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Intel's 520 Series solid-state drive | 81 |
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The TR Podcast 105: Eye candy and SSD scaling | 8 |
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Samsung's 830 Series solid-state drive | 61 |
While I was out traveling last week, someone remarked to me that Best Buy may be having some financial trouble, a fact they found somewhat puzzling. That thought prompted me to blather on way too long about the problems with the biggest of our big-box electronics retailers, which are legion. My take was that Best Buy is turning customers into victims, one transaction at a time. For instance, they stock video cards in a range of prices, only the actual products on offer aren't what you expect at each price point. Instead, the pricing policy looks something like this: cards that would sell online for $119 are marked at $249, and cards that would normally list for $249 are marked at $399. A little markup at retail is expected, but that's highway robbery. Best Buy only charges those prices in order to take advantage of folks who don't know any better.
I think the talk about Best Buy facing financial problems started with this article in Forbes, which comes from an analyst who is simply predicting doom for the company eventually. However, he has some penetrating insights in that article and the follow-up, in which he recounts the story of the first article going viral and provoking an avalanche of responses from Best Buy customers, many of them expressions of frustration with the company.
One of my favorite bits in the second article relates to my video card example:
If Best Buy still has a competitive advantage, it’s based on information superiority. Most customers who walk into the stores don’t know what other retailers are charging for the same goods. . . . Any information advantage the company maintains over its customers, however, is surely temporary. . . . Betting that you know more than your customers and using that knowledge to squeeze out a few more points of margin may have worked before the information revolution, but it doesn’t work anymore. As the head of a major automobile company told me at the dawn of Internet commerce, "Sooner or later, the last stupid customer will walk in the door."
In other words, Best Buy can't keep doing business like this forever. Folks will wise up and find other places to shop, whether online or not. That's probably one of the reasons the company has been losing market share even after its top rival, Circuit City, closed.
Most frustrating for me is how Best Buy's incompetence negatively affects the PC market in the U.S., a market it kind of owns by default in terms of local retail, yet one where... heck, I dunno. I feel safer pointing friends to the Apple store, shameful as that may be. I still think retail has an important place in the market for these sorts of products, but the experience needs to be very different from the one Best Buy is offering.
Do you have similar beefs with Best Buy? If so, what's your take on the problems there? (And if not there, what about the other big-box retailers who sell computers and electronics?) If you were installed as the company's CEO, what would you do in order to turn things around? What kind of shopping experience would you like to see? Discuss.
Release roundup: New cases and related accessoriesThis week in our look at miscellaneous product releases and announcements, we've got news from Antec, Cooler Master, Scythe, and Thermaltake:
- Antec announces the One Enclosure. Priced at $59.95, Antec's new enclosure is a budget offering that doesn't skimp on amenities. It has two USB 3.0 ports, top and rear 120-mm exhaust fans (with room for an extra four 120-mm spinners), a "perforated mesh" front panel, and a total of eight drive bays (three 5.25" and five 3.5"), all tool-less. As you'd expect, the power supply goes at the bottom, and there's a cut-out in the motherboard tray behind the CPU socket area.
- Cooler Master unveils Elite 361 rotatable chassis. No, the Elite 361 doesn't rotate on its own, but Cooler Master has nevertheless designed it to work both horizontally and vertically. The rubber feet are "user attachable," the 5.25" bays are mounted horizontally, and you can rotate the Cooler Master logo. Other than that, the Elite 361 accommodates full-sized ATX motherboards, up to six 3.5" hard drives in a removable cage, and a 120-mm pre-mounted top fan. Not too shabby for $39.99.
- Kaze rolls out Master Flat fan controller. Where most fan controllers have knobs, the Master Flat features buttons and a slick-looking digital display. It can control four fans and keep track of four different temperature sensors, with optional alarm thresholds for when things get too toasty. Scythe says this puppy will retail for €28 in Europe, so U.S. pricing will presumably end up around 30 bucks.
- Thermaltake tender Toughpower and SMART Series with Further Prospect. Yes, that is the actual title of the press release Thermaltake sent us. The announcement is, happily, more straightforward than it sounds: Thermaltake has bolstered two of its power-supply lineups with new models. The Toughpower series now includes 550W, 650W, and 750W models, all featuring 80 Plus Gold certification. Meanwhile, there are now 750W and 850W Smart modular units—both with 80 Plus Bronze certification. Check out the company's website for more details.
