52903179
submission
crookedvulture writes:
This season's recent string of graphics card launches continues with the Radeon R9 270. AMD's latest mid-range contender has a $179 asking price, and it comes with a free copy of Battlefield 4. It's also fast enough to play the game at 1080p resolution with ultra details. Like the bulk of AMD's new Radeons, the 270 isn't based on a new chip; it's just another spin on the Pitcairn GPU behind last year's Radeon HD 7870, this time with a tighter power envelope. But the new Radeon still delivers a smoother gaming experience than equivalent the GeForce, with lower frame latencies and higher FPS averages. And, unlike AMD's latest Hawaii-based Radeon R9 290 and 290X, the R9 270 is no louder than the competition. Speaking of rivals, the similarly priced GeForce GTX 660 has been around for more than a year. Nvidia may counter with an update of its own, just like it did with the GeForce GTX 780 Ti. The back and forth battle between the two graphics giants continues to deliver great value for gamers. As the next-gen consoles approach, it feels increasingly like PC gamers have it better than ever.
52646473
submission
crookedvulture writes:
The back and forth battle for PC graphics supremacy is quite a thing to behold. Last week, Nvidia cut GeForce prices in response to the arrival of AMD's latest Radeons. That move caused AMD to rejigger its plans for the new Radeon R9 290, which debuted today with a higher default fan speed and faster performance than originally planned. This $399 card offers almost identical performance to AMD's flagship R9 290X for $150 less. Indeed, it's often faster than Nvidia's $1000 GeForce Titan. But the 290 also consumes a lot more power, and its fan spins up to 49 decibels under load. Fortunately, the acoustic profile isn't too grating. Radeon R9 290 isn't the only new graphics card due this week, either. Nvidia is scheduled to unveil its GeForce GTX 780 Ti on November 7, and that card could further upset the balance at the high end of the GPU market. As AMD and Nvidia trade blows, PC gamers seem to be the ones who benefit.
51697247
submission
crookedvulture writes:
The first reviews of AMD's Radeon R7 and R9 graphics cards have hit the web, revealing cards based on the same GPU technology used in the existing HD 7000 series. The R9 280X is basically a tweaked variant of the Radeon HD 7970 GHz priced at $300 instead of $400, while the R9 270X is a revised version of the Radeon HD 7870 for $200. Thanks largely to lower prices, the R9 models compare favorably to rival GeForce offerings, even if there's nothing exciting going on at the chip level. There's more intrigue with the Radeon R7 260X, which shares the same GPU silicon as the HD 7790 for only $140. Turns out that graphics chip has some secret functionality that's been exposed by the R7 260X, including advanced shaders, simplified multimonitor support, and a TrueAudio DSP block dedicated to audio processing. AMD's current drivers support the shaders and multimonitor mojo in the 7790 right now, and a future update promises to unlock the DSP. The R7 260X isn't nearly as appealing as the R9 cards, though. It's slower overall than not only GeForce 650 Ti Boost cards from Nvidia, but also AMD's own Radeon HD 7850 1GB. We're still waiting on the Radeon R9 290X, which will be the first graphics card based on AMD's next-gen Hawaii GPU.
51541937
submission
crookedvulture writes:
Seagate's solid-state hybrid drives have finally made it to the desktop. The latest generation of SSHDs debuted with a 2.5" notebook model that was ultimately hampered by its slow 5,400-RPM spindle speed. The Desktop SSHD has the same 8GB flash payload and Adaptive Memory caching scheme. However, it's equipped with 2TB of much faster 7,200-RPM mechanical storage. The onboard flash produces boot and load times only a little bit slower than those of full-blown SSDs. It also delivers quicker response times than traditional hard drives. That said, the relatively small cache is overwhelmed by some benchmarks, and its mechanical sidekick isn't as fast as the best traditional hard drives. The price premium is a little high, too: an extra $30 for the 1TB model and $40 for the 2TB variant, which is nearly enough to buy a separate 32GB SSD. Seagate's software-independent caching system works with any operating system and hardware platform, so it definitely has some appeal. But dual-drive setups are probably the better solution for most desktop users.
