Starred Reviews

The AMD  phenom-ii  X6-1090T and the X6-1055T are six core processors. The  T in the end of the part number denotes the Turbo Core functionality. The  phenom-ii  X6-1090T is a 3.2 GHz part while the X6-1055T  is 2.8 GHz part. The Turbo Core functionality allows lets you increase the on demand frequency from 3.2 GHz to  3.6GHz in case of the X6-1090T part and from 2.8 GHz to 3.3GHz in case of X6-1055T. Notice  the prefix X6  in the part number of these processors – it denotes that the processor has 6 cores. By comparison the fastest 4 core processor Phenom II X4-965BE  is clocked at 3.4 GHz or 200 MHz faster than the fastest 6 core processor.

The six core phenom-ii processors have a shared memory of 6 MB which is same as that of the 4 core Phenom variant.

The Memory and core i7 comparison

The phenom six core processors still have the dual channel  DDR3 memory controller while intel has leaped ahead with it Core i7-980X processors by providing triple channel memory controller. Obviously the AMD suffers in memory benchmarks and throughput when pitted against Intel Core i7-980X.

Benchmarks and Comparison with Intel Core i7 processors

Since the phenom-ii X6 processors have 6 cores, they perform better when multiple threads are running simultaneously. In single threaded application their performance is not as great. Actually the performance in the single threaded applications suffer, because, the core frequency as discussed above, for the fastest 6 core phenom-ii processor is 200 MHz less than the 4 core phenom-ii.

This is evident in the Cinebench R10 single threaded and multithreaded benchmarks. While the intel core i7-860 outperforms AMD phenom-ii X6-1090T in the single threaded application, AMD wins with a good margin in the multithreaded application. The reason is clear, the 6 cores working simultaneously outperform the 4 cores.

On a similar front, the applications like H.264 video encoding requiring substantial amount of the multi threaded application have natural alignment with the 6 core phenom-ii processors.  Anandtech reports encoding rate of 28.5 fps with the AMD phenom-ii X6-1090t processor as compared to the 26.8 fps for Intel’s core i7-860.

Motherboard and Sockets

The six core processor works with the existing AM2+ socket and the AM3 motherboard. So if you have an earlier 4 core phenom-ii you can just replace it with the 6 core phenom-ii – No motherboard change is required.

Power Consumption

At idle condition the phenom-ii X6-1090T consumes close to 122.5 Watts of power while the X6-1055T. The core i7-860 by comparison takes 85.4 Watts. In the load condition, the X6-1090T take 201 Watts and is comparable to the core i7 860 processor ( core i7-860 load power consumption is  180W).

Conclusion

If you are likely to use more heavily threaded applications ( like video encoding) then the six core phenom-ii is the way to go. With AMD phenom-ii you will be able to do the task and save couple of hundreds of dollars too. If however, your application is like to have only occassional use of heavy load multithreaded application, intel core i7 processor is more suitable to you.

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The GeForce FX 3800M from NVIDIA is succesoor to the highly successful high-end workstation graphics card GeForce FX 3700M. At the time of writing the GeForce FX 3800M is the most formidable graphics card available in the GeForce line.

The Processor

The GeForce FX 3800M improves upon the processor core speed FX 3700M by a whopping 22%. The core speed FX 3700 is 550MHz while that of the FX 3800M is 675 MHz. The shader clock speed is also bumped up to 1688 MHz as compared to 1375 MHz of FX 3700.

Power consumption

The GeForce FX 3800M consumes a lot of power is in intended for large notebook replacement notebooks.
The GeForce FX 3800M consumes 75 Watts of power and this is the same as that of GeForce FX 3700M. You therefor get more processing power from 3800M while keeping the power consumption same.

Memory

The Quadro FX 3800M has same memory configuration as the of 3700M. The GeForce FX 3800M can have 1 GB of GDDR3 memory. At 800 MHz and 256 bits it gives a memory throughput of 51.2 GBps.

Some Technological information

NVIDIA Quadro FX GPUs are based upon the Nvidia Cuda architecture. The Quadro Graphics processors provide unmatched performance in interactivity and visual quality.

The Quadro processors are based upon the CUDA architecture. CUDA which stands for for Compute Unified Device Architecture is a parallel architecture developed developed for graphics processing units (GPUs). The software for the CUDA processors are developed in programming languages like ‘C for CUDA’.

The processor is built on 65nm technology and has 754 million transistors.

Benchmark

3DMark 06 score give teh GeForce 3800M a score of gives it average score of 13323 which improves upn the 3700M’s 3DMark 06 score of 10847.

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The GeForce FX 3700M from NVIDIA is comes under high-end workstation graphics card for large and desktop replacement parts. Here are some technical details of this processor.

The Processor

The core speed of the Quadro FX 3800M processor is 550 MHz. By comparision the Quadro FX 3800M processor has core frequency of 675 MHz.The shader clock in the Nvidia GeForce FX 3700M works at  1375 MHz. If you are looking for a higher shader clock you may like to graduate to the 3800M model which has shader clock speed  of 1688 MHz.

Power consumption

The Nvidia GeForce FX 3700M consumes 75 Watts of power and is therefore not very well suited for high battery life or low power consumption. This graphics chip is intended for large notbooks.

