USB Type-C Connector Specifications Finalized
In the early ‘90s, when USB was first being developed, the designers had no idea just how universal it would become. The first connectors, USB-A and USB-B, were not only massive in size, but the connection itself was only ever intended to provide power at a low draw of 100 mA. As USB evolved, those limitations were some of the first to go.
First, the mini connectors were introduced, which, at approximately 3 mm x 7 mm, were significantly smaller than the original connector, but other than the smaller size they didn’t correct every issue with the initial connectors. For instance, they still had a connector which had to be oriented a certain way in order to be plugged in. As some people know, it can take several tries to get a USB cable to connect, and has resulted in more than a few jokes being made about it. The smaller size did allow USB to be used on a much different class of device than the original connector, with widespread adoption of the mini connectors on everything from digital cameras to Harmony remotes to PDAs of the day.
USB Cables and Connectors - Image Source Viljo ViitanenWith that history behind us, we can take a look at the changes which were finalized for the latest connector type. There are a lot of changes coming, with some excellent enhancements:
Completely new design but with backwards compatibility
Similar to the size of USB 2.0 Micro-B (standard Smartphone charging cable)
Slim enough for mobile devices, but robust enough for laptops and tablets
Reversible plug orientation for ease of connection
Scalable power charging with connectors being able to supply up to 5 A and cables supporting 3 A for up to 100 watts of power
Designed for future USB performance requirements
Certified for USB 3.1 data rates (10 Gbps)
Receptacle opening: ~8.4 mm x ~2.6 mm
Durability of 10,000 connect-disconnect cycles
Improved EMI and RFI mitigation features
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Intel Disables TSX Instructions: Erratum Found in Haswell, Haswell-E/EP, Broadwell-Y
News coming from Intel’s briefings in Portland last week boil down to an erratum found with the TSX instructions. Tech Report and David Kanter of Real World Technologies are stating that a software developer outside of Intel discovered the erratum through testing, and subsequently Intel has confirmed its existence. While errata are not new (Intel’s E3-1200 v3 Xeon CPUs already have 140 of them), what is interesting is Intel’s response: to push through new microcode to disable TSX entirely. Normally a microcode update would suggest a workaround, but it would seem that this a fundamental silicon issue that cannot be designed around, or intercepted at an OS or firmware/BIOS level.
Intel has had numerous issues similar to this in the past, such as the FDIV bug, the f00f bug and more recently, the P67 B2 SATA issues. In each case, the bug was resolved by a new silicon stepping, with certain issues (like FDIV) requiring a recall, similar to recent issues in the car industry. This time there are no recalls, the feature just gets disabled via a microcode update.
The main focus of TSX is in server applications rather than consumer systems. It was introduced primarily to aid database management and other tools more akin to a server environment, which is reflected in the fact that enthusiast-level consumer CPUs have it disabled (except Devil’s Canyon). Now it will come across as disabled for everyone, including the workstation and server platforms. Intel is indicating that programmers who are working on TSX enabled code can still develop in the environment as they are committed to the technology in the long run.
Overall, this issue affects all of the Haswell processors currently in the market, the upcoming Haswell-E processors and the early Broadwell-Y processors under the Core M branding, which are currently in production. This issue has been found too late in the day to be introduced to these platforms, although we might imagine that the next stepping all around will have a suitable fix. Intel states that its internal designs have already addressed the issue.
Intel is recommending that Xeon users that require TSX enabled code to improve performance should wait until the release of Haswell-EX. This tells us two things about the state of Haswell: for most of the upcoming LGA2011-3 Haswell CPUs, the launch stepping might be the last, and the Haswell-EX CPUs are still being worked on. That being said, if the Haswell-E/EP stepping at launch is not the last one, Intel might not promote the fact – having the fix for TSX could be a selling point for Broadwell-E/EP down the line.
