PCHardCores: September 2018

Friday 28 September 2018

Intel addresses CPU shortage in open letter from interim CEO

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Intel CFO and Interim CEO Bob Swan on Friday published an open letter that outlines recent supply concerns and the steps his company is taking to address them.

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AMD Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G Integrated Graphics Frequency Scaling

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One of the last poignant questions from our previous Ryzen APU coverage is the way that integrated graphics scales with overclocking. As these low-end Ryzen APUs are all about gaming on a budget, our previous looks into core frequency and memory scaling lead naturally into examining how well the graphics overclocks and what extra performance can be had with a light touch of BIOS settings. We pushed both of our APUs to 1600 MHz on the graphics, representing a +45% overclock, which translates into some interesting results.

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Zadak 511 puts 32GB of memory onto a single stick of RAM

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While 32 gigabytes of memory is a hearty helping of RAM for any PC, imagine having all of that packed into a single DIMM?

Well, Zadak 511 has done just that and is now showing off its first 32GB stick of Shield DC Aura2 RGB DDR4 memory on Weibo. By utilizing a new DC DIMM format, ZadaK 511 was able to create this RAM with an incredibly high-capacity far greater than the usual 8GB memory DIMMs we’re used to seeing.

The Shield DC Aura2 RGB memory also runs at 3,200MHz at 1.35V with CL14-14-14-34 timings, which is all impressive for such a dense module. Of course, the major drawback of this double capacity memory is its double tall size, which may make it incompatible with a majority of air-based CPU coolers.

Zakak 511 Shield DC Aura2 RGB

Before you start thinking there’s no way this is going to work with any PC you could ever buy or build, the DC DIMM format is a non-JEDEC standard that’s designed for forthcoming Z390 motherboards like the Asus Maximus XI.

So soon after Intel Coffee Lake Refresh processors are announced, we may well start to see PC builds with a mind bending 256GB of memory. That said, we see DC DIMMs being more beneficial to Mini ITX motherboards that only have two available memory slots.

Unfortunately, there’s no word of when or how much Zadak 511’s Shield DC Aura2 RGB DDR4-3200MHz Double Capacity 64GB (2X32GB) memory kits will sell for as of yet.

Via Wccftech

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Intel Investing $1B to Meet 14nm Demand: Prioritizing High-End Core and Xeon

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Bob Swan, Intel’s CFO and interim CEO, on Friday issued an open letter to the company’s customers and partners addressing tight supply of some of the company’s products. The high-ranking executive admitted the issue and outlined the set of actions Intel is taking to tackle the problem.

The head of Intel noted that demand for the company’s chips for PCs and servers has been significantly exceeding expectations throughout 2018. As a result, Intel had to prioritize production of its high-end Core and Xeon processors over other products at some point, which is why supply of entry-level products made using 14 nm process technology is tight right now.

In a bid to increase production of its 14-nm chips the company is investing an additional $1 billion in its manufacturing sites in Oregon, Arizona, Ireland and Israel that product chips using the said technology.

This is a breaking news. We are updating the story.

The full Intel news item is reposted below.

An Open Letter from Bob Swan, Intel CFO and Interim CEO

To our customers and partners,

The first half of this year showed remarkable growth for our industry. I want to take a moment to recap where we’ve been, offer our sincere thanks and acknowledge the work underway to support you with performance-leading Intel products to help you innovate.

First, the situation … The continued explosion of data and the need to process, store, analyze and share it is driving industry innovation and incredible demand for compute performance in the cloud, the network and the enterprise. In fact, our data-centric businesses grew 25 percent through June, and cloud revenue grew a whopping 43 percent in the first six months. The performance of our PC-centric business has been even more surprising. Together as an industry, our products are convincing buyers it’s time to upgrade to a new PC. For example, second-quarter PC shipments grew globally for the first time in six years, according to Gartner. We now expect modest growth in the PC total addressable market (TAM) this year for the first time since 2011, driven by strong demand for gaming as well as commercial systems – a segment where you and your customers trust and count on Intel.

We are thrilled that in an increasingly competitive market, you keep choosing Intel. Thank you.

Now for the challenge… The surprising return to PC TAM growth has put pressure on our factory network. We’re prioritizing the production of Intel® Xeon® and Intel® Core™ processors so that collectively we can serve the high-performance segments of the market. That said, supply is undoubtedly tight, particularly at the entry-level of the PC market. We continue to believe we will have at least the supply to meet the full-year revenue outlook we announced in July, which was $4.5 billion higher than our January expectations.

