SPIDER: AMD
unveils its plans to take on Intel and Nvidia
By Matt “The D.O.G.” Mefford
This past week, select members of the gaming press were invited to a private AMD benchmark event. Behind closed doors, FileFront got to see what AMD has in store for the Holiday season. By now, you have no doubt read about the new CPUs and GPUs on the way, but what does it mean to us gamers? Read on!
AMD’s New Strategy
To sum up AMD’s new business strategy in one word: Spider. With the acquisition of ATI, AMD is in the business of CPUs, motherboards, and now GPUs. Spider is comprised of three core components: The AMD Phenom 65nm CPU, the ATI Radeon HD 55nm GPU, and the AMD 790 Chipset.
The AMD 790 Chipset
The heart of AMD’s Spider technology, the 790 chipset is the basis for their new motherboards. What it brings to the table is CrossFireX, which gives us the option to stack up to FOUR GPUs in our system. With support for DDR2 RAM, these boards help the user save some money (you won’t have to buy the more expensive DDR3 memory sticks). Also helping the user save on cost, the 790 chipset includes “Bernstein” 8 channel audio processing and output. With this capability on board, the user doesn’t have to buy a dedicated sound card. For the readers who are gaming enthusiasts, the included AMD Overdrive utility allows you to overclock the 790 chipset to your liking.
AMD’S “PHENOM”
The second component of the AMD’s Spider strategy is the new “Phenom” CPU. Utilizing a new 65nm die process, each CPU has a reduced heat envelope and is more energy efficient. This means that your rig will produce less heat, and require much less juice from your power supply. What does the “Phenom” processor mean to you? Simply put, it is AMD’s first desktop quad core solution. As of now, two models are available: the 2.2-GHz 9500 and 2.3-GHz 9600. A 2.4-Ghz (X4 9700) and a 2.6-Ghz (X4 9900) Phenom will be available in the first quarter of 2008.
ATI’S RADEON HD
The last component in AMD’s Spider strategy is the ATI Radeon HD GPU. Coming in two flavors, the HD 3850 and 3870, this new offering has a 55nm process. Just like the Phenom CPU, the reduced die process allows for less heat build-up and lower power consumption. The 3850 has 256MB of GDDR3 memory while the 3870 has 512MB of the new GDDR4 memory. For the enthusiast, the CrossFireX capabilities of the motherboard allow you to put up to 4 Radeon HDs into your PC.
PRICING
So how much can we expect to pay for these AMD Spider components? According to Newegg.com this is what to expect:
MOBO/CHIPSET:
o GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-DS4 AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX:..............$169.99
o MSI K9A2 Platinum AM2+/AM2 790FX ATX:..............................................$179.99
CPU:
o AMD Phenom 9500 @ 2.2 GHz:.........................................................$259.99
o AMD Phenom 9600 @ 2.3 GHz:.................................................................Not available – 1KU pricing is $283
GPU:
o Radeon HD 3850:.................................................................................$179.00
o Radeon HD 3870:.........................................................................................$219.00
Got this for this site:
http://battlefield2.filefront.com/news/SPIDER_AMD_The_Battle_is_on;36233All i could say is nice video cards 4 card wow?
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