In addition to the Atomic 990FX, which features a full-coverage water block, Sapphire also showed off its cousin from the Intel platform, the Atomic Z97 (SIZ97). The motherboard in the picture below may look barren without its heatsinks, but that's because it has none, its water-block is standing right next to it, and needs to be installed after you drop in a CPU. Among its features are a 6-phase high-current CPU VRM, two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, five SATA 6 Gb/s, one mSATA 6 Gb/s, and mainstream connectivity.

ORIGIN PC announced today the availability of the new Intel Core 4th generation "Devil's Canyon" processors on their line of award-winning GENESIS, MILLENNIUM and CHRONOS desktops. Dominate the competition with an unlocked, unleashed, and uncompromised processor featuring Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0, Intel Hyper-Threading Technology, and ORIGIN PC's CPU overclocking to maximize your gaming experience, optimize your workflow, and increase productivity like never before. Gamers, professionals, and enthusiasts can now experience premium performance, vibrant visuals, and built-in security features with the power to play, create, entertain, and inspire on any ORIGIN PC desktop. Unleash the beast within your new ORIGIN PC GENESIS, MILLENNIUM, or CHRONOS desktops using the power and performance of Intel's 4th generation "Devil's Canyon" processors today!

Intel announced its much awaited Core i7 and Core i5 "Devil's Canyon" unlocked quad-core processors. Based on an enhanced "Haswell-DT" Refresh silicon, the chips feature binned dies, enhanced thermal interface material between the die and the integrated heatspreader, enhanced on-package electricals, and high voltage limits. Among the models launched today, are the Core i7-4790K, and the Core i7-4690K. The i7-4790K features four cores, with HyperThreading enabling eight logical CPUs, 8 MB L3 cache, Intel HD 4600 graphics, and an integrated dual-channel DDR3 IMC. It comes with clock speeds of 4.00 GHz, with 4.40 GHz Turbo Boost. Apart from unlocked multipliers, it features higher voltage limits than the current i7-4770K. The Core i5-4690K, on the other hand, is a quad-core chip that lacks HyperThreading. It offers clock speeds of 3.50 GHz, and Turbo Boost speeds of 3.90 GHz. The i7-4790K is priced at US $350, and the i5-4690K at $250. Both chips should be available by 25th June, 2014. For now, you can pre-order them on Newegg.

As computing continues to evolve and expand beyond the traditional PC, Intel Corporation President Renée James said Intel and the Taiwan technology ecosystem have the exciting opportunity to build on the long history of collaborative innovation to deliver seamless and truly personal computing experiences.

Processor technology continues to get smaller with greater performance and lower power thanks to Moore's Law, expanding the scale and potential for Intel technology and that of the Taiwan ecosystem, from infrastructure for cloud computing and the Internet of Things to personal and mobile computing and wearable technology.

The shipment performances of Smartphones, Tablets, and Notebooks were relatively weak in the first quarter due to seasonality. As a result of the entire NAND Flash market's oversupply in 1Q 2014, the branded suppliers' Q1 revenues saw a 6.6% drop compared to the previous quarter, and slid to approximately US$ 7,244 million, according to Sean Yang, Assistant Vice President at DRAMeXchange, the memory and storage research division of TrendForce.

Looking at the branded supplier revenue ranking, Samsung managed to retain its lead in the market with approximately US$ 2,175 million in sales, but saw its market share dip slightly to 30.0%; Toshiba came in second with a revenue total of US$ 1,548 million and an improved market share of 21.4%; SanDisk ended up in third place with US$ 1,367 million in revenue, while Micron came in fourth with US$ 1,050 million; Affected by its capacity allocations, SK Hynix's revenues slid to approximately US$ 594 million, resulting in market share of 8.2%.

To accelerate innovation toward a future of autonomous vehicles, Intel Corporation announced today the availability of a family of hardware and software products called Intel In-Vehicle Solutions, as well as additional investments and advanced technology research aimed at helping the car evolve to better inform, assist and eventually assume control. Intel's Internet of Things Group achieved revenue of $482 million in the first quarter, up 32% year-over-year, driven by strong demand for in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems. Intel believes the technology that will power the future of driving is quickly evolving, and through research, investments and new products, it can help the industry shape future driving experiences and bring them to market more quickly.

"To further strengthen Intel's technology partnership with the automotive industry and prepare for the future, we are combining our breadth of experience in consumer electronics and enterprise IT with a holistic automotive investment across product development, industry partnerships and groundbreaking research efforts," said Doug Davis, corporate vice president, Internet of Things Group at Intel. "Our goal is to fuel the evolution from convenience features available in the car today to enhanced safety features of tomorrow and eventually self-driving capabilities."

