As predicted back in June, Intel has introduced a series of price cuts for a wide range of PC processors. The most notable of these is a 47.6% cut in the price of the Intel Core i7 950 quad-core processor, from US $562 to $294. This heats up competition severely in the $250~$300 bracket with Intel-AMD competition as well as competition among Intel processors of various platforms. In this bracket, you will now find the Core i7 860 priced at $283, Core i7 870 and Core i7 930 at $289; and now Core i7 950 at $294, quite a mix danger-close to each other. If you add AMD to the concoction, the six-core Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition is going for $290. If you’re a high-end dual-core fan, Intel has Core i5 670 for you at $299. In addition to this, Intel released some new chips that include Core i3 560 at $138, Pentium Dual Core E6800 at US$86, and Celeron E3500 at $53.

Source: DigiTimes

AMD is finally going to embrace a truly next generation x86 processor architecture that is built from ground up. AMD’s current architecture, the K10(.5) “Stars” is an evolution of the more market-successful K8 architecture, but it didn’t face the kind of market success as it was overshadowed by competing Intel architectures. AMD codenamed its latest design “Bulldozer”, and it features an x86 core design that is radically different from anything we’ve seen from either processor giants. With this design, AMD thinks it can outdo both HyperThreading and Multi-Core approaches to parallelism, in one shot, as well as “bulldoze” through serial workloads with a broad 8 integer pipeline per core, (compared to 3 on K10, and 4 on Westmere). Two almost-individual blocks of integer processing units share a common floating point unit with two 128-bit FMACs.

AMD is also working on a multi-threading technology of its own to rival Intel’s HyperThreading, that exploits Bulldozer’s branched integer processing backed by shared floating point design, which AMD believes to be so efficient, that each SMT worker thread can be deemed a core in its own merit, and further be backed by competing threads per “core”. AMD is working on another micro-architecture codenamed “Bobcat”, which is a downscale implementation of Bulldozer, with which it will take on low-power and high performance per Watt segments that extend from all-in-One PCs all the way down to hand-held devices and 8-inch tablets. We will explore the Bulldozer architecture in some detail.

With innovative products that span multiple target markets under its belt, Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS), the world’s leading motherboard, graphics card, barebone system, and notebook manufacturer, announces the latest product, the ECS Black Series P55H-AK motherboard, which has powerful specifications and takes on a classic black and white color scheme.

There were lots of insane overclocking events at COMPUTEX 2010; ECS successfully created a new overclocking standard – 5 GHz for Intel latest Core Unlocked processor (Unlocked processors refer to the Core i5-655K and Core i7-875K) using just a normal air cooler. Simply put, every user can boost their gaming system easily by using the ECS M.I.B. X tweaker – the special edition overclocking interface consolidates all information about overclocking for users; getting increased system performance using typical cooling isn’t that hard anymore.

Having turned its most profitable quarter, Intel is banking on its vast lineup of the 2010 Core processors, which will be updated towards the end of the year. By 2011, Intel will have a new series of second generation Core i7, Core i5, and Core i3 processors, based on a brand new architecture, and built for new sockets and chipsets. A roadmap of the same reached sections of the European media, which shows the company to be almost ready with a full-fledged lineup of desktop processors covering most price-points, by 2011.

The new architecture on which these processors are based is referred to by Intel as “Sandy Bridge”, key features of which include the inclusion of the new Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX), a more advanced instruction set than SSE, to accelerate complex applications. AVX aside, there’s Turbo Boost technology 2.0 that comes with even smarter algorithms to automatically manage clock speeds of individual processor cores to maximize performance within the processor’s TDP envelope, AES-NI, which is a more manageable hardware data encryption instruction set, and processors with integrated graphics (IGP) controllers will have even faster ones, because Intel will be relocating the IGP and memory controller to the same die as the processor cores, this IGP is referred to as Intel “GT2″ graphics.

Lenovo has started selling its IdeaCentre A700 all-in-one PC aimed at capturing the same market Apple’s iMac is after, with nearly the same hardware at similar price-points, but driven by Windows 7. The lineup starts at US $999 with the 40243BU variant, it features a 23-inch display with 1920 x 1080 px resolution, Intel Core i3 350M 2.26 GHz processor, 4 GB of DDR3 memory, Intel HD graphics, 500 GB of storage, and a DVD-RW drive. Next up is the $1,149 40242BU variant that has the same chassis and screen, but with a more powerful Core i5 430M processor (also 2.26 GHz, but with Turbo Boost), ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 graphics, and 640 GB of storage. At the top is the $1,599 40241CU. This variant is powered by an Intel Core i7 720QM 1.60 GHz quad-core processor, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5750 graphics, 8 GB of DDR3 memory, 1 TB of storage, and a Blu-ray + DVD writer combo drive. All three variants come with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit pre-installed.

