Hardware

AMD Lays Out Server Strategy and Processor Roadmap

Paul Lilly — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:25:16 +0000

AMD is intent on recapturing the enterprise market.

Roadmaps have a way of leaking onto the web, so rather than fight the inevitable, AMD this week decided to publicly disclose its server strategy and related processor roadmap as it attempts to gain back market share in enterprise and data center server markets. The chip designer also disclosed details of its 2014 server portfolio, including "Warsaw," "Berlin," and "Seattle" parts due out next year.

"Our strategy is to differentiate ourselves by using our unique IP to build server processors that are particularly well matched to a target workload and thereby drive down the total cost of owning servers. This strategy unfolds across both the enterprise and data centers and includes leveraging our graphics processing capabilities and embracing both x86 and ARM instruction sets," said Andrew Feldman, general manager of the Server Business Unit, AMD. "AMD led the world in the transition to multicore processors and 64-bit computing, and we intend to do it again with our next-generation AMD Opteron families."

AMD's Seattle architecture will rank as the industry's only 64-bit ARM-based server System-on-Chip (SoC) "from a proven server processor supplier," the Sunnyvale chip designer said. It's an 8- and then 16-core CPU based on the ARM Cortex-A57 architecture and is expected to run faster than 2GHz. AMD plans to sample Seattle in the first quarter of 2014 with production to follow in the second half of the year.

Berlin is an x86 part that will be available both as a CPU and APU. It has four next-generation Steamroller cores and will offer nearly 8X the gigaflops per watt of AMD's current Opteron 6386SE processors. The chip will be available in the first half of 2014.

Finally, AMD talked a little about Warsaw, an enterprise server CPU designed to reduce the total cost of ownership for two-and four-socket servers. Like Berlin, Warsaw is expected to be available in the first half of 2014.

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EVGA Announces Supernova 1300 G2 Power Supply with 10 Year Warranty

Paul Lilly — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:05:54 +0000

EVGA goes for the gold.

Could you take full advantage of a 1,300 watt power supply (PSU)? Talk about making others totally envious! Assuming you need a herculean PSU, EVGA aims to deliver with its new Supernova 1300 G2, a monster unit that's 80 Plus Gold certified to deliver up to 90 efficiency under "typical loads" and backed by a generous 10 year warranty to boot. This could be the last PSU you buy for a long, long time.

Most of the available power is piped through a single +12V rail capable of carrying up to 108.3 amps. This is in contrast to some power supply makers who choose to break up the +12V rail into multiple lines.

It's a fully modular unit with a vertical double layer main transformer (increases power output), "highest quality" Japanese solid state capacitors, and a quiet 14cm double ball bearing fan.

No word yet on price or availability.

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It's Official: China Owns the Supercomputing Crown

Paul Lilly — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:24:03 +0000

We saw this coming.

Earlier this month we said that China was poised to sit atop the supercomputing summit with its Tianhe-2, a system built by the Chinese National University of Defense Technology (NUDT). Armed with over 3 million physical processing cores and 1 petabyte of memory, there was no way this thing wouldn't shoot right to the top, and so it did, taking pole position on the TOP500 chart.

Tianhe-2 became the world's fastest supercomputer with a performance metric of 33.86 petaflop per second on the Linkpack benchmark, according to the 41st edition of the twice-yearly TOP500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers. What's more, Tianhe-2's ascent to the top came far earlier than expected.

"The surprise appearance of Tianhe-2, two years ahead of the expected deployment, marks China’s first return to the No. 1 position since November 2010, when Tianhe-1A was the top system," TOP500 said. "Tianhe-2 has 16,000 nodes, each with two Intel Xeon Ivy Bridge processors and three Xeon Phi processors for a combined total of 3,120,000 computing cores."

It's an incredible machine equipped with 32,000 Xeon processors and 48,000 Xeon Phi accelerator processors. The machine also has 12.4 petabytes of storage and consumes 17.8MW of power. It's cooled by a closed air cooling system.

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Were Xbox One E3 Demos Powered by Windows 7 and Nvidia Graphics?

Paul Lilly — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:36:08 +0000

Things that make you go hmmm.

Microsoft made a splash at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) last week by showing off a number of fantastic looking games for its upcoming Xbox One console. It was hard not to get excited by some of the titles, including Dead Rising 3 and Forza Motorsport 5, but as it turns out, the game demos we saw might have actually been running on Hewlett-Packard PCs running Windows 7.