Intel Corporation today announced it has entered into a strategic agreement with Rockchip to expand the breadth of and accelerate the rate at which it brings its Intel architecture and communications-based solutions to market for a range of entry-level Android* tablets worldwide. Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will deliver an Intel-branded mobile SoC platform. The quad-core platform will be based on an Intel Atom processor core integrated with Intel's 3G modem technology.

Expanding the offerings in Intel's SoFIA family of integrated mobile SoC platforms for entry and value Android mobile devices, the new quad-core SoFIA 3G part is expected to be available in the first half of 2015. It will be targeted primarily at entry and value tablets. The Intel SoFIA family was added to Intel's mobile product roadmap late last year and includes Intel's first integrated applications processor and communications platform. As the tablet market continues to expand with greater choice of screen size, form factor and price, the strategic agreement with Rockchip also enables Intel to ramp new customers with a broader portfolio of products faster.

Intel's next-generation Core i7 "Haswell-E" HEDT (high-end desktop) processor lineup, slated for later this year, accompanied by the company's X99 Express chipset, will launch at three price-points, predictably, succeeding the current Core i7-4820K, i7-4930K, and i7-4960X. The platform will herald a new LGA socket, which will have 2,011 pins, but will not be compatible with current LGA2011 platforms based on the X79 Express chipset. That's because "Haswell-E" will be among the first client platforms to support DDR4-SDRAM memory. All Haswell-E chips will support DDR4-2133 MHz out of the box.

Moving on to the actual lineup, and it begins with the Core i7-5820K. This is a six-core chip, and a welcome departure from Intel's sub-$400 HEDT chips being quad-core. Whether it supports HyperThreading, is not known. You still get 6 physical cores to plow through work. The chip also features a staggering 15 MB of L3 cache, clock speed of 3.30 GHz with a couple of notches of Turbo Boost, and a quad-channel DDR4 integrated memory controller. Oh, and there's the unlocked BClk multiplier. Sounds too good to be true for a sub-$400 chip? Here's the catch - its on-die PCI-Express Gen 3.0 root complex will have fewer lanes. It can spare just 16 + 8 lanes for discrete graphics cards. For boards with three long x16 slots, that would mean x16/NC/x8, or x8/x8/x8, with an additional x4 link.

Several online retailers began listing Intel's next wave of unlocked socket LGA1150 processors, ahead of their June 2014 launches. Among these are the Core i7-4790K, the Core i5-4690K, and the Pentium G3258. The series begins with the i7-4790K and the i5-4690K, which bear an exclusive codename, "Devil's Canyon." These are special hand-picked "Haswell" dies that feature higher voltage limits, and a higher-grade package, with special high-current LGA contact points, and a superior thermal interface material between the die and integrated heatspreader (IHS).

The i7-4790K is a quad-core chip, featuring HyperThreading (8 logical CPUs), HD 4600 graphics, 8 MB of L3 cache, and clock speeds of 4.10 GHz, with Turbo Boost frequencies of a staggering 4.40 GHz. The i5-4690K, on the other hand, is a quad-core chip that lacks HyperThreading, and features 6 MB of L3 cache, but respectable clock speeds of 3.50 GHz, with 3.90 GHz Turbo Boost. Both chips feature unlocked base-clock multipliers, support for higher memory frequencies, uncore clocks, etc. The Core i7-4790K is priced around US $370, on the stores it's up for pre-order. The i5-4690K, on the other hand, is listed around $250.

Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, announced estimated graphics chip shipments and suppliers' market share for 2014 1Q. For the previous three quarters, the PC graphics market has gone up. This was the first quarter to show a decrease in shipments since last. Shipments were down 11.6% quarter-to-quarter, and down 4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Quick highlights:

• AMD's overall unit shipments decreased 18.2% quarter-to-quarter, Intel's total shipments decreased 7.9% from last quarter, and Nvidia's decreased 10.4%.
• The attach rate of GPUs to PCs for the quarter was 135% and 33% of PCs had discrete GPUs, which means 67% of the PCs are using the embedded graphics in the CPU.
• The overall PC market decreased 9% quarter-to-quarter, and decreased 3.5% year-to-year.

At the end of November 2013, Ubuntu / Canonical contacted Tranquil PC to commission the design and manufacture of what would become known as 'The Orange Box'. Today, 13th May 2014, Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth launches the product to the world at OpenStack (Atlanta).

