At CES, AMD is grabbing some eyeballs with a fascinating real-world capability demo of the AMD "Trinity" accelerated processing unit. At the same booth, AMD displayed the Trinity silicon in three different packages, for three different form-factors. The first one (to the left), also pictured in the earlier article, is a compact FP2 BGA (ball-grid array) package, designed for ultra-compact notebooks, ultrabooks, etc.

The second one (center) is the FS1r2 uPGA package for mainstream notebooks with slightly relaxed space and board footprint constraints. Unlike the FP2 BGA package, the FS1r2 uPGA is socketed, with extremely tiny pins. The FS1r2 uPGA is significantly bigger than FP2 BGA. The third, more familiar-looking package is the FM2, for desktops. FM2 is an updated version of FM1, on which current Llano A-series desktop APUs are based. Unfortunately, FM1 and FM2 are not compatible in any way. Learn more about the FM2 package in our older article detailing it, here.

Very quietly Microsoft has released two new patches available for the Bulldozer platform. According to the AMD blog these patches seem to offer little more then a 10% boost but the do improve over all performance. This is what Adam Kozak a product marketing manager at AMD had to say,

"Some of you may remember that AMD FX processors use a unique dual-core module architecture codenamed "Bulldozer", which current versions of Windows 7 were not specifically architected to utilize. In essence, for those with an AMD FX-8150 Processor, for example, Windows 7 sees the eight available cores and randomly assigns threads to them.

In initial testing of the upcoming Windows 8 operating system, we've seen performance improvements of up to 10% in some applications, when compared to Windows 7. This is because the system correctly recognizes the AMD FX processor architecture and cores. Thanks to close collaboration between Microsoft and AMD, Microsoft recently completed back-porting some of the Windows 8 scheduler code for AMD FX processors into a hotfix for Windows 7."

Arctic showed of two nearly-identical CPU coolers, the Freezer i30 and Freezer A30. The two are identical till the point where the i30 is designed for Intel sockets only (LGA2011, LGA1155/1156), while the A30, for AMD sockets only (AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2). The two share a tower-type aluminum fin-stack heatsink design, capable of handling thermal loads of up to 320W.

The heatsink uses four 8 mm thick exposed-copper heat pipes that make direct contact with the CPU at the base, and pass through the heatsink, which is then ventilated by a 120 mm PWM-controlled fan with a fancy-looking frame. Rubber standoffs attach the fan to the heatsink dampening vibrations. The retention clips come attached to the heatsink out of the box. A 0.5g syringe of Arctic MX-4 compound is included, while the coolers' base don't come with the compound pre-applied.

As revealed on its website, Arctic will next month be releasing a new, cost-conscious cooling solution, a CPU cooler called Alpine 64 PLUS which specifically supports AMD Socket 939, AM2(+), AM3(+) and FM1 processors.

The upcoming cooler measures 115 (L) x 98 (W) x 70 (H) mm, it weights 430 grams, and features an aluminum heatsink and a 92 mm FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearing) fan operating at 600 to 2000 RPM. The Alpine 64 PLUS comes with pre-applied MX-4 thermal compound, is backed by a six-year warranty, and is set to become available on February 20th, priced at $14.95 / €11.27.

AMD's next-generation accelerated processing unit (APU), codenamed "Trinity", was demonstrated at CES. Trinity will make up AMD's 2012 A-Series APU lineup, and will be designed for mainstream-thru-performance notebooks, and mainstream desktops (different standards for different form-factors). Pictured below is what its notebook-specific BGA package looks like. The package has an exposed rectangular die, with a stabilizer frame around it (like with GPUs). Notebooks' cooling assembly heat pipes make direct contact with the die. Trinity packs two Piledriver modules (an evolution of Bulldozer), and DirectX 11.1 AMD Radeon HD 7000M graphics (notebook APU) or HD 7000D (desktop APU).

