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Intel Centerton; the next big thing in Micro Machines

Subject: General Tech | April 12, 2012 - 12:32 PM |
Tagged: microserver, Centerton, seamicro, atom, low power

Microservers are the newest old idea to hit the PR flacks, anyone who remembers the original blade servers already has a good idea what a microserver is.  Intel has once again tried to take ownership of a form factor, in this case defining what they feel the market should consider a microserver.  In some ways, the single socket design seems to run counter to current low power servers, which tend towards large arrays of low powered APUs but at the same time when you no longer have to worry about the interconnects between those APUs you can drop the price significantly.

AMD has had several forays into this market and while Intel has never put much effort into this segment vendors like Dell and HP have been creating microservers using an Intel processor for some time.  This heralds a change in Intel's strategy when taking on ARM and AMD in the server room, with the 6W Atom Centerton chip they announced at IDF.  The Inquirer was also told of 10W and 15W parts which would be more powerful although they could also require a bit more space than what the 6W part could survive in.  It seems that those looking for inexpensive servers which require very little infrastructure will have a lot of choices to spend their money on by the end of this year.

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"CHIPMAKER Intel dropped an Atom bomb on the second day of IDF in Beijing, announcing its 'Centerton' microserver chip that will draw just a miserly 6W of thermal design power (TDP).

It defines a microserver as a computer with one socket, error correction, 64-bit processing, and minimal memory and I/O. The Atom Centerton platform will have two cores, Hyperthreading and support for ECC DDR3 as well as VT-x virtualisation technology. Intel said the Atom Centerton chip will be available in the second half of this year."

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Source: The Inquirer

Samsung's lean green random access memory machine

Subject: Memory | March 23, 2012 - 03:56 PM |
Tagged: Samsung, Samsung Green PC3-12800, low profile, low power

There is a reason that Samsung's branding of these new DIMMs is green; they suck a mere 1.35V at their full speed of DDR3 1600MHz @ 11-11-11-28 and with the low profile they will fit in just about any machine.  Of more interest to some readers would be their overclocking potential, which TechPowerUp explored and discovered that 2400 MHz with 1.575V was not only possible but also stable.  They also went the other way and discovered the DIMMs could still run at stock speeds at 1.2V which gives you a lot to tweak on this RAM.  Read on to see how the DIMMs performed and to learn a little about tWCL as well.

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"Several tech forums are buzzing about Samsung's lastest "Green" 30 nm DDR3, that sips the voltage, and sits on a tiny low-profile PCB. We snagged a pair to see what all the fuss is about, and boy, were we surprised!"

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Source: TechPowerUp

Collision alert! ARM, AMD and Intel are all headed for the same market

Subject: General Tech | February 9, 2012 - 12:07 PM |
Tagged: arm, Intel, amd, atom, low power, cortex, Medfield, hondo

To revive an old buzzword some of you may have forgotten, ubiquitous computing is the current holy grail of the computing industry.  If AMD, Intel, ARM and to a lesser extent NVIDIA, can get the market to prefer one of their low power processors over the competitions there is a lot of money to be made in the mobile market.  The way that they are approaching the market is very different however.   In Intel's case they pride themselves on the general computation power of their upcoming Medfield processor though that comes at the cost of power consumption and less graphics capabilities.  AMD. like Intel, are trying to reduce the power consumption of their chips and though they lag behind in general CPU performance the graphics capabilities are generally considered superior.

Then there is ARM, which is striving to overcome its reputation of providing chips low in power, both electrically and computationally.  Their latest Cortex processors are certainly display a vast improvement in performance compared to previous generations.  The power consumption may have increased but not to the levels of consumption of the Intel and AMD chips.  Intel and AMD need to continue lowering their power consumption without sacrificing power while ARM needs to increase performance without impacting the power consumption before anyone can be considered a clear winner.  There is another consideration which DigiTimes points out; right now ARM is winning the price war which could be every bit as important as power consumption or computational power.

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"While Intel and AMD have been making efforts to develop low power processors for use in smartphones and tablet PCs, they cannot compete with solutions from ARM in terms of price, according to notebook makers."

