Intel PR Chip Shots..

San Diego Supercomputer to Use Intel Chips, SSDs
"Moving a physical disk head... is so last century," said Allan Snavely, associate director of San Diego Supercomputer Center. Unlike slower, hard disk drives that use moving parts, the Intel chips.and Intel® High-Performance Solid-State Drives have been chosen for the University of California, San Diego's Gordon project that will build one of the world's most powerful supercomputers that will be dedicated to solving critical science and societal problems. The Intel SSDs will help speed scientific computations or data-intensive applications such as 3-D seismic tomography for earthquake prediction and research. View the press release.

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Intel Unveils Fastest Laptop Chips Ever With the New Intel® Core™ i7 Mobile Processor.

The news -- Intel Corporation introduced its revolutionary Intel® Core™ i7 Mobile Processor and Intel® Core™ i7 Mobile Processor Extreme Edition, bringing Intel’s award-winning and super-fast Nehalem microarchitecture to the mobile market. These processors in addition to the new Intel® PM55 Express Chipset, provide the best laptop experience for gaming, digital media, photos, music, business applications and other multi-threaded software that hungers for faster processing speed.
The context -- Through the Intel Core i7 mobile processor, Intel brings Nehalem’s transformative technology to notebooks. The Intel Core i7 Mobile Processor and Intel Core i7 Mobile Processor Extreme Edition unleash the power of a desktop in a laptop. Features such as Turbo Boost Technology and Hyper-Threading Technology deliver performance when users need it. Turbo Boost Technology can accelerate the processor clock speed up to 75 percent to match workloads, as well as offer better performance on highly threaded applications with the power of Intel Hyper-Threading Technology.
Why it matters -- With laptops becoming increasingly popular for tasks such as video editing, gaming and immersive applications, users want to be able to multitask without compromising performance. Now that the fastest processor on the planet has gone mobile, users can now benefit from unmatched processing technology for the most demanding tasks, including creating digital video and playing intense games. Intel Core i7 mobile processors adapt to provide the right processing power for the task, with more performance and flexibility to match users’ on-the-go needs..

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How Laptops Work...

In a way, the skyrocketing popularity of laptop computers is ironic. They're completely portable, and they use less power and make less noise than desktop models. But, they're often a little slower and have less graphics and sound processing power, although these differences can be too small for most users to notice.Laptops are also more expensive than desktops. The price gap is closing, though -- laptop prices are falling faster than desktop prices, and laptop PCs actually outsold desktop models for the first time in May of 2005 [Source: Windows IT Pro].How can all the equipment found in a desktop tower fit into such a small package? And how can laptops be efficient enough to run on battery power alone? In this article, you'll discover the answers to these and other questions about laptops.­ Overall, lap­top and desktop computers are very similar. They have the same basic hardware, software and operating systems. The primary difference is how their components fit together. ­­A desktop computer includes a motherboard, video card, hard drive and other components in a large case. The monitor, keyboard, and other peripherals connect wirelessly or with cables. Whether the case sits vertically or horizontally, it has lots of space for add-in cards, cables and air circulation.
A laptop, however, is much smaller and lighter than even the most compact PC tower. Its screen is an integrated part of the unit, as is its keyboard. Instead of a spacious case with lots of room for air circulation, a laptop uses a small, flat design in which all the pieces fit together snugly.

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Fab 32 Interior....

An Intel manufacturing technician, shown here, uses a scanner to start the very first 45 nm production lot of 300 mm wafers inside of Fab 32 Intel's first high-volume 45nm chip factory in Chandler, Ariz. The new factory will produce millions of Intel's new 45nm high-k metal gate microprocessors, the first of which are scheduled to launch on Nov. 12.

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Intel's Transistor Technology Breakthrough Represents Biggest Change to Computer Chips In 40 Years..