The Orange Box is an innovative, custom designed micro cluster chassis, envisioned by Canonical, and contract manufactured by TranquilPC Limited. The chassis includes a small cluster of Intel NUC (Next Unit of Computing) boards, and is particularly well suited for portable demonstration and local prototyping of cloud workloads. The Orange Box, manufactured in the UK to exacting standards is available to order and ships internationally (free of charge). For more information, visit this page.

Even as Intel launched its first Core "Haswell" Refresh socket LGA1150 chips, it left out two enthusiast-grade parts from the mix, the Core i7-4790K and the Core i5-4690K. Don't be misled into thinking that they're just multiplier-unlocked variants of the i7-4790 and i5-4690 launched today. There's a reason the two have be designated a separate internal codename altogether. Called "Devil's Canyon," the chips are made from high-performing dies binned out from the foundry, and placed on extra-durable packages with contact points that are designed for higher voltages, and a superior thermal interface material between the die and the integrated heatspreader (IHS).

Better packaging (mind the pun) isn't the only thing that sets the i7-4790K and the i5-4690K apart form their non-K counterparts, they're are also clocked higher. The i7-4790K ships with an out of the box clock speed of 4.00 GHz (the first Intel processor to do so), with a Turbo Boost frequency of 4.40 GHz. The Core i5-4670K, on the other hand, ships with a clock speed of 3.50 GHz, with Turbo Boost frequency of 3.90 GHz. The TDP of both chips is rated at 88 Watts, a wee bit higher than the 84 Watts the non-K chips are rated at. Expreview believes that the two could usher in a new era in CPU overclocking without breaking the bank over HEDT chips, and could be capable of running at clock speeds of 5.00 GHz, on air-cooling. Intel is expected to launch the two chips to crowds at Computex 2014, followed by a market release in mid-June.

Intel Core "Haswell" Refresh processors are now officially available. Built in the LGA1150 package and compatible with motherboards running 8-series chipset with BIOS updates, the chips are accompanied by an armada of motherboards based on the latest 9-series chipset, which support the chips out of the box. The chips offer speed-bumps over Intel's existing Core "Haswell" lineup, at existing price-points, and feature some under the hood package improvements that needn't translate into IPC improvements.

Among the chips launched today, are the Core i7-4790, featuring a clock speed of 3.60 GHz, with Turbo Boost frequency of 4.00 GHz, 8 MB of L3 cache, and HyperThreading. This chip is priced at US $319.99, between the i7-4770 and the i7-4770K. Also launched is the Core i5-4690, featuring clocks of 3.30 GHz with 3.90 GHz Turbo Boost, 6 MB of L3 cache, and lacking HyperThreading. This one goes for US $224. The two lack upwards unlocked base-clock multipliers, and so the overclockers among you may want to hold out till mid-June, when Intel launches overclocker-friendly chips, codenamed "Devil's Canyon," based on this silicon. Other chips launched today include the Core i5-4590 (quad-core, 3.20 GHz / 3.70 GHz, 6 MB L3, $199.99); i5-4460 (quad-core, 3.20 GHz / 3.70 GHz, 6 MB L3, $189); i7-4790S (quad-core, 3.20 GHz, 8 MB L3, HTT, $314, low TDP); i5-4690S (quad-core, 3.20 GHz, 6 MB L3, $224); and i5-4590S (quad-core, 3.00 GHz, 6 MB L3, $199).

TweakTown went ahead and posted the first formal review of Intel Core i7-4790, the fastest Core "Haswell" Refresh quad-core processor. Tested on an unnamed Z97 Express motherboard, with discrete graphics, the chip was found to be only incrementally faster than the i7-4770K, and just what you'd expect from a 100 MHz clock speed bump. The i7-4790 is clocked at 3.60 GHz, with a maximum Turbo Boost speed of 4.00 GHz, compared to the 3.50 GHz and 3.90 GHz clocks of the i7-4770K. It lacks an unlocked base-clock multiplier, and so its overclocking potential is severely limited, and close to non-existent; and so the i7-4790 is really a chip for those who want the best gaming performance, and don't intend to overclock their CPUs. Enthusiasts may want to hold out for "Devil's Canyon." Find the full review at the source.

Intel Corporation today announced it has named Steven Fund, a senior industry executive with extensive brand and marketing experience managing and building some of the world's most recognizable brands, to the post of corporate vice president and Chief Marketing Officer reporting directly to Intel CEO Brian Krzanich.

