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AMD Moves to Quarterly HD 2000, HD 3000 and HD 4000 Driver Releases, Nixes Windows 8 Updates

April 24th, 2012
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Contrary to some rumors, AMD will not be discontinuing support for their legacy products. Rather, a new Quarterly Driver Release schedule will be put into place.

A few days ago, Hardware Canucks learned of rumors concerning a possible top to bottom discontinuation of support for AMD’s legacy products. After some investigation, Hardware Canucks uncovered the complete details.

In an understandable move, AMD will end the monthly driver updates for the HD 2000, HD 3000 and HD 4000 series of graphics cards and instead institute a quarterly new release schedule for these products. Considering some of these are more than half a decade old, no one should be surprised at this point.

However, there is an additional wrench thrown into the works. It seems users of these older products won’t get continued driver support and updates when they are using their cards in a Windows 8 environment. To put it simply: Windows 8 ships with an included AMD driver and from our understanding, that won’t be updated. If you have a HD 2000, HD 3000, or HD 4000 series card, be prepared to make do with the default AMD driver package that Microsoft ships with their new OS.

In a press release by AMD (see below), the company explains in detail the reasoning behind this decision. Hopefully, this will allow their development team to concentrate upon enhancing the experience for customers of their newer HD 5000, HD 6000 and HD 7000 series.

AMD will be moving the AMD Radeon™ HD 2000, AMD Radeon HD 3000, and AMD Radeon HD 4000 Series of products to a new driver support model. We will continue to support the mentioned products in our Catalyst releases, but we’re moving their updates to a quarterly basis, whereas our AMD Radeon HD 5000 and later products will continue to see monthly updates. The Quarterly Catalyst releases will focus on resolving application specific issues and critical updates. The reason for the shift in support policy is largely due to the fact that the AMD Radeon HD 2000, AMD Radeon HD 3000, and AMD Radeon HD 4000 Series have been optimized to their maximum potential from a performance and feature perspective. The 8.97 based driver, released in May 2012 will be the first driver for the AMD Radeon HD 2000, AMD Radeon HD 3000, and AMD Radeon HD 4000 Series under the new support model; it is an extremely stable and robust driver branch for these products and will be the baseline for our quarterly updates.

Our main development and testing efforts will now be focused on the AMD Radeon™ HD 5000 and later products. This is the best use of our resources, as the AMD Radeon HD 5000, AMD Radeon HD 6000, AMD Radeon HD 7000, and future products have the greatest potential for further performance and feature enhancements.

Also with regards to Windows 8 support for the AMD Radeon™ HD 2000, 3000, 4000 Series of products; the In-the-box AMD Graphics driver that ships with Windows 8 will include support for the AMD Radeon HD 2000, 3000, and 4000 Series, and it will support the WDDM 1.1 driver level features. The AMD Catalyst driver for Windows 8 will only include support for WDDM 1.2 support products (AMD Radeon HD 5000 and later).

Source:http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/news/video/amd-moves-quarterly-hd-2000-hd-3000-and-hd-4000-driver-releases-nixes-windows-8-updates/

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Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 vs. AMD Radeon HD 7970

March 31st, 2012
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Of the major rivalries in the technology industry, few get as heated as often as that of Nvidia and AMD. When it comes to releasing new graphics hardware, the two companies take no mercy: Every year (or thereabouts, if they don’t bother to follow the calendar) they trade off the title of “the most powerful video card in the world” for this price range or that price range, and frequently leave consumers confused by the options available to them.

This is certainly true with regards to the companies’ two recent flagship video cards: the AMD Radeon HD 7970, which came out toward the end of last year, and Nvidia’s just-released GeForce GTX 680. Both are single-GPU models at the top of their respective lines, utilizing all the latest video display technologies; both promise outstanding frame rates in the hottest 3D games; and both cost around $500. So if you’re upgrading your computer, or building one from scratch, how can you choose between them?

To give you a better idea of whether you should buy the 7970 or the GTX 680, we’ve compiled this comparison of the cards’ salient features. Along with each is our verdict about which card succeeds in that category. If you’re looking for powerful single-card graphics for your PC games, either is a fine way to go. But one of these cards excels in more areas, and is thus the ultimate choice for today—and we’ll tell you what it is at the end.

