•  Full Microsoft DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 support
•  NVIDIA CineFX 4.0 engine
•  True high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting support
•  NVIDIA Intellisample 4.0 technology
•  NVIDIA PureVideo technology
•  NVIDIA ForceWare Unified Driver Architecture (UDA)
•  NVIDIA nView multi-display technology
•  PCI Express support
•  OpenGL« 2.0 support

It turns out that many students have already been playing games along with other activities during classroom time and some school districts are finally taking notice.

Administrators at the Liverpool Central School District in New York have had enough of the laptops after a seven year run and will discontinue the program this fall. Students have used the laptops to play games, download porn and hack into nearby computer networks on school time. In addition, the computers are in constant need of repair and the sheer number of notebooks accessing individual school wireless networks brings Internet traffic to a halt.

Even more telling is that the laptops aren’t actually helping the students at all. "After seven years, there was literally no evidence it had any impact on student achievement -- none," said Liverpool school board president Mark Lawson. "The teachers were telling us when there’s a one-to-one relationship between the student and the laptop, the box gets in the way. It’s a distraction to the educational process."

"Where laptops and Internet use make a difference are in innovation, creativity, autonomy and independent research," said Mark Warschauer, an education professor at the University of California at Irvine. "If the goal is to get kids up to basic standard levels, then maybe laptops are not the tool. But if the goal is to create the George Lucas and Steve Jobs of the future, then laptops are extremely useful."

Besides the lack of improvement in academics, the laptops have cost school systems immensely in initial costs and repair costs. The Broward County Public School System in Florida purchased 6,000 laptops at a cost of $7.2 million dollars and had maintenance costs of $100,000 per year to keep the machines running. Not surprisingly, the school system has moved away from the program.

"You have to put your money where you think it’s going to give you the best achievement results," said Tim Bullis, a district spokesman for the Richmond Public School System.

Despite the lack of promising results from laptops, school districts across the nation are still projected to roll them out in larger numbers. According to research by Hayes Connection and Greaves Group, half of the 2,500 largest school districts in the country are expected to embrace one-to-one computing by 2011 -- this is up from one-quarter in 2006.

"The art of thinking is being lost because people can type in a word and find a source and think that’s the be-all-end-all," said 11th grade history teacher Tom McCarthy.

AMD is preparing the launch of its next-generation K10-derivedStars-family single, dual and quad-core processors. The next-generation Stars-family splits into three different brand names – Phenom, Athlon and Sempron. Ringing in the flagship are three Agena FX-based AMD Phenom FX processors. AMD has yet to confirm clock speeds for the three models; however, the latest roadmap reveals ballparks for the processors.

The top-end AMD Phenom FX processor clocks in the 2.4-2.6 GHz speed range. Slotting below the top-end Phenom FX is a 2.2-2.4 GHz model. These two models occupy AMD’s upcoming Socket 1207+ and current Socket 1207 Quad FX platforms. AMD also has a Phenom FX for single-processor customers as well, clocked at 2.4-2.6 GHz.

AMD further differentiates its Phenom FX processors with different Hyper Transport 3.0 clock speeds. The flagship 2.4-2.6 GHz model features a 3.6 GHz HT 3.0 clock speed while the two 2.2-2.4 GHz models have a lower 3.2 GHz HT 3.0 clock. All three models share the same 4x512KB L2 cache and 2MB L3 cache configuration. AMD has yet to determine the TDP of its Phenom FX processors.

Catering towards high-end user are two Socket AM2+ AMD Phenom X4 processors. AMD remains undecided on its model numbers; however, clock speeds on the Agena-based Phenom X4 processors are set. The two AMD Phenom X4 processors clock in at 2.4 GHz and 2.2 GHz. These models share the same 4x512KB L2 cache and 2MB L3 cache configuration as the Phenom FX processors.

HT 3.0 speeds differ on the two models, the 2.4 GHz features a 3.6 GHz HT 3.0 speed while the 2.2 GHz model features a 3.2 GHz HT 3.0 speed. AMD rates the Phenom X4 processors with 89W TDPs. AMD plans to start taking orders for its Phenom FX and Phenom X4 processors in Q3’2007.

