Processors

Liquid nitrogen-cooled Haswell chip hits 6.5GHz

TAIPEI -- The CPUs in most computers are usually cooled using a combination of fans and heatsinks. PC enthusiasts have gone one step further by using liquid cooling as shown in the rig above. This allows them to push the processor to run beyond its normal operating speeds so as to achieve better performance without overheating the chip.

Professional overclockers, however, use subzero cooling to achieve extreme processing speeds. In most setups, liquid nitrogen is used to chill the processor and has to be topped up regularly, while Vaseline is applied to the surrounding microchips. This prevents them from short-circuiting … Read more

Intel whips out quad-core Surface-like tablet, runs Android

Intel doesn't make tablets, but maybe it should.

At a Computex keynote speech Monday, the company showed a decidedly thin, Microsoft Surface-like tablet packing a quad-core Bay Trail processor.

Bay Trail is Intel's redesigned Atom chip, offering performance that gets a lot closer to the chipmaker's mainstream laptop processors than the Atom of old.

"Four cores, out-of-order execution, HD 4000 graphics...all day battery life," Intel said during the demonstration.

The reference design tablet is made by BYD Electronic (International), according to an Intel spokesperson. BYD also makes HP's Slate 7 Android tablet.

The … Read more

Intel's 'Thunderbolt 2' official, coming later this year

Intel has officially dubbed the next version of its high-speed port "Thunderbolt 2."

The technology was actually revealed at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in April under the code name Falcon Ridge.

Technically, Thunderbolt 2 is a controller chip that doubles the speed of the first-generation port, supporting up to 20Gbps bidirectionally.

That means the cables can now support both transferring a 4K video and putting it on screen at the same time.

Current versions of Thunderbolt are limited to an individual 10Gbs channel each for both data and display, less than the required bandwidth for 4K … Read more

MSI's Haswell laptop comes with a 3K screen

TAIPEI -- There have been plenty of Haswell laptops unveiled at Computex here this year, but so far only one model comes with a 3K screen.

At 2,880x1,620 pixels, the MSI GT60 3K Edition's 15.5-inch display boasts a high 213 pixel-per-inch (ppi) density. This makes it almost neck-and-neck with the Google Chromebook Pixel and Apple MacBook Pro with its Retina display.

A laptop with such high-resolution display will naturally need some serious processing power to drive it. That's probably why the Taiwanese company paired the GT60 3K with an Nvidia GeForce GTX780M discrete GPU (4GB … Read more

MSI shows off 4.1GHz Haswell gaming laptop

TAIPEI -- Instead of competing in the overcrowded ultrabook market, Taiwan-based MSI hopes to differentiate its brand with more gaming laptops. Its latest flagship offering in this segment is the GT70 Dragon Edition 2 Extreme, a large, 17.3-inch notebook packing some pretty powerful hardware under the hood.

At the heart of this machine is an Intel Core i7 (Haswell) processor, which is overclocked up to 4.1GHz by the company. The chip is specially "binned" so that it can run at the faster clock speed without requiring more voltage to maintain stability, while a proprietary Cooler Boost … Read more

Intel's biggest issue in the mobile arena: 'Lack of LTE'

So why is Intel having so much trouble competing in the smartphone market? Blame it on LTE.

Intel Executive Vice President of Sales Tom Kilroy said this week at the Computex trade show in Taiwan that his company's troubles in the U.S. have everything to do with its processors' lack of LTE support.

"Absence of LTE is the reason," Kilroy said, according to Engadget, which attended the event. "We can't get ranged by U.S. carriers without LTE, so once we have multi-mode LTE coming to market later this year, we have an opportunity … Read more

Intel amps up horsepower, battery life with Haswell chip

Intel's next-generation chips have officially arrived.

Developed under the codename "Haswell," the new line of chips has been engineered to enable thinner and lighter designs and longer lasting computers, and the company hopes it will reinvigorate a market that's in the doldrums.

The processor, the fourth generation of Intel's Core line, boasts double the graphics performance of the previous generation and a 15 percent raw computing boost, according to the company. That means the computer speed should be snappier, and users can perform more graphics-intensive tasks without always needing a discrete graphics chip.

Intel also … Read more

Dell updates PC line for Intel Haswell: XPS 12, XPS One 27, Alienware X51, plus a new touch-screen monitor

Remember the Dell XPS 12? The flippy-toppy 3.35-pound laptop-tablet convertible's been updated with the latest Intel fourth-gen Core i-series Haswell processors (Core i5-4200U, Core i7-4700U, or Core i7-4650U), which enables more than two hours more battery life than before (according to Dell), and a significant graphics boost thanks to integrated Intel HD4400 or 5000 graphics. Storage options include up to a 512GB SSD and 8GB of RAM. The new XPS 12 starts at $1,199. These types of small tablet-convertible systems are, ideally, the ones that Intel's newest ultrabook processors were made for,

But that's not … Read more

Intel's new fourth-gen 'Haswell' processors: What you need to know (FAQ)

Intel has officially revealed its next-generation lineup of desktop and mobile processors in the Core i3, i5, and i7 family, also known as "fourth-generation" or code-named "Haswell." The two-part announcement started over the weekend with Intel's quad-core enthusiast-level processors, and now the veil has been lifted on dual-core desktop and mobile processors, too.

This FAQ will mainly focus on the dual-core processors and what they'll do for mobile systems. For a detailed rundown on the quad-core processors, check out our hands-on look.

What is it? Haswell is Intel's code name for the fourth … Read more

Future Windows 8.1 tablets to tap Qualcomm chip

The next round of Windows 8.1 RT tablets will be supported by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800, the chipmaker announced Monday.

Could it be destined for a future Surface tablet? That's not clear yet but Qualcomm hints at future RT products with its silicon.

"Qualcomm continues to build on its relationship with Microsoft by helping to launch and optimize the newest build of Windows for Snapdragon, Windows 8.1 RT," the chip supplier said.

The statement continued. "The next processor to be featured in upcoming Windows 8.1 RT computers will be the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800.&… Read more