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 27, 2007 – In one of the biggest advancements in fundamental transistor design, Intel Corporation today revealed that it is using two dramatically new materials to build the insulating walls and switching gates of its 45 nanometer (nm) transistors. Hundreds of millions of these microscopic transistors – or switches – will be inside the next generation Intel® Core™ 2 Duo, Intel Core 2 Quad and Xeon® families of multi-core processors. The company also said it has five early-version products up and running -- the first of fifteen 45nm processor products planned from Intel.
The transistor feat allows the company to continue delivering record-breaking PC, laptop and server processor speeds, while reducing the amount of electrical leakage from transistors that can hamper chip and PC design, size, power consumption, noise and costs. It also ensures Moore's Law, a high-tech industry axiom that transistor counts double about every two years, thrives well into the next decade.
Intel believes it has extended its lead of more than a year over the rest of the semiconductor industry with the first working 45nm processors of its next-generation 45nm family of products – codenamed "Penryn." The early versions, which will be targeted at five different computer market segments, are running Windows* Vista*, Mac OS X*, Windows* XP and Linux operating systems, as well as various applications. The company remains on track for 45nm production in the second half of this year.
Intel's Transistors Get a "High-k and Metal Gate" Make-Over at 45nm
Intel is the first to implement an innovative combination of new materials that drastically reduces transistor leakage and increases performance in its 45nm process technology. The company will use a new material with a property called high-k, for the transistor gate dielectric, and a new combination of metal materials for the transistor gate electrode.
"The implementation of high-k and metal materials marks the biggest change in transistor technology since the introduction of polysilicon gate MOS transistors in the late 1960s," said Intel Co-Founder Gordon Moore.
Transistors are tiny switches that process the ones and zeroes of the digital world. The gate turns the transistor on and off and the gate dielectric is an insulator underneath it that separates it from the channel where current flows. The combination of the metal gates and the high-k gate dielectric leads to transistors with very low current leakage and record high performance.
"As more and more transistors are packed onto a single piece of silicon, the industry continues to research current leakage reduction solutions," said Mark Bohr, Intel senior fellow. "Meanwhile our engineers and designers have achieved a remarkable accomplishment that ensures the leadership of Intel products and innovation. Our implementation of novel high-k and metal gate transistors for our 45nm process technology will help Intel deliver even faster, more energy efficient multi-core products that build upon our successful Intel Core 2 and Xeon family of processors, and extend Moore's Law well into the next decade."
For comparison, approximately 400 of Intel's 45nm transistors could fit on the surface of a single human red blood cell. Just a decade ago, the state-of-the-art process technology was 250nm, meaning transistor dimensions were approximately 5.5 times the size and 30 times the area of the technology announced today by Intel.
As the number of transistors on a chip roughly doubles every two years in accordance with Moore's Law, Intel is able to innovate and integrate, adding more features and computing processing cores, increasing performance, and decreasing manufacturing costs and cost per transistor. To maintain this pace of innovation, transistors must continue to shrink to ever-smaller sizes. However, using current materials, the ability to shrink transistors is reaching fundamental limits because of increased power and heat issues that develop as feature sizes reach atomic levels. As a result, implementing new materials is imperative to the future of Moore's Law and the economics of the information age.
Intel's High-k, Metal Gate Recipe for 45nm Process Technology
Silicon dioxide has been used to make the transistor gate dielectric for more than 40 years because of its manufacturability and ability to deliver continued transistor performance improvements as it has been made ever thinner. Intel has successfully shrunk the silicon dioxide gate dielectric to as little as 1.2nm thick – equal to five atomic layers – on our previous 65nm process technology, but the continued shrinking has led to increased current leakage through the gate dielectric, resulting in wasted electric current and unnecessary heat.
Transistor gate leakage associated with the ever-thinning silicon dioxide gate dielectric is recognized by the industry as one of the most formidable technical challenges facing Moore's Law. To solve this critical issue, Intel replaced the silicon dioxide with a thicker hafnium-based high-k material in the gate dielectric, reducing leakage by more than 10 times compared to the silicon dioxide used for more than four decades.
Because the high-k gate dielectric is not compatible with today's silicon gate electrode, the second part of Intel's 45nm transistor material recipe is the development of new metal gate materials. While the specific metals that Intel uses remains secret, the company will use a combination of different metal materials for the transistor gate electrodes.
The combination of the high-k gate dielectric with the metal gate for Intel's 45nm process technology provides more than a 20 percent increase in drive current, or higher transistor performance. Conversely it reduces source-drain leakage by more than five times, thus improving the energy efficiency of the transistor.
Intel's 45nm process technology also improves transistor density by approximately two times that of the previous generation, allowing the company to either increase the overall transistor count or to make processors smaller. Because the 45nm transistors are smaller than the previous generation, they take less energy to switch on and off, reducing active switching power by approximately 30 percent. Intel will use copper wires with a low-k dielectric for its 45nm interconnects for increased performance and lower power consumption. It will also use innovative design rules and advanced mask techniques to extend the use of 193nm dry lithography to manufacture its 45nm processors because of the cost advantages and high manufacturability it affords.
Penryn Family Will Bring More Energy Efficient Performance
The Penryn family of processors is a derivative of the Intel Core microarchitecture and marks the next step in Intel's rapid cadence of delivering a new process technology and new microarchitecture every other year. The combination of Intel's leading 45nm process technology, high-volume manufacturing capabilities, and leading microarchitecture design enabled the company to already develop its first working 45nm Penryn processors.
The company has more than 15 products based on 45nm in development across desktop, mobile, workstation and enterprise segments. With more than 400 million transistors for dual-core processors and more than 800 million for quad-core, the Penryn family of 45nm processors includes new microarchitecture features for greater performance and power management capabilities, as well as higher core speeds and larger caches. The Penryn family designs also bring approximately 50 new Intel SSE4 instructions that expand capabilities and performance for media and high-performance computing applications.

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Western Digital introduces 750GB and 1TB 2.5″ drives...

