AMD unveiled the first batch of Athlon X4 CPUs in the socket FM2 package, based on its latest Richland silicon. These chips stop short of being labeled APUs, for they lack integrated graphics. You need a discrete graphics card. Unlike its previous generation "Trinity" silicon-based Athlon X4 CPUs, AMD unveiled a few parts with high clock speeds, some even with unlocked base-clock multipliers, targeting consumers who want to build socket FM2-based gaming PCs, but don't intend to use the integrated graphics.

At the top of the stack is the Athlon X4 760K Black Edition (AD760KWOHLBOX). This chip offers 3.80 GHz of clock speed, and 4.10 GHz maximum Turbo Core frequency. Despite its lack of the graphics core, its TDP is rated on par with the A10-6800K, at 100W. In its consumer-friendly PIB (processor-in-box) package, the X4-760K Black Edition is priced around US $135. A variant of this exact chip, which lacks unlocked BClk multiplier, is named just Athlon X4 760K (the "K" here can be misleading), and is priced around $100. AMD has other quad-core and dual-core Athlon parts based on the "Richland" silicon planned for later.

With its focus on on-demand entertainment at the expense of gaming prowess, Xbox One didn't impress gamers at E3, who instead flocked to Amazon to pre-order their PlayStation 4, which not only features faster hardware, that could translate to better visuals in gaming, but is also a whole 20 percent cheaper ($499 vs. $399). At E3, Microsoft tried to pull a fast one. It set up several gaming stations allegedly powered by Xbox One, where gamers could play unreleased Xbox One games using the new Xbox One controller, just to get a feel of how rich and smooth the graphics really are. Some of them fell for it, others didn't. When these peeping toms didn't find the screens wired to an Xbox One main unit, they yanked open the cupboards below, only to find a full-fledged Windows 7 gaming PC.

How full-fledged you ask? Keen observers across the forumscape made out a rig powered by an Intel LGA2011 processor, which could at least be a Core i7-3820, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 700 series reference design graphics card, which could at least be a GeForce GTX 770. Such a system would obviously give you a rich and smooth gaming experience.

It appears that the recently announced FX-9590 and FX-9370 processors will be available through system integrators only, with no plans for retail at this time. In a discussion with the folks at The Tech Report, an unnamed AMD source was quoted saying the two new processors will be "available from system integrators globally beginning this summer," while adding that "AMD is considering all options" when asked about retail. During the same discussion the rumored "~220W" TDP was confirmed, which could hint to the reason why these chips might not see retail, requiring advanced cooling solutions, expensive and difficult to integrate into a typical retail package. The discussion also revealed the base clocks of both chips, in the FX-9370's case it being 4.4 Ghz while the FX-9590 boasting a base clock of 4.7 Ghz, in both cases Turbo Boost upping the clocks by 300 Mhz, to 4.7 Ghz and 5 Ghz, respectively.

AMD today announced exclusive collaboration with Square Enix to optimize "THIEF" for the Graphics Core Next architecture in select AMD Radeon graphics processors, as well as the x86 and graphics architectures featured in AMD A-Series APUs. Developed in conjunction with the AMD Gaming Evolved program, "THIEF" will extensively leverage the advanced capabilities of AMD Radeon graphics processors, including AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology for panoramic gaming, AMD CrossFire multi-GPU technology for supreme performance, and state-of-the-art DirectX 11 rendering for pristine image quality.

"The 'THIEF' franchise has a storied history that we are proud to join in this latest installment," said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, Graphics Business Unit, AMD. "We are even more pleased to work so closely with their development team to realize the vision for these games with the incredible gaming performance of a PC powered by AMD Radeon graphics. And as the exclusive hardware partner for 'THIEF,' we continue to demonstrate that the best experience for gamers and developers lives at AMD with the Gaming Evolved program."

AMD today unveiled its most powerful member of the legendary AMD FX family of CPUs, the world's first commercially available 5 GHz CPU processor, the AMD FX-9590. These 8-core CPUs deliver new levels of gaming and multimedia performance for desktop enthusiasts. AMD FX-9000 Series CPUs will be available initially in PCs through system integrators.

"At E3 this week, AMD demonstrated why it is at the core of gaming," said Bernd Lienhard, corporate vice president and general manager, Client Products Division at AMD. "The new FX 5 GHz processor is an emphatic performance statement to the most demanding gamers seeking ultra-high resolution experiences including AMD Eyefinity technology. This is another proud innovation for AMD in delivering the world's first commercially available 5 GHz processor."

