Processor Technology Reviews, Analysis And News
Processors come in many types for different applications. However, when it comes to computing, whether mobile, on the desktop or in the Internet of Things, these chips are widely known as the "brains" of the operation. Here you'll find Hot Hardware reviews and news on products from the biggest names in PC and mobile processors from Intel and AMD, to Qualcomm, ARM and more.
We generally don’t use integrated graphics. You might not use integrated graphics. But there are more motherboards with integrated graphics sold than discrete cards, according to data published last year by Jon Peddie Research. That means you probably have friends and family buying systems with built-in graphics engines. Guess what happens...
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A few days ago, AMD officially unveiled their RV670 GPU, the chip at the heart of the ATI Radeon HD 3800 series of graphics cards. Just in case you missed it on the day of the launch, our coverage of the new Radeon HD 3870 and HD 3850 cards is available right here. While we did thoroughly explain the RV670’s architecture...
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It has been quite a while since AMD launched a truly new CPU core architecture. It was way back in September of 2003 that the first "K8" based desktop processors arrived in the form of the single-core Athlon 64 and Athlon 64-FX. And while the company has launched a slew of new desktop, server, and mobile processors since then, there haven’t...
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AMD hosted a small gathering in the Penthouse at the SoHo Grand Hotel in New York City yesterday (yes, the same place that Lindsey Lohan had her meltdown a few weeks ago), to showcase some of their existing products and technologies, to show off a few products built by their partners, and to demo some products due to be released in the coming...
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Although they're hard at work on Barcelona and plan to release a new high-end, native quad-core CPU in the coming months, AMD has turned a good part of their attention to a different segment of the market, the low power segment. Back in August of 2006, AMD released several low power CPUs that aimed to balance performance and power consumption....
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AMD has been fairly quiet as of late. A few months ago, we took a look at their initial Quad-FX platform and FX-70 series offerings. However, on the mainstream socket AM2 front, AMD hasn't made any real noise since the release of the Athlon 64 FX-62 way back in May of 2006. That's not to say AMD hasn't released any products...
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At the end of 2006, AMD announced the availability of processors built using the company's 65nm manufacturing process, which is first being implemented with the Athlon 64 X2 product line. The move to 65nm brings a number of advantages for both AMD and consumers. From AMD's standpoint, the more advanced manufacturing process...
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By now you're all familiar with Intel's Core micro-architecture, as well as the dual and quad-core Core 2 Duo, Extreme, and Quad processors based on it. With the launch of their Core 2 processors, Intel no longer played second fiddle to AMD in terms of overall performance or power efficiency. And for the last few months since their...
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It's easy to sit back and say "he was a good boy -- he took it on the chin like a man", or so to speak, as the good folks at Intel would like to say about their rivals at Advanced Micro Devices. Conversely, you might quickly discover the error of your ways, if you've counted AMD out. As we're sure...
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Energy efficiency and power consumption are major concerns for modern computing architectures, whether you're an Enthusiast, an IT Manager in a Data Center, or simply an ecologically minded individual. Let's face it, the modern high end computer is like a small space heater for all intents and purposes, and where there's...
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Rumors have been circulating for weeks, but yesterday the two companies involved made it official. AMD and ATI announced that the two companies planned to merge in a deal worth approximately $5.4 billion dollars. The quote below from the initial press release reveals some of the combined entity's vision of...
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Market share is the name of the game in the Computing industry and AMD has been slowly chipping away at Intel's market share over the past few years, with the release of faster Desktop processor cores with significantly better performance per watt, clock-cycle and dollar. AMD's performance advantage also...
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Asus has been more cautious compared to most motherboard makers when it comes to using Intel's mobile processors in a desktop environment. In late 2004, when the first Pentium-M desktop motherboards started hitting the market, Asus took a back seat and did not put out a product for this rapidly expanding market, whereas smaller motherboard...
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Intel's launch of their next generation Pentium Extreme Edition 955 dual-core processor last month, marked a solid improvement in overall performance for what is to be the last core iteration utilizing the Pentium 4 Netburst architecture. While this Intel dual-core kicker, essentially beefing up a pair or Prescott dies in a single...
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About a month after Intel officially unveiled their flagship Pentium Extreme Edition 840 processor, the crown jewel of their initial dual-core Pentium D processor line-up, AMD revealed their inaugural assortment of dual-core Athlon 64 X2 processors, which included the current flagship Athlon 64 X2 4800+. After assessing the Athlon 64 X2 4800+...
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For years, AMD has been a growing thorn in Intel's side. Early on, AMD had a much smaller market share than the elder silicon giant, but as the years progressed, AMD's foothold grew. By continually introducing new products that compete directly with Intel's product line, AMD has grown to be a formidable foe for the incumbent chip...
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AMD's Athlon 64 X2 series Dual Core launch back in May, along with Intel's Pentium 840 launch in April, underscored an industry-wide move toward a completely new Desktop Processor architecture, one that affects virtually all facets of Personal Computing from code-base, applications and software, to the platforms and technology that support...
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The personal computer industry is about to undergo a major metamorphosis, due in large part to the recent efforts of Intel and AMD. For the last few decades, mainstream desktop processor manufacturers have focused on increasing the performance of their CPUs by raising their clock speeds, augmenting the base architectures with specialized instruction...
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Although desktop dual-core processors from AMD are on the horizon, engineers there are still hard at work refining their single-core processor designs. The latest revision to the Athlon 64 core, internally code named "Venice", recently made it way onto the mass market, carrying a "Rev. E" moniker. With the...
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In July of 2004, AMD released their latest economy class processors in the form of the Sempron line. The initial release was predominantly Socket A-centric, with only one Socket 754 solution being offered. Since that day, the Socket A Sempron family has grown to incorporate 7 flavors, yet the socket 754 Sempron line only recently...
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When Intel released the first batch of Pentium 4 processors based on their Prescott core, which were built using a .09 micron manufacturing process, analysts found that the CPUs generated more heat and consumed more power than similarly clocked Pentium 4 processors based on the .13 micron Northwood core. These...
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Almost five months have passed since AMD and Intel released new flagship processors. Back in June, AMD launched its Athlon 64 FX-53 and Athlon 64 3800+ processors, and Intel officially took the wraps off of its LGA775 platform and the 3.6GHz Pentium 4 560, along with a few lower-speed processors and a pair of supporting chipsets. ...
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