That Antec case looks pretty solid for the price. I'm not a huge fan of mesh front panels, though. They tend to get ugly when dust starts to collect in those little grooves.
Deal of the week: SSDs, PSUs, and motherboardsValentine's Day approaches. As you lavish your significant other with flowers, chocolates, and hand-written coupons for various, ahem, favors, be sure not to forget your PC. Computers needs love, too, and there's no better way to show it than with a hardware upgrade. Newegg is running a big Valentine's Day sale that's brimming with tempting options.
Let's start with the SSDs because, well, that's what I've been immersed in for the past couple of weeks. My favorite deal is on Samsung's 830 Series 128GB, which can be had for as little as $185 after entering the promo code EMCNHJN24. That includes a copy of Batman: Arkham City, so you're getting a lot more than one of the fastest SSDs on the market. If you're partial to Indilinx, the OCZ Octane 128GB SSD has been discounted to $180. The drive comes with a $15 gift card, and a mail-in rebate cuts an additional $20 off the price. Another sweet SSD deal is available at Buy.com, which has the Crucial m4 128GB on sale for $158.
Newegg is showing some love for motherboards and PSUs this week. Corsair's TX650 PSU has been cut to $90 before a $15 mail-in rebate. An additional $10 can be slashed from the price using coupon code EMCNHJN23. Enter coupon code GAMB210216, and you'll get 10% off select Gigabyte motherboards. The best deal on that front is probably the GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3, which has already been dropped from $170 to $150.
Not to be outdone, NCIX has a Sweetheart Sale Event with discounts on a wide range of PC components. Cheap SSDs remain popular, and the Kingston SSDNow V200 128GB can be had for only $120—no rebates or coupon codes required. The same goes for Benq's 120Hz XL2410T 23.6" LCD, which serves up 3D Vision-ready pixels at 1080p for only $270, $100 off the usual asking price.
Of course, there's really only one way to show you're truly committed to your PC. Newegg sells this lovely tungsten carbide ring for only $20, a discount of $230. Just be up front about the fact that you might want to see other systems in the future.
9 comments — Last by Duck at 5:11 PM on 02/10/12
Well well... look at what we have here: cheap drugs from Canada. They're free drugs, actually, sent to reviewers by AMD's GPU team up in Markham, Ontario. Take a look:
Upon closer inspection, it appears the capsules are blue jelly beans. Placebos, in other words. Does that make us the control group? Does it mean other reviewers got the real pills and are currently under the spell of potent hallucinations? If so, you'd better stick with us for further coverage—AMD's GPU guys have more than pills up their sleeves.
18 comments — Last by Yeats at 4:44 PM on 02/10/12
With a little help from AMD, researchers at North Carolina State University have been able to increase the performance of general-purpose GPU computing by an average of over 20%. Their method requires a "fused architecture" in which the CPU and GPU reside on the same die and share both last-level cache and system memory. AMD's Llano-based A-series APUs qualify, as do Intel's Sandy Bridge processors.
As this press release explains, the approach involves using the CPU to prefetch data for the GPU. Dr. Huiyang Zhou, the associate professor of electrical and computer engineering who co-authored the team's paper on the subject, contends that this approach works because it allows CPUs and GPUs to focus on their strengths. Each one is capable of fetching data from memory at "approximately the same speed," but GPUs are much quicker to crunch the data once they have it. With the CPU fetching data for the GPU, which can then pull the data directly from cache, the researchers observed performance increases as high as 113%.
Obviously, some workloads will benefit more than others. The fact that this approach requires a processor with integrated graphics is also rather limiting, at least in practical terms. Even the fastest integrated GPUs are painfully slow compared to the performance offered by discrete graphics hardware. Thanks to CPU World for the tip.
7 comments — Last by bcronce at 3:25 PM on 02/10/12
What do you do when publishers scoff at your ideas for a game? Turn to your fans, of course. That's just what the folks at Double Fine Productions did to finance their point-and-click adventure game project, Double Fine Adventure. They used Kickstarter and asked their fans for $300,000 to make the game and an extra $100,000 to document the project on film. $400,000 in all.
They reached their target after eight hours. Less than a day after putting up the page, they had raised $1,000,000.
Now, Double Fine Productions isn't just any indie studio. It was founded back in 2000 by Tim Schafer, a LucasArts veteran who designed Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, Psychonauts, and Brütal Legend. The studio also employs Ron Gilbert, the man behind LucasArts' original Monkey Island games. Schafer posted this rather persuasive video to ask for funding a couple of days ago:
The clout of the people behind the project no doubt contributed to the funding drive's success. Right now, the Kickstarter page lists 35,973 backers who pledged a total of $1,314,069... and there are 32 days to go. I wonder how publishers who turned down the project feel about that.
