A report straight out of DigiTimes, citing industry sources, says that Intel has discontinued production of its H310 chipset. The decision has apparently stemmed from lower than expected production capacity for chipsets on the 14 nm process. When that happens, production focus must shift to a specific part: in this case, Intel obviously went with the option with the lower opportunity cost, and increased production of the Z370 chipset: the one with the increased feature-set, and, most likely than not, higher margins.

After a single month of tight supply for the H310 chipset, motherboard makers are now forced to use Intel's B360 chipset in their more cost-conscious options as well - a part which carries higher cost, and thus precludes manufacturers from hitting all the price points they usually would with a fully vertical Intel chipset lineup. Speculation has emerged claiming Intel suspended the supply of H310 because they have chosen to conduct a manufacturing process change from the tight-supply 14 nm (used across almost all of Intel's production stack, both consumer and enterprise) to a 22 nm fabrication technology. Further speculation places this constrained 14 nm supply as existent because of the delay in advancing to 10 nm, a process that Intel expected to be producing in volume by now (and since a while back, to be fair).

HP Inc. today introduced a new class of thin clients that will enable the next generation of virtualized computing and cloud-first application adoption across industries. The latest HP Thin Client innovations set new standards for customers seeking modern design, robust security, ease of management and attractive value. Spending on Cloud IT infrastructure is expected to have double digit growth and surpass spending on non-cloud IT infrastructure by 2022, according to IDC.

"As the cloud continues to reshape the way information is created, maintained and shared, HP Thin Client devices are delivering modern workflows with superior security and low-touch maintenance," said Joanne Bugos, vice president and general manager, Thin Clients, HP Inc. "Our newest thin client solutions provide customers with a convenient and secure option to deploy both virtual and cloud-based computing environments while delivering a great user experience, stylish design, and the versatility needed to support today's workforce both in and out of the office."

GIGABYTE, an industry leader in server hardware for high performance computing, has released two new powerful 4U GPU servers to bring massive parallel computing capabilities into your datacenter: the 8 x SXM2 GPU G481-S80, and the 10 x GPU G481-HA0. Both products offer some of the highest GPU density of this form factor available on the market.

As artificial intelligence is becoming more widespread in our daily lives, such as for image recognition, autonomous vehicles or medical research, more organizations need deep learning capabilities in their datacenter. Deep learning requires a powerful engine that can deal with the massive volumes of data processing required. GIGABYTE is proud to provide our customers with two new solutions for such an engine.

It looks like Intel is designing its discrete graphics processor at a breakneck pace, by a team put together by Raja Koduri. Its development is moving so fast, that the company could be ready with a working product to show the world by the 2019 International CES, held in early-January next year. Intel's development of a graphics processor is likely motivated by the company's survival instinct to not fall behind NVIDIA and AMD in making super-scalar architectures to cash in on two simultaneous tech-booms - AI and blockchain computing.

A blessing in disguise for gamers is the restoration of competition. NVIDIA has been ahead of AMD in PC graphics processor performance and efficiency since 2014, with the latter only playing catch-up in the PC gaming space. AMD's architectures have proven efficient in other areas, such as blockchain computing. NVIDIA, on the other hand, has invested heavily on AI, with specialized components on its chips called "tensor cores," which accelerate neural-net building and training.

An anonymous user from VideoCardz shared two PowerPoint slides from an Intel 'Saudi Conference' containing information on Intel's upcoming Cascade Lake server architecture. Cascade Lake will support processors with up to 28 cores, which seems pretty weak considering that AMD's second-generation EPYC processors are rumored to be packing 64 cores. However, AMD only offers dual socket support for EPYC processors which means that a system can house up to 128 physical cores at best. Intel, on the other hand, will not only be offering dual and quad, but also octa-socket support with Cascade Lake to bring the maximum physical core count to 224 for a single system. On another note, Cascade Lake will also support up to six channels of DDR4 memory and 48 PCIe lanes per processor.

Bluechip computer, a German IT distribution company, has inadvertently spilled the beans on AMD and Intel's plans for the remainder of this year, shedding some more light on a number of products whose existence was still somewhat marred in fog. The information comes straight from a webinar Bluechip presented to its industry partners - a 30-minute presentation which made its way to YouTube.