Solid-State drives may be gaining in performance, but standard hard drives are still pushing forwards in terms of how much data they can store. This week Western Digital has pushed the storage barrier up by managing to squeeze 1TB into a 2.5″ hard drive.
The WD Scorpio Blue comes in both 750GB and 1TB models with the latter squeezing 333GB per platter while maintaining a 3GB/s transfer speed through the SATA interface. Both drives spin at 5,200rpm, have an 8MB cache, and a latency of 5.5ms. Western Digital is using the new drives in a range of products as both an internal and external hard drive.
We can expect to see the Scorpio Blue being offered in laptops, nettops, and other small form-factor PCs, but Western Digital are also going to use them for portable hard drives. Two new models of the Western Digital My Passport Essential SE range have been announced using the Scorpio Blue drives, so that’s 750GB or 1TB in a 15 x 80 x 126mm package and powered over USB. Both new drives are available from the Western Digital online shop costing $199.99 (750GB) and $299.99 (1TB).
Jim Morris, senior vice president and general manager of client systems at WD said:
The convergence of the growing mobile computing and digital media trends produces demand for desktop-like capacities in portable devices …new WD Scorpio Blue drives enable people to take even more of their digital collections with them wherever they go and, realizing the value of their data, back up their notebooks on their My Passport drives.
Both new drives are shipped with WhisperDrive, ShockGuard, and SecurePark, offering users a very quiet, shock tolerant, and reliable hard drive regardless of what form you use it in....

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Tiny,6-chip open computer runs Linux....

Embedded designer Paul Thomas is showcasing a tiny, open-sourced computer at LinuxWorld in San Francisco this week. Would-be “Linuxstamp” enthusiasts can obtain pre-built boards for the hefty sum of $120 directly from Thomas, or they can download the design for free and build it themselves.The Linuxstamp is an extremely simple hardware design, consisting of six integrated circuits (processor, flash, RAM, serial-to-USB, ethernet PHY, and power conversion) plus a bunch of passives.
The Linuxstamp is built from just six ICs(Click to enlarge)
Thomas demonstrated the Linuxstamp in the “Garage” area of Linuxworld. The most eye-catching of his demos was a home-made robotic car, constructed with legos and moved around by a couple of wheels controlled by the Linuxstamp (see photos below). In this demo, the Linuxstamp operated untethered, thanks to wireless capability supplied by a USB/WiFi adapter plugged into the board’s USB host port.
Wireless Linuxstamp-powered robot demo at LinuxWorld(Click each image to enlarge)
The hardware
Despite its simplicity, the Linuxstamp’s features include:
Atmel AT91RM9200 processor (ARM9 core, includes MMU)
32MB SDRAM
8MB SPI flash memory
10/100 Ethernet (supplied by the Atmel processor)
USB host port (supplied by the Atmel processor)
USB device port (generated by a serial/USB converter)
SD card slot
USB debug port (via the USB device port)
JTAG port
Can be powered via POE
The board’s processor, a 180 MHz Atmel AT91RM9200 system-on-chip, integrates an ARM9 CPU core (with MMU) along with controllers for USB host and device ports, 10/100 Ethernet, MMC/SD card interface, sync/async serial ports, SPI (serial peripheral interface), and more.
Thomas was careful to keep the Linuxstamp’s design simple enough to allow for a two-layer PCB design, which minimizes costs and simplifies homebrew construction.
Another example of keeping things simple is the inclusion of a USB-based serial debug port, implemented via a serial/USB converter chip. Thanks to this feature, users of the board most likely won’t need to use the board’s JTAG debug port, according to Thomas.
Even initialization of the board’s low-level bootstrap loader is easy, Thomas adds, since the Atmel processor includes an innovative, built-in hardware bootstrap function that automatically attempts to load the onboard SPI flash via the serial debug port when a newly built board powers up for the first time.
Bootstrap loaders and Linux OS
Thomas notes that there are two levels of bootstrap loader: a tiny loader provided by Atmel initializes the processor and its interfaces, and then loads U-boot, which does the rest. This process is described in detail on the Linuxstamp’s wiki site.
As its name implies, the Linuxstamp runs Linux. At least two distributions are currently available: a minimal filesystem that boots and runs entirely from within the Linuxstamp’s 8MB flash and 32MB RAM memory; and a more complete, debian-based filesystem that requires an SD card to supplement the board’s on-board flash. In addition to the linux kernel, the minimal filesystem includes BusyBox and DropBear SSH (a small SSH client/server), among other basic system functions. The minimal system system allocates about 2MB of the 8MB available flash to linux and the boot-loaders, with the rest for the filesystem, according to Thomas.
Both OSes are based on kernel sources obtained from kernel.org and compiled specifically for the board’s hardware, Thomas says. The filesystem images, a cross compiler, bootstrap loader images, and sources are available from the Linuxstamp’s ftp site.
Availability
To purchase a ready-made Linuxstamp (priced at $120 plus shipping, as of this writing), visit TheLinuxStamp.com. For more technical details on the Linuxstamp and to obtain its “open source” design (it’s released under the GNU GPLv2), visit the Linuxstamp’s wiki.

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NEW chips...