In any case, the thought of LucasArts veterans working on a point-and-click adventure game with ample funding is a nice one. I'll be eager to play the game when it comes out.
20 comments — Last by BobbinThreadbare at 4:59 PM on 02/10/12
The iPad 3's release is nigh, if the latest round of reports from the rumor mill are to be believed. AllThingsD says it heard from its sources that Apple will stage the device's launch in the first week of March. The launch will, as always, involve a "special event" in San Francisco.
AllThingsD also echoes previous rumors we've heard about the iPad 3—namely that it will have the same form factor as the iPad 2, but with a new processor and a 2048x1536 high-DPI display. Considering how often we've heard those details over the past few months, I'd say they're a given now.
Then again, there were an awful lot of stories about a teardrop-shaped iPhone 5 before Apple rolled out the iPhone 4S. So, who knows?
In a separate story, The Next Web quotes "sources with knowledge of the matter" as saying Apple is in "crunch mode" right now, getting everything prepped and ready for the launch. The company is reportedly trying to figure out which apps it will show off on the device, both on stage and in the TV ads. Apps that take advantage of the faster chip and the Retina display will no doubt be on the menu.
38 comments — Last by fyo at 5:44 PM on 02/10/12
Eight is Enough
- AllThingsD reports Apple to announce iPad 3 first week in March
- Microsoft is mishandling Windows 8 embedded release, argues Intermec CTO
- X-bit labs: IBM fab club to reveal details on 20nm,
14nm & beyond process technologies next month - hp: Apple iOS and Google Android too insecure for enterprises
- VR-Zone: Intel Haswell to release between March - June 2013
- AnandTech takes a closer look at Opteron 6276
- 3DCenter claims to have Nvidia Kepler GK104 specs (in German)
- Steve Jobs FBI file
Read more...
26 comments — Last by Deanjo at 5:27 PM on 02/10/12
Windows head honcho Steven Sinofsky has posted a whopper of a blog post about Windows on ARM. The 8,600-word piece starts off with a few key tidbits—including the fact that, despite certain rumors, Windows on ARM will feature the old-school Desktop—before descending into lower-level talk about the challenges of porting Windows to a new CPU architecture, from the kernel to the Start screen.
Honestly, my eyes glazed over during the second part. The first part was interesting, though, and not just because of the neat demo video:
For starters, Sinofsky describes Windows on ARM not as a flavor of Windows 8, but as a "new member of the Windows family" entirely distinct from Windows 8. While the two operating systems will have the same look and feel and much of the same code, Sinofsky compares Windows on ARM to Windows Phone or Windows Embedded. He also reveals that Windows on ARM won't be distributed separately from pre-built systems:
Partners will provide WOA PCs as integrated, end-to-end products that include hardware, firmware, and Windows on ARM software. Windows on ARM software will not be sold or distributed independent of a new WOA PC, just as you would expect from a consumer electronics device that relies on unique and integrated pairings of hardware and software. Over the useful lifetime of the PC, the provided software will be serviced and improved.
It's no surprise, then, that the upcoming Windows 8 Consumer Preview will be x86/x64-only.
In spite of those differences, Sinofsky stresses that Windows on ARM "will feel just like using Windows 8 on x86/64." As a bonus, he says the operating system "includes desktop versions of the new Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote." The wording of the post suggests those are standard, pre-installed apps. If that's the case, it might give Windows 8 tablets a big leg up over the competition—at least for folks who plan to use Win8 tablets for real work.
In any case, we'll see the fruits of Microsoft's labor first-hand before too long. The company is working with hardware vendors to release the first Windows on ARM devices at the same time as the first Windows 8 PCs.
30 comments — Last by Chrispy_ at 4:59 PM on 02/10/12
Ivy Bridge isn't yet out the door, but Intel is already talking about more enhancements coming in Haswell. The next-generation chip will bring a new microarchitecture and, according to this blog post, a set of Transactional Synchronization Extensions dubbed TSX. The instructions are designed to simplify programming for developers working on multithreaded applications, which must lock sections of memory to ensure that data being manipulated by one thread isn't modified by another. Intel's James Reinders explains:
These extensions can help achieve the performance of fine-grain locking while using coarser grain locks. These extensions can also allow locks around critical sections while avoiding unnecessary serializations. If multiple threads execute critical sections protected by the same lock but they do not perform any conflicting operations on each other’s data, then the threads can execute concurrently and without serialization. Even though the software uses lock acquisition operations on a common lock, the hardware is allowed to recognize this, elide the lock, and execute the critical sections on the two threads without requiring any communication through the lock if such communication was dynamically unnecessary.
