AMD today announced revenue for the third quarter of 2011 of $1.69 billion, net income of $97 million, or $0.13 per share, and operating income of $138 million. The company reported non-GAAP net income of $110 million, or $0.15 per share, and non-GAAP operating income of $146 million.

"Strong adoption of AMD APUs drove a 35 percent sequential revenue increase in our mobile business," said Rory Read, AMD president and CEO. "Despite supply constraints, we saw double digit revenue and unit shipment growth in emerging markets like China and India as well as overall notebook share gains in retail at mainstream price points. Through disciplined execution and continued innovation we will look to accelerate our growth and refine our focus on lower power, emerging markets, and the cloud."

Gigabyte released its newest premium HTPC motherboard in the mini-ITX form-factor, the A75N-USB3. As the name might suggest, this is a socket FM1 motherboard based on the AMD A75 chipset, and features USB 3.0 connectivity. Despite its compact dimensions, the board crams in everything a HTPC can benefit from. First, the FM1 socket seats AMD A-Series accelerated processing units (APUs), which pack up to four x86-64 cores with up to 4 MB cache, dual-channel DDR3-1866 integrated memory controller, and more importantly, a very powerful integrated graphics processor in the Radeon HD 6500 class. The FM1 socket on this board is powered by a 3+1 phase VRM that makes use of driver-MOSFETs. Power is drawn by a 24-pin ATX and a 4-pin CPU power connector.

The lone expansion slot is a PCI-Express 2.0 x16. The CPU is wired to two full-length DDR3 DIMM slots, which can take in up to 32 GB (that's right, future 16 GB DIMMs are supported) of dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz memory. The AMD A75 chipset gives out four internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports, and one eSATA 6 Gb/s port on the rear panel. Display outputs include HDMI 1.4a and DVI. Analog outputs are done away with. Audio is handled by a high-quality Realtek ALC889 HD audio codec. Although this codec supports 8+2 output channels, it is wired to a 5.1 channel shared audio jack cluster, apart from the internal HDA_FP header. Those needing 7.1 channel output can still use the TOSLINK connector, that supports 7.1 channel output with 24-bit, 192 kHz resolution and Dolby Home Theater support. If even that's not enough, the HDMI connector gives you 7.1 channel HDMI audio with Dolby Prologic support.

The high-end CPU-Cooler from the newcomer PHANTEKS is available immediately at Caseking.de. This cooler with the name "TC14PE" already managed to receive numerous awards for its excellent performance. PHANTEKS employs multiple features to achieve such extraordinary results: a patented surface at the nano-level, twin tower design and two high-performance 140 mm fans. For the perfect looks to go with the installed hardware, the cooler is available in blue, orange red or silver.

The young company PHANTEKS has invested more than two years into the development of the TC14PE CPU coolers, as their goal was not simply to produce a good CPU cooler, but to lead the performance charts. Instead of focusing on the best heat dissipation of an open test bench, PHANTEKS has made sure that the TC14PE performs best in its intended setting - a closed system.

EVGA released a teaser picture of its X79 FTW motherboard. This is EVGA's third LGA2011 motherboard, after the E-ATX Super Record 3 and XL-ATX X79 Classified. This board confines itself to the dimensions of a standard ATX form-factor motherboard (240 x 300 mm). It targets the gamer-overclocker market. The LGA2011 socket is powered by a 14-phase VRM, while the memory, 4-phase. EVGA completely did away with cylindrical conductive polymer capacitors, and used a 100% POSCAP capacitor design. Power is drawn in from a 24-pin ATX (angled) connector, 8-pin EPS, and a 4-pin Molex (for PCIe slot electrical stability). There are just four DDR3 DIMM slots, one per memory channel.

Expansion slots include four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (two are x16 capable, all four are x8 capable), a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x8), and one PCIe x1. NVIDIA 4-way SLI and AMD CrossFireX are supported. The only internal SATA ports on this board are the ones the X79 PCH gives out, two SATA 6 Gb/s and four SATA 3 Gb/s. There are two eSATA ports, driven by a third-party controller. There are as many as eight USB 3.0 ports on the rear-panel, and two via internal header. 8+2 channel HD audio, two GbE connections, a Bluetooth connection, and PCH-wired USB 2.0 ports (for keyboard/mouse) make for the rest of the standard connectors. There is an EVBot header on the rear-panel, that lets you connect to the EVBot monitoring/control module. The UEFI BIOS is stored in two separate EEPROMs, and a 2-way switch lets you manually switch between the two. Expect the X79 FTW to be a part of the company's first wave of LGA2011 motherboards.

