A leaked AMD document for retail partners spelled out specifications of the first three FX "Vishera" processors by AMD. The new CPUs incorporate AMD's "Piledriver" architecture, and much like the first-generation "Zambezi" chips, will launch as one each of eight-core, six-core, and four-core chips. The eight-core FX-8350 is confirmed to ship with 4.00 GHz nominal clock speed, with 4.20 GHz TurboCore speed. The six-core FX-6300 ships with 3.50 GHz nominal, and 4.10 GHz TurboCore speed. The quad-core FX-4320, on the other hand, ships with the same clock speeds as the FX-8350. In addition, the document confirmed clock speeds of several socket FM2 A-series APUs, such as the A10-5700 and the A8-5500.

It has been known since Computex that AMD plans to synchronize launch of its second-generation "Trinity" desktop APUs and second-generation "Vishera" desktop CPUs, in late-Q3 or early-Q4, 2012. In likely preparation for that, and to step up price-performance of its current lineup, AMD cut prices of its desktop CPUs and APUs across the board. These include price-cuts for Phenom II AM3 series, FX-series AM3+, and A-series FM1 CPUs and APUs. Some of the prices as down by as much as 22.9%. The Phenom II series chips are the ones with the biggest price-cuts. Find a list of chips with old and new pricing, and differences, compiled by CPU World, below.

ZOTAC International, a global innovator and channel manufacturer of graphics cards, mainboards and mini-PCs, today refreshes the ZBOX nano with AMD Radeon HD 7340 graphics processing capabilities. The latest ZOTAC ZBOX nano with AMD Radeon HD 7340 graphics boosts graphics and CPU processing capabilities while maintaining energy efficiency to create a palm-sized home theater PC capable of high-definition video playback and lightning-fast system responsiveness.

"Our ZOTAC ZBOX nano series is a user favorite as it enables full-fledged PCs in all rooms and locations. The palm-sized form factor is extremely flexible and with the new AMD E2-1800 APU, we are able to deliver more performance and additional connectivity in the ZOTAC ZBOX nano with AMD Radeon HD 7340 graphics while maintaining the same footprint," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

FinalWire announced the latest version of AIDA64, the popular system diagnostic and benchmarking suite. Version 2.60, which is released almost three months after the previous version, comes with support for most of the hardware and APIs that were released in the period. To begin with, AIDA64 adds support for VIA VX11 platform, Nano X2 and QuadCore CPUs. Details for GeForce GTX 660 and 650 series are added. The software even supports Windows 8 RTM and Windows 2012 RTM. Lastly, the 64-bit benchmarks are optimized for AMD "Trinity" APUs.DOWNLOAD: AIDA64 v2.60 Installer (EXE), Archive (ZIP)

TechPowerUp launched the latest version of GPU-Z, the popular graphics sub-system information and diagnostic utility that gives you technical details of installed graphics hardware, and lets you monitor clock-speeds, voltages, temperatures, graphics memory usage, ASIC quality, and several other parameters. Version 0.6.4 adds/refines support for several upcoming NVIDIA GPUs, such as GeForce GTX 660 Ti, GeForce GTX 660, GeForce GTX/S 650, GeForce 610, and GeForce GTX 680M; Intel GMA 3600 (ROP count); AMD "Trinity" APUs (clock reading accuracy) and AMD FirePro 2270.

GPU-Z 0.6.4 also changes the way multiple GPUs in a system are sorted in the GPU selection drop-down list. They are now arranged by display-outputs. GPU-Z now correctly reads memory amount for NVIDIA GPUs with over 4 GB of memory. Support for CHL8288 VRM controller is improved giving accurate temperature readings. A number of stability issues were addressed.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.6.4

A list of changes follows.

Today AMD launched the AMD FirePro A300 Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) for entry-level and mainstream desktop workstations. Featuring AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology, the new AMD FirePro A300 Series APUs are designed for users who demand a high-performance computing platform to power their computer-aided design, and media and entertainment (M&E) workflows. The new AMD FirePro A300 Series APUs combine industry-certified performance and reliability for professional applications with world-class 24-hour customer support, delivering highly-tuned performance and robust feature support across a range of professional applications and tools.

