News Bits: Intel Preparing Eleven New Processors, Toshiba 320GB HD, Air Force Selects HP

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Intel prepares 11 new processors for notebooks

Intel is planning to launch five new 45nm processors for the refresh of its Santa Rosa platform in Q1 2008. Six more will be launched with the introduction of the next-gen Montevina platform in Q2.

The five processors for the Santa Rosa refresh are as follows:

Model	2.1GHz	2.4GHz	2.5GHz	2.6GHz	2.8GHz
Cache	3MB	3MB	6MB	6MB	6MB
FSB	800MHz	800MHz	800MHz	800MHz	800MHz

The Montevina processors are as follows:

Model	2.13GHz	2.4GHz	2.53GHz	2.53GHz	2.8GHz	3.06GHz
Cache	3MB	3MB	3MB	6MB	6MB	6MB
FSB	1066MHz	1066MHz	1066MHz	1066MHz	1066MHz	1066MHz
TDP	25W	25W	25W	35W	35W	35W

The 2.13 -2.53GHz processors with the 25W TDP will target the mainstream. The model numbers of all 11 processors are unknown at this point in time. The Penryn processors will make up 53 percent of Intel's total notebook CPU shipments in Q2 2008. Merom processors for Santa Rosa make up the rest.

Read More (DigiTimes.com)


Toshiba announces 320GB notebook hard drive

Toshiba announced its new 320GB 2.5-inch notebook hard drive. The drive has a 3.0Gbps SATA interface and a 5400RPM speed. The drive is composed of two platters holding 160GB each. All of Toshiba's new hard drives have 8MB of cache.

According to Toshiba, the media transfer rate is 801Mbps and the drive has an average seek time of 12 ms.

Read More (DailyTech.com)


Samsung introduces 160GB 1.8-inch hard drive

Samsung today announced its new 1.8-inch hard drive with a 160GB capacity. It is the industry's highest-capacity 1.8-inch hard drive. Samsung expects the 1.8-inch hard drive market to grow in annual sales up to 65 percent by 2010. There is no information available on when this drive will be released.

Read More (Laptoping.com)


Quanta to remain number one notebook maker next year

Quanta is expected to remain as the number one notebook maker worldwide in 2008 thanks to large orders from HP and Acer. Quanta received orders from HP for four million 15.4-inch mainstream notebooks and Acer has placed orders for four notebook models.

Read More (DigiTimes.com)


U.S. Air Force selects HP as the &quot;Best Value Vendor&quot;

The U.S. Air Force has selected HP fo fulfill its desktop and notebook PC orders as part of the USAF's quarterly IT purchase process. The USAF Information Technology Commodity Council named HP the &quot;Best Value Vendor&quot;

HP will provide the USAF with HP Compaq dc5750 desktop PCs (Small Form Factor/Microtower) and HP Compaq tc400 Tablet PCs. HP's Public Sector Volume Sales vice president Sami Zarzour said in a statement: “We are proud that the U.S. Air Force continues to count on HP for top performance and value when fulfilling its computing needs. HP looks forward to building on our longstanding relationship with the service by offering the products, solutions and services it needs to manage its complex IT requirements.”

HP has delivered over $100 million worth of products to the USAF since October 2004.

Read More (BusinessWire.com)


Augmentix introduces XTG630 fully-rugged notebook

Augmentix Corporation announced its new XTG630 fully-rugged notebook. It features the latest Intel and new DirectVue LCD technologies. The XTG630 is based on the Dell Latitude platform and is aimed at military, industrial, government, and commercial customers.

The XTG630 has a 14.1-inch widescreen DirectVue LCD screen, multiple security features, and next-gen wireless performance. DirectVue dramatically improves readability in sunlit conditions.

The Augmentix XTG630 is available for immediate delivery from Augmentix or an authorized business partner. The notebook is available in two color schemes, Desert Tan or Black and Charcoal, although Augmentix has a Custom ID program that allows customers to select their own colors and logos based on minimum order quantities.

Read More (BusinessWire.com)


Intel releases official driver to enable hardware shading on G965

Intel had previously released a beta driver for its G965 Express chipset that enabled hardware shading, however it only enabled shader model 2.0. Now Intel has released an official non-beta driver that adds support for shader model 3.0 and in a WHQL certified package. Owners of machines based on the G965 chipset will receive a small performance boost.