Celebrating the launch of the much anticipated Battlefield 3 game, SAPPHIRE Technology is introducing the SAPPHIRE HD 6970 BF3 Special Edition - featuring two SAPPHIRE exclusive technologies, SAPPHIRE FleX and Vapor-X cooling as well as performance enhancing options for the enthusiast and access to a FREE copy of the full game!

The SAPPHIRE HD 6970 BF3 Special Edition is based on AMD's award winning second generation DX 11 graphics engine with the powerful configuration of 1536 stream processors and 96 texture processing units delivering smooth and detailed graphics to the latest generation of games and applications. SAPPHIRE FleX technology allows the direct connection of three DVI monitors in Eyefinity mode without the need for special adapters, making it the simplest solution to multi-screen enjoyment, and the highly efficient SAPPHIRE Vapor-X cooling enables performance to be maximised whilst keeping noise levels low.

AMD detailed its upcoming "Virgo" PC platform that consists of next-generation "Trinity" APU (accelerated processing unit), and current-generation AMD A75 "Hudson-D" chipset. A notable revelation here is that the next-gen APUs will be compatible with AMD A75, although it will be designed for a new socket called FM2. It remains to be seen if FM1 and FM2 are pin-compatible.

"Trinity" packs four x86-64 cores based on the next-generation "Piledriver" architecture, arranged in two Piledriver modules. A module is a closely-knit group of two cores, with certain shared and dedicated resources. Each Piledriver module has 2 MB of L2 cache shared between the two cores. In all, Trinity, with its two modules, has 4 MB of L2 cache without any L3 cache.

Thermaltake, the leader and pioneer in PC thermal solutions, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, with "delivering the perfect user experiences" as our mission and carrying the corporate vision of "building Thermaltake Technology into a cultural brand for the enjoyment of entertainment, e-Sports, technology and lifestyle." This October, featuring the Thermaltake Frio Advanced CPU cooler - a CPU cooler that incorporated some of the most up-to-date CPU cooler technologies and persevered the greatnesses from its predecessors of Frio and Frio OCK which not only creating a new phenomenon for overclockers but also set another signature for the Frio Series.

TSMC today announced that its 28nm process is in volume production and production wafers have been shipped to customers. TSMC leads the foundry segment to achieve volume production at 28nm node.

TSMC's 28nm process offering includes 28nm High Performance (28HP), 28nm High Performance Low Power (28HPL), 28nm Low Power (28LP), and 28nm High Performance Mobile Computing (28HPM). Among these technology offerings, 28HP, 28HPL and 28LP are all in volume production and 28HPM will be ready for production by the end of this year. The production-version design collateral of 28HPM has been distributed to most mobile computing customers for their product-design use.

Cooler Master, an industry leading chassis, thermal solution, power supply, peripheral, and accessory manufacturer, today adds a new sibling to the Silencio 550, the Silencio 450.

The Silencio Series represents the best solution for sound absorption with system builds of all levels. Sound silencing foam padding seeks to severely reduce system noises produced by hard drives, numerous cooling fans, and other devices. Combine this with a solid-steel frame, vibration inhibiting rubber feet, two Cooler Master quiet-spinning fans and the Silencio 450 nearly becomes completely silent. Those that value a quiet computing space will immensely appreciate the Silencio Series.

AMD today announced an investment in BlueStacks, a venture-backed firm developing innovative software. BlueStacks has introduced a solution to enable Android applications to run fast and full-screen on Windows-based devices.

AMD and BlueStacks are collaborating to optimize the BlueStacks App Player for Windows software for use with tablet and notebook PCs powered by AMD APUs with AMD VISION technology. With this combination of BlueStacks software and AMD technology, consumers will be able to access their favorite Android apps on virtually any AMD-powered Windows-based device, including more than 200,000 apps currently available in the Android Market.

AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced today that Mark Papermaster, 50, has joined as the company's senior vice president and chief technology officer. He will report to President and Chief Executive Officer Rory Read and will oversee all of AMD's engineering, research and development (R&D), and product development functions as the head of the newly-formed Technology and Engineering Group. Papermaster, who was most recently vice president of Silicon Engineering at Cisco, will be responsible for establishing and executing the company's technology and product roadmaps, integrated hardware and software development, and overseeing the creation of all of AMD's products.

The advanced research and development team led by Senior Vice President of Research and Development Chekib Akrout, as well as the engineering teams residing in AMD's Products Group, will now report to Papermaster. Akrout, 53, will maintain responsibility for leading AMD's processor core development as well as system-on-a-chip (SoC) design methodology. In recognition of his ongoing technical and management contributions, Akrout will continue serving on AMD's senior leadership team responsible for key decision making and strategy setting.

MSI is readying a new LGA2011 HEDT (high-end desktop) motherboard based on the Intel X79 chipset, which features eight DDR3 DIMM slots, two per memory channel, letting you take advantage of the fast quad-channel DDR3 IMC of Sandy Bridge-E Core i7 processors, as well as not letting you fall short of memory expansion. The X79A-GD65 8D, as it's called, makes room for eight DIMM slots, four on either sides of the socket. The CPU is powered by a 5+2 phase VRM, and the memory by a 4-phase VRM.

Expansion slots include four PCI-Express x16, from which four are wired to the CPU socket, two are PCI-Express 3.0 x16 capable, four are PCI-E 3.0 x8 capable (depending on the way the slots are populated with add-on cards), one is PCI-E 2.0 x4 capable and is wired to the chipset. Then there's the lone PCI-E x1. NVIDIA 4-way SLI and AMD 4-way CrossFireX are supported.

It looks like AMD will have the symbolic achievement of launching its first GPUs built on the new 28 nanometer process in 2011 itself. Sources told Heise.de that AMD is working towards launching some of its planned 28 nm GPUs in the second week of December, 2011. One of these sources specifically named December 06. Details on whether the launched GPU will be for the mobile (notebook) or desktop (graphics card) platforms; or even whether it will use the VLIW4 or so-called 'NextGen' compute architecture, are not known at this point.

Another source reinforced the theory that the launch will be more about symbolism than volume manufacturing for sales. It's likely that a small number of these GPUs will be manufactured, just about enough to send to OEMs for their qualification, and perhaps even the media for published performance testing. We expect these GPUs to be lower-end or mid-range GPUs, and since AMD is reserving the NextGen compute architecture for only the high-end GPU part, these ones will most likely use VLIW4.

Leading international mainboard and graphics card maker MSI released the mainboard BIOS with full AMD AM3+ 8-core CPU support for download today. Enthusiasts that own one of the listed mainboards1 can now download the update to support the latest AMD AM3+ 8-core CPUs (B2 Stepping). For those planning to purchase a new mainboard, if the box is labeled with "Supports AM3+ CPU with New BIOS," the mainboard will support the powerful AMD AM3+ 8-core CPUs out of the box. Enthusiasts that have purchased a mainboard that is on the list of compatible mainboards can update the BIOS themselves to support the latest AM3+ 8-core CPUs. Also, new in this BIOS update is official support for MSI's proprietary ClickBIOS II system optimization tool for all AMD 900 mainboards. The graphical UEFI BIOS provides mainboard-level support, and exporting OC Profiles to USB drives offers unparalleled convenience.

Motherboard giant, ASRock Inc. is proud to announce that their AMD Motherboard Series now can fully support the newly launched AM3+ Bulldozer processors. It's been an incredible year for multi-core processing and it's almost time for you to upgrade the essential CPU.

ASRock have prioritized AM3+ motherboard implementation and is the first to produce the most sophisticated AM3+ CPU-capable motherboards. The entire range of AM3+ mobo includes AMD's 9-Series, 8-Series, 7-Series and Nvidia's GeForce 7025 chipset series. Importantly, ASRock have a complete motherboard products line (from high-end, performance to budget-level) supporting AM3+ Bulldozer processors. Users are able to enjoy the exciting AM3+ performance with the latest BIOS update. ASRock is confident to say that they are the only motherboard maker that can offer so many AM3+ mobo choices based on difference chipsets. And this is what other mobo makers cannot do.