The focus of computing may have shifted from PCs to notebooks but some people still need power, sometimes seemingly ridiculous amounts of it. Whether you are rendering 3D graphics or editing video or you just have a lot to do at once, the workstation is far from dead for you. With this in mind, as well as the ongoing commoditization of processing power, HP put a lot of effort into producing their new series of Z series workstations.
With so much of the computer simply being decided by what processor you are running and what graphics card(s) you have, companies like HP, Dell, and Lenovo are constantly searching for ways to compete. The obvious play for this is the price, but with slim margins and expensive components other battlegrounds must be found.
For this latest generation HP rolled out the Z series as the most attractive product in its class largely thanks to a new case design not available from the competition. Dell and Lenovo both released Nehalem-powered systems on the same day, powered by the same impossibly powerful Nvidia graphics cards but the Z series also had a custom case designed by BMW Designworks. In addition to being excellent eye candy, this case was designed to be easy to work on, completely tool-less, practically wireless, easy to carry, quieter, and cooler running than previous generations. A quick look at it (inside or out) will reveal how HP wanted to leave those other plain black boxes in the dust.

See the full gallery below
The Z600 is the mid-range model in HP’s lineup, between the entry-level Z400 and the high-end Z800. Each model can vary wildly in price based on the processor(s), video card(s), storage, and–mainly–the amount of memory used, so there is a lot of bleed over from one model to the other, especially once you factor in their relatively low starting prices of $929, $1589, and $1839 respectively. They have significant differences between them, but to simplify, the Z400 is the only model with a single processor and is very much like a high-end desktop, the Z600 has a slim design but can be quite capable, and the Z800 is the top-of-the-line. Both the Z600 and Z800 have one of the Z series’ best new features: a swappable power supply that can be pulled right out of the system with no tools or playing with wiring. (So if your workstation isn’t starting you can check and see if the power supply is the problem in under a minute.)
The build quality of the new chassis is as good as we expected. That is to say that is doesn’t just look nice, it’s put together well. It’s built strongly enough to hold up, including frequent moves, say from office to office, thanks to the built-in handles. The interior layout is optimized for quiet performance and great cooling. Also, it’s downright sturdy–our test unit arrived with a sizable dent on the front-left edge. This happened during shipping and it caused the aluminum panel on the side to bend in about a half inch (it must have been quite a collision–the aluminum is about 2mm thick). The rest of the case was not damaged and the hard drive that sits inches away was in perfect shape, as was its tool-less removable mechanism. The system fired up and ran perfectly.

Our test system came outfitted with two quad-core Intel Xeon L5520 processors (2.27GHz), 6GB ECC RAM, Nvidia Quadro FX 1800 graphics card, and Windows Vista 64-bit. It’s a serious setup, but the Z600 (not to mention the Z800, or even the Z400) can scale way past this point if you get better graphics and more RAM. If you want or need more power, you can upgrade the processor to dual 5570s, graphics to Nvidia’s Quadro CX or 3800, up to 24GB RAM, dual 1TB drives, Blu-ray, a RAID controller, and more. You can break that $13,000 mark if you want to max the Z600 out, but our system came out to about $4000.
So what does one do with a system like the Z600? The applications are practically limitless and almost anything that requires a lot of power and multi-core performance is going to be a good fit. Some software that would be at home on it could include:
Fluent
Solidworks
Autodesk (AutoCAD)
Adobe (CS4)
Bibble Labs
Toxic
Bunkspeed (Hypershot)
Catia v5
Elysium
3D via
So it’s well suited for digital media creation, engineering tasks, financial data work, 3D rendering, and so on. Just for reference, the Z800 is generally considered better suited for 2K and 4K video work as well as high-end media production and geological data work (think oil drilling) while the Z400 is great for your entry level tasks, like SD and HD video and digital media. The Elitebook 8730w is part of the matrix as well–it can handle on-location tasks like mobile video editing.
Working with the Z600’s case is a pleasure. The process is completely tool-less and generally can be done without even considering the wiring. Hard drives, cooling elements, and even the PSU can be removed without any tools which makes operating on the system painless. The ability to pull the PSU and test it and/or swap it in under 60 seconds is fantastic and it will be a major time saver for any IT staff member.
Now I didn’t have the need to calculate any geo-spatial solutions or chart data volumes of seismic activity, but I did run a few workstation tests to put the Z600 through its paces. These were mainly standard benchmarks (like Cinebench) and real-life tasks that I generally perform on my normal work computer (audio/video conversions, video rendering, etc.), the Z600 should just be able to handle them faster, and while doing other tasks more efficiently. (Readers should keep in mind that benchmarks are not completely representative because the Z600 can scale between $1600 and over $13,000. For some applications our test machine would be considered relatively modest, especially the graphics.) Here how it performed in two benchmarks:
Cinebench R10 64-bit
OpenGL: 5447
CPU Test, single processor: 3312
CPU Test multiprocessor: 20709
Multiprocessor speedup: 6.25x
Geekbench
Overall: 10205
Processor integer: 11637
Processor floating point: 14410
Memory performance: 3363
Memory bandwidth: 4161
Other tests I tried included Adobe CS4 tasks like a Soundbooth podcast render and a Media Encoder video conversion as well as DriverHeaven’s Photostop benchmark (the score was 325.7 seconds). These tests didn’t go particularly well, even though they should be the Z600’s strong suit. Now we know that the Z600 can perform well and other sites have(though that system costs twice as much as ours), but performance never seemed to reach the level that we expected from the system. I’m working with HP on this at the moment and we’ll update as soon as possible, but so far the system is workable, but not mindblowingly quick.

