nForce4 : Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe Review

Nov 30 2004 @ 09:23AM by MikeC

PC Perspective has just published what I believe to be the first review of the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe motherboards based on the nForce4 SLI chipset. This is the first retail motherboard to reach the US that offers the user support for NVIDIA?s SLI technology as well as PCI Express for the AMD platform. Though we had a couple of issues with the board at first, Asus worked with us to find the solutions and the result is a motherboard that I think all PC enthusiasts are going to be looking at buying; at least until the SLI boards hit the streets.

?Moving on past the graphical aspects, we see that Asus has stacked the A8N-SLI Deluxe quite well with a lot of storage options. How does eight SATA channels and two IDE channels sound? That should satiate just about anyone with a fetish for large hard drives. Only users looking to move on with lots of IDE drives and optical drives will have to look for new hard drives. Along that line, the NVIDIA SATA controller also supports the new SATA 3.0Gb/s standard so when drives become available, you'll be ready. ?

Read the article

 

Goodbye Athlon XP

Nov 27 2004 @ 08:26AM by MikeC

New AMD roadmaps show that the Athlon XP line is coming to an end. These great processors have served us well, but now it's time to let them go. On the bright side, new A64 processors are to set to come soon in 2005.

A new 90nm AMD Athlon 64 core is due H1 2005. Codenamed 'Venice' it will replace today's 90nm and 130nm Athlon 64 desktop chips. Again, it's not clear how this CPU differs from the 90nm 'Winchester' part that's currently shipping.

The Register

 

Radeon XPress 200: ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 Series

Nov 24 2004 @ 03:28PM by MikeC

The guys at Hardware Zone take a look at ATI's new chipset.

The RADEON XPRESS 200 series is ATI's latest motherboard platform chipset and it is also their first desktop chipset for AMD64 processors. In this article, we detail what it has to offer, the target market and the outcome of our rigorous testing against VIA's K8T800 Pro, NVIDIA's nForce 3 and 4.

Hardware Zone

 

AMD Rings In The Season With A New Mobile AMD Sempron? Processor For Thin And Light Notebook PCs

Nov 23 2004 @ 04:31PM by MikeC

SUNNYVALE, CALIF. -- November 23, 2004 --AMD (NYSE: AMD) today introduced the new Mobile AMD Sempron? processor 3000+ for thin and light notebooks, expanding the popular product family that has redefined everyday computing for today?s mobile lifestyle with AMD?s latest technology. In addition to offering best-in-class performance, this full-featured mobile processor also offers Enhanced Virus Protection (EVP) designed to prevent the spread of certain malicious viruses when enabled by Microsoft® Windows® XP Service Pack 2 (SP2).*

Press Release

 

K8M800: DFI K8M800-MLV Review

Nov 20 2004 @ 02:58PM by MikeC

The guys over at Hardwarezone.com take a look at DFI's entry with the K8M800 VIA chipset with integrated video.

DFI breaks from belting out LANParty after LANParty to bring us a value entry board based on the VIA K8M800 chipset for the Athlon 64. With similar features to the K8T800 plus integrated graphics, DFI aims to bring 64-bit computing to the masses.

Hardwarezone.com

 

nForce3: Epox 9NDA3+ Motherboard Review

Nov 18 2004 @ 06:59AM by MikeC

PCStats takes a look at the nForce3 board from Epox.

In the benchmarks we ran on the Epox 9NDA3+, the board demonstrated it was able to keep up with the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum and MSI K8T Neo2-FIR motherboards. Both of these solutions are among the fastest on the market. Epox has always been good at overclocking and we're certainly not disappointed with the results of the 9NDA3+. In our tests with an Athlon64 4000+ CPU, PCstats was able to achieve an FSB overclock of 283 MHz, which is higher than we've ever gone on any socket 939 motherboard previously. If you're thinking about jumping on the Socket 939 bandwagon, the Epox 9NDA3+ is a fine choice. It's pretty much as fast as any other Socket 939 motherboard on the market and it's affordable... There's not much more you could ask for.

PCStats

 

One Year Later, AMD And Sun Continue To Redefine Enterprise Computing

Nov 18 2004 @ 06:48AM by MikeC

SUNNYVALE, CALIF. -- November 17, 2004 --AMD (NYSE: AMD) today celebrated the one-year anniversary of the strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems, Inc. As part of the alliance, AMD also announced support for the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS) introduced on Monday, Nov. 15.

