The days of building a slightly better mouse trap and waiting for the customers to bang down your door are gone. These days, marketing is everything. Ahead of CeBIT 2013 and the showcasing of its latest APU products, KitGuru catches up with the chap who's taken over generating demand for …
Read More »AMD’s new Communications VP, Taylor made?
Seems like we can't open our inboxes without more news about AMD re-vamping its internal structure. The latest appointment put John Taylor (no relation to Roy, or so we're told) into the communications hot seat. KitGuru considers the challenges he will face and whether he is perfectly suited to the …
Read More »Move over Raspberry Pi, Kinetis KL02 is the smallest
While it might not quite have all the features of the popular miniature computer on a PCB Raspberry Pi, the newly created Freescale Kinetis KL02 is offering up the building blocks of something much smaller. It's a full microcontroller featuring a processor, RAM, ROM, clock and I/O control unit – …
Read More »Gaming rises to the Surface with Intel
After the huge success of Angry Birds and all the other iPad-o-sphere games that followed, it looks like the next generation of man-machine interface is going to be a lot more mature. Intel and Eugen Systems have collaborated together to introduce the next revolution in Surface gaming. KitGuru was on …
Read More »Intel’s Anna Cheng showcases touch screen gaming
Despite Microsoft pushing through a touch platform for the PC more than a decade ago, it took Apple's iPad for anyone to notice. The increase in touch based systems, automatically leads to an increase in cool/new touch apps. Eugene and Intel were on hand today to show off just what …
Read More »AMD launches FX-4130 – gives 200MHz extra for free
Sometimes an upgrade is really simple to understand. Other times you need a mini-computer, advanced maths degree and several hours of umm-ing and arr-ing to see if the new products is, in fact, better. KitGuru scans the spec sheet for the brand new FX-4130 and ponders motives and machinations. With …
Read More »Corsair Hydro H110 Review
Today we are going to look at the Corsair Hydro H110 which is the latest performance CPU cooler in their range, fitting in just above the H100i. It marks Corsair's response to the NZXT Kraken X60 which utilises a larger 280 mm radiator than the 240 mm unit associated with …
Read More »AMD Richland A10 6800k Vs Haswell GT3 – graphics performance analysed
Both Intel and AMD have been puffing out their collective chests when it comes to graphics in the integrated market. It's the one area where AMD has consistently beaten Intel in recent years. It's an area where Intel is working overtime to redress the balance while AMD is running like …
Read More »AMD launches new Richland APU with 40% faster graphics at CES
From the time we first saw the next generation of APUs (codenamed Richland) on AMD roadmaps, back in November, the general consensus among the press community was that ‘nothing much' would be delivered. The announcement from AMD is that things have got measurably better. KitGuru pulls out a stop watch …
Read More »X79 overclocking just became affordable
The most powerful chip that most of us will consider buying is the Intel Core i7 3770k. It's fast, powerful and lives at the top end of affordable. Similarly, the Z77 is a great chipset. But, between them, there is one area where that kind of combination needs to bow …
Read More »AMD and Altera shareholders pondering 2013 merger?
Looking at all of the markets in which it wants to compete, it's hard to see AMD making a success of 2013 without a serious merger or acquisition. KitGuru reads the financials (and tea leafs) to see what might be brewing over in Austin. While AMD has a big brand …
Read More »Asus delivers supreme efficiency in a supercomputer
While it might not be so unusual for Asus to help deliver a computer that comes in at 52 on the list of the world's most powerful supercomputers, the same machine hits the top of the Green500 list for energy-efficient systems – which is interesting. KitGuru follows up on the …
Read More »Roy Taylor appointed head of AMD worldwide channel sales
In one of the world's longest detours, technology sales guru Roy Taylor will be reunited with some of his oldest friends when he takes over the worldwide channel sales role for AMD in 2013. KitGuru adds some historical context and ponders what John Byrne's decision to bring Roy inside AMD …
Read More »IBM optical chip heading into standard manufacturing
IBM have been working on new optical communications advances. They are due to outline today how this is possible with a standard 90 nanometer semiconductor manufacturing process. ZDnet posted an article on this today which makes for interesting reading. IBM have called the technology ‘silicon nanophotonics' which they outlined in …
Read More »IHS says 2012 was terrible – but 2013 should be better
While IDC and Gartner battle it out to produce the best overall estimates of the market in terms of how many units will ship into the various markets, other analysts focus on a specific set of components within those systems – and use that as a way to predict overall …
Read More »AMD’s new Opteron to target cloud
AMD have announced that they will be focusing on ARM and x86 chips by 2014 and are improving their Opteron range. They have introduced new Opteron processors which are designed for use in cloud servers to process Web transactions. The new Opteron 4300 and 3300 x86 server chips have up …
Read More »AMD to lease back own home for $200m extra cash
While Brits are content with sending family gold off to a smelter in order to reap some much needed cash for the Xmas/new Year period, AMD is think about hocking assets on a significantly larger scale. If you were AMD Chief Executive Rory Read and wanted an extra $200m – …
Read More »What if ALL Intel chips were glued to the mainboard?