Shown to the CES crowd was a mind-boggling demo. The public were first shown what appeared to be an ATX desktop connected to two monitors, one monitor running a DIRT 3 DirectX 11 game demo at high-quality settings, and another screeen revealing the APU to be running GPU-accelerated video transcoding. No discrete graphics was used, it's just the embedded HD 7000 at play/work. If that alone didn't raise a few eyebrows, the AMD representative removed the lid of the ATX desktop case to which those two monitors were connected, to reveal a 14-inch laptop inside doing all the work. And there's more - the laptop's main screen wasn't idle, it was running a high-definition video playback. Whatever synthetic benchmarks end up telling about Trinity, its real world performance does impress!You have got to watch the video after the break!

That Dodgy Intel Ivy Bridge DX11 'demo' at CES 2012 (UPDATED)

Word has been flying round the internet about Intel's dodgy Ivy Bridge DX11 'demo'. Intel's Mooly Eden, VP, PC Client Group was attempting to demonstrate a racing game on a prototype laptop - 'ultrabook' - fitted with an upcoming 22 nm Ivy Bridge processor with a racing wheel attached and allegedly rendering DX11 graphics. However, as is very apparent at the start, it's actually a video, because the control panel for the free VLC video player pops up for a few seconds. Eden then 'drives' a car and after a few seconds puts up one hand and then the other, because as he says "they are driving it from backstage". However, there was no one driving the game "backstage", as it was just a video and Eden doesn't say anything about this at any point in the presentation.

This gives conspiracy theorists lots of ammunition, as perhaps the game was actually played on a high powered desktop PC with NVIDIA or AMD discrete graphics cards? What game was it? Eden doesn't say. "IB can't really do these graphics!" they cry and so on. Sure, man 'didn't' go to the moon, either... However, we believe that while yes, there was a bit of deception going on, it was nothing more than a white(ish) lie. Why? Because Ivy Bridge comes out in April and people aren't going to forget this demo. They will immediately put IBs DX11 graphics to the test with similar games and if it doesn't deliver, Intel will have a lot of egg on its face. Here's what Intel had to say about this demo in an official statement:

AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced today that Rajan Naik, 40, has joined the company as senior vice president and chief strategy officer. He will report to president and chief executive officer Rory Read. Naik, who was most recently a Partner in McKinsey & Company's Technology practice will be responsible for AMD's short-and long-term strategy development, including market opportunities, strategic partnerships and investment strategies.

"Rajan Naik possesses a strong track record of execution in strategic planning, product and market strategy, and operational performance," Read said. "He will help ensure strategic and operational alignment across our business to take advantage of growth opportunities in lower power, emerging markets and cloud computing."

ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and a channel manufacturer, today kicks off the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show with a trio of versatile 2nd-Generation ZBOX mini-PCs for all your computing needs. The new ZOTAC ZBOX ID81, ID80 and AD04 series deliver outstanding energy-efficiency and stunning high-definition video playback in a compact form factor.

2nd-Generation ZBOX platform enhancements debuting with the ZBOX ID81, ID80 and AD04 series include an external WiFi antenna for superior wireless reception, integrated Bluetooth 3.0 technology and a bundled Media Remote with USB IR receiver for use with Microsoft Windows Media Center, XBMC and other popular media player applications.

Gigabyte hopped into the Radeon HD 7970 launch bandwagon with a base-model graphics card, the GV-R797D5-3GD-B. The custom-design GV-R797OC-3GD isn't launched so far, doesn't feature on the company website, and will probably join its ranks a little later, since it appeared to be using a custom-design PCB, something no card launched so far has. The GV-R797D5-3GD-B sticks to AMD-reference PCB and cooler designs, with red-colored PCB.