Intel said Fund will be responsible for a broad portfolio that includes Intel's global marketing strategy, brand management, product positioning, market research, advertising, partner marketing, retail channel marketing, digital marketing, social media, and global communications. He will join Intel effective June 2. Fund comes to Intel from Staples, where he was senior vice president of global marketing and member of the company's senior leadership team. Staples is the world's largest office products company.

At Staples, Fund created the company's global marketing center of excellence, building an integrated team across business units and geographies. He strengthened Staples' communications, digital marketing and social media capabilities and restructured the company's approach to external agencies. He also led the repositioning of the Staples brand through a new company vision, brand promise and tagline.

Intel answered the burning question some of us had about what the desktop chipset that succeeds the 9-series will be named. For now, Intel is referring to it as "100-series," on early internal roadmap documents scored by VR-Zone. Much like the current 9-series, 100-series will consist of a single PCH silicon, from which several variants will be carved out by toggling features.

There will be four primary kinds of "Skylake" packages, SLK-S, which will be socketed LGA; SLK-U, which will likely be compact, ultra-low power BGA, for Ultrabooks; SLK-Y, which will probably be mainstream BGA for compact desktops and all-in-ones; and SLK-H, which will likely be mainstream BGA for conventional notebooks. This generation of CPUs and PCHs, will also be accompanied by four kinds of wireless network controllers, depending on the target form-factor, "Snowfield Peak" Wi-Fi + Bluetooth, "Douglas Peak" WiGig + Bluetooth, "Pine Peak" WiGig, and XMM726x 4G LTE controllers; and "Jacksonville" GbE wired Ethernet controller. Thunderbolt standard will undergo an evolution with the company's "Alpine Ridge" controller.

Intel's upcoming Thunderbolt host controller, codenamed "Alpine Ridge," could allow you to play God with several uncompressed Ultra HD video streams during production, if its leaked specifications hold up. The controller leverages PCI-Express gen 3.0 to double bandwidth of the interface. It will launch around the same time as Intel's next-generation Core "Skylake" processors (some time in 2015), and in a typical implementation, will be wired to the CPU's root-complex, and not that of the PCH. With PCIe 3.0 x4 or PCIe 3.0 x2 links at its disposal, the controller can push data at a staggering 40 Gbps. The link can also ferry DisplayPort, HDMI 2.0, and USB 3.0 data through its link layer. That bandwidth should enable you to plug in up to two Ultra HD displays, apart from your storage array.

The Thunderbolt connector itself will undergo a change with the arrival of Alpine Ridge. It will be slimmer (shorter) than the current connector, at 3 mm (good for Ultrabooks), and there will be adapters for backwards compatibility with older-generation Thunderbolt devices. The connector will be designed to supply up to 100W of power, so Ultrabooks based on it will do away with round DC jacks, and charge up much like tablets and smartphones do. That amount of power should also enable single-cable HDD docks and RAID boxes. There will be two main variants of Alpine Ridge, one that supports two ports over daisy-chaining, and one that supports just a single port.

Intel Corporation today reported first-quarter revenue of $12.8 billion, operating income of $2.5 billion, net income of $1.9 billion and EPS of 38 cents. The company generated approximately $3.5 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $1.1 billion, and used $545 million to repurchase 22 million shares of stock.

"In the first quarter we saw solid growth in the data center, signs of improvement in the PC business, and we shipped 5 million tablet processors, making strong progress on our goal of 40 million tablets for 2014," said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. "Additionally, we demonstrated our further commitment to grow in the enterprise with a strategic technology and business collaboration with Cloudera, we introduced our second-generation LTE platform with CAT6 and other advanced features, and we shipped our first Quark products for the Internet of Things."

Without any real fanfare Intel has now kicked off sales and shipments of processors part of 'Haswell Refresh' line. An official launch for the updated Haswell offering, complete with motherboards based on the 9 Series LGA1150 chipsets, is reportedly planned for next month but since the CPUs got the go-ahead you can expect them to reach stores shortly.

A total of 44 chips have been introduced by Intel, 27 of which are for desktops while the rest are for mobile devices. There's nothing really new about the CPUs as they are still based on the Haswell architecture (which debuted last year) but they do have slightly higher (100 MHz in most cases) frequencies than the models they aim to replace (speed bump at no added cost).

