 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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X-bit Labs wanted to know if you really need a 2+Ghz A64 as a minimum for the newest games.  If the CPU is really slowing down the performance of the graphics card, will a top of the line FX chip do anything noticable to the performance?  They took 13 chips, a spread between Intel and AMD, both top of the line, and bottom of the barrel, and benchmarked at high quality.  This is part 2, part one is just below, and involves 28 CPU's at various qualities.

"We decided to write an update to our

Pinless Socket F

Subject: Processors | November 10, 2005 - 11:50 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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There is a link on PC Stats leading to pictures of an upcoming socket F AMD server processor.

It's translated from Dutch here.

"Tweakers.net have some leaked photos of what is apparently a new  AMD Opteron Socket F  server mainboard, and in particular its LGA1207 pinless processor interface.

$200 Opteron at 3Ghz

Subject: Processors | November 9, 2005 - 01:39 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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A couple of PimpRig forum members have discovered a cheap chip with great overclocking potential.  Read carefully, and decide if you want to try to get this CPU onto your gift list.

"Again we have one of those special low dollar "Gifts" this time from AMD, the OPTERON... just in

time for Christmas! "But Opteron is a 940 pin CPU for servers only" you say?

Smarter Cell-phones

Subject: Processors | November 3, 2005 - 06:11 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The Cell processor has escaped from your console, and is headed straight for your cellphone.  Read all about it at CoolTechZone.

"Back when Cell launched, IBM, Sony and Toshiba emphasized it to be very scalable with a

capability of selecting as little as one PPE (out of eight) to scale the chip accordingly. If Sony

is really able to miniaturize Cell, it would make life tremendously difficult for Intel with it's

fairly dated XScale processor.

Secret Decoder Ring for your A64

Subject: Processors | October 31, 2005 - 02:18 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Overclocked Inside wants to make sure you know everything you can about your A64 processor.  To that end, they've set up an interactive translator, where you enter your model number (ex.

Comparing Processor Price & Performance

Subject: Processors | October 26, 2005 - 12:03 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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ExtremeTech takes on a daunting task in this CPU review on performance versus cost.  It covers quite a few AMD and Intel chips, and puts them to work on a lot of different benchmarks.  There are even some odd surprises, like the 3700+.

"When you build a PC, you're often making a series of delicate trade-offs. After all, most of us

have budget limits on any PC we build, and making the most of that budget is key.

1 in 5 PC's uses an AMD processor

Subject: Processors | October 25, 2005 - 11:55 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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AMD is showing it's strengths in the market, with just over 20% of desktops, and 17.8% of all PC's globally being based around an AMD processor.  With their ~25% price reduction on most CPU's just before the christmas season, that number could be different by Q1, 2006.

"Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) surpassed a 20% share of the desktop PC-use CPU market worldwide in the third quarter of 2005, its first time since 2001, according to Mercury Research.

AMD Turion 64 Price Cuts

Subject: Processors | October 24, 2005 - 12:08 PM | Jonathan Hung
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DigiTimes is reporting that AMD has cut prices on their Turion 64 processors. Their chart shows the classic "Trickle-Down" effect in pricing with the ML-40 now priced like a ML-37, the ML-37 priced like a ML-32 etc. AMD's Turion 64 laptops are gaining momentum in the market and these price cuts will certainly help.

On the same topic, we have just posted a new review on Compaq's latest Turion 64 laptop.

AMD's new Socket M2 spotted in the wild

Subject: Processors | October 21, 2005 - 01:05 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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[H]ard|OCP has posted 2 pictures of an upcoming AMD Socket M2 processor.  One is of the pinout, and one an actual part of a boot screen.  You know you want to see it!

"Here are two pictures of AMD's working Socket M2 processor. This particular unit is running at

2.4GHz. You will notice the "extra" M2 pin bringing the total pin count up to 940 (from the

current 939).

I'll see your X2 3800+ and raise your FSB by ...

Subject: Processors | October 20, 2005 - 01:24 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Neoseeker pushes an X2 3800+ to the farthest limits they could manage.  Read the article to see what kind of overclocking results they managed to get.

"The 3800x2 overclocked suprisingly well; I am quite certain that I would have been able to push

it further with a better cooling solution - and I may try doing just that in a few weeks.

