Modern PC News for August 2004

• AMD Kills AthlonXP and Releases Sempron

• AMD Sempron Explained

• Intel Delays 4Ghz P4 Again

• IBM Releases Interesting "Toolless" Business PC's for US$500

• McAfee VirusScan 9 Goes After Spyware

• Microsoft To Pay Shareholders $32 Billion

• Microsoft: 1 Billion Windows PCs by 2010

• Apple 'Stunned' by RealNetworks iPod Move

• MS Debuts Newsbot and Discusses Blogbot & Answerbot

• Glitch Hobbles New Intel "Nocona" Xeon Processors

• Netscape Confirms 7.2 Release Date

• New Design for Nintendo DS

• Virtual PC 7 Set for October

• Streaming Video News

Commodore.ca | AMD Kills AthlonXP and Releases Sempron

AMD made several important announcements this week:

1. Athlon XP's < 2700+ are end of life

2. Athlon XP's > 2700+ had minor price increases

3. Athlon 64's had price cuts of up to 30%

4. Durons are dead which will not bother most North Americans as Durons have only been available to the Asian market for about the last year.

5. A "new" product called "Sempron's" was released July 28th 2004 will replace the Duron. 

ALL 32 bit Athlon XP's will be phased out completely over the next four months and Athlon64's will take their place in the market.  The initial batch of Sempron's are simply Athlon Thoroughbred-B's with 256K of cache (half that of the Athlon Barton cores) and will initially only have speeds ranging from 2400+ to 2800+.  These Semprons are still "Socket A" which means they will become the upgrade path for users with the original line of Athlon XP compatible boards.

3Ghz and above Semprons will use the Althon64 core (Newcastle) stripped of its 64 bit processing (Paris core) and will all be Socket 754.  Early in 2005 this core will be replaced with the new Palmero core manufactured at 90Nm.

TomsHardware.com | AMD Sempron Explained

ed. if you have the time you should read the full article from the good folks at Toms Hardware.

...AMD did not chance the CPUID in order to preserve compatibility between Sempron and the tremendous amount of both installed AMD systems and available motherboards. The efforts for creating Sempron were likely a matter of hours only.

As the Sempron birth is nothing else than a simple renaming of AthlonXP, the consequences for customers and motherboard makers are small. If you don't mind your motherboard displaying AthlonXP at boot time, you don't even require a BIOS update.

...Some of you might wonder why AMD didn't pick the best AthlonXP core they had available. The reason is simple: While Thoroughbred-B has a die size of 84 mm2, Barton already requires 101 mm2 - which is approximately 20% more. In addition, Barton's heat dissipation of 74.3 W maximum is around 10% higher than the 68.3 W of Thoroughbred-B. While this may not sound like a great deal, it will contribute to keep cooling costs as low as possible.

...The Intel roadmap provides for Celeron D 340J, 345J and 350J models with up to 3.20 GHz in Q1/2005, and you don't need to be a genius to realize that Socket A processors based on Thoroughbred-B will certainly be outperformed by then. Particularly because AMD has no intentions of releasing faster Socket A models...

...AMD, however, has carefully prepared its weapon for a standoff against the Celeron. The Socket 754 platform won't stand a chance against Intel's dual channel FSB800 and FSB1066 clock speed monsters, so it's perfectly suitable as a value platform for future Sempron processors. This is why the Socket 754 Paris processor was born: It is an Athlon64 Newcastle without 64 Bit extensions, but with Cool & Quiet, NX bit, 256 KB L2 cache and 1.8 GHz clock speed. Users that have a system with a Sempron 3100+ will have the road paved for upgrades to Athlon64 3400+ and 3700+. Faster Athlon64 versions for Socket 754 are unlikely, but the Palermo core will continue the Sempron family at 90 Nm at the beginning of 2005...

...After a short look at our benchmark results the conclusion is clear: AMD's Sempron is able to outperform Celeron D in most applications. In addition, motherboards based on the nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset offer more graphics performance than Intel's 865G platform at a similar and sometimes lower price - even though we're talking about a pathetic level of 3D experience here.

But that is not the reason why value systems are bought. Price is what counts and this is why AMD is making extensive use of its proven technology. In order to grow its business, AMD needs to continually draw maximum value out of its existing products and to transfer that value to its customers. This is what AMD accomplished with the Sempron, by combining existing AthlonXP and Athlon64 features to fulfill a specific market sector demand, which in this case is the value processor market.

