Posts Tagged ‘amd’
ADM showcases DirectX 11 GPU
E3 is not the only trade show that’s going on these days. In Taiwan, the Computex 09 show is also well under way, and one of the big events was AMD showcasing world’s first DirectX 11 graphics chip. Windows 7 will bring along DX11 when released later this year, and AMD will have a graphics card ready. One of the key benefits of DX11 is GPGPU and better support for multicore processors. Arch rival Nvidia is also expected to have a DX11 card ready for Windows 7 launch.
Radeon 4890 first to break 1 GHz barrier
AMD’s flagship graphics card, the Radeon 4890, has become the first graphics card to be factory clocked at 1 GHz. Overclockers have had 1 GHz+ cards for years, but this is the first time in history that a factory clocked card came with a standard 1000 MHz clock, which of course, means that it’s covered by the warranty — something which user-overclocked cards are not.
The card, made by Sapphire, also features a 1100 MHz GDDR5 memory clock and a new cooling system to deal with all the heat a 1GHz CPU generates. No information on pricing/availability was released, but you can expect to pay a premium for the bragging rights.
Envizions EVO Smart Console
There is a new game console set to hit the market and it goes by the name of EVO Smart Console. The EVO Smart Console will be powered by an AMD Athlon 2.4GHz processor, and will be accompanied by a Fedora-based Linux distro. The open-source console will give you game play, Internet access, VoIP communications and HD video playback all in one box.
It should work with Envizions “cloud” computing service, where users can pick up Amiga-based games and a video on demand service where you can choose from over 10,000 titles. The beta shipment for developers will begins next week with approximately 100 units. More systems will be released later.
Specs:
- AMD Athlon 64×2 5600 2.4GHz processor
- ATI HD 3200 graphics processor
- 2GB DDR2 RAM
- Supports H.264 VC1
- MPEG2 video codecs
- DVI and HDMI connectivity
- 120GB hard drive
- CD/DVD ROM
- Integrated biometric scanner
You can pre-order the EVO Smart console for $380.
AMD Cutting Jobs, Pay
With the economy worsening, computer hardware manufacturer AMD has disclosed that it will cut 1100 jobs and temporarily reduce pay for all remaining employees.
The cuts affect 9% of AMDs 12,000 employees. Of the 1100 positions, 900 will lose their jobs, with the other 300 stemming from attrition and the sale of one of its business units.
Theres more bad news: those who stay will get their salary reduced, too. This will depend on the role of the employee, with CEO and executive chairman seeing salaries cut by 20%, vice presidents and other top management will lose 15%, regular staffers 10% and hourly workers 5% less. AMD has also indefinitely suspended 401(k) matching.
Tags: amd
AMD Announced ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4000 Series
AMD has announced its brand new graphics platform for notebooks, the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4000 series. Since I currently have an HD 3000 series which has been working more than fine so far, I’d be quite interested in what the HD 4000 will bring to PC gaming, and particularly to notebook gaming.
The new graphics platform should be twice as fast and it should support GDDR5 RAM and Microsoft DirectX 10.1. An HD 4000 card will encode and decode HD video and it will get that DVD content to 1080p resolution without involving the CPU. Hi-definition audio via HDMI with 7.1 digital surround sound and DisplayPort Audio are other features of the HD 4000. These are going to be the first mobile graphics platform to offer such services.
The new graphics cars are to be expected in Q1 of 2009. You will be able to choose from ATI CrossFireX-capable HD 4800, the HD 4600, the HD 4500 and 4300. The first one will combine two GPUs while the second one is optimized for performance and energy efficiency. The last two will prioritize battery life but they will still get the job done. Expect Asus and MSI laptops to carry the new ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4000, but soon others will follow.
AMD planning supercomputer for games
Graphics and CPU maker AMD is planning a big supercomputer for cloud rendering. The supercomputer, titled Fusion Render Cloud, will consist of at least 1,000 Radeon HD 4870 graphics cards.
AMD claims that the supercomputer cloud deliver games and other 3D intensive applications to computers and even mobile phones, where the games will be rendered in the cloud, as opposed to rendering them on the phones, which are usually weak for the complex animations and renders. In addition, AMD claims that even movie CGI rendering will be possible on the new system.
More information can be found here.
3D Gaming and HD Video Coming to Netbooks?
I bet you’ve desperately tried to play games on your newly acquired netbook. Sometimes you might have even managed to make some older games run right? What if NVIDIA or ATI introduced a graphic card in those tiny netbooks? Would you buy netbooks as a gaming device only?
NVIDIA has announced plans to release a mobile GPU, the 9400M to work together with that Intel Atom processors to deliver 3D gaming and HD video to netbooks. The 9400M will get you 1080p video decoding, dual-link DVI out, DirectX 10 graphics, CUDA and OpenGL.
The competition is also going to work out some sort of a solution for netbooks. AMD will roll its Yukon ultramobile platform and it will pair it with a mobile Radeon GPU from ATI.
And let’s not forget about VIA. VIA announced its Trinity platform which will get you a Via Nano processor, the VX800 northbridge and an S3 GPU. It will support too HD videos and DirectX 10 gaming.
It all sounds good, but I don’t see myself playing games on my netbook. How about you?
via Arstechnica
AMD Launches "Fusion" Campaign
Hoping to promote the synergy between their CPUs and GPUs, AMD has launched its new “Fusion” marketing campaign.
The campaign is the company’s way of “expressing how we blend our customer’s needs, dreams and desires with our unique passion for enabling innovation.”
The first output of the campaign is the AMD Fusion Gaming Utility, which is aimed at improving performance on AMD processor-based computers with the click of a button. However, it appears to be nothing but fluff at the moment if this Bjorn3D article has any weight behind it. The utility does not work too well, and it simply does not offer any performance improvement.
Let’s hope their second output is much better.
AMD Announces DX10.1 Games
Processor and GPU maker AMD announced today a list of future games that all feature support for DirectX 10.1, an updated version of DX10 found in Windows Vista. The games are BattleForge, Stormrise and Cloud 9.
The latest from Creative Assembly, Stormrise has been said to be “built from the ground up specifically for high-def consoles”. It will reportedly feature controls that will “revolutionize the way RTS games are played.”
BattleForge is a RTS-CCG hybrid in the works at EA Phenomic, with Cloud 9 in the works at NHN.
AMD noted that only its ATI Radeon HD 3000 and HD 4800 cards currently support the DirectX 10.1 technology, which, surprisingly, is yet to be adopted by NVIDIA.