For the best performance I was able to achieve, I ran the processor at 1.5V, the memory at 2.7V

with 2.5-4-4-8-2T timings.

The Silicon Jungle ... or ... Where's Waldo?

Subject: Processors | October 12, 2005 - 03:57 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Engineers, like most humans, are weird, and they can get bored.  So what do they do when they get bored?  Would you believe they etch micron scale icons and cartoons into processors, and other integrated circuits?  CNet has a story up with Micheal Davidson, who runs a website called the Silicon Jungle, a collection of all the examples he has found.

"Davidson suspected at first that the tiny design he saw

Athlon64 4000+ Overclocking

Subject: Processors | October 4, 2005 - 12:17 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Neoseeker tries out the AMD64 4000+, pairing it with DDR600.  They managed to hit 2.7 GHz from the 2.4 it ships at, and they include hints for reaching it yourself. 

"The 4000+ is a very good overclocker - or at least the part we had a chance to play with. As you can see from our charts the performance is very nice when the processor is overclocked. I ran the processor at 1.5V, the memory at 2.7V with 2.5-4-4-8-2T timings and the HT multiplier at 3x.

The Power Of Two A64 4000+'s In One Chip & More

Subject: Processors | September 22, 2005 - 01:20 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The Athlon64 X2 4800+ processor that PCStats got to test is based on the 'ACBWE' stepping.  It's dual core, runs at 2.4Ghz, with 128KB of L1 and 1MB of L2 cache.  Both cores share a single 128 bit DDR memory controller and it's defaulted to run at 1.3 V.  Read the full review to see just how much more powerful than the competition AMD's newest offering really is.

"If you want the best processor on the market there is little doubt t

Fred Weber Leaves AMD

Subject: Processors | September 7, 2005 - 07:23 PM | Ryan Shrout
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This is surprisingly big news coming from AMD today.  A press release hit my email box just today that discusses Phil Hester, the new CTO of AMD and mentioned very briefly is the "departing CTO Fred Weber."  Fred being the primary designer of the K8 architecture that has brought AMD such success, I can't help but wonder why AMD would have let him go and how this will affect future products.

Prior to joining AMD, Hester was the founder and CEO of Austin, Texas based Newisys

Dual-Core AMD Opteron(TM) Processors Power New Workstation Series From Fujitsu Siemens Computers

Subject: Processors | August 30, 2005 - 06:52 AM | Joe White
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MUNICH, GERMANY -- August 30, 2005 --AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced that Fujitsu Siemens Computers, a leading European IT provider, is offering a new series of workstations based on the AMD Opteron™ processor. The CELSIUS V830 supports the Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor Models 275, 270 and 265, which offer the best overall performance and performance-per-watt available in the market¹.

AMD64 Technology Garners More Than 120 Industry Awards

Subject: Processors | August 30, 2005 - 06:52 AM | Joe White
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SUNNYVALE, CALIF. -- August 30, 2005 --AMD (AMD: NYSE) today announced the AMD64 platform, the gold standard for 64-bit computing, has earned more than 120 industry awards globally since the launch of the AMD Opteron™ and AMD Athlon™ 64 processors in 2003. Accolades from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Business Awards, Network Magazine and Microsoft TechEd top AMD's list of most recent honors.

HyperThreading Goes the Way of the Dodo

Subject: Processors | August 23, 2005 - 06:32 PM | Ryan Shrout
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More info from IDF for you at the Inquirer; it looks like Intel's much touted HyperThreading technology is NOT going to be implemented into their next generation core technology.  What?  You mean HT isn't all it was cracked up to be???

THERE WAS ONE THING that did not make the cut for the Merom cores, and for some reason Intel isn't shouting about it.

More on New Intel Architecture

Subject: Processors | August 23, 2005 - 03:10 PM | Ryan Shrout
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Charlie over at The Inquirer has a bit more information and analysis on the new Intel architecture for you to look over. 

The basic structure is a four issue wide core, without going into specifics, they said the Merom cores can keep up a sustained 4 ops from issue to retire. This probably has a bunch of caveats, addenda and asterisks, but it is clear that wider is the course for the day. Each pipe is a full pipe versus the old P6 derived simple and complex pipe structures.