Conclusion
HP’s Z600 is in many ways a workstation for 2009. That is to say that it’s power-packed but also easy to use, with an incredible new chassis design and features to spare. The options can range from pedestrian (like our 250GB main disk) to downright impressive (like 24GB of RAM and dual video cards) depending on your needs. It can take advantage of technologies like SSD drives and Nvidia’s CUDA in order to maximize performance in ways that are more interesting (and often cost effective) than just getting more expensive processors. There are enterprise options available as well, like 15K SAS drives and RAID controllers.
At about $4000 (as tested) the Z600 is a formidable machine, but its much lower starting price means that the foundation is actually rather affordable… it’s really just the parts you need to concern yourself with. Being easy to work with and to upgrade, this could be an interesting proposal to some buyers. For professional users and corporations, it’s a different story–for them it’s about return on investment. The expensive asset to them is not the computer, it’s the operator. That means that a faster computer means a more efficient worker which then translates into a workstation that can often pay for itself in just a matter of weeks.
With the new Z series products HP wanted to differentiate their workstations from products from Lenovo and Dell that feature the same processors, video cards, and so on. The case was the primary recipient of the design upgrades and it shows. And, smartly, the components themselves were definitely considered as the move to the BMW Designworks case coincided with the upgrade to Intel’s Nehalem processors, which have made quite a splash as well. The only rub with our Z600 was the performance, which didn’t seem like it was getting everything it could out of the eight cores, 6GB of RAM, and the FX 1800. We’re working on that and there were moments of excellence when all that power shined through, making it clear why someone would still need a workstation.
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SHAP..

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PC Chipset...

Definition of: PC chipset A set of chips that provides the interfaces between all of the PC's subsystems. It provides the buses and electronics to allow the CPU, memory and input/output devices to interact. PC chipsets, which are housed on one to four chips, include built-in controllers for almost all common peripherals. The primary components on a PC motherboard are the PC chipset, CPU, memory, clock, buses and BIOS. See Intel chipsets.
System and Peripheral Buses
This illustration shows how chips, memory and peripherals in a PC interconnect via the system bus (top) and peripheral buses (AGP, PCI and PCI Express).

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TILERA CHIPS...

Today, MIT spinoff Tilera announced that it's shipping a computer chip with 64 separate processors whose design differs drastically from that of the chips found in today's computers. The new chip, called Tile64, avoids some of the speed bottlenecks inherent in today's chip architecture, and it can operate at much lower power, says Anant Agarwal, founder and chief technology officer of Tilera, based in Santa Clara, CA. Initially, Tile64 will be used in video applications such as videoconferencing systems, and in network hardware that monitors traffic to reduce e-mail spam and viruses.
Multicore mesh: This chip, which measures about 40 millimeters square, contains 64 processors--or “cores”--connected to each other in a mesh network, a new chip architecture. The processor is currently shipping to companies that make videoconferencing technology and network routers. Credit: Tilera
Chips with multiple processing units, or "cores," are nothing new. But by allowing the cores to communicate directly with each other, Tilera has addressed a widespread concern about the viability of adding more cores to microprocessors. "Every processor in the market today is a multicore," says Agarwal. "The hope of the industry is to double the number of cores every 18 months. My prediction is, by 2014, we will have 1,000-core architectures. But the problem is, [current] architectures don't scale."
In existing multicore chips, each core communicates with the others via a set of wires called a bus. Performance doesn't necessarily suffer when two or four cores share a bus, but when 16 or more cores try to use it simultaneously, data can get backed up. Agarwal explains that Tilera's chip has no central bus. Instead, each core is connected to all the others. Also on each core is a full-featured processor, which can run an operating system, and memory caches, which hold data that needs to be quickly accessed.
In effect, the Tile64 has a mesh structure that's similar to that of the Internet, a network in which there are many decentralized nodes. One reason the Internet is able to pass around data so quickly is that packets of information are sent through a vast network and can avoid traffic jams. If everyone's e-mail had to go through a central server, there would undoubtedly be delays. Tilera's microprocessor, says Agarwal, "is very much like the Internet on a chip." And like the Internet, Tilera's chip can be scaled up gracefully; it doesn't need to be redesigned each time new cores are added.

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CHIPs INFORMATION....

A small piece of semiconducting material (usually silicon) on which an integrated circuit is embedded. A typical chip is less than ¼-square inches and can contain millions of electronic components (transistors). Computers consist of many chips placed on electronic boards called printed circuit boards.
There are different types of chips. For example, CPU chips (also called microprocessors) contain an entire processing unit, whereas memory chips contain blank memory.
Chips come in a variety of packages. The three most common are:
DIPs : Dual in-line packages are the traditional buglike chips that have anywhere from 8 to 40 legs, evenly divided in two rows.
PGAs : Pin-grid arrays are square chips in which the pins are arranged in concentric squares.
SIPs : Single in-line packages are chips that have just one row of legs in a straight line like a comb.
In addition to these types of chips, there are also single in-line memory modules (SIMMs), which consist of up to nine chips packaged as a single unit

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Intel slashes Laptop chip prices

Hurt by lagging desktop sales and increased competition in the low-end PC market, Intel is making an aggressive move designed to increase demand for its laptop computer chips. By cutting prices of these low-power CPUs, by over 37 percent, Intel is betting that the resulting, lower laptop prices will entice more computer buyers into choosing a laptop as their second or third computer. The release of Intel's new Xeon chip is triggering the company to also slash the price of other high-end processors as well. The 400 megahertz Pentium II chips are expected to drop from the current price of $720 to $375, by October. Let the "chips" fall where they may - it's a PC buyer's market.

