Thread: Anandtech News

Aside from a stack of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, I snagged something else of interest at my Intel meeting at CES 2011: a shot of some exposed Sandy Bridge processor die. As a recap SNB is available in three different physical die versions today: quad-core, dual-core with GT1 graphics and dual-core with GT2 graphics. The die sizes and transistor counts are below:

CPU Specification Comparison CPU Manufacturing Process Cores Transistor Count Die Size AMD Thuban 6C 45nm 6 904M 346mm2 AMD Deneb 4C 45nm 4 758M 258mm2 Intel Gulftown 6C 32nm 6 1.17B 240mm2 Intel Nehalem/Bloomfield 4C 45nm 4 731M 263mm2 Intel Sandy Bridge 4C 32nm 4 995M 216mm2 Intel Lynnfield 4C 45nm 4 774M 296mm2 Intel Clarkdale 2C 32nm 2 384M 81mm2 Intel Sandy Bridge 2C (GT1) 32nm 2 504M 131mm2 Intel Sandy Bridge 2C (GT2) 32nm 2 624M 149mm2 Now for the shot:

From left to right we have a dual-core GT2 die, a quad-core die and a 32nm Arrandale die with on-package 45nm HD Graphics GPU. There’s very little difference between the dual-core GT2 die and the quad-core die - each SNB core is fairly small at 32nm.

The comparison to Arrandale is also interesting as it makes dual-core SNB look pretty sensible. But keep in mind that we don’t know the full cost structure for manufacturing at 45nm vs. 32nm. Newer processes tend to be more expensive initially compared to older, more mature processes.



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In about 30 minutes NVIDIA will host a conference call to announce its 6-year $1.5 billion license agreement with Intel. Intel will pay annual installments totaling $1.5 billion over 6 years beginning January 18th.

We'll have full details after the conference call. The license agreement stems from the Intel/NV dispute over the right to build chipsets that interface with Intel CPUs that use DMI/QPI instead of the traditional GTL+ FSB.

After Project Denver and the Tegra 2 announcements at CES, it looks like NVIDIA is shaping up to have a good start to 2011.



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When Microsoft wrapped up its CES keynote on Wednesday night, they added fuel to a news-packed couple of days leading up to the start of CES. The software giant used the show to make a couple of big announcements, some regarding the future of Windows itself. Brian already looked at the Windows Phone side of the keynote and Anand will have a more in-depth look at the overall implications of the keynote later on, so we'll just give you a summary of the rest. Read on for our wrap up.



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NVIDIA and Intel just released their respective PR announcements a bit ago, but after much rumor mongering it’s official: Intel and NVIDIA are the latest duo to bury the hatchet. This comes on the heels of 3 other major Intel actions in the past two years: the EU fining Intel (which is still under appeal), Intel settling with AMD (affirming GloFo as a legal venture), Intel settling with the United Stated Federal Trade Commission.

With the exception of the EU fine which is still under appeal, this is the final outstanding major legal battle for Intel over their actions of the first decade of the 21st century. Generally speaking someone is always suing Intel – or Intel is always suing someone else – but as far as normality is concerned this is a return to normal for Intel: they’ve now settled with every significant government and corporate entity and are no longer living under a cloud of allegations from a number of parties.

So what are NVIDIA and Intel burying the hatchet over? A lot of this has to do with the same matters we saw in the FTC suit, as part of the FTC’s case was built on acting on NVIDIA’s complaints. As you may recall the FTC didn’t get everything they wanted, and this suit looks to resolve those outstanding issues along with settling NVIDIA’s chipset allegations, and providing NVIDIA with a sizable 1.5bil compensation package for their troubles.

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I don’t usually pay much attention to corporate executives and the hirings, firings and resignations thereof. It’s not that executives are unimportant, it’s that they’re not exactly what I’m passionate about. While I never pass up an opportunity to meet with an exec, I generally walk away more impressed after a conversation with a Fellow.

Today’s resignation of AMD’s former CEO Dirk Meyer seemed like reason to pay attention. It wasn’t a scandal or anything vile that led up to the resignation, just a good old fashioned differing of opinion. To quote AMD’s press release:

”However, the Board believes we have the opportunity to create increased shareholder value over time. This will require the company to have significant growth, establish market leadership and generate superior financial returns. We believe a change in leadership at this time will accelerate the company’s ability to accomplish these objectives.”

The implication being that Dirk’s plan for AMD wouldn’t result in significant growth, establish market leadership and generate superior financial returns. The question is what was Dirk’s plan and what direction does AMD’s Board of Directors believe it should be headed in instead?



