AMD: 6-Core Istanbul Available in June

AMD plans to ship the six-core Opteron in May to boost profitability. Intel says that its processors are still better.
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AMD began its sixth anniversary of the Operton with the launch of two low-power Opteron EE chips, targeted towards cloud computing or other dense server environments. The company finished up the day with even better news: the official announcement of AMD’s six-core “Istanbul” processor, set for a May release.For those of you thinking you’ve suddenly missed out on a few months of your life, don’t panic. Originally, the 45-nm Istanbul had been scheduled to ship later in the year, but speaking to financial analysts earlier this week, AMD’s president and chief exec, Dirk Meyer, said that the company decided to "pull in" the timetable. Yesterday afternoon AMD held a news conference to discuss its server roadmap and the company released additional details about Istanbul.AMD claims the soon to be released processor will produce 30 percent more performance than the existing "Shanghai" quad-core processor at the same power requirements and said we can expect to see systems incorporating Istanbul in June. And just because every announcement made in the processor market these days seems to come with its own little piece of soap opera drama, the Register reports that upon hearing the announcement, Intel had this to say:

12-core in 2010, 16-core in 2011

Talk about KAPOW, Batman! AMD revealed that its plans a 12-core Opteron processor in 2010, and a 16-core Opteron in 2011
ZoomWhile celebrating the Opteron processor's sixth anniversary, AMD offered a "glimpse" into the company's server platform roadmap, announcing that it plans to launch the six-core Opteron Istanbu processor in June. Fitting into the same platform as current quad-core Opteron processors, Istanbul will offer a 30-percent performance increase while using the same thermal envelope.However, the company also revealed a few "meatier" Opteron offerings, complete with 12-core and 16-core versions expected to ship in 2010 and 2011 respectively. AMD said that a shift in consumer value has pushed the high-end server market into offering performance, expandability, and virtualization through more cores and scalability, thus resulting in the processors set to hit the server market within the next two years.In 2010, AMD will launch the Opteron 6000 series for 2P and 4P servers, debuting on the G34 socket with the Maranello platform. The 6000 is geared towards performance and expandability, best suited for virtualization, databases, and HTC. Not only will the Opteron 6000 series be based on a 45nm 8-core (2 socket) and 12-core (4 socket) Magny-Cours run, but also offer 4 channels of U/RDDR-3, and up to 12 DIMMs per socket.2010 will also bring along the Opteron 4000 series for the 1P and 2P server market, using the San Marino platform along with AMD's 45nm 4-core and 6-core Lisbon processor. AMD said that its 4000 series is ideal for power efficiency and value, geared for cloud computing, HPC, file and print sharing, and more. The San Marino platform utilizes the C32 socket, 2 channels of U/RDDR-3, and up to 4 DIMMs per socket.As for 2011, AMD is expected to release two processors for both platforms. 32nm 12 and 16-core Interlagos processors will be available for the 6000 series, based on the "Bulldozer" core; it too will fit right in with the Maranello platform. Additionally, the 4000 series will also receive a CPU upgrade with the 32nm 6- and 8-core "Valencia" processor, fully compatible with the San Marino platform.According to charts provided by AMD, the Interlagos16-core processor will nearly triple in floating point performance when compared to the Istanbul 6-core processor released in June; the Magny-Cours 12-core processor, released next year, will only offer double the performance. When compared to the quad core released in 2008, the Magny-Cours 12-core processor will more than double the integer performance; the "Interlagos" 16-core processor will triple the performance.Still, despite the charts and all the boasting, seeing is believing, and we'll just have to wait until next year to see if charts and figures turn out to be real hands-on numbers. However, with all this processing power, desktop owners may feel left in the stone ages. Try not to worry: the Bulldozer processor will also fall into mainstream consumer's hands sometime in 2011 as well.

Core i5 Cranks up to 3.6 GHz?

