Right now, Fry’s Electronics stores are getting ready for the Core i7 release November 17 by stocking up on a few processors. The first wave is going to comprise the 920 at $300 and the 965 Extreme Edition at $1,200. But don’t get your hopes too high, currently they are only stocking one kit of triple channel RAM and no LGA 1366 motherboards.
(Ed. Note - Thanks to our inside man _k_ for the heads-up!)
Nordic Hardware delves into the changes presented by Intel’s new Core 2 Duo E0 stepping. Mature hardware at its finest.
Today’s newly announced Xeon revision promises faster chips with less power consumption.
Phoronix tests Intel Atom processor disc encryption.
ChileHardware is showing a leaked AMD roadmap touting 45nm Deneb core Phenom X4s hitting the streets early in 2009. The two initial offerings will be clocked at 2.8 and 3 GHz with a 125W TDP. Expect these to be launched in December, with the review embargo dropping January 8, 2009.
Also in the document are listings for quite a few slower, lower power offerings including the Lima-based Athlon 2650w which draws 15W and is clocked at 1.6GHz, and the Brisbane Athlon X2 3250e clocked at 1.5GHz and sipping 22W. Both launch in November.
The die shrink on the X4s is an expected and necessary move for the company but the payoff won’t come quickly. Our analysts suggest the Phenom has reached its peak and see the die shrink as more of a step toward building a better chip in the future. We can only wait and see what the Jolly Green Giant has up its sleeves.
More interesting is the company’s move into “green” territory with low power processors. It’s a highly competitive market right now where winners can score big and losers stand to lose millions. They’re stepping into Nano and Atom territory here.
Hexus puts the Atom processor to the power user test.
TechReport says Lucid’s Hydra 100 works! Mix and match GPUs and get max performance.
Hexus grabs some time with a Nehalem box at IDF and compares benchmarks against Intel and AMD offerings.
A featherweight battle - Via Nano vs Intel Atom.
For years Newegg.com has been the primary “go-to” site for computer and technology enthusiasts. Often they have the lowest prices on their massive selection of inventory, and their customer service and quick shipping cements their place in the hearts of consumers - as long as they’re in the USA.
Often our Canadian readers and forum members would longingly glance at the prices and selection available to their American counterparts, and let out a resigned sigh as they went to their own online retailers.
Apparently, that is about to come to an end. NewEgg has a teaser page at newegg.ca. While no launch date has been announced, the page does mention “2008″ - which leaves us with, at the worst, four months of speculation 
I wonder if they’ll change their slogan. “Once you know, you Newegg, eh?”
Security researcher and author Kris Kaspersky recently asserted that flaws in the instruction set of the Intel Core 2 (and derivatives) makes them susceptible to devastating platform-agnostic exploits.
Kaspersky posits that a remote attack via JavaScript or TCP/IP could yield multiple opportunities to damage or cripple any x86 operating system. Infoworld goes on to quote that some of the errata are dangerous enough to permit a hacker to wrest full control of the OS. Other exploits could trigger system crashes, damaged data and restarts.
In the world of CPU architecture, errors in the design of a chip are not uncommon. Most errors, or errata as they are known, are often fixed through subsequent BIOS releases. To wit, Intel’s February release of their errata manual (PDF) describes over 80 different flaws in the design of Netburst and Core 2-based processors.
While Kaspersky plays his cards close to his chest, we are destined to wait for the October Hack In The Box event until we can observe the exploit first-hand. The researcher plans to demonstrate his findings and publicly release the exploit code at the symposium.
Daily Tech has some details about AMD’s upcoming Socket G34 arriving in 2010.
I’ve made up a new word today - chipspotting. It’s like trainspotting but for processors, and I think the anoraks at AMDZone fit the bill. They’re reporting seeing the elusive Athlon 64 X2 5800+ for sale over at Newegg for $96.
The X2 5800+ is said to be clocked at 3GHz, making it AMD’s highest clocked 65nm chip, and it has a TDP of 89W. The chip was first mentioned in December 2006. I guess it’s better late than never. No word yet on if it overclocks, but we’ll keep an eye out.
The leaks just keep coming from Taiwan. On the Chinese-language overclocking forum Coolaler.com, they’re showing a chip listed as the Core 2 Duo E5200; 2.5GHz 45nm Wolfdale core with 2MB L2 cache and 800mhz FSB. You don’t need to read Chinese to see the fun with this one.
Overclocking results come on the thread’s second page, with the chip hitting 4GHz with the FSB up to 320mhz and the vCore at 1.384v on an ASUS P5K Pro motherboard with the temp at 45C. Its stability is unknown, as those shots are followed by a series showing the chip at 3.6GHz running Orthos.
When compared to Intel’s other offerings with similar specs, this chip would fit between the $80-ish E2200 and $130-ish E7200.
Oh those crafty reviewers at Tom’s Hardware.tw. They benched a Gainward HD 4850 on a 2.93GHz Intel Nehalem chip with Foxconn X58 motherboard and posted numbers for all to see.
Since HD 4850 reviews are a dime-a-dozen on every conceivable processor and motherboard platform, it’s easy to see how the Nehalem performance stacks up to current offerings.
