Thread: Anandtech News

Eight improved cores, 16 threads, integrated 40 lane PCIe 3.0: the new socket 2011 Xeon E5-2660 manages to package it all in a very modest power envelope of 95W TDP (at 2.2 GHz). If you read the Intel Xeon E5 paper specs, it becomes more and more likely that Intel has pulled off another "Nehalem": much better performance, richer features while consuming less power.

Yes, as much as we like a good fight, the question is not whether Intel will outperform the competition and the previous Intel generation but by how much...
Intel sent us both the Xeon E5-2690 - their newest performance champ - and the more performance/watt oriented E5-2660. We managed to turn this last one into a chip that will perform like the Xeon E5-2630, a chip that is in the price range of the best Opteron 6200s. We compare with the Xeon X5650, the Opteron 6276 and 6174. So whether you are searching for the best performance champ, the best balance between performance and energy consumption or the best deal for your money, you should find an answer in this article. We improved our regular performance testing with some HPC (LS-Dyna) and the renewed OLAP tests. Read on...


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The Android Market has slowly evolved to become much more than a place for vending Android applications, and today Google announced that it is rebranding the Android Marketplace to the somewhat more service-agnostic Google Play. It's a move that is sure to solicit some heated and perhaps valid opinions, given the solid foundation and mindshare that Google has carved out with the Android Marketplace brand to date.
The rebranding also comes alongside a new logo, new URL (play.google.com) and an update to the Android vending (market) APK in the coming days. Google has been trying for some time to emphasize that Android Market is more than just Apps, as the store now is the first party repository for Apps, eBooks, Music, and Video, and moreover not just limited to Android devices. Google will roll out an OTA market update to devices running Android 2.2 or higher starting today and in the upcoming days. We'll be on the lookout for this update and will update with screenshots as soon as that new vending APK hits.
Source: Android Developers Blog, Google Blog, About Google Play



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Getting Android devices updated to the latest version of the OS is something of an arduous prospect, and in recent months we've been getting an even clearer view of how the process works. For devices on the big carriers in the US, the procedure involves not just the OEM's willingness (or monetized incentive) to update a device, but also carrier testing, certification, and other hurdles.
Today, Verizon Wireless announced a list of 14 devices currently scheduled to get an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update at some point in the future. The announcement doesn't come with any promised ETAs.

• HTC ThunderBolt
• DROID Incredible 2 by HTC
• HTC Rhyme
• HTC Rezound
• Motorola XOOM
• DROID BIONIC
• DROID RAZR
• DROID RAZR MAXX
• DROID 4
• DROID XYBOARD 8.2
• DROID XYBOARD 10.1
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7
• Spectrum by LG

Of the 14 announced devices, 5 are tablets. There are some notable absent devices as well which seem pretty surprising. Of the initial Verizon 4G LTE smartphone rollout, both the LG Revolution and Droid Charge by Samsung are missing from the ICS update list. The latter of which's "Droid" branding had led me to believe would be enough to overcome Samsung's reluctance to update any of the Galaxy S family to Android 4.0. The Charge's keyboard-packing cousin, the Samsung Stratosphere, is also absent, and so is the Pantech Breakout.
It's good to see Verizon be a bit more transparent than some of the other US carriers by spelling out what devices are and aren't getting ICS. At the same time having even an estimated set of dates next to those updates would go a long way to quelling the impatient masses.
Source: Verizon Wireless



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Corsair released a new SSD series today branded Accelerator. Like the name suggests, this series is aimed for caching purposes and is bundled with NVELO's DataPlex caching software. Corsair actually showcased the Accelerator series at CES 2012 but it hasn't been available until today.

Corsair Accelerator Series Specifications
Capacity	30GB	45GB	60GB
Raw NAND Capacity	32GiB	48GiB	64GiB
Controller	SF-2141	SF-2181	SF-2181
Interface	SATA 3Gb/s
Sequential Read	270MB/s	280MB/s	280MB/s
Sequential Write	240MB/s	260MB/s	260MB/s
Warranty	Three years
Price	$69	$84	$99

The Accelerator series will be available in three capacities: 30GB, 45GB and 60GB. A caching SSD doesn't need to be really large because it only stores the most frequently accessed data; as an example, Intel's Rapid Storage Technology is limited to 64GB. Caching is also mainly aimed toward average users as utilizing two separate drives can be difficult for a novice user, but more advanced users usually want total control of their data. Keeping the price as low as possible will attract more buyers, especially ones who have not owned an SSD before.
The brief rundown of the two controllers used is that they are both SATA 3Gb/s and are similarly specced in terms of performance. Corsair chose SATA 3Gb/s controllers to keep the prices down, as in the end caching is mostly about price. The only difference between the SF-2141 and the SF-2181 is that SF-2181 supports up to 8 channels whereas SF-2141 is limited to 4 channels. Using SF-2141 in the 30GB model is logical because it consists of four 8GiB dies and hence only four channels can be populated. As for the 45GB model, it uses six out of the eight channels to achieve a raw NAND capacity of 48GiB (6 x 8GiB), which is similar to the 180GB and 360GB versions of OCZ Agility 3.
We haven't taken a look at NVELO's DataPlex solutions yet, but as caching is becoming a more and more popular solution, we hope to be able to review an SSD with DataPlex in the near future.



