Some of the first AMD socket G34 motherboards were caught on camera, at the ongoing Computex event, by Inpai. The new socket succeeds the G3MX, which was discontinued in its development process itself. It facilitates upcoming six-core, and twelve-core "Magny-Corus" processors by AMD, which will use HyperTransport 3.0 system interface (for the first time on the enterprise AMD platform), and support the quad-channel (per socket) memory interface. One of the first processors in line for this socket is the based on the "Istanbul" six-core silicon.

The Inventec G34 HPC motherboard (left, below) will be targeted at the server and HPC markets. The two sockets are wired to twelve DDR3 DIMM slots per socket, each array supporting a 256-bit wide (quad-channel) memory interface. The Quanta G34 looks to be more workstation oriented, featuring several PCI-Express slots, and eight DIMM slots per socket. Like Socket F, the new socket physically will be a land-grid array, with pins on the socket, and contact points on the processor package. Its pin-count is known to be 1974.

At a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan today, AMD publicly demonstrated the world's first Microsoft DirectX 11 graphics processor. The series of demonstrations shed new light on the significantly improved computing experience set to debut at the end of 2009. The fusion of AMD's new ground-breaking graphics processors with the forthcoming DirectX 11 programming interface is set to forever change both applications and PC gaming for the better. To illustrate, AMD showed numerous examples of faster application performance and new game features using the world's first true DirectX 11 graphics processor.

AMD launched the ATI Theater HD 750 PC TV chip offering HDTV viewing capabilities on desktop and notebook PCs around the world using analog, and digital, and free-to-air broadcast signals. ATI Theater HD 750 uses advanced video processing and signal reception technologies for clear HD picture quality, crisp images, high color performance and fidelity for an authentic HD home theater feel on the PC.

Bringing its acclaimed 45 nm technology to new high-volume processor designs, AMD today announced two new dual-core desktop processors. Building on 10 years of AMD Athlon processor innovation, the new 45 nm AMD Athlon II X2 250 processor gives mainstream consumers exceptional performance, efficiency and value. For enthusiasts and overclockers, AMD also announces the AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition processor, the first ever dual-core AMD Phenom II CPU. With this latest addition to the AMD Phenom II processor family, users can now experience the power of AMD platform technology, codenamed "Dragon," with dual-, triple- and quad-core configurations.

AMD today announced availability of the world's first six-core server processor with Direct Connect Architecture for two-, four- and eight-socket servers. Six-Core AMD Opteron processors (code-named "Istanbul") extend AMD's commitment to offering server customers superior value at every price point with unmatched platform flexibility.
Across a single platform, AMD can address the need for more cores and greater scalability with the new Six-Core AMD Opteron processor and offer a cost- and power-efficient solution with Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors. Systems based on Six-Core AMD Opteron processors are expected to be available beginning this month from leading OEMs including Cray, Dell, HP, IBM and Sun Microsystems, along with support from motherboard and infrastructure partners. HE, SE and EE versions of the Six-Core AMD Opteron processor are planned for the second half of 2009.

AMD announced the ATI Radeon E4690 graphics processor unit (GPU) designed to enable a whole level of new reality for embedded graphics applications with more than triple the 3D graphics performance of prior AMD embedded products. Arcade system manufacturers will appreciate the long term support and lower cost of placing the GPU chip directly on the motherboard instead of a separate add-in graphics card. This product will enable digital signage manufacturers to decode and play multiple high-definition videos in hardware, offloading all the decoding from the CPU. Casino system manufacturers will be amazed by triple the graphics performance to help attract players while increasing overall entertainment value with incredibly realistic 3D graphics, plus two-monitor support.

Thermaltake, leading PC chassis, cooler, and PSU brand manufacturer, is celebrating their 10th anniversary in the PC DIY industry and will therefore present a very special highlight at this year's Computex 2009 show in Taipei, Taiwan, June 2 ~ 6.

Herewith we would like to cordially invite you to this exclusive ceremony with the Director of the European Studio of BMW Group DesignworksUSA, Laurenz Schaffer the AMD Vice President of Platform Business Development Levi Murray and the CEO of Thermaltake Kenny Lin. Don't miss your chance to meet three of the most innovative technology leaders in their fields and directly ask them and tell what you think matters.

