New details are emerging about Microsoft's next-generation video games console, which will be called the XBox 720. Don't let the number fool you: the 720's processor will be six times, not twice, as fast as the one in the Xbox 360.
Sources told IGN that production of the Xbox 360's GPU will begin by the end of this year. Delivery of the system itself is scheduled for the fall of 2013. No pricing has been projected yet.
Microsoft released the Xbox 360 in late 2005, so for many, a refresh of its aging console is long overdue. It has been a massive success: as of January 9, 2012, 66 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide. The Xbox 360 gave Microsoft some headaches, however, with reliability issues such as "The Red Ring of Death."
The Xbox 720 processor will be based on AMD's 6000 series GPU, rather than its 7000 series GPU, as had been rumored earlier. The 6000 series was introduced last year.
It will be similar to AMD's Radeon HD 6670, with multidisplay output as well as DirectX 11, 3D, and 1080p HD support. The HD 6670 runs at a market price of $79.99 and up, currently.
That much power will give the Xbox 720 six times the current graphics processing power of the Xbox 360, as well as an estimated 20 percent higher performance than Nintendo's forthcoming console, the Wii U. The Wii U is currently expected to arrive in 2H 2012, which should mean close to a year in terms of a Nintendo on-shelf advantage.
Nintendo's upcoming Wii 2 (or whatever it will finally be called) is going to be built by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the parent company of Foxconn, which makes iDevices as well as other electronics for many companies besides Apple, according to a report in the Taiwan Economic News.
Already known to be an HD-ready video gaming console, with specs that should meet or surpass those of its competitors, the Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Sony PlayStation 3, the Wii 2 will supposedly feature AMD’s new Radeon R700 GPU.
Interestingly, Nintendo, which has done well selling a somewhat under-whelming (hardware specification wise) with an innovative controller, great games, and a lower price, is rumored to sell the new Wii 2 between $350 and $450, which is much more expensive than the current Wii (which originally sold at $250 and will soon receive a price cut to $150).
Nintendo earlier said it will show off a playable model of the Wii 2 at E3, slated for June 7 - 9 in Los Angeles. According to the report, Nintendo will begin promote its next-generation gaming console, worldwide, in mid-October or early November.
NVIDIA and AMD are competitors in the GPU market, that's no secret, and they have their own competing multi-GPU technologies (SLI and CrossFireX) as well. Until now, NVIDIA has only licensed SLI on Intel motherboards, but that's changed, as of now.
In their blog post, NVIDIA says "You asked for it, you got it: SLI for AMD." They go on to give some history in the matter. There was, as NVIDIA notes, a time when AMD overtook Intel as the gamers' choice for CPUs, but that prominence fell by the wayside as Intel fought back. However, as NVIDIA said,
However, we’ve been recently hearing chants of “SLI for AMD CPUs”, and figured that now is a great time to do it. After all, we want to make sure gamers can benefit from the new CPU competitive landscape and ensure they have NVIDIA SLI – the highest performance, most stable multi-GPU solution - to game on! According to Steam, 93% of all multi-GPU systems in use today use SLI.
So today, we are pleased to announce that SLI has been licensed to the world’s leading motherboard companies for integration onto their upcoming motherboards featuring AMD’s 990FX, 990X and 970 chipsets. ASUS, Gigabyte, ASRock, and MSI are among the first motherboard manufacturers to offer this new capability, with more coming on board shortly.
It's a good time for NVIDIA to do this, in fact. It's no longer in the chipset business, and AMD's Llano and Bulldozer-based processors are said to be competitive with Intel's Sandy Bridge. More choice certainly can't hurt the consumer.
There comes a time in each parent's life when they have to have "the talk" with their children. Sometimes, this video shows, the talk it not necessarily about the facts of life.
In this case, the video below shows "the talk" about desktop video cards. The foolish son is looking at an NVIDIA card when the video begins, but the father wants him to use an AMD Radeon HD 6990 video card (which has 2 GPUs and super-keen overclocking potential, the video says) instead.
"I thought I raised you better than this," the father says. In addition, don't forget, that "using an inferior graphics card can make you go blind," the video warns.
Interestingly, despite the fact that overclocking is made part of the video, in a "keen" way, the video ends by warning that damage caused by overclocking is not covered by a user's AMD warranty, even if the overclocking is enabled by AMD software.
