No 20nm Chips from AMD Just Yet; Plans to Launch Second Half of 2015
The 20nm manufacturing process is supposed to be the next step, with AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel releasing parts with it. So far only Intel has done anything, as it has used the similar 22nm process on Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge, and even the new 14nm process on Broadwell. However, GPUs from both NVIDIA and AMD, and CPUs/APUs from AMD, have only dropped down to 28nm. The mobile processor from NVIDIA, the Tegra X1, is 20nm, however. AMD was supposed to have 20nm parts out by now, and even NVIDIA's Titan X card is still on the 28nm process (hopefully 22/20nm for the Pascal line), but so far nothing. Recently some news has come out from the AMD side, and it looks like we'll have 20nm AMD APUs and SoCs, part of the company's Project Skybridge initiative, in the second half of this year. It may even extend to the AMD video card stack, but first will be the APU/SoC products.
AMD's first 20nm parts are projected to be the Amur line, which will come in both x86 and ARM flavors. The Amur line is aimed at the low power market, like the Intel Bay Trail and upcoming Cherry Trail, but will be the followup to the Nolan line, which AMD has repurposed as the Carrizo-L APUs on the 28nm process. Unfortunately, one wrinkle in the whole thing is that AMD has apparently not even begun using TSMC's 20nm process for the chips. Production usually kicks off months before release anyway, but the earliest the 20nm chips can launch will be anytime from July to the end of this year. AMD does plan for these chips to be in notebooks, tablets, and even Android devices thanks to HSA support and the GCN architecture; just not anytime soon.
Source: KitGuru via WCCFTech
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AMD's Flagship Fiji XT Card Could Have Two GPUs and 8GB HBM
AMD has yet to fully disclose when and what exactly its upcoming R9/R7 300 series will be like, but there have been some rumors providing various details. Now there's a new rumor, and is it a big one. The flagship product in the R9 300 series, the Fiji XT card, will apparently feature 8GB of HBM and be a dual GPU monster; 4GB of HBM per core. So yes, if this rumor proves true, it seems the flagship card will feature two Fiji XT GPUs on the same PCB, with 4GB of HBM per core. It is been thought the flagship card would be the R9 390X, but maybe that won't be the case here. Maybe we'll have the R9 390X as a high-powered single GPU card using a Fiji non-XT core, or maybe the R9 390X was merely an expected jump and not the true flagship. Perhaps we'll get something else, like an R9 395X or R9 39X2, that is the true flagship, dual GPU beast.
One other element that may lead credence to this new rumor is the recent trend in VR and the Oculus Rift Crescent Bay demo that was supposedly powered by an unknown Radeon flagship. A Liquid VR slide mentioned two GPUs were needed for asynchronous rendering and something called an Affinity Multi GPU. Is that unknown flagship this dual GPU Fiji XT or something AMD is working on for the future? We'll just have to wait and see exactly what AMD has in store for us, hopefully at Computex in June.
Source: WCCFTech
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Intel Working With Micron To Improve SSD Capacity
Intel and Micron have teamed up to create a new generation of NAND architecture with the goal of improving chip density and drive capacity. The technology is known as 3D NAND and stacks memory cells vertically rather than horizontally, similar to the V-NAND solution from Samsung. With the new technology, each memory die can fit up to 48GB allowing for 3.5TB to fit in the M.2 form factor or 10TB in a 2.5" SSD. Intel is planning to release its own drives based on the technology sometime in the near future, with other manufacturers receiving sample chips to make their own drives as well.
Source: Digital Trends
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PC Gamer Goes Hands On With Killing Floor 2
Killing Floor 2 was first announced roughly one year ago and it appears that the game is getting close to becoming available. PC Gamer sat down with Tripwire co-founders John Gibson and Bill Munk for the PC Gamer Show to play through the game and talk about the past year of development. Killing Floor 2 will be making its way into the Steam Early Access program "in the near future" and I can't wait to get my hands on it. Watch the video below for all the details.
