American retailer ZipZoomFly.com has listed one of its first ATI Radeon HD 5800 series products, these ones from HIS. Both the HIS HD 5870 1 GB (H587F1GDG), and HIS HD 5850 1 GB (H585F1GDG) stick to AMD's reference board design, and sport a unique "sword" sticker theme compared to the manga characters used by another popular AMD partner.

Both accelerators are DirectX 11 compliant, and support ATI Eyefinity technology to connect to three display heads with 2560 x 1600 pixel resolution. Connectivity options include two DVI-D, DisplayPort, and HDMI with 7.1 channel audio. While the HD 5870 has 1600 stream processors, clock speeds of 850/1200 MHz (core/memory), the HD 5850 has 1440 stream processors, with speeds of 725/1000 MHz (core/memory). Going by ZipZoomFly's pricing, the HIS HD 5870 1 GB is priced at US $399, while the HIS HD 5850 1 GB stands at $299.

The newest member of MSI's X-Slim family, the 15.6" screen X610 is the multimedia lover's ultimate fantasy. It is equipped with the latest green power saving technologies, including AMD's 2nd Generation Ultrathin Platform, PowerNow!, and MSI's ECO technology, which together give the X610 more than twice the battery power of conventional 15.6" notebooks. What's more, its top-end ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 3D discrete graphic card allows this lean, mean, green machine offer the ultimate multimedia experience.

The European Commission has today published a non-confidential version of its Intel Decision, adopted on 13 May 2009 ( IP/09/745 and MEMO/09/235 ), together with a summary of the key elements of the Decision. That Decision found that Intel broke EC Treaty antitrust rules (Article 82) by engaging in two types of illegal practice to exclude competitors from the market for computer chips called x86 central processing units (CPUs). These practices harmed consumers throughout the EEA. By undermining its competitors' ability to compete on the merits of their products, Intel's actions undermined competition, reduced consumer choice and hindered innovation. On the basis of a significant amount of contemporaneous evidence and company statements, the Decision demonstrates how Intel broke the law.

Intel abused its dominant position in the x86 CPU market by implementing a series of conditional rebates to computer manufacturers and to a European retailer and by taking other measures aimed at preventing or delaying the launch of computers based on competing products (so-called 'naked restrictions'). The Commission's Decision outlines specific cases of these conditional rebates and naked restrictions, as well as how Intel sought to conceal its practices and how computer manufacturers and Intel itself recognised the growing threat represented by the products of Intel's main competitor, AMD.

AMD announced immediate availability of a new enterprise-class embedded platform based on the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor and new AMD SR5690/SP5100 server chipset. Seven AMD Opteron processors in three power bands, in conjunction with the new low-power chipset, allow high-end embedded vendors to enable increased performance-per-watt for edge-of-network systems such as telecom/datacom, storage, and security servers, and routers and switches.

This comprehensive platform offers:

• increased performance enabled for virtualized and multithreaded embedded applications;
• enhanced NEBS-friendly thermal specification;
• single source for design and tight technology integration support among CPUs, chipsets and GPUs;
• compatibility between processor generations and 5 year component longevity to support long-life designs;
• a high-performance, low power chipset with PCIe 2.0, HyperTransport 3 technology and advanced AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) technology and AMD-P power management features.

Here are the fist pictures of Sapphire's Radeon HD 5800 series offerings: Radeon HD 5870 1GB and Radeon HD 5850. The cards sport the usual sticker design of a CGI girl in a reddish background. With these cards having the cosmetic "red-streak" cleaving the cooler shroud in the center, the so is the sticker. This is also perhaps the first public picture of the Radeon HD 5850, and our size projections were right: While the Radeon HD 5870 maintains a long PCB, the HD 5850 is about as long as a Radeon HD 4870 (reference design). Both accelerators stick to the reference AMD design.

* Images removed at request of Sapphire * Google for alternate source

Nearly a week ahead of its launch, Dutch retailer Salland Automatisering briefly listed a Radeon HD 5870 1 GB accelerator from a now-masked manufacturer (we are fairly sure it's Sapphire, looking at its part number "21161-00-50R" that resembles the part number scheme of other products from this manufacturer). Since Salland's pricing is usually consistent with those of other major European retailers, it gives a coarse indication of what you would have to pay for a Radeon HD 5870 1 GB: 268.90 EUR (excluding taxes), 319.99 EUR including taxes applicable in The Netherlands. AMD's Radeon HD 5870 1 GB accelerator is slated for September 23. It also comes in a 2 GB variant priced slightly higher, and an Eyefinity Edition planned. Salland was quick to withdraw the listing.