We have seen cases where cards with red PCB in their press-shots ended up having black PCBs in the store inventories (and vice-versa), so it looks like the only way you can be sure about the PCB color by looking at what color PCB the online store of your choice is using in its item page when you're placing your order (and return the card if it doesn't match). PCB color has gained importance with enthusiasts that like to peak into the belly of their beasts through case windows. Gigabyte's GV-R797D5-3GD-B also sticks to AMD reference clock speeds of 925 MHz core, and 1375 MHz (5.50 GHz effective) memory. The HD 7970 is DirectX 11.1 compliant, packs 2,048 stream processors, and is wired to 3 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 384-bit wide memory interface. Expect standard pricing of around $550.

New Year's Eve Fireworks has passed and it is time for Club 3D to introduce another rocket, the all brand new Club 3D Radeon HD 7970. This is the first graphics card using a 28nm GPU and supporting Direct3D 11.1 that will initially ship with Windows 8.

Coming along with 2048 stream processors, a 384 bit GDDR5 memory bus that provides 3.79 TFLOPs of computing performance there are magnificent new technologies introduced with AMD's new high end GPU like AMD Eyefinity 2.0, GCN Architecture, AMD App Acceleration and PCI-Express 3.0 to only name a few.

ASUS-branded reference design graphics cards are often looked forward to by enthusiasts because they feature minimalist AIB-branding stickers. ASUS' Radeon HD 7970 3 GB graphics card launched today (model: HD7970-3GD5) is no exception to that, except it features a red-colored PCB. It otherwise sticks to AMD-reference PCB and cooler design, as well as AMD reference clock speeds of 925 MHz core and 5.50 GHz (1375 MHz actual) memory. It bundles ASUS' GPU Tweak tool that allows easy voltage-assisted overclocking. In all likelihood, it will be priced on par with every other base model Radeon HD 7970 graphics card from other vendors, around $550.

XFX became the first AMD add-in board (AIB) partner to launch a graphics card based on AMD's new Radeon HD 7970 GPU, which features an in-house design. Other graphics cards launched today stick to AMD reference design. Called the XFX R7970 Double Dissipation, the card makes use of AMD reference PCB design (black color) with its own factory-overclocked speeds, but an in-house dual-fan cooling assembly. The cooler uses a large aluminum fin array to which heat from the GPU, memory, and VRM is fed by heat pipes, which is then ventilated by two fans.

The XFX R7970 Double Dissipation comes in two variants, the Black Edition variant features clock speeds of 1000 MHz core and 1425 MHz (5.70 GHz effective) memory; while the base Double Dissipation variant sticks to AMD reference clock speeds of 925 MHz / 5.50 GHz. There is also an AMD reference-design "core" version in the works. The card packs 3 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 384-bit wide memory interface. It uses the same display output cluster as every other HD 7970, with one dual-link DVI, an HDMI 1.4a, and two mini-DP connectors; but features a custom-designed rear-panel bracket with XFX branding.A video presentation of this card follows.

VERTEX3D, a leading manufacturer of AMD based graphics products, is proud to announce brand-new HD7900 models, VTX3D HD7970, with higher performance and new features. HD7970 is designed to work perfectly with the latest PCI Express 3.0 bus architecture, delivering double bandwidth per lane compares to previous generation. Enhanced DirectX 11.1 version boosts up the speed of tessellation and DirectCompute, brings ultimate gaming performance you never feel before.

Today is launch-day for AIB-branded Radeon HD 7970 graphics cards, also the day you'll be able to buy your card from stores. Sapphire is naturally part of the launch party, with its base-model Radeon HD 7970 graphics card. In the weeks ahead, it will launch the rest of its exhaustive lineup of graphics cards based on this GPU. Sapphire's "Da Original" Radeon HD 7970 graphics card is based entirely on AMD's reference design, with a black-colored PCB. It sticks to AMD reference clock speeds of 925 MHz core, and 5.50 GHz memory, packing 3 GB of memory. Based on the 28 nm "Tahiti" GPU, the Radeon HD 7970 is a DirectX 11.1-compatible graphics card, packing 2048 stream processors, and a 384-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. It will be priced at around US $550.