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New 4K Screens Revealed for GTA V PC
In less than a month the PC version of Grand Theft Auto V releases, 19 months after the title's original release, and five months after the versions for current-gen consoles released. Despite its console origins though, developer Rockstar has been working to optimize the game for the latest PC hardware and add support for new features and technologies. Among these is support for 4K resolution, which is being shown off in 15 new screens covering several in-game environments. (Below are the images at 1080 while the source has full-size versions.)
The game releases April 14th.
Source: Rockstar Newswire
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Finding Overflow Errors in Software More Effectively
Bug testing software can be very difficult and chances are a tester or analyst is going to miss some, so it is understandable that software tools have been developed to aid in the hunt. One of the more common bugs in software is integer overflow, and researchers at MIT have developed a new tool for finding it.
By the nature of computers, there are limits on the data that can be stored, but sometimes a program may exceed that limit. In the case of integers, when that happens the number will just rollover to the beginning, like a car's odometer. In many instances that might not be a serious issue, but sometimes it can be, and many bugs can also be exploited. To hunt them down, the MIT researchers developed Directed Integer Overflow Detection (DIODE) to track a sample input through a program by adding onto its symbolic expression. Even though the sample input will not cause an overflow, DIODE is able to analyze the symbolic expression to determine an input that will. That input is then tested, as checks are likely in place to prevent such inputs, but it will continue until it finds an input that will get through, or concludes an overflow is impossible.
To test DIODE, the researchers ran it and other algorithms on five open-source programs. The other algorithms identified three overflow bugs and DIODE found those three, and 11 more. DIODE does not need the program to be open source though, and can run on the binary of a program, so even a user could run it and report their findings to the developers.
Source: MIT
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MSI Introduces Three New All-in-One Gaming PCs
MSI, one of the world's largest information technology manufacturers, has officially introduced three new all-in-one gaming computers. The latest products from MSI, which include the MSI AG270 3K, MSI Gaming 24GE IPS, and MSI Gaming 24GE 4K, feature the latest Intel Core i7 and i5 processors and NVIDIA GeForce GTX960M and GTX970M graphics, providing gamers with ultimate performance. All three all-in-one gaming computers from MSI include Killer Networking technology, which recognizes online game data packs and processes them first, as well as Nahimic sound technology, which provides virtual surround sound, frequency leveling, bass boost, and noise reduction with voice leveling when gaming with a headphone. The three recently introduced all-in-one gaming PCs from MSI also include Super RAID functionality and come bundled with a six-month premium license for XSplit Gamecaster.
The MSI AG270 3K, MSI Gaming 24GE IPS, and MSI Gaming 24GE 4K are expected to be available worldwide in the first week of April, 2015.
Source: TechPowerUp
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NVIDIA Actively Working on GeForce GTX 980 Ti
According to SweClockers, NVIDIA is currently preparing the GeForce GTX 980 Ti, a reduced version of the GM200-powered TITAN X that was released earlier this month. The Ti version of the amazingly efficient and widely popular GeForce GTX 980 is slated to feature 6GB of framebuffer and be around 10 percent faster than the TITAN X. Moreover, the GeForce GTX 980 Ti will be capable of featuring custom PCBs and cooling solutions from various manufacturers, allowing the GM200 card to offer users with even better performance as well as cooler temperatures when compared with the already available GeForce GTX 980.
NVIDIA is expected to release the GeForce GTX 980 Ti during the second half of this year, following the launch of the Radeon R9 390X by AMD.
Source: TweakTown
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Research Budget for AMD Hits 10 Year Low
New research that focuses around the research budget of AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA, shows that the research budget for AMD is currently the lowest it has been in the last 10 years. The data shows that Intel’s quarterly budget of 3 billion dollars is 12 times as high as AMD’s budget, which currently sits at 238 million dollars. While the research and development budget for Intel includes costs of maintaining its own fabrication facility, something that AMD does not have to worry about, the data shows just how much of a difference each company’s budget is. Even when compared with NVIDIA, AMD has a budget that is 110 million dollars less.
With AMD facing fierce competition in the CPU market from Intel, as well as brutal competition in the GPU market from NVIDIA, it will be interesting to see how the research and development budget going forward changes for the California-based company.
Source: WCCFtech
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