Thread: Anandtech News

We covered the X-Gene announcement a couple of weeks ago when the news was first made public. I was in London at the time meeting with Nokia so I didn't get a chance to sit down with Applied Micro's engineers to discuss the SoC and its architecture. Thankfully, upon my return, they gave me the opportunity to do just that.
We've been hearing about ARM based servers for a while now, but their advantages have always been lower power consumption than beefy x86 servers for lighter workloads. You always sacrifice performance and memory addressibility. APM hopes to change that with its X-Gene.
Development on X-Gene began three years ago. APM was originally a PowerPC house. The company was working on a 64-bit PowerPC core internally before meeting with ARM and eventually redirecting its efforts to a 64-bit ARM core. Together with ARM, APM started laying the foundation for ARM's first 64-bit instruction set - now known as ARMv8.
At a time when everyone else was working on ARMv7 cores, this gave APM a headstart on the ARMv8 transition. As of now there is no officially announced, licensable ARMv8 core from ARM itself. I believe this makes the X-Gene the world's first ARMv8 SoC.
At a high level the X-Gene is pretty beefy. Each CPU core can fetch and decode up to four ARMv8 (or eight Thumb) instructions per clock. APM wouldn't reveal the depth of the pipeline, but it is targeting a 3GHz operating frequency at 28/40nm so it's safe to say that the pipeline is fairly deep. APM did add that it's not quite as deep as the Pentium 4, but rather in the sweet spot. I'd take that to mean we're looking at something around or just shy of 20 stages for the integer pipeline.
APM wouldn't go into detail on the back end configuration of the X-Gene, nor would it comment on other intracacies like branch predictors or cache configuration. We can learn a lot from the front end alone though. Cortex A15 features a 3-issue front end, and moving to 4 implies a generational gap in IPC. Note that we saw a similar transition going from the P6/NetBurst eras to Intel's Conroe (aka Core 2) architecture.
As the X-Gene implements the ARMv8 ISA it is a full 64-bit architecture that is backwards compatible with 32-bit ARMv7. The CPU features hardware virtualization acceleration, MMU virtualization, advanced SIMD instructions and what APM is calling a "very sophisticated" FPU, although once again details were scarce.
Despite the aggressive architecture, each core is estimated to consume only 2W per core. Like most mobile SoCs, the entire chip will idle at around 300mW.

At the SoC level, APM plans to integrate many of these CPU cores onto a single package. The range is officially 2 - 128 cores, although I expect we'll see something more reasonable than the extremes. The SoC also features integrated SATA (up to six 6Gbps ports per SoC) and two 10GbE controllers.
Each SoC can feature up to four 72-bit DDR3 (64-bit + ECC) memory controllers, although lower core count configurations will have fewer memory controllers.
You can plop multiple SoCs down on a single board, connected by a coherent interface that can deliver up to 400Gbps of bandwidth between chips.
APM's performance estimates put a 3GHz X-Gene at roughly half the integer performance of a 2.4GHz Sandy Bridge. The X-Gene advantage however is the ability to integrate many more cores. APM expects a quad-core X-Gene will be able to perform similarly to a dual-core Sandy Bridge Xeon, but with much lower power consumption.
These are all estimates today. The first customer evaluation boards will be available in March 2012. The X-Gene SoCs on the eval boards will be delivered as FPGAs. The ASIC version for actual deployment won't hit until the second half of next year. The first chips will be built on a 40nm process to get them to market quickly and cost effectively, but the design is expected to transition to 28nm afterwards. At 40nm we may not see such aggressive clocks or tons of cores per SoC.
APM expects that even with a late 2012 launch it will have a 1 - 2 year lead on the competition. If it can get the X-Gene out on time, hitting power and clock targets (both very difficult goals), the headstart will be tangible. Note that by the end of 2012 we'll only just begin to see the first Cortex A15 implementations. ARMv8 based competitors will likey be a full year out, at least.
There's also the question of whether or not enterprise customers want to move to an ARM based server platform. Unlike in the smartphone/tablet space, x86 is the incumbent in the server arena. Equal performance at lower power consumption is quite attractive, but there's still a lot of convincing that needs to be done. Not to mention that Intel does have the ability to build a competitive, Atom based solution.
More than anything it's good to see such strong competition at both the high end and low end of the microprocessor business. Threatening to disrupt the status quo in both is going to pave the way for progress in our industry.
Gallery: Applied Micro's X-Gene: The First ARMv8 SoC




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Early this morning we published our Sandy Bridge E review, as well as our first X79 motherboard review: ASUS' P9X79 Pro. We've got more SNB-E content in the works, but if you're eager for a look EVGA's brand new lineup of X79 boards check out the video below. Starring in the video is EVGA's own Jacob Freeman, a long time friend of ours.




