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Graphics upgrade for Dell XPS notebook coming

Dell will offer an Nvidia dual graphics chip upgrade for 17-inch XPS M1730 gaming notebook owners--but stepping up won't be a cakewalk for MediaDirect users.

The upgrade from the Nvidia dual 8700M GT to dual 8800M GTX graphics is in the works and will likely be released later this month, .

Some users were upset when Dell upgraded the graphics in newer models of the M1730 to the 8800M GTX. The XPS 1730 with the 8800M GTX earned a score of almost 13,500 in 3Dmark06--which is about a 49 percent performance gain over two 8700M GT cards in the more

Alienware to bring out low-cost AMD graphics powerhouse

Dell's Alienware unit is slated to put AMD-ATI front and center. The Dell subsidiary will bring out a relatively low-cost game PC with dual ATI graphics chips within the next two weeks.

This comes in the wake of a report that Dell will phase out its XPS game PC line in favor of Alienware systems.

The $1,699 system--cheap by game PC standards--will come with 4GB (DDR2 800MHz) memory, a quad-core 9550 (2.2GHz) Phenom X4 processor, and a 3870 X2 board with two ATI HD 3870 graphics chips, said Marc Diana, Alienware product marketing manager for desktops. The more

Report: Dell phasing out XPS gaming systems

UPDATE: Dell Inc. will begin phasing out its

(Note: Dell made a statement Tuesday night--after this article was posted--explaining how Dell's XPS line and Alienware systems will coexist.)

This will effectively leave

Dell's XPS game PC line "ate into" Alienware sales, according to the report.

Alienware competes with brands such as Hewlett-Packard's

Alienware is also expected to bring out redesigned systems based on new materials that go beyond the longstanding Alienware design (photo), according to the report.

Game PCs can cost as little as $1,000 but typically range from $2,000 to $5,000 and feature

AMD adds low-power quad-core chips

On Monday, Advanced Micro Devices announced availability of low-power quad-core Opteron processors targeted at servers.

The HE (high-efficiency) processors have a thermal envelope of 55 watts. Other AMD quad-core server processors have higher thermal envelopes of 105 watts or 75 watts.

The low-power Opterons are available in both the 2300 and 8300 series. The 2300 series processors are designed for servers that use two processors, while the 8300 series processors are for systems that use four or eight processors.

The new parts include the 8347 HE (1.9GHz, $873) and the 2347 HE (1.9GHz, $377).

"Our new Quad-Core AMD more

Nvidia CEO denies buyout of Via

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said he has no interest in buying out chip supplier Via Technologies,

"They don't need our money. I don't need theirs," Huang said, referring to Via. "They're doing fine. People want to create drama," he added.

Previous reports cited a number of scenarios including Nvidia's acquisition of the entire company. makes processors and chipsets for

The company competes with Intel and Advanced Micro Devices for processor sockets inside low-cost PCs. Recently, Hewlett-Packard selected Via's C7 procesor for the

Rumors were fueled some more when Nvidia said it was teaming up with

Toshiba to use Cell processor in future notebook

UPDATE: Toshiba is expected to release a notebook PC this year that uses a chip based on the Cell processor, the same chip used in Sony's PlayStation.

The Toshiba Qosmio G40 notebook will sport a SpursEngine SE1000 chip based on the

The Cell Broadband Engine is a multi-core chip architecture jointly developed by IBM, Sony, and Toshiba. It is derived from IBM's Power Architecture, which was once used in Apple notebooks and desktops. Today, IBM uses the Cell processor

Samples of the SE1000 chip began shipping from Toshiba on April 8. Toshiba has said it expects sales of

Nvidia CEO details his beef with Intel

Jen-Hsun Huang doesn't pull any punches. And Intel is a favorite punching bag these days.

I had a chance to sit down with the Nvidia CEO as he described his company's philosophy and what sounds like the first volleys of a long battle with Intel.

A quick backdrop: Nvidia is the largest graphics chip company in the world, with quarterly revenue in the $1 billion range. Although Intel and Nvidia seem to exist in symbiotic bliss inside many PCs, this doesn't reflect the two companies' business models, which are in many respects far apart.

Intel is a more

Dupont targets OLED display mass production

Dupont and Dainippon Screen Manufacturing will form a strategic alliance to develop mass production techniques for organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, according to an announcement made in Japan.

The focus is on developing better processes and printing equipment for the fabrication of OLED displays.

OLEDs are attracting interest because the panels are paper thin but offer extremely high-quality images, superb color saturation, and fast response times. And they draw little power because they don't require a backlight.

At the same time, they face durability challenges. The organic matter used to illuminate the image can by ruined by the more

Windows Mobile to get pumped up on Nvidia

Watch out, Nvidia is stalking the iPhone. The maker of fast graphics processors will apply its chip know-how to juice up the mobile internet device market and the Windows Mobile interface.

As reported back in February, after a decade of pumping up PC performance, Nvidia is betting a big part of its future on boosting graphics performance in fit-in-your-pocket mobile internet devices (MIDs).

iPhone-style devices with Nvdia's APX 2500 system-on-a-chip--due late this year and next year--incorporate most of the functionality of a PC. (See block diagram.) And it is important to note that Nvidia is building all of the

Nvidia-Intel 'grudge match' unwise, analyst warns

An analyst at CRT Capital Group says Nvidia may be treading on dangerous ground with its recent blitz of Intel taunts.

While CRT Capital Group analyst Ashok Kumar readily concedes that Nvidia's graphics chip technology is far superior to Intel's, he also issued a warning to Nvidia in a note released Monday: "Nvidia vs. Intel: an Emerging Grudge Match."

"(Nvidia CEO) Jen-sun Huang seems to believe that Nvidia's graphics solutions are better than Intel's because Intel simply doesn't know how to do better," Kumar said. "But there is another element that Huang seems to overlook--Intel more