AMD’s RV810, RV840, and RV870 Series
Hey guys, Icarus here! Thanks for your comments, it helps a lot! I’m still anxious for more! 
Today, I’m going to flip sides and talk about AMD’s new approach to DX11: the RV800 series.
So far, there’re there GPUs that we know of:
1. the RV 810
2. the RV 840
3. the RV 870
Anyways, the top two, RV840 and RV870, are the GPUs that AMD is going to use to conquer DX11 over NVidia.
Now, AMD is taking a similar strategy as Intel is, except in the GPU industry. By dividing the newer GPUs into entry-, mid-, and high-level, AMD is simplifying its enormous family of graphics cards.
Now, AMD hasn’t leaked much information on the new RV8xx series, but from what I have seen and heard, they have not had any major setbacks like NVidia had. We still don’t know who started on the course to conquer DX11 first, but from the looks of it, AMD may take this race.
However, keep in mind that products still in the prototype state can take ANY “side-roads”, so we will not know who will release their GPUs first.
It is all completely up to NVidia, AMD, and technology karma.
Well, that’s all for today! I hope you like my articles!
Oh and please comment!! I’m always out for criticism, analysis, and suggestions on what you want me to review!
Cheers!!
~| Icarus
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Effect of AMD’s DX11
Hey guys, Icarus here. Today, I’m going to jump to talking about graphics. However, not just any graphics card, I’m going to talk about DX11.
Earlier this month, AMD announced that it is already developing graphics cards that will support DX11. Now, this doesn’t automatically mean AMD is going to be ahead of NVidia; it may be far from that. This just means that AMD will have GPU’s capable of supporting DX11 before NVidia.
The weird part is, NVidia hasn’t announced its support for the new DX11. This could mean one of a few things:
1. NVidia is allowing AMD to pave the road for them, and then come in after them to compete
2. NVidia is too busy competing in the mobile GPU industry
3. AMD is trying to make a huge comeback in the GPU industry and hope it tidalwaves into its processor line-up
And my personal favorite response,
4. NONE OF THE ABOVE
As of now, none of us have any idea what DX11 is even capable of. However, if it can be compared to the transition from DX9 to DX10, it will be a monumental step for both the graphics hardware and software industries. GPUs will be that much more powerful, and games will be that much more realistic.
So, you’re probably wondering, when can we expect DX11 to come out with the hardware? And when will it be mainstream?
Well, personally, I’m predicting sometime in the 3rd or 4th quarter that DX11 will make its debut with a couple GPUs. DX11 probably won’t be mainstream until next year, like how DX10 transitioned from DX9.
So, that’s all for me for today. Hope you enjoyed my post!
Oh by the way, I made a Twitter Page. Also, I made a Facebook Page for this website! Make sure to become a fan, and follow me on Twitter!
Videos coming up soon, taking more videos, and waiting on video-editting software for some awesome videos! Stay tuned!
Oh, and don’t forget, COMMENT MY POSTS!! I’m always looking for feedback, suggestions, and what you want me to review or talk about!
Cheers!
~| Icarus
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The Power of GPU’s and CPU’s
Hey guys, Icarus here. I’m going to be continuing w/ the discussion of GPU’s, CPU’s, and the relationship between them.
But for today’s post, it’s all going to be about the power of GPU’s.
Here’s a list of some basic functions of a GPU:
1. They create graphics on your screen(obviously hahaha)
2. They do all of the calculations and coding required to create moving objects
3. Many new graphics cards now have physics engines built in, which means that games especially will be extremely realistic.
So, I’ll be talking about all three in simple language.
Graphics cards create graphics on your screen
This one’s pretty obvious. The GPU isn’t called a “graphics processing unit” for nothing. However, a GPU isn’t required to create images on your screen; you can have a motherboard with an integrated graphics processor built in. The drawback for integrated graphics processors is that usually, the integrated graphics is much, MUCH weaker than an independent graphics card.
Graphics Cards do all of the graphics work
Well, imagine having… around 1000 pages of gruelling calculations involving only the numbers 1 and 0, and then doing all 1000 pages in a millisecond or less. No, you can’t do that. And if you can, I’d love to meet you because I’d be honored to meet a person who can keep up in calculations with, of all things, a computer.
Now, the actual commands come from the CPU(central processing unit), but the actual work is done by the GPU. It basically churns out all of the data and commands into a visual.
Newer Graphcis Cards have physics engines built in
Well, first of all, what is a physics engine?
Many of you may not realize this, but physics is extremely important to our lively hoods, from gravity to the balance of molecules, and the movement of trillions of electrons that allow me to type this up. Now, the physics engine I am talking about is mainly used in games.
To make games more realistic, some companies used to make independent physics cards to take care of all the physics involved in a game. Well, they trashed that idea and basically put that idea into the newer graphics cards. Now, games are much more realistic, and much more intense!
Well, that’s all for now! Make sure to post comments, because I am still DEFINITELY looking for material to write about! What comes first is you, my readers, and I want to blog about the hardware you want to learn more about.
And by the way… YOUTUBE VIDEOS COMING UP!! My dad is buying video-editting software for himself, but he said I can mooch off of him. So videos to come!
Thanks for reading, and see you all tomorrow!
Cheers, and happy father’s day to all of you proud fathers out there!
