94251753
submission
MojoKid writes:
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the venerable ThinkPad laptop computer. It also happens to be the day Lenovo is taking the wraps off a new machine that was designed to commemorate the ThinkPad's birthday milestone. Lenovo's ThinkPad 25 Anniversary Edition is a retro revival of sorts, based on a more current ThinkPad T470 chassis. The laptop has a rubberized coating that does a nice job of resisting fingerprints. It also has one of Lenovo's classic keyboard designs that's comfortable as well as spacious. Key travel is cavernous, compared to some ultrabooks on the market these days, and the trackpad is also roomy with a satin finish. Lenovo also includes three different red TrackPoint caps with the machine, the eraser head style and two more textured caps, that are a bit larger, from previous models of days gone by. However, the retro ThinkPad 25 is powered by an Intel 7th gen Core i7 series processor, DDR4 RAM and an NVMe Solid State drive, along with a full complement of current generation laptop technology. The new/old ThinkPad 25 will retail starting at $1899.
94048881
submission
MojoKid writes:
Intel has officially launched its Skylake-X processor offering in response to AMD's Ryzen Threadripper series of desktop CPUs. The new Core i9-7980XE and Core i9-7960X are 18 and 16-core configurations respectively, with 2.6GHz and 2.8GHz base clocks and 4.4GHz max boost clocks. Both chips support Intel HyperThreading, with 36 threads of processing for the 7980XE and 32 for the 7960X, while both also have 44 lanes of PCI Express connectivity and support for DDR4-2666MHz memory. Both chips also utilize Intel's X299 chipset platform and are LGA 2066 socket compatible. The Core i9-7980XE has 24.75MB of shared L3 cache, 1MB of L2 cache per core, and a TDP of 165W. The Core i9-7960X's details are essentially same, though two processor cores and the cache associated with them have been lopped off. The Core i9-7960X has a couple of advantages, however, in that its base clock is 200MHz higher than the flagship Core i9-7980XE and it has higher all-core frequency boost to 3.6GHz, while the 7908XE tops out at 3.4GHz on all cores. The new chips are multi-threaded beasts in the benchmarks, posting the highest scores seen to date in heavily threaded workloads. They also offer strong single-threaded performance that outpaces AMD's Ryzen processors. Power consumption is surprisingly good as well and only marginally higher than the 10-core Core i9-7900X. However, at $1999 for the Core i9-7980XE and $1699 for the Core i9-7960X, as usual with Intel high-end chips, they're certainly not cheap.
93275633
submission
MojoKid writes:
KFC has a new employee training tool in the works that locks trainees, who want to learn to fry up chicken with the secret recipe, in a room and doesn't let them leave until they learn the process. The good news for trainees is that the room is virtual, but it is still doesn't make it any less weird. KFC released a trailer for the virtual training experience called "The Hard Way: A Virtual Reality Training Experience" and the fast food joint says that this will actually be used to train new workers. The training experience is said to be high on production value and more like a game than training. However, it does outline the basic steps for frying chicken. The trailer gives a horror/survival feel to the training episode set in a creepy office complete with a portrait of Colonel Sanders with eyes that blink. The VR training will be part of earning the "Chicken Mastery Certification." KFC's parent company, Yum! Brands, said in a press release about the VR project, "KFC will use the VR simulation to supplement its robust, multi-step employee training program, called Chicken Mastery Certification, which provides detailed eLearning and hands-on training for cooks in each of KFC's kitchens. KFC will provide yet another platform for training by bringing the VR simulation technology to its regional general manager training classes, quarterly franchise meetings, and employee onboarding."
92927645
submission
MojoKid writes:
In some recent discoveries, apparently Intel's Coffee Lake 8th generation Core series processors are not only going to usher in first the mainstream hexa-core chips, but also revamp the company's lower-end Core i3 family. According to a new leak, there will be at least two, quad-core, Core i3 Coffee Lake offerings on the way from Intel a model family that was previously comprised of only dual-cores. The first is the Core i3-8100, which will be a true quad-core part with a base frequency of 3.6GHz. It has 6MB of Intel Smart Cache, and a GPU clock of 1.1GHz. The more interesting chip, however, is the Core i3-8350K, which has a base clock of 4GHz, supports overclocking, features 8MB of Smart Cache, and a 1.15GHz GPU clock. In other Coffee Lake news, the yet to be formally announced Core i7-8700K has been spotted in the wild powering a gaming notebook with a base clock of 3.7GHz. This will represent the flagship of a three-SKU, six-core lineup. The 8700K will be joined by two other lesser models with base clocks of 3.2GHz (95W TDP) and 3.1GHz (65W TDP) respectively. These processors are expected to be announced on August 21st during Intel's Solar Eclipse event.
