AMD is expanding its GPU product line in the embedded space. The company just announced the E6460 embedded discrete GPU, which complements the higher-performing E6760. Compared to the E6760′s 480 shaders, the E6460 has only 160, and has to work with only 512 MB GDDR5 memory instead of 1 GB and supports only four instead of six displays.

AMD pitches the graphics processors as products for casino gaming, digital signage, kiosks, point-of-sale (POS) and industrial measurement and controls applications. While it is not exactly a screamer, the E6460 is sold as a solution for products that will have to be in service over a longer period of time. AMD said that it is offering 5 years of guaranteed supply and support.

Trinity will replace Llano in the performance, mainstream and entry-level CPU segments with updates new A8, A6, A4 and E2-series processors. The roadmap only relates to mobile processors and offers very few details, but it appears that the upgrade to the Piledriver CPU core and London graphics core won’t change the positioning of the processors in the market.

The Bobcat core will be moved upmarket and extended to the Wichita APU for entry-level and mainstream notebooks later in 2012. The Bobcat-Krishna APU will replace the Ontario APU for compact notebooks in AMD’s Deccan platform. Trinity, Wichita and Krishna will use variations of the London graphics core.

Not surprisingly, AMD is also driving down the power consumption of its ultra-low power Desna APU, which is at 5.9 watts today, but will be hitting 4.5 watts in the Hondo APU (also with Bobcat cores) next year.

Trinity should become part of the Comal platform next year, which seems to be coexisting with the Sabine platform throughout 2012 in the performance and mainstream segments. Deccan will replace Brazos in the entry-level and compact notebook range, while AMD will survive 2012 in the ultra-low-power segment as Brazos T.

2013 will bring the Samara APU with Jaguar CPU cores on the very low end. It is unclear how much this roadmap has actually changed over the past few weeks, especially since the firing of CEO Dirk Meyer, who was accused of not getting AMD into attractive mobile markets, which would suggest a potential focus on tablets. We were told that AMD would have tablet processors ready in 2012, and Samara looks a lot like the processor we were told about earlier this year.

SOURCE via vr-zone

Recent reports indicate that Intel plans to re-brand its Cedar Trail processors slated for 2012 because demand for Atom-based netbooks, nettops, handheld devices, consumer electronics products and embedded devices have dropped significantly. The reason behind the decline, according to industry sources, is due to the “poor brand image” of Atom CPUs.

According to Intel’s roadmap, Cedar Trail CPUs will be launched in November 2011, and will include the Atom N2800 and N2700 for netbooks, and the Atom D2700 and D2500 for nettops. Industry sources claim that the re-branding will cover Intel’s N/D/Z/E lineups.

But Friday a spokesperson from Intel squashed the reports. “There are no plans to change the Atom brand. We are on track to launch new Atom processors during the fourth quarter, with more new Atom processors during the first half of 2012.”

In addition to the Cedar Trail CPUs, Intel also plans to launch its Medfield CPUs for Android tablets and smartphones in the first half of 2012.

The PC-TU200 includes a front I/O panel with USB 3.0 (x 2), eSATA (x 1) and audio (x 2) ports, a built-in handle, one exposed 5.25-inch bay, four internal 3.5-inch drive bays, and one front 140mm fan. The case measures 8.27 (W) x 12.60 (H) x 14.17 (D) inches, weighs 7 pounds and supports the Mini-ITX and Mini-DTX motherboards. The PC-TU200 will be available in black or silver when released.

Despite its small footprint, the case can hold a graphics card up to 11.8″ in length. A standard ATX PS/2 PSU can fit within the case, which can provide passive cooling when the PSU fan is facing the motherboard. The side panels can be removed by just pushing a release lever on the back panel and the corresponding side panel pops off. The four internal 3.5-inch drive bays offer hot swap abilities for up to four storage drives.

The consumer should expect a suggested retail price of $199. Read more on the Lian Li PC-TU200 on the product page.

D-Link announced the DSN-4000 Series xStack Storage iSCSI SAN Array, which targets secondary server applications such as disaster recovery, backup, surveillance, and archiving in small to mid-size businesses.

D-Link is offering the DSN-4100 and DSN-4200 arrays in a 3U form factor with up to 32 TB of capacity in 16 SAS/SATA drive bays. Customers can expand the system to 48 drive bays and 96 TB of capacity. The 4100 includes four 1 GbE ports delivering a combined bandwidth of 425 MB/s, while the 4200 provides eight ports and 850 MB/s.

