AMD Sempron 3300+ CPU Review

Apr 29 2005 @ 01:38AM by jimmy

AMDReview takes a look at the latest socket 754 Sempron processor from AMD.

"Today I am reviewing AMD's newest CPU offering, the Sempron 3300+ on the 754-socket platform. This is the latest in AMD's budget line offerings. What is a Sempron CPU you ask? The Sempron's came out after AMD's Athlon64 CPUs were released, they were to take the spot in AMD's product line that the Duron took when the Athlon XP was the king of the hill. The first Sempron CPUs on the Socket A platform were little more then an Athlon XP renamed, but the newer Semprons on the Socket 754 are based more on the Athlon64 line of CPUs. The main difference between a Sempron and an Athlon64 of the same rating is the Semprons are only 32bit, not 64bit (so you won't be able to run Windows 64bit on it) and they have a smaller cache."

Check it out!

 

AMD, and Why the $100 PC is Inevitable

Apr 29 2005 @ 01:30AM by jimmy

"But to retain the momentum, AMD needs to stay ahead on cutting-edge chip design. Ruiz is pushing hard to promote the use of the dual-core Opteron and is powering forward with a plan to diversify into new market segments.

ZDNet UK sister site CNET News.com spoke with Ruiz about technology trends and what he envisions for AMD chips in consumer electronics. We also found out that Ruiz believes the era of the $100 laptop PC may be on the horizon."

Zdnet Reports

 

AMD cheapens 754 Sempron processors

Apr 29 2005 @ 01:23AM by jimmy

Currently, AMD new Dual-Core Athlon 64 is getting all the attention, lets not forget the Socket 754 processor which was just released during the later half of last year. The Athlon 64 socket 754 CPU is rapidly cutting its prices.

Here's a snip from Softpedia:

"Starting with next month, Advanced Micro Devices intends to lower to prices of the socket 754 Semprons with up to 15%. The source of this information is the Taiwanese motherboard producer community"

Full Story

 

AMD, leader of the dual-core server market

Apr 29 2005 @ 01:10AM by jimmy

By now, it is probably no surprise to anyone that AMD now takes command of the server market.

Snippet: "Although AMD is ahead on the server market, Intel doesn?t seem concerned, the company relying on the Xeon processing solutions, which will be relaunched on the market sometimes this year."

Softpedia has the story

 

SiS rides K8 chipset sales to higher margins in 1Q

Apr 29 2005 @ 01:01AM by jimmy

Digitimes reveals some interesting news that SiS Athlon 64 chipset sales have increased their margins for Q1.

"SiS claims it attained a 37% share in the AMD chipset market since the fourth quarter of last year, and the company is optimistic about increasing its market share in the second quarter, on strong notebook chipset shipments."

 

AMD takes game to Intel

Apr 28 2005 @ 12:53AM by jimmy

While Intel had the upper hand and enjoyed supremacy in the chip market for many years, AMD had slowly been crawling through thier way at the top, and upon occasion besting it in the race. The heat is on between the two chip rivals.

"AMD's resurgence has won it substantial market share in certain specialised segments of the PC market, such as high-end gaming, where computers powered by its dual-core 64-bit chips are usually favoured over Intel platforms."

 

AMD embraces 64-bit Windows

Apr 28 2005 @ 12:30AM by jimmy

CHIP-MAKING contender AMD is cock-a-hoop that Microsoft has finally delivered a 64-bit version of Windows.

The firm played the numbers game by hyping the need for 64-bit chips, while rival Intel decided 64-bits on the desktop would be overkill.

Even without a mainstream 64-bit operating system, AMD was able to make mileage out of its notional technological prowess, managing to flog its 64-chips to run at 32-bits.

Now - finally - Microsoft has delivered its 64-bit operating system and though it's not exactly a final, nicely scrupped-up offering, it's enough to excite AMD. The company delivered a statement in which a Veep enthused: "AMD's industry leadership is enabling a new set of applications and making pervasive 64-bit computing a reality."

A favoured analyst, Nathan Brookwood even claimed AMD64 technology had "altered the industry's direction".

Brian Valentine, a senior veep at Windows core operating system division at Microsoft said the Vole had developed Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition "in close collaboration with our key partners, including AMD."

Source: The Inquirer

 

Athlon 64 Chipset Comparison

Apr 28 2005 @ 12:15AM by jimmy

Tech Report has posted a detailed analysis by comparing Athlon 64 chipsets.

"So we're left with the Radeon Xpress 200/M1573, which is a clear winner for integrated graphics platforms, and the nForce4 Ultra, which has the benefit of widespread availability at a range of price points. Both platforms have their problems, but at least for now, I'm inclined to favor narrowly the nForce4 Ultra. The Radeon Xpress 200/M1573 combo is still rare in the wild, and its poor USB and command queuing performance can't be as easily sidestepped as the nForce4 Ultra's high ActiveArmor CPU utilization. In the Athlon 64 world, we don't have a juggernaut like Intel who generally gets chipsets 100% right. Here, we have to settle for who gets the most things right. Right now, that's the nForce4 Ultra."