AMD’s dual-core Kuma processors will carry the Phenom X2 name and drop into Socket AM2+ and AM2 motherboards. There are three AMD Phenom X2 processors in the pipeline with 2.8 GHz, 2.6 GHz and 2.4 GHz clock speeds. HT 3.0 speeds vary on the AMD Phenom X2 processors. At the top with the AMD Phenom X2 2.8 GHz model. The HT 3.0 bus clocks in at 4.2 GHz – higher than the Phenom FX and Phenom X4 models. The two lower models have 3.8 GHz and 3.6 GHz HT 3.0 clock speeds, respectively.

All three models feature a 2x512KB L2 cache and 2MB L3 cache configuration. The higher end 2.8 GHz has an 89W TDP, similar to the Phenom X4 models, while the 2.6 GHz and 2.4 GHz receive a lower 65W TDP rating. AMD plans to take orders for its Phenom X2 processors beginning in Q4’2007.

If low power is a concern, AMD intends to offer three low power AMD Phenom X2 models. AMD rates these models with 45W TDPs. The low power Phenom X2 clocks in at 2.3 GHz, 2.1 GHz and 1.9 GHz with 3.4 GHz, 3.0 GHz and 2.8 GHz HT 3.0 speeds, respectively.

Although AMD plans to launch its new Phenom branding for high-end processors, the Athlon 64 X2 name lives on with Rana. There’s one Rana model in the pipeline clocked at 2.2 GHz. The Rana-based Athlon 64 X2 does away with L3 cache and only has 2x512KB of L2 cache, differentiating it from the Kuma-based AMD Phenom X2.

At the bottom of the Stars-family are the Spica Sempron models. Two Spica Sempron models occupy AMD’s value lineup. The new Spica Sempron models clock in at 2.4 GHz and 2.2 GHz with 512KB of L2 cache. As with the dual and quad-core products, the two Spica Sempron models have 3.6 GHz and 3.2 GHz HT 3.0 clocks, respectively. AMD rates the Spica Sempron models with 45W TDPs, as with the low power Phenom X2 models.

AMD plans to take orders for its low power Kuma Phenom X2, Rana Athlon 64 X2 and Spica Sempron models beginning in Q1’2008.

IBM is taking a cue from nature to build the next generation of computer chips. IBM borrowed the natural pattern-creating process that forms seashells, snowflakes and tooth enamel to help create next-generation chips. The method forms trillions of holes to create vacuums as insulation around the miles of nano-scale wires packed next to each other inside the chip.

Today, chips are manufactured with copper wiring surrounded by an insulator, which involves using a mask to create circuit patterns by beaming light through the mask and later chemically removing the parts that are not needed.

The new technique skips the masking and light-etching process, opting to use a vacuum gap – misleadingly referred to as airgaps – as an insulator. IBM scientists discovered the right mix of compounds, which they poured onto a silicon wafer with the wired chip patterns, and then baked.

This concept occurs in nature for the formation of snowflakes, seashells and tooth enamel. The major difference is that IBM has been able to direct the self-assembly process to form trillions of holes that are all similar, while the processes that occur in nature are all unique.

This process provides the right environment for the compounds to assemble in a directed manner, creating trillions of uniform, nano-scale holes across an entire 300 millimeter wafer. These holes are just 20 nanometers in diameter, up to five times smaller than would be possible using today’s most advanced lithography technique.

Once the holes are formed, the carbon silicate glass is removed, creating a vacuum between the wires allowing the electrical signals to either flow 35 percent faster, or to consume 15 percent less energy. A vacuum is believed to be the ultimate insulator for what is known as wiring capacitance, which occurs when two conductors, in this case adjacent wires on a chip, sap or siphon electrical energy from one another, generating undesirable heat and slowing the speed at which data can move through a chip.

 “This is the first time anyone has proven the ability to synthesize mass quantities of these self-assembled polymers and integrate them into an existing manufacturing process with great yield results,” said Dan Edelstein, chief scientist of the self-assembly airgap project. “By moving self assembly from the lab to the fab, we are able to make chips that are smaller, faster and consume less power than existing materials and design architectures allow.”

IBM boasts that its self-assembly nanotechnology process provide the equivalent of two generations of Moore's Law wiring performance improvements in a single step. The self-assembly process already has been integrated with IBM manufacturing line in East Fishkill, New York and is expected to be fully incorporated in IBM’s manufacturing lines and used in chips in 2009. Furthermore, this new technology can be incorporated into any standard CMOS manufacturing line, without disruption or new tooling.

The chips will be used in IBM's server product lines and thereafter for chips IBM builds for other companies, for example, the Cell Broadband Engine found in the PlayStation 3 and various servers.