The X-Slim series 14" ultra thin notebook family introduces a new member, the X-Slim X410 notebook computer with AMD's 2nd Generation Ultrathin Platform that supports 1080i high resolution and provides outstanding display quality. With AMD's PowerNow! technology, it is even more eco-friendly with reduced battery consumption and lower voltage requirements. It also lasts longer, with over twice the battery life of traditional 14" notebooks. The X410 design stays consistent with the X-Slim series' beauty and ultra-thin design with a thickness of merely an inch and 1.5 kg weight with battery. With an attractive price and full set of features, the X410 is a stunning and fashionable ultra-thin notebook.

Unbeknownst to other markets, ATI AIB partners have been working on full-fledged lineups of graphics cards based on the Radeon HD 4860 GPU, a brand that seems to be specific to the Chinese market. Sapphire developed a new premium offering based on the GPU, called Sapphire HD 4860 Platinum, that intends to be a cut above the rest with its cooling and better power stability. The card in many respects looks similar to "Vapor-X" branded offerings based on other GPUs, by Sapphire.

The card sports a dual-slot design with a custom PCB by Sapphire. The PCB includes a 5+2 phase VRM which draws power from two 6-pin PCI-E connectors. The RV790-based Radeon HD 4860 GPU has 640 stream processors, and has core/memory clock-speeds of 700/750 MHz. With its 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, it connects to 512 MB of memory. The GPU is cooled by a robust heatpipe-fin array based GPU cooler. On the connectivity front, the card provides DVI-D, HDMI, and DisplayPort. It is available for RMB 799 (US $117) in China. More pictures can be found at the source.

MSI's AMD Athlon Neo powered U210 ultra-portable reached retail today. While not intended to be a ULPC, this 12.1-inch notebook sells for US $430. It features a 1366 x 768 pixel 12.1 inch screen, and is powered by a 1.6 GHz Athlon Neo MV-40 processor aided by 2 GB of memory, ATI Radeon X1250 integrated graphics, 250 GB of storage, and a 4-in-1 media card reader. It is connected by WiFi, 10/100 Ethernet, and HDMI (for HD displays). Windows Vista Home Premium is the preferred operating system, and comes preinstalled.

As part of the new desktop platform designed for mainstream consumers, AMD today announced the first ever quad-core processor for less than $100 Suggested System Builder Price (SSBP). By balancing the power of new AMD Athlon II X4 quad-core processors and the AMD 785G chipset featuring ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics, AMD delivers smooth HD visuals and the foundation for a great Windows 7 experience.

When matched against similarly priced competitive processors, the AMD Athlon II X4 620 processor delivers superior multitasking performance allowing mainstream users to do more in less time, for less money. The AMD Mainstream Desktop Platform leverages AMD software to help enhance the overall experience. ATI Stream technology, for example, enables hardware acceleration that can speed HD video conversion-time so content can be ready faster for use on-the-go.

AMD today announced new AMD Business Class technology for desktop PCs designed for Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs), large enterprises and the public sector. The new 2009 AMD Business Class Desktop Platform, offered as part of AMD Business Class technology, delivers the benefits of the latest AMD CPUs, chipsets and graphics hardware to business users. AMD Business Class technology, including platforms configured with AMD Phenom II and AMD Athlon II 45nm processors, AMD 7-Series chipsets and ATI Radeon HD 4000 series graphics processors, offers superior value, advanced visual productivity, and support for essential manageability, security and virtualization features.

"Businesses require stable, reliable and powerful PCs that can meet their growing and evolving needs," said Chris Cloran, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of AMD's Client Products. "AMD Business Class technology for desktop PCs provides our OEM customers with superior value and flexibility, enabling them to deliver advanced system security features and energy efficiency for quiet computing that businesses need."