It was only a matter of time after AMD's launch of the more energy-efficient Radeon HD 7990 "Malta" graphics card, that Sapphire would design a liquid-cooled Atomic variant. The card is based on a custom-design 12-layer PCB, ships with factory-overclocked speeds, and uses a high-grade VRM with 12-phase vGPU, 4-phase VDDCI, and 2-phase MVDD, which draw power from three 8-pin PCIe power connectors. The card is cooled by a full-coverage water-block, and features an aluminum back-plate to cool memory chips on the reverse side of the PCB. The card features 6 GB of total memory, 3 GB per GPU.

On the demo system, the full-coverage block was seen connected to a conventional-looking liquid-cooling loop, and not something closed-loop/AIO. Coolant tubes from the card run to a conventional-looking reservoir, a 240 x 120 mm radiator, and a pump that occupies a 5.25-inch drive bay, and features a pressure gauge. We're not sure if the Sapphire Atomic-branded FB blocks for the CPU and chipset are part of the package, but Sapphire has, in the past, given CPU blocks with its Atomic-branded cards. This is one card to watch out for.

While Sapphire's LGA1150 motherboard lineup came across as a little lukewarm, the company more than made up for that with its fleet of motherboards that take advantage of AMD's newest A-series and E-series APUs and SoCs. First, there's the PGS A320M, a micro-ATX motherboard that ships with a FirePro A320 socket FM2 APU pre-installed. Largely identical to an A10-5800K, and based on the "Trinity" micro-architecture, the A320 features FirePro-branded professional graphics that's certified for most modern 3D productivity applications, and can give display output at resolutions as high as 4096 x 2160. The board features one each of DisplayPort 1.2, dual-link DVI-I, and D-Sub display outputs. Other features include eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports, four USB 3.0, gigabit Ethernet (Broadcom controller), and 8-channel HD audio.

Things get interesting with a contraption called IPC-FS1r2A75. This board comes in a proprietary IPC form-factor, features an FS1 rev 2.0 socket, which seats R-series APUs, an embedded AMD Radeon E6000 series GPU based on the Graphics CoreNext arhitecture, with its own dedicated GDDR5 memory on-package, and AMD A75 FCH chipset. The board offers six mini-DisplayPort and four HDMI outputs, two DDR3 SO-DIMM slots, an open-ended PCI-Express 2.0 x4 slot, four mPCIe slots (in stacks of two), five SATA 6 Gb/s ports, six USB 3.0 ports, two gigabit Ethernet connections, and 6-channel audio.

AMD today announced its 2013 Elite A-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) for desktops, codenamed "Richland", which delivers a superior PC solution with increased computational performance, discrete-level graphics and an easy upgrade infrastructure. At COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2013, AMD showcased the complete breadth of its 2013 APU portfolio with the launch of the new Elite A-Series APU for desktops which power a diverse range of OEM systems and feature new generations of software and applications that harness the unrivaled compute power of the 2013 AMD APU product lineup: the fastest AMD APUs ever.

"The new AMD A-Series APU is ideal for desktop PC builders and mainstream gamers wanting outstanding performance for their money, and today AMD delivers an excellent new follow-on to the recently announced mobile lineup," said Bernd Lienhard, corporate vice president and general manager, Client Products Division at AMD. "The combination of high-performance, third-generation desktop APUs with our existing portfolio of low-power, mobile APUs gives us our strongest-ever lineup of products for our customers and our technology partners."

ECS unveiled one of the very few mini-ITX motherboards to ship with an AMD "Kabini" A6-5200. The chip integrates both the APU and FCH, making it a true system-on-chip (SoC). It packs four x86-64 "Jaguar" CPU cores, a Radeon HD 8400 series GPU with 128 stream processors, a dual-channel DDR3 memory controller, and a modern FCH chipset. On the KBN-I, the 28 nm chip is cooled by a small fan-heatsink. The PCB area gained by the single-chip solution is used to create two mPCIe expansion slots, in addition to the PCI-Express 2.0 x16. The board draws power from just a 24-pin ATX connector. Connectivity include two SATA 6 Gb/s ports, 6-channel HD audio, D-Sub and HDMI display outputs, four USB 3.0 ports, and a gigabit Ethernet connection.

