The title says it all. Chinese magazine Bloomberg recently discovered plans of AMD to outsource chip manufacturing. Most likely, this move would be done to reduce capital expenditure. AMD has already been testing outsourcing with IBM, and is now ready to go all the way. This is all part of a strategy Hector Ruiz likes to call "asset light". Nobody on earth other than Ruiz seems to know what, exactly, asset light is, and Ruiz refuses to elaborate upon it at this point.

Enjoy. The little dashes indicate unavailable data, and the asterisks indicate unconfirmed data (which should still be reasonably accurate).Please follow the source link for a chart of the current speculated clocks and/or specifications.

Things are definitely looking up for AMD, especially if this little rumor turns out to be true. ASUS just might have placed a very large order of AMD Sempron CPUs. If ASUS did, in fact, buy a bunch of Semprons, it would be a sign that ASUS is trying to get AMD some market recognition, and that AMD is going to get some revenue this fiscal quarter. These Semprons would most likely find themselves in EeePCs, especially considering ASUS announced plans to make more EeePCs.

According to several graphics manufacturers, the first midrange cards from NVIDIA's GeForce 9 series will start finding themselves on market shelves on February 21st. Please take this with a grain of salt, as the old saying goes, because NVIDIA refused to comment on this, citing that they cannot comment on unreleased products. Keep in mind, also, that only a few makers will be pushing out GeForce 9 cards on the 21st. The early birds will price their cards around US$169-189 MSRP, pushing the cards they are replacing (8600GTS) down to US$139-149 MSRP. For those of you who would like an introduction to the 9600 series...

The 9600 GT adopts a 65nm process and is manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The GPU sees an increase in processing units, 64, and memory bus width, 256-bit, over previous 8600 GTS cards, 32 and 128-bit. The GPU's performance should see an increase of over 40% compared to the 8600 GTS. The new GPU also introduces Dual-Streaming Decode technology which allows two high-definition image decoding processes to be performed at the same time and provides picture in picture (PIP) functionality.

It's apparently the season for oddball game pitches. Except, this time, the game pitch has already been accepted and is in development. Publisher Mastiff recently took up the concept for a game that will be called "Major League Eating", based off of what some call America's favorite past time. The game itself sounds like something out of a 7-year old's dream. The contest of the "world's greatest gurgitory athletes" will play much like many other fighting games, such as Mortal Kombat. However, instead of using swords and fists, the aforementioned athletes will attack and defend using "burps, belches, and mustard gas", all while making sure that they get their fair share of munchies. Mastiff's announcement did not mention any timeframe for release, or finalize any platforms.

As Neoseeker puts it, "even 3D Realms didn't believe" the latest rumors of an upcoming Duke Nukem Forever release. For those of you who don't know, there was a rumor going around that 3DRealms was planning on sending out a retail version of Duke Nukem Forever within 2008. While geeks and true fans of the series had warm smiles on their faces, alarm bells went off at 3DRealms HQ. 3DRealms was very quick in eliminating false hope, and says, with a hint of disgust, that Duke Nukem Forever is still on the "when it's done" release timeframe. While there are still a lot of months left in 2008, it's very unlikely that we're going to see any hint of Duke Nukem Forever for quite some time. Release platforms have not been announced or finalized.

Tech magazine PC Inpact claims to have the exact Windows release dates, so it is my duty to tell them to you like they are. If this source is correct, we will be seeing Windows Vista SP1 by February 18, and the streamlined Windows XP SP3 by March 23.

The incredibly lucrative, popular and successful Guitar Hero franchise, at this point owned by Activision, left gamers happy and craving an encore. Activision is more than happy to provide it, and confirmed a Guitar Hero IV before Guitar Hero III was even out the door. Activision, at this point, has no comment about what exactly is in Guitar Hero IV, other than the fact that it will be there. Fortunately, there are other ways of attaining such information as who will be in Guitar Hero IV. UK band "The Answer" recently posted a press release boasting the honor of one of their songs being in the fourth Guitar Hero. According to the press release, The Answer's single "Never Too Late" will be featured somewhere in the game, which should be released by the end of this year, if everything goes well. If not, well, there's always next year. We'll keep you posted.

