Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E Introduced in Japan

Japan got lucky somehow, having become the place where Intel's Core i7-3820 central processing unit is now ready to step out of boxes, more or less.

At long last, the Intel Core i7-3820 CPU from the Sandy Bridge-E series has been released in the Country of Sunrise.

As part of the top-tier chip collection, it features high-end performance parameters that will put many other CPUs to shame.

Still, this is not the most powerful of SB-E chips, as it has some of its cores disabled.

That said, the quad-core newcomer is sure to make short work of most anything thrown at it, be it a game, an editing program or just casual and random tasks.

The base clock speed is of 3.6 GHz, quite impressive on its own, even though Turbo Boost can take it higher.

Unfortunately, it is unclear just how much of an improvement this dynamic overclocking technology can actually enable.

Though the top frequency of Turbo Boost is said, by some, to be 3.9 GHz (the same as on the 3960X Extreme edition), the report seems to be leaning more towards 3.8 GHz.

Formal documentation is still unavailable, so this matter is shrouded in ambiguity.

Of course, when there is hardly any application that can push a consumer's PC hard enough to make life difficult for this CPU, this doesn't ultimately matter overmuch.

In the end, overclockers are the only ones that will have a reason and the means to make this chip sweat, at their own risk of course.

Moving on, Intel's Core i7-3820 boasts a cache memory of 10 MB (Intel Smart Cache), as well as Hyper-Threading (8 threads) and a TPD (thermal design power) of 130W.

Finally, the chip's price is somewhere in the 20,000 – 25,000 yen range, which translates into $257 / 194 Euro to $322 / 243 Euro.

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Gigabyte S1081 Intel Cedar Trail Slate Specs Revealed

When it first presented the S1081 slate at this year’s CES fair, Gigabyte kept many of the specs of this tablet under lock and key, but recently all of these have been revealed when the marker added the device to its website.

Just like the rest of the Cedar Tail based slates to arrive so far, the S1081 is targeting business users, so the company has opted for running a full version of Windows 7 with a series of enterprise-class customizations.

At its heart will stand the new 1.86 GHz Atom N2800 processor, which includes two computing cores with Hyper-Threading support as well as Intel integrated graphics. 

Intel’s Cedar Trail processors are the company’s first Atom CPUs built using the 32nm fabrication process, and feature a unified architecture that packs the processing cores, memory controller and the GPU on the same die.

The latter is actually based on a PowerVR design and features hardware decoding capabilities for a wide number of HD formats, including MPEG2, VC1, AVC, H.264 and Blu-ray 2.0.

Gigabyte is pairing the Intel CPU with 2GB of system memory (can be upgraded to 4GB), while for storage purposes the company’s clients can choose from various HDD and SSD options, with capacities of up to 500GB (256GB max for SSDs).

The rest of the features list includes a front 1.3MP webcam, USB, D-Sub and HDMI ports, a 1024x600 resolution LED backlit 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen, dual 1.5W speakers, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, optional 3G connectivity, and a 4000mAh battery.

No estimate regarding the battery life of the S1081 was mentioned, but we do know that the slate weights between 790g and 850g (1.74 to 1.87 pounds), depending on the type of storage drive installed, according to TechPowerUp.

Gigabyte hasn’t provided us with any info regarding the pricing or availability of the S1081 slate.

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Nvidia Kepler GK104 Will Be Available in Two Versions, Says Report

Nvidia’s upcoming GK104 graphics core based on the company’s next-gen Kepler architecture is expected to arrive in two different versions, according to a report that has reached the Web recently.

According to SemiAccurate’s findings, the two graphics cores will be called GK104-400 and GK104-335.

Both of these will actually be based on the same GPU, but the former comes as a fully working GK104, while the latter is partially fused off version of the same chip.

The main difference between the two lies in the number of graphics processing clusters they will include, since the -400 is said to be a “8 group” device compared to the -335 which is described as a “7 group” GPU.

According to the source, Nvidia took this decision because it wanted to make its Kepler GPUs much more flexible than before, as they can now disable smaller “chunks” of the graphics core in order to build lower end parts.

This design should help Nvidia improve yields and allow for virtually endless GPU variations, although it does add a bit to the overall size of the graphics core die.

While the shader count and operating clocks have not been provided, the Thermal Design Power (TDP) of GK104 cards seems to be set at 225W, which is pretty much similar to that of the GTX 570 (219W).

Judging by the designation used by Nvidia for this core, we expect the GK104 to come as a replacement for the graphics cards in the popular GeForce GTX 560 (GF114) and GTX 460 (GF104) product families.

Just like AMD has done for the Radeon HD 7900-series, Nvidia’s Kepler GPUs will also be manufactured using TSMC's high-K metal gate (HKMG) 28nm fabrication process.

Nvidia’s next-gen graphics core is expected to be more flexible in terms of programmability than the current Fermi architecture. The first Kepler parts should arrive in Q2 of this year.

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New Samsung Galaxy S III Concept Emerges

During the first half of the ongoing year, Samsung is expected to bring to the market the successor of its highly popular Galaxy S II smartphone.

The company has yet to confirm an official release date for it, along with specs and the like, but that does not stop enthusiasts from imagining what the mobile phone will be all about.

We already hand the chance to have a look at one Galaxy S III concept phone, and a new one is now available for your viewing pleasure. 

The new device - which emerged over at Android Advices - comes from Long Nong Huang and is meant to pack inside the latest advancements in the mobile industry. 

The Samsung Galaxy S III concept phone packs an NVIDIA Tegra 3 chipset, a quad-core application processor that has been clocked in at 1.3 GHz, and it arrives with 1.5GB of RAM to enable great performance capabilities. 

Moreover, the device was conceived with a 4.65 inches Super AMOLED HD touchscreen display that sports a 326-ppi pixel density. 

On the back, the concept phone sports an 8-megapixel photo snapper with Xenon flash and support for HD video recording, 3D capabilities could also be part of this device’s specs list. 

The smartphone is powered by a 1750 mAh battery and weighs 118 grams. It also arrives on shelves with a microSD memory card slot with support for up to 32GB of additional storage space, as well as with HSPA / LTE connectivity.

The Samsung Galaxy S III would run under Google’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. 

Overall, the smartphones appears to be packing design features from both Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Nexus smartphones that Samsung launched last year. 

The concept device was meant to be exactly what Galaxy S III is expected to become, namely the next flagship Android handset from Samsung. Hopefully, the real phone will be able to impress as much as these concept phones do.

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