Even as launch of the next-generation A-Series "Trinity" desktop APUs remains elusive, there is already talk of what AMD will do with the 32 nm Trinity silicon, apart from using them in the A-Series. Some theories point out that the best performing parts could be sold in certain "high margin" products, while the others, could be branded as Athlon II FM2. AMD is planning a trio of quad-core Athlon II X4 processors in the socket FM2 package. The company currently has a line of Athlon II series processors carved out of the "Llano" silicon, built in the socket FM1 package.

The trio of socket FM2 Athlon II X4 processors include:

• Athlon II X4-730: quad-core, 2.80 GHz, 4 MB total cache, 65W TDP
• Athlon II X4-740: quad-core, 3.20 GHz, 4 MB total cache, 65W TDP
• Athlon II X4-750K: quad-core, unlocked BClk multiplier, 3.40 GHz, 4 MB total cache, 100W TDP

To provide the best user experience on the AMD platform, ASUS has refreshed a variety of motherboards, including mainstream channel models, dedicated products from ROG and the TUF Series, plus FM1 socket-compatible and power-efficient APU-based models. Each product offers a variety of new ASUS exclusive technologies such as digital power control, Remote GO!, and Network iControl, alongside innovative Fast Boot, ASUS Boot Setting, and DirectKey, all specifically leveraging upcoming Windows 8 capabilities. Both new and existing features have been tailored and tested to comply with the Windows 8 architecture for total stability and maximized utility, while all motherboards have gone through a full series of compatibility assurance tests in getting ready for the move to Windows 8.

AMD (NYSE:AMD) today announced revenue for the second quarter of 2012 of $1.41 billion, net income of $37 million, or $0.05 per share, and operating income of $77 million. The company reported non-GAAP net income of $46 million, or $0.06 per share, and non-GAAP operating income of $86 million.

"Overall weakness in the global economy, softer consumer spending and lower channel demand for our desktop processors in China and Europe made the closing weeks of the quarter challenging," said Rory Read, AMD president and CEO. "We are taking definitive steps to improve our performance and correct the issues within our control as we expect headwinds will continue in the third quarter as the industry sets a new baseline. We remain optimistic about our core businesses as well as future opportunities with our competitively differentiated next-generation Accelerated Processor Units (APUs). Our recently launched Trinity APU continues to gain traction with customers. We are committed to driving profitable growth."

TechPowerUp released GPU-Z 0.6.3, the latest version of the popular PC graphics subsystem information and diagnostic utility. The new release adds support for dozens of new GPUs, including AMD "Trinity" APU-integrated HD 7600D series, upcoming NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660; improves stability in Windows 8, and adds a large number of other stability improvements. GPU-Z 0.6.3 adds support for NVIDIA GPUs including GeForce GT 620, GT 630, GT 640, GTX 660, Tesla M2090, Quadro 1100M, Quadro 5000M, NVS 5400M, G610M, GeForce GT 620M, GT 630M, GT640M LE, and GT 660M; AMD GPUs including Trinity (HD 7600D series), HD 7570, HD 7670, HD 6610M, HD 7550M, HD 7850M, HD 7520G, and HD 7640G.

Keeping in tune with previous versions, GPU-Z 0.6.3 introduces a new killer feature: power-consumption measurement for IGPs (integrated graphics) on Intel "Sandy Bridge" and "Ivy Bridge" Core/Pentium processors. The measurement isolates the power draw of the IGP from the rest of the processor. TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.6.3 fixes crashes related to OpenCL detection (when using Intel drivers), with improved OpenCL drivers on Intel and AMD graphics drivers. It adds voltage monitoring for Radeon HD 7700 series. Boost clock detection is improved for NVIDIA "Kepler" architecture GPUs.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.6.3, GPU-Z 0.6.3 ASUS ROG Edition

The complete change-log follows.

AMD today announced that it was selected for an award of $12.6 million for two research projects associated with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Extreme-Scale Computing Research and Development Program, known as "FastForward." The DOE award provides up to $9.6 million to AMD for processor-related research and up to $3 million for memory-related researchi. AMD's award-winning AMD Opteron processor has powered many of the world's largest supercomputers over the past decade and the company invented the world's first and only Accelerated Processing Unit (APU).

