AMD today announced a roadmap of near- and mid-term computing solutions that harness the best characteristics of both the x86 and ARM ecosystems, called "ambidextrous computing." The cornerstone of this roadmap is the announcement of AMD's 64-bit ARM architecture license for the development of custom high-performance cores for high-growth markets. Today's announcement also provides a forward-looking glimpse into AMD's development plans to deliver truly unmatched ambidextrous computing and graphics performance using a shared, flexible infrastructure to enable its customers to blaze new paths of innovation for the embedded, server and client markets as well as semi-custom solutions.

"Before today, AMD was the only company in the world to deliver high performance and low-power x86 with leadership graphics. AMD now takes a bold step forward and has become the only company that can provide high-performance 64-bit ARM and x86 CPU cores paired with world-class graphics," said Rory Read, AMD president and CEO. "Our innovative ambidextrous design capability, combined with our portfolio of IP and expertise with high-performance SoCs, means that AMD is set to deliver ambidextrous solutions that enable our customers to change the world in more efficient and powerful ways."

Designed to enable the best user experience on today's most popular and innovative PCs, AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced its 3rd-generation Mainstream and Low-Power Mobile Accelerated Processing Units (APUs). Combining category-leading compute performance with unique features and rich user interactions, the 2014 AMD Mainstream and Low-Power Mobile APUs (formerly codenamed "Beema" and "Mullins," respectively) are the ideal choice for consumer and commercial client devices alike.

These new mobile APUs feature up to four newly-designed x86 CPU cores with updated, industry-leading AMD Radeon graphics and a hardware-level data security solution based on the ARM Cortex-A5, all on a single, power-sipping system-on-chip (SoC). Products based on these new APUs are already announced by Lenovo and Samsung, with many more expected on-shelf in time for the 2014 back-to-school shopping season.

Red Hat Summit 2014 -- AMD today announced another major milestone in the development of its enterprise software ecosystem with the first public demonstration of its second-generation AMD Opteron X-Series APU, codenamed "Berlin," running a Linux environment based on the Fedora Project. The Fedora Project is a Red Hat-sponsored, community-driven Linux distribution, providing a familiar, enterprise class operating environment to developers and IT administrators worldwide. This is important to companies looking to transition to x86 APU servers but who are reluctant to introduce new tools and software platforms to their IT environments. This demonstration also represents a significant step forward in expanding the footprint of x86 APU accelerated performance within the data center.

AMD's premiere demonstration of "Berlin" will showcase the world's first Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA) featured server APU ahead of its official launch later this year. The demonstration features advancements incorporated in "Project Sumatra" that enable Java applications to take advantage of graphics processing units (GPUs) within AMD server APUs. The combination of Linux and Java on AMD APU platforms provides an ideal platform for server-based multimedia workloads and general purpose GPU compute that will help drive new levels of workload efficiency in the data center. AMD also will demonstrate software-based on OpenCL and OpenGL on "Berlin."

Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth, a turn-based strategy game based in the interstellar age, in which you travel to and colonize habitable planets by realpolitik, was announced last weekend, with support for AMD's Mantle API, besides DirectX 11. Mantle should make the game increasingly playable on AMD "Kaveri" APUs with eye-candy cranked up, and at reasonable mainstream resolutions such as 1080p. Mantle reduces the CPU's role in graphics processing, and should benefit APUs. Developer Firaxis announced the game for three PC platforms, Windows, OS X, and Linux (over Steam). Don't add it to your summer bucket-list just yet. It's slated for this fall.A trailer video follows.

AMD today announced global availability of its new AM1 platform featuring quad-core and dual-core variants of the AMD APU codenamed "Kabini" into the component channel for system builders. The AM1 platform, branded with the AMD Athlon and AMD Sempron APU brands, will deliver award-winning Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture and "Jaguar" CPU cores on motherboards from the leading manufacturers. AMD Athlon 5150/5350 and AMD Sempron 2650/3850 APUs provide consumers a balanced computing experience on a socketed upgradable platform.

"AMD consistently builds on its industry leading technology by continuing to offer a diversified product stack which is proven today with the availability of the AM1 platform with 'socketed' AMD Sempron and AMD Athlon APUs designed for the mainstream market," said Bernd Lienhard, corporate vice president and general manager, Client Business Unit, AMD. "With quad-core performance and AMD Radeon graphics the AM1 platform is an affordable solution that provides great flexibility due to an infrastructure built to deliver a multitude of options to our end users and system builders."

