Intel Gets Slapped With A Huge Fine

Intel has been hitting the news lately, some good & some bad. the European commission just hit Intel with a fine of US$ 1.45 billion for violating the EC treaty & abusing their power unethically between October 2002 & December 2007. AMD had already filed complaints along these lines with the EC in 2000, 2003 & 2006, which urged a further investigation into this issue.

Intel Logo

Intel Logo

A summary of the claims are as follows:
Intel allegedly gave hidden rebates to computer manufacturers & encouraged them to only stock up on their x86 CPUs. They also allegedly paid a major retailer to delay the launch of their competitors products.

The manufacturers that have been identified are Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo & NEC.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Intel Core i7 The Fastest Processor from Intel

Intel introduced its most advanced desktop processor, the Intel Core i7 processor. The Core i7 processor is the first member of a new family of Nehalem processor designs and is the most sophisticated ever built, with new technologies that boost performance on demand and maximize data throughput.

The Core i7 processor speeds video editing, immersive games and other popular Internet and computer activities by up to 40 percent without increasing power consumption.

Intel Core i7

Intel Core i7


Intel’s Turbo Boost Technology accelerates performance to match a computer user’s needs and workloads. Through a sophisticated on-die power control unit and using new “power gate” transistors based on Intel’s advanced 45 nanometer, high-k metal gate manufacturing process, Turbo Boost automatically adjusts the clock speed of one or more of the four individual processing cores for single- and multi-threaded applications to boost performance, without increasing power consumption. The Core i7 also has the latest Intel power-saving technologies, allowing desktops to go into sleep states formerly reserved for Intel-based notebooks.

The Core i7 processor more than doubles the memory bandwidth of previous Intel “Extreme” platforms, speeding the transfer of computer bits and bites in and out of the processor with Intel Quickpath Technology. Designed with Intel’s Hyper-Threading Technology, the processor also allows multiple computing threads to run simultaneously, effectively enabling it to do two things at once. As a result, the Core i7 quad-core processor delivers 8-threaded performance.

The Intel Core i7 processor also offers unrivaled performance for immersive 3-D games – over 40 percent faster than previous Intel high-performance processors on both the 3DMark Vantage CPU physics and AI tests. The Extreme Edition uses 8 threads to run games with advanced artificial intelligence and physics to make games act and feel real.

The Intel Core i7 processors and Intel X58 Express Chipset-based Intel Desktop Board DX58SO Extreme Series are for sale immediately from several computer manufacturers online and in retail stores, as well as a boxed retail product via channel online sales.

The Core i7 processor is the first member of the Intel Nehalem microarchitecture family; server and mobile product versions will be in production later. Each Core i7 processor features an 8 MB level 3 cache and three channels of DDR3 1066 memory to deliver the best memory performance of any desktop platform. Intel’s top performance processor, the Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition, also removes overspeed protection, allowing Intel’s knowledgeable customers or hobbyists to further increase the chip’s speed.

Intel Core i7-965 Extreme Edition works at 3.20 GHz, and it costs $999. Intel Core i7- 940 works at 2.93 GHz, and it costs $562. Intel Core i7- 920 works at 2.66 GHz, and it costs $284.

Popularity: 10% [?]

ATI Quietly Enters Switchable Graphics Technology for Intel Centrino 2 Notebooks

ATI

ATI

ATI, graphics product group of Advanced Micro Devices, has quietly introduced technology that allows notebooks to seamlessly switch between discrete ATI Mobility Radeon graphics processing unit (GPU) and integrated Intel Graphics and Media Accelerator to boost graphics performance or save power. The tech is available for Intel Centrino 2 laptops that run Microsoft Windows Vista operating system.

ATI Switchable Graphics technology is a joint effort between ATI/AMD and Intel Corp. to provide users of Intel Centrino 2 notebooks the best features of various graphics adapters: performance and feature-set of discrete GPU and power-efficiency of integrated graphics processor (IGP). A similar technology was also developed by Intel and Nvidia so that to provide customers a choice of graphics processors.

Thanks to Switchable Graphics technology, select notebooks that feature Intel GS45 or GM45 core-logic set and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3600 or 3400 graphics chip can switch between standalone and integrated graphics cores dynamically depending on the power source and user preferences without rebooting the PC. Although dynamic switching between graphics cores does not require any complex technology inside chips themselves, the notebook and its BIOS must be specifically designed to support the capability.

Similar technology called Hybrid CrossFire is also available for AMD-based mobile computers, but in case of AMD platforms, IGP and GPU can also work collaboratively in multi-GPU mode in order to boost performance of graphics sub-system substantially.

AMD’s graphics product group has not issued any official statements on the matter of Switchable Graphics technology launch. Perhaps, because there are currently very few Intel Centrino 2 laptops that feature ATI Switchable Graphics, for example, Lenovo ThinkPad T400 and T500 feature Intel GM45 chipsets and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 and 3450 graphics processors, respectively; perhaps, because AMD does not want to attract any attention to the platform of its arch-rival on the market of central processing units.

Earlier this year ATI introduced its external graphics platform (XGP) that allows specially-designed external graphics accelerators to be connected to notebooks or small form-factor desktops.

Popularity: 11% [?]