AMD: GPUs to accelerate Servers in two years

The GPGPU revolution is well underway, and the next stop seems to be the lucrative server arena. From an information point of view, a vast majority of servers are the ideal applications for GPGPU acceleration, as they are often required to perform repetitive processing. There is no doubt GPGPUs can accelerate specific server processes several times over CPUs. However, so far, the only drawback has been the form factor of server systems. Servers are clearly designed for CPU usage, with no real space to fit in graphics cards. It is possible to replace the form to fit in PCI-e GPUs. This is not an option many server data centers are likely to opt for, however. Instead, the two year timeline given by AMD might simply allude to the availability of Fusion APUs. More next page.


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AMD: GPUs to accelerate Servers in two years

[Rumour] Intel's Sandy Bridge to integrate up to 2 GPUs

Intel's next generation Sandy Bridge, arriving in Q1 2011, is rumoured to have up to 2 GPUs on die. What is most impressive is that the entire package will be a single monolithic die. Thus, we are talking about a quad core CPU + 2 GPUs on a single die. It is not clear as to why Intel would use 2 GPUs on one die, however. Though the next generation Intel IGPs are rumoured to be far superior, they will still pale in comparison to mainstream discrete GPUs from ATI or Nvidia. More next page.


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[Rumour] Intel's Sandy Bridge to integrate up to 2 GPUs

AMD Reveals More Llano Details at ISSCC: 32nm, Power Gating, 4-cores

After cashing Intel’s check and appearing more competitive than expected against Clarkdale 2010 is like a fresh start for AMD. The news gets better.

Late last year AMD said that before the end of 2010 it would be sampling its first APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) - codenamed Llano. Today AMD is announcing that the first Llano samples, built on Global Foundries 32nm high-k + metal gate, SOI process will be sampling to partners in the first half of this year.

For those not in the know, Llano is AMD’s first hybrid CPU-GPU with on-die graphics. The graphics core is a derivative of AMD’s DirectX 11 Evergreen lineup (the same lineage as the Radeon HD 5970, 5870, 5850, 5670, 5570, 5450, etc...). AnandTech

AMD Phenom II X6 “Thuban” Processors to Get Dynamic Speed Boost Technology.

In an attempt to provide maximum possible performance for enthusiasts, Advanced Micro Devices plans to implement a dynamic performance boost technology into its six-core processors known as Phenom II X6 “Thuban”.

There is a clear trend towards increase of the number of cores inside central processing units (CPUs), just five years ago a dual-core chip was a dream, whereas now we are approaching six-core microprocessors. The software is, unfortunately, seriously behind the hardware and many applications still cannot take advantage of additional cores, but fully depend on clock-speeds. In order to provide maximum possible performance in such programs, developers of CPUs implement special dynamic performance boosting technologies that disable certain cores and overclock the rest.

At present only select Intel Corp.’s microprocessors feature Turbo Boost technology that can accelerate certain cores when they are needed while slowing down the unneeded cores. However, with the introduction of AMD Phenom II X6 “Thuban” processors similar capability will also be available on chips from Advanced Micro Devices, sources close to the company revealed to X-bit labs.

Radeon HD 5800 users get gray screen fix

SRC

AMD has released a Catalyst driver hotfix for a so-called "gray screen" problem affecting Radeon HD 5800 users. The hotfix is available from AMD's support knowledge base as two downloads: one for Windows 7 and Vista and another for Windows XP, all in either 32-bit or 64-bit variants. Both downloads appear to concern only Radeon HD 5800 graphics cards.

The knowledge base entry describes the hotfix as follows:

Alleviates some of the intermittent grey screen and vertical line corruptions that may randomly appear during normal usage when using an ATI™ Radeon HD 5800 series graphics card

A search for complaints about the problem reveals this thread on AMD's Game forums, where users have been detailing the issue (and providing screenshots) since late November 2009. In another thread, one forum member quotes AMD's support staff as saying the problem had to do with a Windows 7 update, and AMD was "looking at it" as of December 30. The company wasn't able to get a fix in the Catalyst 10.1 release that came out last week, though.