Before we go any further, let's be clear that it's not all that unusual for game developers to use PC hardware to show off future titles, so that in and of itself isn't reason to rake Microsoft over the coals. However, it's at least a little bit interesting that these tech demos were being run on Windows 7 rather than Windows 8, which the Xbox One's OS is partly based on.

Secondly, it was discovered that the HP PCs were equipped with Nvidia GeForce GTX 700 Series graphics cards. Given the risk of exposure, it would have made more sense to use machines running AMD graphics cards since the GPU in the Xbox One is an AMD part that's comparable to a mid-range Radeon HD 7790.

All of this came to light when Julian Rignail from U.S. Gamers posted to Twitter a message saying, "I just played an Xbox One game using an Xbox One controller that crashed... to a Windows 7, Hewlett Packard-branded desktop. Magic!" The Internet demanded pics, and lo and behold, there are a couple shots of Windows 7 PCs tucked inside Xbox One cabinets.

Again, using PCs to show off console games isn't unusual, but the choice of OS and GPU certainly raise an inquisitive eyebrow. And according to Cinema Blend, which first broke the story, developers have confirmed that PlayStation 4 game demos shown off at E3 were running on PS4 Dev kits, not PC hardware.

File this under "T" for "Things that make you go hmmm."

Update 12:30 PM

Or maybe not. A developer for Twisted Pixel's LocoCycle claims that his game was the only one of the bunch running on a PC, and that the choice of hardware was "solely [Twisted Pixel's] decision," not Microsoft's. That would certainly explain a few things, and hopefully blunt those pitchforks and douse the torches.

Kudos to "dracx619" for the update in our comments section.

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Patriot Memory and Meteor Tag Team Hawken Themed Rage XT USB 3.0 Thumb Drive

Paul Lilly — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:14:49 +0000

Free in-game bonus with purchase.

Patriot Memory on Monday announced that it's teamed up with Meteor Entertainment to launch a "one-of-a-kind" SuperSonice Rage XT promotional bundle with Meteor's online mech action game, Hawken. The bundle pairs Patriot's 64GB USB 3.0 Supersonic Rage XT NAND flash memory drive with a game changing 7-day Hawken Double XP Boost, allowing gamers to level up faster in the multiplayer mech title.

Hawken is a free-to-play first person shooter built around Unreal Engine 3. It uses a freemium model, though up until June 25, gamers can test drive the Scout and Rocketeer mechs at no cost.

As for the flash drive, the Supersonic Rage XT sports an "extra tough" rubberized housing. It's rated to read data at up to 180MB/s and write at up to 50MB/s when plugged into a USB 3.0 port. It's available in bundled form exclusively at Newegg for $60.

In semi-related news, Patriot recently launched new Intel Extreme Masters Limited Edition DDR3 memory. Built for gamers and intended for 2nd and 3rd Generation Intel core processors, the Limited Edition RAM is certified for Intel XMP 1.3 delivering frequencies of 1600MHz, 1866MHz, and 2133MHz. It's available in dual- and quad-channel kits in 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities.

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E3 2013: Unu Interview

Paul Lilly — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:44:06 +0000

Not your ordinary tablet.

Devices makers are aggressively pushing Android as a viable platform for your living room entertainment needs, hence consoles like Ouya, Mojo, and more. The Unu tablet is a similar attempt at getting gamers to fire up Android titles in the living room, but in a different way. It's a 7-inch slate that plugs into your TV, which in and of itself isn't a fancy trick since many tablets already have HDMI output, but the difference here is it turns your television into a smart console of sorts.

We had a chance to see the Unu tablet at E3. It comes with an air mouse (remote control) so that you can dock the tablet and sit on the couch out of arm's reach. You then navigate the tiled interface, selecting from various categories like YouTube, Smart TV, Netflix, Hulu Plus, Games, and more.

It seemed to run smooth and fast -- almost too fast, on occasion -- during our short look at the prototype device. If you want to play games, you can use the air remote, or a dedicated controller that looks similar to the Xbox's controller.

There will be two SKUs of the quad-core 7-inch Unu tablet, including a Media Edition for $199 and a Gaming Edition for $249.

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Using Siri to Sell Windows Tablets is a Potentially Winning Strategy

Paul Lilly — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 17:52:52 +0000

Microsoft continues to lob advertising grenades at Apple's iPad.