For those that absolutely need TSX, it is being said that TSX can be re-enabled through the BIOS/firmware menu should the motherboard manufacturer decide to expose it to the user. Reading though Intel’s official errata document, we can confirm this:
At the current time there is no road map for when the fix will be in place, and no public date for the Haswell-EX CPU launch. It might not make sense for Intel to re-release the desktop Haswell-E/EP CPUs, and in order to distinguish them it might be better to give them all new CPU names. However the issue should certainly be fixed with Haswell-EX and desktop Broadwell onwards, given that Intel confirms they have addressed the issue internally.
Source: Twitter, Tech Report
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NVIDIA Launches Next GeForce Game Bundle - Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Launching today, NVIDIA and their partners will be bundling Gearbox and 2K Australia’s forthcoming FPS Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel with select video cards. This latest bundle is for the GTX 770 and higher, so buyers accustomed to seeing NVIDIA’s bundles will want to take note that this bundle is a bit narrower than usual since it doesn’t cover the GTX 760.
As for the bundled game itself, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is the not-quite-a-sequel to Gearbox’s well received 2012 title Borderlands 2. As was the case with Borderlands 2 before it, this latest Borderlands game will be receiving PhysX enhancements courtesy of NVIDIA, leveraging the PhysX particle, cloth, and fluid simulation libraries for improved effects.
NVIDIA Current Game Bundles |
||||
Video Card |
Bundle |
|||
GeForce GTX 770/780/780Ti/Titan Black |
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel |
|||
GeForce GTX 750/750Ti/760 |
None |
|||
Finally, as always, these bundles are being distributed in voucher from, with retailers and etailers providing vouchers with qualifying purchases. So buyers will want to double check whether their purchase includes a voucher for either of the above deals. Checking NVIDIA’s terms and conditions, the codes from this bundle are good through October 31st, so it looks like this will bundle will run for around 2 months.
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NVIDIA Refreshes Quadro Lineup, Launches 5 New Quadro Cards
With the exception of NVIDIA’s much more recently introduced Quadro K6000 – which will continue its reign as NVIDIA’s most powerful professional GPU – NVIDIA’s Quadro refresh comes as the bulk of the current Quadro K5000 family approaches 2 years old. At the point NVIDIA is looking to offer an across-the-board boost to their Quadro lineup, to increase performance and memory capacity at every tier. As a result this refresh will involve replacing NVIDIA’s Quadro cards with newer models based on larger and more powerful Kepler and Maxwell GPUs, and released as the Quadro Kx200 series. All told, NVIDIA is shooting for an average performance improvement of 40%, on top of any benefits from the larger memory amounts.
NVIDIA Quadro Refesh Specification Comparison |
|||||||
Quadro K5200 |
Quadro K4200 |
Quadro K2200 |
Quadro K620 |
Quadro K420 |
|||
CUDA Cores |
2304 |
1344 |
640 |
384 |
192 |
||
Core Clock |
650MHz |
780MHz |
1GHz |
1GHz |
780MHz |
||
Memory Clock |
6GHz GDDR5 |
5.4GHz GDDR5 |
5GHz GDDR5 |
1.8GHz DDR3 |
1.8GHz DDR3 |
||
Memory Bus Width |
256-bit |
256-bit |
128-bit |
128-bit |
128-bit |
||
VRAM |
8GB |
4GB |
4GB |
2GB |
1GB |
||
Double Precision |
? |
1/24 |
1/32 |
1/32 |
1/24 |
||
TDP |
150W |
105W |
68W |
45W |
41W |
||
GPU |
GK110 |
GK104 |
GM107 |
GM107? |
GK107? |
||
Architecture |
Kepler |
Kepler |
Maxwell |
Maxwell |
Kepler |
||
Displays Supported (Outputs) |
4 (4) |
4 (3) |
4 (3) |
4 (2) |
4 (2) |
||
Compared to the K5000, K5200 offers an increase in shader/compute throughput of 36%, and a smaller 11% increase in memory bandwidth. More significant however are GK110’s general enhancements, which elevate K5200 beyond K5000. Whereas K5000 and its GK104 GPU made for a strong graphics card, it was a relatively weak compute card, a weakness that GK110 resolved. As a result K5200 should be similar to K6000 in that it’s a well-balanced fit for mixed graphics/compute workloads, and the ECC memory support means that it offers an additional degree of reliability not found on the K5000.