Apple updated its MacBook Pro line on Thursday, Feb. 24, as expected, with (also as expected) Intel's new Sandy Bridge processors and Intel's new Light Peak (dubbed Thunderbolt by Apple) I/O technology. Those were the major updates expected to arrive on Apple's MacBook Pro line.
In addition, NVIDIA's graphics are out of the picture, so to speak, with the new MBPs having switchable intergrated graphics combined with a discrete AMD GPU (except for the 13-inch model; it has only integrated graphics). As expected there are five new models, 2 13-inch models, 2 15-inch models, and a 17-inch model.
Apple includes Facetime on the new MBPs. At the same time, the program has exited beta in the Mac App Store and is now $0.99 there. The new MacBook Pros feature FaceTime HD cameras.
The new Light Peak (Thunderbolt) Intel technology promises up to 100Gbps transfer rates (in the future) with 10Gbps for now, twice that of USB 3.0. The port shares duties as a mini DisplayPort interface, as well. Aside from that, and the SD card slot now supporting SDXC, connectivity options are unchanged.
Base RAM levels remain the same, but Apple has upgraded them to using 1333MHz chips instead of the 1066MHz chips from the last generation. Base pricing also remains the same, for the 13-inch and 15-inch models at least, at $1,199 and $1,799 respectively. The 17-inch model's base price returns to the $2,499 level of 2009, up $200 from 2010.
Apple Updates MacBook Pro with Next Generation Processors, Graphics & Thunderbolt I/O Technology
CUPERTINO, California—February 24, 2011—Apple® today updated the industry-leading MacBook® Pro family with next generation processors and graphics, high-speed Thunderbolt I/O technology and a new FaceTime® HD camera. Featuring the very latest dual-core and quad-core Intel Core processors, the entire MacBook Pro line is up to twice as fast as the previous generation.*
“The new MacBook Pro brings next generation dual and quad Core processors, high performance graphics, Thunderbolt technology and FaceTime HD to the great design loved by our pro customers,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Thunderbolt is a revolutionary new I/O technology that delivers an amazing 10 gigabits per second and can support every important I/O standard which is ideal for the new MacBook Pro.”
Starting at $1,199 the new 13-inch MacBook Pro offers amazing value and performance in a compact design. The highly portable 13-inch MacBook Pro features Intel Core i5 and Core i7 dual-core processors up to 2.7 GHz and Intel HD Graphics 3000. The powerful 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro models feature quad-core Core i7 processors up to 2.3 GHz and AMD Radeon HD graphics processors with up to 1GB of video memory for high performance gaming, pro video editing and graphics intensive applications.
MacBook Pro is the first computer on the market to include the groundbreaking Thunderbolt I/O technology. Developed by Intel with collaboration from Apple, Thunderbolt enables expandability never before possible on a notebook computer. Featuring two bi-directional channels with transfer speeds up to an amazing 10Gbps each, Thunderbolt delivers PCI Express directly to external high performance peripherals such as RAID arrays, and can support FireWire and USB consumer devices and Gigabit Ethernet networks via adapters. Thunderbolt also supports DisplayPort for high resolution displays and works with existing adapters for HDMI, DVI and VGA displays. Freely available for implementation on systems, cables and devices, Thunderbolt technology is expected to be widely adopted as a new standard for high performance I/O.
The MacBook Pro now includes a built-in FaceTime HD camera with triple the resolution of the previous generation for crisp, widescreen video calls. With Apple’s innovative FaceTime video calling software, the new camera allows high definition video calls between all new MacBook Pro models and supports standard resolution calls with other Intel-based Macs, iPhone® 4 and the current generation iPod touch®. FaceTime is included with all new MacBook Pro models and is available for other Intel-based Macs from the Mac® App Store℠ for 99 cents. The MacBook Pro lineup continues to feature its gorgeous aluminum unibody enclosure, glass Multi-Touch™ trackpad, LED-backlit widescreen display, illuminated full-size keyboard and 7-hour battery.**
As the industry’s greenest notebook lineup, every Mac notebook achieves EPEAT Gold status and meets Energy Star 5.0 requirements, setting the standard for environmentally friendly notebook design.*** Each unibody enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and comes standard with energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. Mac notebooks contain no brominated flame retardants, are PVC-free and are constructed with recyclable materials.