The catch is that the driver is only available for Windows XP right now, and it is not for mobile chipsets. Intel plans to release drivers for both of those in the future.

Read More (DailyTech.com)

 

Very nice! Thanks for the heads up!

 

Always new things just on the horizon :/

 

Can't wait till next year, going from a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 to a Montevina processor will be quite a change!

 

see now i want to cancel my xps and wait for it to get these lol..3.06 ..it would be nipping at my e6600's heels

 

I don't think that's correct. The 14.31 driver is released for all current Intel IGPs including the GMA 950, GMA 3000, GMA 3100, GMA X3000, the GMA X3100, and the yet to be released GMA X3500.

http://downloadmirror.intel.com/13882/ENG/relnotes_2k_xp_gfx.htm

Of course, hardware SM3.0 support is only available to the GMA X3000, GMA X3100, and the GMA X3500. The other IGPs will only receive bug fixes.

 

If this happened in one year, imagine in 3 (when i get my new notebook)

 

GMA X3500? Never heard of that one before. Would it be released with the Penryn processors Q4 2007?

edit: Oh, and performance numbers of the X3100 with the new drivers would be nice.

 

Sweet! 25W TDP. That's back down to Banias territory (24.5 W). Now I know what I'm waiting for. Forget 6mb cache. ^^

 

as always. great news chaz!!! cant wait for the santa rosa refresh!1

 

The GMA X3500 is the new desktop IGP for the G35 chipset to replace the G965. Intel seems to think highly of the G35 and characterizes it as a performance/enthusiast chipset while it's non-IGP brother the P35 is only a mainstream part. Curiously, the P35 is actually more advanced than the G35 since the P35 supports DDR3 while the G35 is limited to DDR2 so go figure. The G35 looks to actually be a tweaked G965 even using the older ICM8 southbridge, and the GMA X3500 remains clocked at 667MHz but now looks to have 10 execution units up from 8. Most likely the G965, GM965, and G35 all actually have at least 10 execution units, just that yields have increased to a point where 10 can be activated. 25% increase in processing power is nice, but if the GMA X3500 retains the 2 pipeline design of the GMA X3000 it'll likely be TMU and ROP bound.

The G35 was supposed to be released with the X38. The latter has a launch date of September 28, but Intel hasn't mentioned whether the G35 is included in that. They will support Penryn like all 3 series chipsets. But desktop and mobile Penryns won't launch until Q1 2008 not Q4 2007. Q4 will only see server Penryns and a desktop Extreme Edition. The G35 will form the basis of the Montevina platform (likely as the GM35) due in Q2 2008, and the GMA X3500 will probably be called the GMA X3600 if the GMA X3000/X3100 are any indication. Hazarding a guess, but the GMA X3600 will probably get DX10.1 support to justify the higher number, just like the GMA X3100 has DX10 support while the GMA X3000 has been consigned to only DX9.0c support.

And the GMA X3500 and the G35 couldn't come with Nehalem since this chipset supports FSB while Nehalem will use CSI. (Not the show).

 

Thanks ltcommander_data, that's all I needed to know about the GMA X3500. So the GMA X3500 (or X3600) wouldn't be released until 2H 2008 I take it? Very well then, guess I'd settle with a X3100.

 

25W sure sounds nice, I wonder if they will have any LV/ULV versions?

 

The GMA X3500 (G35 desktop chipset) will be released in Q3 2007, the Montevina mobile platform presumably containing the GMA X3600 will be released in Q2 2008 (not H2 2008).

 

Not to mention that Nehalem will come in with a completely new socket.

I wonder how difficult it would be for the current Santa Rosa laptops to support the 800MHz FSB Penryns. I wonder if it'll actually require a new chipset revision or if a new BIOS can enable support.

 

Will I be able to upgrade my current Santa Rosa laptop when these come out?

 

The idea is that the 800MHz FSB Penryns will be drop-in compatible with the current Santa Rosa chipsets, requiring maybe only a BIOS update. Similar to the Yonah to Merom transition on Napa. It's only the 1067MHz Penryns that will require a new chipset in Montevina.

 

Awesome news! I am definately getting 2.53 ghz Montevina cpu on my nest notebook.

 

lots of exciting news there

 

2nd half of 2008.

 

Wow, 1066 mhz FSB... that's insane.

 

And hopefully Intel wont lock the lowest voltage multiplier, and we'll be able to undervolt it