Much like those involving shaving razors and social networks, the Processor Wars are escalating. That's good for us, especially gamers, but maybe things are getting ridiculous considering how hard multicore programming still is.
Take, for example, the recently unveiled 12-core processor (code-named Mangy-Cours) AMD's got planned for 2010. Not only that is it updating its chips, but AMD is releasing a new socket, called G34, made to accommodate the new processor, as well as the new 8-core (Sao Paolo), which will launch about the same time. Oh, and the new procs will include 12MB of L3 cache. Let the arms race continue!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
AMD Phenom™ X4 Quad-Core Processors
The industry's first true Quad core x86 processor
* True quad-core designed from the ground up for better communication between cores.
o BENEFIT : Cores can communicate on die rather than on package for better performance
AMD64 with Direct Connect Architecture
* Helps improve system performance and efficiency by directly connecting the memory controller and I/O to the CPU.
* Designed to enable simultaneous 32- and 64-bit computing
* Integrated DDR2 Memory Controller
* BENEFITS :
o Increases application performance by reducing memory latency
o Scales memory bandwidth and performance to match compute needs
o HyperTransport™ Technology provides up to 16.0GB/s peak bandwidth per processor—reducing I/O bottlenecks
o Up to 33.1GB/s total delivered processor-to-system bandwidth (HyperTransport bus + memory bus)
AMD Balanced Smart Cache
* Shared L3 cache
* In addition to the 512K L2 cache per core, up to 2MB of L3 cache shared by up to 4 cores.
o BENEFIT : Shortened access times to highly accessed data for better performance.
AMD Wide Floating Point Accelerator
* 128-bit floating point unit (FPU)
* High performance (128bit internal data path) floating point unit per core.
o BENEFIT : Larger data paths for quicker floating point calculations and better performance.
HyperTransport™ technology
* One 16-bit link up to 4000MT/s
* Up to 8.0 GB/s HyperTransport™ I/O bandwidth; Up to 16.0GB/s in HyperTransport Generation 3.0 mode
* Up to 33.1GB/s total delivered processor-to-system bandwidth (HyperTransport bus + memory bus)
o BENEFIT : Quick access times to system resources for better performance.
Integrated DDR2 DRAM Controller with AMD Memory Optimizer Technology
* A high-bandwidth, low-latency integrated DDR2 memory controller
* Supports PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066); PC2-6400 (DDR2-800), PC2-5300 (DDR2-667), PC2-4200 (DDR2-533) or PC2-3200 (DDR2-400) SDRAM unbuffered DIMMs
* Support for 64-bit DDR2 SDRAM memory
* Up to 17.1GB/s memory bandwidth
o BENEFIT : Quick access to system memory for better performance.
AMD Virtualization™ (AMD-V™) With Rapid Virtualization Indexing
* Silicon feature-set enhancements designed to improve the performance, reliability, and security of existing and future virtualization environments by allowing virtualized applications with direct and rapid access to their allocated memory.
o BENEFIT : Helps virtualization software to run more securely and efficiently enabling a better experience when dealing with virtual systems
AMD Cool'n'Quiet™ 2.0 technology
* Enhanced power management features which automatically and instantaneously adjusts performance states and features based on processor performance requirements
* For quieter operation and reduced power requirements
o BENEFIT : Enables platform designs providing less heat and noise efficient performance and energy usage.
AMD CoolCore™ Technology
* Reduces processor energy consumption by turning off unused parts of the processor. For example, the memory controller can turn off the write logic when reading from memory, helping reduce system power.
* Works automatically without the need for drivers or BIOS enablement.
* Power can be switched on or off within a single clock cycle, saving energy without comprimised performance.
o BENEFIT: Helps users get more efficient performance by dynamically activating or turning off parts of the processor.
Dual Dynamic Power Management™
* Enables more granular power management capabilities to reduce processor energy consumption.
* Separate power planes for cores and memory controller, for optimum power consumption and performance, creating more opportunities for power savings within the cores and memory controller.
o BENEFIT Helps improve platform efficiency by providing on demand memory performance while still allowing for decreased system power consumption .
* True quad-core designed from the ground up for better communication between cores.
o BENEFIT : Cores can communicate on die rather than on package for better performance
AMD64 with Direct Connect Architecture
* Helps improve system performance and efficiency by directly connecting the memory controller and I/O to the CPU.