Over the past few months, IBM has had a number of major chip technology announcements and demonstrations that the company claims will extend Moore’s Law. In December, IBM announced the first 45nm chips using immersion lithography and ultra-low-K interconnect dielectrics.

In January, IBM announced high-k metal gate, which substitutes a new material into a critical portion of the transistor that controls its primary on/off switching function. In February, IBM revealed its on-chip memory technology that features the fastest access times ever recorded in eDRAM. Then in March, IBM unveiled a prototype optical transceiver chipset capable of reaching speeds at least eight-times faster than optical components available today. More recently, IBM developed a new chip stacking technology that shortens wire lengths inside chips up to 1000 times.

AMD plans to release its K10-derived Stars-family desktop processors later this year. The new Stars-family processors take advantage of AMD’s Socket AM2+, an updated Socket AM2 platform that adds support for the faster Hyper Transport 3.0 bus. AMD’s latest roadmap divulges information on its upcoming Hyper Transport 3.0 compatible chipset family, arriving in Q3’2007.

The new AMD discrete graphics chipset family includes four new chipsets ranging from the entry-level RX740 to the flagship RD790. At the top of the discrete graphics lineup is the RD790, which replaces the current AMD 580X. The RD790 serves double duty in AMD’s chipset lineup, powering AMD’s Quad FX Socket 1207+ and Socket AM2 platforms.

AMD’s flagship packs plenty of PCI Express flexibility with up to four physical PCIe x16 slots. The four slots can electrically operate with four 8-lane slots, one 16-lane and three 8-lane, or two 16-lane slots. There are six additional PCIe lanes for additional expansion. The RD790 is fully PCIe 2.0 compatible. AMD plans to target RD790 towards the $150 plus market.

Taking place of the AMD 480X is the upcoming RD780. The new RD780 supports two physical PCIe x16 slots in dual eight-lane configurations. The two PCIe x16 slots are fully PCIe 2.0 compatible. Slotted below the RD780 is the RX780, which does away with CrossFire multi-GPU support. The RX780 supports a single PCIe 2.0 x16 slot. Both chipsets support AMD’s Hyper Transport 3.0 bus. RD780 will target the $70-100 price points while the RX780 takes on the $50-70 price points.

AMD also intends to offer more value conscious consumers the RX740. This chipset features support for AMD’s Socket AM2+, however, it only supports Hyper Transport 1.0. The RX740 does not support PCIe 2.0 either.RX740 will take on the same $50-70 price points as the RX780.

AMD RD780, RX780 and RX740 can also share the same motherboard design, simplifying the design process. The four new chipsets pair up with AMD’s existing SB600 south bridge, as the SB700 won’t be ready until Q4’2007.

The new chipsets will also feature a Windows-based tweaking utility – AMD System Utility. The AMD System Utility allows users to tweak memory settings, automatically overclock the processor, test system stability and benchmark the processor and memory.

AMD is also preparing its next-generation integrated graphics chipsets for Q1’2008 as well. The new IGP family includes the DirectX 10 compatible RS780 and RS780C. AMD’s upcoming RS780 has all the processing and connectivity goodies. RS780 is the first IGP chipset to feature AMD’s Universal Video Decoder, which debuts with the ATI Radeon HD 2000-family.

UVD provides hardware acceleration for H.264/AVC and VC-1 high-definition video formats up to 40Mbits. Joining the UVD is support for DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort output connectivity. Targeting the value market is the RS780C. RS780C does away with UVD and DisplayPort support. Nevertheless, RS780 and RS780C support PCIe 2.0 and Hyper Transport 3.0.

Slotting below the RS780C is the DirectX 9 compatible RS740. RS740 supports Socket AM2+, but is limited to Hyper Transport 1.0 like the RX740. It is limited to PCIe 1.0 as with the RX740. Nevertheless, RS740 supports DVI and HDMI video outputs. AMD plans to launch RS740 before the RS780 and RS780C in Q4’2007.

In addition to upcoming chipsets, AMD’s roadmap divulges HQV Benchmark scores for its RS780 and RS740 chipsets. AMD’s upcoming RS780 will score a perfect 130 points while the RS740 scores 105 points. The current AMD 690G scores 80 points while Intel’s G965 scores 48 points.

Unlike AMD’s discrete graphics chipsets, the IGP products pair up with the upcoming SB700 south bridge. SB700 delivers six SATA 3.0Gbps ports with RAID 0, 1, 10, 5 support, fourteen USB ports and NAND flash memory option.