The 16-bay base DSN-4100 array is available for $5000, while the 16-bay DSN-4200 unit is priced at $6200. The DSN-4000 expansion unit sells for $3200.

OCZ has announced the release of its new Synapse Cache 2.5″ SATA 6 GB/s SSDs designed specifically for SSD/HDD hybrid storage. The new Synapse SSDs are optimized for caching applications. It uses the Dataplex caching software to dynamically manage the Synapse SSD in conjunction with standard hard disk drives to provide users with SSD-level performance across the entire capacity of the HDDs. The SATA 6.0 Gb/s 2.5-inch utilizes SandForce 2281 MLC NAND flash memory chips. The drive comes in capacities of 60 GB and 128 GB with a MTBF of 2 million hours and three-year warranty.

As part of its Product Data Sheet, OCZ shows the benefit of the Synapse SSD drive on three runs of PC Mark Vantage – HDD Test Suite. You can see from the below chart, the HDD only runs at around 6,000 for the Overall Score on HDD Test Suite. The initial use of the Synapse jumps the HDD up to 8,000 on the Overall Score but once the second test is run, the SSD/HDD hybrid storage jumps to around 40,000 on the Overall Score and maintains its performance. This combination creates an environment where the most frequently used “hot” data stays on the faster SSD, while the “cold” data remains on the larger capacity HDD.

“The industry has shown that it craves the performance advantages that SSDs provide, however, many users still value the high capacities associated with HDDs,” said Tobias Brinkmann, Director of Product Management, OCZ Technology Group. “We see the Synapse Cache SSDs integrated with Dataplex software as a big win for a large number of customers who value SSD performance but still require HDD capacity. We are proud to be the first to offer this no-compromise approach to enabling high-performance and high-capacity storage for virtually any PC platform.”

Read more on OCZ’s Synapse Cache SATA III 2.5″ SSD on its product page.

Earlier this month, MSI opened fire on Gigabyte over the company’s support of PCI Express 3.0. MSI made its claim through a slide deck press release, where it boasted that its motherboards featured true PCIe 3.0 support and that Gigabyte’s boards did not.

Tom’s Hardware contacted Gigabyte for its side of the story and now, having talked to both companies in depth about the issue, and now seemed to have found the truth to the stories from both side, somewhat.

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Tuesday Micron Technology revealed a new version of its popular RealSSD C400 that features self-encryption. Called the C400 SED (Self-Encrypting Drive), it’s based on the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) Opal specifications and delivers sequential read and write speeds of up to 500 MB/s and 260 MB/s respectively using an SATA 6 Gb/s interface.

“The C400 SED’s encryption capabilities are delivered through a hardware-based, AES-256-bit encryption engine and advanced security firmware,” the company said. “Micron’s firmware is designed to comply with the TCG Opal specification. TCG Opal is an open industry standard that provides a verifiable path for companies who need to prove they’re compliant with tough data security regulations when devices or drives are lost or stolen.”

Micron added that the C400 SED was developed in conjunction with Wave Systems’ EMBASSY encryption management system which provides policy-based access controls, comprehensive reporting, directory services integration and end-user access recovery. That said, the new C400 SED was designed with large corporations, government systems and other multiple-user networks in mind that require maximum security without cumbersome workflow interruptions or decreased performance.

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Thermaltake has announced the expansion of its eSports line of professional-grade hardware by bringing out the Overseer RX-I PC Chassis.

Thermaltake’s new Overseer RX-I full-tower case measures 21.1 (H) x 8.7 (W) x 22.8 (D) inches, weighs 22.7 pounds, has front & top mesh panels,  four exposed 5.25-inch bays, five tool-free 2.5/3.5-inch internal bays, and two pre-drilled holes (found at the rear) for watercooling tubing. The top-placed I/O panel comes with USB 3.0 (x 2), USB 2.0 (x 2), eSATA (x 1) and audio (x 2) ports.

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Think your latest MacBook Air is still very slow despite being equipped with an SSD? Well fear not, as Other World Computing would be happy to quell your woes with its SandForce-equipped Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G. The company’s latest storage upgrade steps things up from its 3Gb/s versions, promising to get your tasks zooming with consistent speeds of “over 500MB/s”, achieved by utilizing the ’11 Air’s SATA Revision 3.0, 6Gb/s bus, or any laptop as long as you have SATA 3.0 onboard. The 120GB variant will set you back a wallet-thinning $350, while 240GBs will cost you a whopping 600 greens. Well, to be fair no one ever said performance like this comes cheap. They’re available now from OWC.

SOURCE via OWC