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I still remember hearing about Intel's tick-tock cadence and not having much faith that the company could pull it off. Granted Intel hasn't given us a new chip every 12 months on the dot, but more or less there's something new every year. Every year we either get a new architecture on an established process node (tock), or a derivative architecture on a new process node (tick). The table below summarizes what we've seen since Intel adopted the strategy:

Intel's Tick-Tock Cadence
Microarchitecture	Process Node	Tick or Tock	Release Year
Conroe/Merom	65nm	Tock	2006
Penryn	45nm	Tick	2007
Nehalem	45nm	Tock	2008
Westmere	32nm	Tick	2010
Sandy Bridge	32nm	Tock	2011
Ivy Bridge	22nm	Tick	2012
Haswell	22nm	Tock	2013

Last year was a big one. Sandy Bridge brought a Conroe-like increase in performance across the board thanks to a massive re-plumbing of Intel's out-of-order execution engine and other significant changes to the microarchitecture. If you remember Conroe (the first Core 2 architecture), what followed it was a relatively mild upgrade called Penryn that gave you a little bit in the way of performance and dropped power consumption at the same time.

Ivy Bridge, the follow-on to Sandy Bridge should be a tick but because of significant improvements on the GPU side Intel is calling it a tick+. We managed to get our hands on an early Ivy Bridge system and ran it through some tests to determine exactly how much of an improvement is coming our way in a couple of months.
Read on!


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Almost exactly a year ago, Western Digital announced that they would be buying Hitachi’s hard drive division from Hitachi for $4.3 billion. Since then, the two companies have been working on closing the deal, one that would effectively consolidate the hard drive industry to just 3 companies. This in turn attracted the attention of regulatory agencies across the globe. Of particular interest was the potential impact on the 3.5” desktop hard drive market, as Hitachi was the smallest player in what was already a 3 competitor market (#4, Toshiba, is 2.5" only). If Western Digital’s acquisition of Hitachi went through, it would reduce the 3.5” desktop market to a duopoly of Western Digital and Seagate.
Ultimately the Japanese FTC signed off on the buyout on the condition that Western Digital sell off 10% of its 3.5” disk unit, however that concession was not enough for EU regulators and the FTC. Neither regulatory body was willing to approve the deal if it meant that WD and Seagate would be the only 3.5” hard drive manufacturers, so as announced late last month and being approved by both the EU and FTC this week, WD, Hitachi, and Toshiba will be entering into a 3-way deal.
Western Digital will be allowed to acquire Hitachi’s 2.5” and SSD businesses, but not the 3.5” business. Instead Western Digital will be selling that business to Toshiba – factories and all – along with granting licenses for the necessary patents, which would allow Toshiba to effectively continue in the 3.5” market from where Hitachi left off. This would firmly establish Seagate, Western Digital, and Toshiba as the 3 major players in the hard drive business across all product segments.
At this point it’s not clear when the deal would close, but with all the necessary parties agreeing to it, it should close sometime this month. Once that happens Toshiba will apparently need some time to ramp up their production of 3.5” drives, and according to the FTC Western Digital will be doing contract manufacturing for Toshiba until Toshiba is on their feet. The deal doesn’t stipulate whether WD would be manufacturing drives based on Hitachi technology or WD technology, but it’s likely that it will be Hitachi drives.
Finally, it would appear that this is as far as the EU and FTC are willing to let the hard drive market contract, at least at this time. Their various rulings have made it clear that they will block any attempt at consolidating the market to two manufacturers, so the wave of acquisitions that started in 2009 should be at an end.
Source: Computerworld



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Apple just announced that the long awaited iOS 5.1 update will be available today. In it, Apple is enabling support for a Japanese version of Siri. More updates from the event as they come in.

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We are live and in the audience at Apple's iPad event today. Check back for updates and analysis of its announcements as they're made.



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Apple just announced the new iPad with a "Retina Display". The screen size remains unchanged at 9.7-inches measured diagonally. The resolution is an expected 2048 x 1536, with 3.1 million total pixels at a density of 264 pixels per inch. Apple is also claiming a 44% increase in color saturation on the new iPad.
Gallery: Apple Announces the New iPad with 2048 x 1536 "Retina Display"





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Here's an interesting chart Apple just threw up at its iPad event today. Apple shipped 15.4M iPads last quarter, more than any PC vendor was able to ship PCs out of their own product lines. Granted the implication here is that PCs and iPads are replacement goods for one another, but I'm not entirely sure that's true. The two categories seem very complementary to me. What does seem to be happening however is tablet purchases like the iPad may extend PC upgrade cycles (e.g. I'll put off a PC upgrade for another year or two and just get a tablet this year), which is reason for concern if you are a PC vendor.



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