The information gleaned is a confirmation, of sorts, of AMD's planned launch of their Z490 platform in June; the B450 chipset coming a little bit later, in July (an expected product, in every sense); and AMD's second-gen Threadripper, a known-quantity already, which should accompany a X399 platform refresh.

At CES 2018 in January, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich predicted that quantum computing will solve problems that today take months or years for our most powerful supercomputers to resolve. Krzanich then unveiled Intel's 49-qubit superconducting quantum test chip, code-named "Tangle Lake."

Quantum computing is heralded for its potential. Leaders in scientific and industrial fields are hopeful quantum computing will speed advances in chemistry, drug development, financial modeling and climate change.

AKITIO, in a partnership with Intel will be releasing a special edition of the popular Node Lite PCIe box, bundled with the recently announced Intel Optane 905P, 960GB SSD as well as other higher capacity drives as they become available.

The Intel Optane 905P SSD is a new technology that is different from NAND flash memory. The Optane is a hybrid between DRAM and typical storage memory. By connecting the Intel Optane drive inside the Akitio Node Lite via Thunderbolt 3, we are able to fully utilize the Thunderbolt 3 bandwidth to achieve incredibly fast performance of up to 2200MB/s in both read and write. Unlike NAND flash based SSD's that provide fast performance in only large sized random read/write operations, the Optane drive provides the same phenomenal speeds in both large and small file transfers.

Ahead of its launch, Intel's upcoming Optane 905P SSD surfaced on Newegg, with 960 GB capacity, and an insane $1,600 price (pre-launch price), and a glowing shroud. The retailer put out close to no technical details of the drive, but leaked documents from Intel website do that job for us. Apparently, the Optane 905P comes in both PCI-Express 3.0 x4 add-on card (up to 960 GB) and 15 mm-thick 2.5-inch 32 Gbps U.2 (up to 480 GB) form-factors.

The drive offers sequential transfer rates of up to 2600 MB/s reads, with up to 2200 MB/s writes. The 4K random access numbers are stellar - up to 575,000 IOPS random reads, and up to 550,000 IOPS random writes, with under 10 µs (micro-seconds) latencies. Drives from both form-factors have a rated endurance of 10 DWPD (drive writes per day). These make the 905P slightly faster than the 900P, which clocks in at 2500/2000 MB/s sequential reads/writes, and 550,000/500,000 IOPS 4K random access.

With less than a year after their release, Intel are already retiring their Kaby Lake-X processors. Initially introduced with the X299 platform, the Intel Core i5-7640X and Intel Core i7-7740X were quad-core entry models into the HEDT platform. Unfortunately, they never really took off as planned. Intel openly admitted that market demand for the Core i5-7640X and Core i7-7740X has shifted to other Intel products. Therefore, the two aforementioned models will reach end-of-life status on May 7, 2018. Retailers, suppliers, and OEMs can still order these processors up to November 30 of this year with the last shipments scheduled for May 31 of next year. Goodbye, Kaby Lake-X. It was nice knowing you.

Ahead of its launch, a curious-looking Optane 905P PCI-Express add-in card (AIC) SSD, bearing model number SSDPED1D960GAX1, showed up on Newegg, confirming its imminent launch. The model listed offers 960 GB of storage based on 3D XPoint memory, and unless we're mistaken, an illuminated shroud, unlike its predecessor, the Optane 900P.

The capacity here is the star-attraction, as the Optane 900P only comes in capacities up to 480 GB (that's 280 GB and 480 GB), which had been the biggest complaint of its target audience, PC enthusiasts. The added capacity should also increase the drive's endurance numbers, although the Newegg listing puts out no performance numbers from the manufacturer. The Optane 905P 960 GB commands a US $1,602 price, for now.

Intel Corporation today reported first-quarter 2018 financial results. "Coming off a record 2017, 2018 is off to a strong start. Our PC business continued to execute well and our data-centric businesses grew 25 percent, accounting for nearly half of first-quarter revenue," said Brian Krzanich, Intel CEO. "The strength of Intel's business underscores my confidence in our strategy and the unrelenting demand for compute performance fueled by the growth of data."