ECS unveiled its first socket FM2+ motherboard based on AMD's new A58 FCH entry-level chipset, the A58F2P-M4. This narrow micro-ATX motherboard draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 4-pin CPU connectors, and uses a 3+1 phase VRM to condition power for the APU, which is wired to two DDR3 DIMM slots, and a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot. The only other expansion slot is a PCIe 3.0 x1. Connectivity is fairly basic, with four SATA 3 Gb/s ports, D-Sub and HDMI display outputs, 6-channel HD audio, and gigabit Ethernet. Expect this to go under $50.

AMD today announced its ongoing collaboration with Adobe has yielded numerous performance optimizations for new creative functions and workflow enhancements that will be available soon to video professionals using Adobe Creative Cloud. This latest wave of features includes high performance debayering for RED camera R3D media files, enhanced performance for new masking features, a new time-saving master clip capability and other tools.

Today's announcement builds on the already impressive additions the companies have made available in recent months, which began with OpenCL support through the Adobe Mercury Playback Engine to speed up Adobe Premiere Pro CC workflows. AMD App Acceleration via the open standard OpenCL API brings the massive parallel compute power of AMD A-Series APUs, AMD Radeon graphics, and AMD FirePro professional graphics to bear on the sophisticated capabilities within Adobe Premiere Pro CC, Adobe SpeedGrade CC, and Adobe Media Encoder CC. That performance also scales with AMD dual-GPU configurations, including dual AMD FirePro GPUs for the latest generation Apple Mac Pro systems.

AMD today announced a multi-year agreement with Mentor Graphics Corporation to expand availability of open-source embedded Linux development for heterogeneous and multi-core processors from AMD. Dedicated to providing embedded developers with a more manageable and focused open source framework, the agreement will provide embedded developers with more supported processor options, robust development tools, and greater speed in open platform development.

As a Yocto Project compatible product, Mentor Embedded Linux will now bring standardized features and tools, and ensure quick access to the latest Board Support Packages (BSPs) for AMD 64-bit x86 architecture beginning with the upcoming AMD Embedded G-Series system-on-a-chip (SoC) (codenamed: "Steppe Eagle") and AMD Embedded R-Series APU/CPU (codenamed: "Bald Eagle").

ECS unveiled the A78F2-TI, an interesting thin mini-ITX motherboard. Don't be fooled into thinking it's a socket AM1 board. It's socket FM2+, with the cooler mount hole design of Intel LGA115x. That's right, this is arguably the first AMD platform board with square, spaced out cooler mount holes. Don't get your hopes up just yet. Between an FM2 socket, and the APU's chunky IHS, there's more thickness than an Intel socket with a CPU installed. So it may not support all heatsinks. The board draws power from an external 2-pin power brick. It uses a 3+1 phase VRM to condition power for the FM2+ socket.

The A78F2-TI runs AMD A78 FCH chipset. The APU is wired out to two DDR3 SO-DIMM slots, and mPCIe slots. Storage connectivity includes two SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Display outputs include two HDMI ports, a DisplayPort, and an LVDS. Two USB 3.0, six USB 2.0/1.1 ports, gigabit Ethernet, and 6-channel HD audio make for the rest of it. The A78F2-TI is built not just for SFF builds, but also (and especially) all-in-one desktops.

Splashtop Inc., the worldwide leader in cross-device computing, announced optimization of Splashtop Streamer on select AMD discrete GPUs and APUs. Users can now enjoy remote HD video streaming, 3D professional graphics, and gaming experience, with super low latency.

"Splashtop turns every PC with AMD APU or GPU into fully interactive, remote gaming engine, streaming 3D games to any mobile device," said Mark Lee, CEO and co-founder of Splashtop, "Businesses, designers, doctors, or financial analysts can now get remote access to professional 3D apps and data, anytime, anywhere."

ZOTAC International, a global innovator and manufacturer of graphics cards, mainboards and mini-PCs, today starts CeBIT 2014 with a pair of new ZBOX E-series gaming mini-PCs and the palm-size ZBOX nano AQ02 series. The new ZOTAC ZBOX E-series gaming mini-PCs incorporate Intel Iris Pro 5200 graphics to deliver an excellent gaming experience in a small form factor while the ZBOX nano AQ02 series takes advantage of an AMD A8 series APU for a perfect combination of performance and energy-efficiency.

