AMD today rolled out this month's release of its ATI Catalyst software, which provides drivers and essential system software for ATI Radeon graphics processors, AMD chipsets, and other ATI multimedia products. The WHQL-signed version 10.5 brings a few feature updates, along with a list of important bug fixes. To begin with, Catalyst 10.5 gives 120 Hz display support for ATI Radeon HD 4000 and HD 3000 series graphics processors (helpful with stereoscopic 3D), and ATI Overdrive enhancements which allow full control over ATI Radeon GPUs that are connected to multiple displays, eliminating a limitation.
Following on with Catalyst 10.4, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 doesn't take unusually long to load maps, while a stability issues connected to IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946, Mass Effect 2 (where display goes blank if you switch to desktop in the middle of a game), Empire: Total War, Napoleon: Total War got a fix which allows AA settings with Volumetric effects, while Unigine Heaven 2.0 in wireframe mode doesn't crash. For more details, refer to the
release notes document.
DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 10.5 WHQL for
Windows 7/Vista 64-bit,
Windows 7/Vista 32-bit,
Windows XP 32-bit,
Windows XP 64-bitRenesas Electronics Corporation, a premiere provider of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced its collaboration with AMD to promote the new SuperSpeed Universal Serial Bus (USB 3.0) standard.
In December 2009, Renesas Electronics (formerly NEC Electronics Corporation) released its USB Attached SCSI Protocol (UASP) driver, supporting the new industry-standard, highly efficient mass-storage protocol suitable for use on SuperSpeed USB to overcome the performance boundaries of the Bulk Only Transfer (BOT) protocol. The new UASP driver will be used with Renesas Electronics' USB 3.0 xHCI (eXtensible Host Controller Interface) host controller, which entered the market as the world's first USB 3.0 host controller in June 2009. Having shipped over three million units of the host controller, as a dedicated promoter of USB 3.0 standard, Renesas Electronics is now targeting monthly production of two million units starting April 2010 and aims to continually contribute to advancement and standardization of USB.
AMD is planning a major update for the ATI Radeon HD 5670 mainstream graphics card. Currently based on the 40 nm Redwood core with specifications which include 400 stream processors, 512 MB / 1 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 128-bit wide memory interface, the updated HD 5670 will be based on the larger Juniper core (on which are based HD 5750 and HD 5770). On the HD 5670, the Juniper will have 640 of its 800 stream processors enabled, while having the same memory interface of 128-bit GDDR5 @ 1000 MHz (4 GHz effective).
The core will be clocked at 750 MHz. Since the nomenclature remains the same, it is safe to assume that the price will be remain unchanged, around $90 for the 512 MB, and $110 for the 1 GB variant. Leading AIB partners such as PowerColor and Sapphire seem to be ready with their board designs which are essentially identical to those of their Radeon HD 5700 series products. Unlike the HD 5770 reference, the new HD 5670 will be able to make do without an additional PCI-Express power input. Looking purely at the specifications, the new HD 5670 will be able to perform on par with the Radeon HD 4770 in present applications, with the added DirectX 11 and hardware tessellation support. With CrossFireX connectors on some designs, these card will have the ability to pair with more than two of their kind. There is no word yet on the availability.
MSI's upcoming CULV notebook based on the AMD platform make its first public appearance at an event conducted by AMD in Paris. The Wind U250 is a 12.1-inch notebook is powered by an AMD Athlon II Neo K325 processor that runs at 1.3 GHz, which is aided by 4 GB of memory, DirectX 10.1 compliant graphics, and offers 320 GB of storage. The 12.1 inch display is likely to have a resolution of 1366x768 pixels. It comes with Windows 7 pre-installed. MSI may release it sometime this summer. More images at the source.
Corsair, a worldwide supplier of high-performance computer and flash memory products, today announced that the Corsair Dominator GTX4 ultra-high-performance memory module has achieved a new world record for dual-channel memory frequency on AMD processors.
Using an AMD Phenom II X6 Black Edition CPU, Corsair Hydro Series H50 CPU cooler, and a pair of Corsair Dominator GTX4 memory DIMMs with Airflow memory fan, Corsair Labs was able to achieve the world-record memory frequency of 2287.6MHz. Independent validation of this achievement can be found
here.