"Compared to the first-quarter expectations we set in January, revenue was higher, operating margins were stronger and EPS was better," said Bob Swan, Intel CFO. "Our data-centric strategy is accelerating Intel's transformation, and we're raising our earnings and cash flow expectations for the year." In the first quarter, the company generated approximately $6.3 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $1.4 billion and used $1.9 billion to repurchase 41 million shares of stock.

Jim Keller, the VLSI guru who led the team behind AMD's spectacular comeback in the x86 processor market with "Zen," has reportedly quit his job at Tesla to join AMD's bête noire, Intel. Following his work on "Zen," Keller had joined Tesla to work on self-driving car hardware. Keller joins Raja Koduri at Intel, the other big former-AMD name, who led Radeon Technologies Group (RTG).

PC Perspective comments that big names like Keller and Koduri joining Intel could provide clues as to Intel's current state and the direction it's heading in. The company appears to be in a state of shake-up from a decade of complacency and lethargy in its core business. Koduri could be putting together a team of people familiar to him for a new clean-slate project. The last time Intel had a clean slate was ten years ago, with "Nehalem."

Intel unintentionally confirmed the existence of two of its upcoming client platform chipsets, the Z390 Express, and the X399 Express. The latest release-notes documentation of its Rapid Storage Technology driver, mentions Z390 and X399, alongside the CPU micro-architectures they support. The Z390 supports current-generation "Coffee Lake" and upcoming "Cannon Lake" processors, while the X399 supports HEDT derivatives based on the two architectures, namely "Coffee Lake-X" and "Cannon Lake-X," with no mention of "Skylake-X."

What happens to the X299, you ask? The table mentions the chipset as supporting SKL-X (Skylake-X) and KBL-X (Kaby Lake-X), but it's not clear if Intel is only referring to the forgettable i7-7740X and i5-7640X with "KBL-X." The Z390 is rumored as being Intel's next top mainstream-desktop chipset, with a long overdue update to onboard audio standards, in being a departure from the "Azalia" HD audio specification, onward to the new Programmable Quad-Core Audio with new SoundWire digital audio interface. The chipset is also rumored to feature 10 Gbps USB 3.1 ports.

Intel, via its internal documentation that is, routinely, the source of new information on unreleased products, has revealed their next low-power architecture. Codenamed Tremont, the new architecture is expected to be developed on the company's 10 nm process (not unlike Ice Lake) and bring some performance improvements to the company's options for the embedded market.

Tremont will thus replace Intel's Goldmont Plus, which is still being manufactured on the company's 14 nm process (it hasn't been side-graded to the company's 14 nm + or ++ processes, due to these being less suited for denser chip designs). The new architecture will likely receive some specific performance improvements that mirror some of Intel's Core architecture's improvements, alongside support for new instruction sets - CLWB, GFNI (SSE-based), ENCLV, Split Lock Detection instruction set extensions are all extensions that will also be introduced in the company's Ice Lake cores, which increases the likelihood of the same process. Other functions introduced specifically for Tremont include CLDEMOTE, direct store, and user wait instructions.

Photographs of Intel's Crimson Canyon NUC have finally surfaced. WinFuture managed to get their hands on one that's powered by an Intel Core i3-8121U dual-core processor based on the Cannon Lake architecture. The NUCs come with 4 GB or 8 GB of memory, a 2.5-inch hard drive, built-in Wi-Fi 802.11ac, and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. The Crimson Canyon NUC also features a discrete AMD Radeon graphics card. The "Radeon 500-series" reference in one of the screenshots along with the "2GB of GDDR5" on the packaging takes us to the conclusion that Intel is most likely integrating a Polaris-based graphics card into the Crimson Canyon NUC. It's highly unlikely that we will find the CPU and GPU on the same chip like the one in the Hades Canyon NUC. Instead, the GPU will probably be soldered directly to the motherboard itself. The Intel Core i3-8121U models (NUC8I3CYSM2 and NUC8I3CYSM3) start around 450 euros, which roughly translates to $550. There was no mention when they will be available though.

