Ex-CUDA VP joins AMD Fusion Program

Following rumours around the internet, Manju Hegde has indeed joined AMDto lead the AMD Fusion Experience Program. Mr. Hegde was the co-founderand CEO of Ageia, creators of PhysX. Following Ageia's sale to Nvidia,Mr. Hegde has been Vice President - CUDA Technical Marketing at Nvidia.

Manju Hegde's services will be a valuable addition to AMD's Fusiondepartment, as well as benefiting GPU Compute capability of ATI Radeonproducts, directly or indirectly.

AMD realizes that the major advantage of the first generation Fusion APU - Llano - is the GPU component. The CPU is based on aging Phenom II cores are likely to end up being far inferior to Intel's upcoming Sandy Bridge architecture, despite whatever optimizations 32nm may bring. Sandy Bridge is likely to be a stellar CPU with an adequate IGP - butgaming and compute seem beyond the capabilities of an Intel GPU in theshort term, at least. This is where Llano excels - the GPU part - a DX11 GPU with upto 400 SP. Unfortunately, most applications even today do not make use of the GPU for most everyday applications. If AMD were to promote GPU Compute for a wide array of applications, it could surpass Sandy Bridge.

This work is no doubt very familiar to Mr. Hegde, who has been promoting Nvidia's own GPU Compute initiative, CUDA, at Nvidia. It is also a sign that AMD is aggressively beginning to promote Fusion, and Manju Hegde is a prized asset for AMD.

Reference: TechPowerUp

ATi R520 Is Lead Free, RoHS Design

The enthusiasts-class X1800 will sport a new Ultra-High-Performance 3D Engine, Quality display and video engine, high-speed memory controller, Xilleon TV encoder, Dual-DVI / Dual-link DVI, HDTV, HDCP board options. R520 is based on lead-free, RoHS board design and is Crossfire ready. There will be two versions available at launch : X1800XT and X1800XL.As for mainstream segment, X1600 will sport a new 3D, Video and display architecture available in 512MN, 256MB and 128MB configurations. It has DVI, VGA, S-Video out and is Crossfire ready as well. There will be two versions available at launch; X1600PRO and X1600XT. As for budget segment, X1300 is the follow-up to RV370 and sports high-end video technology at value segment pricing. It comes with 128-bit, 64-bit and 32-bit memory interface and has 32MB to 512MB frame buffer configurations. There are two versions available at launch; X1300LE and X1300 PRO and HyperMemory variant to be available as well.

ASUS unveils VG23AH 3D IPS LED Monitor

The ASUS VG23AH claims to offer crisp, clear visuals with superb audio from its built-in 3W stereospeakers to provide users with cinematic 3D home theatre experience. It features 178-degree lateral and vertical wide-viewing angle with 80,000,000:1 ASUS SmartContrast ratio, and the companys exclusive Splendid Video Intelligence Technology for colorful visual in full high definition 1080p. The monitor also has a wide range of connectivity options including dual HDMI 1.4 ports, single-link DVI, and D-sub, which allow for compatibility with an array of media devices. You can also swivel, tilt and adjust the height adjustment for comfortable viewing experience.

The ASUS VG23AH incorporates Film-type Patterned Retarder (FPR) 3D technology that can separate 3D images delivered to the left and right eye simultaneously to deliver flicker-free images. It also comes bundled with battery-free 3D glasses, and offers six preset video modes (Scenery, Theater, Game, Night View, sRGB and Standard) which can be selected via a hotkey. Pricing information is not available at press time, though ASUS states that the VG23AH will be available in June.

Specifications

Panel Size/ TypeVG23AH 23.0” (58.4cm) Wide Screen (16:9) WLED/ IPSTrue Resolution1920 x 1080Brightness (Max.)250cd/m²ASUS Smart Contrast Ratio (ASCR)80,000,000:1Viewing Angle178°(H) / 178°(V)Display Colors16.7 millionSPLENDID Video Intelligence Tech.Yes (Theater, Gaming, Scenery, Night View, sRGB,Standard; 6modes)QuickFit Virtual ScaleDocument, Photo and Grid Modes3D TechnologyFPR 3D Technology and ASUS All-in 3D TechnologyStereo Speaker3W x 2 stereo, RMSInput/ Outputual HDMI 1.4 (support Blu-ray 3D), DVI-D, D-Sub,PC Audio Input(3.5mm Mini-jack), 3.5 mm Earphone JackTilt/ Swivel/ Height Adjustment+15° ~ -5° / +150° ~ -150° / 0 ~ 100mm

AOpen Ryou Series Art PC

For a long time, high technology products had nothing to do with art, culture, or traditional handicraft. In recent years, however, some 3C brands have been trying to combine their designs and concepts with fashion brands or to create their own luxury brand. Examples are Vertu mobile phones and Acer Ferrari notebook PC. These products combine high quality materials with special design to make them very special and expensive products, but they lackan important thing – a soul.

These extravagant products are outstanding in terms of material and design - some of them are even handmade. You need to wait at least one month after you placed an order forthe Vertu phone, but Vertu phones are still mass-produced. There will always be someone who will own the same Vertu phone as yours; the only differenceisthe serial number. And this is not good enough for some collectors - they needa more unique products with an artistic touch and soul.

Every human hasdifferent characteristic and unique features; therefore, unique productswouldpossess unique features as well. Artists havetheir way to animate none-living things;Leonardo da Vinci gave life to Mona Lisa using his painting skills and Michelangelodi Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni crafted the famous sculpture David out of a stone. A real masterpiece must be given a soul by a great artist with outstanding handicraft skills.