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SLICON PROCESSORS PC INFORMATION...

Silicon Image, a developer of semiconductors, has released Advanced Host Controller Interface version 1.2 Serial ATA driver for the latest generation of Intel PC chipsets.
Designed for compatibility with Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and future versions of Window's operating systems using Microsoft's latest Storport driver architecture, Silicon Image's AHCI driver allows PC OEMs to create motherboard designs that embed SteelVine storage processors and port multipliers.
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According to Silicon Image, AHCI driver takes advantage of the Serial ATA architecture and provides seamless operation between Intel's chipsets and Silicon Image's SteelVine storage processors.
Conrad Maxwell, senior product line manager at Silicon Image, said: "This new product offering represents a significant improvement in motherboard and eSATA support as our AHCI driver allows all drives to be visible without the need for an additional discrete port multiplier aware SATA controller."

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Graphics Processors Increasingly Embedded In PC Chipsets..

A growing trend in PC design is the integration of graphics processors in chipsets, reports In-Stat (http://www.in-stat.com). Although high performance graphics will continue to be offered in both integrated and standalone versions, the majority of general business and consumer graphics processors will transition to integrated implementations, the high-tech market research firm says. With chipsets now sporting functions such as memory control, USB, 1394, and now graphics, they are growing into much more than their humble beginnings as glue logic.Recent research by In-Stat found the following:
Consumer desktop PC chipset revenue growth is forecast to be 11.2% in 2007, rising to 14.8% in 2008.
Consumer notebook PC chipset revenue growth is forecast to be 27% for 2007.
Notebooks are not likely to see dual graphics processor implementations due to form factor and current power consumption issues

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Nvidia Weighs in on Intel Chip Pricing: (Unfair)

Just days after the EU slammed Intel for anticompetitive behavior, graphics developer Nvidia characterizes Intel's pricing for Atom systems as "unfair."

Just when it looked like there might be a bit of a détente between graphics developer and chip-making giant Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang decides to ratchet up the tensions again by characterizing Intel's pricing of Atom CPUs as unfair, although he added his company has no plans to bring legal action against Intel…for now.

Intel's Atom CPU's are currently powering the majority of so-called "netbook" computers flooding the market: low-cost and comparatively low-powered notebook systems with small screens primarily intended to let users accomplish lightweight tasks like keeping up with email and surfing the Web. Intel sells two versions of the Atom CPU: a standalone version, and a version in a three-chip set that includes Intel's Graphic Media Accelerator (GMA) graphics to drive a screen.It has to substitute for Intel GMA and radically boost the graphics performance of Atom-based systems—Nvidia claims up to tenfold performance improvements, which could make netbooks and appealing platform for games and video media. However, computer makers—ever cost-conscious in the low-margin netbook business—haven't been rushing to embrace Nvidia's Ion platform—because Intel sells Atom processors with GMA for $25, but Atom processors with no graphics at all cost $45, according to Reuters. So equipment manufacturers are forced to pay more for their CPUs, then more on top of that to Nvidia for enhanced graphics.

"That seems pretty unfair," Huang told Reuters. "We ought to be able to compete and serve that market."

Huang's comments come just days after for anticompetitive practices, the largest antitrust fine ever levied by the EU against a company.

Intel plans to appeal the European Union antitrust ruling, and has consistently maintained it has done nothing wrong and that its actions have lowered technology prices for consumers. Intel also refuted Nvidia's claims of unfair competition, with a spokesman noting that no one is forcing computer makers to buy chip bundles rather than stand-alone CPUs...

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Intel Keyboard Buffer Information Disclosure Vulnerability Intel ID:
INTEL-SA-00016
Product family:
Intel® Desktop and Intel® Mobile Boards
Impact of vulnerability
Information Disclosure
Severity rating:
Moderate
Original release:
Aug 25, 2008
Last revised:
Aug 25, 2008
Summary:
Specific Intel BIOS's fail to sanitize user input entered during the Power On Self Test, POST, process. Under certain situations this issue could potentially result in a disclosure of information.

Description:
A new BIOS is available on select Intel motherboards to ensure proper sanitization of user input entered during the Power On Self Test, POST, process. This new BIOS will properly clear user input before the launch of the Operating System. This new BIOS will prevent exploitation by a malicious local user or software running on the local system to expose pre-execution passwords.

Affected products:
DQ35JO, DQ35MP, DG35EC, DP35DP, DG33FB, DG33BU, DG33TL, DX38BT, MGM965TW (Mobile) and MGM965JB (Mobile).