FastForward is a jointly funded collaboration between DOE Office of Science, and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to initiate partnerships with multiple companies to accelerate the research and development of critical technologies needed for extreme scale computing, on the path toward exascale computing. Exascale computing is essentially a grand challenge to provide the next level of computational power required to help ensure the prosperity and security of the United States. The DOE's strategic plan seeks to address the nation's most pressing scientific challenges by advancing simulation-based scientific discovery made possible by the world's highest performing exascale supercomputers.

Due to the abrupt cancellation of Intel's Atom D2700 processor, Foxconn is forced to alter the specifications of the Intel variant, of its Nano PC nettop. The new Nano AT-5250 fanless nettop by Foxconn features Atom D2550 dual-core processor clocked at 1.83 GHz. The AMD variant, the Nano AT-5600, remains unchanged, and is driven by AMD E-450 dual-core APU.

Processors aside, the Nano PC nettops feature one DDR3 SO-DIMM slot, supporting up to 4 GB of memory, two USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0 ports, one 2.5-inch and one 1.8-inch drive bays; and connectivity that includes 802.11 b/g/n, gigabit Ethernet; multi-format card reader, and display connectivity that includes DVI and HDMI. Measuring 19 cm x 13.5 cm x 3.8 cm, the Foxconn Nano weighs about 600 g. The AMD and Intel variants are priced around $280 and $260, respectively.

AMD today announced that Major League Baseball's (MLB) San Francisco Giants selected AMD as a technology partner. The Giants have recently installed 66 new AMD A-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU)-based HP TouchSmart 320m All-In-One (AIO) touchscreen systems at AT&T Park, which will be followed by deployments of other AMD-powered systems throughout the organization.

"Our technology partnership with the San Francisco Giants puts AMD in a great position to showcase the role AMD technology can play to help large organizations harness the trends around consumerization, the Cloud and convergence to drive their business," said Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager, AMD Global Business Units. "From powering the front office infrastructure to the luxury suite experience at AT&T Park, AMD is ready to be a technology clean-up hitter for the Giants and their fans."

AMD today introduced the latest entry to the AMD Embedded G-Series processor family with the AMD Embedded G-T16R Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). The AMD G-T16R is targeted at very low power, small form factor and cost-sensitive embedded designs that require a combination of x86 compatibility and graphics. The optimized design of the AMD Embedded G-T16R sips power, with power consumption of just 2.3 wattsiv on average or 4.5 watts thermal design power (TDP).

Embedded product designers are taking to the industry's green challenge to design a broad range of next-generation applications for the industrial control, point-of-sale, medical appliance and transportation markets. For example, industrial customers can use the APU to help create greener factories based on more power-efficient factory hardware. Additionally, embedded designers can develop applications like point-of-sale order entry stations and tablets, medical bedside terminals and even solar-powered traffic control devices using the AMD G-T16R.

According to AMD senior VP and CTO Mark Papermaster, the company will adopt the 28 nanometer bulk CMOS silicon fabrication process for its chips in 2013. The bulk process is used to manufacture high-volume and less-complex products, such as motherboard chipset, entry-level APUs, etc. The company already takes advantage of TSMC 28 nm High-Performance process for highly-complex chip designs, such as its Southern Islands GPU family, and will continue using it for its next-generation "Sea Islands" GPUs. In related news, DigiTimes learned through sources that AMD's Sea Islands GPUs have entered tape-out stage, and are on course for a late-2012 volume manufacturing, and early-2013 launch schedule.

AMD today announced its continued leadership in high performance computing (HPC) with 24 of the top 100 supercomputers in the 39th TOP500 list, announced today, while making significant strides in maturing its HPC ecosystem through the addition of several key components that enable end users to continue to benefit from best-in-class price/performance for today's demanding applications.