To perfectly fusion technology and art, Universal Roaming Inc. and AOpen Inc. proudly present the Ryou series Art PC. Every Art PC is handmade by a Japanese master and sports unique features. Your Art PC is just like you – the one and only.

Source: AOpen

ASUS GTX580 Introduces the Most Powerful DirectX 11 Graphics Card from NVIDIA

The following is a press release:
ASUS GTX580 Introduces the Most Powerful DirectX® 11 Graphics Card from NVIDIA®

Combines exclusive ASUS Voltage Tweak with top-of-the-line Fermi technology to lead 3D PC gaming and multimedia to new heights
Taipei, Taiwan (November 9, 2010) — The successful Fermi series from NVIDIA® continues to expand with the new GTX 580, featuring 512 CUDA cores and achieving the most impressive DirectX® 11 performance ever fielded by a single NVIDIA® GPU. ASUS has added its own exclusive Voltage Tweak to the GTX580 for significant output gains on demand. The hardcore performance of the ASUS GTX580 offers full HD NVIDIA® 3D Vision™ Surround gaming and movie watching on up to three* screens, and CUDA parallel computing that puts the great power of the GPU at the disposal of the CPU for overall system enhancement.



Product Highlights
ASUS exclusive Voltage Tweak gives users a quick and accessible way to overvolt the graphics card to its limit at 1157MHz – up to 50%** faster performance compared to reference.***ASUS GTX580 is factory overclocked at 782MHz with 512 CUDA cores, the most of any current NVIDIA® design. It features a large 1536MB GDDR5 video memory, rated at over 4GHz. The massive 384-bit memory interface opens up performance by removing data transmission bottlenecks for better hardware utilization.Support for NVIDIA® 3D Vision™ Surround in full 1080p HD — users can expand 3D games, movies and photos on up to three* screens at once for the most immersive PC multimedia experience around.With its over-the-top power, ASUS GTX580 opens up optimal utilization of DirectX® 11 features such as advanced tessellation and real time ray tracing. This enables high resolution PC gaming in unprecedented detail, allowing even the most taxing titles to run smoothly at maximum frames per second.HDMI 1.4a updates video output to the fastest, highest-bandwidth standard available.

Specifications

Model

ENGTX580/2DI/1536MD5

Graphics engine

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX580

Bus standard

PCI Express® 2.0

Video memory

1536MB GDDR5

Engine clock

782MHz

CUDA cores

512

Memory clock

4008MHz (1002MHz GDDR5)

Memory interface

384-bit

DVI max resolution

2560 x 1600

D-Sub max resolution

2048 x 1536

DVI output

DVI-I x1

DVI-D x1

HDCP compliant

Yes

HDMI output

x1

Accessory Bundled

Mini HDMI-to-HDMI adaptor x1

8-pin to 6-pin Power Cable x1

SoftwareBundled

ASUS utilities and driver

*Please follow the driver setup instruction to download SmartDoctor application onwww.asus.comprior to use

Dimensions

11.0” x 4.4” x 1.58”

PriceTBCAvailabilityEarly December
* SLI configuration is required
** Subject to system configuration and usage. Results may vary
***Please follow the driver setup instruction to download SmartDoctor application on http://sg.asus.comprior to use
Product specifications and features may change without prior notice. Check http://sg.asus.comfor details.

AMD x86 powered MSI tablet runs Android 4.0

As far as hardware goes, the WindPad 110W uses a 10-inch IPS screen running a resolution of 1280x800 and packs a Z-01 APU comprising a couple x86 cores @ 1GHz, Radeon HD 6250 graphics and 2GBs of RAM. The Ice Cream Sandwich running tablet isnt exactly all that exclusive, however, due to the Android-x86 project which just recently released a public test build (20120101) of its Android 4.0 ISO specifically suited to AMD Brazos-based tablets not unlike the one seen here.

It will be quite a while before AMD gets onboard with official support however, if at all. Although it does look like there is some form of interest in the project when looking at Android-x86 projects website where it can be seen that the company has donated some development boards to the project last April, and their "Persimmon" platform of embedded processors have also officially become a target for new code as of October.

In terms of where things are at for Android/ x86, the WindPad 110W on demo showed that theres still a ways to go for a harmonious matchup, mostly due to some ill running effects at random like forced closes and the odd freezing, but it was clear that progress is going well and there is certainly a bit of potential there.

Source: The Verge

Asus announces its Z68 boards

Although a little bit on the early side, Asus has announced its Intel Z68 chipset based motherboards without giving away too much information. Currently the only board listed on the manufacturers website is the P8Z68-V Pro, although the announcement did at least give us an early glance at the Maximus IV Gene-Z, Asus ROG mATX board.

The picture of the board is tiny and its hard to make out a lot of details, but from what we can see its clear that the Maximus IV Gene-Z has a pair of PCI Express x16 slots as well as a single x4 slot. The space between the x16 slots is taken up by what mostly appears to be capacitors. There are no additional SATA ports on this board, so the 4+2 SATA 3Gbps/6Gbps standard Intel chipset ports is all you get. The board appears to have a front header for a pair of USB 3.0 ports as well which is a nice addition.

Around the back we can see a PS/2 port, what appears to be eight USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a pair of eSATA ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, an HDMI port and 7.1-channel audio with optical S/PDIF out. The board will come with Lucid Logix Virtu graphics switching software in the box, but apart from that we dont know much else about the board. Hopefully it wont be too long until we have more details on this board and Asus other upcoming Z68 products.

Source: Asus