In what could come as a bad news to enthusiasts looking forward to the AMD Phenom II X4 960T "Zosma" quad-core processor, AMD has scrapped plans to release it, at least to the retail market. The chip could still be available to OEM vendors designing their desktop products around it. In a circular to the press, an AMD representative said "I've been asked the question about whether there will be a Phenom II X4 960T "Thuban" quad-core by enough individuals, that I think it is a good idea to proactively share the answer to everyone. While there are indeed engineering CPU samples floating around of a 4-core Thuban 960T, I do not expect that processor will be released for general availability. Perhaps it may make its way to OEMs by special request, but that remains to be seen."
Phenom II X4 960T was a certain release from AMD until now. Various motherboard vendors released beta BIOS that could support the chip, and some enthusiasts with access to engineering samples were even successful in unlocking its disabled cores. The prospect of unlocking disabled cores to yield a six-core processor at the price of a typical quad-core processor is what garnered interest among some sections of the enthusiasts. For AMD, the adverse effect Zosma could have on the sales of more expensive Phenom II X6 seems to have outweighed propagating its new Turbo Core technology at more mainstream prices.
AMD let loose no less than six new processor models in its value-mainstream Athlon II series. Spread across its dual-core (X2), triple-core (X3), and quad-core (X4) lines, the new models seek to displace existing ones from their price-points and hold key value market positions. Leading the pack is the Athlon II X4 640. Based on the 45 nm Propus die, the X4 640 has a clock speed of 3.00 GHz (15 x 200 MHz), with 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and 4 GT/s HyperTransport 3.0 interface. Built on the AM3 package, the X4 640 supports DDR3 and DDR2 memory standards. It has a TDP of 95W. This chip is priced at $122. The second quad-core model is the energy-efficient Athlon II X4 610e. With a clock speed of 2.40 GHz (12 x 200 MHz), the X4 610e comes with half the TDP of standard models, just 45W. Energy efficiency comes at a small premium, with the X4 610e going for $145 a piece.
The triple-core Athlon II X3 series also gets two additions, with the X3 445 and X3 415e. The X3 445 is based on the Rana die (Propus with one core disabled), and has L2 cache of 512 KB per core. It is clocked at 3.10 GHz (15.5 x 200 MHz), and has a TDP of 95W. It is priced at $87. The energy-efficient X3 415e is clocked at 2.50 GHz (12.5 x 200 MHz), has 45W TDP, and is priced at $102. Dual-core Athlon II X2 chips get the same treatment, with a new fast and energy-efficient model, each. Based on the 45 nm Regor die, the Athlon II X2 has two physical cores with 1 MB of L2 cache per core. The Athlon II X2 260 introduced now, has a clock speed of 3.20 GHz (16 x 200 MHz), 65W TDP, and is priced at $76. The energy-efficient X2 245e is clocked at 2.90 GHz (14.5 x 200 MHz), and has a TDP of 45W. This one goes for $77. All prices are per unit in 1000-unit tray quantities.
Sapphire is back to its vocation of being a motherboard vendor, the popular ATI Radeon board partner designed a new socket AM3 motherboard based on the new AMD 890GX + SB850 chipset, dubbed the Sapphire Pure CrossfireX 890GX. The board is built on the ATX form-factor, though comes with only four expansion slots spaced out. The AM3 CPU is powered by a 10-phase VRM, it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. The AMD 890GX northbridge is cooled by a large heatsink which shares its heat with one of the VRM heatsinks. The ATI Radeon HD 4290 IGP is assisted by 128 MB of SidePort memory apart from sharing the system memory.
Out of the four expansion slots, two are PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x8 when both are populated) with some sort of manual PCI-E lane switching, and one each of PCI-E x1 and PCI. The SB850 southbridge gives out six SATA 6 Gb/s internal ports, while an additional controller provides an IDE connector (for two IDE devices). The eSATA port is driven by manually connecting it with one of the internal ports. Connectivity includes 8 channel audio with optical and coaxial SPDIF, USB 3.0, and display connectivity, which includes DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI with 7.1 channel audio. Available soon, Sapphire is yet to disclose its price.
AMD today announced a remote graphics option for IT managers seeking to replace existing desktop workstations with energy-efficient thin-client solutions. The ATI FirePro RG220 graphics card delivers a wide-ranging compute experience from the datacenter without compromise, and is designed to help IT managers reduce local power and cooling costs per user while limiting the amount of physical hardware at users' desks.
"Power consumption restrictions in crowded office buildings cause headaches for IT managers trying to find the right balance between energy efficiency, system performance and IT spend for the work environments they manage," said Janet Matsuda, senior director, Professional Graphics, AMD. "The ATI FirePro RG220 can be part of a secure, easy to manage solution, and is now available to enterprises that need to deploy updates to multiple users simultaneously, while still giving the end user the full PC experience they're accustomed to."