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, announces a new addition to HD4700 series: the PCS HD4730. The latest PCS HD4730 has 640 streaming processors, clocks at 700MHz core and 900MHz memory respectively, with the fastest ever GDDR5 memory, it supports up to 3.6 Gbps data rates. This offers an unbeatable gaming performance in its segment.

The PowerColor PCS HD4730 equipped with award-winning ARCTIC COOLING solution, increases air flow at a lower fan speed that easily dissipates heat from an optimized heat sink. The unique fan design avoids direct contact with high temperatures emanating from heat sink, extending the life cycle of the cooling fan. With PowerColor exclusive fan control technology, the fan speed can be adjusted automatically providing a perfect balance between silent operating environment and cooling performance.

It seems that in order to make up for the shortages of the now very popular HD 4770, due to TSMC's issues with 40 nm manufacturing, AMD is dropping the prices of the HD 4850 to around the MSRP of the HD 4770. That is around $99.99 US and about €90, this will be putting further pressure on NVIDIA as AMD brings down one of its top GPUs in to the sub-$100 market.

Days after releasing its high-end Crosshair III Formula, ASUS is readying another motherboard, this time based on AMD's new 785G + SB710 chipset. This AM2+ micro-ATX board offers a fairly standard feature-set. The AM2+ socket supports nearly every AM2, AM2+, AM3 socket CPU ever made, while the four DDR2 DIMMs support up to 1200 MHz DDR2 by overclocking, while DDR2-1066 is a standard for AM2+/AM3 CPUs. The southbridge provides five SATA II ports, with a sixth one positioned as eSATA on the rear-panel. Display connectivity options include DVI, D-Sub and HDMI. The motherboard may be released during the upcoming Computed 2009 event.

The source also revealed a bit about the AMD 785G chipset, confirming our earlier assumption that it was based on the RS880 core. The chip embeds an RV620 graphics processor, which will be named as the Radeon HD 4200 IGP. It features UVD 2.0 video hardware decoder, and supports DirectX 10.1. It also supports SidePort auxiliary memory, apart from the usual UMA. AMD notes that the IGP will be slightly faster than the RS780, while being significantly faster than Intel G45 and NVIDIA's GeForce 8200 (although NVIDIA's fasted IGP for the AMD platform is GeForce 8300).

ECS is dressing up two new motherboards for a gala launch at Computex 2009. The A785GM-M and P55H-A were recently announced by the company to be heading for display and launch at the event, in its Computex booth invitation press-release. AlienBabelTech published exclusive pictures of the two.

To begin with, the A785GM-M is a micro-ATX motherboard based on the new AMD 785G chipset. The chipset features a Radeon HD 4200-class IGP. It is possibly based on the new RS880 core. The board supports AMD AM3 socket CPUs, and provides four DDR3 DIMM slots. Its display connectivity options include D-Sub, DVI, and HDMI. The rest of its connectivity includes FireWire, eSATA and one gigabit Ethernet interface.

The P55H-A on the other hand, is one of the company's first offerings that support the upcoming LGA-1156 socket processors. This is another of the motherboards we have seen so far, that lack display connectors, and hence, lack Intel Flexible Display Interface support, that connects integrated graphics processors on some CPUs to their output. It provides two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots (electrically dual x8 when both populated). Four DDR3 DIMM slots support dual-channel DDR3 memory, 8 channel audio, gigabit Ethernet, and 6 SATA II ports make for the rest of it.

Industry observer DigiTimes, citing anonymous sources, today reported that AMD is planning to move production of its desktop processors to 45 nm node process by the third quarter of this year.

AMD plans to move production of its desktop CPUs to its 45nm node process in the third quarter, helping to reduce costs, according to sources at motherboard makers.
Currently, only AMD's quad-core Phenom II X4 800 and 900 series (Deneb) and triple-core Phenom II X3 700 series (Heka) CPUs are manufactured under a 45nm process. The company plans to move its dual-core Phenom II X2 500 series (Callisto) and Athlon II X2 200 series to 45nm in June, and quad-core Athlon II X4 600 series and triple-core Athlon II X3 400 series (Rana) in September, the sources noted.
The chipmaker also plans to launch several CPUs during the period between the end of the second quarter and the third quarter. The dual-core Phenom II X2 550 and 545 will launch at the end of the second quarter, and the quad-core Phenom II X4 945 (95W) and 8xx (95W), triple-core Phenom II X3 7xx (95W), quad-core Athlon II X4 630 and 620, triple-core Athlon II X3 435 and 425, and dual-core Athlon II X2 250, 245 and 240 will launch in the third.
AMD also plans to launch 10 low-power consumption CPUs including the Phenom II X4 905e, Phenom II X3 705e and Athlon II X4 605e.

