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 According to HKEPC, AMD has quite simply canceled the release of the Athlon (X2) 6000 (formerly the Phenom X2) based on the Kuma core, the dual version of K10 architecture. Given the current performances of the Phenom X3 and the resulting positioning on the market, this in fact seems logical. An Athlon X2 5600B, still based on the G2 revision of the K8 "Brisbane" core, should soon be launched to ‘’plug holes’’ lower down the line.
The Phenom FX-80 65nm destined for monoprocessor PCs are also being done away with like the Phenom FX-90. On the other hand, the Phenom FX 45nm (Deneb "FX", second generation processor from the "Stars" family after the Barcelona) could be offered if there is a demand for this type of CPU, although not before 2009. |
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 While Intel’s interest in WiMAX isn’t too recent, the Californian company seems to want to move to the next level. After having unveiled a $500 million investment plan over 5 years in Taiwan for the deployment of this technology, it announces the launch of the Open Patent Alliance (OPA) which was just formed with Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Clearwire, Samsung and Sprint.
While the WiMAX Forum certifies interoperability and the WiMAX Spectrum Owners Alliance is looking to inform the industry and national regulatory agencies on the legitimacy of this technology, the new alliance will help participating companies to obtain the necessary licenses for offering products that adhere to the EEE 802.16e norm from these different manufacturers and for a predictable cost. Different solutions to do away with royalties will therefore be proposed and the WiMAX OPA will also serve as a central resource for anything related to WiMAX intellectual property. The first notebooks conceived with its integration are expected out in the second half of the year. |
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While we thought that the Bloomfield, a high end version of the Nehalem with DDR3 support on three channels and which fits into the Socket LGA 1366, would be reserved to "Extreme" and "Performance" segments for some time, the latest Intel roadmap says otherwise:
 Not only will it be found on part of the "Mainstream" segment but also it will arrive in the fourth quarter of this year.  Besides the frequency, the speed of the QuickPath Interconnect bus and DDR3 support will enable Intel to better differentiate its Extreme version. However, given the first very encouraging benchmarks of the model set at 2.66 GHz, this should be amply sufficient for some time. Also, note the appearance of a 45nm Core 2 Q8200 which will progressively replace the Q6600. As for the Core 2 Duos, they are on the entire "Mainstream" at least until the second quarter of 2009. We just have to wait and see when the Lynnfields and Havendale arrive, the mid/low level Nehalems, which were previously expected out in the first half of 2009. |
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 AMD has officially launched four new CPUs, the Opteron 2360 SE (2.5 GHz - $1165) and 2358 SE (2.4 GHz - $873) for dual processor platforms as well as the 8360 SE (2.5 GHz - $2149) and 8358 SE (2.4 GHz - $1865) for quad or octo processor configurations. These are now available and are notably found in HP, Sun, Dell and IBM servers.
Clearly, Opterons are now as fast as the Phenom X4 9750 and 9850 Black Edition. While the TDPs of these two CPUs are known (125W, and 95W for certain 9750s), AMD has not yet revealed those of the Opterons announced yesterday nor their ACP (Average CPU Power). |
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 General USB 3.0 specifications have been known for some time now and Intel has already carried out some public demonstrations; however, the final specifications, which are largely borrowed from another "open" standard, PCI Express, cannot be revealed before 2009 while the first USB 3.0 marked products are expected out next year.
AMD and Nvidia claim that Intel – which is developing this standard and will then give out free licenses – already has functional circuits but it is holding back crucial information concerning the "open" host controller although it is already or almost ready. This is supposedly to delay the arrival of USB 3.0 chipsets from its rivals. On the other side, the Santa Clara giant is saying that is still has some work to do on specifications before revealing them, without which the risk of incompatibility will be higher.
AMD, Nvidia, VIA and others in the industry are threatening to develop a common set of alternative specifications to USB 3.0 which will be introduced in parallel to those of Intel. The first meeting devoted to the subject is moreover planned for next week. Let’s just hope that it won’t go this far and that the different parties quickly find some common ground. Otherwise, a large number of USB 3.0 peripherals will have to rely on retro-compatibility with USB 2.0 to function with standard speeds introduced in April 2000. |
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