I have to admit, I'm finally impressed with Microsoft's ability to market. That's not something I can recall saying before, certainly not when Microsoft tried to counter the humorous (but misleading) Mac vs PC commercials with a series of Jerry Seinfeld ad spots. While Apple was busy clowning Windows Vista, Microsoft figured it was a good idea to show Seinfeld shopping for shoes. Seriously. Thankfully, Microsoft isn't making the same mistake in mobile, and its latest ads are actually quite funny.

In case you missed it, Microsoft several weeks ago took aim at the iPad by placing it side-by-side with an Asus tablet running Windows 8. In the ad, Siri repeatedly apologizes for being unable to perform the same tasks as the Windows 8 slate, and finally pleads, "Shall we just play chopsticks?" Here's a look at the ad, which has over 5 million views to date:

Tablets running Windows 8 have a long way to go before they catch the iPad in market share, but with a comical ad campaign that doesn't feature churros or any of Microsoft's other past quirks, and instead turns Siri against the iPad, the Redmond outfit may have a shot at winning over consumers, especially as prices come down.

There's the key. Prices are coming down, as Microsoft points out in a new ad. This latest one features a Dell tablet, and like before, Siri is both apologetic and in awe of the competition, until she see the price compared to an iPad. "Oh, that's not cool," she proclaims after learning Dell's tablet is $200 less. Have a look:

What do you think about Microsoft's latest ad campaign? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

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E3 2013: Alienware 18-inch, 17-inch, and 14-inch Gaming Laptops

Paul Lilly — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 15:36:03 +0000

Alienware invades E3 in style.

There's no need to fear an alien invasion, not when they come from the planet Dell. Alienware comes in peace and is interested in one thing and one thing only: high-performance gaming. Maximum PC Online Managing Editor Jimmy Thang probed Alienware's booth at E3 to take a look at three new gaming laptops, including a 14-inch model, 17-inch model, and a giant 18-inch SKU.

Alienware claims its 14-inch model is the "most powerful 14-inch notebook in the universe." It's also uniquely designed and looks different from previous generation Alienware systems. There's an anodized aluminum cover, magnesium alloy body, and an overall industrial design. There's also a lot of metal on the inside to help keep components cool.

Lighting has been changed, too. There are now 10 customizable lighting zones, though if you're not into that sort of thing, you can turn them off. Alternately, game developers can tap into the lighting zones and, say, make them blink red if you get shot by an enemy. Cool stuff.

The 17-inch model kicks things up a notch and comes standard with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M GPU (you can upgrade to a 770M or 780M), and of course Haswell is inside.

Choosing the 17-inch SKU over the 14-inch model obviously sacrificies portability, though it also increases the level of immersion since you're working with a larger display. If you really want to go big, however, check out Alienware's 18-inch beast.

Described as the "big kahuna," Alienware says this is the most powerful gaming notebook in the world, period. Unlike past versions of Alienware's 18-inch model, you don't start off with a single graphics card anymore -- it now comes with two GPUs by default. It's essentially a portable gaming desktop.

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Intel's Desktop Processor Roadmap Through First Half of 2014 Leaked Online

Paul Lilly — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:41:43 +0000

Ivy Bridge-E is right around the corner.

Processor roadmaps must be slippery little suckers because it never seems like AMD or Intel are very good about holding onto them. Instead, we're frequently treated to early, often unauthorized glimpses of what each semiconductor has in store, and this time it's a look at what Intel is planning. The latest leaked roadmap shows Intel's processor plans through the first half of 2014.

The slides first showed up at asder00.com, a site that appears to thrive on leaked information. According to CPU World, a site that's been reliable in the past, the slides are legit, at least according to one of its sources that confirmed their validity. Anyway, enough about that, let's talk about what's on tap from Intel.

Those of you holding out for Ivy Bridge-E need only wait until the third quarter of this year. That's when Intel will launch its Core i7 4820K, 4930K, and 4960X processors, all based on Ivy Bridge-E. In addition, Ivy Bridge-E support will be added to the X79 chipset, according to the slides.

An expanded Haswell lineup is also slated for Q3. There will be a Core i7 4771 part along with a bunch of Core i3 and Pentium chips. A Haswell refresh is then planned for the second quarter of 2014, though the slides don't go into much detail on that front.

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E3 2013: Nvidia Booth Tour

Paul Lilly — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:20:12 +0000

Nvidia gets on the Grid.

As you might expect, Nvidia had a major presence at E3. If you haven't done so already, be sure to check out some of Nvidia's E3 highlights and declaration on the state of PC gaming, which is filled with a bunch of tech demos, including The Witcher 3 and Warframe. In addition to showcasing what game developers are up to, Nvidia talked about Grid, Shield, and a PVR feature it's baking into GeForce Experience.