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In a statement on the official Razer Facebook page, Razer has announced that two of the Razer Blade prototypes were stolen from their San Francisco Research and Development lab. Razer has contacted the authorities, and is imploring anyone with information to contact them with any information at cult@razerzone.com.
Full Statement Below.

Over the weekend of 11/4/11, we had a break-in at one of our Razer offices. Two Razer Blade prototypes were stolen from our Bay area R&D lab.

As you can imagine, the return of these prototype units is very important to the company. We have already reported this to the authorities who are working closely with us on this matter.

We take this act of theft seriously and would like to appeal for its return and discourage anyone from buying the Razer Blade prototypes from the perpetrators, whether online or otherwise, as they are stolen property.

We appreciate any and all information anyone may have on the incident. Please contact us at cult@razerzone.com if you have any information.

Thank you for all your support.
Min

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Apple has finally released iTunes Match for public. The release comes a couple of weeks later as it was originally scheduled for late October release.
In case you have forgotten what iTunes Match is, here is a brief review. iTunes Match is basically iTunes in the cloud - it lets you store all your music (well, up to 25,000 songs) in Apple's servers and access it from anywhere with an Internet connection. What makes Match special is that you only need to upload the songs that are not in iTunes Store. Songs that are available in iTunes Store are already in Apple's server, hence upload is not needed, even if you hadn't originally bought them from iTunes Store. This is a huge benefit when compared to e.g. Amazon Cloud Player, which requires you to upload all your songs. Upload speeds are still generally slow and with, for example, 1Mbit/s connection which is still pretty common nowadays, it would take over four days to upload 50GB of music.
iTunes Match is priced at $24.99 a year and is currently US only. Along with the release of iTunes Match, Apple has also updated iTunes to 10.5.1, which is required for iTunes Match. iOS devices need the recently released iOS 5.0.1.



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Publisher giant Activision Blizzard has released first day sales figures for the latest in the Call of Duty franchise, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. They sold 6.5 million units for a gross of over $400m in 24 hours since release. The record was preivously held by another game in the Call of Duty franchise, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which grossed $310 million in the 24 hours since release.
The Call of Duty franchise has now set the opening sales record for three years straight now, as the previous record holder was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 from 2009, and was followed by Call of Duty: Black Ops in 2010. Investors should be pleased with the sales figures, as Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI) stock went up to $12.79 after dropping 1% at market close on the Friday of release.
The news shouldn't be too surprising, considering the reported number of pre-orders, but the franchise has proven very successful so far in its yearly release schedule and that looks to continue for now. Day one sales of course doesn't answer the question of whether the game is actually good or not, but most full reviews are generally favorable even if the metacritic user score appears low.
The full Press Release is included below.

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Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3 Sets All-Time Record for the Biggest Entertainment Launch with More than $400 Million in North America and United Kingdom Sales Alone