92638659
submission
MojoKid writes:
Apple has been ordered to feed a recognized patent troll hundreds of millions of dollars for infringing on a patent that has to do with technology built into its A-series mobile processors. Initially Apple was on the hook for $234 million, owed to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) after it won a patent dispute against the Cupertino tech giant. However, a judge this week more than doubled the fine by tacking on an additional $272 million. U.S District Judge William Conley in Madison ruled that Apple owed additional damages plus interest because it continued to infringe on the patent all the way up until it expired in 2016. WARF is reportedly a non-practicing entity that exists only currently by defending its patents in litigation. The lawsuit filed in 2014 involves U.S. Patent No. 5,871,752, which describes the use of a predictor circuit that can help processors run more efficiently. WARF claimed the technology was used in Apple's A7, A8, and A8X processors that power the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and various iterations of the iPad. Apple is not commenting on the matter, though it's being reported that Apple plans to fight and appeal the ruling.
92014129
submission
MojoKid writes:
A new flaw has been discovered that impacts Intel 6th and 7th Generation Skylake and Kaby Lake-based processors that support HyperThreading. The issue affects all OS types and is detailed by Intel errata documentation and points out that under complex micro-architectural conditions, short loops of less than 64 instructions that use AH, BH, CH or DH registers, as well as their corresponding wider register (e.g. RAX, EAX or AX for AH), may cause unpredictable system behavior, including crashes and potential data loss. The OCaml toolchain community first began investigating processors with these malfunctions back in January and found reports stemming back to at least the first half of 2016. The OCaml team was able pinpoint the issue to Skylake's HyperThreading implementation and notified Intel. While Intel reportedly did not respond directly, it has issued some microcode fixes since then. That's not the end of the story, however, as the microcode fixes need to be implemented into BIOS/UEFI updates as well and it is not clear at this time if all major vendors have included these changes in their latest revisions.
91916839
submission
MojoKid writes:
AMD just launched its new EPYC 7000 family of processors, based on its Zen architecture, for data center applications. Of course, Zen scales well for consumer desktop applications, as we've seen with AMD's successful Ryzen processor launch. However, the data center is near and dear to the AMD's heart, due to significantly higher chip pricing and better profit margins, not to mention the explosion of cloud computing, AI, etc. AMD gave a detailed picture of how its Zen-based EPYC 7000 processor line-up will flesh-out. There will be 32, 24, 16 and 8-core versions of EPYC CPUs that will comprise AMD's new server CPU stack for now, but all sport 128 lanes of PCIe connectivity and that same 8-channel DDR4 controller with official supported memory speeds of up to 2666MHz. Base frequencies of the chips clock in around the 2GHz mark with boost frequency topping out at 3.2GHz. The flagship is the AMD EPYC 7601 with 32 cores and 64 threads and the lineup scales down to the 8-core EPYC 7251 which also has all the same memory bandwidth and PCIe connectivity of the 32-core beasts. The common attributes of 8-channel DDR4 and 128 lanes of available PCIe expansion offer the platform an advantage versus Intel's current Xeon platforms and even its latest Xeon Scalable processor family where AMD could still have a core count advantage. In addition, if PCIe connectivity and memory channel support is similar to Intel's high-end Skylake-X platform, EPYC could have a significant advantage in both PCIe expansion and memory bandwidth. Initial performance benchmarks AMD is currently showcases shows performance advantages ranging from 20 — 70% versus Intel's current top-end Xeon platforms.
