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First GPU Review Under New Methodology Posted

Posted on October 7, 2008 10:55 AM by Rob Williams

Last month, I posted that we were working on upgrading all of our performance-related methodologies, and I'm happy to report that we pretty much finished towards the end of September. It took almost two straight weeks, but we feel the results are going to be worth it. We took the opportunity to re-evaluate everything, from how we go about installing Windows (and tweaking it for reliability), which applications to use for testing, finding the best test for each, et cetera.

Content that received these overhauls include processors (we'll kick off the new methodology there with the Core i7 965), graphics cards, motherboards and storage. The first review to be posted with the revamp is of Palit's Radeon HD 4870 Sonic Dual Edition, which you might have noticed at the top of the page. I'll give a quick rundown of what exactly we've changed here or improved here.

The first and most notable is the addition of "best playable" settings on the bottom of each game page. Along with our regular graphs showing a GPUs scalability at a given resolution, these "best playable" tables are completely separate and are a simple way to see what we feel was the best playable setting for that particular card. In the case of the card mentioned above and Crysis Warhead, we found 2560x1600 on the Mainstream profile to be the best setting possible, delivering close to 35 FPS. Even if you don't run that resolution, it can show the capabilities of the GPU, and you can remain confident that if the card is capable of that, then it's going to only improve at any lower resolution.

Other new features include temperature reports and also revised power consumption and overclocking tests. Minor updates this time around include replacing the original Crysis with Crysis Warhead, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. with S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky - both two very GPU-intensive games in every sense of the word. We of course welcome thoughts on our new methodology, so if you have any questions or comments, please take a look at the review and post your comment in our related thread, which doesn't require a registration.

You can expect more good things to come in the weeks to come, so definitely stay tuned.

Let's face it. The overclock available with a flick of the switch on this Sonic card is small, and the differences in real-world tests are minimal. What makes this card so great is the general performance we've come to appreciate, along with the features and cooler. It's all made better by the fact that despite the additions, the card is still priced less than most of the competition.

Source: Palit Radeon HD 4870 Sonic Dual Edition Review


AMD Splits In Two, Planning New Fab in 2009

Posted on October 7, 2008 10:15 AM by Rob Williams

We first learned about AMD's "Asset Smart" plan a few months ago, but the company today made an official announcement that the company would finally be splitting up into two entities. To help rid some of their debt and also make production easier, AMD has teamed up with an Abu Dhabi company, Advanced Technology Investment Company, who will together create "The Foundry Company" - a temporary name.

Once the new company is established, it will have a total value of $5B, which consists of AMD's current Fab, ATIC's contribution of $1.4B and another $1.2B of debt assumed by 'The Foundry Company'. The only two owners of the new business will be AMD and ATIC, although the latter will own a slightly larger stake at 55.6%. Both companies have equal voting rights, however.

This move is no doubt going to help AMD improve both their business and products over time, and the plans laid out so far look good. Construction will begin in early 2009 in Saratoga County, NY for the first 300mm Fab producing silicon on a 32nm process. This promises to create thousands of jobs in upstate New York and will become the only independently-managed semiconductor manufacturing foundry in the US.

When all said and done, AMD will be part of two companies based in five different locations. Their main HQ will remain in Sunnyvale, California, while their current Fab in Dresden, Germany, will also. Their offices in East Fishkill, New York and Austin, Texas will stay put, with the addition being the upcoming Fab in upstate New York, resulting in two NY-based locations.

In related news, Mubadala, also based in Abu Dhabi, has bought $314 million worth of newly-issued shares and as a result, has bumped its stake in the company to 19.3%, from 8.1%. The stark increase for so little money is due to the fact that the company is now split in two, so the values of each has dropped. They say today is a landmark day for AMD though, and it's hard to disagree. Their debt is being remedied and a new Fab is right around the corner (at 32nm, no less), which should help push AMD towards becoming much more serious competition for Intel. The coming year is going to be an interesting one.

On Oct. 7, 2008, AMD and the Advanced Technology Investment Company announced the intention to create a new global enterprise, The Foundry Company, to address the growing global demand for independent, leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing. There is a strong shift to foundries occurring – particularly to foundries with the capacity to produce devices using leading-edge process technologies.

Source: AMD Global Foundry Page


Tech Roundup - October 7, 2008

Posted on October 7, 2008 1:40 AM by Rob Williams

    Memory & Storage
  • A-Data Vitesta Extreme Edition DDR2 4 GB 800+ - techPowerUp

    Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
  • Acer eMachines E510 - InsideHW
  • Phoronix Test Suite Brings Benchmarking To Mac OS X - Phoronix


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