To address this challenge, we’re taking the following actions:

We are investing a record $15 billion in capital expenditures in 2018, up approximately $1 billion from the beginning of the year. We’re putting that $1 billion into our 14nm manufacturing sites in Oregon, Arizona, Ireland and Israel. This capital along with other efficiencies is increasing our supply to respond to your increased demand.

We’re making progress with 10nm. Yields are improving and we continue to expect volume production in 2019.

We are taking a customer-first approach. We’re working with your teams to align demand with available supply. You can expect us to stay close, listen, partner and keep you informed.

The actions we are taking have put us on a path of continuous improvement. At the end of the day, we want to help you make great products and deliver strong business results. Many of you have been longtime Intel customers and partners, and you have seen us at our best when we are solving problems.

Sincerely,

Bob Swan
Intel Corporation CFO and Interim CEO

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Double Height, Double Capacity DDR4? ZADAK's New 32 GB UDIMMs

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ZADAK, a maker of memory modules from Taiwan, has reportedly published photos of its upcoming unbuffered memory modules featuring a 32 GB capacity. The UDIMMs and SO-DIMMs are the first consumer-grade 32 GB memory sticks to feature RGB lighting. The main intrigue about the modules is how ZADAK managed to build them ahead of many rivals.

This week the Chinese subsidiary of ZADAK published the first images of the company’s Shield DC Aura2 RGB-branded 32 GB UDIMM and SO-DIMM on its Weibo page. The modules are rated at DDR4-3200 MT/s (unknown subtimings), and are outfitted with large aluminum heat spreaders featuring RGB lightbars.

So far, only Samsung has introduced 32 GB consumer-grade non-ECC DDR4 UDIMMs and SO-DIMMs. Samsung's modules are based on the company’s 16 Gb DDR4 chips and are available to select customers only. Other leading suppliers of memory modules, including Corsair, G.Skill, GEIL, and others, only offer 16 GB consumer-graded non-ECC unbuffered modules based on 4 or 8 Gb devices. In order for Zadak to impliment 32GB modules ahead of its rivals, it would need one of two things: Samsung's 16Gb chips, or a new technology. By going the double height route, it is clear that they are using a different technology to increase capacity.

It is worth noting that 32GB-256GB modules already exist for servers and workstations, but these are RDIMMs , with a register chip and ECC, and is a different technology from the standard 'unbuffered' DIMMs for home computers. RDIMMs enable memory controllers to support a higher amount of memory chips without losing stability, which is why almost all RDIMMs typically also feature ECC.

ZADAK does not disclose which DRAMs it uses for its 32 GB Shield DC Aura2 RGB modules, and we're waiting on more information from them although there is a bit of a translation barrier - when asked for information, we were told 'it's a new technology' without any expansion. Considering how large ZADAK’s 32 GB SO-DIMMs are, it is possible that they are based on 32 8 Gb DRAM and feature a register chip to enable systems to work with the modules stably. It is also possible that Samsung has started to sell its 16 Gb chips to third parties and ZADAK is among the first to start teasing potential customers with high-capacity modules, and the best way to advertise this was super big memory PCBs.

While 32 GB consumer-grade memory modules certainly look impressive on paper, their practical usability is potentially limited. Mainstream client CPUs only officially support up to 64 GB of memory, and systems that need 64 GB of RAM usually have four DIMM slots. As a result, client PCs do not necessarily need 32 GB modules just now. Furthermore, given the current prices of DRAM, specialty 32GB DIMMs like these will be anything but cheap. However it may point to CPUs that support double current capacity points in the future.

Thursday 27 September 2018

Compal ODM Expects Intel CPU Shortage to Last Until Mid-2019

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President and CEO of Company believes that Intel's CPU shortages won't stop until the second part of 2019.

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The best NAS devices 2018: top Network Attached Storage for the home and office

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Buying the best NAS device for your needs doesn't need to be complicated and confusing, and we're here to help with straightforward advice. In this guide, we list the best NAS devices money can buy in 2018.

But, what is a NAS? NAS stands for network attached storage, and these devices are external hard drives that plug into a network, rather than a PC. This allows you to access the NAS - and all of its files - through pretty much any device on your network. The best NAS devices will also grant you remote access over the internet, so you can be on the other side of the world and still have quick and easy access to your important files.

The best NAS devices are platform-agnostic as well, which meas they’ll work with pretty much any device, so it doesn’t matter if you’re running macOS, Windows or Linux.

So, read on to find out our pick of the best NAS devices for the home and office. If you're looking to increase the storage capacity of your NAS, then check out our list of the best hard drives.