91916175
submission
Deathspawner writes:
After months (or even years) of anticipation, AMD has just launched its first EPYC server and datacenter processors, with 9 models set to launch over the next few months. AMD's top model, EPYC 7601, boasts 32 cores and 64 threads, while the smallest model, EPYC 7251, keeps things more modest at 8 cores and 16 threads. Fortunately for customers, every EPYC processor offers the same featureset, which includes AMD's entire security portfolio. That comes in addition to an eight-channel memory controller, and last but not least, 128 PCIe lanes per 1- or 2- socket system.
91809347
submission
MojoKid writes:
Intel announced its family of Xeon Scalable Processors in early May, featuring the Skylake-SP microarchitecture. Today the chip giant is revealing one of the key technologies being leveraged in the new CPU family, specifically a new mesh interconnect architecture that has been designed to increase bandwidth between on-chip elements, while simultaneously decreasing latency, and improving power efficiency and scalability. In previous-generation, many-core Xeon processors, Intel has used a ring interconnect architecture to link the CPU cores, cache, memory, and various I/O controllers on the chips. As the number of cores in the processors, and memory and I/O bandwidth has increased, however, it has become increasingly more difficult to achieve peak efficiency with a ring interconnect topology. The new mesh architecture addresses this limitation by interconnecting on-chip elements in a more pervasive way, to ultimately increase the number of pathways and improve the efficiency. Processor cores, on-chip cache banks, memory controllers, and I/O controllers are organized in rows and columns. Wires and switches connect the various on-chip elements and provide a more direct paths than the prior ring interconnect architecture. The nature of a mesh also allows for many more pathways to be implemented, which further minimizes bottlenecks, and also allows Intel to operate the mesh at a lower frequency and voltage, yet still deliver high bandwidth and low latency.
91280095
submission
MojoKid writes:
Samsung's Galaxy Book 12 was announced a few weeks back, sporting impressive specs for an ultralight convertible tablet hybrid, competitive with Microsoft's new Surface Pro. Systems are now beginning to ship and the first reviews of the device show performance in line with most mainstream ultrabooks, powered by the machine's Intel 7th gen Kaby Lake Core i5 series processor (the full 15 Watt version, not Kaby Lake-Y). The Galaxy Book 12 also sports a crisp FHD+ Super AMOLED display, with a 2160X1440 resolution, that just might be the nicest among hybrid 2-in-1 devices on the market currently. Its keyboard cover is a little too flimsy, however, made out of straight plastic, though its integrated trackpad is accurate and responsive. Samsung bundles the keyboard in with the device and it's a good thing because it's a little on the pricey side, starting at $1129 for a 128GB version with 4GB of RAM, and a 256GB storage version with 8GB of RAM for $1329. Samsung also bundles in its S Pen, which is arguably one of the better pen input systems out there for a hybrid device as well, offering 4096 points of accuracy and charging wirelessly via magnetic induction.
91130233
submission
MojoKid writes:
Today at its financial analyst day, AMD lifted the veil on a number of new products based on the company's Zen CPU architecture and next generation Vega GPU architecture. AMD CEO Lisa Su lifted a very large server chip in the air that the company now has branded EPYC. AMD is going for the jugular when it comes to comparisons with Intel's Xeon family, providing up to 128 PCI Express 3.0 lanes, which Su says "allows you to connect more GPUs directly to the CPU than any other solution in the industry." EPYC currently scales to 32 cores/64 threads per socket and supports up to 8-channel DDR4 memory (16 DIMMs per CPU, up to 4TB total memory support). AMD also confirmed the previously rumored ThreadRipper CPU, a 16-core/32-thread beast of a chip for the enthusiast desktop PC space. AMD's Raja Koduri, Senior Vice President and Chief Architect for Radeon Technologies Group, also unveiled Radeon Vega Frontier Edition, a workstation and pro graphics card targeted at VR content creation, visualization and machine learning. Radeon Vega Frontier Edition offers 13 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput, 25 TFLOPS of FP16 performance and is powered by 64 computer units and 16GB of HMB2 memory for about 480GB/sec of memory bandwidth. The cards are expected to ship in June but there was no word just yet on when consumer versions of Vega will hit. Finally, AMD also shared info on Ryzen Mobile, which will incorporate both the Zen CPU architecture and an integrated Vega GPU core. Compared to AMD's 7th generation APUs, AMD claims Ryzen Mobile will up CPU performance by 50 percent while offering 40 percent better graphics performance. AMD also claimed those gains will not come at the expense of battery life, with a 50 percent reduction in power consumption, which reportedly will pave the way for faster, longer lasting premium notebooks and 2-in-1 devices.