* Designed to enable simultaneous 32- and 64-bit computing
* Integrated DDR2 Memory Controller
* BENEFITS :
o Increases application performance by reducing memory latency
o Scales memory bandwidth and performance to match compute needs
o HyperTransport™ Technology provides up to 16.0GB/s peak bandwidth per processor—reducing I/O bottlenecks
o Up to 33.1GB/s total delivered processor-to-system bandwidth (HyperTransport bus + memory bus)
AMD Balanced Smart Cache
* Shared L3 cache
* In addition to the 512K L2 cache per core, up to 2MB of L3 cache shared by up to 4 cores.
o BENEFIT : Shortened access times to highly accessed data for better performance.
AMD Wide Floating Point Accelerator
* 128-bit floating point unit (FPU)
* High performance (128bit internal data path) floating point unit per core.
o BENEFIT : Larger data paths for quicker floating point calculations and better performance.
HyperTransport™ technology
* One 16-bit link up to 4000MT/s
* Up to 8.0 GB/s HyperTransport™ I/O bandwidth; Up to 16.0GB/s in HyperTransport Generation 3.0 mode
* Up to 33.1GB/s total delivered processor-to-system bandwidth (HyperTransport bus + memory bus)
o BENEFIT : Quick access times to system resources for better performance.
Integrated DDR2 DRAM Controller with AMD Memory Optimizer Technology
* A high-bandwidth, low-latency integrated DDR2 memory controller
* Supports PC2-8500 (DDR2-1066); PC2-6400 (DDR2-800), PC2-5300 (DDR2-667), PC2-4200 (DDR2-533) or PC2-3200 (DDR2-400) SDRAM unbuffered DIMMs
* Support for 64-bit DDR2 SDRAM memory
* Up to 17.1GB/s memory bandwidth
o BENEFIT : Quick access to system memory for better performance.
AMD Virtualization™ (AMD-V™) With Rapid Virtualization Indexing
* Silicon feature-set enhancements designed to improve the performance, reliability, and security of existing and future virtualization environments by allowing virtualized applications with direct and rapid access to their allocated memory.
o BENEFIT : Helps virtualization software to run more securely and efficiently enabling a better experience when dealing with virtual systems
AMD Cool'n'Quiet™ 2.0 technology
* Enhanced power management features which automatically and instantaneously adjusts performance states and features based on processor performance requirements
* For quieter operation and reduced power requirements
o BENEFIT : Enables platform designs providing less heat and noise efficient performance and energy usage.
AMD CoolCore™ Technology
* Reduces processor energy consumption by turning off unused parts of the processor. For example, the memory controller can turn off the write logic when reading from memory, helping reduce system power.
* Works automatically without the need for drivers or BIOS enablement.
* Power can be switched on or off within a single clock cycle, saving energy without comprimised performance.
o BENEFIT: Helps users get more efficient performance by dynamically activating or turning off parts of the processor.
Dual Dynamic Power Management™
* Enables more granular power management capabilities to reduce processor energy consumption.
* Separate power planes for cores and memory controller, for optimum power consumption and performance, creating more opportunities for power savings within the cores and memory controller.
o BENEFIT Helps improve platform efficiency by providing on demand memory performance while still allowing for decreased system power consumption .
AMD releases Phenom II X4 and Dragon desktop platform
AMD took the opportunity to use the CES 2009 forum to officially release its latest update to its 64-bit line of 45nm microprocessors. Phenom II X4 and Dragon platform for desktop PCs represent an "elite-level" of computing performance for about $900. But what do the benchmarks say?
The new Phenom II X4 sports a new numbering convention. The 940 model relates more directly to Intel's number scheme, and runs at 3.0 GHz. The quad-core Phenom II X4 is built on a 45nm process technology, Deneb core, contains 758 million transistors, is Socket AM2 compatible. It has proven easily overclockable so far. HotHardware.com has gotten the 940 model to 3.73 GHz (a 24.3% overclock).
A 920 model was also released at 2.8 GHz. Both models sport a 6 MB shared L3 cache. Power consumption drops from previous high-end 140W TDP to a more common 125W TDP at 3.0 GHz. L1 cache remains the same, 64KB data, 64KB instruction; with an L2 cache of 512KB per core. It includes an update to Cool'n'Quiet 3.0, though most other specs remain the same as previous high-end Phenoms.
AMD's Dragon PC platform sports an ATI Radeon 4800 GPU and AMD 790GX chipset, with HyperTransport 3.0, support for DDR2-1333 (and DDR3 memory on Socket AM3 versions with 880G chipset - due out later, probably in February), DirectX 10.1 (DisplayPort available in future 880G chipset), Cool'n'Quiet 3.0 support along with platform idea concepts, such as a call for quieter fans. The previous Spider platform used a Radeon 3800-series GPU and 700-Series chipset, including 790FX or 790GX.