You can supply systems to people in a number of ways. In the early days, everything followed the Apple pattern. You bought a computer with certain features and capabilities – and that was that. However, in the PC space, we have grown used to the idea of upgrades and self-builds. …
Read More »Has AMD taken 2 years to follow nVidia’s footsteps?
At CES in January 2011, Jen Hsun gave a big speech about the fruits from Project Denver, the idea of nVidia working with another company to incorporate important CPU technologies that the graphics giant lacked in its portfolio. Today, in San Francisco, AMD looks set to make a very similar …
Read More »Financially flat Intel is very attractive in a new way
KitGuru has spent time, possible too much time, analysing AMD's financial state in recent articles – but not really gone into any depth on Intel and what the future might have in store, financially, for the world's biggest CPU company and its investors. We pull out the trusty abacus and …
Read More »Wear the Intel everywhere, 1984 anyone?
Having cemented its position as the dominant player at the top end of the processor market, Intel is looking to spread its wings over the coming years – to evolve and permeate every part of society – leaving no (st)one unturned. Now, it seams, the tech giant wants to get …
Read More »AMD FX8350 BE / Gigabyte HD7970 / ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2 Review
In October last year AMD released the FX8150 Black Edition 8 Core processor which met with a mixed reception. While the chip delivered good performance, it was priced too high and couldn't compete against equivalent Intel processors. Today we are looking at the latest AMD Black Edition, the FX8350, which …
Read More »AMD begins to move away from PC industry
Alongside the news that over 1,000 jobs would be lost to redundancy, last night's Q3 earnings call gave AMD the opportunity to discuss the changes it sees happening in the market – and how it sees itself ten years down the line. One thing was loud and clear, it won't …
Read More »AMD loses over 1,000 jobs during evolution
During last night's Q3 financial call, AMD executives delivered the news that KitGuru has expected for almost a year – a significant reduction in workforce going forward. It simply doesn't need the same workforce going forward as it did in the past. KitGuru pulls out the abacus to calculate the …
Read More »Intel Gaming Pentathlon powered by everyday devices
Arriving at the plush downtown offices of Hill & Knowlton, one of the world's oldest PR companies, on a chilly October evening – you would have been greeted by the site of a heap of IT journalists squatting, jumping, dancing and laying around big screens playing what appeared to be …
Read More »Rory Read orders FX parts refresh for AMD in October
Given that they are up against Intel, with the Tick-Tock processor delivery schedule and more FABs than McDonald's got buns – you have to give AMD credit for trying. AMD's CEO has ordered the launch of a faster range of FX processors before Halloween's night is out. Is it trick …
Read More »Slip in Moore’s Law suits Intel product planning
We've all watched the Olympics. How many times have we seen a close-fought race end in a new world record? How many times have we seen one person completely dominate an event, only to pull up before the finishing line and miss smashing the old record by a big margin. …
Read More »Asus Z9 PE-D8 WS / Dual Xeon E5 2687W / 64GB Kingston DDR3 Review
We pair the Z9 PE-D8 up with two flagship Intel 8 Core Xeon E5 2687W processors, two Corsair H80 liquid coolers, a Sapphire HD7970 6GB Toxic Edition graphics card, Seasonic Platinum 1000W power supply and 64GB of Kingston Predator 2,133mhz memory. Is this the ultimate Workstation system?
Read More »AMD to lay off more people and target new customers?
Two years ago, KitGuru analysed AMD and came to the conclusion that reducing the salary bill by as much as possible was a perfectly valid business technique – and one that AMD should get into more and more. Now, as we approach 2013, KitGuru takes another look at the thousands …
Read More »Can Intel’s Haswell beat AMD’s APU in 2013?
We have recently detailed a number of challenges being faced by Intel, mostly centred on ‘How do you build $7 billion fabrication plants when your average chip profit is $10?'. While there's no doubting Core's ‘King of the hill' for pure CPU performance credentials, KitGuru reads the A10 reviews and …
Read More »