50863953
submission
crookedvulture writes:
Nvidia has already produced a gaming handheld based on its quad-core Tegra 4 SoC. Today, the company announced plans to build a 7" Tegra Note tablet that uses the same chip. Rather than selling the tablet itself, Nvidia will make the device available through parters like EVGA and PNY. Asking price: $199. That seems a little steep given the Tegra Note's 1280x800 display resolution, which delivers a much lower PPI than the 1080p panel in the latest Nexus 7. But the Tegra Note does have some perks, including front-facing speakers, Micro HDMI output, microSD expansion, and an optional stylus. The tablet also boasts a fancy camera that taps into the Tegra chip's photography engine. Nvidia promises to keep the device updated with the latest versions of Android, too. You can expect to see the Tegra Note for sale worldwide in the next few months.
50555867
submission
crookedvulture writes:
Bay Trail has its first convertible design win. Intel's newest SoC will be available in Asus' Transformer Book T100, which combines a 10.1" Windows 8.1 tablet with a keyboard dock that includes a gesture-friendly touchpad and USB 3.0 connectivity. The tablet is powered by an Atom Z3740 processor with quad cores clocked at up to 1.8GHz—600MHz slower than the Z3770 chip benchmarked by the press. The screen has a relatively low 1366x768 resolution, but at least the IPS panel delivers wide viewing angles. Asus clearly intends the T100 to be an entry level device; the 32GB version is slated to sell for just $349, and the 64GB one will cost only 50 bucks more. Those prices include the keyboard dock and a copy of Microsoft Office Home & Student 2013. They also bring Windows 8 convertibles down to truly budget territory, completing the collision between tablets and netbooks.
50444419
submission
crookedvulture writes:
Seagate has begun shipping hard drives based on a new technology dubbed Shingled Magnetic Recording. SMR, as it's called, preserves the perpendicular bit orientation of current HDDs but changes the way that tracks are organized. Instead of laying out the tracks individually, SMR stacks them on top of each other in a staggered fashion that resembles the shingles on a roof. Although this overlap enables higher bit densities, it comes with a penalty. Rewrites compromise the data on the following track, which must be read and rewritten, which in turn compromises the data on the following track, and so on. SMR distributes the layered tracks in narrow bands to mitigate the performance penalty associated with rewrites. The makeup of those bands will vary based on the drive's intended application. We should see the first examples of SMR next year, when Seagate intends to introduce a 5GB drive with 1.25TB per platter. Traditional hard drives top out at 4TB and 1TB per platter right now.
50276985
submission
crookedvulture writes:
Intel has revealed the first server-grade processors based on its next-generation Atom platform. The Atom C2000 series is derived from the Avoton and Rangeley SoCs, which feature eight CPU cores based on the Silvermont architecture. The chips are fabbed on Intel's 22-nm "tri-gate" process and have a dual-channel DDR3 memory interface, 16 lanes of PCI Express 2.0, and four Gigabit Ethernet connectors built in. Rangely, which is designed to power networking hardware, also sports dedicated logic to crunch encryption algorithms. There are 13 chips in the Atom C2000 series, including lower-power variants with two and four cores. Thanks to those Silvermont cores, the chips all support the x86 ISA and 64-bit memory addressing. Expect Intel to make a lot of noise about the Atom's x86 compatibility as it stakes out its claim in the micro-server space ahead of ARM-based chips based on the Cortex-A57.
48965617
submission
crookedvulture writes:
Samsung is the biggest NAND producer is the world, making it particularly well positioned to produce solid-state drives. The firm's latest 840 EVO SSD is a perfect example of why. The EVO combines high-density TLC NAND with an SLC write cache that mitigates some of the performance pitfalls associated with three-bit flash memory. Heavy, write-intensive workloads can saturate the cache, knocking the 840 EVO down a peg, but the drive offers solid all-around performance for consumer access patterns. Its second-generation TLC NAND appears to be robust enough for the long haul, too. Samsung says the flash should endure 2,500 write/erase cycles, which is more than sufficient to survive for years in typical client environments. The high-density flash is key to the EVO's budget appeal; the drive serves up to a terabyte of storage for as little as $0.63 per gig. Despite the entry-level pricing, the EVO still boasts robust encryption support and slick management and data migration software. Beware of the 120 and 250GB models, though. They have substantially lower sustained write speeds than the higher-capacity variants.
47859717
submission
crookedvulture writes:
Nvidia released the GeForce GTX 760 today. The $250 card is an updated spin on an existing GPU, so it doesn't raise the bar dramatically. In fact, the GTX 760 achieves rough performance parity with the Radeon HD 7950 Boost, which costs just a little bit more. The situation is similar at around $400, where the contest between the GeForce GTX 770 and Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition is a toss-up overall. These price/performance scatter plots paint the picture clearly. AMD has largely resolved its previous frame latency issues with new drivers, making the battle between GeForce and Radeon more about extras than performance. Nvidia offers software to optimize game settings and record gameplay sessions, while AMD includes download codes for recent games. You really can't go wrong either way. Even the $250 cards have little problem running the latest games with all the eye candy turned up at the 2560x1440 resolution typical of 27" monitors.
