- Radeon HD 4870 X2 price drop - Athlon X2 3250e - AMD dragon platform announced - Intel financial activity for Q4 2008 -

Today computer news : 2009 - 01 - 08

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DATE:2009-01-08

The video card GeForce GTX 295, as it is expected, will appear today for $499. This will be the sequential intermediate NVIDIA product , which will allow the company to successfully compete with the two-chip solution AMD until the release of GT212.

Since AMD can't propose now an answer to two-chip video card GeForce GTX 295, this company will naturally reduce the retail prices Of radeon HD 4870 X2. As reported AMD representatives , in European retail the radeon HD 4870 X2 will fall in price from the present 420 Euros to 369-380 Euros. Furthermore, the American store NewEgg already proposes the Radeon HD 4870 X2 from sapphire productions with 2 X 1 GB GDDR5 memory for $399 (with reduction).

Within the next few days, we should expect reduction in the prices of Radeon HD 4870 X2 at other commercial planet points .

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DATE:2009-01-08

From November last year AMD proposes to computers producers the budget processors athlon 2650e (1.6 GHz, TDP=15 W) and Athlon X2 3250e (1.5 GHz, TDP=22 W), whose low energy consumption level allows to create on their base inexpensive notebooks and nettop. Those processors are based on G2 stepping brisbane core and are released on old 65 NM technical process. However, this does not prevent them from reaching an impressive energy effectiveness.

Associates tested the processor athlon X2 3250e (1.5 GHz), which has 2 X 512 KB cache in the second level and TDP values not more than 22 W. The default core voltage is equal to 0.95 v; however, concrete copy could work at the default frequency 1.5 GHz with 0.85 v.

This processor is released in first half of October. Associates were able to overclock this processor to 2.0 GHz with the default voltage 0.95 v.

The cost of this processor ( in parties from 1000 pieces ) will be $40-50, but it will not be supplied  for the retail market. It is possible to use it in the composition of finished computers and notebooks budget category. As you see, this processor can be overclocked rather well;

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DATE:2009-01-08

In complete agreement with the planned graph, AMD company today announced in the composition of dragon platform  two 45 NM desktop processor phenom II X4 Socket AM2+. The basic weapon of dragon platform with competing core i7 must become the better relationship of price and performance. Complete set : processor phenom II X4, video card radeon HD 4870 1 GB, motherboard on base of AMD 790GX chipset and 2 X 2 GB DDR 2-1066 memory will cost about $900. Complete set : processor core i 7-965 Extreme edition, motherboard on base of Intel x58 chipset , analogous video card and 3 X 1 GB DDR 3-1333 memory will cost not less than $2100, as asserts AMD.

With the release of catalyst 8.12 drivers AMD video cards obtained the possibility to accelerate separate applications, and the utility ATI video converter helps the owners of mobile devices to rapidly prepare video. To us , however, the most interesting is the new 45 NM processors phenom II X4, and it's overclocking potential .

As it was promised, the processors phenom II X4 940 Black edition (3.0 GHz) and Phenom II X4 920 (2.8 GHz) obtained the prices $275 and $235 respectively. Both processors have four cores with 4 X 512 KB cache in the second level and 6 Mb cache in the third level,  TDP level is not more than 125 W and the design concept socket AM2+. The hyperTransport 3.0 frequency is equal to 3600 MHz, and the memory controller  supports dual-channel DDR 2-1066. Socket AM3  processors with DDR- 3 support will appear during February this year, but model with 3.0 GHz frequency will appear not earlier than April.

The first copy phenom II X4 were overclocked with the use of air cooler to 3.5-3.8 GHz after some increase in the default voltage . Under liquid nitrogen, as we know, these processors are capable to overclock to more than 6.0 GHz,.

The incremental speed value of phenom II X4 in comparison with predecessors can reach 20%. It is sufficient for competition with some core 2 Quad processors, but new AMD processors cannot reach the performance level Of core i7. However, this delay is compensated by the much more attractive platform cost  , which under the present conditions is even more important. On sale the box versions phenom II X4 will appear immediately after announcement.

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DATE:2009-01-08

The Economic crisis forces producers to regularly reexamine forecasts according to the financial activity results in the fourth quarter 2008, although usually this period is characterized by a noticeable gain from Christmas sales. Intel company  already reexamined its forecasts for the fourth quarter in the middle of December. Then it assumed that incomes will be lowered by 12% in comparison with the third quarter, and by 16% in comparison with the fourth quarter 2007. In the absolute expression, the incomes forecast for the fourth quarter was lowered from $10.1-10.9 billions to the sum of approximately $9 billion.

However, yesterday Intel company unexpectedly published a press release with even lower gain indices .

Intel expects that incomes for the fourth quarter will not exceed $8.2 billions, which is lower than the activity results during 2000, when American economy has a big crisis.  However, if we compare this value the previous block, then Intel incomes  can be lowered by 20%. In comparison with the fourth quarter 2007, Intel incomes can fall by up to 23%.

The reasons for reduction in the gain volumes are obvious for Intel:  A drop in the final demand, and decrease in the reserves of retail network participants . Intel company is also to pay $950 ml. in connection with the depreciation of active memberships .  $250 ml. For writing off expenditures, connected with Intel company restructuring and depreciation of other active memberships. Expenditures for R & D, advertisement and administrative expenses will be lowered from $2.8 to $2.6 .

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