December 6, 2011
Back in late 1999, I built my first computer. It used an AMD Athlon processor clocked at 500 MHz which was quick enough to play most games at the time, and also a better value than what Intel offered. I also liked supporting the underdog. During the early years of Athlon, it seemed as if AMD has a legitimate chance against Intel. Yet, as the years moved forward, the momentum disappeared.
November 25, 2011
If you’ve considered an Android tablet recently, there’s a good chance that it was powered by a Tegra 2 processor. Most of the tablets on the market using (relatively) stock versions of Honeycomb are powered by it, with only some of the smaller tablets, like the Kindle Fire, going elsewhere. Nvidia is not content to sit on its hands with Tegra, however.
November 24, 2011
Intel has just unleashed a new line of processors. It’s not based on a new architecture, but is instead an expansion of the current Sandy Bridge line. Now, instead of a maximum of four cores, you can buy a processor with up to six! Of course, you could do that months ago – but you’d have to purchase a processor using the Nehalem architecture. That made no sense.
August 26, 2011
In an earlier article I explained the differences between Intel’s numerous laptop processors. But Intel is not the only company in this market. AMD remains, and its newly released Fusion product line is the most competitive mobile part the company has offered in years. I’d like to be able to say that this new product line is easy to understand, but it’s not.
August 22, 2011
Over the years, Intel and AMD have been in quite a battle to bring out the best processors. Eventually a point came where you didn’t hear all too much about what AMD was up to, while Intel was rolling out all of its latest processors. However, AMD’s “quiet time” was very well used, as they are now releasing their newest APUs to reignite the battle with Intel.
July 29, 2011
Acronyms are not uncommon in the world of computer hardware. Most people know what a CPU is but others are more obscure. One example is TDP, which stands for Thermal Design Power. This specification is rarely made available in marketing material, but it’s important for developing a full understanding of a processor’s potential.
July 26, 2011
The modern computer processor has always been a complex piece of technology, and that shows no signs of changing. Such complexity brings a challenge to companies such as Intel. Making great products is one thing, making them easy to understand is another but Intel certainly has made an effort.
February 18, 2011
The CPU has been the heart of every PC since Intel’s x86 processors became popular over two decades ago. Yet the CPU does have weaknesses,the greatest of which is their relatively linear data execution. Graphics processors, by comparison, consist of many small cores that execute data simultaneously. This makes it easier for them to perform [...]
November 19, 2010
If you’ve thought about buying an Intel processor lately – or a computer with an Intel processor installed – you may have heard the term “Hyper-Threading” launched at your eardrums. You probably aren’t familiar with this term unless you stay up-to-date with the nitty-gritty of computer hardware. Understanding Hyper-Threading is important, however, because it’s a major [...]
November 18, 2010
What is your computer doing in there? On the exterior it is a mass of plastics and metals, roughly pressed together to provide your PC with a protective case. But is it protecting your PC from the outside, or is it protecting you from the strange and arcane things happening inside your PC? Perhaps it [...]