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Source: DigiTimes

AMD Countering Ultrabooks With Ultrathin Notebooks

Subject: Systems, Mobile | January 12, 2012 - 06:21 PM |
Tagged: CES, ultrathin, trinity, piledriver, PC, notebook, low power, amd, 17 watt

Intel is the driving force behind the Ultrabook platform, a category of thin and light notebooks that are ideally less than $1,000 USD and deliver solid mobile performance and battery life. AMD is still playing catch up in CPU performance; however, they have been moderately successful with their Llano APU parts due to the better integrated GPU versus Intel's graphics processor. With Trinity, the successor to Llano, AMD is claiming up to 25% faster CPU performance and a 50% increase in graphics processor performance, and all while sipping half the power of current Llano chips.

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The 17 watt TDP Trinity die.

It seems that AMD has seen the Ultrabook boom that Intel is experiencing and wants a piece of the action. Thanks to the Trinity performance improvements and power sipping TDPs, AMD is confident that it can design and market thin and light notebooks of their own. They plan to market their notebooks as "Ultrathins." Exact hardware specifications of the Ultrathins are not known. We do know that they will be powered by dual and quad core 17 watt TDP versions of the AMD Trinity APU, which you can read more about here. The company is planning for its Ultrathins to start at $500 USD, a few hundred less than the lowest cost Ultrabooks from Intel. Beyond that, we can only speculate. Fortunately, we may not have to wait long for more information as AMD plans to reveal more information about their Ultrathin strategy next month at their financial analyst meeting, according to Ars.

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A Trinity powered laptop at CES

PC Perspective's CES 2012 coverage is sponsored by MSI Computer.

Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces!

Source: Ars Technica

Panel Self Refresh; a new way to save power

Subject: Displays | September 30, 2011 - 01:27 PM |
Tagged: mobile, low power, panel self refresh

The idea behind Panel Self Refresh is a sound one, when displaying static images there is no need for the GPU portion of your processor to be refreshing it at full speed.  If you simply leave the displayed image in the frame buffer you can turn off the GPU and get significant power savings.  It will not help when you are streaming media but if you are reading emails or a pdf file or even browsing pictures, you should see some extension to the life of your battery.  Hardware Secrets describes the technology in their article here.

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"Manufacturers are always looking for innovative ways to save battery life on laptops. With the embedded DisplayPort 1.3 interface (eDP 1.3), VESA, the Video Standards Association behind DisplayPort, came up with a new idea, the Panel Self Refresh (PSR). Let's see how it works."

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Source: Hardware Secrets

FeTRAM is higher and lower; gives the best of both worlds

Subject: General Tech | September 28, 2011 - 01:02 PM |
Tagged: ram, FeTRAM, low power, flash

There's a new type of Flash RAM looking to make its name on the street called FeTRAM, which sounds as interesting as the phase change memory that we've been hearing about.  It is an improved version of Ferrous RAM, which is very fast and uses very low power but uses a destructive reading technique.  The T in the new RAM stands for transistor, so instead of the charge on the memory cell being negated by a read, the transistor will hold onto the charge so that the data can be held long term.  That spells the difference between a memory module good only for RAM and a module that can be used in an SSD.  The Register points to an article citing a 99% reduction in power usage when compared to current flash memory technology.

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"Nanotechnology boffins are exploring a new type of nonvolatile memory that not only has the potential of being faster than today's flash RAM, but also requires 99 per cent less energy.

Called ferroelectric transistor random access memory – FeTRAM, for short – the scheme is based on a new type of transistor that combines silicon nanowires with an organic ferroelectric polymer – P(VDF-TrFE) – that switches polarity when an electric field is applied to it."

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Source: The Register

ZOTAC Expands Value GeForce GT 520 lineup

Subject: Graphics Cards | September 27, 2011 - 12:30 PM |
Tagged: zotac, nvidia, low power, GT 520

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HONG KONG – Sept. 27, 2011 – ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and channel manufacturer, today expands the value GeForce GT 520 lineup with new PCI and PCI Express x1 form factors for users with pre-built systems that have limited expansion capabilities. The new ZOTAC GeForce GT 520 PCI and PCI Express x1 graphics cards breathe new life into older systems by delivering a performance punch and new video capabilities.

“Upgrading your graphics card is the easiest way to boost your system performance and gain new capabilities. The new ZOTAC GeForce GT 520 PCI and PCI Express x1 graphics cards shows that you can experience good graphics without upgrading the rest of your system,” said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

The ZOTAC GeForce GT 520 PCI and PCI Express x1 graphics cards provide DVI, HDMI and VGA outputs with dual simultaneous independent display support for an instant dual-monitor upgrade. The low-profile form factor enables the ZOTAC GeForce GT 520 PCI and PCI express x1 graphics card to easily fit in compact pre-built systems with height limitations in addition to expansion limitations.