The Intel juggernaut rolls on in Q1 2010, according the latest IDC report covering PC processor sales. Similar to the
GPU market, processor sales grew by 39% compared to this time last year (Q1 2009), but declined by 5.6% compared to Q4 2009. Revenues went up 40.4% year-on-year and down just 2% sequentially. Intel's market share grew by 0.5%, slightly at the expense of AMD, which went down 0.6%.
Intel holds 81% of the processor market, while 'rival' AMD holds 18.8%. VIA holds a tiny 0.2% of the market. In the x86 server market, Intel holds 90.2%, with AMD and others at 9.8%. With the notebook and desktop segments it reached 87.8% and 71.7%, respectively. For 2010 IDC is predicting a CPU unit growth of 15.1%. Q1 2010 saw Intel propagating processors based on its new architecture to the crucial value and mainstream market segments, with the Core i3, Core i5, and Pentium dual-core processors in the LGA-1156 package.
Extreme audio & video performance and intelligent overclocking are among the most critical demands of power users. Globally-renowned mainboard and graphics card manufacturer MSI have unveiled their all-new 890FXA-GD70 and AMD 800 series mainboards. Featuring ultimate stability, easy overclocking and extreme performance, these boards targets advanced users who demand ultimate performance and beyond with overclocking.
The 890FXA-GD70 features AMD's latest SB850 southbridge chipset support and server-grade, Military Class specifications for the ultimate performance platform. Also included is the OC Genie intelligent overclocking utility, designed by MSI especially for the AMD platform. With the Unlock CPU Core function, consumers can enjoy ultimate performance at a reasonable price by taking their tri-core processor and making it into a quad-core. The 890FXA-GD70 also fully supports the latest generation USB 3.0 & SATA 6Gb/s transfer technologies that boost high capacity file transfer speed and quality to future standards. In addition, the environmentally conscious and economical DrMOS design is also included (on select models only) making this mainboard a must buy for the enthusiast.
While major AMD AIBs have given their creativity wings with the Radeon HD 5970, coming up with uber-high end graphics cards, PowerColor joined the party with its latest creation in the making: a graphics card with 12 display outputs! The design wires all six TMDs from each of the two GPUs into DisplayPort connectors, letting users make large Eyefinity display-heads. Each of the two GPUs is connected to 2 GB of GDDR5 memory making the total memory on board to 4 GB. The card is expected to be the thickest among others' HD 5970 designs, spanning over three expansion slots (two slot-spaces occupied by 12 mini-DP ports and one with the exhaust). PowerColor may choose Computex as the ideal launch-vehicle for this monstrosity. More details are awaited, but there's a Frankenstein picture of the card to go on.
The latest edition of Jon Peddie Research covering the PC graphics industry indicates that shipments of GPUs in Q1 2010 increased 44.3% over Q1 2009. There are increases in market shares of both AMD and NVIDIA, year over year, this time at the expense of Intel. The highlight for this quarter, however, has been the significant increase in market share of AMD. The company behind ATI Radeon clocked a 96.3% growth year-over-year. Despite taking a cut, Intel continues to to have the highest market share. With the introduction of Intel's Clarkdale and Arrandale processors that have embedded graphics processors, JPR demarcated these into a new entry called integrated processor graphics (IPG), from chipset graphics. With the propagation of the platform, it is predicted that chipset graphics will diminish in market share.
Leading graphics supplier, SAPPHIRE Technology, has begun sampling the world's fastest graphics card, the SAPPHIRE HD 5970 4G TOXIC Edition. Previewed at CeBit 2010, the SAPPHIRE HD 5970 4G TOXIC Edition has 4GB of fifth generation GDDR5 memory, a total of 3200 stream processors and 160 texture units and runs with world leading clock speeds of 900MHz core and 1200MHz for memory (4.8GHz effective). This is significantly faster than the standard model, and makes the SAPPHIRE HD 5970 4GB TOXIC Edition not only the fastest card in its class, but the fastest in the world.
With twice the computing power of the highly acclaimed SAPPHIRE HD 5870 Series, this new HD 5970 model shares all the exciting features of the HD 5000 family - including support for the DirectCompute 11 instruction set of Microsoft DirectX 11, hardware tessellation and multi threaded communication with the system CPU. It also enables the acceleration of applications supported by ATI Stream, and the ability to display across three monitors simultaneously with ATI Eyefinity. All of this comes with a modest active power consumption and ATI Powerplay Dynamic Power Management to achieve super-low power consumption in 2D and idle modes.
