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AMD's Fusion Delayed Until 2011

Paul Lilly — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:32:36 -0600

When it comes to AMD, the tech world is currently focused on the chip maker's Shanghai processors, which have started showing up at online resellers. Initially planned for a January 2009 release, AMD bumped up the launch of its first 45nm CPUs. But AMD isn't ahead of schedule across the board and the company's 45nm Fusion chip finds itself pushed back once again.

Initially planned for a 2009 release, AMD previously moved the tentative launch date to sometime in 2010 but has now canceled it altogether in its 45nm form. Instead, AMD's senior VP Randy Allen said the CPU/GPU combo won't materialize until 2011 in a 32nm version with the company's Llano core. Llano will sport four cores, 4MB of cache, DDR3 memory support, and an integrated GPU.

On a related note, AMD will actually start producing 32nm chips in 2010, but products won't start to hit the market in any quantity until 2011 starting with the Orochi core, another four-core chip but with 8MB of cache and aimed at the enthusiast desktop sector.

Concerned about the delay? Hit the jump and let us know.

Analysts Predict AMD & Intel will Struggle in 2009

Justin Kerr — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:15:04 -0600

The slowdown in the economy continues to trickle down into the technology sector and new warnings have been issued for both AMD and Intel. According to the marketing research firm IDC; "The supply chain is telling us that there is strong concern for demand decline." As a result IDC, and many other firms are cutting their processor growth forecast to around 2-5 percent for fiscal 2009.

This negative outlook on the global PC market had a crushing effect on the earnings forecasts of both companies. Investment bank Friedman Billings Ramsey has slashed its fourth-quarter earnings expectations for Intel to a meager 30 cents per share, down from a previous estimate of 36 cents. AMD also takes a hit jumping from a 19 cent per share loss to as much as 24 cents. Obviously the situation is much worse for AMD who continues to struggle to find its way out of the red, but both companies are facing challenges.

Wall Street analyst firm ThinkEquity predicts much of the weakness will come from softer corporate notebook demand. According to Avon Securities; "PC OEMs...are worried about having too much inventories if end-market demand comes in materially weaker than expectations this holiday season."

Are you holding back on your PC purchases amidst the economic uncertainty? Hit the jump and help us conduct our own informal survey.

Rumor: Nvidia Spooked by AMD's Market Share Gains, Will Cut Videocard Prices in Response

Paul Lilly — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:45:15 -0600

A report by Jon Peddie Research (JPR) earlier this week confirmed that AMD's recent success with its Radeon 4000 series has helped the company take back some market share from rival GPU maker Nvidia, while also forcing Nvidia and its partners to lower prices on the recently released GTX 200 series. It appears even more cuts are on the way.

DigiTimes, citing un-named sources at graphics cards makers, says that Nvidia "is planning to cut its graphics card prices in an attempt to curb further loss of market share" to AMD. For its part, AMD isn't finished taking it to Nvidia and anticipates grabbing 50 percent of the market following lowered prices on its ATI Radeon HD 4000 series.

In short, it continues to be a great time to be a PC gamer, and it only looks to get better as AMD and Nvidia battle on the pricing front.

AMD Wants to be a Netbook Contender with 'Conesus' Chip

Paul Lilly — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:22:46 -0600

While Intel's Atom chip has been finding its way into nearly every netbook release, AMD has been playing it conservative by taking a wait-and-see approach. At this point, it's not hard to see that netbooks are here to stay, and AMD finally looks ready to capatilize on one of the hottest tech fads of the year.

According to AMD's updated processor roadmap, the chip maker is primed to target mini-notebooks and netbooks with a pair of new processors called Caspian and Conesus. Both are 45nm parts and built using the same architecture as the company's just-released Shanghai chip and both will be dual-core parts with an integrated DDR2 memory controller.

Caspian, which will find its way into ultraportables, will come with 2MB of cache compared to 1MB on Conesus. The latter will also utilize a BGA package so that it can fit into the limited space netbooks afford. Even still, AMD chief executive Dirk Meyer contends that netbooks aren't going to be the company's focus.

"First order, we're ignoring the netbook phenomenon," Meyer said, "concentrating on PC notebooks above that form factor.

Huh? Randy Allen, the senior VP of AMD's Computation Solutions Group, clarified Meyer's curious statement by saying AMD will cede part of the netbook market to Intel, particularly Mobile Internet Devices. "We won't be going to the bottom where Atom is going," Allen said. Allen further stated that customers of the Yukon netbook market don't want a "compromised PC exeprience."