Reuters.com | Intel Delays 4Ghz P4 Again

...The Santa Clara, California-based company now expects to ship a Pentium 4 chip running at four gigahertz, or four billion cycles per second, in the first quarter, spokeswoman Laura Anderson said.

"We're committed to putting our execution back on track in a way that makes the company even stronger," Anderson said. She declined to give a reason for the delay, other than to say that Intel wanted to be able to provide adequate volumes of the product to customers...

ZDNet.com | IBM Releases Interesting "Toolless" Business PC's for US$500

While demonstrating the soon-to-be-released IBM S50 toolless computer, IBM product marketing manager Stephen Miller points out that in today's market, prices will come down to meet actual computing needs. With that in mind, ZDNet's David Berlind asks: How much PC is enough for an average business user, and when is "technological advancement" simply a price boost?

Click HERE for the video interview and Demo.

Click HERE for the full story.

Reuters.com | Apple 'Stunned' by RealNetworks iPod Move

Apple Computer Inc. is unhappy with RealNetworks Inc.'s move this week to make its RealPlayer music service compatible with Apple's market-leading iPod digital music player and may take legal action to counter it, the company said on Thursday...

BetaNews.com | MS Debuts Newsbot and Discusses Blogbot and Answerbot
By David Worthington

...Starting today, customers can sign up for a beta of the MSNBC Newsbot – an expansive online news service powered by MSN search technology.

The MSNBC Newsbot allows customers to sift through more than 4,800 worldwide news sources; although, not without a personal touch. In order to suit individual tastes, the Newsbot uses cookies to suggest news stories that a user may be interested in viewing based upon their reading habits.

...MSN Blogbot spiders the Net for Web logs and then produces relevant search results in response to customers' search queries. Redmond is billing Blogbot as a first-of-its-kind service; nonetheless, services including Blogdex, Blogdigger, and BlogoSphere function in much the same way.

MSN will officially launch Newsbot and Blogbot by the end of this year, while the development of Answerbot -- a natural language interface -- is expected to trail behind the rest.

News.com | Glitch Hobbles New Intel "Nocona" Xeon Processors
By Stephen Shankland

A glitch in an Intel chip has hampered the launch of an important communication technology arriving Monday with a new generation of servers, sources familiar with the situation said.

Intel and server partners plan to launch the "Nocona" version of the Xeon processor for dual-processor servers on Monday, but a supporting chip called "Lindenhurst" that handles input-output chores has a flaw that in rare circumstances can cripple the computer, sources said. The problem means Intel will recommend against using adapter cards that plug into servers with the new PCI Express communications technology.

The problem is expected to be fixed in an updated version of Lindenhurst arriving in the fourth quarter of 2004, sources said. Meanwhile, customers thinking of buying the new servers--the first with Intel chips that support 64-bit extensions--will be able to use the older PCI-X input-output slots or use adapters that have been certified not to be affected by the glitch...

BetaNews | Netscape Confirms 7.2 Release Date

According to a notice posted on the Netscape Store, version 7.2 of the famed browser will be made available August 3, and distributed as either a free download or low–cost CD. Netscape 7.2 is based on the Mozilla Foundation's Mozilla 1.7 milestone.

PCMag.com | New Design for Nintendo DS
By Axel Strohm

Nintendo today confirmed the final name for its upcoming dual-screened handheld hardware today. However, there are no surprises in store—the handheld's code name is also its real name. It will hit the market later this year branded the Nintendo DS.

Today's announcement also included a surprise redesign of the DS hardware, however, with a slightly smaller black base and a gently curved platinum flip-top cover. Furthermore, the face and shoulder buttons have increased in size—according to Nintendo, they've been "reconfigured for optimum use". Also new is a storage slot for the touch screen stylus and stereo speakers

"...Dual screens, chat functions, a touch screen, wireless capabilities, voice recognition - these abilities surpass anything attempted before..."

BetaNews.com | Virtual PC 7 Set for October

Microsoft's Virtual PC 7, which will include Windows XP in the box, is now scheduled for a release to manufacturing in September and public debut in early October. VPC 7 was originally delayed until late summer while Microsoft completed work on Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, ensuring users a secure Windows experience. Now customers will have to wait even longer due to problems in the development of SP2, which is currently set for a September release.