Additional conceptual features include AMD's Fusion for Gaming - which is a feature allowing users single-click access to suspend background tasks thereby increasing performance for gaming; AMD's OverDrive utility which helps with overclocking (though AMD indicates overclocking of any kind voids the warranty); ATI Catalyst 8.12 and ATI Stream technology for GPGPU acceleration of several popular apps; and a new AMD Fusion Media Explorer Beta which "Simplifies the entertainment experiencing by enabling a simple but powerful way for consumers to interact with their music, photos, movies, TV and social media on their PC. This utility offers one-button postings of photos to Facebook™ accounts as well as automatic related media searches when the system is online, etc."
Reviews out at Tom's Hardware, The Tech Report and HotHardware.com indicate that at idle the CPU throttles down to 800 MHz and 0.992 volts with Cool'n'Quiet 3.0, resulting in a CPU energy consumption of 10.3 watts for 940, 10.0 watts for 920, and a platform energy consumption of 113.4 and 112.5 watts, respectively - which is currently "best in class" platform-wise.
Under heavy loads power consumption increases to 93.3 and 87.9 watts for CPU alone, and 204.8 and 199.4 watts for 940 and 920, respectively, which is only bested by Phenom X4 9350's 127.7 watts and Intel's Core 2 Quad Q6600 (which Intel discontinued yesterday) at 203.1 watts.
On benchmarks, Phenom II X4 940 is roughly 15% to 19% faster than Phenom X4 9950 across the board in gaming and compute applications, with the highest differences coming in Mainconcept H.264 compression which is 19.8% faster, Unreal Tournament 3 which is also 19.8% faster. The slowest increase came in Supreme Commander, which was 1.5% and Studio 12 which was 6.9%. 18 other benchmarks on Tom's Hardware were at least 15% faster.
In a break from tradition, Tom's Hardware is showing a relative percentage comparison for comparable platforms and applications, but is not doing full graphs with individual specs. For example, on average Intel's Core 2 Quad Q6600 (now discontinued) is 9% slower on average than Phenom II X4 940 (faster on all benchmarks, min is 0.7%, max is 22.6%). With Core i7 920 systems, Intel's offering performs 22% better on average. Some benchmarks include better performances of 60.5% and 43.3%.
Products are immediately available. Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition, 3.0 GHz, 6 MB L3 sells for $275. 920 2.8 GHz version sells for $235. AMD claims the following system can be purchased for approximately $900: "Dragon platform technology consisting of the new AMD Phenom II X4 processor, ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 1GB graphics card, the AMD 790GX motherboard and 4 GB of DDR2-1066 memory."
The new Phenom II X4 sports a new numbering convention. The 940 model relates more directly to Intel's number scheme, and runs at 3.0 GHz. The quad-core Phenom II X4 is built on a 45nm process technology, Deneb core, contains 758 million transistors, is Socket AM2 compatible. It has proven easily overclockable so far. HotHardware.com has gotten the 940 model to 3.73 GHz (a 24.3% overclock).
A 920 model was also released at 2.8 GHz. Both models sport a 6 MB shared L3 cache. Power consumption drops from previous high-end 140W TDP to a more common 125W TDP at 3.0 GHz. L1 cache remains the same, 64KB data, 64KB instruction; with an L2 cache of 512KB per core. It includes an update to Cool'n'Quiet 3.0, though most other specs remain the same as previous high-end Phenoms.
AMD's Dragon PC platform sports an ATI Radeon 4800 GPU and AMD 790GX chipset, with HyperTransport 3.0, support for DDR2-1333 (and DDR3 memory on Socket AM3 versions with 880G chipset - due out later, probably in February), DirectX 10.1 (DisplayPort available in future 880G chipset), Cool'n'Quiet 3.0 support along with platform idea concepts, such as a call for quieter fans. The previous Spider platform used a Radeon 3800-series GPU and 700-Series chipset, including 790FX or 790GX.
Additional conceptual features include AMD's Fusion for Gaming - which is a feature allowing users single-click access to suspend background tasks thereby increasing performance for gaming; AMD's OverDrive utility which helps with overclocking (though AMD indicates overclocking of any kind voids the warranty); ATI Catalyst 8.12 and ATI Stream technology for GPGPU acceleration of several popular apps; and a new AMD Fusion Media Explorer Beta which "Simplifies the entertainment experiencing by enabling a simple but powerful way for consumers to interact with their music, photos, movies, TV and social media on their PC. This utility offers one-button postings of photos to Facebook™ accounts as well as automatic related media searches when the system is online, etc."