In the run up for the launch of Intel's newest line of desktop CPUs - the Core i5 series, companies with related products such as motherboards and coolers are in full swing gearing up Core i5. Spire is ready with two new coolers CoolWave 5 and CoolWave 5 Pro, that support LGA-1156, the socket Core i5 uses. The two are identical except for that the former features pre-applied S350 thermal grease, while the latter comes with a tube of superior-grade S420 thermal grease. The cooler doesn't leave out support for LGA-775, or interestingly, AMD AM3/2+/2 either. Measuring 90x90x80 mm (LxWxH), the CoolWave 5 makes use of a silent 90 mm, UV-reactive fan. The coolers will be available in late-June at prices of $9.95 for the CoolWave 5, and $14.95 for the CoolWave 5 Pro.

AMD is dressing up a new ATI Radeon SKU to go to office soon. The Radeon HD 4730 beats our guesswork, and wits both in one shot. The new SKU is not based on a scaled-down 40 nm RV740 GPU the HD 4770 is based on, but rather on a new RV770 variant, dubbed the RV770CE. This GPU is physically identical to the RV770, and has part of its configuration identical to the RV770LE (Radeon HD 4830), while its memory interface is 128-bit GDDR5 instead of 256-bit GDDR3.

The only explanation we have in store is that perhaps AMD is looking to save on using lesser number of memory chips per board (while not crippling the memory interface), and that RV770 is in healthier stock than the RV740. Pictured below is the PowerColor Radeon HD 4730 PCS, one of the first cards based on the GPU. Other important specifications, such as stream processor count, and clock-speeds are yet to surface. Ideally it should cash-in on a price-segment below that of the Radeon HD 4770.

Having hit the 1.00 GHz (core) mark with its recently-introduced Radeon HD 4890 Atomic Vapor-X, Sapphire still finds the need for a card with the Vapor-X cooler sans the factory-overclocking, leaving some headroom for enthusiasts to play with. The new HD 4890 Vapor-X uses a non-reference blue PCB, along with the Vapor-X cooler similar to that on the HD 4870 Vapor-X model. A vapor-chamber plate makes direct contact with the GPU. It conveys heat to a radial heatsink cooled by a central fan. The memory is cooled by heatsinks, while the VRM-area is cooled by a heatsink of its own.

Sapphire uses AMD reference clock speeds: 850 MHz (core), and 975 MHz memory. The card features 1 GB of GDDR5 memory. Its outputs are care of DVI, D-Sub, HDMI and DisplayPort connectors provided right on the card. The card will reach retail in a few weeks' time.

ASUS, the world's leading producer of motherboards, today put world record-breaking power into the hands of AMD Phenom II users with the launch of the ROG (Republic of Gamers) Crosshair III Formula. Based on the AMD Socket AM3 platform, the Crosshair III Formula harnesses its full complement of ROG-exclusive features and technologies to unleash the full overclocking potential of Phenom II processors-enabling budget-conscious enthusiasts and gamers to enjoy extreme levels of performance at an affordable mid-price point.

ASUS, the world's leading producer of motherboards, today released its new M4A78-HTPC Series motherboards that are developed specifically for use in Home Theater Personal Computers (HTPCs). HTPCs have become more prevalent due to the vast popularity of the Internet and the ease with which content can be found, downloaded and viewed. Also, the chipset technology that supports Full HD 1080p is maturing, and large-sized widescreen LCD monitors are becoming more mainstream-allowing users to download and watch HD videos directly on their PCs. M4A78-HTPC Series motherboards are based on the AMD 780G chipset, which fully integrates HDMI/DVI support to display HD videos smoothly. Together with audio innovations like the ASUS Absolute Pitch Hi-Fi and DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC Technology, audiophiles can look forward to pure, crystal-clear sound for the most exhilarating HTPC enjoyment. Furthermore, M4A78-HTPC Series motherboards come with a user-friendly media center dubbed Home Theater Gate and a low-noise, energy efficient Tranquil Mode that offer users greater convenience and a more conducive music environment respectively.

