Posted 11/13/09 at 07:30:07 AM by Paul Lilly

AMD this week unveiled a newly revamped roadmap outlining a pair of all-new processor architectures, as well as plans for its CPU/GPU integration, ArsTechnica reports.

Let's start with 'Bobcat,' which is the codename for AMD's new mobile architecture. AMD says Bobcat was built from the ground-up and will compete with Intel's Atom and VIA's Nano platforms. According to one of the slides AMD showed, Bobcat is "sub one-watt capable," though expect higher-clocked parts to sip more juice than that. The 32nm part will support SSE 1 through 3, and is slated to ship in 2011.

On the server side, AMD also announced its "Bulldozer" architecture. As ArsTechnica explains it, a single Bulldozer "module" will appear as a single processor core to the OS with simultaneous multithreading (SMT) enabled. It's unclear how many instructions per cycle the front-end can dispatch, other than at least four and probably as high as eight. Bulldozer will also launch in 2011.

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Posted 11/09/09 at 07:15:16 AM by Paul Lilly

No matter what we've been hearing, a x86 CPU just doesn't appear to be in the cards for Nvidia, at least according to the company's outspoken CEO Jen-Hsun Huang.

"No," he said when asked if there was any truth to the rumor. "Nvidia's strategy is very, very clear. I'm very straightforward about it. Right now, more than ever, we have to focus on visual and parallel computing."

Rather than allocate resources into developing a x86 chip to, say, compete at the low end where Intel's Atom processors have the market nearly all to themselves, Huang says the best opportunities for growth will come from pushing the GPU "into all kinds of platforms," such as servers for parallel computing, super-computing, and cloud-based computing, and in lower power platforms, like the Zune HD.

Speculation about Nvidia taking on Intel in the x86 market began much earlier in the year when Micheal Hara, Nvidia's senior VP of investor relations and communications, said getting into the x86 business was a matter of 'when,' and not 'if.'

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Posted 11/04/09 at 08:38:08 AM by Paul Lilly

Graphics chip maker Nvidia appears to be interested in talent from Transmeta, and that could mean only one thing: they're moving into the x86 market, says AmTech analyst Doug Freedman.

Freedman's theory is at least plausible. During a Q&A session at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in San Francisco earlier this year, Nvidia acknowledged it would eventually try its hand at the x86 business, saying it was a matter of "when," not "if."

If Nvidia's looking for the right time, now might be it. The chip maker continues to be at odds with Intel over continued licensing disputes, the latest of which has bumped Nvidia out of contention with Nehalem. And because AMD owns ATI, the chip maker finds itself between rock and a hard place.

That's not good, considering over 30 percent of Nvidia's revenue comes from chipsets. Backing out, even if temporary, puts a lot of pressure on the company's graphics business to hold the fort while licensing disputes are worked out.

It's worth noting that Nvidia probably wouldn't go after the high performance sector, where Intel's Core i7 pretty much stands alone. But the market is wide open in the low performance segment. An Atom alternative combined with the chip maker's Ion platform could conceivably shake things up and give Intel's Atom platform some serious competition.

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Posted 11/03/09 at 10:45:29 AM by Paul Lilly

Watch out Atom, there's a new line of VIA Nano processors on the block, and they're after your lunch money. They just may have the muscle to take it, too.

The new VIA Nano 3000 series is based on the 64-bit superscalar "Isaiah' architecture and comes with a bevy of noteworthy features. Among them is the ability to support 1080p playback. Other notable traits include 64-bit support, SSE instructions, and encryption and security capabilities.

"With the VIA Nano 3000 Series, we are launching our fastest and most power-efficient processors yet," commented Richard Brown, VP International Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. "Coupled with our market-leading digital media chipsets, they enable the richest experience across a broad range of mobile and all-in-one system designs."

The new chips will ship in early 2010 at clockspeeds ranging from 1GHz to 2GHz and all run on an 800MHz frontside bus. The x86 parts are also compatible with both Windows and Linux.

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Posted 08/10/09 at 10:00:54 AM by Paul Lilly

The rich get richer, so the saying goes, and it applies to Intel's x86 CPU business. Already the No.1 CPU maker in the world, Intel's x86 processor market share rose to 80.5 percent in the second quarter of 2009, up from 78.2 percent in the first quarter.

According to market research firm Mercury Research, Intel's recent market share growth is attributable to the chip maker's aggressive desktop CPU price cuts, as well as increased inventory alleviating continued shortages in certain segments.

Meanwhile, competitor AMD saw its shares drop from 20.9 percent in the first quarter to 18.7 percent in the second, a trend the No. 2 chip maker can't be happy about. It was almost a year ago that AMD announced a split into separate design and manufacturing firms.

VIA's market share remained relatively unchanged, claiming just under 1 percent for the second consecutive quarter.

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Posted 08/07/09 at 10:05:00 AM by Paul Lilly

GPGPU computing has been a frequent subject of tech chatter, the latest of which involves AMD's release of the first OpenCL SDK for x86 CPUs. What this does is enable developers to take OpenCL code that would normally be written for GPUs and target CPUs instead.

GPGPU computing, which offsets tasks from the CPU to the GPU, offers a range of benefits, including the potential for much faster video encoding and less time waiting for effects to be applied in supported applications like Photoshop CS4. But is there much use for AMD's "backwards" concept?

"The beta will help programmers more easily develop parallel software programs and take further advantage of multicore x86 CPUs to accelearate software and deliver a better computing experience," AMD states.

According to Arstechnica, until AMD's SDK is able to target GPUs, debugging will remain the primary use.

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Posted 07/22/09 at 02:39:58 PM by Paul Lilly

It's been a wild ride for the x86 architecture, which has managed to stay relevant for over 31 years. During that time, AMD has sold a boatload of x86 chips, with today marking the shipment of the chip maker's 500 millionth x86 CPU. This occurred while AMD was celebrating its 40th anniversary.

"AMD's 40th anniversary is a testimonial to our longevity, our employees, our customers, and our unique business approach," AMD wrote on a webpage dedicated to the milestone.

As a "reward to the loyal customers who helped AMD reach this milestone," the chip maker is giving away four HP Pavilion dv2z notebooks via a contest. To enter:

• Follow AMD on Twitter (@AMD_Unprocessed), where a new question will be posted every other Monday beginning July 27
• Send AMD the answer via a direct message

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Posted 07/15/09 at 04:30:14 PM by Paul Lilly

T-Mobile G1 owners already have an idea what to expect from Google's Android operating system, but now anyone can give the OS a whirl, and they can do it on their PC. No convoluted hacks required - just download the Live CD image, burn it to disc, and reboot your PC.

The hacked OS comes courtesy of the Beijing-based LiveAndroid team, who released its first LiveAndroid alpha build in May. Now in version 0.2, the new release is based on Android Cupcake (version 1.5) and adds some useful functionality, like a mouse-controlled curser, keyboard support, and Ethernet. Still missing are WiFi, Bluetooth, and audio.

"LiveAndroid gives you a taste of Google phone on your computer. We want LiveAndroid to be a REAL OS for your computer. Now it is only a toy," the developers wrote on their website.

LiveAndroid Home
Download

Anyone plan on giving this a try? Hit the jump and let us know.

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