Every Mac comes with Mac OS® X Snow Leopard®, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife®, Apple’s innovative suite of applications for creating and sharing great photos, movies and music. Snow Leopard builds on more than a decade of innovation and includes multiple features for portable computing such as Multi-Touch navigation, advanced wireless networking, easy file sharing, automated data backup and intelligent power management. The new iLife ’11 features iPhoto® with stunning full screen views for browsing, editing and sharing photos; iMovie® with powerful easy-to-use tools to transform home videos into fun theatrical trailers; and GarageBand® with new ways to improve your playing and create great sounding songs.
Pricing & Availability
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro, 15-inch MacBook Pro and 17-inch MacBook Pro are available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The 13-inch MacBook Pro is available in two configurations: one with a 2.3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 and 320GB hard drive starting at $1,199; and one with a 2.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 and 500GB hard drive starting at $1,499. The new 15-inch MacBook Pro is available in two models: one with a 2.0 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, AMD Radeon HD 6490M and 500GB hard drive starting at $1,799 and one with a 2.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, AMD Radeon HD 6750M and 750GB hard drive starting at $2,199. The new 17-inch MacBook Pro features a 2.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, AMD Radeon HD 6750M and 750GB hard drive and is priced at $2,499.
Configure-to-order options include faster quad-core processors up to 2.3 GHz, additional hard drive capacity up to 750GB, solid state storage up to 512GB, more memory up to 8GB DDR3, antiglare and high-resolution display options and AppleCare® Protection Plan. Additional technical specifications and configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at www.apple.com/macbookpro.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, first officially unveiled in a Super Bowl ad, but leaked all over the Web prior to that, has finally seen its actual detailing at Mobile World Congress. Considering the months of leaks, it seems like it should already be ready for launch, not just an announcement.
The Xperia Play will have the following hardware specifications, much of which was already known:
1 GHz Scorpion ARM v7 CPU and embedded Adreno GPU with 60 fps playback and 3D mobile gaming
Up to 5 hours, 35 minutes of single session continuous gameplay
Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
4-inch display with 480 x 854 resolution
Weighs 175 g (6.17 ounces)
5 MP rear camera (no front-facing camera listed in press release, but assumed by some sources)
512 MB RAM
8 GB microSD included, supports up to 32 GB, 400 MB internal memory
Horizontal slider with buttons similar to the PSP
The first Playstation Certified device – access to Playstation game content
Android Cloud to Device messaging (C2DM)
Talk time on 3G: 6 hours 25 minutes
Sony Ericsson's Timescape UI layer.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play will begin shipping in March. In their press conference, Sony Ericsson mentioned the US will be one of the first markets to receive the device, with Verizon Wireless launching it first sometime in early Spring.
No pricing was given. However, there are a number of videos embedded below, and you can read the full (and extremely long) press release here.
It's begun. NVIDIA has finally begun accepting claims in the class-action settlement from late last year regarding defective laptop GPUs.
The issue affected a number of Dell, HP, and Apple laptops, and spread across what can only be called a huge number of different models. The statement NVIDIA made on July 2nd, 2008 admitted the issue, and that the company was taking a $150 - $200 million charge to cover:
... anticipated customer warranty, repair, return, replacement and other consequential costs and expenses arising from a weak die/packaging material set in certain versions of our previous generation MCP and GPU products used in notebook systems. All newly manufactured products and all products currently shipping in volume have a different and more robust material set.
Among the symptoms exhibited by affected systems were:
Distorted or scrambled video on the notebook computer screen
No video on the notebook computer screen even when the notebook computer is on
Random characters, lines or garbled images on the notebook computer screen
The settlement has been approved by a California court, and the company began accepting claims on Jan. 13 for repairs, replacements or reimbursements at a dedicated website. The deadline for submissions is March 14th.
If you've already had your computer repaired and have the documents to prove it, NVIDIA has set up a $2 million pool to be divided among consumers. On the other hand, if you have been sitting waiting with a defective GPU keeping your laptop out of action, and you have a Dell or Apple MacBook Pro, you can get the faulty GPUs replaced free of charge. HP owners, on the other hand, will get a replacement system (as parts to repair the old systems are no longer available).
Owners of HP laptops will receive a Compaq Presario CQ50 notebook computer, while netbooks will be replaced with an Asus EEE T101MT-EU17-BK.