Attempts to censor a string of letters and numbers stirred Internet users to overwhelm Digg.com and other websites to change their legal position on censorship. The offending string? An AACS encryption key used to protect HD DVD and Blu-ray Discs.

Cory Doctorow, instructor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, was one of those affected. He removed a blog post from his class website containing a string of letters and numbers used in defeating the copy protection behind HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

Keys used in the AACS protection used by both high-definition optical formats were uncovered earlier this year when a crafty individual who goes by the name “Muslix64” found a way to circumvent HD DVD encryption. He then applied his techniques to Blu-ray Disc, and was met with equal success. Then in mid-February, another hacker named “arnezami” discovered a single encryption key that would unlock the protections of every HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc on the market. Previously, every HD movie needed its own unique key in order to be decrypted; but with arnezami’s discovery, there was one key to rule them all.

The high-def skeleton key circulated the more clever areas of the Internet without much fanfare until two months later, when word of the AACS legal threats to Google hit. Certain stories concerning the HD DVD encryption key were submitted to traffic-tool site Digg.com, only to quickly be deleted by the site’s operators.

The website’s users began to notice the acts of censorship, but fought hard by submitting even more stories surrounding the AACS key. Eventually, the number of key-related stories on Digg rose to over 80, with each story receiving as many as thousands of votes from its users. Even when the site administrators attempted to censor all the stories, the users pressed on.

Eventually, Jay Adelson of Digg addressed the matter in a blog post saying, “I just wanted to explain what some of you have been noticing around some stories that have been submitted to Digg on the HD DVD encryption key being cracked.”

“We’ve been notified by the owners of this intellectual property that they believe the posting of the encryption key infringes their intellectual property rights. In order to respect these rights and to comply with the law, we have removed postings of the key that have been brought to our attention,” Adelson wrote.

He continues, “Whether you agree or disagree with the policies of the intellectual property holders and consortiums, in order for Digg to survive, it must abide by the law ... Our goal is always to maintain a purely democratic system for the submission and sharing of information - and we want Digg to continue to be a great resource for finding the best content. However, in order for that to happen, we all need to work together to protect Digg from exposure to lawsuits that could very quickly shut us down.”

Wikipedia, another website primarily driven by content provided by users, had locked the section dedicated to discussing a particular string of letters and numbers pertaining to HD DVD. However, Wikipedia reopened the section to users again earlier today.

A Digg user contributed his calculations estimating that over 50,500 diggs, or positive votes for the story, had accumulated by Tuesday evening – and that number continued to grow, showing the Internet community’s strong feelings towards the freedom of information and the disgust over the censorship of simple letters and numbers.

After insurmountable pressure from users of the site, Digg founder Kevin Rose decided to change the tune of his Web site’s previous position. He explained, “We’ve always given site moderation (digging/burying) power to the community. Occasionally we step in to remove stories that violate our terms of use (eg. linking to pornography, illegal downloads, racial hate sites, etc.). So today was a difficult day for us. We had to decide whether to remove stories containing a single code based on a cease and desist declaration. We had to make a call, and in our desire to avoid a scenario where Digg would be interrupted or shut down, we decided to comply and remove the stories with the code.”

“But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear,” Rose continued. “You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be. If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying.”

AMD's flagship ATI Radeon HD 2900 XTX fails to usurp the GeForce 8800 GTX's performance crown

AMD is close to unveiling its long-awaited R600-based ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT. DailyTech previously posted benchmarks comparing the Radeon HD 2900 XT and GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB.

Up until March of 2007, the spearhead of the ATI Radeon HD 2900-family was the upcoming ATI Radeon HD 2900 XTX. This model is the big daddy of AMD’s DirectX 10 lineup, poised to take on NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800 GTX and upcoming 8800 Ultra.

ATI Radeon HD 2900 XTX video cards feature 1GB of GDDR4 video memory, besting the GeForce 8800 GTX’s 768MB of GDDR3 video memory.  GPU manufacturers often wait to set the exact clock frequencies of bins until just weeks before launch.  Our Radeon HD 2900 XTX sample was released to board partners in the second week of April, features memory clocked at 2.02 GHz and a core clock of 750 MHz. 

Physically, the Radeon HD 2900 XTX core is identical to the Radeon HD 2900 XT core.  Both feature 320 stream processors, but the XTX differs by bringing GDDR4 to the package.

