Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror

Submission Summary: 0 pending, 23 declined, 2 accepted (25 total, 8.00% accepted)

×
Intel

Submission + - Intel makes 8-core processing the new playground

Submitted by Joe The Dragon
Joe The Dragon writes: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5622# cmt95037

Intel makes 8-core processing the new playground

"At CES 2007 today, Intel announced a proof-of-concept PC designed specifically to counter AMD's 4x4 platform for gamers. Dubbed the "V8" system, Intel demonstrated a system running on a pair of quad-core Kentsfield Xeon processors for a total of eight physical cores.

The system runs at 2.4GHz utilizing a 1066MHz system bus and is loaded with FB-DIMM memory. The graphics card is supported by a single NVIDIA 8800GTX. According to Intel, the "V8" system dished out a score of 6089 on 3DMark CPU bench.

DailyTech previously reported on AMD's 4x4 platform, which was later given an official name called Quad FX. AMD broke news of its dedication to the gaming community early in 2006 and received good praise from the general enthusiast community. Dual-processor systems have not been as popular as they were several years ago due to the advent of multi-core processors and the cost and complexity of the systems in general.

Unlike AMD's Quad FX platform, Intel's "V8" system will require FB-DIMMs while Quad FX will work with regular unbuffered memory. The AMD Quad FX platform can also support multiple GeForce video cards in SLI configuration, while the "V8" is currently limited to a single graphics card.

Despite the enourmous amount of processing power packed into Intel's "V8" system, AMD is not far away from releasing something along the lines of an "8x8" system utilizing quad-core Opteron processors. AMD demonstrated its Barcelona in November of 2006 and mentioned that the new Opterons would be making a showing in mid-2007."

compared to myriad of workstation boards that are available for the Opteron and not the QuadFX special purpose board. There are even four socket boards available with multiple PCIe 16 sockets for the Opteron if you are inclined to count cores and the board for TYAN can be expanded to 8 sockets the intel chip sets suck next to nvidia ones

The duel Opteron workstation boards have x8 x16 x8 x16 pci-e, pci-x and some even have on board sas and they have SLI

http://www.tyan.com/products/html/thundern4250qe.h tml
http://www.tyan.com/products/html/thundern6650w.ht ml
http://www.nvidia.com/page/nforce_pro_workstation. html

what does intel have? x16 x4 pci-e and pci-x with some pci-e links used by the chipset link.
Windows

Submission + - Microsoft reportedly delays release of RTM version

Submitted by Joe The Dragon
Joe The Dragon writes: http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20061025A9047.html
Latest news
Monica Chen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DigiTimes.com [Wednesday 25 October 2006]

Microsoft will delay the release of the RTM (release to manufacturing) version, or build number 5824, of its Windows Vista operating system (OS) to the second week of November from the originally scheduled fourth week of October, according to sources at Taiwan PC makers who were informed by the software giant of the revised schedule.

The RTM build 5824 was originally set to be released this week after reducing the number of bugs found in the Windows Vista Release Candidate 2 (RC2) version from 1,450 to around 500, the sources noted.

However, additional bugs were found in the RTM build 5824 version, and together the bugs could paralyze an upgraded Vista-capable Windows XP OS, said the sources.

Microsoft has overcome the problems found in RTM build 5824, resulting in RTM build 5840, added the sources, noting that Microsoft will continue to test the new version until its release in November.

Despite the delayed launch of the RTM version, Microsoft assured PC makers that its plan to launch the business-use and home-use Vista OS in November 2006 and January 2007, respectively, remain unchanged, the sources stated.
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - UltraPin comeing soon

Submitted by
Joe The Dragon
Joe The Dragon writes: "UltraPin is a PC-based emulation of Williams/Bally games using a plasma screen in the cabinet to display the table, and an LCD display in the backbox to show the backglass and the score display. Although the backglass image is nice and bright, the dot matrix part of the display looked rather dim in comparison. The game includes a real plunger and is tilt/nudge sensitive which seemed to work very nicely. The production version which should be available to buy before Christmas this year

UltraPin will also be at the Pinball Expo in Chicago this year so if you want a close up look plan on being there. The expo occurs from Nov 2 — 5th
http://www.pinballexpo.com/
Brian Matthews The UltraPin Producer from Global VR
Will also be there to answer questions about the game.

more info
http://www.vpforums.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&th readid=37470/
http://www.pinballnews.com/shows/preview2007/index .html/"
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - HP Purchases VoodooPC To Enhance Gaming Division

Submitted by
Joe The Dragon
Joe The Dragon writes: "http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,2022118 ,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532
Hewlett-Packard has purchased specialty PC maker VoodooPC, according to a blog post made by Rahul Sood, the president and chief technical officer of the company.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. HP also confirmed the acquisition. Following the close of the transaction, HP will form a separate business unit within its Personal Systems Group focused on the gaming industry, HP said.
ADVERTISEMENT

"The bottom line: On behalf of Ravi, Trevor, Paul, Desmond, Angela, and the rest of the Voodoo team we are happy to report that HP has acquired Voodoo — and together — not separately — we are going to rock your world," Sood wrote, referring to a "Project Vampire" that was "about to fly".