Top: Best NAS drives

WD has achieved quite considerable success with its unashamedly consumer-friendly My Cloud products, which can stream to any DLNA-compliant device and can be accessed via mobile apps for iOS and Android.

Labeled as a 'personal cloud,' it's a NAS box by any other measure and starts at 2TB of storage (you can also get it in 3 or 4TB). As it's a one-bay unit, it can't back itself up to a drive inside the unit, but it can back up to an external hard drive via a USB port on the back.

Read our full WD My Cloud Personal review

Top 10: Best NAS drives

Picking up on the 'personal cloud' theme, this unit from Seagate takes its lead from My Cloud, but it offers far larger capacities, along with dual bays for two hard drives. This allows the Seagate Personal Cloud 2-Bay NAS device to mirror the files on one hard drive to a second one, giving you protection in case one of those drives fails.

We also like the no-fuss appearance of this unit, meaning it can sit nicely under a router or on a shelf. It works with cloud accounts, including Dropbox and Google Drive, and you can also use an app to share content to streamers, including Chromecast and Roku.

The QNAP TS-251A is a fantastic NAS device that has more features than you can shake a stick – or the included remote control – at. It offers dual Ethernet ports, a HDMI out for connecting it up to a TV and respectable hardware including a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Celeron CPU and 4GB of RAM for hardware transcoding media files.

The QTS OS lets you easily install a variety of apps, from Plex Media Server, file sharing apps and even a karaoke app, as well as run Ubuntu Linux for even more flexibility.

In short - this is a fantastic NAS device, though you'll need to buy the hard drives separately, so factor that in to the overall cost.

Top 10: Best NAS drives

This 2TB dual-bay NAS (it's also available in 4, 6, and 8TB capacities) comes from Buffalo, the company that also makes the TeraStation line of advanced NAS units.

The key selling point of this model is that it can integrate directly with BitTorrent, meaning it can download stuff for you even when your PC is turned off. Like many of the other devices here, you can also stream to it via various devices, it's platform agnostic and you can use it as an iTunes server.

This product is only available in the US and UK at the time of this writing. Australian readers: check out a fine alternative in the Seagate Personal Cloud 2-Bay

Once in a while, a product comes around that challenges the conventions of their product category. The DS1817 is one such product. Most NAS devices that occupy the ‘value’ space tend to be underpowered and have little to no room for expansion. The DS1817 flies in the face of those conventions, and allows users to fill the included eight drive bays with whatever they choose, so that you can get as much (or as little) storage as you’d like. Plus, on top of this heaping expandability, the 10GbE LAN and Quad-Core CPU mean that you’ll never be left wanting for performance.

Read the full review: Synology DiskStation DS181

Top 10: Best NAS drives

This two-bay unit can create a mirrored backup of your stuff (duplicating your data on both drives), using RAID configuration. That's quite an advanced feature for a consumer box and you do pay quite a lot for that capability and WD's user-friendly presentation, including an easy-to-master, browser-based control screen.

This is a 4TB unit (6, 8, and 16TB units are also available). For extra peace of mind, you can also back the contents up to Dropbox.

Anyone looking at purely technical aspects will instantly fall in love with the Synology DiskStation DS1517. Thanks to its quad-core CPU and up to 8GB of RAM, this NAS can reach sequential speeds of 111.4 MB/s write and 110.3 MB/s read without even breaking a sweat. When you combine that raw performance with the DS1517’s expandability, you have a recipe for a NAS that can stack up against the best NAS devices on the market. However, be aware that the DS1517 isn’t cheap, and unless you’re a creative professional, or you’re looking for a NAS for a small business, it might be overkill.

Read the full review: Synology DiskStation DS1517

Top 10: Best NAS drives

As well as the RAID capabilities found in more expensive and complex NAS devices, this box is meant for small business use and supports Microsoft Active Directory. It can also act as a file server, FTP server, backup server and P2P download server.

WD's EX series are also available in diskless variants, though this price is for the 4TB version. 8TB, 12TB and 16TB are also available. If you don't need any of this extra stuff, then get the My Cloud Mirror.

If you're looking for a NAS device to help manage your backup needs, the DL4100 might be worth. taking a look at.

One of the coolest features of this device is its web dashboard that offers users options for backing up to cloud services such as Dropbox and Box. Additionally, we really liked the ability to set up SMS and email alerts in case the system failed for whatever reason.

As far as storage options are concerned, the DL4100 comes with four drive bays in your choice of four configurations. Aside from some annoying issues with wireless transfers, we found that the DL4100's 1.7GHz dual-core Atom processor and 2GB of RAM (configurable up to 6GB) performed admirably. Combine this with an easy setup and cloud connected web apps, and you have an interesting backup offering on your hands.