Grid is Nvidia's on-demand Gaming as a Service (Gaas) platform. Just as Netflix streams movies and Pandora streams music, Grid renders 3D games in cloud servers, allowing you to play high-end titles on handheld devices like Nvidia's own Shield device, but also tablets and smartphones. Have a look:

Equally impressive was the rack of servers Nvidia had on display. Each one was capable of streaming over 36 games. Over time, you'll start to see other companies launch their own streaming game services based on Nvidia's Grid technology.

We also had a chance to take another look at Shield, a handheld Android device running Jelly Bean. One of the tricks up Shield's sleeve is being able to stream games from your home PC. Why would you want to use Shield instead of a swank PC monitor or HDTV? It's for gaming on the go, such as lounging in the backyard, on the porch, or even during a bathroom break (hey, it beats reading shampoo bottles, right?). With Shield, you can continue your game from room to room, dependent upon the range of your router.

If you're not interested in playing games, you can use Shield as a small size tablet since it's an Android device. You'll notice too that the controller is changed from the one Nvidia was showing at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this year.

Lastly, Nvidia demonstrated for us a PVR-like function of its GeForce Experience technology called ShadowPlay. It runs in the background and uses the encoder that's built into every Kepler-based GPU, so the performance hit is relatively small -- in the range of 5 percent, Nvidia says.

Since the performance hit is so small, Nvidia says it's okay to just leave it running all the time, letting it record the last two minutes of your gameplay, or however long you configure it. If you pull off an epic move, you can hit a hotkey to save whatever it's been recording in a compressed file that's ready to upload to YouTube.

How does it compare to FRAPS? Have a look:

Since it use the encoder built into Kepler GPUs, you'll need a GeForce GTX 650 or better in order to use this feature. Nvidia plans to integrate ShadowPlay into GeForce Experience for free starting June 25th.

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Microsoft to Install Windows Stores Into 600 Best Buy Locations This Summer

Paul Lilly — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 21:37:36 +0000

Move over Apple and Samsung.

Best Buy is no longer playing favorites with Apple. The end of that monogamous relationship began when Samsung started installing "Experience Shops" inside the electronics chain, and now Best Buy is giving Microsoft the same opportunity to sell its wares by opening up Windows Stores at over 600 of its locations this summer. The store-within-a-store format will include 500 Best Buy locations across the U.S. and more than 100 Best Buy and Future Shop locations in Canada, Microsoft announced today.

The integrated Windows Stores will range in size from 1,500 square feet to 2,200 square feet, Consumers will be able to play with Microsoft's Windows products, including tablets, PCs, Windows Phones, Office, Xbox, and more.

"The Windows Store offers a large-scale, hands-on customer experience that will show customers how Windows and Microsoft devices and services can make it easier for them to work and play," said Tami Reller, chief marketing officer and chief financial officer of the Windows Division at Microsoft. "We’re pleased to partner with Best Buy in bringing the latest technologies to consumers at scale in a unique environment where they can explore how Microsoft products fit together across entertainment, travel, music and other scenarios."

In addition to adding locations within Best Buy shops, the collaboration will also lead to the hiring of 1,200 Best Buy Microsoft-trained sales associates.

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Canalys Predicts Half a Billion Traditional and Tablet PC Sales in 2013

Paul Lilly — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 21:59:26 +0000

Traditional PCs and tablets can coexist.

The demise of the PC as you know it is often talked about, or at least alluded to, but just because tablets are uber popular doesn't mean there isn't room for old and new style PCs in the market. According the latest forecast by Canalys, traditional and tablet PC sales combined in 2013 will total 493.1 million units, up from 459.6 million 2012. By 2017, that number will jump to 713.8 million.

Out of those half a billion PC sales, notebooks will account for the lion's share at 205.6 million, followed by tablets at 182.5 million, and finally desktops at 105 million. Though the three types of PCs will coexist, tablets are clearly the hot item right now.

"Worldwide demand for tablets has gone from strength to strength, while that for desktops and notebooks has waned. In the first quarter of 2013, the desktop market fell 10.3 percent and the notebook market declined 13.1 percent," Canalys says. "The size of the tablet market, however, more than doubled in Q1 2013, with a 106.1 percent increase in shipments to 41.9 million units. Shipments show no sign of slowing and Canalys forecasts that in 2013 tablet shipments will reach 182.5 million units, with global tablet shipments surpassing those of notebooks in the final quarter of the year."