As is usually the case in rolling out a refresh wave of cards based on existing GPUs, because performance has gone up power consumption has as well. NVIDIA has clamped K5200 at 150W (important for workstation compatibility), which is much lower than the full-fledged K6000 but is 28W more than the K5000. None the less the performance gains should easily outstrip the power consumption increase.
Meanwhile display connectivity remains unchanged from the K5000 and K6000. NVIDIA’s standard Quadro configuration is a DL-DVI-I port, a DL-DVI-D port, and a pair of full size DisplayPorts, with the card able to drive up to 4 displays in total through a combination of those ports and MST over DisplayPort.
For the K4200 NVIDIA is using a cut down version of GK104 to reach their performance and power targets. Comprised of 7 active SMXes (1344 CUDA cores), the K4200 is paired with 4GB of VRAM. Clockspeeds stand at 780MHz for the GPU and 5.4GHz for the VRAM.
On a relative basis the K4200 will see some of the greatest performance gains of this wave of refreshes. Its 2.1 TFLOPS of compute/shader performance blasts past K4000 by 75%, and memory bandwidth has been increased by 29%. However the 4GB of VRAM makes for a smaller increase in VRAM than the doubling most other Quadro cards are seeing. Otherwise power consumption is once again up slightly, rising from 80W to 105W in exchange for the more powerful GK104 GPU.
Finally, as was the case with K5200 display connectivity remains unchanged. Since the K4200 is a single slot card like K4000 before it, this means NVIDIA uses a single DL-DVI-I port along with a pair of full size DisplayPorts. Like other Kepler products the card can drive up to 4 displays, though doing this will require a DisplayPort MST hub to get enough outputs. Which on that note, users looking to pair this card with multiple monitors will be pleased to find that Quadro Sync is supported in the K4200 for the first time, being limited to the K5000 and higher previously.
In NVIDIA’s refreshed Quadro lineup, the K4200 will primarily serve as the company’s highest-end single-slot offering. As with other GK10x based GPUs compute performance is not its strongest suit, while for graphics workloads such as CAD and modeling it should offer a nice balance of performance and price.
As was the case with NVIDIA’s consumer desktop GM107 cards, NVIDIA is aiming to produce an especially potent sub-75W card for K2200. Here NVIDIA uses a fully enabled GM107 GPU – all 5 SMMs (640 CUDA cores) are enabled – and it’s paired with 4GB of VRAM on a 128-bit bus. Meanwhile based on NVIDIA’s performance figures the GPU clockspeed should be just north of 1GHz while the memory clock stands at 5GHz.
Since the K2200 is replacing a GK107 based card, the performance gains compared to the outgoing K2000 should be significant. On the consumer desktop side we’ve seen GM107 products come close to doubling GK107 parts, and we’re expecting much the same here. K2200’s 1.3 TFLOPS of single precision compute/shader performance is 78% higher than K2000’s, which means that K2200 should handily outperform its predecessor. Otherwise the 4GB of VRAM is a full doubling over the K2000’s smaller VRAM pool, greatly increasing the size of the workloads K2200 can handle.
Meanwhile display connectivity is identical to the new K4200 and the outgoing K2000. The K2200 can drive up to 4 displays by utilizing a mix of its DL-DVI port, two DisplayPorts, and a DisplayPort MST hub.
In NVIDIA’s new Quadro lineup the K2200 will serve as their most powerful sub-75W card. As we’ve seen in other NVIDIA Maxwell products, this is an area the underlying GM107 excels at.