Graphics card maker Triplex, which is more prevalent in the Greater China region, unveiled a new single-slot Radeon HD 7850 2GB graphics card that relies on the PCI-Express slot entirely, for power. It lacks any kind of power input. The card is based on an alternate (more expensive to implement) reference design by AMD, which has been sporadically implemented by other AMD partners. An example is this card by AFOX. Unlike AFOX' card, Triplex' lacks power connectors. The card comes with reference clock speeds of 860 MHz core, and 4.80 GHz memory. It packs 1024 stream processors, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB of memory. Sadly, even for buyers in this part of the world, Triplex' card will be sold only in the OEM channel.

Mid-April, we learned that AMD was working on its next "TWKR" chip for overclockers, based on the existing "Vishera" silicon. It turns out it is, and scrapes 5.00 GHz frequency at some unreal TDP levels for a client processor. SweClockers reports that AMD is working on at least two new socket AM3+ FX-series processors to make it competitive against Intel's 4th generation Core series. Among these are the FX-9000, and the FX-8770. The FX-9000 leads the pack with 4.80 GHz out of the box clock speed, and a TurboCore frequency of 5.00 GHz. Clock speeds of the FX-8770, on the other hand, haven't been disclosed. A catch here is the TDP of these chips. Two hundred and twenty Watts! The jump from 3.80 GHz to 4.80 nearly doubled TDP from 125W to 220W. Prices of the two remain under the wraps. AMD plans to unveil the two at E3, sometime between 11th and 13th June.

At Computex, GIGABYTE showed off the first AMD platform motherboard in its coveted G1.Killer series, which targets gamers and overclockers, the G1.Sniper A85X. The board is based on AMD A85X FCH chipset, and comes with out-of-the-box support for AMD A-series "Richland" APUs, including the AMD A10-6800K quad-core APU, with the fastest integrated graphics in market. Built in the narrow ATX form-factor, the G1.Sniper A85X draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, and uses a 6-phase VRM to condition it for the APU.

The FM2 socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, which support up to 64 GB of dual-channel DDR3-3000 MHz memory; and a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot. In addition, the board offers a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, wired to the FCH), three PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and two legacy PCI. The board shines in connectivity, where it offers eight SATA 6 Gb/s internal ports, a combination of DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI display outputs, Creative Sound Core3D audio with user-replaceable OPAMP and audio-grade capacitors, four USB 3.0 ports, and gigabit Ethernet. The board is driven by AMI Aptio UEFI BIOS, backed by GIGABYTE Dual-UEFI redundancy, and the new BIOS interface that made its debut with GIGABYTE's socket LGA1150 motherboards.

The HSA Foundation has released Version 0.95 of its Programmer's Reference Manual. The HSA (Heterogeneous System Architecture) Foundation is a not-for-profit consortium dedicated to developing architecture specifications that unlock the performance and power efficiency of the parallel computing engines found in most modern devices. This is the first output from the HSA Foundation, who have been collaborating on this project since its founding in June 2012. It represents an important step in the development of the HSA Foundation's ecosystem because it enables software partners to develop libraries, tools and middleware and to code high performance kernels.

The Programmer's Reference Manual provides a standardized method of accessing all available computing resources in HSA-compliant systems. This enables a wide range of system resources to cooperate on parallelizable tasks. It has been specifically designed to perform in the most energy efficient way without compromising on performance. The goal is to enable a heterogeneous architecture that is easy to program, opens up new and rich user experiences and improves performance and quality of service, whilst reducing energy consumption.

AMD today unveiled a new family of low power server processors: the AMD Opteron X-Series optimized for scale-out server architectures. The first AMD Opteron X-Series processors, formerly known as "Kyoto," are the highest density, most power-efficient small core x86 processors ever built. The new X1150 and X2150 processors beat the top performing Intel Atom processor on key performance benchmarks, including single thread and throughput performance with superior power-efficiency, twice the cores and L2 cache with a more advanced pipeline architecture, higher integration and support for up to 32 gigabytes of DRAM -- 4x more than the Intel Atom processor.

The AMD Opteron X-Series processors come in two variants. The AMD Opteron X2150, which consumes as little as 11 watts, is the first server APU system-on-a-chip integrating CPU and GPU engines with a high-speed bus on a single die. This enables customers to take advantage of leading-edge AMD Radeon HD 8000 graphics technology for multimedia-oriented server workloads. The AMD Opteron X1150, which consumes as little as 9 watts, is a CPU-only version optimized for general scale-out workloads.