AMD is rumored to be seeking ties with TSMC, Taiwan's premier semiconductor manufacturing foundry, for future manufacturing of its "Bulldozer" architecture processors, according to a report by DonanimHaber. This has two very distinct implications: first, AMD could be facing issues with GlobalFoundries 32 nm HKMG node, its de facto foundry for CPU manufacturing, and second, this could just be an obvious development of future low-power APUs based on the new x86 architecture being manufactured at TSMC, much like how current E-series and C-series APUs are.

Then again, AMD doesn't exactly have any APUs in works that use "Bulldozer" architecture for the x86 cores, rather, its successor codenamed "Piledriver". Another couple of important things to note here are that TSMC does not have a 32 nm bulk node (it was scrapped with the transition to 28 nm bulk), and its HKMG (high-K metal gate transistor) manufacturing technology is deployed rather recently. It would be interesting to follow this development.

The reviews are now out for AMD's brand new Bulldozer architecture, in the form of the Zambezi FX 8120 & FX 8150 processors and they don't paint a pretty picture of these flagship products. The chips use lots of power, run hot and significantly underperform compared to their Intel competition. On top of that, they are being marketed as 8 core processors, when they are actually 4 core with an advanced form of multi-threading, due to the siamesed nature of each dual processor module. Perhaps to counter this negative publicity and try to restore some faith in the AMD brand, they have released a roadmap for the planned improvements to the architecture, all the way to 2014 - an ambitious timeline, given how much and how unexpectedly things can change at the cutting edge of the technology world.

Zalman announced its latest high-end CPU air cooler, the CNPS12X. This beast was first shown to public at this year's Computex trade-show, back in early June. Between then and now, the CNPS12X got some important retention module changes that make it fully compatible with the upcoming LGA2011 socket on which "Sandy Bridge-E" Core i7 processors are based, as well as AMD AM3+ and FM1. Measuring 151 x 132 x 154 mm (L x W x H), and weighing exactly 1 kg, the CNPS12X uses a design that's essentially identical to that of the NH-D14 from Noctua, that of two fin stacks. It's just that the stacks here are somewhat circular in shape, and that the CNPS12X uses three fans: an intake (before the first stack), a conveyer (between the two stacks), and an exhaust (after the second stack). All three fans are 120 mm in size, and are illuminated by blue LEDs.

The fans seem to be using 3-pin (voltage) method of speed control. Supplied with the cooler are three RC5 intermediate resistors, which make the fans spin at speeds between 850 and 1100 RPM with as low as 22 dBA noise output. Without the RC5, the fans spin between 950 and 1200 RPM, with at least 24 dBA noise output. The heatsink is made almost entirely of dark nickel-plated copper, with certain aluminum parts. Heat is conveyed to the two copper fin stacks by six nickel-plated copper heat pipes, that make direct contact with the CPU at base. Zalman did not give out pricing and availability information.

It's been in the works for over three years now. That's right, the first we heard of "Bulldozer" as a processor architecture under development was shortly after the launch of "Barcelona" K10 architecture. Granted, it wasn't possible to load close to 2 billion transistors on the silicon fab technology AMD had at the time, but AMD had a clear window over the last year to at least paper-launch the AMD FX. Delays and bad marketing may have cost AMD dearly in shaping up the product for the market.

After drawing a consensus from about 25 reviews (links in Today's Reviews on the front page), it emerges that:

• AMD FX-8150 is missing its performance expectations by a fair margin. Not to mention performance gains in its own presentation, these expectations were built up by how AMD was shaping the product to be a full-fledged enthusiast product with significant performance gains over the previous generation
• AMD ill-marketed the FX-8150. Hype is a double-edged sword, and should not be used if you're not confident your offering will live up to at least most of the hype. AMD marketed at least the top-tier FX-8000 series eight-core processors as the second coming of Athlon64 FX.

AMD today unleashed the AMD FX family of CPUs, delivering a fully unlocked and customizable experience for desktop PC users. The AMD FX series of desktop CPUs includes the first-ever eight-core desktop processor, enabling extreme multi-display gaming, mega-tasking and HD content creation for PC and digital enthusiasts - all for less than $245 (suggested U.S. retail price). This marks the first retail availability of processors that use AMD's new multi-core architecture (codenamed "Bulldozer"), which is included in AMD's upcoming server CPU (codenamed "Interlagos") and the next-generation of AMD Accelerated Processing Units.