Reviews out at Tom's Hardware, The Tech Report and HotHardware.com indicate that at idle the CPU throttles down to 800 MHz and 0.992 volts with Cool'n'Quiet 3.0, resulting in a CPU energy consumption of 10.3 watts for 940, 10.0 watts for 920, and a platform energy consumption of 113.4 and 112.5 watts, respectively - which is currently "best in class" platform-wise.
Under heavy loads power consumption increases to 93.3 and 87.9 watts for CPU alone, and 204.8 and 199.4 watts for 940 and 920, respectively, which is only bested by Phenom X4 9350's 127.7 watts and Intel's Core 2 Quad Q6600 (which Intel discontinued yesterday) at 203.1 watts.
On benchmarks, Phenom II X4 940 is roughly 15% to 19% faster than Phenom X4 9950 across the board in gaming and compute applications, with the highest differences coming in Mainconcept H.264 compression which is 19.8% faster, Unreal Tournament 3 which is also 19.8% faster. The slowest increase came in Supreme Commander, which was 1.5% and Studio 12 which was 6.9%. 18 other benchmarks on Tom's Hardware were at least 15% faster.
In a break from tradition, Tom's Hardware is showing a relative percentage comparison for comparable platforms and applications, but is not doing full graphs with individual specs. For example, on average Intel's Core 2 Quad Q6600 (now discontinued) is 9% slower on average than Phenom II X4 940 (faster on all benchmarks, min is 0.7%, max is 22.6%). With Core i7 920 systems, Intel's offering performs 22% better on average. Some benchmarks include better performances of 60.5% and 43.3%.
Products are immediately available. Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition, 3.0 GHz, 6 MB L3 sells for $275. 920 2.8 GHz version sells for $235. AMD claims the following system can be purchased for approximately $900: "Dragon platform technology consisting of the new AMD Phenom II X4 processor, ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 1GB graphics card, the AMD 790GX motherboard and 4 GB of DDR2-1066 memory."
AMD 580X CrossFire™ Chipset
General
* The worlds first single chip 2x16 PCI-E chipset
* Enhanced support for over-clocking, and PCI Express performance
* Fastest multi-GPU interconnect
* Coupled with SB600 for performance
CPU Interface
* Support for all AMD CPU’s: Athlon™ 64, Athlon™ 64 FX, Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core, and Sempron™ processors
* Support for 64-bit extended operating systems
* Highly overclockable and robust HyperTransport™ interface
PCI Express Interface
* 2 x16 PCI Express lanes to support simultaneous operation of graphics cards
* Additional 4 PCI-E General Purpose Lanes for peripheral support
* Compliant with the PCI Express 1.0a Specifications
Power Management Features
* Fully supports ACPI states S1, S3, S4, and S5
* Support for AMD Cool‘n’Quiet™ technology for crisp and quiet operation
Optimized Software Support
* Unified driver support on all ATI Radeon PCI Express discrete graphics products
* Support for Microsoft® Windows® XP, Windows® 2000, and Linux
Universal Connectivity
* A-Link Xpress II i/f to ATI northbridges; providing high bandwidth for high speed peripherals
* 10 USB 2.0 ports
* SATA Gen 2 PHY support at 3.0Ghz with E-SATA capability
* 4 ports SATA AHCI controller supports NCQ and slumber modes
* ATA 133 controller support up to UDMA mode 6 with 2 drives (disk or optical)
* TPM 1.1 and 1.2 compliant
* ASF 2.0 support for manageability control
* HPET (high precision event timer), ACPI 3.0, and AHCI support for Windows Vista
* Power management engine supporting both AMD and Intel platforms and forward compliant to MS Windows Vista
* UAA (universal audio architecture) support for High-Definition Audio and MODEM
* PCI v2.3 (up to 6 slots)
* LPC (Low Pin Count), SPI (new flash bus), and SM (System Management) bus management and arbitrations
* “Legacy” PC compatible functions, RTC (Real Time Clock), interrupt controller and DMA controllers .
