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CES 2008 Video: A Hands-On look at the AMD Puma Notebook platform

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, Gizmatic, CES, CES 2008, Corporate News, Features, PC / Laptop, Podcasts, Videocasts,

We take a close look at ‘s recently announced “Puma” notebook platform. Puma is a tightly-knit system for notebook suppliers comprising of the chipset, CPU, GPU and wireless chipset. Similar in some ways to their Spider desktop platform, Puma takes it to the next level by allowing for a hybrid integrated and discreet graphics solution. While Intel has something similar, AMD is apparently the first to offer a dynamically switchable system, allowing your notebook to automatically switch to integrated graphics when it detects you’ve gone on battery, or to allow you to switch manually. I asked if they plan on making it automatic, based on load, which they seemed to think was a pretty great idea and relatively easy to achieve as well. What’s more, despite the fact that the integrated and discreet GPUs are chips of differing abilities and specs, they’re still able to operate in Crossfire/hybrid mode, providing an extra boost in power and achieving some very impressive framerates.

AMD shows us their reference bench system and two other identically-configured systems, the only difference between them an Intel versus AMD integrated graphics chipset. (And CPU, naturally.) With a price difference of around $25 to AMD’s favor, the AMD integrated chip actually performs considerably better in their demo, grain of salt included. The reference system shows off their hybrid processing and lets us see what framerates we might be able to hit on an entry- to mid-level hybrid Puma system.

Puma also brings about something that’s been announced with Intel as well—the ability to deactivate CPU cores and speeds, instead of just stepping down speed. This, coupled with an intelligent HD decoder will bring about several hours of additional battery life.


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CES 2008 Video: AMD Spider platform, Dual-Chip Radeon R870

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, Gizmatic, CES, CES 2008, Corporate News, Features, PC / Laptop, Peripherals, Podcasts, Video Games, Videocasts,

We take a few moments with ‘s Rick Bergman, General Manager of the Graphics Processing Group, about their new Spider platform—a three-tiered computing system that helps tie together and ensure compatibility between the chipset, CPU and GPU. We talk about what sort of benefits this means to the enthusiast-class consumer. We also dive into the nitty-gritty with the new , currently codenamed the R870—a dual chip design that has two separate GPU units with an internal Crossfire link and Alternate-Frame Rendering to tie them together. I also ask about some of the design challenges realized in smashing two cards together and getting an efficient, workable result. The design is impressive and the ability to link two of these cards together will come to mean a great deal of graphics processing power in the near future.

The card will be available late January and can be powered in a typical system by a 500 watt power supply; has cut their power requirements for similarly powered cards in half, without sacrificing any performance.


CES 2008 Video: Pat Moorhead on AMD Smart House and CPU Roadmap

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, Gizmatic, Cell Phones, CES, CES 2008, Corporate News, Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment, PC / Laptop, Podcasts, Videocasts,

We talk to ‘s Marketing VP, Pat Moorhead about the Smart House “portal” they had set up at . In contrast to our last post, they were much more open this time and let me ask just about any questions I asked, including questions about their roadmap and some very cool details about their new “Black” edition, incredibly overclocker-friendly CPU. We also learn more about their mobile device chipset and hear that we’ll be able to output HD content from cell phones and other mobile devices running on ATI chips within the next year or so, straight to an . Cool stuff.


CES 2008 Video: A look at AMD’s Demographic Reach

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, Gizmatic, CES, CES 2008, Corporate News, Features, PC / Laptop, Podcasts, Videocasts,

We talk about the demographic reach of AMD and how AMD has its technology in hundreds of non-PC products.


CES 2008 Video: Pat Moorhead on AMD graphics roadmap and ATI Radeon

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, Gizmatic, CES, CES 2008, Corporate News, Features, PC / Laptop, Podcasts, Videocasts,

We chat with ‘s Pat Moorhead, this time talking from their Smart House about their involvement in gaming systems like the and , and their new quad-Crossfire capable Radeon offerings.


CES 2008 Video: AMD on Accelerated Computing

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, Gizmatic, CES, CES 2008, Features, PC / Laptop, Podcasts, Software, Videocasts,

At 2008, ‘s Phil Hester gave us a look at what “accelerated computing” means. AMD is in a unique position with their acquisition of ATi that allows them to fuse the CPU and GPU into one chip, which could potentially provide for an unparalleled computing experience, especially when it comes to gaming.


Mind Camp 4.0 Platinum Sponsor: AMD

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Sponsors, Announcements,

AMD

We are happy to announce that has stepped in as the Mind Camp 4.0 Platinum Sponsor.

AMD is the customer-centric innovation company, a processing powerhouse that offers smarter choices for its customers and makes technology more accessible to the world. AMD is focused on best meeting the needs of leading computing, wireless and consumer electronics companies to help them deliver high-performance, energy-efficient and visually realistic solutions.

Read More | AMD

Bleeding Edge TV 169: AMD Explains How Quad Core Chips Should Be Made

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gizmatic, High Score, Short Bytes, Features, PC / Laptop, Video Games, Videocasts,

Okay, we have been hearing a lot about dual core and quad core processors coming out of both the and camps. Now that has released the Octo-core Mac Pro, people are wondering about the benefit of having all these cores at their disposal. In this video, we speak with AMD about what they believe is the fundamental difference between the way they do Quad Core chips as opposed to the way Intel does it. Check out the video to see how AMD feels quad core computing should be done.


Bleeding Edge TV 168: AMD vs. Intel: Chipset War

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, Gizmatic, Head To Head, High Score, Features, PC / Laptop, Video Games, Videocasts,

While hanging out in the AMD Performance Lab, Pat Moorhead sat down with us to give us a head to head look at a basic Intel G965 chipset up against the AMD 690 series chipset, focusing on gaming performance. These are the off-the-shelf computers you would buy at low cost for $500-800 or so, using integrated graphics chips. You gotta see this side-by-side comparison to see just how amazing the results of the AMD-ATi merger are.

Oh, and obviously, these tests were done in an AMD lab. However, just like it was mentioned in the Performance Lab video, if you want the scripts to do any of these tests yourself, all you have to do is ask. Drop an email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and they will hook you up.


Bleeding Edge TV 167: Inside AMD’s Performance Testing Lab

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, Gizmatic, High Score, Features, PC / Laptop, Video Games, Videocasts,

While we were out visiting AMD, they gave us the opportunity to enter their Performance Testing Lab, an area guarded by dual steel doors that seemingly required both a key and special knocking code in order to enter. Once inside and sure that our lives were safe, we spoke with Mark Welker about how AMD tests their chip technologies across different platforms, software, and games. He talks to us about benchmarks, what they mean in the real world, and how they can be gamed to show what you want them to show. Even better, Mark gives out his corporate email address and offers to send the performance testing scripts to anyone who asks so that people at home can do it themselves. Just drop him an email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and tell him Gear Live sent you. Check the video for the full scoop.


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