Sony to Split PlayStation 3 Into Several SKUs

While Sony has all but confirmed that they are killing off the 80GB PlayStation3, there has been little news as far as what will be replacing it. Fortunately for the consumer, rumor has it that Sony has a plethora of options as far as what to replace the 80GB PlayStation3 with. Unfortunately for the consumer, nothing is final yet, as far as what Sony will be replacing the 80GB PS3 with. Sony does, however, acknowledge that 2 PS3 models is not enough. Hence, we are likely to see two or three new PlayStation3 models when the 80GB model is officially dumped. However, knowing Sony, the only thing separating SKUs might be something as simple as colors.

Lately, most people don't know what to think about the PlayStation3. There's rumors going around that it's getting smaller, and there are rumors that a model with an enormous hard drive is going to arrive. A conference call leaked from GameStop via IGN confirms the latter rumor. It would seem as though Sony is no longer making 80GB PS3s, and is instead focusing on making a PlayStation3 with a larger hard drive. A 120GB PS3 is coming to replace it, and will ship with a Dual Shock 3 controller standard. Considering that two independent retailers and a reliable "tipster" all confirm the same thing, we may be looking at a 120GB PS3 soon after all.

The launch date of the elusive GeForce 9800 series, which will once again steal the thunder from AMD, remains up in smoke. However, NVIDIA did confirm one fact: they will be showing off their new hardware over at CeBIT this upcoming March. At this point, only Albatron is confirming their booth at CeBIT, but you should expect several more booths to pop up confirming their 9800-laden spot at CeBIT.

Some interesting tidbits trickled their way back from CES 2008: Sony may be planning a new PlayStation3. This particular version of the PlayStation3 would be lighter, thinner, and prettier. This move comes as no surprise, when looking at Sony's past. The original PlayStation ended up as a very tiny PSOne. The PlayStation2 was once as large as the original PlayStation, and now is even smaller than the PSOne. The PSP underwent a similar transformation over the summer.

If this rumor is true, chances are we'll find the 160GB hard drive inside the slimmer PlayStation3.

AMD recently unveiled plans to put out R680, RV635 and RV620 chips, which would power high-end, mid-range and budget cards, respectively. While this is all well and good, AMD said that the anticipated R700 series of graphics chips would not be put out until at least 2009. This decision will hopefully give AMD a chance to return to profitability. The long wait for a new graphics family will also give AMD more time to ensure that they're putting out a high-quality product that will dominate the market. During the event that this was discovered at, AMD also put out some details of the upcoming Leo platform. For more about the Leo platform, please check the source link.

Nintendo is proud to claim the crown of fastest-selling consoles this November, and they can't seem to keep a good stock in stores, creating a huge demand for the tiny white consoles. However, new research may stop that trend cold. Some pest control professionals discovered something uncanny regarding the Wii: it attracts cockroaches "better than a four-week old pizza." Of course, this sounds absolutely preposterous, considering that the cockroaches do not have the most attuned hearing glands. However, the Wii is known to put out "air and ground vibrations", which in turn suck the cockroaches out of hiding just like that aforementioned four-week old pizza. This research has yet to be confirmed by anyone other than the independent laboratory that came to this conclusion.

While the G92-based 8800GTS is on track for a December 11th release, and NVIDIA three-way SLI will be released at a similar time, neither will be compatible with the other. It would seem as though NVIDIA is trying to keep three-way SLI an exclusive club for the more expensive offerings from the graphics giant. At this point, only the 8800GTX and 8800Ultra are confirmed to work with three-way SLI, and there is the possibility that the 8800GT will be able to use three-way SLI. While three-way SLI may be possible through software rendering at some later point in time, chances are it will be slow and buggy. The main giveaway for the lack of three-way SLI is the lack of a second SLI bridge connector on the 8800GT.

If all goes well, and NVIDIA does not have to delay anything, expect to see the following technologies on the following dates:

• NVIDIA Triple-SLI: December 10th 6AM PST
• NVIDIA 780i: December 17th 6AM PST

S.T.A.L.K.E.R to Arrive on Xbox 360 Soon; Sequel 'Clear Sky' In Development

This year's 'most delayed game', S.T.A.L.K.E.R., is rumored to be making it's way over to the Xbox 360 console. GSC Gameworld, who created S.T.A.L.K.E.R, finally were able to attain a license from Microsoft to create Xbox 360 games. Instead of a pure re-coding, S.T.A.L.K.E.R on the Xbox 360 will most likely be a port. However, the license GSC Gameworld has allows them to make more than just one Xbox 360 game. When announcing the license, GSC Gameworld also hinted at a prequel-sequel, code-named "Clear Sky". You can expect to see more of Clear Sky next year, and expect to see it on the Xbox 360 around 2010.

