It appears that the rumours that started late last week were indeed true, Intel has given its consumer Nehalem processors an official name, the Intel Core processor. There will be two different variations for the Bloomfield based parts and we’re not sure how Intel came up with the new “identifiers” as they call it, but you’re looking at Core i7 and Core i7 Extreme.
It could hardly be any more confusing, but the official press release from Intel states “This is the first of several new identifiers to come as different products launch over the next year” so we’re expecting more new letter and number combinations to appear once Lynnfield and Havendale draws closer to completion.
The press release goes on and states that “Intel will include processor model numbers to differentiate each chip” which means that there will be additional numbers that we need to remember to be able to tell the various chips apart, just as with the current line-up.
The logo’s will differ as you can see below, the Extreme Edition gets a black logo while the more mainstream parts gets a blue logo. We’re not sure about you, but we thought that Intel Core sounds like a slower option to an Intel Core 2 processor and the i7 moniker doesn’t really say much, except that the processor isn’t a Core 2 Duo.
Intel also stated “Expect Intel to focus even more marketing resources around that name and the Core i7 products starting now” which we think will be needed to make the general public understand that the Core i7 is a faster and better alternative than the Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad, since these names are now very deeply rooted with the less tech-savvy users thanks to past marketing efforts by Intel.
We would expect more details to emerge during IDF which kicks off next week, so stay tuned for more updates about the Intel Core i7 architecture.
Asustek’s latest 15.4-inch entertainment notebook – the ASUS M50 with the Intel’s “Penryn” 45nm processor and NVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS video card – is now available in the United States.
The M50 is offered as the Asus M50Sv-B1 model, featuring the Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 CPU at 2.1GHz and a HD DVD optical drive, and the M50Sv-A1 with the T9300 at 2.5GHz and a DVD burner. The both laptops come with the GeForce 9500M GS 512MB dedicated video card, which manages 15.4″ 1440-by-900 displays. There are also Dolby Home Theatre technology, Altec Lansing stereo speakers, 3GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive in the both models.
Asustek’s press release says the M50 notebook will be also available with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD3650 1GB graphics (M50Sa) and HD3470 with 256MB of video memory (M50Sr). According to the earlier report, some models will include up to one terabyte of hard drive space, provided by two Travelstar 5K500 500GB HDDs. In addition, the M50 will feature a Blu-ray optical drive and a built-in optional analog/digital TV tuner.
The ASUS M50Sv-B1 and M50Sv-A1 sport an integrated 802.11 a/g/n wireless module and a Bluetooth receiver. The M50 systems include Gigabit Ethernet and 56k modem connections, a built-in 1.3-megapixel camera, HDMI and VGA outputs, an eSATA/USB combo port, three standard USB ports, an 8-in-1 media card reader, Firewire port, and an infrared port for remote controller. There is no word on ExpressCard and PC Card slots in the specifications sheet.
Regarding security, the M50 provides a fingerprint reader, accompanied by the Trusted Platform Module.
The famous enthusiast overclocker k|ngp|n has got his hands on Nvidia’s 790i Ultra SLi chipset and a Geforce 9800GX2 card, both from EVGA, and as you have probably guessed by now, overclocked it sky high with a little help from some LN2 cooling.
The test system that he used consists of EVGA’s 790i Ultra SLI motherboard, a single EVGA Geforce 9800GX2 reference cooled card, Corsair Dominator 1800 CL7 memory, a Yorkfield Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-core processor, Corsair’s HX1000W and Silverstone 850W Zeus PSUs.
As would any other overclocking enthusiast do, k|ngp|n decided to put his own LN2 pots on this new graphics card to see how far could it go on LN2. The results are stunning, from 754MHz and 3DMark06 score of 24,793, which he managed to get the card with reference cooling to 945MHz and 29,970 when LN2 got into the game. The final clocks when cooled by LN2 are 949MHz for the core, 1,129MHz for the memory and, this is not a typo, 2,389MHz for the Shaders.
We are sure that he will be able to go over the 30k result pretty soon. K|ngp|n is promising Quad-SLI results this week. You can check out the screenshots here.
The first official announcements of Nvidia’s 9800GX2 card are out. The first partners to announce it are Sparkle, Inno3D and Albatron.
Nothing special to report here, since these are the cards which we were able to see during CeBIT, some on display and some of them were privately showcased. All three partners have announced reference cooled and reference clocked cards, so all three are working at 600MHz for the core, 1000MHz for 1GB of GDDR3 (512MB for each GPU) and 1500MHz for Shaders.
The only OCed cards that we know about are EVGA’s water-cooled 9800GX2, the one with Innovatek water-block, and we know that MSI might do a card that will work at 650MHz for the core. These factory overclocked cards will probably come a bit later, and for now we have to look at the same reference clocked cards, at least the stickers are different. Read the rest of this entry »
Intel calls Larrabee a complete platform powered by a very capable microprocessor powered by an architecture that can cope with a large set of data. The last very important task will be to show the results on the screen, and this last bit will actually make Larrabee a graphics card.
Intel wants to build the processor and we will call it Larrabee for the time being. It can solve some nasty computational problems and display them, and at the same time it should be called a graphics chip.
We cannot get away from a feeling that Larrabee looks like a multiple IA core multi CPU with a special function input and output part that can help it cope with graphics. Therefore, Larrabee is a CPU powered with better Vector functions and wider SIMD instruction that hopes to conquer the graphics world.
We are still not convinced. I wonder if today’s announcement is orchestrated to shadow the Geforce 9800 GX2 launch; we wonder what Nvidia thinks about it?
Clearly not wanting to lose its status as the most reliable purveyor of nasty gaming rigs, Alienware has re-upped its infamous Area-51 desktops with NVIDIA’s latest graphics champ (the GeForce 9800 GX2) and the company’s burning hot nForce 790i mobo. Or so we’re told in a thrilling press release. The bottom line is this, you can now drop major bank on a seriously up-to-date system that will have friends and foes alike drooling, plotting your murder, or (at the very least) asking to get their game on. Truck over to the site to see the myriad configurations available… but you might want to hide your credit cards first.
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/18/alienware-adds-the-nvidia-geforce-9800-gx2-nforce-790i-to-its-a/