More Than 6.5 Million Units Sold in U.S. and U.K. in 24 Hours

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Shattering its own day-one sales records, Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI), announced that its highly-anticipated Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3 has become the biggest entertainment launch ever with an estimated sell-through of more than $400 million and more than 6.5 million units in North America and the United Kingdom alone in the first 24 hours of its release, according to Charttrack and retail customer sell-through information.
This marks the third consecutive year that the Call of Duty franchise has set day one launch records across all forms of entertainment, something no other entertainment franchise in any medium has ever accomplished. Last year, in North America and the United Kingdom, Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops™ had estimated day-one sell-through of $360 million and in 2009, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, set day-one records with estimated sell through of $310 million, according to Charttrack and retail customer sell-through information.
On November 8, 2011, millions of fans attended more than 13,000 midnight openings at retail stores around worldwide. According to Microsoft, after just two days, the number of gamers playing simultaneously on Xbox® Live® set a new peak concurrency record.
"We believe the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the biggest entertainment launch of all time in any medium, and we achieved this record with sales from only two territories," said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard, Inc. "Other than Call of Duty, there has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records three years in a row. Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise exceed worldwide theatrical box office for "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings," two of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time."
Eric Hirshberg, CEO, Activision Publishing added, "Call of Duty is more than a game. It's become a major part of the pop cultural landscape. It is a game that core enthusiasts love, but that also consistently draws new people into the medium. It is the most intense, adrenaline pumping entertainment experience anywhere. I would like to thank our incredible teams at Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games for making a brilliant game. But most of all, I would like to thank our millions of passionate fans worldwide. We made this game for you."
Separately, Activision announced this morning that in support and gratitude for the efforts of American servicemen and women, this Veterans Day it donated $3 million to the Call of Duty Endowment, a non-profit, public benefit corporation that seeks to provide job placement and training for veterans. This latest donation will be added to the $2 million that Activision has already donated to the Endowment, which has provided more than $1.5 million in grants and scholarships to veterans' organizations across the country since it was conceived by Bobby Kotick in November of 2009.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is rated "M" (Mature) by the ESRB for Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence and Strong Language and is available now for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, and Windows® PC. For more information visit www.callofduty.com/mw3 and www.callofduty.com/elite.



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Not to be outdone by Verizon with its LTE-enabled Galaxy Tab 10.1 (which we reviewed), Samsung and AT&T today announced that it's introducing an LTE enabled Galaxy Tab 8.9 of its own. The specs are basically what you'd expect for a Galaxy Tab, though interestingly enough the AT&T Tab 8.9 comes with a 1.5 GHz dual core snapdragon, undoubtably of the APQ8060 kind, likely paired to an MDM9200 (just like the Samsung Skyrocket on AT&T).

Galaxy Tab 8.9 AT&T LTE
SoC	1.5 GHz Dual Core Snapdragon (APQ8060)
Baseband	MDM9200 (LTE, HSPA+) (?)
Memory	1 GB LPDDR2
Storage	16 GB NAND, Expandable to 32 GB
Camera	3.2 MP rear facing, 2 MP front facing
Display	1280x800 PLS, 8.5"
Mass/Size	15.9oz, 8.6mm thick
OS	Android 3.2

The Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE will go on sale November 20th for $479.99 with a two year contract. AT&T will also be running a promotional offer and give you either of their Galaxy S 2 variants (the Skyrocket, or the more vanilla international-looking version) for free if you buy their Tab 8.9.
Gallery: AT&T LTE Galaxy Tab 8.9


The other real news is that AT&T will be expanding LTE coverage to six new markets also on November 20th. New markets are Charlotte, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, which brings the total number of markets AT&T LTE covers to 15. Our own Anand Shimpi spent the weekend testing AT&T LTE in Washington, DC on a Samsung Skyrocket and came away decently impressed with speeds on AT&T's 10 MHz FDD LTE network there. We'll have much more AT&T LTE related news as coverage (and devices) continues to grow.
Source: Samsung



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Windows 8 will bring with it a variety of changes—all of our Windows 8 coverage to date will give you the quick overview, but features such as the new Metro interface and expanded support for smartphones and tablets certainly raise a few questions. Those interested in benchmarking Windows 8 using 3DMark will be interested to hear that a new version of the benchmark will be coming for the OS, with the ability to compare performance across all devices a feature sets available for Windows 8.
Jukka Mäkinen, CEO of Futuremark, stated, "With Windows 8 gamers will be able to enjoy their games on a wide range of devices from lightweight tablets to heavy-duty desktop rigs. Faced with so much choice it will be hard to work out which devices offer the best value for money. Fortunately 3DMark for Windows 8 will be our most wide-reaching 3DMark ever, able to accurately measure and compare gaming performance across all devices and graphical feature sets available with Windows 8."
Tentatively titled 3DMark for Windows 8, the benchmark provides the following:

