A LOT OF readers didn't like the quality of the last Llano wafer shot, so we got some better ones. Not much more to say, just much prettier pictures than last time. Enjoy. S|A
GLOBAL FOUNDRIES KICKED off their Global Technology Conference, aka GTC, with a bit about the company itself. While there were no big bangs, there were a lot of little things in the slides worth talking about.
NOT SATISFIED WITH showing off a Llano wafer, AMD showed off the next generation part, Orochi, at the GloFo GTC summit today. While there was no silicon to pass around, pictures are much better than test.
AMD HAS ANNOUNCED that it finally has given up on the ATI brand name for its graphics cards and all its products will from now on just carry the AMD logo. Is this going to make a difference as to how people perceive Radeon graphics cards? Well, according to AMD, no.
LUCID'S HYDRA HAS yet to prove itself as a replacement for either CrossFire or SLI, but today Lucid announced a new solution which might see the company gaining some more ground. Lucid's new Unity graphics card design looks set to change the way that the Hydra chips have been used so far, as by moving the Hydra chips to the graphics card, the motherboard is no longer a limiting factor.
WELL THAT DIDN'T take long, the first 3DMark Vantage numbers for one of AMD's upcoming ATI Radeon HD 6800 cards has made its way onto the internets with a bit of help from a Chinese forum member. Normally we'd be very sceptical to post something like this, but the creator behind GPU-Z told us that the screen shot appears to be the real deal.
AMD APPEARS TO have slipped in the codenames for its entire Northern Island range of GPUs in its latest Catalyst 10.8 driver release. Confused? Well, it turns out that AMD had some internal naming issues as the 32nm Northern Island parts never happened thanks to TMSC pulling the plug on 32nm, but now the code names have been applied to AMD’s upcoming 40nm Evergreen refresh that is set to launch later this year.
AMD IS FINALLY starting to talk about Bulldozer, the upcoming new desktop and server core. It is the largest architectural jump in standard x86 cores in a long long time.
AMD'S 3DNOW! INSTRUCTION set was never as big of a hit as Intel's MMX or SSE and it now seems like AMD is getting ready to drop support, sorry, that's deprecate support for 3DNow! This means that most new AMD processors will no longer have support for 3DNow! but judging by AMD's blog post on the subject, it's hardly going to have any effect on the performance of its future processors.
IT LOOKS LIKE some people are finally starting to catch on to what we have been saying for almost four years now, Nvidia is building an x86 chip. The story is long, complex, and it is SemiAccurate's opinion that the CPU will never make it to market for technical and legal reasons.
Editors Note:From time to time, SemiAccurate will be republishing some older articles by its authors, some with additional commentary, updates and information. We are mainly reprinting some of the oft referenced articles that originally appeared on the Inquirer. Some will have added content, but all will be re-edited from the originals as per contractual obligations. You may see some slight differences between the two versions.
This article has had some of the original links removed, and was published onWednesday, March 4, 2009 at 7:58 AM.
Editors Note:From time to time, SemiAccurate will be republishing some older articles by its authors, some with additional commentary, updates and information. We are mainly reprinting some of the oft referenced articles that originally appeared on the Inquirer. Some will have added content, but all will be re-edited from the originals as per contractual obligations. You may see some slight differences between the two versions.
This article has had some of the original links removed, and was published onFriday, February 06, 2009 at 6:21 PM.
With the bowl of punch nearly gone, miscellaneous party favors littering the floor, and S|A writers stumbling about in various states of sobriety, it is time to settle down and discuss the results of Nvidia's recently concluded Q2, FY 2011 earnings conference call. Much of the information we already knew or surmised after the lowered revenue guidance bombshell they dropped on us in late July, but half the fun of these kinds of calls are the molehills-turned-mountain that companies create to keep investor's wallets open. Let's start hiking.
MOLES IN SANTA CLARA tell SemiAccurate that Nvidia's latest wonderchip, Tegra 3, has taped out. Expect the PR announcement storm to kick up soon, but don't look for product this year.
