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07
ATI Radeon 9250 was released quietly around mid July. The 9250 is based on ATI's Radeon 9200 architecture, but offers a slightly lower clock speed.
AMD Mobile Athlon 64 3400+ was released on July 19th.
AMD Athlon XP-M 2200+ Low Voltage was released on July 19th.
Intel CPU Price Cuts occurred on July 18th. The cuts only affected one P4 CPU and a number of mobile CPUs.
AMD CPU Price Cuts occurred on July 26th. See the AMD CPU Prices page for more details.
ATI Mobility Radeon 9800 was released on July 26th. The Mobility Radeon 9800 is the successor to the Radeon 9700 Mobility and the first 8 pixel pipeline mobile part to hit the market. The Mobility Radeon 9800 is based on the R420 core rather than, as the name would suggest, the R300 core. The clock speeds of this part are 350Mhz for the core (compared with 446Mhz for the Mobility Radeon 9700) and 600Mhz DDR for the memory (compared to 526Mhz for the Mobility Radeon 9700). The core features 8 pixel pipelines and 4 vertex pipelines - twice that of it's predecessor. Initial benchmarks show that the R9800 performs roughly twice as fast as the R9700, and in some benchmarks 2.5 times or more faster.
Microsoft Office 2003 SP1 was released on July 27th. Service pack 1 includes all the hotfixes released since Office 2003 as well as significantly upgraded versions of InfoPath and OneNote.
AMD Sempron for Socket A (Thoroughbred B) was released on July 28th. The Socket A Sempron is based around the Thoroughbred B core with a FSB of 333Mhz and is initially available at speeds of 2200+, 2300+, 2400+, 2500+, 2600+ and 2800+. See the Sempron Roadmap entry for more details.
AMD Sempron for Socket 754 (Paris) is expected to be released in August. The Paris core is a modified Athlon 64 core, with 64-bit capability disabled, built on a 130nm SOI process and containing 256Kb of L2 cache. The Socket 754 Sepron is initially available at speeds of 3100+ (perhaps known as Model 310 at a later date) on release. See the Sempron Roadmap entry for more details.
Intel E7520 (Lindenhurst) chipset for Nocona was released on August 27th. Lindenhurst features support for dual Intel Xeon (Nocona) CPUs with an 800MHz Quad Pumped Bus, a dual-channel PC2700 DDR / PC2-3200 DDR-II with ECC support, PCI Express x8 and PCI Express x4.
Intel E7320 (Lindenhurst VS) chipset for Nocona was released on August 27th. Lindenhurst VS is a cut down version of Lindenhurst.
08
Intel Pentium 4 EM64T 3.6Ghz CPU was released on August 4th for the OEM market only (first appeared in an IBM server). Intel have stated that it will not release a retail version of this CPU until Microsoft releases it's editions of 64-bit Windows, although retail versions have been spotted in Japan. The CPU is a Prescott core with the EM64T logic enabled.
Windows XP SP2 was released to manufacture on August 6th. As well as fixing security concerns and bugs, service pack 2 adds a number of new features to Windows XP. Perhaps the most notable inclusions are Internet Explorer 6.05, which offers pop up advert blocking, a security enhanced version of Outlook Express and an improved Internet Firewall, turned on by default. The security problems associated with buffer overruns will also be tackled by Microsoft's Data Execution Prevention, particularly in combination with AMD64 processors which include CPU level buffer overrun protection which AMD calls 'Enhanced Virus Protection technology'. SP2 will also include the ability for one XP Pro machine to host a Remote Desktop user simultaneously with a local user. This feature is aimed at Smart Display owners.
nVidia Quadro FX 4400 / 4400G were released on August 9th. The Quadro FX 4400 series is the highest performance nVidia card to date and are based upon the GeForce 6800 technology. These cards feature 512MB of GDDR3 over a 256-bit memory interface giving 35.2GB/sec of memory bandwidth and also feature 3-pin stereo support and dual DVI display connectors. The G revision features Genlock capabilities. These cards are SLI compliant, allowing two cards to be used in a single system.
nVidia Quadro FX 1400 was released on August 9th. The Quadro FX 1400 is based on the GeForce FX 59xx series architecture and features SLI technology.
nVidia Quadro FX 540 was released on August 9th. The Quadro FX 540 is based on the GeForce FX architecture.
nVidia GeForce 6600 / 6600GT (NV43) was released
on August 12th with volume production expected in late September. NV43 is the successor to NV36X
for the mainstream performance sector. It is built on a
0.11 micron process and contains 146 million transistors. The core is based around a
cut down version of
the NV40 core containing 8 pixel pipelines (actually, not 8 full pixel
pipelines, but generally speaking this is accurate enough) - compared to the 16 of the GeForce 6800GT/Ultra or 12 of the GeForce 6800
- and 3 vertex pipelines
- compared to 6 of the GeForce 6800. The memory interface is also 128
bits wide as opposed to 256bit in the GeForce 6800 series. The GeForce
6600 GT, like the 6800 series, will be SLI compatible, allowing two
cards to be inserted into a motherboard for parallel 3D rendering (note:
no chipsets currently support dual PCI Express x16, although a future
nVidia nForce chipset may allow this).
The following versions of NV43 will be produced:
GeForce 6600 GT - 500Mhz core, 1000Mhz GDDR3. SLI compatible.
$199-$229
GeForce 6600 - 300Mhz core, 550Mhz+, 128-bit DDDR1 memory. $149-$179
Initial benchmarks, from nVidia, suggest that a GeForce 6600GT performs roughly the same as a GeForce 5950 Ultra or Radeon 9800 XT, but as a lower cost. The standard 6600 is generally slower than ATI's X700, although - as is usual for nVidia hardware - it outperforms it on Doom 3.