ASUS once again provides timely, optimized solutions to utilize incoming technology from AMD, supporting the chip maker's new six-core CPU design. Exclusive features added to ASUS 890FX motherboards realize the hexa-core architecture's capabilities to the fullest degree.
Both ROG Crosshair IV Formula and M4A89TD PRO include the AMD 890FX chipset and deliver thrilling PC performance through award-winning ASUS exclusives Core Unlocker and Turbo Unlocker, empowering users with on-demand overclocking and performance boosts for greater CPU capabilities in real time. Combined with the potential of the new design from AMD, these motherboards provide an experience like no other.
ASRock introduced its newest high-end motherboard for the AMD platform, the 890FX Extreme3. This socket AM3 motherboard is based on AMD's 890FX + SB850 chipset, and is geared for high-end discrete graphics setups. The CPU is powered by an 8+2 phase VRM that is cooled by an elaborate active heatsink that also draws heat from the 890FX chip. The board BIOS carries memory multipliers to support DDR3 1800 MHz with ease. Expansion slots include three PCI-Express x16, of which the blue slots are PCI-E 2.0 x16, while the third white slot is PCI-E 1.1 x4; and two each of PCI-E x1 and PCI. All six SATA 6 Gb/s ports from the SB850 are internal, while an additional VIA storage controller handles eSATA and IDE. Connectivity includes gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, eSATA, and 8-channel audio with SPDIF connectors. The ASRock 890FX-Extreme3 should reach stores in a few weeks.
AMD announced the immediate availability of the AMD Phenom II X6 processor and AMD 890FX chipset ushering in a new era of immersive 3D entertainment and visualization. Trailblazing consumers seeking immersive 3D entertainment and high definition multi-monitor display now can affordably upgrade to six-core performance and award-winning ATI Radeon HD 5000 series graphics. Today also marks the availability of the flagship AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition processor, AMD's fastest and most tunable desktop processor ever.
"With AMD Phenom II X6 processors, discerning customers can build an incredible, immersive entertainment system and content creation powerhouse," said Bob Grim, director of Client Platform Marketing at AMD. "AMD is answering the call for elite desktop PC performance and features at an affordable price."
MSI unveiled the 870A-G54, a value socket AM3 motherboard based on the AMD 870 + SB850 chipset. The 870 is AMD's value discrete graphics chipset, which supports one graphics card over a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 link, or two cards over two electrical x8 links, as implemented on this board. The CPU is powered by a 5+1 phase VRM which uses high-C capacitors. Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x8 when both are populated), supporting ATI CrossfireX; three PCI and one PCI-E x1. The SB850 southbridge gives out six internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports, an additional controller drives the IDE. Connectivity includes 8-channel audio with optical SPDIF, two USB 3.0 ports, a number of USB 2.0 ports, and gigabit Ethernet. The MSI 870A-G54 will be released in the coming weeks. This is the second board from the company based on this chipset, the other being the Lucid Hydra-equipped
870A-GD60 Hydra.
Retailers have started shipping AMD's Phenom II X6 series of desktop six-core processors. The Phenom II X6 is AMD's first consumer six-core processor for desktops, which intends to compete with Intel at aggressive price-points. AMD is starting the series with two models, the Phenom II X6 1055T and Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition. German retailer VV Computer priced the 1055T under 200€ at
198.7€, while the 1090T Black Edition goes for a little over 300 €, at
309.9€.
The Phenom II X6 1055T runs at 2.80 GHz, with Turbo Core speed of 3.30 GHz, while the Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition runs at 3.20 GHz with 3.60 GHz of Turbo Core speed, and an unlocked bus multiplier to help overclocking. Both chips have 9 MB of total cache, and TDP of 125W.
At Embedded Systems Conference today, AMD announced two new complete platforms for the embedded market, the compact ASB2 platform and the high-performance AM3 platform, that offer myriad combinations of power and performance with up to 74 percent improvement in performance-per-watt over previous generations. AMD's new flexible embedded platforms consist of chipset and graphics solutions along with high-performance CPUs as low as 8W TDP for the ideal solution based on application requirements. System designers focusing on their next-generation products can see immediate benefits commonly associated with industry-standard x86 processors, including streamlined design and development, a large software ecosystem, and fast time-to-market.
"The barriers to widespread adoption of x86 in the broad embedded market have traditionally been a combination of power, price and the physical footprint of the silicon," said Buddy Broeker, director, Embedded Solutions Division, AMD. "AMD's embedded solutions have been steadily driving down those barriers while adding enterprise-class performance and features that may not have been readily available to designers in the past. Our commitment to the embedded market grows stronger as we look to a future introduction of AMD Fusion technology products into the embedded space."