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Rightware, makers of MobileMark, BrowserMark, and other mobile benchmarking tools recently launched a new 3D benchmark for mobile devices named BaseMark GUI. BaseMark joins our growing suite of smartphone benchmarks and tests OpenGL ES 2.0 performance on Android and other platforms with an emphasis on 3D UI. We've run BaseMark on almost all the devices we've got on hand, and will do so in the future on other devices.

How does the current crop of SoCs perform in this test? Read on for more.

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Well, it's official - Verizon is getting the iPhone 4. The Apple/Verizon relationship developed over the last two years. The two companies began technical discussions starting in 2008 about bringing the iPhone to Verizon. The phone then spent a year in testing and design and starting early next month, the iPhone 4 will come to Verizon.

At Verizon's press conference there's a lot mutual respect sharing between the two companies. It looks like there's a desire to establish that these two companies want to work together and will continue to going forward.

Existing VZW customers will be able to pre-order the iPhone 4 online on February 3rd, 2010. A week later, on February 10th, everyone will be able to order the Verizon iPhone 4 both online and in Verizon stores as well as at the Apple store (both online and at physical stores).

The phone will sell for $199.99 for a 16GB version, and $299.99 for the 32GB version. The Verizon iPhone 4 will feature wireless hotspot capabilities allowing you to connect up to 5 devices to it over WiFi.

More as we get it.

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Earlier today Verizon did what has been rumored for a while now and announced a partnership with Apple beginning with the CDMA iPhone 4.

Device pricing remains unchanged from the AT&T iPhone 4. The 16GB model retails for $199.99 while the 32GB will set you back $299.99. There is no white version available.

Hardware specs, both internal and external, remain unchanged. Apple is also quoting the same battery life as the AT&T version of the iPhone 4, although battery life is very dependent on signal strength so it will vary depending on network coverage where you use the phone.

So what is new? Read on to find out.


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I remember one the first mobile phones I ever used being a Nokia 5110i. It was among Nokia’s earliest of devices packed an easy to use and straightforward interface in a supremely well-built package. Since we didn’t have as many phone launches each month back then as there are stars in the sky, the 5110i served me very well for more than 3 years without showing any signs aging. That was in the mid to late 90’s. Fast forward to the end of this decade and we see Nokia’s current flagship, the N8-00, continuing to hold on to the Nokia tradition of building what are arguably some of the best constructed mobile devices on the market. In fact in many ways, with the Nokia N8-00 (referred to as the N8 from here on) it seems as though Nokia has let its hardware and industrial design teams have a field day; this phone feels almost over engineered when held in your hands. While the current flagship demonstrates Nokia’s engineering prowess quite well, previous models seemed to epitomize what I felt was the company’s philosophy; build the software around the hardware. This worked just perfectly for as long as mobile phones were just that, devices used to make and receive calls and/or texts. Sometime in the last decade, Apple, Google, Palm and Microsoft redefined mobile experiences, and as a result old flaws have slowly become gaping holes in the Finnish device manufacturer’s proverbial armor.

Does the N8 smooth over those problems? Read on to find out.

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At CES 2011, Westinghouse introduced flat screen TVs ranging from 26" to 60" in size. All the models are targeted towards the budget conscious customer, implying probably lowest cost in that particular class. With a good retail presence in the US, the targeted consumers are going to find it easy to purchase one from their favourite big box stores. Further, the warranty and return grace period provided by retailers like Costco should help cautious consumers.

The new CFL model flat screens are perfect for consumers who are still in the CRT age and those that have taken advantage of the recent DTV box program. Westinghouse is the only value brand which doesn't buy the whole display module, but just the panels and adds the backlighting and other circuitry themselves. The new LED backlit models come with either red or silver trims.

The 26" model is perfect for hooking up notebooks in dorm rooms or other similar situations. Netflix and Vudu (currently planned) only available on one of the 46" models which runs on the Zoran chipset. Other models of larger size running on the Zoran chipset are also capable of Netflix, and are planned for enabling based on demand. Smaller sized models dont get Netflix because there is not enough margin in the smaller TVs to compensate for the licensing costs. Consumers with smaller TVs also run some other Blu-Ray player or media streamer capable of Netflix, so this is not much of a concern.

Other than Zoran, Broadcom DTV chipsets are also being used in the Westinghouse TVs. Both the Broadcom and Zoran chipsets enable a decent level of video postprocessing such as noise reduction, 3:2 pulldown support etc. which are quite necessary in the consumer market segment towards which the models are targeted.

Pricing and full lineup details in the press releases linked below:

Westinghouse - 46 LED Press Release

Westinghouse - CES 2011 Lineup Press Release



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