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Platform Trends: DDR-3 Heads for the Mainstream Long ago, Intel decided that desktop PCs should use RDRAM, and riots in the marketplace forced a reversal. Now the processor giant is spurring the move from today's DDR-2 to higher-bandwidth, more energy-efficient DDR-3 memory for desktops -- and, with the forthcoming Centrino 2 spec, notebooks as well. Vince Freeman looks at the pros, cons, price points, and performance issues surrounding the transition. Friday , May 09, 2008 04:00:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: AMD Hits a Triple with the Phenom X3 Market-wise, the gap between dual- and quad-core PC processors may not be big enough to drive a truck through. Or a subcompact. Or a shopping cart. But AMD is betting it's got room for a new family of triple-core CPUs. Will the Phenom X3's sales pitch of better multitasking for the price of a dual-core attract buyers? And what happens if tri-core demand exceeds AMD's supply of didn't-quite-pass-inspection quad-cores? Monday , April 28, 2008 12:15:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: The Wild World of Graphics Cards At the rate they're releasing products, Nvidia and AMD/ATI may soon run out of model numbers. Desktop PC graphics cards have never had shorter life spans or quicker price cuts, as last year's performance champions are suddenly mid-market or even destined to be entry-level cards. Will GDDR-5 keep the mad momentum going? Is Asus serious about showing off not a dual- but a triple-GPU one-card solution? Friday , April 11, 2008 04:00:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: X4 Marks the Spot Okay, AMD Phenom, take two, quiet on the set! (Really quiet, in the case of the 65-watt quad-core for home-theater PCs.) Yes, four months after its bumpy introduction, AMD's top processor is getting a do-over -- raising clock speeds; squashing the TLB bug that cast a shadow over the first Phenoms; and adopting easy-to-understand X4 labels for quad- and X3 for tri-core CPUs. Radically undercutting Intel's Core 2 prices shouldn't hurt, either. Monday , March 31, 2008 02:15:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: Intel Deploys Its Troops What's the only thing that can hurt sales of Intel's dominant Core 2 Duo and Quad processors? It's not AMD's Phenom -- it's buyers deciding to wait for the products the chipmaker has in the pipeline. CPU guru Vince Freeman explains why the release of Intel's 45-nanometer-process quad-core "Yorkfield," higher availability of the dual-core "Wolfdale," and a new desktop chipset and quad-core laptop processor should give Intel a Q2 for the record books. Monday , March 17, 2008 11:50:00 AM |
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Platform Trends: Shifts in the Multicore Landscape The state of the art's not just top of the line: After unveiling its 45-nanometer-process engineering with quad-core Xeon and Core 2 Extreme CPUs, Intel has finally added affordable dual-core versions to its Core 2 Duo line. But while these "Wolfdale" processors win raves, AMD is making moves elsewhere -- giving China first dibs on a dual-core Sempron and preparing to add tri-core models to its flagship Phenom series. Friday , February 29, 2008 04:10:00 PM |
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PCs for Five C's Grand Openings is back! Well, half back, anyway, as HardwareCentral's once-quarterly quest for the best notebook and desktop PCs priced under $1,000 returns -- with a rock-bottom new budget of $500. We're not talking about humble family PCs, either: Join our online hunt for dual-core CPUs, hefty hard disks, and a sufficient-for-Vista 2GB of RAM, hitting system vendors' own Web sites, retail chains, and discount warehouses. Tuesday , February 26, 2008 03:10:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: Nvidia's Chess Moves Competing with Intel in desktop chipsets and with AMD in both chipsets and graphics processors, Nvidia Corp. is no stranger to strategic planning. So why has the company neglected its chipset business, seemed caught by surprise when AMD tried Nvidia's own dual-GPU-graphics-card gambit, and gambled its acquisition of gaming physics specialist Aegia on third-party software support? Sunday , February 17, 2008 02:40:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: AMD Sees Double With the Radeon HD 3870 X2 Some people are always spoiling for a fight. When AMD introduced the ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphics processor, fanboys were disappointed that the GPU aimed for the affordable mid-market instead of challenging Nvidia's GeForce 8800 Ultra for the unlimited-price gaming-performance crown. What they didn't know is that the gang at AMD were busy fitting two HD 3870s onto one card ... Saturday , February 02, 2008 04:30:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: The Celeron Comes Back Two cores in every cubicle? The Celeron has always been the entry-level, economy model -- less politely, the runt of the litter -- among Intel's desktop processors. That's still true, but the newest model stands a little taller: According to CPU guru Vince Freeman, the Celeron E1200's specifications may not be stellar, but it brings dual-core multitasking even to IT managers' lowest-budget office-worker buys. Saturday , January 19, 2008 11:45:00 AM |
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Let Loose in the Toy Department: Report From CES 2008 Tuesday , January 15, 2008 12:30:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: Intel Prepares a 45-Caliber Welcoming Committee Friday , January 04, 2008 05:00:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: Graphics Population Elevation Saturday , December 22, 2007 12:30:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: 2.8 Days Later Friday , December 07, 2007 01:30:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: Phenom Disappoints on Game Day Monday , November 26, 2007 04:00:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: Nvidia Offers Enthusiasts an ESA Way Monday , November 12, 2007 12:15:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: AMD Bets on DTX Friday , October 26, 2007 12:30:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: The AMD Family Adds Triplets Friday , October 12, 2007 11:00:00 AM |
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Platform Trends: Intel Primes the X38 for Takeoff Monday , October 01, 2007 04:15:00 PM |
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Platform Trends: Quad-Core AMDs At Last Monday , September 17, 2007 05:30:00 PM |