AMD has released its new entry-level V3900 professional graphics card, which replaces the V3800. The V3900 is priced at $119, which puts it directly up against the Nvidia’s Quadro 400. It sits roughly $50 less than the Nvidia’s Quadro 600 and $20 more than the V3800.

From the specifications, V3900 looks to be a nice update to the V3800 and is basically the business version of the Radeon HD 6570 DDR3. The V3900 has double the memory at 1GB and is based on the “Turks” GPU. The card’s 128-bit DDR3 memory gives it 28.8GB/s of memory bandwidth compared to the V3800, which had a 64-bit interface providing half the bandwidth at 14.4GB/s. It supports the latest versions of OpenGL and OpenCL (4.2 and 1.1, respectively). Based on various test conducted by AMD, the card shows performance increases over both the V3800 and Quadro 400.

The card will ship with an optional full-height bracket to allow it to be installed in standard form factor systems. The AMD FirePro V3900 has received certification for a variety of applications including AutoCAD, UGS NX, PTC Creo, SolidWorks, and Autodesk 3Ds Max. It is backed by a 3-year limited product repair / replacement warranty.

Read more on the AMD V3900 professional graphics card at its product page.

Some of you thought it would never happen. You thought that these two mortal enemies would spend the rest of their multinational corporate lives alternately at each other throats and eyeing the other with suspicion from across the boardroom. After dropping some claims and winning others, Rambus has signed an agreement with NVIDIA that puts to rest their remaining legal disputes. The deal will allow NVIDIA to use patented Rambus tech in its products for the next five years, without fear of legal action — though, neither side will say how much that privilege cost. Now that the battle between the two, which began way back in 2008, has finally come to a close we can all finally get back to the very important business of forgetting who or what Rambus is.

SOURCE via PC World

AMD has quietly released two additional socket FM1 CPUs that slot in between the Athlon II X4-651 and 631. The new models 638 (2.7 GHz, 65W) and 641 (2.8 GHz, 100W) integrate 32nm Llano cores with inactive graphics units. AMD is selling both processors for a tray price of $81.

In comparison, Intel’s cheapest quad-core CPUs are the i5-2390T (2.7 GHz) and the i5-2400s (2.5 GHz) for $184. AMD is riding the value train as $81 buys at Intel just Pentium processors (G850 with two cores and 2.9 GHz for $75, for example).

AMD is offering Athlon II X4 processors also for socket AM3 at 45nm: the 645 (3.1 GHz, 95W, $102) and 640 (3.0 GHz, 95W, $98).

SOURCE via AMD

Intel officially announced its new 520 Series of solid-state drives on Monday, promising its fastest, most robust client/consumer SSD to date. The drive is produced using Intel compute-quality 25-nm NAND memory process technology and connects via an SATA III 6 Gbps interface, delivering world-class performance “even for the most demanding PC enthusiasts.”

“Any consumer application requiring high throughput and bandwidth, low latencies and accelerated speed will benefit from the Intel SSD 520,” Intel said in a press release. “Software developers, architects, accountants, engineers, musicians, media creators and artists are just some of the professionals that will find that the Intel SSD 520’s full package of features can make a dramatic impact on their productivity. With faster performance for graphic renderings, compiling, data transfers and system boot-ups, users can speed through multi-tasking or once-cumbersome application wait times with an Intel SSD 520 Series.”

Intel reports that the series includes capacities from 60 GB to 480 GB, and packs features such as Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256 bit encryption capabilities and stronger password protection for added security in the event of theft or power loss. It also contains an LSI SandForce Flash Storage Processor with an Intel co-defined and validated firmware release.

On a performance level, the 520 Series delivers up to 80,000 maximum 4K random write IOPS and up to 50,000 4K random read IOPS. It also provides sequential read speeds up to 550 MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 520 MB/s. This is backed by thousands of hours of Intel testing and validation, including more than 5,000 individual tests, as well as a 5-year limited warranty, Intel said.