Here are some of the first performance figures of AMD's upcoming Radeon HD 5870 published by a media source. Czech Gamer posted performance numbers of the card compared to current heavyweights including Radeon HD 4870 X2, Radeon HD 4890, and GeForce GTX 285. Having not entered an NDA with AMD, the source was liberal with its performance projections citing AMD's internal testing that include the following, apart from the two graphs below:

• Radeon HD 5870 is anywhere between 5~155 percent faster than GeForce GTX 285. That's a huge range, and leaves a lot of room for uncertainty.
• When compared to GeForce GTX 295, its performance ranges between -25 percent (25% slower) to 95 percent (almost 2x faster), another broad range.
• When two HD 5870 cards are set up in CrossFire, the resulting setup is -5 percent (5% slower) to 90 percent faster than GeForce GTX 295. Strangely, the range maximum is lesser than that on the single card.
• When three of these cards are setup in 3-way CrossFireX, the resulting setup is 10~160 percent faster than a GeForce GTX 295.
• The Radeon HD 5850 on the other hand, can be -25 percent (25% slower) to 120 percent faster than GeForce GTX 285.

AMD reportedly used a set of 15 games to run its tests. Vague as they seem, the above numbers raise more questions than provide answers. The graphs below are clear, for a change.

Possessing industrial grade technology, DFI LANParty is going to launch the newest Blood Iron series product, 785G-M35 Micro ATX motherboard. Accommodating AMD 785 chipset, BI 785G-M35 incorporates integrated ATI Radeon HD 4200, which supports DirectX10.1, Shader Model 4.1, and UVD 2.0. With 128MB DDR3 Sideport Memory, graphics performance of BI 785G-M35 can be improved up to 10%~15%. What is more, it comes with LANParty exclusive "ABS II" CPU Auto Upgrade technology and leading-edge digital PWM so as to let users enjoy the ultimate high performance and simultaneously save a huge amount of budget and electric pay.

CPU can be upgraded. Users do not need to spend a huge amount of money on high degree CPU, but still can obtain the same high performance. "ABS II" CPU Auto Upgrade Technology exempts users from complicated set-up steps. As long as users choose upgrade option at the first boost time, ABS II then will detect CPU and upgrade it automatically. As a result, performance is improved easily and money is saved accordingly.

AMD released version 9.9 of its ATI Catalyst driver suite that provides drivers and related essential software for ATI Radeon graphics processors, AMD 7-series core-logic, and ATI Multimedia products. This release mainly intends to fix application-specific issues, and features related to Catalyst Control Center application. For more details, refer to the Release Notes document. Highlights include:

• Anti-Aliasing support for Ghostbusters
• ATI CrossFireX support for Resident Evil 5
• Graphics corruption fix for Sims 3
• Catalyst Control Center - Basic now responds properly after exiting Quick Adjust Video Settings
• Edge enhancement and de-noise sliders in Catalyst Control Center no longer lags or appears out of sync with mouse movement
• Launching Hotkeys Manager in Catalyst Control Center no longer causes an unhandled exception error
• The "Desktop Rotation" page in Catalyst Control Center no longer shows additional information for the second display when the secondary adapter is connected
• HDMI is now detected properly as DTV (HDMI) instead of DTV (DVI) when the HDMI display is hotplugged for the first time
• Catalyst Control Center no longer displays error message when specific HDMI displays are hot unplugged and hotplugged back
• Intermittent failures no longer occur with MediaShow Espresso once a transcoding process has been completed

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 9.9

Among the three main high-end graphics SKUs AMD has in store for this 23rd known so far (namely Radeon HD 5850, HD 5870 1GB, and HD 5870 2GB), is a fourth distinct SKU called the Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity Edition. This is a variant of the Radeon HD 5870 with specially-designed connectivity that makes setting up to six displays possible/convenient for making use of the Eyefinity multi-display technology that lets you span a display-head across several physical displays like a mosaic.

On its panel, the card has a large air-vent occupying one slot, and six mini-DisplayPort connectors occupying the other. Necessary cabling will be provided to connect to the displays. While each accelerator supports six displays in all, multiple accelerators can be installed on the same PC without any multi-GPU setup, to scale the size of the resulting display by up to 24 displays and up to 268 megapixels of effective resolution. It remains to be seen if there are similar Eyefinity Edition SKUs based on other AMD GPUs in the series, especially considering the fact that the company is also eying the business/productivity market segment.