Leading global graphics card and motherboard manufacturer MSI today officially announces the world's first graphics cards equipped with the brand new AMD 28nm Radeon HD 7900 GPU, R7970-2PMD3G5, which is built on the latest PCI Express Gen 3 standard. MSI's R7900 series graphics cards are equipped with 3GB of high speed GDDR5 graphics memory, and also come with MSI's exclusive Afterburner overclocking utility that allows users to adjust the core voltage to increase overclocking potential.

MSI's R7900 series also features AMD's exclusive Eyefinity multi-display technology, and combined with support for next-generation DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 1.4a interfaces, stereoscopic 3D capability, and 7.1 channel lossless high quality TrueHD and DTS-HD audio formats, consumers can enjoy the highest quality audio and visual entertainment! MSI's R7900 series graphics cards have also implemented an all-solid capacitor design to guarantee stability even when working under full loads over extended periods of time.

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphic cards, today announces a breathtaking graphics solution: the PowerColor HD7970. Based on the 28nm GCN architecture, HD7970 enables the absurdly high frame rates at demanding setting while using less power and better transistor efficiency, maximizes the most astonishing gaming performance like never before.

Clocks at 925MHz core and 1375MHz memory speed, the PowerColor HD7970 can easily boost up your PC with the support of the latest PCI Express 3.0; through doubling the bandwidth per lane of previous generation, it can release the power of GPU to maximize performance while paired with the latest platform.

Hightech Information System (HIS) today announced the launch of HIS 7970 3GB. The card is the world's first 28nm GPU graphics card, pushing the graphics experiences to an unrivalled level! With a clock rate of 925 MHz, memory clock of 5.5 Gbps as well as a 384-bit memory interface, this new 7000 series HIS 7970 3GB offers maximum and crazy performances!

HIS 7970 3GB comes in a great value with the bundled the Eyefinity Dongle - the Active Mini DisplayPort to SL-DVI Dongle. In addition, the bundled HIS Weight Lifter makes the card last longer. It takes some weight off of the card and the PCIe slot, providing a simple but effective solution to prevent potential damage to the card due to the card's weight.

Apparently, HD 7670 OEM isn't the only product that couldn't survive the prying eyes of the media, there are more. AMD's lineup of HD 7000 series OEM solutions extends downwards way beyond the HD 7670 OEM, it includes HD 7570, HD 7470, HD 7450, and HD 7350. There's no reason to cheer, though. First, these products are available only in the OEM channels, to pre-built system manufacturers so they could spice their specs sheets up; and second, they're complete re-brands of previous generation HD 6500, 6400, and 6300 families, down to the clock speeds and feature-sets. There are absolutely no HD 7000 series features, no DirectX 11.1, ZeroCore, new media-processing capabilities, nothing. The fineprint of their specifications is tabled below. Details of these chips can be accessed here.

Without making any noise, AMD rolled out an OEM-exclusive graphics card model, the Radeon HD 7670. This GPU is completely identical to the previous-generation Radeon HD 6670, making it a rebrand. It has identical specifications to the 40 nm Turks GPU, which drives the retail HD 6670, with 480 VLIW5 stream processors, a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface holding 512 MB or 1 GB of memory, 24 TMUs, 8 ROPs, and clock speeds of 800 MHz core, and 4.00 GHz memory. This GPU was featured on some of HP's desktop PC products. The product page of this OEM-only GPU can be found here.

Over the past few days, we were hearing rumors from many quarters that AMD's "Tahiti" high-performance GPU may have been a deviation from an older specification, and that it really has 2304 stream processors spread across 40 GCN compute units (CUs), instead of the 32 the Radeon HD 7970 ended up with. Both AMD and NVIDIA create more redundant components on their chips than their SKUs end up getting, so they could increase yields, it's a process commonly known as "harvesting".