Source: TechDaring

Stealth.com Inc. (Stealth Computer) a leading ISO 9001 manufacturer of industrial rugged computers and peripherals has released a new form factor of mini pc, the model LPC-100 their smallest to date.

The new Stealth ultra small form factor PC offers tremendous processing power in a tiny package that measures only 4.0″ x 6.1″ x 1.45" (102mm x 155mm x 37mm) or about the size of a paperback novel. The machine weighs in at a mere 1.2lbs or .62kg. The Stealth ultra small PC outperforms most other small sized PC systems due to the integration of the latest Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processors. The LPC-100 is available with a standard Intel Dual Core Celeron T3100 (1.9GHz) or optional Intel Core 2 Duo processors P8400 (2.26Ghz) or T9400 (2.53Ghz). Stealth’s space saving computer utilizes the Intel Mobile GM45 Express Chipset featuring Intel’s graphic media accelerator with superior 3D graphics performance.

Apple today announced a large-scale refresh of its Mac line of computers. The refresh includes new models, and hardware updates on existing ones. Highlights include: 1. a complete transition to Intel 2010 Core Series processors (i3/i5/i7, across the board), a speed step up on existing SKUs, and a brilliant new Cinema display. To begin with, the entire range of iMac desktops now feature Core i3/i5/i7 processors, moving forward from Core 2 Duo that featured on the lower models. The lineup starts with Core i3 processors with speeds of up to 3.06 GHz (at the 21.5″ $1,199 point), Core i3 3.20 GHz (at 21.5″ $1,499 and 27″ $1,699 points), and 2.80 GHz Core i5 quad-core (at the 27″ $1,999 point).

Earlier, the 27″, $1,999 model featured a 2.66 GHz Core i5 processor. Each of these models optionally offer faster processors. While the 21.5″ $1,199 model packs ATI Radeon HD 4670 512 MB graphics, the $1,499 and $1,699 models come with ATI Radeon HD 5670 512 MB graphics, and the 27″ one packs ATI Radeon HD 5750 1 GB. All models pack 4 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1333 MHz memory.

Intel has formalized a wide range of price cuts and changes for processor models from across various segments and platforms. The most noteworthy of these include addition of new SKUs, and repositioning (price-cuts) of certain SKUs. To begin with, Intel formally introduced the Core i7 970 six-core desktop processor. This “non-XE” model comes with a clock speed of 3.20 GHz, and Turbo speeds of 3.43 GHz, and is based on the 32 nm Gulftown die. Earlier expected to be in the $500~$600 range by sections of the press, the SKU is positioned at $885, a mere $115 cheaper than the Core i7 980X Extreme Edition (which is priced at $999).

Most of the action lies in the LGA1156 platform, with the Core i7 870 getting a massive 47.6% price cut, sending its price plummeting down to $294, from $562. This cut may have been influenced by the Core i7 875K, which is a multiplier-unlocked SKU which is priced just a little under $350, with the same clock speeds as the i7 870. Interestingly, no price changes for the i7 860 were noted. An energy-efficient variant of the i7 870, the 870s, was introduced, it is priced at $351.

SilverStone is ready with a Nitrogon NT07 series CPU cooler compatible with the LGA1156 socket. Like the NT07-775 (made for LGA775), the NT07-1156 from SilverStone is a low-profile CPU cooler that is positioned to be a Intel reference HSF replacement. It bears resemblance with the Intel HSF, using essentially the same design, with its own additions of a base made entirely of copper, and manual speed control. The base conveys heat to a heatsink with spirally-projecting, forked, aluminum fins. A 90 mm fan circulates air, it measures 90mm (W) x 90mm (H) x 16mm (D), with two speed modes selectable by a tiny switch on the fan-frame: 1200~3000rpm ± 10% and 1200~1800rpm ± 10%; pushing 12~40 CFM / 12~23 CFM on the two modes, respectively.

The cooler measures 93mm (W) x 36.5mm (H) x 93mm (D), weighing 310 g. With LGA1156 push-pins, the cooler is easy to install and remove. It supports CPUs with TDP of up to 95W, which means that it should be able to run dual-core Core i3, Core i5 processors with mild overclocking, or quad-core Core i5, Core i7 within default speeds. The cooler will reach stores soon, it will be moderately priced around US $20.

A recent report by HKEPC shows that Intel will be cutting the prices of certain key SKUs to make them and the price-point they’re targeting, more competitive. For instance, until now available for over US $500, and replaced by the Core i7 960, the Core i7 950 (LGA1366, 3.06 GHz, quad-core) chip will be placed at the $294 price-point, displacing the Core i7 930 2.80 GHz chip.

With the value segment, the socket LGA1156 Core i3 500 series chips will have a new SKU, the Core i3 560. This dual-core chip is clocked at 3.33 GHz, and priced at $138. Intel has recently released its new $200 LGA1156 quad-core chip, the Core i5 760 2.80 GHz. The new pricing will be effective from August 29.

Source: HKEPC