K620’s GM107 GPU features 3 SMMs (384 CUDA cores) enabled, and it is pair with 2GB of DDR3 operating on a 128-bit memory bus. Like K2200 the GPU clockspeed appears to be a bit over 1GHz, and meanwhile the memory clockspeed stands at 1.8GHz.
Compared to the K600 overall performance should be significantly improved. Though it’s worth pointing out that since memory bandwidth is identical to NVIDIA’s previous generation card, in memory bandwidth bound scenarios the K620 may not pull ahead by too much. None the less the memory pool has been doubled from 1GB to 2GB, so in memory capacity constrained situations the K620 should fare much better. Power consumption is just slightly higher this time, at 45W versus K600’s 41W.
As this is a 3 digit Quadro product, NVIDIA considers this an entry level card and it is configured accordingly. A single DL-DVI port and a single full size DisplayPort are the K620’s output options, with an MST hub being required to attach additional monitors to make full use of its ability to drive 4 displays. By going with this configuration however NVIDIA is able to offer the K620 in a low profile configuration, making it suitable for smaller workstations that can’t accept full profile cards.
Like K620, K420 can drive a total of 4 displays, while the physical display connectors are composed of a single DL-DVI port and a single full size DisplayPort. This low profile card draws 41W, the same as the outgoing 410.
Wrapping things up, NVIDIA tells us that the Quadro refresh cards will be shipping in September. In the meantime we’ll be reviewing some of these cards later this month, so stay tuned.
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AMD Completes FirePro Refresh, Adds 4 New FirePro Cards
Being announced today are the FirePro W7100, W5100, W4100, and W2100. These parts are based on a range of AMD GPUs – including Tonga, a new GPU that has yet to show up in any other AMD products – and are designed to the sub-$2500 market segment that the current W8100 tops out at. With a handful of exceptions, the bulk of these upgrades are straightforward, focused on making AMD’s entire FirePro lineup 4K capable, improving performance across the board, and doubling the amount of VRAM compared to the past generation to allow for larger data sets to be used.
AMD FirePro W Series Specification Comparison |
||||||
AMD FirePro W7100 |
AMD FirePro W5100 |
AMD FirePro W4100 |
AMD FirePro W2100 |
|||
Stream Processors |
1792 |
768 |
512 |
320 |
||
ROPs |
? |
16 |
16 |
8 |
||
Core Clock |
? |
930MHz |
630MHz |
630MHz |
||
Memory Clock |
5GHz GDDR5 |
6GHz GDDR5 |
5.5GHz GDDR5 |
1.8GHz DDR3 |
||
Memory Bus Width |
256-bit |
128-bit |
128-bit |
128-bit |
||
VRAM |
8GB |
4GB |
4GB |
2GB |
||
Double Precision |
? |
1/16 |
1/16 |
1/16 |
||
TDP |
150W |
75W |
50W |
26W |
||
GPU |
Tonga |
Bonaire |
Cape Verde |
Oland |
||
Architecture |
GCN 1.1? |
GCN 1.1 |
GCN 1.0 |
GCN 1.0 |
||
Display Outputs |
4 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
||
The W7100 is designed to be a significant step up compared to the outgoing W7000. Along with the doubling W7000’s memory from 4GB to 8GB, the Tonga GPU in W7100 inherits Hawaii’s wider geometry front-end, allowing W7100 to process 4 triangles/clock versus W7000’s 2 tris/clock. Overall compute/rendering performance should also greatly be increased due to the much larger number of stream processors (1792 vs. 1280), but without clockspeeds we can’t say for sure.
Like the W7000 before it, the W7100 is equipped with 4 full size DisplayPorts, allowing for a relatively large number of monitors to be used with the card. And because it gets AMD's newest GCN display controller, W7100 is particularly well suited for 4K displays, being able to drive 3 4K@60Hz displays or 4 4K displays if some operate at 30Hz.
In AMD’s product stack the W7100 is designed be a budget alternative to the W9100 and W8100, offering reduced performance but at a much lower cost. AMD is primarily targeting the engineering and media markets with the W7100, as its compute performance and 8GB of VRAM should be enough for most engineering workloads, or alternatively its VRAM capacity and ability to drive 4 4K displays makes it a good fit for 4K video manipulation.
