Within this month, AMD will release a FireStream GPGPU card based on the successful RV770 graphics processor. This card provides computing parallelism derived from 800 stream processors, that churn out a peak collective computational power of 1000 GFlops. That's a 100% improvement over the FireStream 9170 in terms of computational power and a 60% improvement in terms of GFlops per Watt. That said, the power draw of this card has gone up to 150W compared to its 100W predecessor. This card is the fastest in the industry in terms of double-precision floating point performance. It packs 1 GB of GDDR3 memory on a 256-bit wide memory bus.

FireStream series of cards to catered towards delivering blistering performance of AMD's GPUs to business users in high performance computing situations such as financial analysis, seismic processing, simulations, rendering, climate research, protein folding etc. Apparently the card retains the display logic with a single DVI connector though normally GPGPU devices lack it. This card will be out within this month and will carry a price-tag of US $999.

Without doubt, AMD needs something revolutionary to pull it out of the mess it set itself in. AMD's first reaction to the Conroe onslaught was to lower prices and build up a "Smarter Choice" repute, though with successive price cuts from Intel and down-scale products based on the Core architecture coming out by the fortnight, and the transit to 45nm fab process, there's been an increasing need for AMD to get back to the drawing boards with their CPU division.

From what looks like an excerpt from an AMD company slide, can be seen AMD's CPU plans for 2009. The chart broadly shows that K10 architecture is here to stay. Throughout the year, desktop CPUs based on the K10 architecture feature in the roadmap, with no signs of their "truly next-gen" architecture. AMD completes its transit to the 45nm silicon fabrication process and will finally embrace DDR3 system memory standards. To begin with, the fact that the Deneb core's entry slightly steps into the 2008 column shows that the Deneb core-based desktop CPU could release sometime towards the very end of this year. Sources note that two models based on the Deneb core could be out by the end of this year. It supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory standards and socket compatible with current AM2+ and future AM3. From what's known so far, AM3 is the same 940 pin design that adds pins for the DDR3 memory interconnect between the CPU and the memory.

AMD has added weight to its CPU lineup by bringing in new CPUs and cutting prices for some older ones. New CPUs aside, the price cuts by AMD are rather dramatic to say the least. To begin with, it's known that the Phenom X4 9950 has a rated TDP of 140W, and that only a chosen few motherboards support it, perhaps leading to cold market response. AMD has revised the processor with a lower rated TDP of 125W. This isn't new, AMD did the same with the 125W B3 stepping model X4 9750 months ago, releasing a revised 95W B3 part. What's more, the Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition could sport a surprising price of US $186. Perhaps it's AMD paving the way for its 45nm parts. At its new TDP and price the X4 9950 is a much better buy.

The Phenom X3 8750 would sell for $139, making it very competitive with Intel's offerings at that price-band. Additionally, AMD added new dual-core processors based on the Brisbane core, the Athlon X2 6500 Black Edition priced at $105 and an Athlon X2 5050e 45W low-power part at $90.

AMD Fusion could well be the first CPU to feature a graphics processor core. It will incorporate a graphics processor with specifications identical to the RV710. This CPU would be based on the 45 nm silicon fabrication process, and this processor will be manufactured at the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). This GPU will be called "Kong". Here are its specifications:

• Core Frequency between 600 ~ 800 MHz
• 128-bit wide memory bus (DDR3, Side-port supportive)
• 40 Stream Processors
• 8 TMUs, 4 ROPs
• DirectX 10.1 support
• UVD

AMD released the ATI Catalyst version 8.8 drivers. This driver brings in two new features among a host of bug-fixes specific to games, performance increments as such aren't indicated.

The driver suite can be downloaded here.

The two new features include new Avivo video features such as Dynamic Gamma/Contrast correction and improved video presets for ATI accelerators, Radeon HD 3000 series and upward. Another feature addition is that of the Hybrid Graphics feature being available to users of Windows XP. This technology allows pairing of the integrated graphics processor (IGP) of the AMD 780G and 780D chipsets with a Radeon HD 2400 or Radeon HD 3400 series accelerator. For a comprehensive list of fixes, please read the Release Notes.

XpertVision is Palit's European VGA graphics cards brand. Only recently they released an announcement that the brands will merge again to become "Palit Microsystems Ltd.".

At the show we saw several new ATI based cards from Palit. Since their booth is located in the AMD hall, no NVIDIA cards were on display.First up is the new Palit HD 4870 which does not use the AMD reference design. The cooler is equipped with two fans and is much quieter than the normal cards. The HD 4870 Sonic Dual features DisplayPort and a Turbo switch which allows you to change the clock frequencies on the fly. When in "Turbo" mode, the card runs at 775/1000 and 750/950 in "Normal" mode. Even in normal mode this is still an overclock over the AMD reference clocks.