Force 3D rolled out a refreshing take on the ATI Radeon HD 4890 with its own-design F4890P-G5-350-FS. This model offers all features of the GPU running at AMD reference clock speeds of 850/975 MHz (core/memory), while needing only one 6-pin power connector, while most other accelerators based on the GPU require two, some overclocked models even needing a 6+2 pin power connector to replace one of them. This card has a slim design, with a short PCB, and a decent Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin-Turbo Pro cooling the GPU. It holds 1 GB of GDDR5 memory, and includes DVI-D, HDMI and D-Sub for connectivity. It has started selling in Japan for a fairly standard price.

Here are the first pictures of the obverse side of Cypress' PCB, and the first pictures of the centre of attraction: the AMD Cypress GPU. CzechGamer dissembled two Cypress "Radeon HD 5870" cards for a quick blurrycam photo-session. The PCB shot reveals quite a bit about Cypress, particularly about the GPU.

To begin with, the GPU is AMD's overhaul on transistor counts, and a bold work of engineering on the 40 nm manufacturing process, given the kind of problems foundry partners had initially. Apparently they seem to have recovered with most of them, as AMD's AIB partners are coming up with new products based on the 40 nm RV740 GPU on a weekly basis. The package holds a "diamond-shaped" die that is angled in a way similar to RV740, RV730, or more historically, the R600. The seemingly huge die measures 338 mm² (area), and for 40 nm, it translates to "huge", and is vindicated by the transistor count of ~2.1 billion. In contrast, AMD's older flagship GPU, the RV790 holds 959 million, and NVIDIA's GT200 holds 1.4 billion.

Acer has a history of designing Ferrari-branded notebooks powered by AMD processors. The newest in the league is the ultraportable Acer Ferrari One. This is one of the first implementations of AMD's Congo notebook platform that makes use of ULV tech friendly AMD Athlon X2 L310 dual-core processor clocked at 1.20 GHz, ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics and a 11.6 inch 1366 x 768 pixel screen. The biggest selling point besides the Ferrari branding, colours and is its ultra-thin chassis that looks to have a dash of carbon fiber. Other specs include WiFi, HSDPA/3G, gigabit Ethernet, and a 6-cell battery. Slated for October 22, the Ferrari One will sell for 499 EUR, with Windows 7 pre-installed.

At "experience events" on three continents this week, AMD and its industry partners introduced ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology, a revolutionary feature in the upcoming next generation ATI Radeon family of DirectX 11 enabled graphics processors.
This unique AMD innovation gives PCs the ability to seamlessly connect up to six ultra high definition displays in a variety of portrait and landscape configurations giving viewers a stunning new perspective on their PC experience. ATI Eyefinity is powered by one AMD graphics card for up to 12 times 1080p high-definition resolution, which approaches eye-definition optical clarity. ATI Eyefinity technology brings AMD closer to delivering true eye-definition experiences, where the display of a virtual environment is so detailed that it seems optically real to the human eye. Using ATI Eyefinity technology in a single PC, it is now possible to power displays with a combined theoretical resolution of 268 megapixels, roughly equivalent to the resolution of a 90 degree arc of what the human eye sees. For reference, today's average 19 inch LCD display typically has an image quality of only slightly more than 1 megapixel.

Sapphire's addition to the rather secretive Radeon HD 4750 lineup has been spotted in mainland China. This comes weeks after PowerColor's offering hit the scene. Based on the 40 nm RV740 GPU, Sapphire's platinum is "overclocked" from its default specs, while actually using the clock speeds of HD 4770: 750/800 MHz (core/memory). It features a simple cooler with radially-projecting aluminum fins, covered by a plastic shroud. The stream processor configuration however is modified, with the GPU being able to use only 480 stream processors from its kitty. The 128-bit GDDR5 memory interface remains unchanged. On the connectivity front, are one each of DVI-D, D-Sub, and HDMI. The card is CrossfireX capable, and we understand it's able to pair with other RV740 accelerators. It is priced at RMB 699 (US $100).

AMD today announced a new way to help consumers select the PC that best meets their needs. Working with retailers and PC manufactures, VISION Technology from AMD breaks the model in how PC benefits are communicated. Rather than the traditional model, which focuses on the technical specifications of individual hardware components, VISION communicates the value of the whole system and demonstrates the combined processing power of both the CPU and GPU to deliver a superior visual experience to mainstream PC users. It emphasizes how an AMD-based PC is optimized for video, digital media and content creation activities. VISION guides the industry past the era of CPU-centric marketing and describes the PC capabilities in terms of what can be enjoyed on the system - see, share, create. This helps consumers to make better informed buying decisions.