The affected compuer models are listed here. They even include gaming models such as the Dell XPS M1710 and M1730.
The latest retailer to see its Black Friday 2010 deals leak via the Web is actually primarily an e-tailer. It is Dell, and as you might expect, the ad centers around laptops, desktops, and electronics.
Dell is advertising doorbusters, although there are actually no doors to be busted. However, the e-value codes in the ad are necessary to get the doorbuster deals, which can be as much as 90 percent off, during the first 24 hours of the Black Friday sale. The sale runs from Black Friday through Sunday.
Among the deals:
Dell Streak, $299 with two-year AT&T commitment, receive a $150 promo card
Dell Inspiron 15R, Intel Core i3-370M CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB HD, Windows 7 Home Premium, $579.99
Dell Inspiron 17R, Intel Core i3-370M CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB HD, Windows 7 Home Premium, Blu-ray player, $649.99
Move over, Cray. Cray supercomputers have frequently held the title of the world's fastest supercomputer, but the company has some work to do. The new owner of that title resides in China.
The newest world's fastest supercomputer titleholder was unveiled Thursday at the Annual Meeting of National High Performance Computing (HPC China 2010) in Beijing. Dubbed Tianhe-1A, set a performance record of 2.507 petaflops, as measured by the LINPACK benchmark, and as compared to performance data submitted for the June 2010 Top500 list.
The next revision of the Top 500 list isn't official until Nov. 1. However, the keeper of that list, Jack Dongarra, a University of Tennessee computer scientist, told the New York Times that the Tianhe-1A "blows away the existing No. 1 machine. We don’t close the books until Nov. 1, but I would say it is unlikely we will see a system that is faster."
Indeed, the last world's fastest supercomputer, the U.S. Department of Energy's Cray XT5 Jaguar in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is definltely far behind. It topped the list issued in June at 1.75 petaflops per second.
The new world's fastest supercomputer reported took 200 Chinese engineers two years to build, at a cost of more than $88 million. Designed by China's National University of Defense Technology, and it is housed in 103 refrigerated cabinets in China's National Center for Supercomputing, in the northern port city of Tianjin.
Tianhe-1A took 200 engineers two years to build at cost $88 million. It occupies 103 cabinets that weigh 155 tons. The system certainly cannot be considered green: it uses 4.04 megawatts of electricity. The Tianhe-1A was designed by the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) in China, and is located in the northern port city of Tianjin.
Mark Seager, chief technology officer for computing at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, told Wall Street Journal that "It's definitely a game changer in the high-performance market. "This is a phase transition, representative of the shift of economic competitiveness from the West to the East." That said, the new world's fastest supercomputer owes its performance, at least in part, to some U.S. technology.
The Tianhe-1A system uses 7,168 NVIDIA Tesla M2050 GPUs and 14,336 CPUs. Guangming Liu, chief of National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin said that "The performance and efficiency of Tianhe-1A was simply not possible without GPUs. The scientific research that is now possible with a system of this scale is almost without limits; we could not be more pleased with the results." So, at last the U.S. can be somewhat happy that it took NVIDIA parts to create the newest version of the world's fastest supercomputer.
NVIDIA certainly is, but despite that, this is probably only a small degree of comfort to Western technologists.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 opened its public beta with a splash on Wednesday, but more than have the PCs in the world can't currently run it. That's because IE9 uses the Direct2D API, to accelerate content rendering with your GPU, and therein lies the rub: Direct2D is only on Windows Vista and later OSes.
That means, Microsoft told the Register, that you won't be able to get IE9 on Windows XP. Based on last month's Net Applications data, Windows XP ran on 52.1 percent of all Windows PCs used to browse the Web last month, while Vista accounted for 27 percent and Windows 7 for 20.8 percent. That's in the U.S., and XP has a greater share outside America.
Chrome and Firefox are still able to leverage HW acceleration on XP because they use different methods. Chrome implements uses OpenGL graphics APIs for rendering; Firefox uses an intermediate layer to work with DirectX 9 and OpenGL.
Of course, the current release of IE9 is a beta, and it will take time to reach release status. During that time, Windows XP market share will drop, as it has been. Still, it seems a poor move on Microsoft's part to exclude so many current users, particularly outside the U.S., where migration to a new OS takes longer.
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