Memory

The Quadro FX 3700M can have upto 1 GB of GDDR3 memory. With 256-bit memory interface it can give  51.2 GBps of bandwidth working at 800 MHz.

Technological information

NVIDIA  Quadro FX are based upon the Nvidia Cuda architecture. According to NVIDIA “they provide new capabilities in interactivity and visual quality with unmatched performance.”

CUDA stands for for Compute Unified Device Architecture. It is a parallel computing architecture developed and is the computing engine in graphics processing units  (GPUs). The architecture is accessible to software developers standard programming languages like ‘C for CUDA’.

The successor to the Nvidia GeForce FX 3700M is the Nvidia GeForce FX 3800M that has higher clock rate. The Nvidia GeForce FX 3800M has the same power consumption as Nvidia GeForce FX 3700. The processor is built on 65nm technology and has 754 million transistors.

Benchmark

The 3DMark 05  ( standard 1024 x 768) gives it a value of 15759. 3DMark 06  gives it average  score of 10847.  By Comparition the 3800M has average score of 13323.

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Does your phone has capacitive or the resistive screen ? What is the difference between these ? Go through the faq and familiarize your self with the two different forms of the touchscreens.

Q. So what is the difference from the application point of view between capacitive and resistive touch screens.

A. In a resistive touch screen if a user presses two fingers simultaneously – resistive touch screen can not detect it. Capacitive touch screen can. Movement of the fingers are tough to detect using the resistive touchscreen. Capacitive touchscreen can. iPhone is perfect example of the capacitive touch screen. You can zoom a picture using two fingers. It makes the things very intuitive. Playing games on capacitive touchscreen makes it very intuitive.

Q. Which of these two are more expensive

A. The capacitive touch screen is more expensive than the resistive touch screen. The price of the capacitive touch screens are, though, falling, as their usage and volume is increasing.

Q.  How does the pin out of the resistive touch screen and capacitive touch screen look like ?

A. The resistive touch screen has 4 pins and the capacitive touch screen has 5 pins. That is the way to find the difference if you are handed over a separate glass of a resistive or a capacitive touchscreen.

Q. So how do they technologically look different.

A.  In resistive touchscreen the resistance between the two layers of the glass change when  pressure of touch is applied. By measuring the change in the pressure it is possible to find the coordinate of the place where pressure has been applied.

In  capacitive touchscreen touching the surface of the screen results in change in capacitance. This is then used to detect the presence of the finger and its location.

Q. What is the effect of the pressure on the resistive Vs capacitive touchscreen.

A. Resistive touch screen works on pressure. So it works very well with stylus. A drawback of this is that it does not work as you drag on. This is obvious to conclude.

The capacitive touch screen does not depend upon the pressure and since it works just on touch, it works smoothly when you drag your finger tips. This helps in the design of highly useful user interfaces.

Q. Will capacitive touch screen work if you have gloves in your finger ?

A. No. The finger and the touch screen create capacitance. The Human body has amount of capacitive and conductive property that helps. This is not possible with the gloves on.

Q. Can you give some example of the devices using capacitive touch screen.

A. iPhone is the most prominent example. iPad and G1 Android phone also uses capacitive touch screen.

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With intel preparing for the next generation Sandy Bridge processors, AMD is honing its Fusion chips  to fight back, backed by its amalgamation  with ATI,  the GPU giant. Familiarize yourself with the forthcoming AMD Fusion chips and update yourself with the  latest in the technology.

Q. What is the most important architectural feature of the AMD fusion chip.

A. The most significant feature of the fusion is obviously going to be the integration of the ATI’s GPU into the AMD’s CPU. The two are going to reside on a single die. This is unlike some of the intel ix series processors where the GPU and the CPUs reside on separate cores, although on the same package. This is expected to significantly boost the performance. The ATI’s expertise in the GPU area is going to significantly improve AMD’s standing.

Q. Which processor from the Intel is going to be the AMD’s  Fusion competitor.

A. Intel is preparing its Sandy Bridge processor and it will be interesting to see the competition between the two. AMD seems to have taken advantage on the GPU area with its integration of ATI. AMD also relies on the price performance ratio where it matches by lowering the price to make up its lack of CPU performance.

Q. What is APU or Accelarates Processing Unit.

A. With the the merger of the CPU and the GPU, AMD has give a new name to the single die that contains the two – it is now called APU or the Accelarated Processing Unit. According to AMD – “Fusion delivers powerful CPU and GPU capabilities for HD, 3D and data-intensive workloads in a single-die processor called an APU”.

Q. So what are Llano and Ontario ?

A. Llano and Ontario are the codenames for the two variants of the Fusion. The Llano is expected to have an integrated PCIe 2.0 controller, a dual channel DDR3-1600 memory controller. It will also have  and 1MB L2 cache per core. Ontario is aimed at netbooks, tablets and other low-power devices and is more of a System on Chip.

Q. When is fusion chip expected to launch ?

A. Llano ( the mainstream) chips is expected to ship in the first half of the 2011. The Ontario  are expected to ship earlier.  The Ontario (for netbooks, tablets) are expected to ship in the 4Q of 2010.

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