(Editor's Note: Intel says the Stratix 10 contains some 30 billion transistors - and they say that's more than triple the amount in CPUs that run in the fastest desktop processors today. They're really the ones to know it, since Intel has decided to cut on disclosing transistor count on its CPUs for some time now. The amount of data these FPGAs can process in a single second is nothing short of mind-blowing, though: Intel says they can process the data equivalent to 420 Blu-ray Discs... in just one second. If that doesn't spell an unimaginable future in terms of processing power, I don't know what does.)

Because of the Intel Stratix 10's unique design, it can whip through calculations at blinding speeds - often 10 to 100 times faster than the chips in consumer devices. Intel Stratix 10 FPGAs - the latest version came out in February - are capable of 10 TFLOPS, or 10 trillion floating point operations per second. The Stratix 10 is the fastest chip of its kind in the world.

Honor, a sub-brand of Chinese electronics giant Huawei, has revealed their brand-new 14-inch MagicBook Ultrabook. The MagicBook is powered by a 8th generation Intel Core processor. It's available with either the Intel Core i5-8250U or the Intel Core i7-8550U processor. Both variants come with 8 GB of memory, a 256 GB SATA SSD, and a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce MX150 graphics card with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory. The MagicBook is 15.8 mm thick and weighs 1.47 kg. In terms of design, the Honor MagicBook features a sleek all-aluminum body similar to the previously announced Huawei Matebook. The MagicBook's cooling solution consists of various heat pipes that are connected to the CPU and GPU. A single fan draws cool air from the three vents located around the ultrabook and pushes the heated air through the rear vent.

The Honor MagicBook has been fitted with a 13.3-inch matte IPS LCD display. The panel boasts a 1080p resolution, 45% NTSC color space, 800:1 contrast, and 250 nits of brightness. The ultrabook also possesses four Dolby Atmos-certified speakers, dual mics, and a fingerprint reader. Thanks to the generous 57.4 Wh battery, the MagicBook is certified for up to 12 hours of battery life. It comes with a USB Type-C port for charging the device, one USB 3.0 port, one USB 2.0 port, a HDMI port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The Intel Core i5 variant costs CNY 5,000 ($800), while the Intel Core i7 model goes for CNY 5,700 ($910).

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, announced the launch of Z370 AORUS motherboards with exclusive built-in 32GB Intel Optane Memory and support for Intel Core i7+/i5+ architecture. By also utilizing Intel Rapid Storage Technology, these motherboards provide users with accelerated read/write speeds for their storage devices, bolstering their data performance for incredible value.

Introducing GIGABYTE motherboards with built-in 32GB Intel Optane Memory, the four models in this series include the Z370 AORUS GAMING 7-OP, Z370 AORUS ULTRA GAMING WIFI-OP, Z370 AORUS ULTRA GAMING 2.0-OP, and Z370 HD3-OP motherboards, all of which are fully compatible with the newest Intel RST. In addition to adapting the performance enhancement technology from the previous generation, the newest generation of Intel Optane Memory technology is even more potent as it enhances high capacity HDD read/write speeds to match that of SSDs. Under the protection of GIGABYTE Ultra Durable Technology, these boards offer increased system stability as well as durability, making these motherboards a can't miss choice for those seeking enhanced data performance at an unbeatable value.

MSI proudly announces the new Gaming Desktop series. The product will include the Aegis Ti3, Aegis 3, Infinite A, Trident 3, Trident 3 Arctic and Nightblade MI3. Based on the latest Intel 8th-generation processor technology, powered by MSI's unmatched game-enhancing features, a true gaming experience without any boundaries is now possible. Go beyond the ordinary and experience the extraordinary. Moreover, MSI is honorably expanding its current Gaming Desktops with the Optix Curved Gaming monitors to introduce the concept of G.A.M.E. Unlimited: Gaming Power, Accessibility, Monitor, and Experience.

Today, Intel is taking another step forward, with two new technology announcements: Intel Threat Detection Technology (Intel TDT), a set of silicon-level capabilities that will help the ecosystem detect new classes of threats, and Intel Security Essentials, a framework that standardizes the built-in security features across Intel processors. We are also announcing a strengthened academic partnership with Purdue University, to help accelerate the development and availability of cybersecurity talent.