Gaming Performance

Let’s face it: Pretty much the only reason people ever drop $500 or more on a video card is because they want to play the latest games. And in that department, the two cards run pretty much neck and neck most of the time. In our real-world game benchmarks, the 7970 only came out definitively ahead in Aliens vs. Predator, at both 1,920 by 1,200 (59.2 frames per second, or fps, versus 52fps) and 2,560 by 1,600 (37.4fps versus 31.7fps); and the GTX 680 proved superior at everything else (including two AMD-branded titles at the same resolutions, DiRT 3 and Total War: Shogun 2). On our synthetic benchmarks, which measure a broader scope of performance features that don’t necessarily show up in games, the GTX 680 also came out ahead: In Futuremark’s 3DMark 11 it scored 3,151 to the 7970’s 2,754, and beat the AMD card on the Heaven Benchmark 3.0 at 1,920 by 1,200 (43.6fps versus 40.5fps). The 7970 just barely edged out the GTX 680 when Heaven was upped to 2,560 by 1,600 (29.3fps versus 28.9), however. As with so many things, a lot depends on the games you play, but—even though its leads weren’t always decisive—the Nvidia card proved itself the champ more often.

Price

If you can afford to buy either of these cards, clearly cash flow is not a problem for you at the moment. But that doesn’t mean price isn’t—or shouldn’t be—an issue: You undoubtedly want the best one you can get for the least amount of money. Right now, however, that’s not the 7970. It lists for $549, which is also the lowest price we found for one on Newegg. The GTX 680 lists for $499—and a number of those are available on Newegg for just that much.

Source:http://www.thinkdigit.com/Parts-Peripherals/Nvidia-GeForce-GTX-680-vs-AMD-Radeon_9157.html

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AMD Whips Up Two New FX Processors

March 22nd, 2012
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While power users sit in patient anticipation of Intel’s Ivy Bridge platform, which seems like it’s taking forever to launch, AMD just keeps doing its thing. AMD’s “thing,” of course, is competing on the bang-for-buck front, and towards that end, the Sunnyvale chip maker is reportedly getting ready to launch a couple of new FX Series processors.

Turkish website Donanimhaber got its hands on a leaked roadmap of sorts and it shows AMD slotting in the FX-4130, a quad-core CPU clocked with a base frequency of 3.8GHz and a 3.9GHz Turbo clockspeed. It will feature 4MB of L2 cache and 4MB of L3 cache, a 125W TDP, and reside at the lower end of AMD’s FX lineup.

The other upcoming chip is a six-core FX-6130. This one has a base frequency of 3.6GHz, Turbo clockspeed of 3.9GHz, 8MB of L2 cache, 6MB of L3 cache, and a 125W TDP.

Pricing hasn’t been announced for either chip, though the FX-4130 sits below the FX-4100, which sells $115, and the FX-6130 falls in between the $145 FX-6100 and $165 FX-6200, so probably figure around $100 for the former and the $150ish for the latter. Both are scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2012.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/AMD-Whips-Up-Two-New-FX-Processors/

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AMD launches new platform for dedicated web hosting providers

March 21st, 2012
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AMD today announced the latest solution as part of its ongoing Web/Cloud initiative with the launch of the new AMD Opteron™ 3200 Series processor. Dedicated Web hosting customers seeking enterprise-class reliability have a new choice that delivers:

-Great value with up to 38% better price performance1 and up to 19% less power per core2 than the competition.
-ECC memory and server reliability features at a low price-point.
-Fast hardware payback – In as few as 7 months hosting fees can cover hardware costs – up to 14% quicker than with the competition3.
-Efficient economics for the Cloud with twice the core density per rack4.

“In today’s economic environment, dedicated hosting providers need their data centers to become profit centers faster than ever,” said Patrick Patla, corporate vice president and general manager, Commercial Business, AMD. “With the new AMD Opteron™ 3000 Series platform, Web and Cloud customers no longer have to compromise with desktop-class platforms in order to hit certain price points. Now they have all the benefits of a true server-class product at desktop-class price points. This helps rapidly-growing hosting customers achieve fast payback in their incredibly dense, power-efficient environments.”

Since the launch of its new core server architecture, and AMD Opteron 4200 and 6200 Series processors last November, AMD unveiled a disruptive server strategy and intentions to leverage its leading graphics IP while driving down the power in future SoC offerings. As part of accelerating this, AMD recently announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Cloud pioneer SeaMicro.

Today AMD has delivered on its promise of a low-power, single-socket solution that brings server functionality with desktop economics. The AMD Opteron 3000 Series platform is targeted to the dense, power efficient 1P Web hosting/Web server market. Available in either 4- or 8-core CPUs, the AMD Opteron 3200 Series processor is shipping today in platforms from MSI, Tyan, Fujitsu and Dell. Based on the “Bulldozer” core, the AMD Opteron 3000 Series platform leverages Socket AM3+ and provides customers with the cost savings associated with a “desktop-like” infrastructure, yet still offers server-class reliability, enterprise-class silicon validation/testing, security features and server OS certification.