* The worlds first single chip 2x16 PCI-E chipset
* Enhanced support for over-clocking, and PCI Express performance
* Fastest multi-GPU interconnect
* Coupled with SB600 for performance
CPU Interface
* Support for all AMD CPU’s: Athlon™ 64, Athlon™ 64 FX, Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core, and Sempron™ processors
* Support for 64-bit extended operating systems
* Highly overclockable and robust HyperTransport™ interface
PCI Express Interface
* 2 x16 PCI Express lanes to support simultaneous operation of graphics cards
* Additional 4 PCI-E General Purpose Lanes for peripheral support
* Compliant with the PCI Express 1.0a Specifications
Power Management Features
* Fully supports ACPI states S1, S3, S4, and S5
* Support for AMD Cool‘n’Quiet™ technology for crisp and quiet operation
Optimized Software Support
* Unified driver support on all ATI Radeon PCI Express discrete graphics products
* Support for Microsoft® Windows® XP, Windows® 2000, and Linux
Universal Connectivity
* A-Link Xpress II i/f to ATI northbridges; providing high bandwidth for high speed peripherals
* 10 USB 2.0 ports
* SATA Gen 2 PHY support at 3.0Ghz with E-SATA capability
* 4 ports SATA AHCI controller supports NCQ and slumber modes
* ATA 133 controller support up to UDMA mode 6 with 2 drives (disk or optical)
* TPM 1.1 and 1.2 compliant
* ASF 2.0 support for manageability control
* HPET (high precision event timer), ACPI 3.0, and AHCI support for Windows Vista
* Power management engine supporting both AMD and Intel platforms and forward compliant to MS Windows Vista
* UAA (universal audio architecture) support for High-Definition Audio and MODEM
* PCI v2.3 (up to 6 slots)
* LPC (Low Pin Count), SPI (new flash bus), and SM (System Management) bus management and arbitrations
* “Legacy” PC compatible functions, RTC (Real Time Clock), interrupt controller and DMA controllers .
AMD Sempron™ Processor
Get affordable performance that redefines everyday computing
* Get to fun, fast, with a system that boots and loads applications quickly and easily
* Enjoy reliable, responsive performance on thousands of software applications—including those that let you communicate with family and friends
The AMD64 core provides leading-edge performance for both 32-bit and 64-bit applications
* AMD64 technology provides full-speed support for x86 code base without compromising performance
* 40-bit physical addresses, 48-bit virtual addresses
* Sixteen 64-bit integer registers
* Sixteen 128-bit SSE/SSE2/SSE3 registers
* AMD Digital Media XPress™ provides support for SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and MMX instructions
A high-bandwidth, low-latency integrated DDR memory controller
* Supports PC2-5300 (DDR2-667), PC2-4200 (DDR2-533) or PC2-3200 (DDR2-400) SDRAM unbuffered DIMMs
* Support for 64-bit DDR2 SDRAM memory
* Up to 10.6GB/s memory bandwidth
HyperTransport™ technology for high speed I/O communication
* One 16-bit link up to 2000MHz bidirectional
* Up to 6.4GB/s HyperTransport™ I/O bandwidth
* Up to 17.0GB/s total delivered processor-to-system bandwidth (HyperTransport bus + memory bus)
Large high performance on-chip cache
* 64KB Level 1 instruction cache
* 64KB Level 1 data cache
* Up to 256KB Level 2 cache .
* Get to fun, fast, with a system that boots and loads applications quickly and easily
* Enjoy reliable, responsive performance on thousands of software applications—including those that let you communicate with family and friends
The AMD64 core provides leading-edge performance for both 32-bit and 64-bit applications
* AMD64 technology provides full-speed support for x86 code base without compromising performance
* 40-bit physical addresses, 48-bit virtual addresses
* Sixteen 64-bit integer registers
* Sixteen 128-bit SSE/SSE2/SSE3 registers
* AMD Digital Media XPress™ provides support for SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and MMX instructions
A high-bandwidth, low-latency integrated DDR memory controller
* Supports PC2-5300 (DDR2-667), PC2-4200 (DDR2-533) or PC2-3200 (DDR2-400) SDRAM unbuffered DIMMs
* Support for 64-bit DDR2 SDRAM memory
* Up to 10.6GB/s memory bandwidth
HyperTransport™ technology for high speed I/O communication
* One 16-bit link up to 2000MHz bidirectional
* Up to 6.4GB/s HyperTransport™ I/O bandwidth
* Up to 17.0GB/s total delivered processor-to-system bandwidth (HyperTransport bus + memory bus)
Large high performance on-chip cache
* 64KB Level 1 instruction cache
* 64KB Level 1 data cache
* Up to 256KB Level 2 cache .