"We've always wanted to create a ZBOX that delivers a good gaming experience but couldn't strike the right balance between size, performance, heat dissipation and energy consumption. Intel's latest Haswell architecture with quad-cores and Iris Pro 5200 graphics hits that sweet spot we need to fit in a ZBOX chassis," said Carsten Berger, senior director, ZOTAC International. "The new ZBOX E-series will deliver a smooth medium quality gaming experience and be perfect for LAN party-goers and gamers that want a compact gaming system."

ASRock announced a trio of socket AM1 motherboards for AMD's "Kabini" series APUs, Athlon and Sempron-branded CPUs, in the FS1b (AM1) package. The lineup includes the AM1B-M, a compact micro-ATX model; and two mini-ITX ones, the AM1H-ITX, and the AM1B-ITX. The AM1B-M draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 4-pin ATX connectors, and uses a 3-phase VRM to power the APU. A PCI-Express 2.0 x16, and a PCIe 2.0 x1 make for its expansion slots. Connectivity includes two SATA 6 Gb/s ports, two USB 3.0 ports (rear), D-Sub display output, gigabit Ethernet, and 6-channel HD audio.

The AM1H-ITX, and the AM1B-ITX appear to be based on a common PCB design, but differ with connectivity. The former is gear towards modern connectivity options. It draws power from either a 24-pin ATX, or a 2-pin external DC input. The board is loaded with features, including HDMI and DVI display outputs, four SATA 6 Gb/s ports, four USB 3.0 ports, PCI-Express 2.0 x16 and mPCIe slots, and 8-channel HD audio. The latter is geared more towards essential/legacy connectivity. It features the same display outputs, but chucks out 2-pin power input, and 8-channel HD audio to make room for a parallel LPT port.

SAPPHIRE Technology has just announced that it has begun delivering products from its newly formed Embedded Systems Business Unit, targeting graphics intensive embedded system designs and small format computing solutions for a wide range of applications. SAPPHIRE Technology is a leading manufacturer and global supplier of a broad range of innovative technologies for PC enthusiasts, home users and professionals. The company was first formed over a decade ago as a manufacturer and global supplier of state-of-the-art graphics add-in boards, for which it is now recognized as a premier AMD add-in graphics board partner for both consumer and professional products. The company's extensive product line has grown to include motherboards, mini PCs and Professional AV products.

Israel-based system builder Compulab announced the fourth generation Fit-PC, the Fit-PC4, which builds on the proven nettop platform. Fit-PC4 comes in two main variants, the $299 Fit-PC4 Value, and the $380 Fit-PC4 Pro. The Value variant runs an AMD A4-1250 APU, with a manageable 8W TDP to speak of. The Pro variant, on the other hand, runs a peppier AMD GX-420CA quad-core SoC, with Radeon HD 8400E graphics.

Both variants feature two DDR3 SO-DIMM slots, which can hold up to 16 GB of memory; an internal 2.5-inch drive bay with SATA 6 Gb/s interface, an mPCIe+mSATA 6 Gb/s slot, and a micro-SDXC card slot, wrapping up the storage department. Display outputs include two HDMI 1.4a ports on both variants, with 7.1-channel digital audio streams. 7.1-channel digital audio is also given out by TOSLINK SPDIF, on both variants. Analog audio outputs include just the stereo headset jacks. Networking includes two gigabit Ethernet interfaces on both variants. While the Value variant offers 802.11 b/g/n WLAN with Bluetooth 3.0, the Pro variant tops that with 802.11 ac and Bluetooth 4.0. The Pro variant measures 16 cm x 19 cm x 3.7 cm; while the Value variant is more compact, at 16 cm x 16 cm x 2.5 cm.

AMD today at Mobile World Congress announced the retail availability of a new BlueStacks dual-OS Android solution, optimized for AMD APUs, with expected consumer availability in the second half of 2014. The AMD and BlueStacks joint solution brings the complete Google Android OS experience to select Microsoft Windows-based AMD-based tablets, 2-in-1s, notebooks and desktops in select retail stores. The availability in retail stores of the virtualized Android solution, unveiled at CES earlier this year, will allow consumers to easily access both Windows and Android environments, side-by-side, on select AMD-based PCs. The BlueStacks solution will first be made available with several key retail partners across EMEA later this year, including Elkjop Group.

"The ability to span two OS ecosystems gives end-users access to both Windows and Android apps, but the key is providing for the seamless integration of entertainment and productivity across those ecosystems," said Steve Belt, corporate vice president, Product Management, at AMD. "Introducing our solution in retail puts AMD and BlueStacks in a unique position to offer in-store customers the option to include access to this great experience at the time of purchase of their new systems."