IBM and its chip development partners announced today that they've developed the first functional 22nm silicon fabricated SRAM cell. This puts them ahead of Intel, which had announced its technological entry into the 32 nm domain in September, 2007. SRAM is usually the first semiconductor device a chip-maker tests a new fabrication-process on, before working on microprocessors. These devices were developed and manufactured by AMD, Freescale, IBM STMicroelectronics, Toshiba and the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE). They were built in the conventional 6-transistor design and on a 300 mm wafer. This level of miniaturization made the SRAM cell shrink to a mere 0.1 sq. μm, compare this to the SRAM cells that go into making caches on the 45 nm Intel processors, 0.346 sq. μm.

The HyperTransport Consortium released an updated specification, HT 3.1, that increases the base clock speed of the HyperTransport bus from its previous version 3.0 limit of 2600 MHz (5200 MT/s) to 3200 MHz (6400 MT/s). The upcoming 45nm processors will be given a host of architectural updates, one of them being a revised HT 3.1 system bus. Since AMD processors use a 32-bit wide HyperTransport link to the core logic, the aggregate bandwidth of the system but would be raised to 51.6 GB/s (25.8 GB/s in each direction).

This 10 GB/s increment is supposed to favour the upcoming AMD Fusion processors, where a graphics processor would be embedded into the CPU. That could also mean that the CPU could carry PCI-Express switches, effectively eradicating the northbridge. This would mean performance gains with the CPU communicating with PCI-E devices directly instead of through a northbridge-based PCI-E switch, much in the same way as integration of memory controllers five years ago helped AMD processors. It is expected that motherboard vendors have no problems implementing HT 3.1, the AMD 790GX and 790FX chipsets offer native support to HT 3.1 with 45 nm CPUs.

While AMD touted the Bobcat as a definitive competitor to Intel Atom, being a low-power K8 based part with the same design advantages its ancestors had over competing Intel parts when they made up for higher performing alternatives, this part won't make it until next year, enough time for the Atom to gain a stronger foothold in the market. As immediate competition to the Atom, AMD seems to have set an Athlon 64 2000+ single core processor as its ULPC / UMPC processor part. This processor is single core, features a 1.00 GHz clock-speed and 256 KB of L2 cache, which should still give it a performance edge over a 1.50 GHz Atom judging purely by the fact that the Atom isn't based on the Core micro-architecture (yet) and uses an older design.

This processor is based on the Lima core, what's most surprising is that it is found to operate at 8 W at its 1.00 GHz frequency which brings it into the Atom platform's energy domain. The second most surprising point is that this processor will be aided by the powerful AMD 780G core logic (chipset), as opposed to current Atom platforms using a i945G adaptation that has significantly higher thermal envelope as opposed the AMD 780G while being a lot slower (in terms of graphics performance and features). Tom's Hardware conducted a comparison between the two and found that the Athlon-780G combo "knocks-out" Atom-i945G technologically.

It's been a few weeks since Intel launched its latest chipset with integrated graphics, the Intel G45. Among other things, Intel claimed this chipset accelerated HD video formats such as Blu-ray, where the integrated graphics logic is supposed to off-load the CPU of processing the video. Such as it is, Intel's integrated graphics processors (IGP) have been hugely reliant on the CPU for its functions.

Aaron Brezenski, a product engineer for Intel at its Chandler, Arizona US facility. In his recent blog entry (read here), he writes about the G45 not exactly achieving what it set out for, in other words, it was "still imperfect". He mentions about AMD hosting a demo booth where it was publicly demonstrated that a G45 based notebook made by HP failed to accelerate Blu-ray playback, the processor tipped 100% load throughout the playback which isn't what G45 is intended to bring about.

AMD seems to have decided that it won't face any more flack in the computing industry owing to the lack of success the Barcelona / Agena (K10) architecture had compared to a determined Intel that seems to be going for the kill with a string of products lined up, Intel in fact has looked forward four years in time based on its IDF slides. On the eve of IDF, AMD executives said the company's 45-nanometer Shanghai processor will enter the market by the fourth quarter of 2008. The AMD processor is designed to compete against the Intel Nehalem processor, especially in the volume two-socket server market.

AMD Shanghai is touted to be the server/enterprise version of the upcoming Deneb series 45nm quad-core processors. Unlike the Deneb that retains the 940-pin AM2/AM2+/possible AM3 socket, Shanghai would use the enterprise segment Socket 1207, there already are server boards with four sockets in the market, AMD plans to use this as something to flash before Intel, as for server applications, cost-effective Shanghai parts used in four-CPU configurations should provide high levels of computational power.

