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Popularity: 43% [?]
AMD Has an Ace Up Its Sleeve
Taipei (Taiwan) - AMD has pulled a rabbit out of its hat to increase the performance of its existing Phenom triple-core (8000-series) and quad-core (9000-series) processors. Six “hidden pins” on the processors and chipsets are the secret, which, our sources told us, will enable simple overclocking through the southbridge – and accelerate the current processors on demand.
The name of the game is called “unlocking the multiplier”, which will be played with the SB700 and SB750 southbridge chips. If you are running an upcoming 2.8 GHz Black Edition CPU, a motherboard with the old SB600 model (RD690) will keep the processor cores operating at 2.8 GHz. However, if you have a motherboard with the SB700 chipset, you will receive a free upgrade to 3.0 GHz. And if you get a motherboard with a SB750 chip, your processor will run at 3.2 GHz, which matches the clock speed of the Athlon X2 6400+ - the highest clocked processor AMD ever offerred.
We have seen motherboards with 780G, 790FX and 790GX chipsets in ATX and mATX form factors, which all support this feature. Now it is up to AMD to execute and deliver a compelling user processor.
Popularity: 66% [?]
Thermalright’s Computer Case is Basically a Huge Radiator
Taipei (Taiwan) – The guys at Thermalright hate computer cooling fans with a passion and have developed a case that’s basically a huge radiator. Consisting of aluminum paneling, ribbed with heatpipes, this case doesn’t need any cooling fans (well, with the exception of the fan in the power supply unit).
Loren Hrabak, a sales engineer with Thermalright, told us the HSC-101 case dissipates up to 150 watts of heat per side. One side of the case is for the processor while the other side is for the graphics card and other components.
The company is still finalizing what water blocks, tubing and other parts to include with the case. There is also no specified price, but it will probably be a bit expensive as the tooling costs required for the side panels must be astronomical.
Thermalright also showed off another case with six huge fans in the front and back. This is accomplished by moving the motherboard a few inches away from the back. Extender cables connect the i/o ports on the back of the motherboard to ports in the case.
Popularity: 59% [?]
IBM Aims to Cool Chips With Water
A network of tiny pipes of water could be used to cool next-generation PC chips, researchers at IBM have said.
Scientists at the firm have shown off a prototype device layered with thousands of “hair-width” cooling arteries. They believe it could be a solution to the increasing amount of heat pumped out by chips as they become smaller and more densely packed with components.
The technology was demonstrated in IBM’s 3D chips, where circuits are stacked one on top of the other. Laying chips vertically, instead of side by side, reduces the distance data has to travel , enhancing performance and saving critical space.
“As we package chips on top of each other….we have found that conventional coolers attached to the back of a chip don’t scale,” explained Thomas Brunschwiler at IBM’s Zurich Research Laboratory. In order to exploit the potential of high-performance 3D chip stacking, we need interlayer cooling.”
Popularity: 67% [?]
GPS Coming to 3G iPhone?
It’s pretty much a given that the next-generation iPhone will be faster, but it might be able to find its way home as well.
GigaOm is reporting that Broadcom is Apple’s supplier for GPS chips that are inside the next iPhone, expected to arrive with a 3G cellular networking chip within a few weeks. GPS is an increasingly common feature inside smartphones, and is much more accurate than the cell-tower and Wi-Fi positioning system that Apple rolled out in January.
Rumors of GPS capabilities inside the forthcoming iPhone trickled out earlier this month, in the form of possible geotagging code noticed inside the iPhone software development kit. GigaOm notes a report from Popular Mechanics that reveals GPS manufacturers are shaking in their boots over the prospect of a GPS-enabled iPhone.
Popularity: 94% [?]
Promoting Peace, Not Violence, in Video Games
Computer companies are pushing to swap the violence in video games with messages of social change.
Next week, Advanced Micro Devices plans to announce a project designed to teach kids how to build video games that promote social causes such as fighting poverty or protecting the environment. Called Changing the Game, the project will fund nonprofit organizations that inspire kids with video games, and it will develop curriculum for youth to build their own software for games. Changing the Game is the first initiative funded by the chipmaker’s newly formed AMD Foundation, a grant-making organization.
At the same time next week, Microsoft will show off the first of the environmental education games developed by high school and college kids participating in Microsoft’s Imagine Cup, a global competition around software for social change. (The Imagine Cup winners will be announced in Paris in July.)
Popularity: 85% [?]