• Measures and compares gaming performance on all Windows 8 devices
• Stunning real-time scenes stress test all levels of hardware
• Supports both x86 and ARM-based architectures
• Can be used in both Metro UI and 'classic' Windows environments
• Created in co-operation with the world’s leading technology companies
• Currently in development, expected to be released in 2012

It's obviously too early to get specifics on the benchmark (and the above Futuremark-provided image very likely has nothing to do with 3DMark for Windows 8); however, it will at least be intersting to finally get a chance to compare hardware performance across more devices—including x86 platforms—in an apples-to-apples manner.
We are still bearish on the utility of 3DMark as it relates to actual gaming performance, but given the dearth of useful graphics benchmarks on smartphones and tablets, 3DMark might prove more beneficial in that area. On the other hand, we already have a variety of smartphone and tablet utilities available—for Android and iOS devices, among other platforms—so limiting support to Windows 8 platforms may prevent it from being as useful as we'd like.



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Jean-Baptiste Queru, a software engineer working on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), just confirmed that Android 4.0.1 source is now available. This is the version of Android that will ship on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, due out sometime before the end of the year. As we mentioned in an earlier story, once Google decides to begin work on a new version of Android, the source for that version is only shared with Google's launch partners. The rest of Google's partners have to wait until the code is submitted to the AOSP, at which point they all begin the rush to optimize the code for their various hardware platforms.
That's exactly what we expect to happen over the coming weeks. I've heard estimates of as little as 30 days once Android 4.0.1 hits AOSP for tier 1 Honeycomb partners to get the OS running, optimized and validated for their hardware. Obviously we have to take priorities into account as it may make more sense for a smartphone/tablet vendor to focus on getting ICS running on new products rather than older ones.
The race is on, the question is: who will be first to release ICS outside of Samsung?



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With every new Windows release, Microsoft promises to reduce the number of times we'll have to restart our computers. Things have gradually gotten better - today, many program installations, driver updates, and Windows updates can be installed without restarting. Even so, Microsoft has again identified this process as an area where Windows could use improvement, as Microsoft's Farzana Rahman discusses on the Building Windows 8 blog today.
The improvements in Windows 8 aren't going to stop automatic restarts from happening; rather, Microsoft's goal is to make sure that the restarts that do happen are unobtrusive and predictable. First, all restarts will usually happen just once a month, after Patch Tuesday (with rare exceptions made for critical out-of-band security updates). Next, when your PC requires a restart, you'll have a three-day window in which to do so manually - a message on the log-in screen will let you know whether your system needs to be restarted. At the end of this three-day period, your computer will attempt to restart manually, but will not if a user is logged in and applications are running. In this case, users will get a warning that their system will restart in 15 minutes (similar to Windows' current behavior) but without the option to cancel the restart.
The default behaviors are meant to reduce the likelihood of data loss and user annoyance, while still making sure that computers are updated promptly. Enterprise administrators, as usual, can choose to leave these default behaviors in place, or can choose to enforce their own update schedule via Group Policy.
There's one last tidbit that may or may not interest you: at the end of the post, Rahman reiterates that Microsoft will not update third-party software through Windows Update, partly because Microsoft doesn't trust third parties not to break things - Microsoft doesn't want to "reduce trust in the system" by adding that additional layer of complexity. However, Metro apps, which will be screened by Microsoft upon their submission to Windows 8's app store, will all be updated through the store's unified updater.
If you'd like to read more, you can get this information (and the customary pile of user data that led to these decisions) over at the Building Windows 8 blog.
Source: Building Windows 8 Blog



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Antec's existing Performance One series, peaking with the P183 and P190, has become a standard for silent, high performance computing. These enclosures have been extremely popular from the word "go," and for a long time the P180 and its descendants have been easy recommendations. But you could argue the designs are starting to feel a little outdated, and while Antec's recent Solo II was an interesting step forward, it felt like a tentative one.

The new P280, on the other hand, is a major evolution. Intended not as a refresh of the P183 but to exist alongside it, the P280 features some radical changes for Antec in terms of design while lowering the cost of entry for the entire line. Is it a smart evolution, or did Antec's engineers split too many decisions in trying to appeal to both silent computing and high performance markets?


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