“Our game development workflow involves a combination of large batch process and aggressive interactive pre-visualization, all highly parallelized to the point that the storage performance becomes a major bottleneck,” said id Software’s John Carmack. “For many of our workloads, Intel SSDs have doubled throughput, and in some cases involving mapping tens of gigabytes of image data, we have seen an honest order of magnitude performance improvement, which is a rare and wonderful thing.”

Based on 1,000 unit quantities, the 60 GB model costs $149 per unit, $229 for the 120 GB version, $369 for the 180 GB version, $509 for the 240 GB version and a meaty $999 for the 480 GB version.

According to Nvidia, CUDA-based apps will gain about 10 percent performance as a result.

CUDA 4.1 also includes more than 1,000 new imaging and signal processing functions in the Performance Primitives (NPP) library, which now covers more than 3,200 functions in total. Nvidia claims that the NPP delivers 40 percent greater performance than Intel’s IPP.

The Visual Profiler has been redesigned and now offers an automated expert system to give that provides step-by-step instructions to fine-tune CUDA code. Additionally, the new CUDA toolkit integrates version 2.1 of Parallel Nsight, a collection GPU developer tools for Visual Studio.

CUDA 4.1 can be downloaded from Nvidia’s website.

In a leaked slide, we may have a reasonable picture of the pending launch dates for the Radeon HD 7000 series GPUs. As of now, we have two of the Radeon HD 7000 series cards released, the HD 7970 and HD 7950. This is just the start of the new series of GPUs to be released over the coming months by AMD.

First up is the release of the HD 7770 and HD 7750 (codenamed Cape Verde), which is set for February 15 just in time for a belated Valentine’s Day gift. The cards will have 1 GB of GDDR5 memory, and are expected to have a base core frequency of 900 MHz with, 896 and 832 stream processors, and 56 and 52 texture units. The HD 7770 looks to be priced around $149, with the HD 7750 coming in at a cheaper price.

In March will be the release of the HD 7870 and HD 7850 (codename Pitcairn). The cards will have 2 GB of GDDR5 memory with similar core and memory frequencies comparable to 77×0 series. The difference with the 78×0 series will be the stream processor & texture units. The HD 7870 is expected to have 1408 stream processors and 88 texture units. The HD 7850 is expected to have 1280 stream processors and 80 texture units. The HD 7870 looks to be priced $299 and the HD7850 will be around $249.

The last but not least is the HD 7990 (codename New Zealand), which still has no official release date listed. As discussed in late December, the HD 7990 is expected to be released late March or early April, around the time of Ivy Bridge’s release. The HD 7990 is expected utilize two HD 7970s and have 6GB of total graphics memory (3 GB per GPU).

SOURCE via CPU-World

Seagate took some time out from its busy earnings reporting schedule to address supply concerns stemming from the recent devastating floods in Thailand. The storage manufacturer announced that hard drives supply will likely fall 150 million units short of demand by year’s end. While Seagate’s own factories weren’t directly hit, suppliers for the company were impacted — as were competitors, like Western Digital. The events have also had a more positive impact on Seagate, however — as a result of the floods, a number of large buyers have entered into long-term agreements, according to the company.

SOURCE via Computer World

Ready for a bevy of more exotic-sounding codenames from AMD? Well, have a seat, as the maker of everyone’s favorite APUs just revealed its roadmap extending through 2013. And folks, it’s quite the doozy. But before we delve into its technical intricacies (which you’ll find tucked after the break), we’ll begin with some general takeaways. Per CEO Rory Read, 2012 and 2013 are “all about execution,” with the company girding itself for the the next “inflection point” where it’ll excel. The key to this strategy, as he describes it, is to continue marching towards a full-SoC design that will cover a host of devices running the gamut from mainstream laptops to tablets and so-called Ultrathins, the company’s forthcoming answer to Intel’s Ultrabook onslaught.