AMD's Shanghai Chips Available Now

Paul Lilly — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:45:38 -0600

AMD has released its new Shanghai platform, signaling a move to 45nm. The first chips out the door are quad-core Opteron parts, which AMD claims will deliver up to 35 percent more performance and up to a 35 percent decrease in power consumption when idle.

"This enhanced AMD Opteron processor represents the most dramatic performance and performance-per-watt increases for AMD products since the introduction of the world's first x86 dual-core processors nearly four years ago," Randy Allen, AMD senior VP for Computing Solutions Group, said in a statement. "Simply put, the quad-core AMD Opteron is the right technology at the right time."

Shanghai, which is essentially a refresh of Barcelona and not an entirely new architecture, supports DDR2-800 memory and comes with a tweaked Direct Connect Architecture. The current batch of 75-watt Shanghai chips will be followed up by a launch of 55-watt Opteron and an SE 105-watt part in Q1 2009. And according to CNet, a desktop platform (codenamed Dragon) consisting of 45nm Shanghai desktop CPUs along with AMD 700 series chipsets and ATI Radeon HD 4000 graphics will also see the light of day in the same time frame and attempt to compete with Intel's Core i7 platform.

Will Shanghai get AMD back on track? Hit the jump and give us your take.

AMD Announces Phenom II X4 and Promises Move to 32nm by 2011

Gordon Mah Ung — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:30:04 -0600

AMD will dub the 45nm die shrink of its consumer enthusiast CPU as Phenom II X4 and laid out plans for its first CPUs with integrated graphics core.

The Phenom II X4 is on tap for late this year and will follow the company’s smaller, faster 45nm Opteron chips. The new chip will feature 8MB of cache and support both DDR2 and DDR3 in the AM3 and AM2+ sockets. Phenom II X4 will be part of AMD’s “Dragon” platform that combines the new chip with DX10.1 graphics, the company’s new Stream GPU processing, OverDrive and Fusion for gaming utility.

AMD also announced plans for a 32nm family of chips as early as 2011. On the top end, a quad-core Orochi with 8MB of cache and DDR3 will hopefully keep enthusiasts happy. Orochi is part of AMD’s Bulldozer family that mysteriously disappeared from the company’s roadmap earlier this year. Until Orochi is available, the 45nm Phenom II X4, previously codenamed Deneb will hopefully fight off Intel’s Core i7 chips.

The move to 32nm will also see the Llano chip. The CPU will feature four cores, 4MB of cache, DDR3 and an integrated graphics core. AMD, meanwhile, confirmed it would be taking on Intel’s Atom chip with its Conesus CPU next year. Conesus will be dual-core, feature 1MB of cache and DDR2. In 2010, Conesus will give way to Geneva which doubles the cache to 2MB.

AMD Taking Market Share Back from Nvidia

Paul Lilly — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:44:26 -0600

For awhile there, things were looking pretty grim for AMD's graphics division, ATI. Nvidia could do no wrong, leaving AMD content to focus on the low to mid-range market and conceding the high-end altogether. Would ATI silicon ever be competitive again?

As we found out, the answer is yes. As a result, AMD's graphics chips have been able to take some market share away from Nvidia, according to a report by market research Jon Peddie Research.

"AMD has by all account exceeded expectations with its Radeon 4000 series," the report claims. "Priced aggressively yet delivering solid performance, AMD's new line not only took back some market share -- jumping up to 40 percent from 35 percent the quarter prior -- it forced Nvidia (and other partners) to cut prices on its recently released GTX 200 series product."

More than just price cuts, we've repeatedly referred to the situation as a price war between the two camps. Never have gamers been able to get so much gaming bang for their buck, and looking at the market share results, the war appears to be favoring AMD. Interestingly, JPR notes sequential growth in add-in boards (AIBs), which increased by over 2 million units from Q2 to Q3 2008, but a 15 percent drop in year-to-year growth.

Ask the Doctor: Stock Cooler Safety

The Maximum PC Staff — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:45:44 -0600

How far can I safely overclock a CPU if I’m using a stock cooler? I was building a budget rig and when I had money left over, I decided to upgrade from a high-end Athlon 64 to a really low-end 2.2GHz Phenom. I want to up the performance, even by a tiny bit, but I’m hesitant to do it with a stock cooler. Please help!

—Andy Shores

Check out Andy's answer, after the jump!