Items tagged with Thuban
Intel announced this morning that it's been forced to stop shipping existing Sandy Bridge motherboards. The company recently discovered a design issue in its P67 (Cougar Point) chipset that, over time, could cause SATA performance to degrade and possibly fail altogether. The problem only affects older 3G SATA ports—Intel's 6G implementation is unaffected—but it's going to take several weeks for the company to implement and ramp the new motherboard revision. During its press conference, Intel explained that the erratum only appeared after its extensive validation process had concluded. Once Intel signs off of a chipset, it ships motherboards to OEMs who begin their own verification...
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At Hot Chips 22 today, AMD will be discussing new details of its Bobcat and Bulldozer processors—but don't be surprised if some of the new information sounds familiar. With the exception of a few tidbits on Bobcat's architecture and a new Bulldozer block diagram, much of what the company discussed with us recently was revealed last November at the company's Analyst Day. For those of you who might not keep up with the company's roadmap, here's the current situation. Llano, the 32nm Phenom II-derived APU (read: CPU+GPU) that AMD was hoping to launch at the end of Q4 this year won't tip up until Q1. Normally this means "March 31st," but AMD implied that it might launch...
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When AMD released its second quarter financial results last month it didn't say much about server volumes or market share, save to note that its performance "met expectations." The major news of the call turned out to be the company's decision to pull Bobcat's launch into 2010 and push Llano into 2011, which defrayed most conversation on market share. If AMD's server sales were indeed within the company's expectations, it can only mean the company was expecting to be pummeled. According to IDC's figures, Intel finished Q2 with 93.5 percent of the server market, up 3.3 percent, while AMD's share decreased to 6.5 percent, down by the same amount. That's rather depressing news considering AMD's...
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IDC's latest report on CPU revenue and market share for Q1 2010 confirms results we saw when Intel reported its record first quarter earnings. According to the research firm, the CPU market fell just 5.6 percent from Q4 2009 to Q1 2010. Historically, CPU sales fall 8-10 percent over the same period; IDC's figures lend credence to the idea that the IT recession is beginning to break. "PC processor shipments typically decline around 7 to 8 percent going from fourth quarter to first quarter," said Shane Rau director of Semiconductors: Personal Computing research at IDC. "A decline of 5.6% is modest and wouldn't mean much by itself. However, after the huge rise in shipments we saw in the fourth quarter,...
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If current rumors are to be believed, AMD's hexa-core Thuban processors are headed for desktops in the near future. First we'll see the new 890GX chipsets launching in March, with three Thuban models following on April 26. The new desktop processors will reportedly come in three flavors: Phenom II X6 1035T, 1055T, and the 1075T. We've got no idea what the numbers are supposed to represent in this case; drop a comment below if you've got a theory. Thuban, like Phenom II, will be backwards-compatible and can drop into AM3/AM2+/AM2 boards if your motherboard manufacturer provides an appropriate BIOS update. This last has proven a bit sketchy in my own personal experience. Some motherboard manufacturers...
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The last few months have been a whirlwind of activity for AMD. Since the beginning of the fourth quarter, the manufacturer has launched new ATI HD 5000 series parts in the high-end, enthusiast, and mainstream market segments, settled its antitrust lawsuit with Intel, renegotiated its x86 licensing agreement and charted a new course that will establish GlobalFoundries as a completely independent entity. Last week, the company announced its Q4 financial results and gave additional details on what it expects for 2010. This is the last time AMD will consolidate GlobalFoundries results into its own numbers; the company's renegotiated licensing agreement with Intel has allowed it to significantly accelerate...
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There's been an invisible hexa-core processor lurking on AMD's desktop roadmap ever since the company launched Shanghai on 45nm, but the company has refused to confirm or deny that such a chip was in the works—until now. As of today, AMD's hexa-core desktop processor—codenamed Thuban—is officially on the board. Exact launch dates aren't yet available, but we've got a few details on the core architecture. For those of you who care about this sort of thing, Thuban is a star in the constellation Draco and was once a pole star roundabout 3000 BC.(Six inch clear platform heels are much older than anyone realizes -Ed). Thuban, like Istanbul, will be a monolithic core and will utilize the same 45nm...
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