"Today's consumer cares about what they can do with their PC, not what's inside," said Nigel Dessau, CMO of AMD. "They want a rich HD and entertainment experience on their PC, delivered by the combined technology of AMD CPUs and GPUs, without having to understand what gigahertz and gigabytes mean. VISION technology from AMD reflects the maturation of marketing in the PC processing industry and communicates the technology in a more meaningful way."

Here's the first sighting of a fully-assembled upcoming AMD Cypress "Radeon HD 5870" accelerator. This photo-shoot comes a couple of days ahead of its unveiling to the press tomorrow. Here's our very first thoughts on what we see:

• The accelerator is unusually long for a single-GPU one from AMD. The company wouldn't splurge too much on aesthetics (especially lengthening the PCB), if there's no need for it to do so. Apparently there is.
• Connectivity options galore. With two DVI-D, and one each of DisplayPort and HDMI, AMD promises it can handle three display-heads per GPU.
• The components behind the GPU area (exposed) indicates the GPU to be somewhat large
• History tells us that AMD uses a backplate only if it finds a real utility in it, such as cooling additional memory chips or VRM components. This card has a large, almost full-coverage backplate.

What surfaced months ago on sources such as ChipHell, which was then ridiculed for accuracy, has finally taken shape. If anything, Cypress does look like it means business. Expect further details to be out soon. Cypress is codename for AMD's next-generation DirectX 11 compliant graphics processor in the high-performance segment.

* Images removed at request of AMD *

SAPPHIRE Technology has just released a new feature packed mainboard based on the highly acclaimed 785G chipset from AMD, supporting the latest AMD Phenom ll processor families with DDR3 memory and on-board DX10.1 graphics as well as PCI-Express 2.0.

The SAPPHIRE PURE 785G (part number PI-AM3RS785G) is a fully featured mainboard in standard microATX format combining the powerful AMD 785G Chipset and AMD SB710 south bridge. Two DIMM slots support up to 8GB of DDR3 1333/1600 memory and there is an on-board 128MBit DDR3 sideport memory. The integrated high speed 3GB/s SATA hard drive interface caters for up to 6 devices with optional RAID functions, and there is also an Ultra DMA IDE connector. On board features include GigaBit LAN and 6-channel HD Audio with 3D audio capability as well as support for up to 8 USB 2.0/1.1 devices.

Following a recent move to speed-bump the Athlon II X2 with the Athlon II X2 255, AMD is planning a similar update for the Phenom II X2 lineup, with the Phenom II X2 555. This model makes it clear that an increment of 5 in the model number indicates bump in default clock multiplier of 0.5X, while that of 10 indicates a full 1.0x increase. Keeping with this trend, Phenom II X2 555 is clocked at 3.20 GHz (16.0 x 200 MHz), a 100 MHz increase. Based on the 45 nm Callisto core, the processor features a total chip cache of 7 MB (2x 512 KB L2 + 6 MB L3), a 4000 MT/s HyperTransport interface, and an unlocked bus multiplier. Expected to be available later this month, the Phenom II X2 555 could carry a price-tag of 80 EUR.

Here's the first CPU-Z validation of AMD's 12-core Magny Cours processor. Whatever details the existing version of CPU-Z does read, perfectly matches the specifications of the processor sketched out so far. Firstly, it's based on AMD's upcoming socket G3 package that marks Opteron's transition to high-level integration within a single package. With 1,974 pins, socket G3 is able to provide as many as six 16-bit HyperTransport 3.1 links, and four DDR3 memory channels. The package is one of AMD's first multi-chip modules, that houses two six-core dies (dubbed "nodes"), onto one package, and connects the two using a HyperTransport link.

Each node has 6 x 512 KB of L2 cache and 6 MB L3 cache shared between the six cores. Out of 6 MB, 1 MB of the cache is reserved for low-level system operations, namely the HT Assist (probe filter) that aims to lower memory subsystem latencies, reduces queuing delays due to lower HyperTransport traffic overhead, and minimizes probe traffic to increase system bandwidth. The CPU-Z reading of 10 MB total chip L3 cache is spot-on. Also seen on the validation page are details on the reference motherboard, called "AMD Dinar", that uses SR5690 (same chip as 890FX) + SB750 chipset. The CPU-Z validation can be found here.