AMD is launching today a bunch of new "business class" 64-bit processors. The four new Phenom and Athlon CPUs are:

• AMD Phenom X4 9750B 2.4GHz, 2MB L3 cache, 95W, rev. B3
• AMD Phenom X3 8750B 2.4GHz, 2MB L3 cache, 95W, rev. B3
• AMD Athlon X2 5600B 2.9GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 65W
• AMD Athlon X2 4850B 2.5GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 45W

The official prices in 1000-unit tray quantities are $224, $180, $106 and $79 respectively.

Following the release of the R700 Spartan, the most powerful graphics card till date, AMD has noted that the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series products has boosted the company's market share in the discrete graphics industry from 30% to 40%. This has triggered optimism with the company, it expects to achieve the 50% mark against rival NVIDIA corporation, and that's as soon as late 2008, continuing the introduction of its products, surpass NVIDIA in 2009.

AMD also noted that it expects its discrete graphics card to IGP ratio in notebook shipments will be 35:65 in 2009. Meaning there will be growth in the sales of notebooks with discrete graphics in general against integrated graphics. NVIDIA rubbished AMD's comments saying it has the performance lead with its GeForce 200-series graphics products, while AMD claimed its Radeon HD 4800-series were clearly the more advanced lot.

While Intel readies its dual-core Atom processor, a certain company called Raon Digital has already come up with a ULPC notebook (dubbed netbook) named EVERUN NOTE that uses a dual-core AMD Turion X2 processor that has low clock-speeds that reduce power consumption. The netbook comes with a 7" (1024 x 600 px) screen making it very compact, a 1.3 MP web-cam, 802.11b/g and Bluetooth connectivity and an electronic dictionary. It runs Windows XP, uses either a 12 GB SSD or 60 GB HDD storage. It tips the scales at a 742 g.

After Intel slashed the prices of several dual and quad core processors in the beginning of the week, today AMD informed it is tweaking the prices of three Phenom CPUs, too. First to receive price reduction is the 2.1GHz clocked triple core Phenom X3 8450, going down from $125 to $104. Second one is the 2.2GHz Phenom X4 9550 lowering down from $175 to $154. Third and final is the 2.6GHz X4 9850 Black Edition down from $205 to $194. All prices are for 1000-unit tray quantities.

AMD today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Blizzard Entertainment that will allow AMD to bundle Blizzard's best games across all ATI Radeon graphics products, to deliver a superior gaming experience. As the exclusive graphics sponsor for BlizzCon 2008 in Anaheim, Oct. 10-11, AMD will treat gamers to the unparalleled graphics capabilities of the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series in all PCs for game play at BlizzCon.

Part of a recent press-event held in New York, AMD showcased a new technology that makes rendering photo-realistic humans possible. It made game developers stand up and take note.

This technology called Cinema 2.0 makes producing photo-realistic human characters possible. It can be used in scenarios such as producing a full-on CGI movie or parts of it, where computers generate the actors' computer-animated replica that's the most photo-realistic in today's time. For example, the woman in the picture below is computer-animated. Believe it!It works on this principle:

AMD today announced the world's fastest graphics card, the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2, advancing visual computing ever closer to eye-definition computing gaming and cinematic experiences and delivering a whopping 2.4 teraFLOPS of processing power. Also announced today is the ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 graphics card, delivering blistering performance at a compelling price point.

These cards comprise the ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series, combining two ATI Radeon HD 4800 series GPUs with a more advanced cross-GPU connection based on the PCIe 2.0 standard, plus two gigabytes of memory - the most in any currently available consumer graphics card. These technologies combine to make the ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series perfectly suited for the most demanding games, able to deliver astonishing frame rates at extreme resolutions and image quality settings.

The capabilities of the ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series were on display yesterday in New York City, where leading experts from the game development community and Hollywood joined AMD to discuss and demonstrate eye-definition computing computing. Eye-definition computing is the art and science of achieving visual computing experiences that seem optically real. The tremendous computational 2.4 teraFLOPS horsepower of the ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series makes computing experiences that approach eye-definition computing possible. The first application of eye-definition computing computing, demonstrated by AMD in New York yesterday, is Cinema 2.0, the fusion of digital people, places and things, rendered with real-time interactivity. Cinema 2.0 shows the power to digitally create interactive environments and characters that seem optically real in either a video game or digital cinema context. With the help of leading content creators, AMD demonstrated the first "virtual" actor to be rendered in real-time in perfect, lifelike detail, via the incredible processing power found in the ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series.