AMD has continued to work closely with its technology partners to significantly mature its HPC ecosystem, resulting in several new developments including LS-DYNA simulation software optimized for the AMD Opteron 6200 Series processors from Livermore Software Technology Corporation (LSTC), the addition of programming options for AMD graphics processor unit (GPU) technology from CAPS, and the announcement by Mellanox Technologies of its Connect-IB products that will deliver FDR 56 Gb/s InfiniBand speeds to AMD's solution portfolios.

A little earlier, Samsung refreshed its Series 5 line of performance notebooks with Intel Core "Ivy Bridge" processors. It created a new branch, powered by AMD "Trinity" accelerated processing units (APUs), which pack up to four x86-64 cores, Radeon HD 7600M series graphics, and dual-channel DDR3 IMCs. Samsung currently has two models that are Trinity-powered, the Series 5 13.3-inch (NP535U3C-A01US), which is driven by AMD A6-4455M quad-core APU (2.10 GHz); and the Series 5 14-inch (NP535U4C-A01US), driven by AMD A10-4655M quad-core APU (2.80 GHz). Both models come with 4 or 8 GB dual-channel DDR3 memory and 500 or 750 GB HDD standard, with other features being identical to those of its Ivy Bridge cousins. The 13.3-inch A6 model starts at $699, while the 14-inch A10 model starts at $849.

HP unveiled a new variant of its Pavilion dv6 15.6-inch notebook driven by AMD A8-4500M quad-core APU (model: dv6-7010us). The A8-4500M packs four x86-64 cores clocked at 1.90~2.80 GHz, 4 MB total cache, and Radeon HD 7640G integrated graphics. The APU is backed by 6 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory. A 750 GB hard drive and DVD SuperMulti drive handle storage. The 15.6-inch screen packs 1366 x 768 pixels resolution. Connectivity includes gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WLAN, and Bluetooth. Most other features are identical to the Intel-driven dv6t-7000. Sweetening the deal is the price. While the Core i7-3610QM driven dv6t-7000 starts at US $899, the AMD A8-4500M driven dv6-7010us starts at $699.

AMD today announced it will integrate a new security solution into its future products to meet the increasing need to provide consumers and businesses with secure access to their content and worry-free online transactions. Through a strategic technology partnership with ARM, AMD will integrate the established ARM TrustZone technology into future Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) via a system-on-a-chip (SoC) design methodology. This industry-first collaboration will help accelerate broader ecosystem support by aligning x86 hardware with the world's most broadly-adopted mobile security ecosystem.

By adopting the industry-standard approach to security that TrustZone technology embodies, AMD and ARM will provide a consistent approach to security spanning billions of Internet-connected mobile devices, tablets, PCs and servers − whether they are powered by ARM processor-based solutions or AMD x86 APUs. AMD plans to provide development platforms that have TrustZone security features on select APUs in 2013, expanding further across its product portfolio in 2014. In a presentation this week at the AMD Fusion Developer Summit 2012 (AFDS), AMD Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Mike Wolfe described AMD's vision to advance computing security by enhancing AMD's existing security technologies. This is expected to include developing a platform security processor using an ARM CortexTM-A5 CPU that features TrustZone technology, to monitor and help protect against malicious access to sensitive data and operations at the hardware level.

To further capitalize on the opportunity for Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) in embedded applications and form factors, AMD today announced the formation of a new Embedded Solutions Group and appointed Arun Iyengar as its corporate vice president and general manager. The AMD Embedded Solutions Group will operate as a separate business within AMD's Global Business Units under AMD Senior Vice President Lisa Su.

"AMD APUs have been extremely well received by embedded system designers who require more graphic-intensive displays and compute power, while continuing to increase our engagement with ecosystem partners to deliver a complete solution," said Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager, AMD Global Business Units. "Arun's appointment and dedicated focus on expanding our differentiated embedded offerings will help ensure we are seizing the opportunity to expand in this rapidly growing market."

The Pure Platinum Z77i isn't the only new mini-ITX motherboard from Sapphire, the company also has one based on the AMD A75 chipset, supporting upcoming "Trinity APUs from AMD, in the socket FM2 package, called the Pure Platinum A75T. There are quite a few design differences between Sapphire's new mini-ITX motherboards besides the platforms they support. The most significant being, that the Pure Platinum A75T features two DDR3 SO-DIMM slots, instead of standard 240-pin UDIMM ones.

