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ALi introduces M1689, single-chip core logic for 64-bit AMD processors

PMA2004: 80x CF from Pretec, 4GB CF and 7 more products from SanDisk

Photo of the day: 3Dlabs WildCat 4 7210 384Mb AGP Pro in our lab

JetFlash dongle reaches 4GB capacity

iRiver to unveil 4 new MP3 players at CeBIT 2004

Intel Pentium 4 Prescott obtain D-0 revision



ALi introduces M1689, single-chip core logic for 64-bit AMD processors

ALi introduced its new M1689 single-chip product being the core logic for AMD Hammer processors. It features AGP 8X, AC-Link controllers, the dual-channel Ultra-66/100/133 IDE, USB 2.0/1.1 (up to 8 ports), IO APIC, Ethernet 1/10/100 Mbps, SATA and HyperTransport.


M1689 specs are:

  • Supports AMD Opteron, Athlon 64, Mobile Athlon
  • AGP 3.0 (4x/8x), AGP 2.0 (1.5V, 1x/2x/4x)
  • HyperTransport I/O v1.05:
    • 16-bit downstream HTT and 8-bit upstream at 800MHz
    • Synchronization at 1600, 1200, 800, 400 MHz
    • Up to 3.2GB/s downstream and 1.6GB/s upstream throughput
  • PCI 2.3, PCI Power Management 1.1, supports up to 7 expansion slots, programmable PCIREQ# / PCIGNT# precedence
  • 7 programmable DMA channels, including 4 for 8-bit data and 3 for 16-bit data, 32-bit addressing
  • 8254-compliant timer, 3 multimedia timers, Legacy Monitor and Low Battery timers
  • Interrupt controller provides 14 programmable interrupt channels, IO-APIC support
  • ACPI and OS-level power management, CPU SMM Legacy Mode and SMI
  • PCI IDE for Ultra DMA 100/133 MB/s, LBA (>137GB), PIO Mode 4, Multiword DMA Mode 0,1,2
  • 1 x EHCI USB 2.0 controller and 3 x OHCI USB 1.1 controllers, HS (480Mbps), FS (12Mbps) and LS (1.5Mbps)
  • Low Pin Count (LPC Rev1.1) for up to 2 x LPC Master and 7 x DMA devices, supports TPM (Trusted Platform Module)
  • SMBus v2.0, supports SMBALERT#
  • PCI 2.3-compliant Plug-and-Play AC97 5.1-channel codec
  • 1/10/100Mbps Ethernet MAC, IEEE 802.3u 100BASE-TX, IEEE 802.3 10BASE-T, PCI 2.3, ACPI 2.0, supports WFM 2.0, 2KB for FIFO stack, half and full duplex
  • Serial ATA for SATA 1.0, up to 1.5Gbpsm 2 x independent DMA channels
  • TPM 1.2, PC 2001
  • 35x35mm form-factor, 748-pin BGA

PMA2004: 80x CF from Pretec, 4GB CF and 7 more products from SanDisk

As expected, PMA just flooded potential buyers with the new Flash media announcements.

First, Pretec Electronics announced its fastest CompactFlash operating at 80x. According to the test results conducted with Kodak Professional DCS Pro 14n (latest firmware), Pretec Cheetah showed 4.9MB/s write performance (compare to 2.9MB/s of SanDisk Ultra II/Extreme and 4.2MB/s of Lexar Media 40X with Write Acceleration).

According to the press release, CF Pretec Cheetah provides sequential read at 13MB/s, and sequential write at 12MB/s. Pretec 80X Cheetah CF will start sampling next month to reach the retail late in March. It seems the Cheetah series will include 256MB to 6GB models. No pricing information was disclosed (as well as some higher-quality images).


Second, SanDisk announced new products for the inexpensive Shoot & Store series (MSRP >$15) for digital cameras. The series includes 32MB CF, SD, SM (it´s only the beginning, judging by the press release) marked "50 Pictures" (which actually stand for "hi-res" 1-megapixel images). By the year-end SanDisk plans to launch shipments of 64MB cards (also Memory Stick PRO and xD) marked "100 Pictures" that will cost >$25.


Besides, in a separate press release SanDisk announced two 2GB models for Ultra II CF and Extreme CF series designed for professional and prosumer cameras (>4 megapixels). These solutions will provide 9MB/s write and 10MB/s read (results from HDBENCH; actual performance might depend on certain cameras). 2GB SanDisk Extreme CompactFlash will go on sale late in February for $850. Similar SanDisk Ultra II CompactFlash will go on sale at the same time for about $800.


But that´s not all. Another CompactFlash SanDisk has 4GB capacity and a switch. The card is positioned as a universal solution for all CF Type I cameras. Using the switch, you can vary the capacity and thus use either FAT16, or FAT32. The model will be shipping in April for $1000.