In terms of specifications, the W5100 utilizes a slightly cut-down version of Bonaire with 768 SPs active. It is clocked at approximately 910MHz, which puts its compute performance at 1.4 TFLOPS for single precision. Feeding W5100 is 4GB of VRAM attached to a 128-bit memory bus and clocked at 6GHz.
Compared to the outgoing W5000 the W5100 gains the usual VRAM capacity upgrades that the rest of the Wx100 cards have seen, while the other specifications are a mixed bag on paper. Compute performance is only slightly improved – from 1.28 TFLOPS to 1.4 TFLOPS – and memory bandwidth has actually gone regressed slightly from 102GB/sec. Consequently the biggest upgrade will be found in memory bound scenarios, otherwise the W5100’s greatest improvements would be from its GCN 1.1 lineage.
Speaking of which, with 4 full size DisplayPorts the W5100 has the same 4K display driving capabilities as the W7100. However with lower performance and half the VRAM, it’s decidedly a mid-range card and AMD treats it as such. This means it’s targeted towards lower power usage scenarios where the high compute performance and 8GB+ VRAM capacities of the W7100 and higher aren’t needed.
With just 512 SPs active the W4100 tops out at only 50W power consumption, reflecting the fact that it is targeted towards lower power use cases. AMD has paired the card with 2GB of VRAM, and based on Cape Verde’s capabilities we expect that this is on a 128-bit bus. AMD has not provided any more technical details on the card, but it goes without saying that this is not a card meant to be a performance powerhouse.
AMD’s target market for this is lightweight 2D and 3D workloads such as finance and entry level CAD. The 4 mini-DisplayPorts allow the card to directly drive up to 4 displays, though because this is a GCN 1.0 GPU it doesn’t have the same flexibility of the W5100.
W2100 is based on AMD’s Oland GPU, which marks the first time that this existing AMD GPU has appeared in a FirePro product. W2100 uses a cut down version of Oland with 320 SPs active and attached to 2GB of memory on a 128-bit bus. Oland is a very limited functionality GPU, and while it’s more than suitable for basic imaging it should be noted that it doesn’t have a video decoder.
At a TDP of just 26W, the W2100 is AMD’s lowest power, lowest performance card. Functionally it’s a cheaper alternative to the W4100 for users who don’t need to drive 4 displays, with W2100 featuring just 2 DisplayPorts. The targeted market is otherwise similar, with a focus on lightweight 2D and 3D workloads over 1-2 monitors.
Wrapping things up, AMD has not revealed final pricing for these cards at this time, though we expect pricing to follow the previous generation W series cards. Meanwhile the W2100, W4100, and W5100 will be available next month. Otherwise no doubt owing to its use of the new Tonga GPU, W7100 will be farther out, with availability expected in Q4 of this year.
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Short Bytes: Intel's Core M and Broadwell-Y SoC
The big news for Broadwell is that it will be the first 14nm processor available to the public, following on the success of Intel's 22nm process technology. Shrinking the process technology from 22nm to 14nm can mean a lot of things, but the primary benefit this time appears to be smaller chip sizes and lower power requirements. The first parts will belong to the Core M family of products, a new line catering specifically to low power, high mobility form factors (typically tablets and hybrid devices). With Core M, Intel has their sights set on the fanless computing market with sub-9mm thick designs, and they have focused on reducing power requirements in order to meet the needs of this market. This brings us to Broadwell-Y, the lowest power version of Broadwell and the successor to Haswell-Y and the codename behind the new Core M.
