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Platform Trends: Intel's Core i7: Quad-Core of Solace It's not true that every new Intel processor brings a different new motherboard socket to dash upgrade hopes: The Core i7 brings two. Even so, Vince Freeman says, the new CPU shows such a combination of brute force and flair it might be called the i007. Here's a look under the hood, with some thoughts about why the Core i7 needs more than one chipset and why AMD might be more competitive than you think. Friday , November 21, 2008 05:00:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: Taking the X58 Express to the Future Radical changes in Intel's Core i7 processor bring radical changes to the usually evolutionary, not revolutionary, desktop chipset sector. The X58 Express takes advantage of the i7's onboard memory controller to allow colossal bandwidth, with a new QuickPath Interface speeding communication between chipset and CPU. But when it comes to peripheral support, Intel's looking strictly forward, not back. Friday , November 07, 2008 05:00:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: Nvidia and AMD Take Graphics in Different Directions No niche is too small for the PC graphics giants to cram in a new product, but AMD's ATI Radeon HD 4000 series has lacked an entry in the $100 to $150 price range preferred by avid but unwealthy gamers -- until now. Meanwhile, Nvidia targets even more frugal desktop shoppers with faster-than-Intel integrated graphics ... although both vendors have already done that with under-$60 dedicated cards. Tuesday , October 28, 2008 11:10:00 AM |
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Platform Trends: AMD's Entry-Entry-Level Graphics Processor You've heard of sharing the wealth, but AMD is doing it with a vengeance: Even though its ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2, 4870, and 4670 graphics processing units now rule the high-end, mainstream, and entry-level segments, the company has added two more members to the HD 4000 family at a lower-than-low $55 and $39. Is there a market for deliberately limited-performance PC graphics? Vince Freeman says yes indeed. Tuesday , October 14, 2008 10:00:00 AM |
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Platform Trends: Nehalem Set to Fly with the X58 After four years of LGA775 processors and motherboards, the socket-shufflers at Intel have struck again. But this time tossing your old platform is worth the cost. The Core i7 "Nehalem" CPU's all-new architecture promises a performance revolution. And the X58 desktop chipset may be even more impressive, combining colossal bandwidth with a three-channel memory controller, the return of Hyper-Threading, and a graphics-card surprise. Sunday , September 28, 2008 06:30:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: AMD's Most Affordable R700s Its ATI Radeon HD 4850 and 4870 are the champs of the mid-priced PC graphics market, and the 4870 X2 wears the single-card crown for high-end systems. Now AMD unveils more bad news for Nvidia by bringing the same R700 graphics processor architecture to the under-$100 segment -- and a mix of price, performance, and power consumption that surpasses anything yet seen. Sunday , September 14, 2008 10:15:00 AM |
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Platform Trends: Budget GPUs Galore We're used to reading about AMD's and Nvidia's fastest, fire-breathing graphics cards, but the rivals are now hunting bargain hunters -- Nvidia putting its GeForce 9 Series technology on a $59 diet, AMD revving up a fast integrated-graphics chipset while preparing new ATI Radeon HD 4400 cards. How do these strategies stack up against each other -- or against simple price cuts on last year's cards? Sunday , August 31, 2008 06:00:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: Intel Gets Up and Atom Suddenly, no small, light, low-priced notebook -- a.k.a. netbook, a.k.a. Asus Eee 901, Acer Aspire One, MSI Wind, or Dell Comingsoon -- is complete without Intel's battery-sipping Atom N270 processor. Actually, that 1.6GHz, Hyper-Threading CPU is just one of seven Atoms, with thermal design power as low as 0.65 watt, and they're destined for more than just netbooks. Here's a look under the hood. Sunday , August 17, 2008 11:15:00 AM |
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Platform Trends: Nvidia Reseeds its Mainstream Line Though its flagship GeForce 200 Series holds the spotlight, Nvidia Corp. has taken the opportunity of a switch to 55-nanometer-process engineering to perk up its formerly-elite-now-everyday GeForce 9 lineup of graphics processing units. You'll see some graphics cards that look awfully familiar, others that will put a grin on the faces of gamers with only $100 to spend, and still others in between. Vince Freeman helps you keep score. Monday , August 04, 2008 11:35:00 AM |
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Platform Trends: The Year of Serious Storage One and one-half terabytes, people! Most of us remember when such storage capacity stretched the limits of a server RAID array, but next month Seagate will ship a 1.5TB desktop hard disk. Meanwhile, both old-fashioned and newfangled storage tech heats up the notebook market -- and PC enthusiasts and upgraders are getting their hands on the speedy solid-state drives once reserved for the most exotic, elite laptops. Saturday , July 19, 2008 04:30:00 PM |
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Montevina Mania: Intel Unveils Centrino 2 Notebook Platform Tuesday , July 15, 2008 02:05:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: AMD's Massive Retaliation: The Radeon HD 4000 Series Monday , July 07, 2008 11:25:00 AM |
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Platform Trends: The GeForce GTX 200 Series: Big, Bad, and Proud of It Friday , June 20, 2008 03:00:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: Intel Does the New Chipset Thing Monday , June 09, 2008 01:30:00 PM |
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Eee, Atom, Aspire, Wind: It's a Small (Notebook) World at Computex Tuesday , June 03, 2008 04:00:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: AMD/ATI: Slowdown? What Slowdown? Monday , May 26, 2008 10:30:00 AM |
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Platform Trends: DDR-3 Heads for the Mainstream Friday , May 09, 2008 04:00:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: AMD Hits a Triple with the Phenom X3 Monday , April 28, 2008 12:15:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: The Wild World of Graphics Cards Friday , April 11, 2008 04:00:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: X4 Marks the Spot Monday , March 31, 2008 02:15:00 PM |