47382025
submission
crookedvulture writes:
With its Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge processors, Intel allowed standard Core i5 and i7 CPUs to be overclocked by up to 400MHz using Turbo multipliers. Reaching for higher speeds required pricier K-series chips, but everyone got access to a little "free" clock headroom. Haswell isn't quite so accommodating. Intel has disabled limited multiplier control for non-K CPUs, effectively limiting overclocking to the Core i7-4770K and i5-4670K. Those chips cost $20-30 more than their standard counterparts, and surprisingly, they're missing a few features. The K-series parts lack the support for transactional memory extensions and VT-d device virtualization included with standard Haswell CPUs. PC enthusiasts now have to choose between overclocking and support for certain features even when purchasing premium Intel processors. AMD also has overclocking-friendly K-series parts, but it offers more models at lower prices, and it doesn't remove features available on standard CPUs.
46774773
submission
crookedvulture writes:
Nvidia's GK110 graphics chip is a 7.1-billion-transistor monster. It powers the firm's compute-focused Tesla K20 and its ultra-high-end GeForce GTX Titan graphics card. Today, a de-tuned version of the chip makes its debut in the GeForce GTX 780. This new card has three of GK110's 15 SMX units disabled, allowing Nvidia to use GPU silicon that didn't make the grade for its Titan and Tesla products. The GTX 780 also scales back GK110's support for double-precision FP math, which is important for compute applications but unnecessary for games. Speaking of which, the GTX 780 nearly matches the gaming performance of the thousand-dollar GTX Titan. It's quieter under load and costs a staggering 35% less, too. The $650 asking price is still incredibly steep, but this is just the first member of the GeForce 700 series. Nvidia is expected to fill out the family with less expensive cards.
46709149
submission
crookedvulture writes:
For years, three-platter notebook hard drives have been too thick to actually fit into most notebook drive bays. HGST's Travelstar 5K1500 is different; it squeezes three platters into a notebook-friendly 9.5-mm casing. Shrinking the drive's circuit board and internal mechanics allowed HGST to cram in the extra platter. Thanks to the additional disc, the Travelstar boasts 1.5TB of storage—50% more capacity than its 9.5-mm peers. The platters spin at only 5,400 RPM, so this isn't a high-performance model. To make up for the slower rotational speed, notebook makers are expected to combine the 5K1500 with separate caching SSDs.
46318459
submission
crookedvulture writes:
Seagate and Toshiba both offer hybrid hard drives that manage their built-in flash caches entirely in firmware. WD has taken a different approach with its Black SSHD, which instead uses driver software to govern its NAND cache. The driver works with the operating system to determine what to store in the flash. Unfortunately, it's Windows-only. You can choose between two drivers, though. WD has developed one of its own, and Intel will offer a separate driver attached to its upcoming Haswell platform. While WD remains tight-lipped on the speed of the Black's mechanical portion, it's confirmed that the flash is provided by a customized SanDisk iSSD embedded on the drive. The iSSD and mechanical drive connect to each other and to the host system through a Serial ATA bridge chip, making the SSHD look more like a highly integrated dual-drive solution than a single, standalone device. With Intel supporting this approach, the next generation of hybrid drives appears destined to be software-based.
46243759
submission
crookedvulture writes:
Since their debut five years ago, Intel's low-power Atom microprocessors have relied on the same basic CPU core. That changes with the next generation, which will employ an all-new Silvermont microarchitecture built using a customized version of Intel's tri-gate, 22-nm fabrication process. Silvermont ditches the in-order design of previous Atoms in favor of an out-of-order approach based on a dual-core module equipped with 1MB of shared L2 cache. The design boasts improved power sharing between the CPU and integrated graphics, allowing the CPU cores to scale up to higher speeds depending on system load and platform thermals. Individual cores can be shut down completely to provide additional clock headroom or to conserve power. Intel claims Silvermont doubles the single-threaded performance of its Saltwell predecessor at the same power level, and that dual-core variants have lower peak power draw and higher performance than quad-core ARM SoCs. Silvermont also marks the Atom's adoption of the "tick-tock" update cadence that guides the development of Intel's Core processors. The successor to Silvermont will be built on 14-nm process tech, and an updated microarchitecture is due after that.