Part 3: Disclosures, burdens of proof, and compilers
THE LAST PART of SemiAccurate's look at the Intel/FTC settlement examines some of the worst accusations against Intel. Compiler tricks, technical openness, and a watchdog. Intel could be seriously hamstrung by some of these remedies, and worse yet, they could be the ones hamstringing themselves.
PART TWO OF SemiAccurate's look at the Intel/FTC settlement looks at sales, rebates, MCMs, bumps and cracking open an Apple. There is a lot of dirt in this one, and some business practices that will make your head hurt.
Part 1: PCI busses, fabbing, and hens with baseball bats
THE FTC HAS spoken, and the words came down on Intel with a force that is harder and more nuanced than almost anyone realizes. The settlement over a lot of alleged ills is brutal to Chipzilla, and both Nvidia and Via come out big big winners.
ZOTAC IS A COMPANY that makes its own rules when it comes to making products that no-one else have really thought about. It now looks like the company is about to launch a custom dual GPU GTS250 card which looks like no other dual GPU card we've ever seen before.
IS NVIDIA UP to it's old renaming games, or is it about to launch the second hottest GPU in the world? In any case, the Nvidia GT 425M GPU is turning up all over the place.
THE CRACKS ARE starting to show at Nvidia's Tegra unit, with some more huge contracts hanging on by a thread, and key people being shown the door. Couple that with a roadmap shakeup, and you have the right formula for a mess.
NVIDIA HAS A curious take on the causes of their latest financial meltdown, one that doesn't seem to mirror what is happening in the rest of the industry. The almost 20% drop in expected revenue announced at the last minute seems to be a largely self-inflicted wound.
A LOT OF readers didn't like the quality of the last Llano wafer shot, so we got some better ones. Not much more to say, just much prettier pictures than last time. Enjoy. S|A
NOT SATISFIED WITH showing off a Llano wafer, AMD showed off the next generation part, Orochi, at the GloFo GTC summit today. While there was no silicon to pass around, pictures are much better than test.
AMD HAS ANNOUNCED that it finally has given up on the ATI brand name for its graphics cards and all its products will from now on just carry the AMD logo. Is this going to make a difference as to how people perceive Radeon graphics cards? Well, according to AMD, no.
LUCID'S HYDRA HAS yet to prove itself as a replacement for either CrossFire or SLI, but today Lucid announced a new solution which might see the company gaining some more ground. Lucid's new Unity graphics card design looks set to change the way that the Hydra chips have been used so far, as by moving the Hydra chips to the graphics card, the motherboard is no longer a limiting factor.
WELL THAT DIDN'T take long, the first 3DMark Vantage numbers for one of AMD's upcoming ATI Radeon HD 6800 cards has made its way onto the internets with a bit of help from a Chinese forum member. Normally we'd be very sceptical to post something like this, but the creator behind GPU-Z told us that the screen shot appears to be the real deal.
AMD'S 3DNOW! INSTRUCTION set was never as big of a hit as Intel's MMX or SSE and it now seems like AMD is getting ready to drop support, sorry, that's deprecate support for 3DNow! This means that most new AMD processors will no longer have support for 3DNow! but judging by AMD's blog post on the subject, it's hardly going to have any effect on the performance of its future processors.
IT LOOKS LIKE some people are finally starting to catch on to what we have been saying for almost four years now, Nvidia is building an x86 chip. The story is long, complex, and it is SemiAccurate's opinion that the CPU will never make it to market for technical and legal reasons.
THE LAST PART of SemiAccurate's look at the Intel/FTC settlement examines some of the worst accusations against Intel. Compiler tricks, technical openness, and a watchdog. Intel could be seriously hamstrung by some of these remedies, and worse yet, they could be the ones hamstringing themselves.
ZOTAC IS A COMPANY that makes its own rules when it comes to making products that no-one else have really thought about. It now looks like the company is about to launch a custom dual GPU GTS250 card which looks like no other dual GPU card we've ever seen before.