After bagging chip supply deals for all three new-generation consoles -- Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U, things are looking up for AMD. While Wii U uses older-generation hardware technologies, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 use the very latest AMD has to offer -- "Jaguar" 64-bit x86 CPU micro-architecture, and Graphics CoreNext GPU architecture. Chips that run the two consoles have a lot in common, but also a few less-than-subtle differences.

PlayStation 4 chip, which came to light this February, is truly an engineer's fantasy. It combines eight "Jaguar" 64-bit x86 cores clocked at 1.60 GHz, with a fairly well spec'd Radeon GPU, which features 1,156 stream processors, 32 ROPs; and a 256-bit wide unified GDDR5 memory interface, clocked at 5.50 GHz. At these speeds, the system gets a memory bandwidth of 176 GB/s. Memory isn't handled like UMA (unified memory architecture), there's no partition between system- and graphics-memory. The two are treated as items on the same 8 GB of memory, and either can use up a majority of it.

AMD today launched three new additions to its 2013 A-Series and E-Series Mobile Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) lineup -- delivering solutions ideally positioned to address today's evolving PC market with dramatically increased performance and power efficiency, as well as a portfolio of unique user experiences, and superior gaming and graphics:

• The 2013 AMD Elite Mobility APU (formerly codenamed "Temash") -- the world's first 28nm, quad-core x86 system-on-a-chip (SoC) APU designed for touch small form-factor notebooks, tablets, and hybrids 13-inches and below;
• The 2013 AMD Mainstream APU (formerly codenamed "Kabini") -- the first and only quad-core x86 SoC solution for entry-level and small-form factor touch notebooks;
• New, low power versions of the 2013 AMD Elite Performance APU (formerly codenamed "Richland") -- offer the best graphics and compute in a performance APU for premium ultrathin notebooks.

HP today announced the HP ENVY Rove20 mobile All-in-One PC, the company's first mobile All-in-One PC, which frees the desktop PC from the desk and allows families and friends to enjoy a shared entertainment experience with a built-in battery, unique design and advanced touch technology. HP also announced new consumer notebooks, all-in-one PCs and printers that give people more flexibility in how they access and share information. With affordable touch technology and new form factors, HP's new additions provide seamless integration of technology into customers' busy lives.

"Customers are looking for mobility and flexibility in their computing devices to give families new ways to bring generations together," said Ron Coughlin, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer PCs and Consumer Solutions, HP. "HP is evolving to meet our customers' needs by designing next-generation form factors, like the Rove mobile All-in-One PC, which will enable people to connect, share and create in ways they never imagined."

Thermal Solutions specialist GELID Solutions reveals the Rev. 2 GX-7 CPU cooler of its GAMER product line. Engineers at GELID Solutions have upgraded the award-winning GX-7 to the Rev. 2 GX-7 by adding the Slim 12 PL Blue fan and the multi award-winning GC-Extreme thermal compound. Contrary to traditional heat pipe arrangement the Rev. 2 GX-7 offers a special array of heat pipes to take full advantage of all 7 heat pipes heat transfer capacity. Further V-shaped aluminum fins were used in the center of the heat sink to allow airflow to reach the heat sink more evenly. Openings inside of the heat sink and near the heat pipes let fresh-air flow in from the top and the bottom to the zones where normally poorly ventilated and eliminate the creation of hotspots. The unique heat sink shape supports dual fans.

AMD today launched the AMD Radeon HD 8970M, the world's fastest notebook graphics card. The AMD Radeon HD 8970M graphics processing unit (GPU) delivers the best mobile gaming experience imaginable to gamers, powered by AMD's award-winning Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture.

"Today's gaming notebooks need a graphics card that is fast, powerful and energy-efficient," said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, Graphics Business Unit, AMD. "The AMD Radeon HD 8970M GPU is the perfect combination of technologies, blending performance, immersive features and an extensive battery life that delivers an unrivaled gaming experience, even on the go."

MSI launched a new Radeon HD 7790 graphics card with 2 GB of memory, and factory-overclocked speeds. The R7790-2GD5/OC from MSI features custom PCB and cooler designs by MSI. The card uses a tall, dual-slot GPU cooler, which uses a 100 mm fan to ventilate a heat-pipe fed aluminum fin-stack. The PCB uses components selected by MSI, including SFC chokes, which don't whine on load.