Check it out

 

AMD?s New Heavyweight: Opteron 275 Dual Core

Apr 28 2005 @ 12:05AM by jimmy

Sudhian has just posted thier review of the Opteron 275 dual core.

"What our benchmark results demonstrate above all else is that software programmers will need more time to properly adapt and utilize multi-core solutions. It?ll be years?quite possibly not until or even after the appearance of Longhorn?before a majority of software takes real advantage of that second core. Until it does, users will have to evaluate single-vs-dual core (or 2 cores vs. 4) depending on their own usage patterns and application profiling of specific software."

 

Spansion Wins Award

Apr 27 2005 @ 03:52PM by jimmy

Spansion LLC, the Flash memory venture of AMD and Fujitsu Limited, today announced that Spansion Thailand has received two awards as the result of a ?Best Employers in 2005? study conducted by global human resources outsourcing and consulting firm, Hewitt Associates. The company was named one of eight ?Outstanding Employers? in Asia out of a total of 244 organizations across China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. In addition, Spansion Thailand, a wholly owned subsidiary of Spansion LLC, was awarded ?Best Employer in Thailand,? coming in number one in the manufacturing sector and number two overall. More than 60 companies participated in the ?Best Employers in Thailand? study. This is the third year of the Hewitt pan-Asian Best Employers study, and the second time that either Spansion, or its parent company AMD, has received the award.

 

AMD: dual-core not for gamers... yet

Apr 27 2005 @ 01:18AM by jimmy

With all the heated news going on about the release of the Dual-Core, gamers maybe heading for some disappointment as The Register reports that the The Dual-Core AMD Athlon 64x2 CPUs are not game performers for the time being, but only benefits servers and digital-media applications. It is best to stick with the Athlon 64FX series for now.

"Right now, the FX-55 is clocked at 2.6GHz. The top-of-the-range X2 4800+ is only clocked at 2.4GHz. Both chips' cores have 1MB of L2 cache and connect to the system via a single HyperTransport link."

 

Turion 64 Mobile Processor Review

Apr 27 2005 @ 12:36AM by jimmy

If you are into mobile processors, GamePC have posted a review of Turion 64, AMD's Mobile 64-bit processor.

"The Mobile Athlon64 processors of yesteryear were based on the same "Clawhammer" design of the desktop Athlon64 processor, which uses a massive 193mm˛ die size. As you can see, the new Turion64's die is significantly smaller. AMD is not giving out specifics on the Turion64 die just yet, but size looks to be roughly 100-125mm˛. According to AMD?s specification sheets, it appears that they will be producing 90nm Mobile Athlon64 processors in the near future as well, so the Turion64 won?t be AMD?s only 90nm mobile architecture."

 

DDR2 in AMD's Future?

Apr 27 2005 @ 12:27AM by jimmy

It was noted earliar that AMD might skip utilizing DDR2, however PC Perspective had pointed out that the M2 processors with 1207 pins is DDR2-667 ready.

"We can see from the image that this is a dual core product that uses nearly the same basic design as the current Athlon 64s and Athlon 64 X2s. The exception being that we now have a DDR2 memory controller that the document says is DDR2-667 ready. We are told that this processor will use the M2 socket and that the processors will be AMD's first to support Microsoft's virtualization and security technologies called Presidio and Pacifica."

Get a more detailed perpective here

 

AMD-8000 Series Core Logic (Chipset) Drivers

Apr 27 2005 @ 12:18AM by jimmy

AMD have updated their 8000 series core logic (chipset) driver for the AMD Opteron processor!

Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 and Windows XP System Interrupt Controller (IOAPIC) Driver Version 1.81 - Microsoft digitally-signed, for platforms using AMD-8131? and AMD-8132? HyperTransport PCI-X tunnel.

Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions and Windows XP x64 Edition IDE Bus Master Driver Version 8.2.8.3 - For 64-bit platforms using AMD-8111 HyperTransport I/O Hub. Microsoft digitally-signed, for Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions and Windows XP x64 Edition.

AMD-8000 Series Core Logic (Chipset) Drivers

 

AMD Talks about Quad Core for 2007

Apr 27 2005 @ 12:12AM by jimmy

As we all know by now AMD is on a roll with thier Dual-Core Opertons, however X-bit labs reports that AMD will waste no time by starting talks about manufacturing thier first sampling Quad Core CPU's in 2007.

"Advanced Micro Devices recently reiterated its commitment to make a processor with four processing cores in the second half of the decade and even officially marked the target timeframe for the engineering samples. But the date may even be too conservative, it seems."

X-bit reports

 

AMD Opteron Processor PowerNow! Driver 1.2.2.0 - 1.2.2.1

Apr 26 2005 @ 02:40PM by jimmy

AMD Opteron Processor PowerNow! Driver Version (exe) 1.2.2.0 - 1.2.2.1 allows the system to automatically adjust the CPU speed, voltage and power combination that match the instantaneous user performance need. Download this Setup Installation program (EXE) to automatically update all the files necessary for installation. This package is recommended for users whom desire a graphical user interface for installation. This .EXE driver is a user friendly localized software installation of the driver designed for end-users. This driver supports single core and dual core Opteron processors on Windows 32 bit OS and Windows 64 bit OS.