AMD Mobile Athlon 64 (Oakville) is the 90nm successor to the Mobile Clawhammer core, and was released on August 17th. The new AMD part is around half the size (84mm2 versus 145mm2) of its 130nm counterpart and consumes around half the power (35W versus 62W). The initial versions of Oakville are low powered with relatively low clock speeds and are intended for the Notebook market.
Intel CPU Price Cut occurred on August 22nd. See the Intel's CPU Prices page for more information.
Intel Celeron M 350 & 360 mobile CPUs were released on August 31st on a 90nm process. The Celeron M 350 and 360 run at clock speeds of 1.30 GHz and 1.40 GHz respectively and feature 1MB of Level 2 cache (half that of Dothan, but twice that of previous Celeron Ms and same as Banias). As these new Celerons are effectively Banias on 0.09u their performance is expected to be similar to an equivalently clocked Banias.
09
Windows Media Player 10 was released on September 2nd. WMP 10 features an updated user interface along with access to Microsoft's Digital Media Mall which features several online music and video stores.
ATI All In Wonder X800 XT was released on September 9th. The All In Wonder X800 XT is the Multimedia version of the Radeon X800 XT featuring an integrated digital TV tuner.
AMD Sempron 3000+ for Socket A was released on September 16th. This processor is based around a 2Ghz Barton core (512Kb L2).
AMD Mobile Athlon 64 3000+ was released on September 21st. This CPU runs at a clock speed of 2Ghz and is based around the Oakville core.
ATI X700 (RV410) GPU was released on September 21st on a 0.11 micron process. The RV410 core is a cut down version of the R420 core featuring 8 pixel pipelines (same as the GeForce 6600 series), 6 vertex pipelines (twice that of the GeForce 6600) and native PCI Express support. The X700 is available to cater for three performance points, all of which feature a 128-bit memory interface:
X700 XT - 475Mhz core, 128Mb 1.05Ghz Memory. $199
X700 Pro - 420Mhz core, 256Mb 864Mhz Memory. $199
X700 - 400Mhz core, 128Mb 700Mhz Memory. $149
Initial benchmarks show that the high end X700XT performs, generally,
slightly worse than the GeForce 6600GT. Benchmark analysis would suggest
that while the vertex performance is higher than the 6600 (due to the
fact it has twice as many vertex units), the memory and pixel shader
performance is noticably worse. This leads the performance to be as good
as, or better than, the 6600GT when dealing with lower resolutions and
AA/AF settings, but worse when these settings are increased. ATI also do
not have an equivalent of nVidia's SLI technology to allow multiple
graphics cards to share GPU power.
Intel Celeron D 325, 330, 335 & 340 on Socket 775 were released on September 22nd. The clock speeds of these parts are 2.56, 2.66, 2.8 and 2.93GHz respectively and come with 256KB of L2 cache and a 533MHz FSB speed. Note that the Celeron D 340 is also available on the older Socket 478. Socket 775 Celeron Ds also feature the XD/NX bit to prevent buffer overrun attacks on Windows XP SP2 machines.
Intel i915GV chipset was released on September 22nd. The i915GV is a cut down version of the i915G, lacking any PCI Express x16 (graphics) ports.
Intel i910GL chipset was released on September 22nd. The i910GL is a cut down version of the i915GV, featuring support for a 533Mhz FSB only and support for just 2xDIMM slots.
VIA K8T890 chipset for the Athlon 64 was released on September 24th. The K8T890 is the successor to the K8T800 Pro, featuring support for DDR400, 1 x PCI Express x16 port, 4 x PCI Express x1 ports and 1Ghz Hypertransport. The VT8251 South Bridge will also provide 2xPATA, 4XSATA, 8xUSB2, 2 additional PCI Express x1 slots, 6 channel VIA Vinyl audio and 10/100 Ethernet.
AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 3200+ & 3500+ (Winchester) is the 90nm successor to the Newcastle Athlon 64 core, was quietly released in Late September on Socket 939. These processors run at clock speeds of 1.8, 2.0 and 2.2Ghz respectively and contain 512Kb L2 cache. The Winchester core additionally features improvements to the memory controller and bug fixes in the CPU, leading to a small (1-7%) performance improvement compared to the equivalent Newcastle model.
Intel Pentium M 733/J ULV is expected to be released in September. The Pentium M is based on a Pentium-M (Dothan) core and runs at a clock speed of 1.1GHz.
Intel Pentium M 723 ULV is expected to be released in September. The Pentium M is based on a Pentium-M (Dothan) core and runs at a clock speed of 1GHz.
Intel Pentium M 713 ULV is expected to be released in September. The Pentium M is based on a Pentium-M (Banias) core and runs at a clock speed of 1.1GHz with 1Mb of L2 cache.
Intel Pentium M 738 LV is expected to be released in September. The Pentium M is based on a Pentium-M (Dothan) core and runs at a clock speed of 1.4GHz.
Intel Pentium M 725 is expected to be released in September. The Pentium M is based on a Pentium-M (Dothan) core and runs at a clock speed of 1.6GHz.
Intel Pentium M 715 is expected to be released in September. The Pentium M is based on a Pentium-M (Dothan) core and runs at a clock speed of 1.5GHz.
Intel Celeron M 353 ULV is expected to be released in September. The Celeron M is based on the Celeron-M (Dothan) core and runs at a clock speed of 900MHz.
Intel Mobile Pentium4 548 is expected to be released in September at a clock speed of 3.33Ghz.
Intel Mobile Celeron D 340/J is expected to be released in September at a clock speed of 2.93Ghz.
