Chipsets

An Intel paper to be released Tuesday offers more details on future Nehalem processors.

Rajesh Kumar, Intel fellow and director of the Circuit & Low Power Technologies Digital Enterprise Group, gave a brief overview of a paper covering "clocking architecture" and some of the major data transfer and power savings goals for Nehalem, Intel's next-generation chip architecture due in the fourth quarter of this year. One of Nehalem's major new features is QuickPath (PDF), a data transfer technology.

He began by explaining why Nehalem integrates more components--including the memory controller--than previous Intel chips. "The reason … Read more

Nvidia is now firing back at Intel. The world's largest graphics chip maker has responded to Intel's latest statement on the USB 3.0 specification and said chipset maker SiS has also joined the group of companies at odds with Intel.

There are now four companies vying with Intel--all chipset makers: Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, Via Technologies, and SiS.

And they're moving quickly to establish their own so-called "host controller" specification. "We're moving fast. We've already staffed it internally. We have resources submitted from all of the companies (Nvidia, AMD, Via, and … Read more

Intel has launched a Web site to help game and visual content developers create software for its graphics silicon and processors. Intel's next-generation Larrabee graphics chip is also slated to become part of the focus.

"Supporting the new Intel 4 Series chipset family introduced at Computex, Intel has launched the Intel Visual Computing Developer Community, a technical resource to enable developers...to create innovative graphics and video applications," Intel said in a statement.

The Intel 4 Series includes the G45 Express chipset and GMA X4500HD graphics media accelerator, which has built-in support for Blu-ray 1080p high-definition video … Read more

UPDATE: AMD and Nvidia aim to wrest control of a crucial PC specification from Intel, arguing that the chip giant is trying to box them out as they move to a new era of faster peripherals.

In play is the USB 3.0 specification, a next-generation high-speed connection standard due in 2009. It is significant not only because all future PCs and devices will use connectors based on the standard but because it will offer 10 times the speed of USB 2.0--used in virtually all PCs introduced in the last few years--or roughly 5 gigabits per second.

Intel formed … Read more

I just saw an interesting piece over on the EE Times website (here) written by David Carey, president of Portelligent, an analyst firm well-known for doing teardowns of popular electronic products.

Here are some of the key points I learned from the article:

According to Portelligent, the LCD is pretty similar to previous transflective LCDs (that is, LCDs that can work from transmitted backlight or reflected ambient light) except for the arrangement of the color subpixels. I've seen nothing particularly remarkable about mine. It offers poor off-axis image quality, as I described in my first look (here), and doesn'… Read more

WiMax is in the cards for the Eee PC. Asus will demonstrate notebooks Monday that integrate WiMax chips from San Jose, Calif.-based GCT Semiconductor.

Despite recent statements that the Eee PC 901 will not get WiMax, GCT Semiconductor announced--along with Asus--Sunday that Asus has integrated GCT's GDM7205 WiMAX single-chip silicon into the F8 notebook series and Eee PC.

GCT says the F8 series and Eee PC will be demonstrated with WiMax at the WiMax Expo Taipei that begins on June 2nd.

The widely-reported specifications for the Eee PC 901 are a 1.6GHz Atom processor, an 8.9-inch … Read more

As a Computex preview, Intel is showing off its "delayed" Centrino 2 platform via an Asus notebook.

A chunk of the Centrino 2 roll-out has been delayed until August 5--and WiMax even beyond that. Intel, however, is slated to do a Centrino 2 processor refresh on July 14.

"Today I've got my privileged hands on a brand spanking new Asus Centrino 2 ("Montevina" for us nerds) system," according to a pre-Computex Intel blog.

Intel, not surprisingly, is trying to build enthusiasm for Centrino 2 and WiMax. But, with chipset and WiMax … Read more

As has been widely reported (for example, by EDN Magazine and both Brooke Crothers and Dan Ackerman here at CNET), Intel has delayed the first customer shipments (FCS) of its "Montevina" chipsets, part of the new Centrino 2 platform.

The delays are pretty short, however... a matter of just a few weeks.

Intel attributes the delays to two independent problems: one with FCC certification of the 802.11n WiFi feature in the chips (just "paperwork," Intel says), and one with the integrated graphics engines in some models.

Intel's probably right about the WiFi certification problem. … Read more

Intel will delay the introduction of its highly anticipated "Montevina" Centrino 2 mobile chips due to technical and certification problems, the chipmaker said Tuesday.

The initial rollout won't take place until July 14. The next phase will take place in August.

Intel had recently been saying that the Centrino 2 mobile platform would launch after Computex, toward the end of June. Centrino 2 features upgraded integrated graphics, high-speed WiMax wireless silicon, and native support for High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP), among other features.

"Initially what will be available on July 14 are the (Centrino 2) processors … Read more