To finish SanDisk´s announcements series, here´s information about the new Memory Stick products. Memory Stick PRO and Memory Stick PRO Duo series were extended by 128MB models (so now Memory Stick PRO offers capacities from 128MB to 2GB, while PRO Duo series offers 128MB to 512MB). SanDisk Memory Stick PRO will be available already this month for $60 (128MB) to $1000 (2GB). Memory Stick PRO Duo will be available in Q2 2004 for $65 (128MB) to $225 (512MB).

But the most interesting are Extreme and Ultra II Memory Stick PRO cards. They perform similar to Extreme and Ultra II CompactFlash and SD: 9MB/s write, 10MB/s read. Shipments are scheduled to the late February. 256MB, 512MB, and 1GB SanDisk Extreme Memory Stick PRO will cost $130, $330, $680, respectively, while 256MB, 512MB, and 1GB SanDisk Ultra II Memory Stick PRO will cost $120, $300, $600, respectively.



Photo of the day: 3Dlabs WildCat 4 7210 384Mb AGP Pro in our lab

We are currently testing another Ultra Hi-End professional 3D monster, WildCat 4 7210 384Mb AGP Pro graphics card from 3Dlabs.

This AGP 8x card has 384MB DDR (128MB frame buffer + 256MB texture buffer). Its GPU supports 10-bit subpixel precision, 64-bit hardware capture buffer, Bump Mapping, Cube Mapping, multitexturing, OpenGL 1.3. The card also has 2 x DVI-I interfaces, supports Multiview. Naturally, this Ultra Hi-End product costs Ultra Hi-End money of about $2400. And this is how it looks like:





JetFlash dongle reaches 4GB capacity

Transcend Information released its new 4GB USB 2.0 JetFlash (TS4GJF2A) dongle based on 8 x 4Gbit NAND chips. The novelty looks identical to the previous 2GB JetFlash model.


The device provides peak 9MB/s read and 8MB/s write and works under Windows 98 SE/2000/Me/XP, MacOS 8.6+, Linux core 2.4.2+ (bundled drivers are required for Windows 98 only). As usual this series the new JetFlash dongle is bootable, provides data password protection, and has a write-protect switch.

I think this model is a nice example of technology growing not "deeper", but "wider". After another data density breakthrough all manufacturers start making the newer and newer devices on the same chips of the larger and larger capacity. This should naturally last until the next data density breakthrouh.

Now the complete JetFlash series includes:

Model Capacity Comment
TS64MJF2A 64MB mini form-factor
TS128MJF2A 128MB
TS256MJF2A 256MB
TS512MJF2A 512MB
TS1GJF2A 1GB normal form-factor
TS2GJF2A 2GB
TS4GJF2A 4GB

iRiver to unveil 4 new MP3 players at CeBIT 2004

CeBIT 2004 will be the ground for iRiver to unveil four new multimedia players.


iFP-900, 1.2" color display

iFP-900 bases on already familiar iFP-500 and supports USB OTG (USB on-The-Go) enabling it to download images from digital cameras, etc. The new models will have 256MB, 512MB, and 1GB capacities and will support MP3, WMA, ASF, OGG Vorbis formats. Besides, the player will have FM tuner and WMA encoding. iFP-990 (256MB), iFP-995 (512MB), iFP-999 (1GB), expected in Europe in mid-April will cost €279, €399, and €529, respectively.


iFP-1000, int. digital camera

To all of the above iFP-1000 adds integrated digital camera with 300,000 pixel sensor. The model will support 39 languages. iFP-1080 (128MB), iFP-1090 (256MB), iFP-1095 (512MB), expected also in April, will cost €229, €299, €399, respectively.


iFP-1100, player dongle

iFP-1100 has a simpler EL display, supports MP3, WMA, ASF, Ogg Vorbis and works only with its internal memory. In Europe iFP-1180 (128MB), iFP-1190 (256MB), and iFP-1195 (512MB) iFP-1100 will go on sale late in Q2 for €149, €219, and €329 respectively.


iHP-300, large display and remote control

iHP-300 has a 2" display, supports JPEG and text browsing, plays MP3, WMA, ASF, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, has a built-in FM tuner and USB 2.0, USB OTG interfaces. iHP-320 (20GB) and iHP-340 (40GB) will go on sale in Europe in April for €449 and €629, respectively.

Source: Xonio

Intel Pentium 4 Prescott obtain D-0 revision

Today Intel officially announced the migration of desktop 90nm Intel Pentium 4 processors with 1MB L2 cache (Prescott) from C-0 to D-0 revision.

According to the publication, the first Pentium 4 Prescott D-0 samples should arrive on February 27, while all qualification tests are to end on April 23. The first quantities are expected in retail on May 7, 2004.

The reason of this migration to D-0 revision is the planned energy consumption optimization. Nothing in processors´ appearance will change, but they will also get the new CPUID, 0F34h (instead of 0F33h of C-0)


It´s interesting that this table for some reason doesn´t include 3.4GHz solution. Now we are just to guess when the most powerful in the series gets to retail.

I think these months we´ll witness new reviews of Pentium 4 Prescott D-0 and new conclusions regarding its thermal modes.

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