Todays & Tomorrows Technology

AMD are planning to announce a new flagship processor, the 3.4GHz Phenom II, to take on Intel’s Core 2 Quad range, according to a number of sites. The so-called AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition has been spotted on the ASRock site, which seemingly confirms that it will have the same cache and 125W TDP as the Phenom II X4 955.

News of the unannounced chip has prompted speculation about pricing for AMD’s new flagship. Currently the X4 955 – the highest-spec CPU in AMD’s Phenom II range today – is priced at around $245; Intel’s highest-spec Core 2 Quad CPU meanwhile, the Q9650, is around $320.

AMD might choose to price the new 3.4GHz processor up near the Q9650, at least at first, before dropping it down so as to remain competitive when Intel begin delivering Lynnfield processors later in 2009. Lynnfield chips will slot into Intel’s i5 and i7 mid- and high-range processor lines.

Intel’s upcoming 32nm Clarkdale processor could be seeing a release sooner than expected, according to unnamed sources at motherboard manufacturers. The company has reportedly brought forward mass-production of the Clarkdale CPU to Q4 2009, compared to the original Q1 2010 date on their timetable.
Clarkdale will have two cores each capable of two threads, and include integrated graphics and a memory controller. It’s expected to be positioned as the company’s latest mainstream desktop processor, and account for 10-percent of OEM shipments in Q4 2009, rising to 20-percent in Q1 2010.

That’s still behind 45nm-process chips, which will still account for an expected 78-percent of OEM desktop shipments in the new year. Intel themselves have declined to comment on the report.

Intel are about to announce a deal whereby they will supply Nokia with mobile processors, according to an anonymous Bloomberg tipster. The deal is expected to be revealed today in a conference call with Anand Chandrasekher, senior VP of Intel’s ultra-mobility group; Intel themselves have only confirmed that they have an “important announcement” to make.

What’s unclear at present is the nature of the chips Intel will be supplying Nokia. The company’s CEO has previously said that they’ve considered a move into the notebook or netbook segment, though failed to specify whether such a device would take the form of a traditional, 3G-connected laptop, or something more unusual such as a MID or UMPC.

It seems likely, then, that Nokia are looking to use Intel’s Moorestown platform, expected to arrive in 2010, or – further in the future – their Medfield platform for smartphones that’s penciled in for 2011.

LG and ARM have announced a partnership that will see the former’s HDTVs use the latter’s ARM11 MPCore multicore processor and ARM Mali GPUs. The system will allow for not only high-definition 1080p processing but video-on-demand, voting and polling, games, and e-commerce without the need for a separate set-top box.

ARM’s range of processor and GPU options will allow LG to target different levels of performance and capability to different HDTV price-points. That way, high-end sets could use multiple SMP cores and offer 4x and 16x full scene anti-aliasing (FSAA), 2D and 3D graphics processing and OpenGL ES 2.0 support.

The most obvious benefit to consumers will be straightforward connectivity with a home network, and the ability to view video and other media content on their sets without needing external boxes. LG have not confirmed when the first HDTVs using the ARM CPU/GPU components will be released.

Intel have announced that it will be rebranding its CPU range to supposedly simplify the lineup, focusing on the “Intel Core” prefix and transitioning the Centrino brand to cover the company’s WiFi and WiMAX products. Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 will eventually replace Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad, distinguishing different feature sets; somewhat confusingly, some processors will slot into multiple i-prefix categories, depending on their capabilities.

For instance, the upcoming Lynnfield desktop processor will be an Intel Core chip, but have various models that slot into the i5 or i7 segments. Broadly speaking, i3 is an entry-level chip, i5 is a mid-level chip and i7 is the flagship high-level processor. It’s not all change, though, as the Celeron and Pentium brands limp on to cover “affordable entry-level” and “basic computing” respectively.

Finally, one of the most popular chips over the last twelve months, the Atom range, will also survive, and vPro technology will be offered on certain i5 or i7 chips. There’ll also be a new star-system, shown under the Intel Core logo, which indicates whether its feature-packed or not.

Shuttle have announced a new barebones mini-PC, the SA76G2, designed for AMD socket AM3 processors and capable of taking up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM. The 30 x 20 18.5 cm enclosure is backward compatible with AM2 and AM2+, and comes complete with ATI Radeon 3000 onboard graphics.
That graphics chipset is capable of driving two separate displays, and a PCI Express 2.0 slot can take a separate graphics card and – if it’s by ATI – use SurroundView. Six USB 2.0 ports, audio in/out, PS2, VGA and DVI are standard, plus there are mainboard connectors for a further four USB 2.0, two COM, one parallel and S/PDIF digital audio out.

The Shuttle SA76G2 comes with a 250W PSU and heatpipe cooling, and has all the necessary cabling pre-routed inside. It’s available now, priced at €191 ($265).

Intel’s upcoming CPU plans continue to leak out, with motherboard manufacturers apparently tipping a new entry-level Celeron range in Q3 2009 together with a new Core i7 processor in Q4. The Intel Celeron E3000 series will replace the existing E1000 series, and initially consist of 45nm 2.4GHz and 2.5GHz chips. As for the performance chip, that will be the 3.2GHz Core i7 960.

The E3000 Celeron processors will each have 1MB of L2 cache, an 800MHz FSB and 65W TDP. The E3200 will run at 2.4GHz while the E3300 will run at 2.5GHz, and both will support VT-x virtualization. That means Windows 7’s XP Mode will run.

According to the unspecified sources, Intel expect the new E3000 range to account for 10-percent of their entry-level CPU shipments in Q4 2009, rising to 21-percent in Q1 2010. Meanwhile the D410 nettop chip is predicted to capture 6-percent in the first-quarter next year, lagging behind the faster D510 with 25-percent.

SiRF have announced their latest platform, SiRFatlasIV, a chipset which bundles one of the company’s GPS receivers with a multimedia processor. Intended to be used in mobile devices, the chipset offers both the same 64-channel location system as in their standalone SiRFprima receiver, and a 500MHz ARM11 processor for application and video crunching.

The SiRFatlasIV has a hardware video post-processing accelerator for T-DMB-DVB-H and CMMB, among other things, together with an integrated NAND and SD controller. Meanwhile a high-sensitivity GPS core means that smaller antennas can be used, again keeping end-device size down and prices cheap.

To that end, the SiRFatlasIV also has a touchscreen controller, 10-bit ADC, video input and USB 2.0 PHY. SiRF’s new chipset has been picked up by ASUS, Foxconn, Navigon, Wistron and Nextar, among others, and is used in the Navigon 3300 max, Nextar Q4-MD and YF International 82A, among other products.

According to those talkative “industry sources”, Intel is preparing to phase out the Atom N270 processor in October by launching its replacement, the Atom N450. Better known by its codename, Pine View, the N450 will be a single-core chip built on Intel’s 45nm processing line and have an integrated northbridge. That timescale was last tipped from manufacturing leaks back in May, when it was also revealed that the N280 also faced the chop.

The N270 is best known for being a mainstay in most netbooks, low-cost ultraportables usually 10-inches or smaller. While the processor is neither the most economical nor offers the greatest performance, Intel’s combination of pricing and chipset support has seen it adopted by most manufacturers.

The Atom N450 will be paired with the new NM10 chipset, codenamed Tiger Point, which will also launch in October 2009. According to the sources Intel will be issuing a last-order notice for the N270 in Q1 2010, and supplies of the processor will dry up before the end of July 2010.