First Fermi cards to be GTX 480 and 470

First Fermi cards to be GTX 480 and 470

Written by Slobodan Simic

Tuesday, 02 February 2010 09:46

Straight from Nvidia tweet A short tweet on Nvidia's Twitter accounts has revealed what appears to be first two cards that will be based on the Fermi architecture, the GTX 480 and GTX 470. This will at least clear some confusion and the average consumer can still buy cards keeping in mind that bigger number means new and better card, at least it should until Nvidia starts with more rebranding. The Fermi will apparently be the 400 series, and for a while it has been known that two cards are going to launch as soon as Nvidia gets it ready. The specifications of these two models were apparently too long for a tweet so we'll have to wait a bit more to get these from Nvidia. Even the Nvidia partners have stop talking about dates but everyone hopes that these will be available right after CeBIT. You can find the "Fun Fact of the Week" tweet here.

Codemasters to gain additional investment

Codemasters to gain additional investment

Written by David Stellmack

Tuesday, 19 January 2010 03:26

Cash infusion does not indicate a problem Software developer and publisher Codemasters will be getting an additional infusion of cash from Balderton Capital and Goldman Sachs. Whispers indicate that the company is hurting in the money department due to recent releases not performing as well as the company would have liked. While Codemasters has had some success recently with the release of Dirt 2, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Raising has not received the reviews or sales that the company has expected. Still, the company has several upcoming releases which are expected to do well this year, including the first release of the Formula One franchise from the studio that will be multiplatform with releases for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. In addition, development of a sequel to the highly successful GRID is also said to be in development. The investment is said to be diluted heavily by a restructuring of the stock. Codemasters’ sale was up last year with the company having much success in markets outside North America. Sources indicate that the infusion of cash will help the company with its continued aggressive growth plan to help the company capture a larger market share in North America, which the company feels is necessary for the long-term growth of the company.

NVIDIA GF100 Architecture

NVIDIA GF100 Architecture

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PC Perspective
AnandTech
Hardwarecanucks

Thanks to adrianlee

Intel axed consumer Larrabee

IINTEL HAS FINALLY done what we had all expected it to do, and pulled the plug on the consumer version of Larrabee. In a statement today, Intel said that the chip will be a development platform and an HPC part, but there will be no retail version, at least not any time soon.

Read more on SemiAccurate, Anandtech

HD5970 review links

A day late due to works :D

thanks to adrianlee for the link compilation

Radeon HD 5970 Single card and Crossfire review
PC Perspective - AMD Radeon HD 5970 2GB Review - AMDomination
Powercolor Radeon HD 5970 2GB Graphics Card - Introduction - DriverHeaven.net
Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 2GB OC Edition Review
Legion Hardware
techPowerUp :: ASUS EAH5970 2 GB GDDR5 Review :: Page 1 / 35
ATI Radeon HD 5970 Dual-GPU Powerhouse Review - HotHardware
techPowerUp :: HIS Radeon HD 5970 CrossFire Review :: Page 1 / 28
ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB: The World's Fastest Graphics Card : Introduction - Review Tom's Hardware
HEXUS.net - Review :: AMD ATI Radeon HD 5970 2,048MB graphics card: usurper of the throne : Page - 1/13
AnandTech: The Radeon HD 5970: Completing AMD's Takeover of the High End GPU Market
ATI Radeon 5970 Performance Preview
ATI HD 5970 Review - Page 1 - Introducing the HD 5970
Introduction - AMD ATI Radeon HD 5970 Video Card Review | [H]ard|OCP
ATI Radeon HD 5970 Review: Dual-GPU Graphics - TechSpot
Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 2GB Video Card Introduction :: TweakTown
Radeon HD 5970: Review of the fastest DirectX 11 graphics card - Test, Review, Radeon HD 5970, Hemlock, DirectX 11, Benchmark, Graphics Card, GPU - PC Games Hardware
ATI Radeon HD 5970 Hemlock Video Card | ATI Radeon HD 5970,Hemlock,Video Card,ATI Radeon HD 5970 Hemlock Video Card Benchmark Performance Dual GPU Cypress-XT Video Card Review | Benchmark Reviews Performance Tests