With the notebook and sub-notebook segments, AMD faces an even taller cliff to climb as far as earning market-share goes. Having tasted much-needed success with the Dragon platform, AMD plans to deliver the same technologies to the mobile segment, with the Tigris platform. The platform consists of a 45 nm AMD dual-core "Caspian" processor, coupled with AMD RS880M chipset, and optionally, an ATI Mobility Radeon 55 nm or 40 nm M9X mGPU setup. The company plans to showcase this at the upcoming Computex 2009 event held in Taiwan. The platform is targeted at the 14-inch (and above) mainstream notebook segment, while the company continues to push Yukon and Congo platforms for 13-inch (and below) sub-notebooks. The source also revealed that AMD could detail its next-generation mobile platform for 2010, that uses 45 nm quad-core processors, RS800M series chipset, with support for DDR3 memory and USB 3.0.

Attention all ATI users: your Catalyst 9.5 drivers have just been released. I'm still awaiting AMD's Game website to be updated to show the info on the new Catalyst, but meanwhile direct download links with the valid new driver are working. I'll update the news as soon as some new info is available. Until then, download and enjoy the new driver release.

DOWNLOAD: Catalyst 9.5 for Windows XP 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit | Windows Vista/7 32-bit | Windows Vista/7 64-bit

DFI LANParty AMD series motherboards, including the highest end 790FXB family and multi-media 790GX family, have proved excellent performance on Phenom II overclocking. Now, LANParty team is focusing on "Main stream Overclocking", DK 790X-M2RS is the first product that aims this segment.

Compared with the high-end 790FXB family, the DK 790X-M2RS has the equivalent overclocking BIOS settings and also retains exclusive overclocking features such as "debug LED", "built-in power/reset button", and "six fan connectors". Therefore, the DK 790X-M2RS is really a cost-effective overclocking motherboard.

Building on the success of the recently launched ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card - driven by the world's most powerful graphics processor - AMD today announced availability of a factory overclocked graphics processor that is the first to break the 1 Gigahertz (GHz) barrier using standard air-cooling solutions.

The European Commission today found Intel guilty of abusing its dominant position in the global x86 microprocessor market, saying that "Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for computer chips for many years. Such a serious and sustained violation of the EU's antitrust rules cannot be tolerated." The Commission also stated that "there is evidence that Intel had sought to conceal the conditions associated with its payments." The EC decision requires Intel to change its business practices immediately and fines Intel a record EUR 1.06 billion (US $1.45 billion).

"Today's ruling is an important step toward establishing a truly competitive market," said Dirk Meyer, AMD president and CEO. "AMD has consistently been a technology innovation leader and we are looking forward to the move from a world in which Intel ruled, to one which is ruled by customers."

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, today announced a powerful addition to the PowerColor HD4890 series: the PCS++ HD4890. As an advanced version of the PCS+ HD4890, the PCS++ HD4890 has all the key features of the PCS+ HD4890, including ZEROtherm's exclusive cooling system, the fastest ever single GPU solution and a four-heatpipe design to deliver the most efficient cooling performance. The ZEROtherm cooling system provides the perfect balance between operating in a quieter environment and heat dissipation performance.

The PowerColor PCS++ HD4890 overclocking ability shines through, delivering the utmost gaming experience with its default 1010MHz core speed and 1100MHz memory speed. In order to offer the most stable overclocking platform, the PCS++ HD4890 has an upgraded PWM design through, using polymer capacitors and reducing RDS(on) of MOSFET. The result is a reduction in temperature and output voltage, providing a stable and cool overclocking solution.

Paul Otellini, Intel Corporation president and CEO today issued the following statement regarding the European Commission decision on Intel's business practices:

"Intel takes strong exception to this decision. We believe the decision is wrong and ignores the reality of a highly competitive microprocessor marketplace - characterized by constant innovation, improved product performance and lower prices. There has been absolutely zero harm to consumers. Intel will appeal."

Worldwide PC microprocessor shipments in the first calendar quarter of 2009 (1Q09) fell significantly for the second quarter in a row, according to new data from IDC. While the decline was slightly more than typically occurs between fourth quarter and first quarter, IDC believes that the market's decline is slowing.

In 1Q09, worldwide PC processor unit shipments declined -10.9% from 4Q08 to 1Q09, as compared to -17.0% from 3Q08 to 4Q08. Unit shipments declined -13.0% from 1Q08 to 1Q09.

Market revenue declined -11% from 4Q09 to 1Q09, as compared to -18.0% from 3Q08 to 4Q08. Revenue declined -25.1% from 1Q08 to 1Q09.