This product is only available in the US and UK at the time of this writing. Australian readers: check out a fine alternative in the WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra

Read our full Western Digital DL4100 review

Top 10: Best NAS drives

While the Apple AirPort Time Capsule does offer a great experience for Mac users, its 2 and 3TB storage options are very expensive compared to their competition. But, then this is Apple we’re talking about. Now, while it’s entirely wireless, other NAS devices don’t really need to be wireless, because you’ll always wire them directly into a wireless router for optimal performance, so the wireless functionality here doesn’t affect the way you access your files.

However, the Time Capsule feature does make it easy to setup and configure automatic backups for Mac and iOS users. So, if you’re an Apple fan that doesn’t like getting into the fine details of tech, this is a good buy despite all of the nagging flaws.

Read our full Apple AirPort Time Capsule review

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ASRock Jupiter: 1 Liter UCFF PCs with Six-Core Coffee-Lake CPUs

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ASRock has quietly added a new family of ultra-compact form-factor (UCFF) PCs into its product lineup. The Jupiter-series one-liter systems are designed for Intel’s Coffee Lake processors and feature rather robust expansion capabilities.

The ASRock Jupiter-series UCFF PCs are compatible with various Intel’s 8^th Generation processors with up to 65 W TDP and are based on Intel’s H310 or Q370 platforms, thus aiming at different segments of the market: from entry-level Pentium-powered PCs to higher-end Core i7-powered desktops. Both H310 and Q370 Jupiter machines feature two slots for DDR4-2666 memory modules (up to 32 GB is supported), an M.2-2280 slot for PCIe 3.0 x4 or SATA SSD, two 2.5-inch/9.5-mm bays for storage devices, an M.2-2230 slot for optional 802.11ac + Bluetooth module, and so on.

While the systems seem to be generally similar internally, they have a number of differences when it comes to connectors and features. The Q370 platform supports Intel’s vPro technology and is therefore more suitable for enterprise users. Next up are connectors. The H310-based machine has three display outputs, including a native D-Sub as well as a DisplayPort and an HDMI. By contrast, the Q370-powered one has two DPs and one HDMI. There is still an option for a D-Sub, yet it is available only for custom-made orders. Meanwhile, there are also differences in USB connectivity. While both do have USB-A and USB-C on the front, the more expensive one supports USB 3.0 speed on the back, whereas the cheaper one has USB 2.0 due to the chipset limitations.

ASRock Jupter UCFF PCs
Model		Jupiter H310	Jupiter Q370
CPU		Coffee Lake CPU with 35 W or 65 W TDP Up to Intel Core i7-8700
GPU		Intel UHD Graphics 630
DRAM		Two DDR4 SO-DIMM slots Up to 32 GB of DDR4-2667 in dual-channel mode
Motherboard		H310D4-P1	Q370D4-P1
Intel vPro Support		-	Yes
Storage	SSD	M.2-2280 (PCIe x4 or SATA)	M.2-2280 (PCIe x4 or SATA) Intel Optane support
	DFF	2 × 2.5-inch/9.5-mm SATA 6 Gbps
	SD	-
Wireless		Optional 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth module
Ethernet		1 × GbE port (Realtek)
USB	Front	2 × USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A 2 × USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C
	Back	4 × USB 2.0 Type-A	4 × USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A
Display Outputs		1 × DisplayPort 1.2 1 × D-Sub 1 × HDMI 2.0	2 × DisplayPort 1.2 1 × D-Sub (optional) 1 × HDMI 2.0
Audio		2 × 3.5mm audio jacks (Realtek)
Other I/O		1 × COM port	-
PSU		External 90 W PSU
Warranty		Typical, varies by country
Dimensions		Length: 178 mm Width: 178 mm Height: 34 mm
MSRP		?	?

ASRock already lists its Jupiter H310 system on its website, so expect it to hit the market shortly. The Jupiter Q370 is noted only briefly, so most probably it will arrive a bit later.

AMD reportedly set to capture 30% of CPU market this year

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The report comes from Taiwanese publication DigiTimes, whose sources say AMD’s CPU market share is set to jump from its current 20 percent to 30 percent in Q4 2018, thereby giving the company its biggest slice of the pie since Q4 2007, when it was at 31.8 percent.

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Wednesday 26 September 2018

Arm Unveils Arm Safety Ready Initiative, Cortex-A76AE Processor

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The market of automobiles is changing. Modern cars use more electronics than ever and adoption of electronic components in general and processors in particular is not going to slow down. All major automakers are working on self-driving vehicles, which means that cars of the future will need even more sophisticated SoCs.