Despite Microsoft's best marketing efforts, Canalys says the reception to Windows 8 has failed to reinvigorate demand for Windows-based PCs, prompting PC makers to come to market with cheaper Android devices. Meanwhile, Microsoft is hoping that next crop of convertibles will win users over, especially following the release of Windows 8.1, a free update that's due out later this summer.

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Intel Announces S3500 Series Solid State Drives for Data Centers

Paul Lilly — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 19:40:33 +0000

Available in 80GB to 800GB capacities.

Intel this week announced a new line of solid state drives for data centers and cloud computing servers. Dubbed DC S3500, the new series of SSDs are designed for read-intensive applications such as web hosting, cloud computing, and data center virtualization, the Santa Clara chip maker says. The S3500 line is also being billed as a cost-effective replacement for traditional hard drives.

"The Intel SSD DC S3500 Series breaks through barriers – like the need for high throughput/low latency storage with a low total cost of ownership – to deliver the storage solution that meets the needs of the cloud, and its demand for storage, which has exploded in recent years," said Rob Crooke, Intel corporate vice president and general manager for the Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group. "Intel's data center family of SSDs helps make cloud computing faster and more reliable, enabling more transactions and richer experiences."

Intel's new drives combine 20nm NAND flash memory technology with support for SATA 6Gbps, resulting in sequential read speeds of up to 500MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 450MB/s. The drives are available in both 2.5-inch and 1.8-inch form factors in 80GB, 120GB, 160GB, 240GB, 300GB, 400GB, 480GB, and 800GB capacities. Prices range from $115 to $979.

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Microsoft's Mattrick Advises Gamers with Shaky Internet to Stick with Xbox 360

Paul Lilly — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 18:23:27 +0000

No or slow Internet? Don't buy an Xbox One.

Former Microsoft director Adam Orth found himself in hot water after issuing a barrage of snarky statements on Twitter related to the Xbox One and the concept of always-on game consoles, and not long after, word spread that he resigned from his position. Such is the sensitive nature of maintaining a relationship with gamers who aren't down with the idea of a console that requires a persistent Internet connection. It also begs the question of what a gamer should do if he has slow Internet or no Internet at all. In that case, Microsoft says you should stick with the Xbox 360.

In an interview with GameTrailers at E3, Microsoft's Xbox president Don Mattrick said, rather bluntly, "fortunately we have a product for people who aren't able to get some form of connectivity, it's called Xbox 360."

Geoff Keighley, who was conducting the interview, quickly followed up by asking Mattrick straight up if he's advising gamers to stick with the Xbox 360 if they don't like the fact that the Xbox One dials home on a daily basis as part of a controversial DRM strategy.

"Well if you have zero access to the Internet, [the Xbox 360] is an offline device. I mean, seriously, when I read the blogs and thought about who's really the most impacted, there was a person who said, 'Hey, I'm on a nuclear sub,' and I don't even know what it means to be on a nuclear sub but I've gotta imagine it's not easy to get an Internet connection."

Mattrick added that he's empathetic, and that if he was on a nuclear sub, he'd be disappointed too. So, yeah.

Here's a look at the full interview:

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Club 3D Terminates Relationship with Nvidia, Cozies Up to AMD

Paul Lilly — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:14:18 +0000

Club 3D officially severs ties with Nvidia.

Perhaps things were getting a little awkward for Club 3D in trying to maintain a relationship with both AMD and Nvidia, two competing GPU makers. Whatever the reason, from this point forward Club 3D is solely in AMD's corner and will no longer be producing video cards with Nvidia's silicon. Club 3D provided an official statement on its decision, noting that it's been a long ride serving both companies, but that it now wants to put all its focus on developing AMD cards.

"We are showing our commitment to AMD because we believe that AMD is ideally positioned to deliver a complete solution to our customers, and after 16 years in the business offering solutions from a variety of processor partners, we truly believe that we can offer a better solution going forward with AMD," Club 3D CEO Judith Ma Tseng said in a statement.

AMD was obviously happy with Club 3D's decision, calling it a "powerful acknowledgement" of the chip designer's leadership in GPUs. Might some other factor be at play, however?

According to Fudzilla, there have been rumors that Nvidia has been seeking to reduce the number of add-in board (AIB) partners, focusing on just the more profitable ones. Whether or not that's the case here, only Nvidia and Club 3D know for sure.

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