Following the launch of the ATI FirePro V8800, the industry's most powerful professional graphics card ever created, AMD today introduced new additions to its next-generation ATI FirePro family -- ATI FirePro V7800, ATI FirePro V5800, ATI FirePro V4800, and ATI FirePro V3800 -- offering professionals in the digital content creation (DCC) and Computer Aided Design (CAD) industries advanced performance and features at every price point. AMD also announced the ATI FirePro 2460 Multi-View, a low profile, quad display graphics solution designed for financial institutions. These latest ATI FirePro solutions are expected to be available from HP, CDW, Newegg, Tiger Direct and other online retailers.
"AMD's new ATI FirePro workstation graphics cards are the world's first workstation class graphics cards to support up to four monitors on a single card -- enabling increased productivity for professional graphics users," said Janet Matsuda, senior director, Professional Graphics, AMD. "Our new ATI FirePro family delivers new value at every price point."
G.Skill International Co. Ltd., manufacturer of extreme performance memory and high performance solid-state storage, has today launched its latest Flare series high-performance DDR3 kits rated at 1800MHz, and optimized for AM3 790 & 890 platform with AMD C3 stepping processors.
G.Skill's Flare series has been specifically designed and tested for AM3 790 and the latest 890 platforms, in combination with AMDs recent C3 stepping CPUs, and has passed a strict testing regime to ensure the best performance and stability. G.Skill Flare provides AMD enthusiasts the perfect choice of high frequency memory that allows a greater attainable CPU bus clock, in order to overclock further and have best performance for productivity and gaming.
Sticking to its announcement, AMD released the ATI Catalyst 10.4a Preview driver suite. In the run up to Catalyst 10.4, the company wanted to quickly resolve an important issue pertaining to Battlefield: Bad Company 2 game load times, which made it release a series of preview drivers, starting with
Catalyst 10.4 Preview which resolved the issue for ATI Radeon HD 5000 series GPUs, and now the Catalyst 10.4a Preview, which resolves it for ATI Radeon HD 4000, HD 3000, HD 2000 series GPUs. With this hotfix applied, users will experience reduced map game load times on Bad Company 2. Catalyst 10.4 WHQL will be released later this month.
DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 10.4a Preview
ECS is ready with a low-cost ATX motherboard based on the upcoming AMD 880G chipset, the ECS A880GM-A2. The board uses a PCB nearly identical to that of the ECS IC890GXM-A, except for the skimpier heatsinks. The board features a simple 3+1 phase VRM which can power AM3 processors, including the Phenom II X6, with TDPs of up to 125W. Solid-state capacitors are used only for some important circuits. The 880G chipset embeds an ATI Radeon HD 4250 IGP, with 128 MB of DDR3 SidePort Memory. It supports dual-channel DDR3 memory, with speeds of up to 1600 MHz.
Expansion slots include one PCI-Express 2.0 x16, one PCI-E x16 (electrical x4), two PCI-E x1, and two PCI. The SB850 southbridge gives out six SATA 6 Gb/s ports, of which five are internal, and one eSATA. Connectivity options include 8-channel audio, gigabit Ethernet, eSATA and USB 2.0. Display connectivity includes DVI and D-Sub. It is expected to be released next week, at an affordable price.
With AMD's next generation of graphics processors, the company plans to, at one point, switch its GPU manufacturing from its present Taiwan-based foundry partners such as TSMC and UMC, to GlobalFoundaries, its erstwhile own manufacturing division. From 40 nm, graphics processors are expected to jump to 28 nm as the next manufacturing process standard. GlobalFoundries will be ready with a 28 nm High-K metal gate (HKMG) node for making AMD products which are now bulk-manufactured in Taiwan.
During a quarterly conference call with financial analysts, chief executive officer of AMD, Dirk Meyer said "The first intersection of our AMD GPUs and GlobalFoundries are on the 28nm. We haven't been public with respect to any timing there." GlobalFoundries is said to have two principal kinds of 28 nm nodes, the 28nm-HP (High Performance) node makes complex chips such as GPUs, game console chips, storage controllers, networking and media encoding, while the 28nm-SLP (Super Low Power) is used for less complex devices, particularly intended to be low-power, for portable devices, such as baseband, application processors, and other handheld functions. In 2011, AMD is expected to release its next-generation of GPUs in a series codenamed "Northern Islands".