Despite the reference clock speed differences, DailyTech managed to push the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT up to 845 MHz core and 1.99 GHz memory.

Unlike the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT benchmarked yesterday, the HD 2900 XTX is a 12-inch card geared specifically towards OEMs and system integrators. Expect retail box ATI Radeon HD 2900 XTX graphics cards to use the shorter 9.5-inch design, as with the HD 2900 XT.

The test system specifications are as follows:

• AMD ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT (745 MHz core, 800 MHz GDDR3)
  
• AMD ATI Radeon HD 2900 XTX (750 MHz core, 1010 MHz GDDR4)
  
• AMD ATI Catalyst v8.361 (drivers slated for retail)
  
• NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX (650 MHz core, 1000 MHz GDDR3)
  
• ASUS P5N32-E SLI (nForce 680i)
• Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800
• Corsair XMS2 PC2-8500 (800 MHz, 5-5-5-18, 1T)
• Acer X241W

AMD’s next-generation graphics products are right around the corner. The next generation ATI Radeon HD 2000-series includes a top to bottom DirectX 10 lineup consisting of the HD2900, HD2600 and HD2400-series. Although DailyTech unveiled benchmarks of AMD’s upcoming ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT last week, details of the mainstream and value HD 2600 and HD2400-series have remained scarce.

AMD’s next-generation ATI Radeon HD 2600, based on the RV630 core, features 120 stream processing units with three SIMDs and two texture units. There will be two ATI Radeon HD 2600 GPUs: a Pro and XT model with different clock speeds and memory requirements.

AMD and add-in board partners will offer a variety of ATI Radeon HD 2600-based graphics cards. The different models include variations with GDDR4, GDDR3 and DDR2 memory in 512MB or 256MB configurations with or without video input and output capabilities.

Catering towards value users is the ATI Radeon HD 2400 with its 40 stream processors. Two SIMDs and one texture unit join the 40 stream processors. AMD plans to offer the ATI Radeon HD 2400 in Pro and LE models with varying configurations. ATI Radeon HD 2400-based graphics cards will have 256MB or 128MB of video memory. Add-in board manufacturers are free to set the output configuration, including VGA, dual-link DVI, video input/output, HDMI and DMS-59 outputs on ATI Radeon HD 2400-based graphics cards.

Just recently, Intel introduced its 2007 ultra-mobile computing platform. At IDF Beijing, Intel then demonstrated its Menlow platform. Targeted for 2008, Menlow contains a new 64-bit processor with clock frequencies near 2 GHz ,  DDR2 memory running at 400MHz or 533MHz, solid-state NAND flash memory and discrete graphics processing.

The big kicker for Menlow is its substantial improvement in battery life over available UMPC offerings. Menlow has approximately twice the life of current devices, reaching up to 6 hours of regular use and 10.5 hours of standby.

Before Menlow devices make it to the mainstream, Intel this week announced another major milestone for its ultra-mobile platform. Called Moorestown, Intel revealed that by roughly mid 2009, we will be able to see devices that consume 20 times less power than devices available in 2006. According to Intel roadmaps, Moorestown devices will be able to last a full day's of mixed productivity and leisure activities -- approximately 24 hours.

What sets Moorestown apart from previous processors is the fact that it combines CPU, GPU and memory controller functions into one chip. Essentially, this is the same intention that AMD has with its Fusion program. AMD's Fusion also encompasses mobile devices as well as desktops. It is only a matter of time before we see the same idea from Intel in the desktop space being applied to devices such as thin clients and budget PCs.

Moorestown's CPU will be 50-percent smaller in size than Silverthorne and consume roughly 50-percent less power. Intel will also be making Moorestown available as a single core or dual core system utilizing DDR3 memory. Despite having internal graphics, Intel is expecting that Moorestown will outperform Menlow's graphics by 50-percent.

What remains separate is simply the I/O controller, which too will be significantly small compared to current devices. Otherwise, Moorestown will be just as and more capable than Menlow in terms of features: WiMAX, hardware accelerated 3D such as OGL2.0, HD video decoding and others. Intel did not state whether or not Moorestown will support DX10 graphics and next generation WiMAX technologies.

Intel president and CEO Paul Otellini last said that performance and power consumption are two of the highest priorities for the chip giant going towards 2010. "By the end of the decade we will deliver a 300 percent increase in performance per watt over today's processors," said Otellini.