Recommendations:
Recommendations:
While Intel is not aware of any use of the vulnerability described in this advisory, Intel has made changes to the BIOS firmware of affected products to prevent this issue.
To determine if you are at risk follow these steps:
1. Reboot your system.
2. Hit F2 to enter setup
3. The BIOS version will be on the first setup page displayed.
4. Look at the first portion of the BIOS version. For example - JOQ3510J.86A.0942.2007.1210.2204.
5. Then look at the date string section - JOQ3510J.86A.0942.2007.1210.2204.
6. If your BIOS has one of the numbers listed in the first section below and the date code section is older you need to update your BIOS.
For the Intel products listed in the Affected Products table, Intel has made available updated BIOS firmware per the table below. The updated BIOS firmware is available at http://support.intel.com. From this web page select 'Download Center'. On the 'Search Downloads' line, enter the affected product name (for example DG33BU) and click search. Click on the found product, select your operating system and click 'Go'. Next click on the BIOS title, then follow the instructions on the download page for downloading and installing the BIOS update. Several options are available.
DQ35JO
JOQ3510J.86A.0942.2008.0807.1958
DQ35MP
JOQ3510J.86A.0942.2008.0807.1958
DP35DP
DPP3510J.86A.0484.2008.0805.2031
DG33FB
DPP3510J.86A.0484.2008.0805.2031
DG33BU
DPP3510J.86A.0484.2008.0805.2031
DG33TL
DPP3510J.86A.0484.2008.0805.2031
MGM965TW (Mobile)
TW96510J.86A.1157.2008.0730.1429
D945GCPE
PE94510M.86A.0065.2008.0801.1803
DX38BT
BTX3810J.86A.1814.2008.0807.2334

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Server board packs two Intel Xeon processors.

Kontron has entered the server board market segment with the release of KTC5520-EATX, adding a server class category to its extensive portfolio of embedded and basic motherboard products.
The cost-effective Kontron KTC5520-EATX SSI EEB-compliant server board is designed with a feature-set and two new Intel Xeon 5518 45nm quad-core processors. Its extreme performance, high I/O bandwidth and reliability—backed by a up to 7-year life-cycle support program—suit OEMs designing a multitude of applications found in the medical imaging, simulation, storage and multimedia telecom and data center markets.
"We are extremely excited to introduce this server board," said Benoit Robert, executive director, product management at Kontron. "For five years, Kontron has been rapidly expanding its embedded motherboard business and, with its long design experience with server class, embedded Intel processors such as in our AdvancedTCA and CompactPCI bladed products, the business case was there to parley that experience into our motherboard portfolio. Thanks in large part to the design-in of the new Intel Xeon microarchitecture, early reaction from clients have been strong and immediate."
Remote managementAn attractive selling point for network managers is the server board's built-in ability to be fully managed remotely. Kontron uses an integrated management processor (IMP) that integrates VGA/2D, BMC and KVM/VM over IP to support real-time access with full control by keyboard, video monitor and mouse (KVM) and virtual media (VM) by a single local computer from anywhere, at any time. Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) 2.0 compliant using IPMI over LAN, the server board provides the OS-independent and cross-platform interface for monitoring the server system's temperature, voltage, and fan status, among other items, and permits out-of-band management even when the main processors are not powered-in.
In addition, KVM and VM over IP allow administrators to install software from a remote drive (floppy, CD/DVD-ROM, flash device, HDD) to target servers for convenient installation. At the same time, the KVM/VM function enables faster troubleshooting by fixing server problems from anywhere, while IPMI proactively sends alarms about environmental issues that could threaten the server's services, therefore reducing system downtime and operation costs.
The Kontron KTC5520-EATX server board also provides one dual port GbE controller for external connectivity, support for iSCSI storage technology and boot-up via iSCSI, and expansions via two USB headers (flash drive compatible), one TPM 1.2 header, one PCI 32 bits/33MHz slot, one PCIe x4 Gen1 slot and four x8 PCIe Gen2 slots. It also features six SATA II connectors, four USB 2.0 ports, seven fan headers, VGA, legacy PS/2 keyboard/mouse and HD audio interfaces.

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Intel ships 32nm Westmere samples to PC makers.

Back in February Intel announced an update to its revealing that it is accelerating the process shrink by skipping some CPUs that were going to arrive later this year – namely some 45nm dual-core Nehalem variants. The first Intel processors to be built using 32nm technology are codenamed Westmere and, according to information revealed by CEO Paul Otellini such chips have already been sampled to around 30 laptop and desktop PC manufacturers for testing.
Otellini said that Westmere will ship in volume later this year and could be on sale in PCs by early 2010. The new chips are basically die-shrink versions of the current 45nm Nehalem family of processors, but will come in a two-chip package configuration, where a die containing a graphics core and the memory controller will sit alongside the CPU die. There will be a desktop variant known as Clarkdale, comprising of two cores with hyper-threading technology, and a mobile chip codenamed Arrandale with the same arrangement.

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Intel® PRO/1000 GT Desktop Adapter..

Built on Intel lead-free technology¹, the Intel® PRO/ 1000 GT Desktop Adapter is the environmentally friendly way to bring Gigabit performance to your desktop at no extra cost. The GT Desktop Adapter conforms to the European Union's Restrictions on the use of Hazardous Substances² and Japan's White Goods Recycling Act.

Simplify installation and maintenance with Intel® SingleDriver™ technology.