Hkpc.net is reporting that Intel has optimized the processor's Turbo Mode, cranking up the clock speed to 3.6 GHz
ZoomSet for a launch in Q3 2009, Intel's 45nm Core i5 (Lynnfield) processor will come in three flavors: 2.66 GHz, 2.8 GHz, and 2.93 GHz. All three versions will feature four cores (4 threads for the 2.66 GHz version, 8 threads for the other two), 8 MB of L3 cache, a TDP of 95 watts, and will fit snug into the LGA-1156 socket. Additionally, all three versions feature 731 million transistors, an integrated DD3 memory controller, an integrated PCI-Express graphics controller, and support for Turbo Boost. As of today, Intel plans to price the 2.66 GHz version around $196 USD; the 2.96 GHz Core i5 will cost around $562 USD.However, according to a report over on the Chinese website HKEPC, Intel optimized the Nehalem core as well as its Turbo Mode technology, thus giving the Core i5 a significant 5-step boost while staying within the 95 watt TDP. When set in turbo, Intel's 2.66 GHz version will speed up to 3.2 GHz, whereas the 2.8 GHz version will boost to 3.46 GHz and the 2.93 GHz to 3.6 GHz. The site also said that the two current Core i7 processors--specifically the 2.66 GHz and 2.93 GHz versions originally released in November 2008--will climb two steps as well while remaining within the 130 watt TDP.HKEPC also confirmed that the Clarksfield quad-core processor for mobile devices will feature Hyper-Threading technology and a TDP of 35 watts; it was speculated that the processor would require a TDP of 45 or 55 watts. Additionally, the processor will come in three flavors--1.6 GHz, 1.73 GHz, and 2.0 GHz--and will also be available in Q3 2009. However, unlike the core i5, the three Clarksfield processors will be a bit more costly, ranging from $364 USD to $1054 USD.

AMD Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition Review

We have seen one week ago the amazing performance of the new AMD Phenom II X4 955 which was clocked at 3.2GHz. It beat the Intel Core 2 Quad architecture most of the time and in many cases it was able to outperform the lower-end Core i7 920. Considering the performance and the amazing price tag, I have seen debates on whether the X4 955 is a mid-range or high-end processor. I would classify it more as high-end, however What seemed to make unanimity though is that the Phenom II X3 710 and 720 belong to the mid-range.
But what does AMD offer in the lower-end market? The Athlon series has been present on the market since a long time ago, ten years to be exact. At the same time this year, Advanced Micro Devices reaches its 40 years of existence. That is definitely something to celebrate. To do so, it launches a new processor: The Athlon X2 7850. It is based on the 65nm K10 architecture codenamed 'Kuma' and comprises 2MB of L3 cache and is clocked at 2.8GHz, making it the fastest Athlon Kuma. Obviously it is a Black Edition so it also features an unlocked multiplier.
The Athlon X2 7850 has a suggested retail price of $69, however it seems Newegg will sell it for $74. This makes a really cheap solution for an HTPC and even a low-cost gaming rig. Here is a list of processors in that price range, taken from Newegg:
Athlon 64 X2 5400+ 2.8GHz - $70
Intel Pentium E5200 2.5GHz - $70
Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition 2.8GHz - $74
Athlon 64 X2 5800+ 3.0GHz - $75
Intel Pentium E5300 2.6GHz - $79
Clearly, the K10 Athlon has the power to win over its competitors. I feel the Intel E5300 might be close to it, but it is sold for a few bucks more! Furthermore, an entry-level motherboard without integrated graphics costs as low as $55.

Mini Palm Pre, Pre Centro in the works

There's been a ton of Palm Pre chatter this week, leading many people to think that its launch is imminent. However, the latest rumors don't revolve around the Pre but rather future Palm Web OS devices.
According to TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, he talked to one of his "better sources", who revealed that Palm is "very far along" on a second Pre-like device that will ship as early as the fall.
TechCrunch didn't have many specifics on the device, other than it would be smaller in size, leading some to think that it might forgo a physical keyboard. Also, it's not meant to be a next-generation Web OS smartphone. Instead, it will simply offer customers another option.
Also in the world of rumors, Boy Genius Report has a very blurry photo of what it is calling Palm's next Web OS smartphone--a device similar to the Palm Centro in design but obviously, running the new OS.
Engadget Mobile actually found a clearer picture of the smartphone, as well as a name and a list of specs. Dubbed the Palm Eos, the quad-band mobile will offer 4GB of storage, HSDPA support, Bluetooth 2.1, and a 2-megapixel camera, among other things. It also looks to be quick thin and light at 4.3 inches tall by 2.1 inches wide by 0.4 inch thick and weighs 3.5 ounces. Engadget seems to think that the Eos, also known by its codename Castle, is AT&T bound and will go for US$349 before rebates. If the Eos is meant to be the successor to the Centro, which was initially offered at US$99 with contract, we really hope that price is wrong or there are some serious carrier discounts.
While all these rumors seem thin on details, the idea of a mini Palm Pre or Pre Centro isn't completely off the mark. Palm said that the Pre was only the first in a family of devices. Plus, the whole idea behind the Palm Web OS was to create a platform that offered enough flexibility to meet the different needs and lifestyles of its customers. With that in place, it only makes sense that Palm brings new form factors to market. Also as TechCrunch and PhoneDog point out, this is definitely an area where Palm could get ahead of Apple.

