RDRAM Perspective

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Eee, Atom, Aspire, Wind: It's a Small (Notebook) World at Computex
What comes after Eee? Everybody from HP and Acer to Dell and MSI, not to mention class leader Asus, wants to star in the second generation of low-cost, low-weight, just-right-for-traveling-light laptops. This week's Computex show is packed with the ultraportable notebooks known as netbooks, with Intel's new Atom CPU in a prominent supporting role -- and Nvidia and VIA waiting in the wings.


Platform Trends: AMD/ATI: Slowdown? What Slowdown?

Both product lifespans and prices are falling for PC graphics cards, but that hasn't stopped AMD from pushing the envelope with a new ATI Radeon HD 4000 series marking the industry debut of GDDR5 memory technology -- and a new brand campaign telling retail shoppers not to settle for the usual integrated graphics.


Tinsel and GlamourFalling Off the Catwalk

The economy's in a slump and PCs are in danger of becoming interchangeable commodity products anyway. So how can hardware manufacturers perk up sales and prop up profit margins? Chrome trim and pretty colors, of course, as vendors ranging from Dell to Staples introduce limited-edition artistic cases and fashionable decorations. HardwareCentral editor Eric is bemused. Apple is unworried.


Platform Trends: DDR-3 Heads for the Mainstream

Long ago, Intel decided that desktop PCs should use RDRAM, and riots in the marketplace forced a reversal. Now the processor giant is spurring the move from today's DDR-2 to higher-bandwidth, more energy-efficient DDR-3 memory for desktops -- and, with the forthcoming Centrino 2 spec, notebooks as well. Vince Freeman looks at the pros, cons, price points, and performance issues surrounding the transition.


Platform Trends: AMD Hits a Triple with the Phenom X3

Market-wise, the gap between dual- and quad-core PC processors may not be big enough to drive a truck through. Or a subcompact. Or a shopping cart. But AMD is betting it's got room for a new family of triple-core CPUs. Will the Phenom X3's sales pitch of better multitasking for the price of a dual-core attract buyers? And what happens if tri-core demand exceeds AMD's supply of didn't-quite-pass-inspection quad-cores?


Platform Trends: The Wild World of Graphics Cards

At the rate they're releasing products, Nvidia and AMD/ATI may soon run out of model numbers. Desktop PC graphics cards have never had shorter life spans or quicker price cuts, as last year's performance champions are suddenly mid-market or even destined to be entry-level cards. Will GDDR-5 keep the mad momentum going? Is Asus serious about showing off not a dual- but a triple-GPU one-card solution?


Platform Trends: X4 Marks the Spot

Okay, AMD Phenom, take two, quiet on the set! (Really quiet, in the case of the 65-watt quad-core for home-theater PCs.) Yes, four months after its bumpy introduction, AMD's top processor is getting a do-over -- raising clock speeds; squashing the TLB bug that cast a shadow over the first Phenoms; and adopting easy-to-understand X4 labels for quad- and X3 for tri-core CPUs. Radically undercutting Intel's Core 2 prices shouldn't hurt, either.


Platform Trends: Intel Deploys Its Troops

What's the only thing that can hurt sales of Intel's dominant Core 2 Duo and Quad processors? It's not AMD's Phenom -- it's buyers deciding to wait for the products the chipmaker has in the pipeline. CPU guru Vince Freeman explains why the release of Intel's 45-nanometer-process quad-core "Yorkfield," higher availability of the dual-core "Wolfdale," and a new desktop chipset and quad-core laptop processor should give Intel a Q2 for the record books.


Platform Trends: Shifts in the Multicore Landscape

The state of the art's not just top of the line: After unveiling its 45-nanometer-process engineering with quad-core Xeon and Core 2 Extreme CPUs, Intel has finally added affordable dual-core versions to its Core 2 Duo line. But while these "Wolfdale" processors win raves, AMD is making moves elsewhere -- giving China first dibs on a dual-core Sempron and preparing to add tri-core models to its flagship Phenom series.


PCs for Five C's

Grand Openings is back! Well, half back, anyway, as HardwareCentral's once-quarterly quest for the best notebook and desktop PCs priced under $1,000 returns -- with a rock-bottom new budget of $500. We're not talking about humble family PCs, either: Join our online hunt for dual-core CPUs, hefty hard disks, and a sufficient-for-Vista 2GB of RAM, hitting system vendors' own Web sites, retail chains, and discount warehouses.

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