Core M thus serves marketing needs as well as technical requirements: it replaces the Core i3/i5/i7 Y-series parts and gives Intel a brand they can market directly at premium tablets/hybrids. And in another move likely driven by marketing, Core M will be the launch part for Intel's new 14nm process technology. Transitions between process technology usually come every 2-3 years, so the 14nm change is a big deal and launching with their extreme low power part makes a statement. The key message of Broadwell is clear: getting into lower power devices and improving battery life is a critical target. To that end, Broadwell-Y probably won't be going into any smartphones, but getting into more premium tablets and delivering better performance with at least competitive battery life relative to other SoCs is a primary goal.
Broadwell parts in general will certainly be faster/better than the current Haswell parts – Intel doesn't typically "go backwards" on processor updates – but you shouldn't expect twice the performance at the same power. Instead, Broadwell-Y should offer better performance than Haswell-Y using much less power, but if you reduce total power use by 2X you could increase performance by 5% and still claim a doubling of performance per Watt. And that's basically what Intel is doing here. Intel estimates the core Broadwell architecture to be around 5% faster than Haswell at the same clocks; specifically, IPC (Instructions Per Cycle) are up ~5% on average. Similarly, changes and improvements to the graphics portion of the processor should deliver more performance at a lower power draw. Add in slightly higher clock speeds and you get a faster part than last generation that uses less power. These are all good improvements, but ultimately it comes down to the final user experience and the cost.
Everywhere you go, people are increasingly using tablets and smartphones for many of their daily computing needs, and being left out of that market is the road to irrelevance. Core M (Broadwell-Y) is Intel's latest push to make inroads into these extremely low power markets, and on paper it looks like Intel has a competitive part. It's now up to the device vendors to deliver compelling products, as fundamentally the choice of processor is only one element of an electronics device. Being the first company to deliver 14nm parts certainly gives Intel an edge over the competition, but high quality Android and iOS tablets sell for $300-$500, so there's not a lot of room for a $100+ processor – which is why Intel has their Atom processors (due for the 14nm treatment with Braswell, if you're wondering).
Core M is going after the premium tablet/hybird market, with benefits including full Windows 8 support, but will it be enough? If you're interested in such a device and you don't already own the Haswell-Y version, Core M products should deliver slimmer and lighter devices with improved battery life and better performance. Don't expect a 10" Core M tablet to deliver the same battery life as a 7" Android/iOS device (at least, not without a larger battery), since the display and other components contribute a lot to power use and Windows 8 has traditionally been far less battery friendly than Android; still, Core M tablets may finally match or perhaps even exceed the battery life of similarly sized iOS/Android tablets. The first retail products with Core M should be shipping before the end of the year, so we'll find out later this year and early next how well Broadwell-Y is able to meet its lofty goals. And we'll also find out how much the Core M products cost.
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Browser Face-Off: Battery Life Explored 2014
It has been five years since we did a benchmark of the various web browsers and their effect on battery life, and a lot has changed. Our testing then included Opera 9 & 10, Chrome 2, Firefox 3.5.2, Safari 4, and IE8. Just looking at those version numbers is nostalgic. Not only have the browsers gone through many revisions since then, but computer hardware and the Windows operating system are very different. While there has been a lot of talk, there hasn't been a lot of data comparing browser battery usage. Today we're going to put the latest browsers to the test and deliver some concrete numbers.
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Report: Samsung Z Tizen Smartphone is Dead
Samsung reportedly want to “enhance the Tizen ecosystem.”
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HTC's One W8 Windows Phone to Launch in NYC Next Week
New device is nearly identical to Android variant, will add new support for Cortana in DotView Case interface
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VoLTE Coming to Verizon Wireless in Q4 2014, LTE-Only Phones Will Arrive 1H 2016
VoLTE will enable higher quality, "HD Voice" calls
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Quick Note: Microsoft to Launch White, Call of Duty Themed Xbox One Consoles
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare bundle will include 1TB hard drive
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Thanks to Support from Dealers, Pennsylvania Paves Way for Tesla Direct Sales
Tesla Motors will be allowed to open five retail stores
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"Boot to TV" Functionality and MKV Support Headed to Xbox One This Fall
The Xbox One will also get a revamped "Friends" section
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