Chinese website Hardspell conducted a comprehensive pre-release evaluation of the upcoming Deneb 45nm Quad-core processor by AMD. The Deneb core incorporates thrice the amount of L3 Cache (that's 6 MB), and uses the same SIMD sets as its 65nm counterparts.

Here's a shocker: While the Phenom X4 9650 (65nm, 2.30 GHz, B3) consumes 104.1 W at load (peak), the 45nm Deneb (45nm, 2.30 GHz) peaks at an astonishing 57.3 W according to Hardspell's findings, go to see, the Deneb has an added load of transistors due to a 300% increase in the L3 Cache size. Let's bring in some numbers and figures.

The Radeon HD 4870 X2 (R700), the flagship graphics card by AMD is observed to have a lower than expected price-point that seems to justify its performance lead (through pre-release performance evaluations). Going by several reports in the past few months, the R700 was expected to have a US $549.99 launch price, at a time when the competitor NVIDIA was pricing their flagship product in that range. In the period between then and now, the price of the GeForce GTX 280 plummeted from $649.99 to $449.99 while still regarding $499.99 as the company standard price, with some stores and partners in the US selling for as low as $429.99, a huge lop of its original price.

NordicHardware studied several European stores that began listing the R700 for as low as 395 €, with the North American markets keeping their shelf prices set at around the $500 mark. With these price points set as standards, there's bound to be flexibility in pricing, coupled with the launch driver which AMD claims to have fixed several issues in both feature and performance aspects, the product is expected to deliver a level of performance that justifies its price while still remaining 'competitive' per say, and not commanding a high price merely because it holds the performance crown, again going by pre-release performance evaluations.

AMD today raised the bar for Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Digital Content Creation (DCC) application performance with the announcement of two new professional graphics accelerators - ATI FirePro V5700 and ATI FirePro V3700. As a part of that announcement, AMD also introduced a new brand for the company's professional graphics accelerators, ATI FirePro, reflecting AMD's continuing and evolving commitment to the professional graphics market.

AMD today announced the availability of the industry's preeminent performance desktop platform, the AMD 790GX. Packing a host of innovations, the AMD 790GX integrates advanced performance tuning for AMD Phenom processors, plus ATI Radeon HD 3300 graphics - the world's fastest motherboard graphics processor (mGPU) - to take media aficionados beyond HD. In addition to AMD validation, independent testing of the AMD 790GX chipset shows significant increases in AMD Phenom processor performance via the introduction of Advanced Clock Calibration technology.

The newest fleet of quad-core desktop processors from AMD, the Deneb series is tested by Chinese website Zol to consume up to 12 per cent less power compared to equally clocked 65nm Agena parts, add to that, the fact that the 45nm Deneb comes with three times the amount of L3 cache, 6 MB.

The 45nm and 65nm parts were compared on a MSI K9A2 Platinum motherboard with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 card, a single 320 GB HDD, two modules of 1GB DDR2 1066 MHz memory, the test-bed was powered by a Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W PSU. Power consumption was calculated in idle and load (the CPUs were stressed using instances of Orthos).

CEO for AMD, Dirk Meyer said that AMD would unveil its plans to take on the Intel Atom processor to cater to the emerging ULPC market, making it part of the roadmap. Sources suggest he core codenamed Bobcat is derived from the K8 design, it is a 64-bit single core processor that could debute with a 1 GHz clock speed. It uses an 800 MHz (1600 MT/s) HyperTransport link as its system interconnect, a total of 128 KB L1 and 256 KB of L2 caches. A DDR2 memory controller will be on-die.

It is composed of a 22 sq. mm ball grid array (BGA) package with 812-pins. While its power consumption may be 8W, more than three times that of the Atom, the fact that currently Atom-based solutions make use of northbridge chips such as the i945 which consumes around 6W, the equation is more or less balanced. With Intel currently having problems coping with demand, it would have been a good time for AMD to materialise the Bobcat, and if it takes as far as this November before plans even surface, forget materialise, precious time is lost in the competition. Currently VIA C7-M and some low-power Intel Celeron parts are making up as alternatives to the Atom.

Sources at TSMC told Hardspell that the next graphics processor (GPU) by ATI/AMD, the RV870 in the works have specifications such as:

• 40nm or 45nm fab process
• 140 sq. mm die size
• 192 ALUs, 960 stream processors
• 256-bit GDDR5 memory controller

It is believed that this GPU could perform 1.2 times better than RV770, purely based on the paper-specs.

Another interesting news is that R800, unlike its predecessors the R700 and R680, might not be a dual-GPU card but the world's first dual-core GPU.