High-performing, auto-negotiating 10/100/ 1000 connection.

Product information

• File Type/Size: PDF 547KB

Features and benefits

10/100/1000 Mbps	Allows easy migration to faster networks as current 10/100 Mbps networks move to Gigabit, without requiring reconfiguration by IT staff-saving time, money and downtime
Intel® 82541PI Gigabit Controller	Enhances high performance and reliability
Compatible with Fast Ethernet and Ethernet	Reduces deployment and training costs and enables easy, quick migration to Gigabit Ethernet
Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) 2.3 32-bit 33/66 MHz	Designed for high performance on desktop bus architecture
Category-5 Cabling	Uses pre-existing 4-pair cabling and saves re-wiring cost
Interrupt Moderation	Significantly reduces CPU utilization and increases throughput
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), Wake on LAN* (WoL), Preboot Execution Environment (PXE)	Allows lower power consumption, remote wake and remote booting
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)/Desktop Management Interface (DMI), Wired for Management (WfM)	Lowers Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) through improved manageability
Meets IEEE 802.3ab* Technology	Supports standards interoperability
Advanced Cable Diagnostics	Dynamically tests and reports network problems (interrupts, error rate, cable length) and automatically compensates for cable issues such as crossover cable, wrong pin-out and polarity
Support for Many Network Operating Systems (NOSs)	Enables widespread deployment.

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Intel® Ethernet Desktop Adapters

10 Gigabit Ethernet
Server Adapters
Intel’s fastest connection for high-performance
servers.
1. Designed for Multi-Core Processors
2. Optimized for Virtualization
3. Unified Networking over Ethernet
Ideal for transferring large data blocks in:
• High-performance computing and storage clusters, database,
and backup servers
• CAD/CAM nodes, modeling and graphics
• Data modeling and simulations
• Financial forecasting
• Video editing and digital imaging
• Network backbones
For short reach, lowest cost, and lowest power in high
density rack server to top of the rack switch connections,
specify the Intel® 10 Gigabit AF DA Dual Port Server Adapter.
For CX4 copper (up to 15 m), specify the Intel® 10 Gigabit
CX4 Dual Port Server Adapter.
For medium reach in multi-mode fiber (up to 300 m),
specify the Intel® 10 Gigabit XF SR Server Adapter.
For long reach in single-mode fiber (up to 10 km), specify
the Intel® 10 Gigabit XF LR Server Adapter.
PCI Express Adapters
for Gigabit Ethernet
Enhance Gigabit Ethernet performance with a
broad selection of PCI Express adapters for servers,
workstations and desktops.
• Reliable, proven 6th generation Gigabit Ethernet technology
from Intel.
• Scalable PCI Express interface provides dedicated I/O bandwidth
for I/O intensive networking applications.
• Quick and comprehensive configuration and management with
the Intel® PROSet for Microsoft Device Manager* software.
• Flexibility with iSCSI Boot and choice of quad-, dual-, and singleport
adapters in both fiber and copper.
• Lead-free technology for use in worldwide markets.
• Security IPsec provides data protection between the host and
destination devices of network.
Quick and Easy Adapter
Management
Powerful point-and-click configuration tool for
advanced adapter features, connection teaming, even
VLANs, with Intel® PROSet for Microsoft* Device
Manager.
• Convenient access to Intel® PROSet Utility, now integrated
in Microsoft Device Manager.
• Simple, integrated
tools make it easy to
manage and troubleshoot
Ethernet connections in
both servers and client
computers.
• Supports multi-vendor
teaming for adapter
compatibility with most
on-board connections.
©2008 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo,
and Intel SingleDriver are trademarks or registered trademarks
of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and
other countries.
*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of
others.
Printed in USA/0708/MBR/PMS/PP/2.5K 252454-012US
Intel® Server and Desktop
PCI Express* Adapters
Product Selection Guide
Intel® Server and Desktop
PCI Express* Adapters
Connectivity you can count on
Compatibility tested for trouble-free interoperability with
network infrastructure elements.
Broad selection from 10/100 Mbps to 10 Gbps, for copper or
fiber, from PCI to PCI Express*, in single- to quad-port configurations.
Performance and reliability backed by more than 25 years
of network connectivity experience and Intel worldwide customer
support.
Easy installation and management with Intel® PROSet Utility
for Microsoft Device Manager* and other tools.
Worldwide availability and environmentally friendly for
compliance with global market requirements.
Multi-Port Gigabit
Server Adapters
Increase uptime, scalability and performance
with four Gigabit Ethernet ports in one slot.
• Conserve server slots with a selection of dual- and
quad-port Intel® Server Adapters for flexible network
connectivity.
• Increase reliability and performance by teaming ports
together for automatic failover and scalable server links, or
utilize multiple network segments and VLANs.
• Simplify multi-port link aggregation, adaptive load
balancing and fault tolerance with Intel® Advanced
Network Services software for connection teaming.
• Scale server performance with Intel® Virtualization
Technology for Connectivity (Intel® VT-c).
• Easy connection management with Intel® PROSet for
Microsoft Device Manager software.
• Supports multi-vendor teaming for adapter

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*Third party marks and brands are property of their respective holders.

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