When NVIDIA Released the GeForce 7950GX2, it was snatched up by hardware enthusiasts hoping to get their hands on the first quad-GPU solution ever. The result was buggy, glitched, and not too much better than a dual card solution. However, times have changed, and technology has improved. NVIDIA is touting Triple SLI, while AMD's Crossfire X allows for four independent graphics cards to run in one system. To counter the upcoming AMD HD 3870X2, NVIDIA may be working on re-visiting Quad SLI the same way they did last time: by sandwiching two PCBs into one physical card, eliminating the possibility of replacing stock cooling.

While the current RV670 chips are selling like hotcakes, AMD is working on putting out mid-range and low-end parts for those market segments. The successor to the HD 2600 series, according to graphics card manufacturers, will be called the HD 3600 series (big surprise). The 3600 series will come in two versions, an XT model and a Pro model. The XT will be clocked at 800MHz, and the Pro will be clocked at 600MHz. Both will be attached to 128-bit VRAM, which will run at an unknown clock speed. The Pro will have GDDR2, while the XT will have GDDR3. Both will support DirectX10.1, and the micro-architecture itself is codenamed "RV635". The RV635 should be launched with the RV620, the successor to the HD 2400 series. The RV620 should be dubbed the HD 3400 series.

At NVIDIA's recent Editors Day, NVIDIA tried pretty hard to show just how awesome they think the 8800GT is. To do this, they took two computers, put an 8800GT in one, a 2900XT on the other, paired both to a 30" HP monitor that runs at a native 2560x1600 resolution, and tried to get both to play an HD-DVD. The 2900XT, according to NVIDIA, could not play any HD content, and was limited to 1920x1200. The incriminating slide is below. However, AMD was very prompt in their rebuttal. While the 8800GT can display HD content in a resolution higher than 1920x1200, none of the other 8800 cards can. The 8800GTX and Ultra, which are more powerful than the 8800GT and much more expensive, are limited to single-key HDCP, limiting the resolution and playback to 1920x1200. AMD then put an HD-DVD in the drive of a test system with an HD 3850, plugged it into a monitor capable of displaying a 2560x1600 resolution, and watched the movie in full screen with full hardware acceleration. AMD was also able to achieve full-screen playback on a test system with 2 HD 2900XTs.

The Vice President of Blizzard, the esteemed creator of such popular games as World of Warcraft and Starcraft, recently divulged some information about Starcraft 2. The already famous sequel to Starcraft has already seen a multiplayer beta at BlizzCon, and has supposedly been in development since Summer 2003. The Vice President divulged in a forum post that Blizzard was putting plenty of focus on the development of Starcraft 2. Considering how long the game has been in development, as well as the amount of attention Starcraft 2 is receiving inside Blizzard, public betas and demos for Starcraft 2 may be "just around the bend".

While AMD is working very hard to ensure the RV670 launch will be a success, we're hearing very little about the alleged "R680" graphics card. According to AMD's partners, R680 is indeed a real AMD graphics card that is currently in development. At this point, it is supposedly a dual-RV670 solution, and we may be seeing it in retail channels before Christmas. We'll keep you posted.

Someone on XtremeSystems recently got their hands on two AMD HD 2900GTs, and proceeded to overclock them, put them in the same system as an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700, cooled everything with a labyrinth of heatsinks and fans, and benchmarked the whole system. Have a look at the scores below:

Regardless of theoretical performance, the upcoming AMD RD790 and Athlon 64 Black Edition line of processors certainly are overclockable and feature-laden. On nothing but air cooling, MSI testers were able to get an RD790 chipset to a remarkable 510MHz FSB speed. Once the RD790 is released with PCI Express 2, CrossFire X, and support for goodies such as Phenom, we will see one seriously good platform.

There has been a lot of hype surrounding both the AMD Phenom X4 and the AMD RD790. Testers combined both, violated a couple NDAs, and pitted them against current offerings from Intel in one of the most stressing games of all time: Crysis. The chart, if true, speaks for itself...