It looks like Intel will launch its Core "Haswell" Refresh line of processors sooner than Computex 2014. According to sources in the IT retail, Intel could launch these new chips, led by the Core i7-4790K, on May 10th in most markets. An armada of new socket LGA1150 motherboards, based on Intel's Z97 Express chipset should launch around those dates, probably in the week leading up to the 10th. Intel Core "Haswell" Refresh processors offer marginally better performance over current Core "Haswell" chips, at existing price points (i.e., they will displace existing chips from their current price-points); while the 9-series chipset offers features such as M.2 SSD support, making you ready for a tidal wave of 1000 MB/s SSDs that will launch around Computex.Image Source: Hermitage Akihabara

After holding meetings with the Government of Costa Rica and the Investment Promotion Agency -CINDE-, Intel confirmed today that it will transform its operations in Costa Rica. As part of its global strategy, the company will relocate its assembly and test operation to Asia, where these activities will be concentrated. Intel's Global Services Center, as well as the company's Engineering and Design Center will remain in their current location in Belen, Heredia. These operations will gain relevance in research and development related activities.

These changes in Intel's operation in Costa Rica gross up to other changes recently made by the company in Barcelona, Spain (March, 2014); Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, and Massachusetts, United States (March and January, 2014 and November, 2013 respectively); and Penang & Kulim, Malaysia (November 2013). All of them respond directly to the global strategy announced and more strongly implemented by the company during the last year.

Beginning with the publication of Intel Corporation's first-quarter earnings report on Tuesday, April 15, the company will revise the presentation of its operating segments to reflect changes in our organizational model, which are aligned with our critical objectives. The company is providing our financial reporting structure now, as shown below, in order to give visibility into the new model. Actual results will be reported with the first-quarter earnings report.

Dell today announced the launch of both the Latitude 14 Rugged Extreme notebook and the Latitude 12 Rugged Extreme convertible notebook for customers who require powerful solutions that can survive unforgiving conditions.

"With new ground-up design and industry-first innovations, the Latitude 12 and 14 Rugged Extreme mark the beginning of a renewed and expanded commitment by Dell to the rugged space," said Kirk Schell, former officer, United States Navy and vice president, commercial PCs, client solutions group, Dell. "The Rugged Extreme line is backed by the Latitude promise of reliable, secure and manageable commercial PCs and can move easily from the boardroom to the battlefield or wherever the job takes you-an assurance unmatched by the competition."

As the computing industry landscape undergoes rapid transformation, Intel Corporation CEO Brian Krzanich today outlined the company's plans to build upon its nearly 30-year history in China, and collaborate with the growing technology ecosystem, particularly in Shenzhen, to accelerate new innovation and reshape the computing industry.

During his keynote, Krzanich discussed how Intel and the Shenzhen technology ecosystem can re-ignite growth - both locally and globally - and deliver differentiated computing products and experiences, spanning multiple market segments, operating systems and price points. Underscoring this point, he announced the establishment of an Intel Smart Device Innovation Center in Shenzhen and a US$100 million Intel Capital China Smart Device Innovation Fund.

Here's what the first wave of Intel 9-series chipsets will look like. It will consist of upper-mainstream chipsets for the LGA1150 platform, and the sole chipset for the LGA2011-3 HEDT platform. LGA1150 will get two new chipsets based on a common silicon, the Z97 Express, and the H97 Express. The Z97 will be the next top-end chipset for the platform, supporting current Core "Haswell" and upcoming "Haswell refresh" and "Devil's Canyon" processors. Motherboards based on the Z97 chipset, like the ones based on the Z87 and Z77, will feature up to three PCI-Express 3.0 slots wired to the CPU, in configurations of x16/NC/NC, x8/x8/NC, and x8/x4/x4. It will support overclocking, something its sibling the H97 Express will lack. The H97 will also lack the PCIe configurations that the Z97 supports.

Both Z97 and H97 will introduce support for PCI-Express M.2 storage, which offers 66.6% higher bandwidth than SATA 6 Gb/s, and the same bandwidth as SATA-Express. Its introduction will spur up development and launches of a new generation of high-performance client SSDs in 2014-15. Apart from M.2, the two chipsets offer six SATA 6 Gb/s ports with AHCI and RAID support. Rapid Storage Technology (RST) and Smart Response Technology (SRT) are common for both chips, however, the Z97 also features Dynamic Storage Accelerator (DST), something the H97 will lack. H97 will exclusively offer Small Business Advantage (SBA), instead. Both chips will feature 8-lane PCI-Express gen 2.0 root complexes to drive onboard devices, and 14 USB ports, including six USB 3.0 SuperSpeed ports.