CeBIT: release date of the R600? CeBIT : Yorkfield, Wolfdale and (in)compatibility CeBIT: AMD Quad Core, AM2 compatibility CeBIT: AMD to cut prices next April 9 CeBIT: 1200 Watts what for? CeBIT : OCZ DDR2-1400 CeBIT: Zalman to release ventilated Reserator CeBIT: GeForce 8600 and 8500 performances CeBIT: watercooling for GeForce 8950 GX2

Mars 2007 L M M J V S D 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 You can read previous news using our archives. [ Print all news of this day ]

<< Previous day's news March 16, 2007

Next day of news >> March 19, 2007

CeBIT: release date of the R600?   Posted on 17/03/2007 at 23:12 by Marc

	One of the brand selling ATI's products gave us more information regarding the release of R600, or X2900, if we use the commercial name. According to the documents that we saw, the evaluation samples of the Catseye 102-B600 delivered to ATI's clients and corresponding to the X2900 XT with 512 MB of GDDR3 memory, are scheduled to be released in March 22 (even if ATI has already sent demonstration computers to each manufacturer to show them to their own clients). As usual now for high end models, ATI will deliver cards produced by subcontractors and the first deliveries of the final product are scheduled for the 21rst of April. The availability for end users will be at the same time as the product release, early May, the time for manufacturers to stick their logos, put the cards in boxes, and ship them. The same document speaks of the Dragonshead 2 102-B007, or X2900 XTX, featuring 1 GB of DDR4 memory. Release dates are similar to the samples, 22nd of March, but the final products are expected May 1rst and mass availability mid-May. However, as another manufacturer told us that this card might not even be released, we don’t know really who is right and who isn't!

CeBIT : Yorkfield, Wolfdale and (in)compatibility   Posted on 17/03/2007 at 22:48 by Marc

	If some motherboard manufacturers such as ASUSTeK and Gigabyte told us that they couldn't give us any information regarding the possibility of using future Intel 45nm dual core and quad core processors (the Wolfdale and Yorkfield) with current motherboards, other sources told us that it wouldn't be possible. Officially, only the chipsets of the Bearlake series, including the P35 and G33 to be released in June, will be compatible and it is likely that this will also be the case of older chipsets if motherboards based on these chipsets are modified. Of course, we will have to verify this info in practice when manufacturers will have samples available. Intel will officially release processors using 45 nm process early 2008, but we are expecting the first quad core extreme edition samples at the end of 2007.

CeBIT: AMD Quad Core, AM2 compatibility   Posted on 17/03/2007 at 22:35 by Marc

	Those who were expecting demonstrations of AMD quad core processors at CeBIT must have been quite pleased to see that not a single processor was in sight. Nevertheless, AMD spoke of the release of quad core processors: the Barcelona for servers scheduled to be released mid-2007 and the Agena for desktop which will be available in September. We were unable, however, to find other information than the official ones and the processor frequencies, 2.1 to 2.3 GHz for the Barcelona and 2.4 to 2.6 GHz for the Agena, haven't been confirmed. Also, if no specific indications were given about the desktop performances, AMD speaks, of course, of higher performances than Intel's products. The good news is the compatibility of AM2+ quad core processors with current AM2 motherboards. Indeed, according to AMD but also a well known motherboard manufacturer, this compatibility will be effective. A motherboard with an AM2 socket will be compatible with AM2 and AM2+ CPU and vice versa. Also, according to the same manufacturer, future AM3 processors using 45nm fabrication process and compatible with DDR2 and DDR3 will be compatible with current motherboards. AM2 and AM2+ processors will not, however, be compatible with AM3 motherboards as the latter is restricted to DDR3. Of course, with AM2 sockets, future AM2+ quad core processors will not express their full potential: they will not work with HyperTransport 3.0 but with 1.0, and the distinct voltage between the cores and the memory controller will not be possible. There is one question left: under those circumstances why AMD doesn't communicate more on the upgrade possibilities?