"AMD FX CPUs are back with a vengeance, as validated by the recent feat of setting a Guinness World Records title for 'Highest Frequency of a Computer Processor,'" said Chris Cloran, corporate vice president and general manager, Client Group at AMD. "While overclockers will certainly enjoy the frequencies the AMD FX processors can achieve, PC enthusiasts and HD media aficionados will appreciate the remarkable experience that AMD FX processors can provide as part of a balanced, affordable desktop system."

Japanese cooling expert Scythe announces the successor of Big Shuriken CPU Cooler. Big Shuriken 2 had to undergo further development on the heatsink and axial-fan side to provide better even performance and compatibility.

Applied improvements of heatsink are not obvious at first sight because main heatsink structure was inherited from Big Shuriken (1) CPU Cooler. Total amount of copper-heatpipes was increases from four to five pieces. Curved heatpipes are connecting the nickel-plated copper-base with the two upper layers of aluminum fins. Big Shuriken (1) was equipped with a solid heatsink on top of the copper-base which has been removed in the new version.

HIS released its latest mainstream graphics card, the HIS HD 6670 iSilence4. As the name suggests, this is a silent (fanless) graphics card based on the Radeon HD 6670 graphics processor. The card's design is based around Zalman's VNF100 GPU heatsink that provides passive cooling to the GPU, the DDR3 memory and simple FET configuration VRM fend for themselves. VNF100 features a variable fin profile design, that works to improve heat dissipation efficiency.

On the obverse side of the PCB, there is just the base of the heatsink, from here, heat is conveyed to the main portion of the heatsink that's over the reverse side of the PCB, using three heat pipes. The Radeon HD 6670 GPU is built on the 40 nm process, is DirectX 11 compliant, packs 480 stream processors, and features a 128-bit wide memory interface. On this card, 1 GB of AMD-branded DDR3 memory is used. The GPU is clocked at 800 MHz, and the memory at 1600 MHz DDR (25.6 GB/s bandwidth). Display outputs include one each of DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. The card relies entirely on the PCI-Express slot for power. HIS did not give out pricing details.

The Spire all new Kepler universal micro-processor cooler series are direct contact heat-pipe solutions for Core i3/i5 and i7 from Intel and the AMD AM2/3/FM1 micro-processors. There are three (3) different models ranging from two up to four 6mm sinter powder heat-pipes which are in direct contact with the cpu heat-source, dissipating heat effectively and fast.

The high density fins are crowned with a powerful fan for high airflow and great cooling performance. The 92mm dc fan provides ample airflow and silent cooling at 19.0dBA. Compatibility is ensured with the multi-platform mounting clip for Intel 775/1155/1156 sockets and AM2/AM3/FM1 micro-processors. The Kepler series from Spire are build to deliver great cooling for maximum system performance.

Good news for hardcore gamers: AMD has just released their 11.10 v2 preview driver and it's heavy on performance and stability improvements for Battlefield 3 beta and Rage. Click the link for the full list.

ASUS is ready with a new PCI-Express 3.0 compliant socket LGA1155 motherboard, adding to its recently-launched line of Intel Z68 chipset-based boards that feature Gen 3.0 PCI-Express x16 slots. This latest one is part of the elite Republic of Gamers (ROG) family, and is built on the compact micro-ATX form factor, called Maximus IV Gene-Z/Gen 3. This is the second modification of the Maximus IV Gene, the original was based on Intel P67 chipset, the Gene-Z replaced the chipset with Intel Z68 that supports Smart Response technology, while the Gene-Z/Gen 3 adds PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots.

The board uses a 12-phase Digi+ VRM for the CPU, it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting DRAM speeds of up to DDR3-2200 MHz with overclocking. The socket is wired to two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots over Gen 3 compliant switches and electrical components, the slots configure to PCI-Express 3.0 x8/x8 when both are populated. PCI-Express Gen 3 support requires next-generation 22 nm Ivy Bridge Core processors, which will be launched next year. The only other expansion slot is an open-ended PCI-Express 2.0 x4, wired to the Z68 PCH. NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFire are supported.