The Pure Platinum A75T draws power from 24-pin ATX + 4-pin ATX connectors. The APU is powered by a 5-phase VRM, with a heatsink cooling the driver-MOSFETs. The APU is wired to two DDR3 SO-DIMM slots supporting up to 16 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz memory; a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot; and a mini-PCIe 2.0 x1 slot (for WLAN cards). The A75 FCH gives out four SATA 6 Gb/s internal ports. There are four USB 3.0 ports, two each on the rear-panel, and by headers. Display connectivity includes one each of DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. 6-channel HD audio and gigabit Ethernet make for the rest of the connectivity. The Pure Platinum A75T could feature in the first wave of socket FM2 motherboards.

AMD today announced continued leadership in driving OpenCL adoption with availability of the AMD APP SDK 2.7, featuring the first conformant implementation of OpenCL 1.2 and comprehensive support for C++. The new SDK expands the OpenCL application ecosystem by providing developers a powerful, cross-platform solution to unlock the performance of AMD GPUs, APUs, and multi-core CPUs with the added C++ wrapper API and AMD's C++ kernel language for greater efficiency, improved productivity and application robustness.

"AMD continues leading the OpenCL movement, as demonstrated with the release of our latest SDK featuring the industry's first fully-conformant OpenCL 1.2 implementation," said Manju Hegde, corporate vice president, Heterogeneous Applications and Developer Solutions, AMD. "Our latest development tools empower developers to more easily harness the power of heterogeneous computing to help improve the user experience by making it easy to write applications that can take greater advantage of the compute capabilities of AMD's leading CPUs, GPUs and APUs."

Although ASRock was bold enough to give its upcoming entry-level FM2A75M-DGS socket FM2 motherboard the SATA 6 Gb/s equipped AMD A75 FCH, the company did not have any motherboards based on the new AMD A85 FCH chipset, on show. It's fair to assume that the company's mid-range ATX motherboard, the FM2A75 Pro4, will be topping up its socket FM2 lineup. Pictured below, the ASRock FM2A75 Pro4 utilizes everything the chipset provides, and adds a few third-party controllers.

The FM2 socket, which supports upcoming AMD "Trinity" APUs, is powered by a 6-phase VRM. There are four DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting DDR3-2400+ MHz by overclocking. The socket is also wired to a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot. The second x16 slot is electrical x4, and wired to the A75 FCH. ASRock somehow found it necessary to add three legacy PCI slots, and just two PCI-Express 2.0 x1.

With AMD's "Trinity" desktop APU platform just around the corner, ASRock is ready with motherboards that run it. At Computex, the company displayed a pair of micro-ATX socket FM2 motherboards, based on the AMD A75 FCH chipset. The two include the FM2A75 Pro4-M, and FM2A75M-DGS (pictured in that order).

The FM2A75 Pro4-M is the more premium offering between the two, designed for home desktops, while the FM2A75M-DGS is designed for entry-level PCs. The reason we feel FM2A75M-DGS will win in its segment, is because unlike competitors' offerings (such as MSI A55M-P33 (F2) and GIGABYTE F2A55M-DS2), the board is based on the A75 chipset, with SATA 6 Gb/s ports. It will be priced competitively.

AMD today announced the launch of its latest AMD E-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) platform. Designed for essential notebook and desktop personal computers which meet basic performance needs at accessible price points, the 2012 AMD E-Series APU enables long battery life and a best-in-class entertainment and media experience, while striking a balance between energy efficiency and unique innovations for brilliant high definition (HD) entertainment.

"In 2011, we showed the industry you could get discrete-level GPU power in a notebook without added power consumption or cost, resulting in the most successful notebook platform in AMD's history," said Chris Cloran, corporate vice president and general manager, AMD Client Business Unit. "Today we raise the bar even higher with our latest APU offering. Our 2012 AMD E-Series APU gives consumers a visually superior choice for everyday performance with the latest graphics technology and nearly three hours more battery life than the competition."