To date, the AMD-Sun alliance has produced a complete roster of AMD Opteron? processor-based Sun Fire servers and Sun Java workstation solutions that deliver industry-leading performance to the enterprise. The four-way Sun Fire V40z server recently achieved world-record results on SPEC OMPM2001, a key benchmark for scientific applications. The Sun Fire V20z is one of the top-performing two-way x86 servers available today. The 1P Sun Java workstation W1100z and 2P Sun Java workstation W2100z are the latest in the family of AMD Opteron processor-based products from Sun Microsystems and are designed to maximize end user productivity. Users can find additional information on the benchmarks and on the records set by these products at http://www.sun.com/smi/Press/sunflash/2004-09/sunflash.20040921.6.html.

Press Release

 

Next gen AMD Opterons to have 1207 pins

Nov 18 2004 @ 06:45AM by MikeC

SOURCES AT AMD Taiwan claim that when the next generation of Opterons is released in the first half of 2006, the microprocessors will be equipped with 1207 pins.

The Inquirer

 

A64 Cooler Roundup

Nov 15 2004 @ 10:37AM by MikeC

Digital Daily does a roundup of 4 A64 coolers. If you're in the market for a new cooler for your processor, take a read.

"AMD Athlon64 processors are getting increasingly popular. This is first due to the release of the Socket939 platform, as well reduction of prices for these processors and the "outdated" Soñket754 processors. The latter has got outdated only in terms of novelty - now they are treated as a middle-end platform (even low-end, after the release of the Sempron 3100+ processor).

Digital Daily

 

AMD sketches out new high-end, low-end chips

Nov 15 2004 @ 10:35AM by MikeC

SUNNYVALE, Calif.-- Advanced Micro Devices will take the high road and the low road in the chip market. Executives here at the company's annual analyst meeting on Friday outlined a strategy that will, ideally, allow AMD to take market share in the server, corporate desktop and notebook space as well as penetrate the consumer device market with chips based around the same so-called x86 architecture.

"We're talking x86 chips down to a buck," said AMD CEO Hector Ruiz, who added that the chip markets AMD participates in should grow relatively well.

On the high end, AMD will release chips with two processing cores in 2005, and then follow in 2006 with chips based around a new chip core code-named Pacifica.

News.com

 

nForce4: Gigabyte K8NXP-9

Nov 14 2004 @ 09:05AM by MikeC

Anandtech writes up a review of Gigabyte's entry into the nForce 4 market. Here's what they had to say about it:

"It is too early to know if the Gigabyte K8NXP-9 is representative of a great group of nForce4 boards or if it is the standout of the group. For now, if Gigabyte comes through with the BIOS updates that they have promised, we can enthusiastically recommend the K8NXP-9. It's the first Gigabyte board in quite a while that I could comfortably run in my own personal rig, and that isn't faint praise."

Anandtech

 

Dell and AMD?

Nov 12 2004 @ 05:35AM by MikeC

Thinking of buying a Dell? Want an AMD processor in it though? Could be a possiblity as rumors of Dell using AMD processors send AMD stock prices up by 74 cents.

THE SHARE PRICE of AMD rose by 74 cents today and stands at $18.03 after rumours of Dell using the processors got a bit closer to reality.

The Inquirer

 

AMD to Hold Annual Financial Analyst Day

Nov 12 2004 @ 05:33AM by MikeC

SUNNYVALE, CA -- November 10, 2004 --AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced that it will hold its annual financial analyst meeting at approximately 8:00 a.m. PST (11:00 a.m. EST) on Friday, November 12, 2004 at AMD Headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA. AMD President and Chief Executive Officer Hector Ruiz and members of AMD?s executive team will deliver presentations regarding AMD?s business and strategy.

Press Release

 

AMD Athlon? 64 Processor Family Wins VARBusiness Magazine Editor?s Choice Award

Nov 12 2004 @ 05:32AM by MikeC

"SUNNYVALE, CALIF. -- November 10, 2004 --AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced that the AMD Athlon? 64 and Mobile AMD Athlon 64 processors have been named the ?Editor?s Choice? by VARBusiness magazine. The award was presented at the second annual Tech Innovator Awards show, where AMD also was recognized for outstanding achievement in technology innovation for the Mobile AMD Athlon 64 processor 3400+."

Press release

 

Early Christmas AMD shopping?

Nov 05 2004 @ 07:33AM by MikeC

AMD looks like it will slash prices just in time for the Christmas rush according to a German site.

"A REPORT ON a German language web site reckons that chip munchkin Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), will slash its prices in a Yule adventure.

The Inquirer

 

K8T890 in 2 weeks

Nov 01 2004 @ 03:13PM by MikeC

Seems like most of the boards are ready, however there's a shortage of these chipsets out there according to Inquirer sources.

As for the Via boards, we understand that even though its chipset works flawlessly, motherboard manufacturers sill can not get enough chipset in quantities.

So I guess all of you eager to get your hands on an A64 PCI-E motherboard will have to wait.

The Inquirer