CeBIT: AMD to cut prices next April 9   Posted on 17/03/2007 at 21:44 by Marc

	6 months after the release of the Core2, AMD finally cut prices to be more competitive compared to Intel's offer. After the first price reductions of January 22 and February 12, the information collected at CeBIT show that the father of the Athlon will, once more, cut price next April 9! An interesting point is that this isn't a simple price reduction to meet prices announced by Intel next April 22. If the 4400+ (170$) and 4600+ (195$) are currently chosen by AMD to compete with the E6300 (183$), after the price cuts of both AMD and Intel, the E6300/6320, priced $163, will be right between the Athlon 64 X2 5000+ and 5200+.

CeBIT: 1200 Watts what for?   Posted on 17/03/2007 at 01:10 by Marc

	After Enermax and their computer requiring 1000 watts, Thermaltake has built up a configuration to show the capacities of their 1,200 watts power supply. This configuration requires 1,105 watts… the only problem is that only 605.5 watts are really used by the computer and the remaining 500 watts are by the amplifier and the speakers… but who does connect these devices to its computer? We could justify 2,500 Watts power supplies by connecting a deep fryer, but it isn't the point… On the side of this demonstration, the manufacturer presented their 1,500 watts power supply and a model specific to graphic cards providing 650 watts (we don’t really see the point of this one too). Unlike the 450 watts models released by TT but also Fortron and fitting in 5"1/4 bays this one requires two bays.

CeBIT : OCZ DDR2-1400   Posted on 17/03/2007 at 01:09 by Marc

	In the memory manufacturers MHz race, OCZ announced a new product: the PC2-11200 FLEX-XLC. Available within the next two weeks, for "only" $650, this set of 2x1 GB of DDR2 is capable of running at 700 MHz with timings of 5-6-6 at 2.35V. OCZ confirmed that these were Micron D9 chips but that only a few modules were able to support these specifications (less than 2%). Like the FLEX-XLC lien, these modules have radiators that can be connected to water-cooling systems.

CeBIT: Zalman to release ventilated Reserator   Posted on 17/03/2007 at 01:08 by Marc

	A CeBIT, Zalman has presented the Reserator XT. This solution, of the size of a mini computer, is announced as being more performing. The reason for that is that it has an active cooling system using a 140mm fan in compensation to the smaller dissipation surface. The latter runs at 500 to 2000 Rpm and the noise level produced oscillates between 22 to 34 dBA. 3 monitors are included to show the temperature, transfer rate and fan speed. Additionally to an automatic mode, the fan speed is also adjustable in manually but we regret that the flow rate is linked to the fan speed and that they aren't independent. The Reserator XT dimensions are 21x35x18cm, it weights 5kg and contains 1 liter of cooling liquid. It will be available during the second quarter at $400 approximately.

CeBIT: GeForce 8600 and 8500 performances   Posted on 17/03/2007 at 01:05 by Marc

	We have obtained some information on performances of middle line and entry level GeForce 8: the GeForce 8600 GTS, 8600 GT and 8500 GT. These performances are restricted to 3DMark 06 and have to be put into perspective since the benchmark isn't always representative of performances in games. With the same platform, if an 8800 GTX would obtain 11900 points, a GeForce 8600 GTS would obtain 7000 points or an identical score to the Radeon X1950 XTX. The GeForce 8600 GT with 5800 points would be slightly faster than the Radeon X1950 Pro and GeForce 7950 GT whereas the GeForce 8500 GT (2800 points) would be a little less performing than the Radeon X1650 Pro. We noted that, for once, Nvidia has given a higher number to the entry level (based on G86). The card name is GeForce 8500 and not "GeForce 8200". Let's hope that this new approach isn't made to rename old products in GeForce 8xxx or have more entry level products and even less performing GeForce 8…

CeBIT: watercooling for GeForce 8950 GX2   Posted on 17/03/2007 at 00:56 by Damien

	Alpha Cool presented at CeBIT a cooling system based on water-cooling for GeForce 8950 GX2, a graphic card based on two GeForce 8 with double PCB like the GeForce 7950 GX2. The manufacturer assured us that the design was already functional and that it will be available as soon as the card will be released. Twintech is one of the manufacturers who could be interested by this new device since the company is planning on releasing higher end products such as card using water cooling systems and GeForce 8800 chips. Alpha Cool presented a very thin water-cooling system for current GPUs as you can see on the picture. The manufacturer hasn't communicated any information regarding the technology employed since it is waiting for the patent application to be filed but has insisted on the fact that it doesn't slows down water.