VoodooPC will remain in Calgary, Canada. Rahul Sood will assume the position of chief technologist of HP's Gaming Division. Rahul's brother Ravi will become the director of strategy for HP's gaming division, which will consist of HP and VoodooPC products.

VoodooPC is the latest high-profile boutique gaming company to move under the corporate wing of a top OEM; Dell acquired Alienware in March, and Alienware now operates as as an independent subsidiary. According to Sood, Michael Dell did in fact contact the company about an acquisition.

        * Q&A: Dell's Gruzen Talks Recalls, Vista, iTVs
        * Opinion: Alienware CEO Explains Dell Acquisition
        * It's Official: Dell Beams Up Alienware

Sood's blog implied that VoodooPC will be more closely tied to the rest of the HP product line, although Sood claimed that "past customers, current customers, and future customers will receive the same or better level of experience, quality, and service."

Rahul Sood will also sit on the R&D council of HP's Personal Systems Group, where "you can expect to see our fingerprints on many of the product lines in other areas of Hewlett-Packard," Sood wrote.

According to Sood, company founders had been in contact with HP for months, and cemented ties during the recent Tour de France bicycle race during the past summer. Sood specifically named Paul Campbell, who led a gaming initiatve within HP; Phil McKinney, HP's chief technical officer for the PSG; Todd Bradley, executive vice president of the PSG; Satjiv Chahil, the senior vice president of worldwide marketing for the HP PSG; and company chief executive Mark Hurd.

"Assuming that they didn't have much of a choice we speculated that Alienware would be acquired by Dell," Sood wrote. "After the speculation went public we thought it would make sense to get back in touch with HP. We figured Mark Hurd had almost a year to settle in and we were hoping for good things."

Sood's blog post also painted a picture of Hurd as someone who brought a fresh start to the aging HP, and who spent Thursday being grilled by lawmakers as part of a pretexting scandal that spied on reporters and HP's own employees.

"Much to our satisfaction, under Mark Hurd HP is a totally different company from a year ago," Sood wrote. "While there are mixed opinions, I believe Carly Fiona helped to create the groundwork for HP's success today — but from the outside the organization seemed to lack operational efficiency. Mark Hurd brought with him a tornado of new blood and new culture into the company. From my point of view, Mark Hurd has turned HP's corporate culture on its head and in the process transformed HP into an operationally excellent engine.""
Graphics

Submission + - Mystery ATI Crossfire connection revealed

Submitted by
Joe The Dragon
Joe The Dragon writes: "http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34 509
Radeon X1950 PRO and X1650 XT goes two ways

By Fuad Abazovic: Wednesday 20 September 2006, 11:36
BACK HERE, we wondered about some funny connectors we spotted on the R570 reference design, manufactured in ATI's small SMT line in Canada.

Now we have an explanation.

ATI decided to copy Nvidia's idea of wiring its multi-card SLI connectors onto the graphics card. The connectors pictured are ATI's internal connectors with which to connect up more Crossfire boards.

The upcoming RV 570 and RV560 chips and the cards based on them, branded as Radeon X1950 PRO and X1650 XT, will have these internal Crossfire connectors.

ATI clearly got an idea from Nvidia about it, but Nvidia's SLI connector is one way only. It can either send or receive data but cannot send and receive at the same time.

ATI's connector works both ways as it will offer increased bandwidth between multiple cards. It took ATI a year to make the internal connectors. We also heard that the upcoming R600 will use the same marchitecture and two-way Crossfire internal connectors.

Nvidia informed us a year ago that Crossfire needs a higher bandwidth than the PCIe 16X one and that the cards need to be connecter internally or externally. It seems they were right

Internally, with two way lanes, is likely the fastest and most effective way and you will start seeing this in ATI's mainstream or faster cards starting from October the 17th."

Slashdot Top Deals

"Look! There! Evil!.. pure and simple, total evil from the Eighth Dimension!" -- Buckaroo Banzai

Close