Gigabyte unveiled a pair of socket AM1 (FS1b) motherboards for AMD A-Series and E-Series "Kabini" APUs, and upcoming Athlon and Sempron-branded CPUs based on the same silicon. The lineup begins with the AM1M-S2H, which offers a basic mix of modern and legacy connectivity; including a combination of HDMI and D-Sub display outputs. The AM1M-S2P is based on a similar board design, but offers a lot more legacy connectivity options, including LPT and COM. Both boards offer a PCI-Express 2.0 x16, PCIe x1, and legacy PCI expansion slots, a pair of DDR3 DIMM slots, each; and are built in the narrow micro-ATX form-factor. Prices are expected to be around the $50 mark.

AMD's upcoming low-power APU lineup, based on a common silicon code-named "Kabini," will launch with no less than five models. These could include chips built in both the socketed AM1 FCPGA and BGA packages, to cater to different target form-factors. The series starts off at the bottom with the dual-core E1-2100 and E1-2150. The two feature CPU clock speeds of 1.00 and 1.05 GHz, respectively, 1 MB of L2 cache, and Radeon HD 8210 graphics. The HD 8210 features 128 stream processors based on the Graphics CoreNext architecture. The CPU cores, on the other hand, are based on the "Jaguar" micro-architecture.

Moving on, there's the E2-3800. It tucks in a quad-core CPU clocked at 1.30 GHz, 2 MB of L2 cache, and Radeon HD 8280 graphics. The features the same stream processor count of 128 as the HD 8210, but higher clock speeds. Going beyond the E-Series, we enter AMD's more popularized A-Series, with the A4-5000, A4-5050, and the A6-5200. The three are built in the AM1 package, and are not compatible with platforms that drive the bigger A-Series "Kaveri" chips. The A4-5000 and A4-5500 feature CPU clock speeds of 1.50 GHz and 1.55 GHz, respectively, and Radeon HD 8330 graphics, featuring 128 stream processors, but 500 MHz GPU clock - the highest in its class. The list also points to an A6-5200. We're not sure which silicon it's based on, but it's outfitted with a quad-core CPU clocked at 2.00 GHz, and Radeon HD 8400 graphics.

Here it is, the first public beta of AMD Catalyst 14.1, featuring Mantle, AMD's 3D graphics API designed to rival Direct3D and OpenGL. The driver enables the Mantle renderer on Battlefield 4, which is known to enhance performance on certain GPUs based on AMD's Graphics CoreNext micro-architecture. The driver can't be installed as an upgrade to an existing driver, which must be cleanly uninstalled first. In addition to Mantle, Catalyst 14.1 beta resolves rendering issues on a boat-load of games.

If Battlefield 4 crashes as soon as you go to options, disable your integrated graphics in BIOS or device manager.DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 14.1 beta 1.6

The change-log follows:

After last minute hiccups, AMD managed to release Catalyst 14.1 beta to the press. The driver brings along the first release of Mantle, AMD's ambitious 3D graphics API to rival Direct3D and OpenGL. Installing the driver was less than straightforward. We couldn't just install the driver over our Catalyst 13.12 WHQL installation like we normally do. A driver cleanup and reinstalling did the trick. Catalyst 14.1 beta enables the 3D renderer option in Battlefield 4, which lets you choose between DirectX 11.1 and Mantle.

Our first (subjective) impression, is that we couldn't tell the difference. Our Radeon R9 290 already offered frame-rates well above 60 FPS (1920 x 1080, Ultra, 4x MSAA), on Direct3D, and so we never really stood to gain anything that makes the game more playable than it already was. What could have been interesting, was to see how Mantle makes the lives of R9 270X owners better, who could see frame-rates drop below 60 FPS at our settings. According to a change-log of the driver posted by Guru3D, AMD hasn't optimized Mantle for any of the Graphics CoreNext (GCN) based GPUs other than Radeon R9 290 series, R9 260X, and A-Series "Kaveri" APUs.

Crushed your F5 key on AMD driver download page yet? Unless you have four very specific AMD Radeon GPUs, you can stop it right now. According to DICE, developers of the first game to take advantage of Mantle, the 3D graphics API AMD is introducing with its Catalyst 14.1 beta driver, will give tangible benefits to only four specific GPUs - Radeon R9 290X, R9 290 (non-X), R7 260X, and A-Series "Kaveri" APU-integrated R7 200 series.