The card offers clock speeds of 1050 MHz core, over 1000 MHz core, while leaving the memory untouched. It features double the memory amount as AMD's reference design. Based on the 28 nm "Bonaire" silicon, the Radeon HD 7790 packs 896 stream processors, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. The card draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector; display outputs include two DVI, and one each of HDMI and DisplayPort. MSI didn't reveal pricing or availability.

AMD today announced availability of servers based on its AMD Open 3.0 specification, defined as part of the Open Compute Project, delivering workload versatility and performance equal to competing proprietary OEM servers at significantly lower cost. In comparison to benchmarks running virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), the AMD Open 3.0-based system supported just as many virtual desktops and reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) by 57 percent: $4,589 versus $10,669 for just a single server. This cost effectiveness translates into a dramatic reduction in cost per virtual desktop, from $91.19 to only $38.24 per desktop. More details on the findings are available online and will be discussed at a roundtable event tomorrow in New York City and other select cities. The servers will be available through distributor partners.

"Global IT organizations have the difficult task of choosing between price and performance when investing in servers," said Bob Ogrey, cloud evangelist and fellow, AMD. "We don't believe organizations have to compromise one for the other. Using systems based on the AMD Open 3.0 specification -- the first open source, modular platform for the masses -- enables high performance and energy efficiency at a reasonable price, making it the best choice for organizations.

With GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost stepping up the heat, AMD partners are beginning to roll out newer Radeon HD 7850 graphics cards. HIS announced a pair of Radeon HD 7850 2GB graphics cards, featuring custom PCB and cooler designs, named HD 7850 IceQ X² and HD 7850 IceQ X² Turbo. The HD IceQ X² features AMD reference clock speeds of 860 MHz core, and 4.80 GHz memory; while the HD IceQ X² Turbo features a factory-overclocked GPU, running at 1000 MHz. Both cards feature 2 GB of memory

Both cards feature a compacted IceQ X² dual-fan cooler by HIS. The cooler uses a copper heat-pipe fed aluminum fin stack, which is ventilated by a pair of 75 mm fans. HIS claims the cooler runs at 28 dB when idling, and keeps the GPU cooler than AMD's reference design cooler. The PCB features an 8-phase VRM, which the company claims, can supply 66 percent more current than AMD's reference design PCB VRM. Pricing varies by region, but we expect the cards to be competitively priced around the GTX 650 Ti.

AMD today launched the AMD Radeon RG2133 Gamer Series Memory and Radeon RAMDisk 4.1. AMD Radeon RG2133 Gamer Series Memory is the only memory on the market that offers both XMP and AMP memory profiles in one package, enabling ultimate ease in overclocking on both platforms.

AMD Radeon RG2133 Gamer Series Memory will ship with a free AMD Radeon RAMDisk 64 GB, which features enhanced load-and-save functionality. When paired with an AMD A10 Series APU, AMD Radeon RG2133 Gamer Series Memory will improve frames-per-second (FPS) by up to 22 percent. Gamer Series Memory is part of AMD's Unified Gaming Strategy initiative that places AMD technology at the heart of digital gaming and plays a critical role that enables top performance, an outstanding experience and maximum value for PC gamers everywhere.

GPU buyers can breathe a huge sigh of relief that AMD isn't fixated with next-generation game consoles, and that its late-2013 launch of its next GPU generation is with good reason. The company is building a new GPU micro-architecture from the ground up. Codenamed "Volcanic Islands," with members codenamed after famous islands along the Pacific Ring of Fire, the new GPU family sees AMD rearranging component-hierarchy within the GPU, in a big way.

Over the past three GPU generations that used VLIW5, VLIW4, and Graphics CoreNext SIMD architectures, the component hierarchy was essentially untouched. According to an early block-diagram of one of the GPUs in the series, codenamed "Hawaii," AMD will designate parallel and serial computing units. Serial cores based on either of the two architectures AMD is licensed to use (x86 and ARM), could handle part of the graphics processing load. The stream processors of today make up the GPU's parallel processing machinery.

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphic cards, today unrolls a new model of SCS3 series, the SC3 HD7850. Being a new generation of SCS3, the HD7850 extends PowerColor strong capability of passive cooling design, enables gamers to play under extremely silent environment. Together with 1 GB of GDDR5 memory, and 1024 units of stream processor, the SCS3 HD7850 is equipped with all high standard specification, also includes the latest AMD Eyefinity technology, DirectX 11.1, and AMD App Acceleration technology, enabling quiet gaming but also with performance.