 

AMD CPUInfo

Apr 26 2005 @ 02:32PM by jimmy

This Windows application executes and displays the return data from the CPUID instruction set and displays Hypertransport? information if the processor supports it. This application also shows the maximum speed of the processor

 

IBM Among First To Offer Dual-Core Opteron Workstations

Apr 26 2005 @ 01:02AM by jimmy

IBM also announced that the IBM eServer 326 1U server line will include the new dual-core chips.

"AMD64 dual-core technology builds on the already strong value proposition our standards-based IntelliStation workstation provides to customers," said Bob Lenard, director of the IntelliStation product line at the IBM Systems and Technology Group."

More on Yahoo News

 

AMD one-ups Intel on server front

Apr 26 2005 @ 12:48AM by jimmy

The Inquirer has an article on the recent X2 chip launch and the current war between Intel and AMD.

"Pretty well most technical analyses of the dual-core Opteron show that its design is technically superior to Intel's current desktop dual-core and it's also pretty clear that the chip giant hasn't a great deal to compete on the server front for probably a clear 12 months."

 

AMD to Adopt DDR500 Officially

Apr 26 2005 @ 12:06AM by jimmy

Up until today, DDR400 has been the official memory standard for majority of the platforms, but Intel made the change to DDR2, and now it?s AMD?s turn to make a change to their platform. According to an insider source, AMD has plans to adopt DDR500 as its official memory standard in the very near future. Before making the switch to other memory standards, the chipmaker has decided to extend support for DDR even further. The source said AMD would most likely support DDR500 with its Venice core microprocessors. According to the information we received, AMD was in talks with memory makers to make this idea a reality since last year. In fact, the chipmaker was conversing about supporting low-latency DDR500 modules, as they tend to work best with AMD microprocessors and their onboard memory controller. The insider said support for 250-memory divider is already available in numerous BIOS files, but it?s a matter of time before motherboard makers enable that feature. Since MSI supplies sample boards to AMD, all of their boards have the up-clock memory ratios that they can enable. Thus far, that?s the only information we have received. All in all, AMD will continue to support DDR and may even move up to DDR500 as its official memory standard.

 

Russian PC firm dumps Intel in favour of AMD

Apr 25 2005 @ 05:26PM by jimmy

Formaza, one of Russia's largest computer producers, considers AMD's competitor ancient. Pretty soon a pattern will be seen from other companies as AMD micro processors soars over Intel.

"Now up to 80% of PCs will be assembled using AMD's Athlon 64, says Formoza's vice president Vladimir Sharov. The company will still use the Pentium 4 for corporate clients who ask for it."

Facts from the Inquirer

 

NVIDIA and AMD Pledge Support for Windows x64

Apr 25 2005 @ 05:15PM by jimmy

After having Nvidia congratulating AMD for thier two-year anniversary of the AMD Opteron processor, it looks like thier going full support of x64 computing.

Read the headlines here

 

Dual-Core Opteron Specs

Apr 25 2005 @ 12:22PM by jimmy

Motherboards that are socket 939 will support these dual-core processors with only a BIOS update along with 90nm Opterons motherboards but if your motherboards does not support the 90nm Opterons then you will have to obtain a new motherboard that will support it.

Read it from A1-Electronics

 

AMD Financially Good?

Apr 25 2005 @ 01:43AM by jimmy

It was reported earlier that AMD had a major netloss of $17 million during this quarter due to poor flash memory business. Looking deeper, AMD may be doing well after all, with thier microprocessors which the Opteron is currently gaining shares in the US$4 billion market for chips.

"AMD Saw Light in a Dark Time: While corporate customers have greeted Itanium with lukewarm enthusiasm, AMD's Opteron is gaining share in the US$4 billion market for chips that are the brains of servers. In another technological success that is the legacy of the Opteron, AMD yesterday launched a version of the chip with dual cores, or essentially two brains in one."

Technews World has the highlights

 

High-End Computing Mounts Dual-Core

Apr 25 2005 @ 01:09AM by jimmy

The Portland Group Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of STMicroelectronics, has released performance speed-up numbers for workstations based on AMD's latest dual-core Opteron that show a 30 percent increase in speed compared to the previously reported best single-chip performance.

"LS-DYNA is a general-purpose multi-physics simulation software package developed by PGI and Livermore Software Technology Corp. used to model a wide range of complex real-world problems. In one application, LS-DYNA is used to predict the behavior of vehicles in a collision and to study occupant safety, thereby reducing the number of experimental test prototypes and saving time and cost designing new vehicles. The high-performance computing field that is engaged in modeling cars, weapons, drugs, and financial strategies, and in making animated feature films has been anxious to apply parallel compilers to run on the dual-core processors such as Opteron to speed up performance over current single-core processors."

Link