Reinders goes into more detail in a subsequent blog post. I'm not a programmer, but it looks like Haswell is capable of determining when it's safe for incoming threads to ignore the locks imposed by other threads. This should allow more threads to be executed in parallel, at least for applications relying on coarse locking techniques. Coarse locking is easier to implement than fine-grained locks, Intel says.
Applications will have to be modified to take advantage of TSX. Two options are available: developers who want to retain compatibility with non-TSX hardware can use the Hardware Lock Elision instruction set, while those who want more flexibility can use the Restricted Transactional Memory instruction set. The latter requires an alternate code path for hardware that doesn't support TSX instructions. If you want more information on TSX, check out chapter 8 of Intel's programming reference (PDF).
31 comments — Last by NeelyCam at 3:05 PM on 02/10/12
Consumer-grade SSDs started making the transition to 25-nm NAND early last year. We saw enterprise-oriented drives based on MLC flash make the jump, as well, but nothing on the SLC front—until now. Hitachi has begun shipping the "industry's first" enterprise-class SSD with 25-nm SLC NAND.
The Ultrastar SSD400S.B was developed in conjunction with Intel, which fabricates the drive's memory chips. Intel's controller tech is also a part of the drive, although it's been grafted to Hitachi's interface logic to offer 6Gbps SAS compatibility. Hitachi says the new Ultrastar can sustain read and write speeds of 536 and 502MB/s, respectively. The drive is rated for 57,500 random-read IOps and 25,500 IOps with random writes. Those random I/O performance ratings are only slightly improved over the Ultrastar SSD400M, which is essentially the same drive with Intel's enterprise-grade MLC NAND. That model can only reach 495MB/s with sustained reads and 385MB/s with writes, though.
SLC NAND has been prized more for its superior endurance than faster performance, and the latest Ultrastar should deliver on that front. While its MLC-based sibling is expected to burn out after writing 7.3 petabytes worth of data, the Ultrastar SSD400S.B can purportedly process 35 petabytes of writes, nearly a five-fold increase in endurance. Interestingly, that 35-petabyte rating is mirrored by the old SSD400S, which uses 34-nm SLC flash. If any die-level endurance was lost in the transition from 34- to 25-nm flash, the drive is making up for it elsewhere.
The Ultrastar SSD400S.B is available in 100, 200, and 400GB capacities. Full-disk encryption is optional, and the warranty is five years or 35 petabytes—whichever comes first, presumably. There's no mention of pricing, but if you have to ask, you probably can't afford one. Amazon has the 400GB version of the old Ultrastar SSD400S listed at over $5,000.
19 comments — Last by Byte Storm at 11:36 AM on 02/10/12
Watch out, Dropbox. You're about to get some competition from Google. At least, that's what the Wall Street Journal says, quoting "people familiar with the matter" who claim Google is on the verge of introducing a rival cloud storage service.
The Google service, called Drive, is "expected to launch in the coming weeks or months." It will be free of charge for most users, although the Wall Street Journal says large quantities of online storage will be available for a fee. (That fee, incidentally, is said to be less than what Dropbox currently charges.) Google Drive should behave in much the same way as Dropbox, allowing users to upload large files into the cloud from PCs and mobile devices, and to then share those files with a link.
Sound familiar? It did to me, too, probably because there have been scattered rumors about a Google cloud storage service for years. The Journal notes that Google's Larry Page previously worked on a service called "G Drive" that was supposed to launch in late 2007. We continued to see reports about G Drive, like this story from TG Daily dated January 19, 2009, for a long time after that. (Thanks to Liliputing for the tip.)
17 comments — Last by HisDivineOrder at 11:38 AM on 02/10/12
Well, Rambus has wrapped up another round of litigation. This time, Nvidia has agreed to sign a patent license agreement with the patent troll technology licensing firm. Here are the dirty details from the official press release:
The agreement covers the use of Rambus patented innovations in a broad range of integrated circuit (IC) products offered by NVIDIA. In addition, the two companies have settled all outstanding claims, including resolution of past use of Rambus’ patented innovations. The term of this agreement is five years; other details are confidential.
