GPU Clock Tool for the HD 58XXs Radeon HD 5870s announced The Core i7 goes mobile Intel engraving at 22 nm

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GPU Clock Tool for the HD 58XXs   Posted on 24/09/2009 at 16:49 by Marc

	While waiting for specialised software such as RivaTuner, those who receive their Radeon HD 5870 soon will be able to download version 0.9.26.0 of the AMD GPU Clock Tool utility. It allows you to overclock and monitor Radeon cards, particularly the new Radeon HD 5850 and 5870. For downloads, click here.

Radeon HD 5870s announced   Posted on 24/09/2009 at 15:42 by Marc

	As you'd expect, the release of the new ATI GPU, the Radeon HD 5870, is seeing graphics card manufacturers rushing to introduce their models. Don’t get too excited if you’re hoping to see any great variety as the first cards on offer are, as usual, standard ATIs with standard cooling systems and clocks: 850/850/2400 MHz for the HD 5870 and 725/725/2000 MHz for the HD 5850 for core, shaders and memory. The quantity of GDDR5 is also standard: 1 GB for Radeon 5870 and 5850 models. Sapphire is however the exception that proves the rule, with the manufacturer already announcing the Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X in addition to its stock models. It hasn’t given too many details yet, except that it has an adapted Vapor-X cooler on a stock PCB. Asus also stands out just a wee bit with a card that is in every way similar to the stock design but delivered with the Voltage Tweak option. This allows you to vary GPU and memory voltage via the Smart Doctor utility. Asus has announced that the GPU on the HD 5870 can go from 1.15V to 1.35V and attain 1035 MHz (instead of 850 MHz), with the DDR5 going up to 2600 MHz. On the 5850 you can apparently go from 1.088V to 1.4V and from 725 MHz to 1050 MHz for the GPU, as against 2600 MHz for the memory. We don’t yet know however if these clocks are guaranteed or if they’ve been given for information purposes only. HIS also has cards out but they’re more standard with both the HD 5870 and HD 5850 delivered with the game Dirt 2. Gigabyte has taken the opportunity to invent two code names: the GV-R585D5-1GD-B and GV-R587D5-1GD-B that are an HD 5850 an HD 5870 respectively. MSI also are offering the R5850-PM2D1G and R5870-PM2D1G. Powercolor already have three models available for each version: the card alone, with a coupon for downloading Dirt 2 or with an HDMI cable. Last but lot least, XFX have also announced their Radeon HD 5870 and 5850 that are identical to the other cards, with no specific bundle. No prices have been given yet and the various models are likely to ressemble each other for some time before we can give you any more colourful info. The good news is that the manufacturers have retained the stock cooling system (excepting Sapphire with its Vapor-X option), that we know gives good performance.

The Core i7 goes mobile   Posted on 24/09/2009 at 10:11 by Marc

	Intel has announced the first mobile processors based on Nehalem architecture, the Core i7 Mobiles. Previously codenamed “Clarksfield”, these processors are in fact simply the transposition to socket rPGA988A of the Lynnfields recently launched on the LGA1156 platform. As with the Lynnfields, you get the 4 core Nehalem architecture with hyperthreading assisted by 8 MB of L3 cache, a double channel DDR3-1333 memory controller and a 16 lane PCI-Express 2.0 controller. The PM55 Express takes care of the same functions as a P55 Express. For the moment Intel is bringing out 3 processors, the 920XM, the 820 QM and the 720QM with TDPs of 55, 45 and 45 watts. On the 720QM, there is only 6 MB of L3. Here are the specs in comparison to the Lynnfield processors: As you can see, Intel has really gone for it with the Turbo on the Core i7 Mobiles, with a maximum gain of between 1.2 and 1.3 GHz with a single active core. To recap, Turbo is a technology that increases the clock of active cores within the limits of TDP. The other thing to notice is that the Xeon L3426 does better in all respects than the Core i7-820QM (both clock and TDP), at almost half the price. In view of the energy consumption levels on the Core i7 Mobiles, they will be more at home in transportable computers than veritable mobile devices, so much so that they may well be in competition with machines using desktop components, in which case the Xeon could well eclipse them. Although the Core i7 Mobiles have no real competition on the laptop processor market in terms of pure performance, we’ll have to wait for the Arrandale, a dual core 32 nm model, to truly respond to market needs in terms of energy consumption. It is planned for 2010, at the same time as it is rolled out for desktops under the name Clarckdale.

Intel engraving at 22 nm   Posted on 24/09/2009 at 08:46 by Marc

	Intel took advantage of IDF to show off a wafer of SRAM chips engraved at 22 nm. These are the first working chips to be seen based on this engraving and as usual, SRAM is being used to usher it in. No less than 2.9 billion transistors are built onto these chips. If everything happens as planned, the first processors using this technology should see the light of day in the course of 2011. In accordance with Intel’s “tic-toc”, there will be a die-shrink of the Sandy Bridge architecture which will be introducted at 32 nm next year.