As demand for components needed for autonomous cars is about to explode in the coming years, it is not surprising that more companies start to develop solutions specifically designed for such vehicles. Arm on Wednesday launched its new Arm Safety Initiative that is aimed to develop solutions for self-driving cars. In addition, the company launched its Cortex-A76AE, its first processor IP designed specifically for autonomous vehicles.

Arm Safety Initiative

Arm is clearly not a newcomer to the automotive market. The company’s general-purpose and real-time cores have been used by makers of various vehicles since 1996. Nowadays Arm’s IP is used for ADAS (collision avoidance, cruise control, etc.), connectivity, infotainment, powertrain control, and other components of the cars.

Meanwhile, up until lately Arm supplied automakers its IP originally developed for various devices in general. By contrast, the Arm Safety Initiative is a multi-year program under which the company will develop Automotive Enhanced (AE) custom and semi-custom solutions for autonomous cars. Initially, Arm will start with solutions for Level 3 self-driving vehicles, but over time it will offer products built for Level 4 and Level 5 autonomous cars sometimes in 2020 and beyond.

The Arm Safety Initiative spans the company’s entire portfolio of products and will include certified physical IP blocks to be made using specific process technologies, ISO 26262-certified software tools and components, safety documentation, and so on.

Right now, Arm only talks about its Cortex-A76AE processor for self-driving cars, but the grand plan includes Automotive Enhanced processors based on the Helios and the Hercules microarchitectures. Besides, Arm intends to offer AE versions of its future Cortex-R cores sometimes in 2020 and beyond. While Arm is developing AE flavors of its future IP, it will keep offering its existing cores (e.g., Cortex-A72, Cortex-R5, Cortex-R52, Cortex A53, Cortex-M4, Cortex-M7, Cortex-M44, etc.) to developers of SoCs for automotive market.

The implementation of the ASI program will enable makers of cars to obtain IP that will make their systems for autonomous driving significantly more energy efficient and cheaper, which will make self-driving vehicles more affordable in general. Besides making the said systems cheaper, Arm Safety Initiative also promises to speed up their development.

Arm’s Cortex-A76AE: The First Member of the AE Family

The first product that is a part of Arm’s Safety Initiative is the company’s Cortex-A76AE processor with integrated redundancy. As the model number suggests, a Cortex-A76AE compute complex relies on up to 16 Cortex-A76 cores that support all the RAS (reliability, availability, serviceability) capabilities featured by the Arm v8.2 microarchitecture, and work in work in Split-Lock mode to ensure reliability.

Actual SoCs based on the Cortex-A76AE can scale to up to 64 cores. Besides general-purpose compute cores, Arm’s autonomous-class compute complexes also integrate Mali-G76 graphics cores, ARM’s ML cores, and other necessary IP. Besides, the complexes are set to support Arm’s memory virtualization and protection technologies required for flawless operation of ML and NN accelerators.

According to Arm, a 30-Watt 16-core Cortex-A76AE SoC implementation made using TSMC’s 7nm process technology has performance of over 250 KDMIPS, which is enough for today’s applications. If a customer wants a higher performance, it may build into more cores, or even use more than one SoC.

Raw performance is what actually matters for self-driving vehicles. Modern Level 3 autonomous cars run multiple programs at once and that is not going to change anytime soon. According to Arm, software for a Level 5 self-driving auto will contain 1 billion lines of code. By contrast, software used to run a Boeing 787 Dreamliner contains 14 million lines of code.

Arm’s Split-Lock: Redundant Computing in Hardware

Now, time to talk about the key feature of Arm’s Cortex-A76AE — the Split-Lock technology. The Split-Lock feature enables SoC developers to use the cores in two modes: the Split Mode to runs the cores independently and achieves higher performance, and in the Lock Mode a core is run in lockstep with a paired core, running the same code and monitoring for any kind of divergences that would be then reported as an error, and failure recovery mechanisms would take over (or at least a driver will be notified).

The Lock Mode somehow resembles how HP’s NonStop works for mission-critical applications, but the key difference is that Arm’s solution relies completely on hardware and is therefore compatible with any software (think AutoWare, Deepscale, Linaro, Linux, QNX, etc.).

Arm proposes to use the locked clusters for ASIL-D application that are critically important for safety. By contrast split clusters are intended for ASIL-B apps like infotainment. Given the flexibility of Arm’s hardware-only approach, the Split-Lock can be used by any automaker to run almost any software while ensuring either performance and error-free computing.