Owners of all other Radeon GPUs, including those based on the Graphics CoreNext (GCN) architecture, such as the recently launched R9 280X and R9 270X, are out of luck, for now. AMD is still ironing out issues with Mantle on those other GCN GPUs. Interestingly, in the same press note, DICE posted performance numbers yielded on an HD 7970, which look promising. AMD is expected to release its Catalyst 14.1 beta driver a little later this week, as it's jousting with some last-minute bug-finds.

EK Water Blocks, Ljubljana based premium water cooling gear manufacturer, is proud to introduce the EK-Supremacy PreciseMount Add-on Naked APU. This product is world-first of it's kind - it is the mounting mechanism upgrade for existing cooling device, designed to support de-lidded 1st- (Llano), 2nd- (Richland / Trinity) and 3rd (Kaveri) generation AMD A-series APU processors. This product is the perfect upgrade for all those EK-Supremacy users who want to use their de-lidded AMD A-series APUs safely and squeeze the last megahertz out of their processors!

EK-Supremacy PreciseMount Add-on Naked APU is an add-on for EK-Supremacy PreciseMount universal mounting mechanism that offers error-preventing, tool-less installation. The result is a perfect installation which results in perfect performance every time. It is recommended to replace the existing M4x16 DIN7991 screws with the enclosed M4x16 DIN965 screws in order for water block to clear the plastic socket. The enclosed Naked Ivy screws are made of high-quality nickel plated brass.

AMD's A-Series "Kaveri" APUs perform tangibly better on system with dual-rank memory modules, according to an investigative report by ComputerBase.de. According to the report, the chip yields its best memory bandwidth when both its memory channels are populated with 2-rank DIMMs each. Either that, or four modules with one rank each. The report also found out that Kaveri can take advantage of DDR3-2400 as advertised. There was a 15.2 percent jump in performance between DDR3-1866 and DDR3-2400.

An unreliable way of checking whether a DIMM has two ranks is by looking at whether both sides of its PCB has DRAM chips; a reliable way of doing that, however, is using software such as AIDA64 (Motherboard\SPD tab), which lists out number of ranks, and number of banks per rank; and of course, looking up the specs sheet. The reason visual inspection of a DIMM is not reliable these days is because of the way modern DRAM chips are designed. There are instances of DIMMs with chips on just one side, yet 2 ranks. Find more performance numbers at the source.

Here are the first pictures of an AMD A10-7700K "Kaveri" APU with its integrated heat-spreader (IHS, or 'lid') removed. Put next to its predecessors, "Richland," "Trinity," and "Llano," AMD's new APU silicon is its biggest for the DIY PC market, more so because it's built on the 28 nm silicon fab process, compared to its predecessors being built on 32 nm. The die measures roughly 245 mm², and packs a staggering 2.41 billion transistors.

Under the IHS, AMD is using a thermal paste to transport heat from the die, and not a solder. The chip should be easy to de-lid, if you know what you're doing. Kaveri integrates two "Steamroller" x86-64 CPU modules with two cores each, a total of 4 MB of L2 cache, a massive on-die GPU with 512 stream processors based on the Graphics CoreNext micro-architecture, a dual-channel DDR3 IMC with hUMA and DDR3-2400 native support; and a PCI-Express 3.0 root complex.

MSI once again made breakthroughs in cutting-edge gaming notebooks. MSI has always been developing high performance notebooks. Its latest gaming laptop-GX70 and GX60 Destroyer, offer game enthusiasts the best experiences of both performance and affordability. The MSI GX70 and GX60 Destroyer pack with the latest generation of AMD's extreme mobile graphics card R9-M290X, high performance AMD A10-5750M quad core APU architecture, built-in HD8650G performance-grade DirectX11 for superior video resolution, and the top 3-screen output experience Eyefinity.

With a special packing and a game bundled, the MSI GX70 and GX60 Destroyer come with a limited Battlefield 4 edition. Users can redeem a free Battlefield 4 game! With the A10-5750M processor and R9-M290X display card, the GX70 and GX60 Destroyer runs at 32 more Frames Per Second (FPS) even when at full HD and using Ultra settings in Battlefield 4 gaming, that giving you a smoother game and superior price to performance ratio.

Some investors in AMD, who purchased company stock between October 27, 2011 and October 18, 2012, filed a class action lawsuit against AMD, through law firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd. The class action alleges that AMD and its officers and directors committed violations of the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934. AMD allegedly misled its investors over how popular its first generation "Llano" desktop APU would get, claiming that there were much greater prospects for the APU than it actually ended up selling.