Intel Threat Detection Technology leverages silicon-level telemetry and functionality to help our industry partners improve the detection of advanced cyberthreats and exploits. Today we are announcing the first two Intel Threat Detection Technology capabilities, including implementation plans by Microsoft and Cisco.

The first new capability is Accelerated Memory Scanning. Current scanning technologies can detect system memory-based cyberattacks, but at the cost of CPU performance. With Accelerated Memory Scanning, the scanning is handled by Intel's integrated graphics processor, enabling more scanning, while reducing the impact on performance and power consumption. Early benchmarking on Intel test systems show CPU utilization dropped from 20 percent to as little as 2 percent.

Intel's upcoming Coffee Lake-S CPUs are still only referenced as smoke and mirrors - gradually becoming denser, surely, but slowly. However, hawk-eyed users have begun noticing the usual trickle of information that precedes a product release. In this case, Intel themselves have started listing technical documentos referencing the Coffee Lake-S parts, and though these read as confidential, the hints they hide are enough to piece together some broad strokes.

Intel recently celebrated 20 years of the Pentium brand that made the company a household name, with a special Pentium 20th Anniversary Edition G3258 SKU. If rumors are to be believed, the company could do something similar with the upcoming 40th anniversary of its 8086 processor, the distant ancestor of today's x86 architecture. Some sources even suggest that the company could take advantage of its 8th generation Core product cycle to launch a "Core i7-8086K" SKU.

Pictures surfaced on social media of the said "i7-8086K" SKU in the flesh, complete with a part number "SR3QQ." Based on the same 14 nm "Coffee Lake" silicon as the i7-8700K, this chip has a nominal clock speed of 4.00 GHz, a maximum Turbo Boost frequency above 5.00 GHz, an unlocked multiplier, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. Intel could choose June 8th (around the 2018 Computex and the actual anniversary of 8086), to launch the new SKU.

Intel began selling its Core i7+ and Core i5+ processor SKUs in the retail channel, in new box designs distinguishable from the regular 8th generation Core processor retail boxes. For those new to this, Intel late-March, launched Core i5+, Core i7+, and Core i9+ processor SKUs. These have absolutely zero processor performance differences from the regular SKUs, but denote bundles of processor and Intel Optane 16 GB cache SSDs. Among the three new SKUs available on Newegg are Core i7+8700 (BO80684I78700), Core i5+8500 (BO80684I58500), and Core i5+8400 (BO80684I58400). All three include a 16 GB Optane drive, which steps up price by about $35. The Core i7+8700 is hence $340, followed by the i5+8500 at $240, and the i5+8400 at $215.

ASUS today announced X407 and X507, a pair of compact and lightweight laptops designed for daily computing and entertainment. They're powered by up to a 7th Generation Intel Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce MX110 discrete graphics, and feature a dual-storage design with a 1TB HDD and 256GB SSD. X507 has a 15.6-inch FHD IPS-level NanoEdge display with a slim bezel for an immersive viewing experience. Both feature a fingerprint sensor for quick and easy logins with Windows Hello. Despite its large display, X507 is extremely portable, with an overall weight of just 1.68kg. The 14-inch ASUS X407 weighs just 1.42 kg.

Everyday laptops with amazing performance
Both X407 and X507 are designed for daily computing and entertainment, and are powered by up to a 7th Generation Intel Core i7 processor with up to 8GB DDR4 memory, and NVIDIA GeForce MX110 discrete graphics. They have a dual-storage design that can be specified with up to a 1TB HDD and a 256GB SSD. These Windows 10 laptops also support new and exciting Windows features including Cortana with voice recognition, allowing the user to wake the device from sleep mode simply by using the "Hey, Cortana" voice command. For maximum convenience and compatibility, X507 includes a USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A port, two USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI port and a microSD card reader, as well as 2x2 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2. Both laptops support fast charging, requiring only 49 minutes to charge a near-flat battery to 60%. In addition, ASUS SuperBattery technology ensures a 3X-longer battery lifespan compared to traditional laptop batteries.