“AMD is a great partner, and we’re excited about the new AMD Opteron 3200 Series CPU. It allows us to create a custom design for our DCS customers, and deliver a compelling combination of performance and energy efficiency, “ says Dell Data Center Solutions’ Steve Cumings. “As the leader in the Density-Optimized market segment, we require focused partner technology within industry standards – and this is a good fit for our customers.”

Key Facts, Performance and Technical Detail
-45W to 65W TDP
-2.7 GHz base frequency, up to 3.7 GHz frequency using AMD Turbo CORE technology5
-4- and 8-core options
-2 DDR3 memory channels supporting ECC UDIMM
-1333, 1600, 1866 MHz memory speed6
-Supports 1.5V, 2Rank
-Up to 32GB memory capacity
-Supports up to 2 DIMMs per memory channel
-Total Cache: 16MB for 8-core, 8MB for 4-core
-L2 Cache: up to 8MB total
-L3 Cache: up to 8MB total

Source:http://www.hardwareheaven.com/news.php?newsid=3862

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ElcomSoft Adds AMD Radeon 7000 Series Support and New Wi-Fi Attacks Targeting the Human Factor

March 9th, 2012
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The two products are now using updated acceleration engines, further increasing the speed of password recovery with compatible AMD video cards. In addition, Elcomsoft Wireless Security Auditor can now employ several new types of attacks, exploiting potential wireless password weaknesses introduced by the human factor.
Further Increasing Password Recovery Speed with OpenCL
“By employing OpenCL in our products, we’re getting future-proof access to all the acceleration features available in current and future AMD hardware, add support for the latest AMD hardware and increase password recovery speed”, says Andrey Belenko, ElcomSoft Chief Security Analyst. “We could have handled NVIDIA accelerators the same way, via OpenCL, but at this stage, NVIDIA CUDA software gives us that last bit of extra speed.”
As an immediate benefit, ElcomSoft products gain compatibility with AMD Radeon™ HD 7000 Series hardware, a state-of-the-art graphic accelerators currently including AMD Radeon™ HD 7750, 7770, 7950, and 7970 models. In addition, the use of OpenCL allowed ElcomSoft to additionally optimize the performance of its password recovery tools executing on the AMD platform to gain a further performance benefit of up to 50% compared to older versions of its software. At this time, acceleration algorithms for the NVIDIA platform are still relying on the proprietary CUDA software for extra speed delivered by that platform.
Additional enhancements have been made to Wi-Fi password recovery algorithms in Elcomsoft Wireless Security Auditor. The newly added types of attacks target potential password weaknesses introduced by the human factor. “Today’s Wi-Fi networks are all using cryptographically sound encryption”, says Vladimir Katalov, ElcomSoft CEO. “With protocol-enforced minimum password length of 8 characters (WPA/WPA2 PSK), brute-force attacks make little sense. Relying on dictionary attacks and the human factor greatly increases the chance of timely recovery – or, rather, revealing security weaknesses in existing wireless network infrastructure.”
Background
Attacking long, complex cryptographically strong passwords is a lengthy and time-consuming operation. During the last few years, ElcomSoft has been employing sheer processing power provided by today’s gaming video cards to accelerate password recovery. Today’s high-end video cards made by NVIDIA and AMD allow gaining the speed benefit of several dozen times compared to CPU-only operation.
NVIDIA was first on this market, releasing a CUDA application programming interface to enable developers use NVIDIA graphical acceleration hardware in non-graphical applications. CUDA provides universal compatibility among the many generations of NVIDIA graphical accelerators.
The same cannot be said about AMD. Its Stream SDK was lagging behind the releases of latest hardware, making it impossible to implement proper support for newer, more powerful GPU units in ElcomSoft password recovery products.

Source:http://www.timesunion.com/business/press-releases/article/ElcomSoft-Adds-AMD-Radeon-7000-Series-Support-and-3391072.php

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CyberpowerPC Makes AMD Radeon HD 7870/7850 GPUs Available in all Gaming PCs

March 6th, 2012
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A global manufacturer of custom gaming machines, today announced it will feature AMDs new Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition and AMD Radeon HD 7850 GPUs across its entire desktop gaming PC line.

CyberpowerPC thinks its time to broaden your horizons and tap into the full potential of your GPU. The AMD Radeon HD 7870 and 7850 have been engineered to be the worlds most advanced graphics cards. They feature the award-winning GCN Architecture — the industrys first 28nm GPU design with full support for DirectX® 11 to power the next generation of high-def games and multimedia.