Intel Atom N280 processor coming in Q2/Q3
A faster and more expensive Intel Atom processor will be arriving in Q2/Q3 this year, to be available in 10-inch netbooks from Asustek, Acer, and Gigabyte. The Atom N280 has a 1.66GHz clockspeed and 667MHz FSB, and will make use of Intel's GN40 chipset. The N280 will go for $60-65 in thousand-unit quantities; the current N270 and 945GSE chipset goes for $46.
Posted by Pinky........ at 7:50 AM 0 comments
Intel's new Atom N280 expected in second half of 2009
Netbooks using the forthcoming Intel Atom N280 are expected to tip up between the second and third quarters of 2009. The N280 is the follow-up to the Netbook class leading N270 Atom CPU that finds its home in practically every netbook on the market today.
The Atom N270, used in netbooks like the MSI Wind U100, uses the 945GSE chipset and has a core frequency of 1.6GHz. The unit price for the older N270 is $46 in lots of 30,000. The new Intel Atom N280 uses the GN40 chipset and offers a core frequency of 1.66GHz with a front side bus running at 667MHz. The CPU is expected in the first half of 2009 at $60 to $65 per tray of 30,000 units.
The front side bus speed of the old N270 is 533MHz, making the N280's front side bus much faster despite the mere 60MHz difference in clock speed. The netbook world can certainly use more performance, but dual-core Atoms (or higher-frequency parts) are much more likely to deliver it than FSB jumps. We're also hoping to see the NVIDIA Ion platform hit the market this year.
Posted by Pinky........ at 7:50 AM 0 comments
Intel's new Atom N280 expected in second half of 2009
Netbooks using the forthcoming Intel Atom N280 are expected to tip up between the second and third quarters of 2009. The N280 is the follow-up to the Netbook class leading N270 Atom CPU that finds its home in practically every netbook on the market today.
The Atom N270, used in netbooks like the MSI Wind U100, uses the 945GSE chipset and has a core frequency of 1.6GHz. The unit price for the older N270 is $46 in lots of 30,000. The new Intel Atom N280 uses the GN40 chipset and offers a core frequency of 1.66GHz with a front side bus running at 667MHz. The CPU is expected in the first half of 2009 at $60 to $65 per tray of 30,000 units.
The front side bus speed of the old N270 is 533MHz, making the N280's front side bus much faster despite the mere 60MHz difference in clock speed. The netbook world can certainly use more performance, but dual-core Atoms (or higher-frequency parts) are much more likely to deliver it than FSB jumps. We're also hoping to see the NVIDIA Ion platform hit the market this year.
Atom N280 and GN40 to be expensive
According to details on Digitimes, the upcoming Atom N280 and the GN40 chipset for Netbooks are expected to be a lot more expensive than the current N270 processor with the 945GSE chipset. Although we'd expect much better performance from the new chipset, the CPU is unlikely to add that much extra performance for the money.
The price difference is said to be anything between US$14 and $19, possibly because Intel gives different pricing to its various partners. For the extra money the Atom N280 doesn't seem to have much on offer compared to the N270, as according to Digitimes, it's expected to be clocked at 1.66GHz, a mere 60MHz faster than the N270. Some reports have suggested that the N280 will be clocked at 1.86GHz, but in this case, we think that Digitimes is closer to the mark.
The GN40 chipset is still something of a mystery, as all we know so far is that it'll support the faster 667MHz bus speed of the N280. We still believe the GN40 is a single package chipset solution, as this makes sense for the target market of this chipset and it will also reduce manufacturing cost for Intel.
The new CPU and chipset will most likely be detailed during IDF Shanghai and we'd dare to guess that the platform will launch at Computex in early June.
The price difference is said to be anything between US$14 and $19, possibly because Intel gives different pricing to its various partners. For the extra money the Atom N280 doesn't seem to have much on offer compared to the N270, as according to Digitimes, it's expected to be clocked at 1.66GHz, a mere 60MHz faster than the N270. Some reports have suggested that the N280 will be clocked at 1.86GHz, but in this case, we think that Digitimes is closer to the mark.
The GN40 chipset is still something of a mystery, as all we know so far is that it'll support the faster 667MHz bus speed of the N280. We still believe the GN40 is a single package chipset solution, as this makes sense for the target market of this chipset and it will also reduce manufacturing cost for Intel.
The new CPU and chipset will most likely be detailed during IDF Shanghai and we'd dare to guess that the platform will launch at Computex in early June.
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