SANDY BRIDGE WAS shaping up to be the killer CPU of the year, a huge step forward in the ‘uncore’, decent graphics and big gains in the core as well. Instead, we got broken graphics, non-working feature sets, and a showstopper bug. What a shattering disappointment.
Editor’s note: Additional Sandy Bridge coverage on it’s way. Overview, Benchmarks, Linux
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A FEW DAYS ago, GloFo’s Ian McNaughton has left the high tech world to spend time with his family. While this is normally code for “I got fired before I had a new job lined up”, this is one occasion where we actually believe that he means it.
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TRUST ME WHEN I say that things catching on fire, like your laptop while you are in bed, are much funnier when they happen to someone else. I say trust me because my Sony Vaio laptop did catch fire while I was in bed about a week ago.
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AMD LAUNCHED IT’S first new GPU architecture in four years last week, Cayman aka the HD6900 series. Lets take a look at the cards themselves, and how they perform, with a lot of emphasis on the new PowerTune feature.
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Much to chagrin of graphics chip Etch-a-Sketcher’s everywhere, Elpida is rolling out its new DRAM chips on a 30nm process. Sampling of certain 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM modules has already begun, and large-scale availability of these minified silicon marvels is expected in Q1 2011. Benefits of this process enhancement are good for everybody as chips will be smaller, cheaper, larger, and faster and consume less power to boot.
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AMD’S ‘NORTHERN ISLANDS’ family of GPUs was perhaps the most frustrating product I have ever had to dig out information on. The reason for that is a long and complex development tale that has more twists and drama than your average mystery novel.
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GPUS DON’T CHANGE architectures very often, but when they do, it is big news. AMD’s new Radeon HD6900 GPUs are the largest single change from that company in three and a half years, so lets dive in to the architecture.
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It’s an early Christmas for the minions of JHH, as Nvidia lifted the NDA on their GTX 570 graphics cards early this morning. The card is essentially the paternal twin of the GTX 480 who decided to keep baking in the oven for a few extra hours compared to its sibling. Read on for a list of our favorite reviews from around the Internets.
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In the spirit of the season, Rambus Inc. is giving out another round of subpoenas to all of its friends in the tech industry. Most interesting among the defendants perhaps is nVidia, who only months ago signed a licensing agreement with Rambus to end an ITC blockade of its products, (virtually their whole portfolio), which infringed on Rambus’s patents. Round 2, or 3, or 400ish… Ding!
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WORD BACKING UP our exclusive story about Intel and Nvidia settling their patent feud is finally starting to trickle out. As we said over two weeks ago, this case is settled and both sides are just waiting for the ink to dry.
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NORMALLY I DO not bother with preliminary numbers, but sometimes you have to go with what you have. This time, the die size of the NVidia GF110/GTX580 is such a hot topic we will sacrifice a little precision to get you the info.
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For all the marvelous feats that modern “smart” phones can perform, I am constantly amazed by the constant stupidity of my own handset. Why, for instance, is there no option to disable the ringer during a calendar event for a class or meeting? Why does it tell me I have 300,000 updates to install and not give me a single button to “Install All”? Why does it not have a telescoping handle and constant vibrate mode for impromptu back-rubs? Luckily it would appear that Nokia and other developers for iToys and RoboPhones are working on fixing at least some of these important issues.
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A LOT OF people have been wondering what is going on with AMD’s Llano chip, tipped to arrive before Ontario, now delayed until Q2/2011. The story is a bit complex, but after weeks of digging, we can bring it to you with a new surprise ending.
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PHOTOFAST IS ABOUT to release a high capacity and hugely fast PCIe based SSD called the GM-PowerDrive-LSI. If you are thinking it sounds like four RAIDed high speed SSDs coupled to an industrial strength RAID controller, you are on the right track.
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In a recent internal S|A poll regarding colleague views of the Internet’s true purpose, the top 5 responses confirmed what we all knew, all along: 5. LOL Cats, 4. Pr0n, 3. Trolling, 2. Pr0n, 1. Pr0n. Well, after sharing our findings with the big G, Google’s crack squad of basement dwellers wrote an algorithm to try and work their way to the podium of our Internets, and the result, is like totally awesome, if you’re a teenage girl with daddy’s credit card.
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