We won't blame you for forgetting Rambus and Nvidia were even in a legal spat. After all, the initial lawsuit was filed over three years ago. Rambus accused Nvidia of infringing on 17 patents with the memory controllers built into various products, from GeForce GPUs to nForce chipsets. At the time, Rambus had allegedly been trying to get a licensing agreement out of Nvidia for "more than six years."
That's about all we heard until late January 2010, when the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled in Rambus' favor, saying Nvidia infringed on three Rambus patents. Nvidia General Counsel David Shannon said at the time, "[it's] unrealistic to think that there's going to be an agreement any time soon." He was right.
Last September, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office invalidated two of the patents from the ITC ruling. And then, late last month, it ruled that the third patent was also invalid, making Rambus' case potentially shaky. The terms of the company's patent licensing agreement with Nvidia haven't been made public, but I'd be interested to know who benefited more from the deal.
Update 12:16 PM: The original version of this story lacked some background information pertaining to the case. Thanks to TR reader HighTech4US2 for kindly pointing it out.
34 comments — Last by HisDivineOrder at 11:33 AM on 02/10/12
Eight is Enough
- NC State: Engineers boost computer processor performance by over 20%
- Windows 8 on ARM: The desktop is still there - All About Microsoft
- Engadget: Sprint announces Q4 2011 results - the iPhone brings in new
customers & Sprint adds Kansas City and Baltimore to list of LTE markets - LA Times: Verzon brings back double-data promo for 4G phones
- The Verge: hp releases Android test kernel for TouchPad to CyanogenMod team
- Building Windows 8: Improving power efficiency for applications
- Eurogamer: Valve makes Portal 2 Space Core mod for Skyrim
- The Verge reports Windows Store games for Windows 8 revealed
Read more...
26 comments — Last by cegras at 4:34 PM on 02/09/12
Three weeks to go until you can get your hands on the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. As CNet News reports, Microsoft has revealed the date and the time of the launch: February 29 between 3:00 and 5:00 PM CET (or 9:00 and 11:00 AM EST).
Microsoft will stage an event at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain for the occasion—hence the time zone wackiness. That's an interesting choice of venue. The Mobile World Congress typically sees the release of new mobile devices, not new PC software. Of course, Windows 8 does technically lead a double life as a mobile OS. It will hit both x86 and ARM tablets when it comes out later this year.
In related news, the folks at The Verge say they've learned which Metro apps will ship with the Win8 Consumer Preview. Those are Calendar, Camera, Mail, Messaging, Music, "People," Photos, SkyDrive, and Video. I'm guessing the "People" app will behave like its Windows Phone 7 namesake, offering a centralized contacts hub that interfaces with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The others are pretty self-explanatory.
That list made its way to The Verge's editors via "sources familiar with Microsoft's plans," so it may or may not be accurate. Still, it sounds like the Consumer Preview's Metro environment won't be as spare as that of last year's Developer Preview. Hopefully, there are enough pre-installed apps for us all to try a little Metro immersion and see what the fuss is about.
42 comments — Last by sweatshopking at 5:33 AM on 02/10/12
Microsoft has outlined a number of the big changes coming in Windows 8, including the addition of a touch-friendly Metro UI. Metro's big fonts and tiled design were obviously concocted with tablets in mind, but they seem just as well suited to home-theater PCs that put users across the room on the couch, often with little more than a remote for navigation.
Rather than equipping Metro for the living room, it looks like Microsoft is going to keep the 10-foot Media Center interface included in Windows 7—and severely limit its reach. The Verge has heard that Media Center will be restricted to special editions of Windows 8. Although Media Center is currently included in all but the Starter edition of Win7, Microsoft reportedly wants to concentrate its TV efforts on the Xbox. Media Center requires additional licensing fees, the site says, so dropping it from the core OS should lower costs. This move is something of a return to form for Microsoft, which first launched Media Center as a special edition of Windows XP.
With PVR-equipped set-top boxes gaining in popularity and consoles increasingly being used to stream video, I can see why Media Center might be relegated to a smaller role in Windows 8. Unlike a few years ago, when PCs were really the only way to enjoy a range of content on your television, the market is now flooded with media players that cost a lot less than even the cheapest Windows-powered nettops. While they can't handle PVR duties, these devices play HD content and often support popular services like Netflix, Pandora, and Facebook.