CyberpowerPCs designed around these advanced new GPUs also feature PCI Express 3.0; AMD App Acceleration to get unprecedented performance in everything from browsers to video editors; AMD ZeroCore Power technology, which shuts down the GPU during periods of long idle; and AMD Eyefinity technology, which delivers the unfair gaming advantage you deserve with multi-display support, 5×1 landscape, and 3D support.

The new Radeon GPUs will be offered in all CyberpowerPC desktop gaming PCs including the Gamer Infinity, Gamer Ultra, Gamer Xtreme, Fang series, and the recently released Zeus series.

These new AMD GPUs will also be offered as part of CyberpowerPCs huge March Madness offering, which features 10% off on select gaming PCs, free gaming hardware upgrades and more at www.cyberpowerpc.com/landingpages/2012MarchMadness/. The promotion is limited so do not wait until the last second and throw up a buzzer beater because you may miss out.

Base price of CyberpowerPC gaming systems based on the HD 7870 GHz Edition and AMD Radeon HD 7850 GPUs start at $799.

All CyberpowerPC gaming systems can be customized with a number of performance hardware and components such as CyberpowerPCs Advanced Hydro Liquid Cooling kit, Solid State Drives, Blu-Ray drives, performance gaming memory, gaming peripherals, business and productivity software, and more.

All systems are housed in a gaming chassis from top-tier manufacturers that are designed to be feature rich with advanced cooling, silent performance and extreme airflow. Every system is meticulously built with precise cable routing to ensure optimal airflow and a clean aesthetic appearance. CyberpowerPC loads every system with Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Operating System for an enhanced gaming and multimedia experience. All CyberpowerPC desktop gaming systems include an industry-best 3-year limited warranty.

Source:http://hardware.broadcastnewsroom.com/article/CyberpowerPC-Makes-AMD-Radeon-HD-7870/7850-GPUs-Available-in-all-Gaming-PCs–1911493

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AMD Launches New Bulldozer CPUs At Substantially Higher Clockspeeds

February 28th, 2012
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Ever since Bulldozer’s less-than-spectacular debut, enthusiasts and investors have watched to see if the company would follow up with faster chips that improved overall performance. That’s finally started to happen; AMD announced two new chips today — the quad-core FX-4170 with a 4.2GHz base clock speed / 4.3GHz Turbo mode, and the six-core FX-6200 at 3.8GHz stock / 4.1GHz Turbo.

Both of the new parts are clocked ~15% faster than the FX-4100 and FX-6100 and may offer a slightly faster integrated memory controller as well; rumors indicate that the IMC is clocked at 2.2GHz, up from 2GHz. The new chips are reportedly based on the B3 stepping that’s been in the works for months; current Bulldozer parts are all based on the B2 stepping.

It’s good to see AMD pushing Bulldozer’s clock speeds higher, but there are two indications that the benefits of doing so will be fairly limited. The first is that AMD wasn’t able to hold the 95W TDP mark for either the quad-core or hexa-core variants; both the 4170 and 6200 carry a 125W TDP. The second is that while baseline clocks jumped quite a bit, Turbo Mode core speed didn’t. The 4170’s TM clock is 13% higher (compared to a 16% higher baseline clock) while the 6200’s Turbo Mode is a modest 5% higher than its predecessors.

What this suggests is that AMD has modestly improved power consumption in the CPU’s standard operating voltage, but hasn’t pushed the core’s absolute headroom much higher. This fits with the rumors around AMD’s upcoming 8170; that core is expected to debut a baseline frequency of 3.9GHz (up ~8% from the FX-8150) with a maximum full-load Turbo Mode of 4.2GHz (7% higher).

Pricing on the FX-8120 has also been cut as of these launches, though AMD didn’t provide information on how much. In the wake of Bulldozer’s launch, the FX-8120 and six-core 6100 variants were compared unfavorably with AMD’s older six-core X6 1090T and 1100T. AMD appears to have killed retail shipments of these older parts; neither the 1090T or X6 1100T are widely available, and prices have gone up significantly compared to the 1100T’s $180 price tag six months ago.

The FX-4170 and FX-6200 are showing up online for ~$140 and ~$180, compared to $109 and $149 for the older FX-4100 and FX-6100 parts. The most important achievement of these new parts is that they should at least achieve performance parity with AMD’s older 45nm chips. At 4.2GHz, the FX-4170 is clocked 17% faster than the old Phenom II X4 975 Deneb, while the only hexa-core Phenom II X6 left in stock at NewEgg is the Z6 1045T at 2.7GHz. If the 8170 launches at the expected clock speeds, it should be able to match/exceed the X6 1100T in a similar fashion.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/AMD-Launches-New-Bulldozer-CPUs-At-Substantially-Higher-Clockspeeds-TDPs/

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