Win 7 Desktop Graphics Loves Multi-core CPUs

Graphics performance is one of the most scrutinized part of modern computer systems. The Windows 7 team is working on boosting the upcoming operating system’s graphics performance.
Here on Tom’s Hardware we like to measure graphics performance by running 3D benchmarks but gaming is only relevant to a small segment of Windows users. Even those of us who spend hours playing games spend more of our time in the 2D desktop UI.
For that reason, it makes sense for the Microsoft software engineers to devote a significant part of their time trying to make the desktop environment as snappy as possible. The challenge for Windows is that it must take into account a countless combination and wide range of hardware configurations and try to make it all work.
We detailed in a previous article the lengths at which the team has gone to improve the response time of the start button. Now in the latest Engineering Windows 7 blog, the team has revealed a couple more changes it has made to the graphics system that will make working in Windows better.
One problem that some Windows users experience (prior to Windows 7), is slight pauses or even freezes. Using testing data, Microsoft analyzed thousands of reports where the tester experienced a frozen desktop anywhere from 100msec to several seconds.
The way Windows Vista does it
“The type of issues ranged from an antivirus blocking disk access for all applications while updating itself on the vendor’s website to an application doing network access from a UI thread,” explained Ameet Chitre, a program manager on Microsoft’s Desktop Graphics feature team.
Microsoft found that a large portion of ‘freezes’ came from multiple applications waiting around for one another to be finished with the GDI (Graphics Device Interface) before each could update the desktop with a new render.
In Windows Vista, a single application could hold a system-wide lock on the GDI, basically creating a bottleneck, especially if there are other applications waiting in line to access the graphics stack. While such a design decision may have been okay in the past, it’s been re-engineered for Windows 7.
The way Windows 7 does it
“The solution to the problem was therefore to reduce the lock contention and improve concurrency by re-architecting the internal synchronization mechanism through which multiple applications can reliably render at the same time,” Chitre wrote. “Contention due to the global exclusive lock is avoided by implementing a number of fine-grained locks which are not exclusive but aid parallelism.”
The shift in architecture adds a small overhead cost when only a single application is accessing the GDI at a time, but trade off to aid in multitasking is worth it.

Intel Facing Huge Fines from European Union

Those European Union Antitrust regulators are having a busy week, folks, and today reports suggest the EU could impose its biggest ever market-dominance related fine on Intel.
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Early in March we reported that Intel could be facing fines from the European Union in relation to the company’s pricing model. It seems the European Union has a big problem with the way Intel has been doing business, in particular rebates to computer makers and retailers. The European Commission said Intel’s pricing practices were an attempt to drive AMD out of the market and was set to rule on whether or not the company should be fined. The New York Times today reports that the size of that penalty is to be discussed by representatives from 27 European Union governments in early May. However, we wouldn’t be so jacked up about the money itself. Sure, it could be the EU’s biggest fine handed out ever, but previous reports suggest that the maximum fine allowed would be 10 percent of Intel’s revenue, which while unpleasant, wouldn’t exactly clean the company out. The New York Times cites legal experts as saying Intel’s fine could reach roughly €1 billion, or $1.3 billion. Intel’s annual sales were $37.6 billion in 2008. However, there is a distinct possibility that the EU could impose new rules in order to remedy Intel's actions. Former Commission official Michael Tscherny hinted at just that last month when he spoke to Reuters and said the European Commission could destroy Intel’s pricing model.Intel denies charges related to rebates offered as long as manufacturers agreed to obtain the majority of their processors from Intel as well as paying them to either to delay or cancel the launch of AMD based products. The company maintains that its actions were within legal boundaries.