91116203
submission
MojoKid writes:
AMD's Ryzen processor line-up has put the company on much more equal footing with Intel in terms of X86 processor architecture. However, its Ryzen 7 and 5 families are likely only the beginning. AMD is rumored to be readying a Ryzen 9 series comprised of at least nine different SKUs spanning 10-core, 12-core, 14-core, and 16-core processor options, each one with quad-channel DDR4 memory support. The full lineup is related to previous rumors outlining AMD's plans to launch a new SP3r2 socket with 4,094 pins as part of its Whitehaven platform. It is a variant of the SP3 socket for AMD's forthcoming server-oriented Naples processors. While likely to be marketed and sold as Ryzen 9 processors, AMD's enthusiast chips are also referred to as ThreadRipper CPUs, a fitting name considering Ryzen's strong multi-threading performance. Reportedly the top chip will be the Ryzen 9 1998X and it will come clocked at 3.5GHz to 3.9GHz with 16 cores, 32 threads and a 155 Watt TDP. All of these processors are said to support 44 PCIe lanes. No word just yet on when these higher core count Ryzen chips will hit the market.
90863849
submission
MojoKid writes:
Intel unveiled information regarding a new Xeon processor family today, some of which will be based on the company's Skylake-SP architecture. Intel will have four levels of Xeon processors that scale with respect to feature support and core counts. Intel is calling it the Xeon Scalable Family and with Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum processors. Today, Xeon model names follow a fairly easy-to-understand format. Take for example the Xeon E5-4640 v4. "E5" in this case means that it is in the middle of Intel's current stack in terms of features and capabilities, where the "4" signifies use in a 4-socket system. Finally, the "v4" represents the architecture. With this change, a model like the one above would become Intel Xeon Gold 4640, as an example. Regardless, the chips will include support for AVX-512 instructions, QuickAssist and Volume Management Device (VMD) technologies that will take advantage of NVMe solid-state drives. The platform will also support complementary processing engines and IO technologies like Intel FPGAs, Xeon Phi accelerators and Silicon Photonics connectivity. Intel notes the processors will be arriving to market this summer.
90338527
submission
MojoKid writes:
Dell's XPS series of laptops have been garnering high praise of late, for their carbon fiber and machined aluminum design, along with Dell's near bezelless Infinity Edge display. Although the XPS 15, Dell's 15-inch variant, offered competitive performance compared to other ultrabooks in its class, historically it didn't have quite enough horsepower for much beyond occasional, casual gaming. Just recently, however, Dell revamped the machine with not only a quad-core Intel Kaby Lake processor option, but also NVIDIA's latest GeFore GTX 1050 mobile GPU. The result is that the Dell XPS 15 (9560) is one of the few 4-pound class ultrabooks on the market currently that is not only designed with a premium, thin and light build quality but it can also competently game in virtually any current generation title at 1080p with High image quality settings. It can even hit playable frame rates in a few games at 1440p. Finally, with a 97 Whr battery option available, battery life under standard non-gaming workloads has improved significantly as well.
90278041
submission
MojoKid writes:
Lately, Dell's XPS series of premium laptops has been meeting high praise for its carbon fiber and machined aluminum design, along with its near bezelless Infinity Edge display. Although the XPS 15, Dells 15-inch variant, offered competitive performance compared to other ultrabooks in its class, historically it just didn't have quite enough horsepower for much other than occasional casual gaming. Just recently, however, Dell revamped the machine with not only a quad-core Intel Kaby Lake processor option, but also NVIDIA's latest GeFore GTX 1050 mobile GPU. The result is that the Dell XPS 15 (9560) is one of the few 4-pound class ultrabooks on the market currently that is not only designed with a very premium build quality but it can also competently game in virtually any current generation title at 1080p with High image quality settings, even hitting playable frame rates in a few games at 1440p. Finally, with a 97 Whr battery option available (bringing the machine to 4.5 pounds), battery life under standard non-gaming workloads has improved significantly as well, even with its 4K panel option.