It’s time to play with the ZOTAC GeForce GT 520 PCI and PCI Express x1 graphics card.

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General details

  • New ZOTAC GeForce GT 520 PCI and PCI Express x1 graphics cards
  • NVIDIA GeForce GT 520 GPU
  • Engine clock: 810 MHz
  • 48 unified shaders 
  • Shader clock: 1620 MHz
  • 512MB DDR3 memory
  • Memory clock: 1333 MHz
  • 64-bit memory interface
  • DVI, HDMI & VGA outputs
  • DirectX 11 technology & Shader Model 5.0
  • OpenGL 4.1 compatible
  • NVIDIA CUDA technology
  • Full HD video playback

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Source: Zotac

Obviously these Corsair DIMMs use less power because of the white heatspreader

Subject: Memory | September 15, 2011 - 12:12 PM |
Tagged: corsair, vengeance lp 8gb, low power

Regular viewers of our podcast know that Josh's favourite component right now is RAM, specifically high performance RAM for dirt cheap.  This RAM would certainly count, not only do you get two 4GB sticks for $53, it is low profile and at 1.35V is very low powered as well.  Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB runs 1600MHz stock @ 9-9-9-24 timings and even features a white heatspreader to give you cool running and unique looking RAM.  It doesn't have to stay low power either, when Overclock3D started earning their name and pumped the voltage up to 1.65 they could reduce the timings to 7-8-7-24 or pump the speed to 1866MHz @10-11-10-27.

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"If you're on the lookout for a low voltage memory kit, perhaps Corsair have just the ticket."

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Source: Overclock3D

Everything in your notebook is power saving, why not your wireless mouse?

Subject: General Tech | August 17, 2011 - 05:40 PM |
Tagged: wireless mouse, low power, apace

The Apacer Blue Engine Mouse M721 will not impress gamers looking for huge DPI ratings.  What separates it from the rat pack are three power saving modes which allow Real World Labs to use the mouse and its two AAA batteries over 4 days of fairly heavy usage without draining it.  As well, it utilizes Bluetooth so you do not have to worry about lines of sight while you are using, especially handy as the mouse wil function on any surface.  Just don't sit at a table with the laptop on top while using the mouse on your jeans below the table ... it will look bad.

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"The latest Blue Engine Mouse M721 by Apacer may not dazzle you with its speed and features but its blue engine tracking sensor and three power saving modes are more than sufficient enough to give it an edge over similar wireless solutions."

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Source: RealWorldLabs

Intel and AMD be warned; ARM could grab up to 20% of the laptop market in the next 4 years

Subject: General Tech | July 19, 2011 - 01:02 PM |
Tagged: Intel, amd, arm, mali, low power

Those who ignored Microsoft's announcement that Windows 8 will support ARM processors will perhaps take note of Isuppli's claim that ARM could grab 1 in 5 of the laptops sold by 2015.  The extremely low powers System on a Chip design that they have been selling were at the opposite end of the market from AMD and Intel's X86 chips, but with the rise of the APU the market has undergone a fundamental change.  While the X86 makers are trying to lower the power requirements of their APUs, ARM is busy trying to ramp up the power of their chips.  There are already several vendors establishing a relationship with ARM, up to and including Apple. 

ARM's Cortex A9 and Mali are impressive, but ARM is already talking about console level graphics quality from their next generation of chips which we will see in roughly 18 months.  This improvement will also encompass their next generation of power efficency research, which should keep power consumption and heat well below what Intel and AMD will be trying to reach.  As well, it might provide an interesting opportunity for NVIDIA as the lack of a license to integrate chips with the new X86 based architecture will not stop them from developing graphics enhancements for ARM based laptops.  Drop by The Inquirer for more on this topic. 

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"CHIP DESIGNER ARM could power over 20 per cent of all laptops shipped in 2015, according to analyst outfit IHS Isuppli.

IHS Isuppli has forecast that the domination of X86 chips in the laptop market will start to diminish as Microsoft releases its Windows 8 operating system. Windows 8 will be the first desktop operating system from Microsoft that will support the ARM architecture that is found in just about every smartphone in existence."

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Source: The Inquirer