On Tuesday, AMD quashed the rumor in an e-mail to Bright Side of News, in which it said that Tahiti XT (Radeon HD 7970) makes use of all the CUs there are, on the chip. The 40 CU / 2308 SP rumor gained some weight with the fact that since AMD is venturing into unknown territory (TSMC's 28 nm process, built after quite some delays and failures), it could do some heavy harvesting. Examples of harvesting in recent past include Intel Sandy Bridge-E Core i7 processors, which use only up to 6 out of 8 cores on the silicon, and only up to 15 MB out of 20 MB available on it; and GeForce GTX 480, which used only 480 out of 512 CUDA cores available on the GF100 GPU.

AMD has been slapped with a lawsuit by Quanta for allegedly selling faulty CPUs & GPUs that were unfit for purpose, since they didn't meet specified heat tolerances and subsequently failed. Taiwan-based Quanta may not have a name that the general public immediately recognizes, however they are actually the world's largest contract manufacturer of notebooks, so this lawsuit is a big deal. They claim that the faulty parts were used in notebooks made for NEC. The lawsuit was filed in a district court in San Jose, California and in the filing, Quanta claims they have "suffered significant injury to prospective revenue and profits". As Bloomberg reports, "the lawsuit also claims breach of warranty, negligent misrepresentation, civil fraud and interference with a contract."

If you thought the overclocking and benchmark feats we reported on a few days ago here and here were impressive, wait until you see what four cards can do. Overclocking champion Shamino over at Kingpin Cooling has set four 3DMark and one Unigene benchmark record:

On the 22nd of December 2011, AMD launched its Radeon HD 7970, announcing that the cards will be available in the retail channels by 9th January, 2012. It permitted reviewers with access to AMD-made samples to post reviews on the 22nd, and told the press that it will have a FOB (freight-onboard) price (the price at which each card ships out of its place of origin, in this case Hong Kong, China) of US $525. Market sources told DonanimHaber that this price has been adjusted from $525 to $475. That doesn't necessarily mean that retail HD 7970 will cost lower than the $550 target retail price AMD talked about in several occasions. It will be up to downstream distributors and retailers on whether they want to convey this latest cut to the end-user, or keep a bigger "cut" (margin) for themselves. AMD hasn't officially announced any price updates so far.

In its 20th year of service, Cooler Master, an industry leading chassis, thermal solution, power supply, peripheral, and accessory manufacturer, today announced the successor to a world renowned chassis line, the Cosmos II. Incomparable in design and specifications, the Cosmos II comes in as among the first of its type. It is an Ultra Tower; a benchmark for all enclosures that exist and all that follow.

Inspired by luxurious supercars, the exterior of the Cosmos II melds aluminum, steel, and mesh into an elegant artistic piece. It utilizes a high-grade aluminum for its primary construction and form. This is supplemented by steel and mesh to add to strength, stability, and overall appeal. It maintains its trademark Cosmos profile and outlook with its reinforced aluminum rails while being further refined for today's advancements in air/water cooling, peripheral support, and styling. Following the supercar feel, the large aluminum side panels swing wide open with a small press of a button. Aluminum sliding doors adorn the well equipped fan and LED control and I/O ports function panel on the top of the case along with the front drive bays. These serve to obscure unsightly cabling and protect drive bays and devices.

Facing a two-front competition from other netbook manufacturers and the ARM tablet industry, ASUS, one of the pioneers of the netbook form-factor, is readying a new line of fashionable-looking netbooks under the EeePC Flare series. Press pictures of these netbooks got leaked to the web by Notebook Italia, which reveal EeePC Flare series to be a colorful bunch of machines that are so designed to look curvy and fashionable, breaking the "compact" design mold of today's netbooks. They will be shows at the upcoming CES event, next week.

EeePC Flare will be available in two sizes, 12-inch and 10-inch. Among these, the 12-inch 1225B will be driven by AMD Fusion platform (likely E450), while the 1225C will be driven by Intel's new "Cedar Trail" Atom platform (N2600 or N2800). The 10-incher 1025 will stick to Cedar Trail. ASUS will pack these netbooks with features such as 500 GB of storage, LED backlit 720p displays, chiclet keyboards, etc.