Yesterday rumors abounded that right here in Austin we are next for Google Fiber. I have been an earliy adopter every time so here is hoping I can get it at my business, or home. I have set up a news page if you want to follow what is going on with the rollout and upcoming announcement at GoogleFiberATX.com.
The Inquirer reports that AMD's John Gustafson believes Moore's Law is coming to an end.
According to Gustafson, the transistor density afforded by a process node defines the chip's economic viability. He said, "We [AMD] want to also look for the sweet spot, because if you print too few transistors your chip will cost too much per transistor and if you put too many it will cost too much per transistor. We've been waiting for that transistion from 28nm to 20nm to happen and it's taking longer than Moore's Law would have predicted."
Xbit reports on Hardware Luxx revealing that AMD is adding Sim City as a Never Settle bundled game when you buy a A8 or A10 APU.
Starting from April 18, AMD will provide a free code to download SimCity from Origin with the purchase of select AMD A8 and A10 accelerated processing units, reports HardwareLuxx.de web-site. Given that casual gamers do not necessarily play shooters or racing titles, the offering of SimCity with hybrid microprocessor products seems to make a lot of sense. In the future the company may expand this bundle with new titles or offer a different game.
AMD has released their Catalyst 13.3 beta driver which improves performance for Sim City, Far Cry 3, and latency issues in Tomb Raider and Hitman Absolution. It also fixes some Tomb Raider TressFX issues.
Improve performance in Sim City 5 up to 16 percent
Improves performance in Far Cry 3 up to 5 percent
Improves latency performance issues seen in Tomb Raider and Hitman Absolution
Resolves slight corruption seen in Tomb Raider with TressFX enabled for CrossFire and single GPU configurations
Tweaktown has benchmarked Hitman Absolution at 5760X1080.
Putting the HD 7970s in CrossFire yielded some better results, but much less than I expected. At 1080p with no AA, there's barely any increase in performance - which didn't help my 120Hz monitor or gaming - trying to reach 120 FPS.
Fudo reports that AMD expects the Kabani GPU to be about twice the speed of Brazos 2.0.
In PCMark Vantage, measured by AMD labs, a Kabini based A6-5200 system scored 5271, while a Brazos APU-based system scored 2807. This is a dramatic performance increase that will bring smiles on many faces.
Fudo details AMD's upcoming Bonaire GPU, of which the first coming is the HD 7790.
According to various leaked details including the post over at Hardware.info, the Bonaire GPU should feature 896 stream processors. Unfortunately, there are still no details regarding the precise clock frequencies, but according to AMD, the chips should be 10 percent slower than the HD 7850, which is in line with what we heard before. Partners might not be allowed to do factory overclocked version in order not to cannibalize HD 7850 sales.
AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the first availability of the AMD Elite A-Series Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), codenamed “Richland.” The new AMD Elite A-Series APUs deliver innovative user experiences like facial log-in and gesture recognition, improved graphics1 and compute performance2 over the previous generation, and enhanced power management capabilities on a single chip.
“The high performance AMD A-Series APU continues to impress with its ability to deliver stunning graphics and immersive experiences with even more battery life. Our engineers have done a superb job of increasing processor performance while decreasing power consumption,” said Bernd Lienhard, corporate vice president and general manager of AMD’s Client Business Unit. “With the capabilities built into our 2013 AMD Elite A-Series APUs, including new software for gesture control, facial recognition, rich entertainment and more lifelike gaming, we are delivering an ever richer experience to end users and our customers.”
With faster performance1, 2 and improved power management in the same platform architecture as its predecessor, coupled with AMD Radeon™ HD 8000 Series graphics, the 2013 AMD Elite A-Series APUs build on the award-winning history of AMD’s original APU line-up to help users get the most out of their notebooks, whether at work, at home or on-the-go.
Differentiated User Experiences
The new AMD Elite A-Series APUs leverage the power of the combined compute and graphics cores to accelerate a suite of available software experiences that can dramatically expand and enhance the user experience:
AMD Face Login3– Uses facial recognition technology and a webcam to allow for quick log-in to Windows and other browser-based websites that require a log-in, like social networking sites and email services;
AMD Gesture Control4 – Tracks a user’s hand gestures and converts them into commands for basic functions on media players, browsers, e-readers and other popular applications leveraging a webcam, advanced image processing and machine-vision algorithms;
AMD Screen Mirror5 – Wirelessly shares content like photos, videos, HD media streams and webpages from a PC or tablet based on a 2013 AMD A-Series APU with any supported TV or display with a DLNA receiver, or with other PCs. Available only on select AMD-based devices;
AMD Video Entertainment Features – Make your content look its very best: AMD Steady Video technology6 gives users push-button control over shaky home video and helps stabilize the images for better viewing; AMD Quick Stream technology7 enables smooth video streaming and a virtually interruption free streaming experience; and AMD Perfect Picture HD8, creates rich and lifelike color on video entertainment.
This optimized-for-AMD software will come pre-loaded on select AMD Elite A-Series APU-based notebooks later this year and will be downloadable from www.amd.com next month.
Next Level Performance
Through engineering optimizations on the previous generation of the AMD A-Series APU platform architecture (formerly codenamed “Trinity”) and updated graphics, the 2013 AMD Elite A-Series APUs feature significant performance increases1, 2, along with support for high-end technologies:
Visual and compute performance increases over the previous generation of AMD A-Series APUs1, 2;
AMD Start Now Technology9 for tablet-like responsiveness;
Improved AMD Turbo CORE technology with higher boost frequencies than the previous generation, for more performance when you need it and energy conservation when you don’t;
Support for AMD Eyefinity technology10, AMD Radeon™ dual graphics11, and DirectX® 11.
Enhanced Power Management
AMD continues a power/performance leadership through the latest generation of power management technologies. These boosting and throttling technologies enable more intelligent, higher compute and graphics core performance to help enhance PC responsiveness and extend battery life. Building on the idea of AMD AllDay™ Power, the 2013 AMD Elite A-Series Platform enables up to 7.9 hours of web browsing, 5.7 hours of HD video playback and up to 10 hours of resting battery life on a 55 watt/hour battery12, 13, 14.
Fudzilla reports that AMD's A6-1450 APU is a Temash part. Its for tablets and clocks at 1GHz.
The new Temash quad core, at least the one clocked at 1GHz, will end up branded as AMD A6-1450. It has Radeon HD 8280 graphics and the Larne reference system comes with 2GB DDR3 1066 memory. The AMD A6-1450-based tablet (hybrid) in AMD’s presentation delivers scores of 981 and 3123 in 3DMark and PCMark respectively. Last generation samples, powered by the Z-60 APU clocked at 1GHz (40nm Zacate) with 2x2GB DDR3 1066, HD 6250 graphics and Windows 7 scored 455 and 1914 in 3DMark Vantage and PCMark Vantage respectively.