The rise of encrypted digital cable has made the PVR side of the home-theater PC equation more complicated, as well. Gone are the days when assembling a TiVo-killer for the living room was as easy as slapping a TV tuner into a PC.
27 comments — Last by Malphas at 2:38 PM on 02/09/12
Mice with touch-sensitive surfaces are growing slowly in number, with Apple's Magic Mouse and Microsoft's Arc Touch Mouse leading the assault. The latest new recruit hails from Logitech, and it looks more like some sort of sea creature than a mouse:
The Logitech Touch Mouse M600 is a wireless design priced at $69.99. It ships with special software that purportedly makes scrolling "fluid, much like scrolling on your favorite touchscreen smartphone." Users can swipe their fingers both vertically and horizontally across the device, and click areas can be re-assigned to accommodate southpaws. From what I can tell, though, that's it as far as touch controls go—the official product page doesn't mention multi-touch gestures or anything of the sort.
Provided the touch input works well, this could be a decent mouse for folks on the go. Logitech includes its little wireless USB receiver, which you can tuck away inside the battery compartment, and the company touts six months of battery life with two AA batteries. The mouse can run off just one battery, too, if weight is a concern.
22 comments — Last by BobbinThreadbare at 9:06 PM on 02/09/12
Howdy, all. I was out traveling all of last week, first visiting Intel up in Oregon and then down to Santa Clara for AMD's Financial Analyst Day and a chat the next day with their new CTO. I have been working on writing up my thoughts about the direction communicated by AMD's new management team, which is interesting in many ways. However, last week's travel took a lot out of me, and I honestly haven't been very productive since returning. Progress is being made, though, and hopefully, I'll have something finished soon. I think it should be worth reading, because we've learned quite a bit about AMD's future and the people now in command of it.
9 comments — Last by burntham77 at 8:18 AM on 02/09/12
SSDs have been the talk of the storage industry for some time. What are mechanical hard drives to do to get back in the news? Two words: frickin' lasers. A group of researchers from half a dozen different countries has managed to flip bits on magnetic media with a laser rather than the magnetic field used in traditional hard drives.
As Physorg explains, the heat generated by the laser causes the magnetic orientation of "nano islands" to change in the material. The laser pulse lasts 60 femtoseconds (60 millionths of a nanosecond), and the orientation change is complete within five picoseconds (five thousandths of a nanosecond). The researchers claim this method can write terabytes of data per second and, because there's no magnetic field involved, the process is purportedly more power-efficient than traditional recording methods.
Like most new discoveries, this one is probably a long way from commercial applications. There's no mention of whether lasers could be used to quickly read data from the disk or what sort of bit densities might be achieved. Still, it's nice to see new breakthroughs promising substantially improved performance for magnetic media, which is likely to remain much cheaper per gigabyte than solid-state storage for the forseeable future. Nature has the full paper detailing the discovery, but you'll need an account to read beyond the abstract. Thanks to Slashdot for the tip.
36 comments — Last by bhassel at 7:17 PM on 02/09/12
Little-known fact: AMD sells a handful of Socket FM1 processors based on its Llano design but without integrated graphics. Those chips are branded as Athlon II parts, and they've been available for some time now. According to CPU World, AMD recently expanded that small lineup with a couple of new offerings.
The Athlon II X4 641 is the faster of the two, with a 2.8GHz clock speed and 100W TDP. It's joined by the Athlon II X4 638, which runs at 2.7GHz but features a slimmer 65W thermal envelope. Both processors have quad cores, 4MB of L2 cache, Socket FM1 packages, and $81 price tags. AMD makes it clear on this page that both models are fabbed on a 32-nm process, so they're not simply previous-gen Athlon II chips re-tooled to fit the new socket.
It's just too bad that, after all this time, AMD still hasn't introduced an entirely worthy replacement for the defunct Athlon II X4 840. That CPU was once the cornerstone of our system guide's Econobox build, thanks to its four cores, 3.2GHz clock speed, and $100 price tag. The closest Socket FM1 offering, the Athlon II X4 651, runs 200MHz slower, 5W hotter, doesn't have the upgrade path of Socket AM3+, and doesn't cost a whole lot less. The full-blown A-series offerings with integrated graphics all fetch a premium.
38 comments — Last by BobbinThreadbare at 9:07 PM on 02/09/12
LATEST STUFF
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Friday night topic: The trouble with Best Buy | 10 |
10 comments — Last by indeego at 5:58 PM on 02/10/12