During its announcement, timed to coincide with AMD’s annual financial analyst day, the company also stressed its unique position wedged between Chipzilla and makers of ARM chips. Ask Read and he’ll tell you that’s a key advantage for AMD, that its CPU and GPU IP will bring more value through a better overall experience in the market. That’s a strategy less obsessed with raw specs and sheer speed and more focused on a holistic package. Senior VP Lisa Su said AMD will aggressively enter the tablet arena this year in a big way, reiterating that AMD-based Windows 8 slates are indeed en route, though she stopped short of giving an ETA. Finally, the company’s renewing its focus in the server market, as it seeks to cut a larger slice of the cloud computing pie. That’s AMD’s 2012 / 2013 plans in a nutshell, but if you’re the kind of person who likes a few technical specifics (and who doesn’t, really?) meet us after the break for a peek at what’s in store.

For the sake of giving newcomers proper background, let’s begin with some tidbits you may or may not have known. For starters, the company will sail through 2012 with refreshed versions of its current APUs, covering mainstream laptops, cheap ultraportables and low-power tablets. From the most high-end down, we begin with its Trinity APU (which we toyed with at CES), which replaces Llano and will power traditional laptops in 35W guise (with twice the performance of Llano). Interestingly, it will also have 17-25W versions of its Trinity chips, promising the same performance as Llano, but with half the power consumption. (If that’s not a direct shot at Ultrabooks, we don’t know what is.) Available with dual or quad-core “PileDriver” CPUs, the 40nm APU will be paired with a DX11 compatible GPU.

Moving on, Brazos (i.e., AMD’s C- and E-Series Fusion chips) will see an update in the aptly named Brazos 2.0 family, while the low-power Z-series (formerly known as Krishna), will now be known as “Hondo.” Expect to see those 4.5W chips in tablets and other similarly mobile devices.

As for next year, the company seeks to standardize around moving its APUs and GPUs over to the 28nm process, except for a continuation of its lone quad- and octo-core high-end 32nm family of CPUs, codenamed “Vishera.” Starting with Trinity, that A-Series of Fusion chips will be known as “Kaveri” in its third iteration, and will be offered in 35W, 25W and 17W flavors. “Kabini,” the follow-up to Brazos, will have two- and four-core models, and carries the vague promise of “better graphics” and lower power consumption. In the case of both the Kaveri and Kabini families, AMD will begin integrating the fusion controller hub, allowing for a more bona fide system on a chip. At the lower-power end of the spectrum, the “Temash” platform will succeed the Z series, but we don’t know much about it except that it will be targeted at fanlesss tablets, fanless clamshells and other thin form factors expected to deliver exceptionally long battery life.

Intel opened its back door and shuttled out a refresh of its chips without so much as a phone call, typical! Three desktop Core i5 chips made their way into the big bad world, the i5-2550K replacing the i5-2500K, the i5-2450P replacing the i5-2400 and the i5-2380P replacing the i5-2320. There’s a suspicion that the P that follows the two latter models means the GPUs have been disabled / removed to differentiate the price. The four Celerons, two low-voltage, two ultra-low voltage similarly replace older models, from the $70 B720 (replacing the B710) through to the $134 Celeron 867, supplanting the 857. If that list of numbers hasn’t whetted your appetite for, erm, more numbers, then head on past for detail so comprehensive you’ll have to make sure it’s covered by your HMO.

SOURCE via Anandtech

It was first announced in Europe just about a month ago, but Pextor’s PlexEasy stand-alone DVD burner is finally hitting the market. The drive backs up data to CDs and DVDs directly from a variety of sources — including SD cards, cameras, smartphones or tablets over USB. While it’s made to be used without a PC it can be connected to one and draw it’s power from your computer’s USB ports. Despite Plextor touting its release here at CES we couldn’t actually track down any info about pricing, but we’ll make sure to update this post as soon as we do.