~| Icarus
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Common Myths of CPU’s and GPU’s
Hey guys, it’s Icarus here, gone for the last 2 days. I apologize for that… my Internet was just so slow and by the time I got on my blog to write my next post… my Internet just wouldn’t work with me. But I’m here to tell all of you that I’m still going to write articles every day. In the last post, I promised an article talking about processors and graphics cards, so I’m going to start out with that.
I also got some advice from my father and observations of my own, so I’m going to be implementing that.
So, talking about “processors and graphics cards” is a little vague. Here’s a start for all of you:
1. A Few Common myths of processors and graphics cards
2. The power of processors and graphics cards
3. If one were to reign supreme and have most of the computer under its control, which one will have that control?
In this article, I will be talking about some common myths.
Common Myths of Processors and Graphics Cards
Now, many of you are new to computers, some who are pretty good with computer hardware, and there’re us, the experts. But there’re always common myths lurking around rising from misconceptions of a few people and spreading around through forums and websites. But I’m going to crack some of them.
One common myth I come across is this one: “A computer cannot exist without a graphics card installed.” Well, most of you would probably want a graphics card installed on your computer for kicks and giggles, and maybe for shows. But that’s not true; computers can run WITHOUT graphics cards. A common and one of the only options for running computers without graphics cards is to have a motherboard with integrated graphics. This is a really cool feature for those of you who don’t really need the graphics power because you save money from not buying a graphics card. These motherboards with integrated graphics is definitely not as powerful as some of the mid-range and high-range graphics cards, but it will churn out more than enough power to give you a display on your monitor.
Another common myth I hear a lot is “Oh no, my Core2 processor is only 1.45 GHz, it’s so slow!!!!!” Again, that’s definitely NOT true. The processing speed of CPUs and its efficiency depends on many factors. One main factor is the number of cores.
As technology keeps developing and revolutionizing itself, programs and hardware must both keep up. Today, we have single-core processors, dual-core processors, tri-core processors(AMD’s Phenom) and the quad-core processors. Now, if you have been “trapped” by this common myth, you will think that a 3.00 GHz Pentium processor will be faster and more efficient than a Core2 1.45Ghz processor. Well, that’s wrong; take into consideration the number of cores: the Pentium has 1, and the Core2 has two cores(in this example). Now, when you have two cores PLUS hyper-threading, this means that you essentially have 4 cores, just not written on the box or the computer. This means that you have cores just as powerful or more powerful than the one in the Pentium, and you have four of them. As you start using more and more programs simultaneously, the Core 2 processor will have an easy time utilizing its cores, but the Pentium will have a hard time because it will only have 1 core, and it can only take on so many threads and tasks. That’s why processor speeds, at first glance, do not really matter.
Well, there’re a few of the common myths of processors and graphics cards. Tomorrow, I will be talking about the potential of processors and graphics cards. Come back tomorrow for more awesome information!
And don’t forget to comment! I will be writing at least one quality article everyday, and suggestions/criticism/compliments help a lot! Also, don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!
See you all later!
~| Icarus
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The History of CPU’s and GPU’s
Have you ever thought of a day when only a CPU or GPU controlled the whole system, and the other option was not there anymore? Recently, I have. It’s Icarus here again, and I’m just going to start this out by talking about the two: CPU’s and GPU’s.
This thought came to mind when I was thinking about the recent court case between Intel and NVidia, fighting over licensing rights for developing chipsets that supported the Core i7 Nehalem processors. Intel is the processor powerhouse, and NVidia is a large GPU competitor against ATI.
Now, years and years ago, when computers were still at lower levels, and Intel was competing against stronghold AMD with its new Pentium processors, not much was integrated; memory controllers were in a separate location on the motherboard, memory was still controlled via the memory controller, there was only DDR memory, and the GPU was at its separate location, receiving commands from the CPU. Initially, a computer could not work without a CPU or a GPU; the computer had to have both. You’d definitely need a CPU to send commands to other components through the motherboard for the computer to even function, and you’d need a GPU to have a display to look at.
As developers and manufacturers created new and better computer hardware at an alarming rate, things started to become integrated; AMD went on to be the first to include the on-die memory controller in its CPU’s, NVidia was established and began to create its own GPU’s, Intel began the development of the Core2 series, and motherboard chipsets became more and more advanced for CPUs to be able to process and send commands and data to components of the computers more quickly. CPU’s and GPU’s developed at a neck-to-neck rate, and both were progressively becoming much more powerful and efficient.
And now, here we are today, with the Core i7 Nehalmen processors, ATI’s popular 4870 X2 and NVidia’s GTX 295 GPU’s, one with 2 GPU’s on one graphics card and the latter with one powerful GPU. Intel now includes its on-die memory controller in the CPU itself, and now there’re motherboards with integrated GPU’s powerful enough to produce a good display on monitors. Everything is becoming INTEGRATED.
So, what’s next on the menu? Well, I’m going to talk about the hypothetical situations I thought of when either the CPU or GPU completely takes control of a computer, meaning that one can live without the other(CPU won’t even need on-board integrated GPU).
Don’t forget to comment!! Comments are always welcome; criticisms, compliments, suggestions, whatever you want covered in my blogs. And please, when you put criticisms, put it in a mannered fashion. It’s a blog, not a flame war zone Xp
And don’t forget to subscribe! I’m going to be writing at least one good blog post a day, and that’s a promise!
Well, that’s all I got for tonight! See you all later! Come back tomorrow!
~| Icarus
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