ATI To Unveil Radeon X1300CE

IBM Technology Keeps Future Chips Cool

ASUS Bluetooth Dongle - Compose SMS On PC, Access Web Via Handsets

ATI To Unveil Radeon X1300CE

As Vista is going to be released in early 2007, ATI plans to release new model for value segment, Radeon X1300CE which has certified for Vista Premium in Nov. Codenamed RV505CE, Radeon X1300CE is a replacement of old Radeon X300/500 (RV370).

Manufacturing by TSMC with 80nm technology, RV505CE features Direct X 9.0c, Shader Model 3.0 and AVIVO technology. This chip is driven by 4 Pixel Shader Pineline, 2 Vertex Shader engine, 64Bit native memory controller, and a 350MHz core. It’s said to be designed for Vista.

Left: Radeon X550SE (RV370); Right: Radeon X1300CER(RV505CE); And GeForce 7100GS(NV44)

The upcoming Windows Vista initializes the wave in system upgrade and graphic. Reason is that old and weak IGP products have got no support for WDDM, hence Aero 3D is unavailable. Targeting on this market, ATI Radeon X1300CE would be one of the best choices to fulfill the need.

Radeon X1300CE will accompany with a Low-Profile board design codenamed Blondie. This design supports up to onboard 256MB DDR2-400 memory. However, when Hyper-Memory is enabled, it could further share 256MB of the system memory, then a total of 512MB memory.

Together with 80nm technology and 350MHz low speed core, Radeon X1300CE has a 30% better power consumption compared with Radeon X1300LE. Thus passive cooling may be introduced to Radeon X1300CE. The official price is $49. Its rival would be NVIDIA GeForce 7100GS.

Source: HKEPC

IBM Technology Keeps Future Chips Cool

Researchers from IBM's Zurich labs have made significant progress in technologies to cool semiconductor chips. The scientists were inspired by the ways nature disperses liquids in tree leaves or even the human body.

With power densities of up to 100 watts per square centimeter, today's computer chips develop up to ten times more heat compared to a standard hotplate. Thus, cooling the silicon circuits becomes increasingly important. And, according to the IBM researchers, future chips may attain even higher power densities which could create surface temperatures of up to 6000 degrees Celsius if not cooled.

At the BroadGroup Power and Cooling Summit in London, IBM now presented an approach for improving the chip cooling. The so called "high thermal conductivity interface technology" allows a twofold improvement in heat removal over current methods. In a first implementation step which according to Big Blue is very close to be used in serial production, the technology aims at better thermal contact between the chip package and components used to draw the heat away including heat sinks.

The researchers developed a chip cap with a network of tree-like branched channels on its surface. The pattern is designed such that when pressure is applied, the paste used to improve thermal contact between chip package and heat sink spreads more evenly and the pressure remains uniform across the chip, compared to today's solutions. This allows the right uniformity to be obtained at half the pressure, and a ten times better heat transport through the interface, IBM says.

This design used by the IBM researchers is borrowed from biology. Systems of hierarchical channels can be found manifold in nature, like tree leaves, roots, or the human circulatory system. Theses systems can serve large volumes with little energy, the researchers found.

However, the researchers also came to the conclusion that current cooling technologies, typically using air as the medium to transport the heat off the chip, have essentially reached their limits with the current generation of electronic products. And the energy needed to cool computer systems is approaching the power used for calculations, thus almost doubling the overall power budget

"Cooling is a holistic challenge from the individual transistor to the datacenter. Powerful techniques, brought as close as possible to the chip right where the cooling is needed, will be crucial for tackling the power and cooling issues, " said Bruno Michel, manager of the Advanced Thermal Packaging research group at IBM's Zurich lab.

That's where IBM's second implementation step becomes relevant. The Zurich researchers took their concept of branched channel design even further and now are developing what they call a promising approach for water-cooling. Called direct jet impingement, it squirts water onto the back of the chip and sucks it off again in a closed system using an array of up to 50,000 micronozzles and a complicated tree-like branched return architecture.

The team has demonstrated cooling power densities of up to 370 Watts per square centimeter with water as coolant, more than six times beyond the current limits of air-cooling techniques at about 75 Watts per square centimeter. Yet, the system uses much less energy for pumping than other cooling systems do, the researcher said. However, this system is several years away from industrial use.

IBM is in close contact with several chip vendors for licensing the technology, a company spokesperson said. The first implementation step, using heat conducting paste, could be available for the next chip generation in about one year.

Source: EE Times

ASUS Bluetooth Dongle - Compose SMS On PC, Access Web Via Handsets

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. today introduced the WL-BTD201 Bluetooth dongle, which leveraged the latest Bluetooth 2.0 specifications and Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) to provide high-speed connection with a full array of Bluetooth-applicable devices.

The WL-BTD201 helps those who are not proficient in typing on their handsets. The ASUS dongle connects PCs and notebooks to handsets wirelessly, allowing users to type SMS on normal keyboards, then send via any Bluetooth phone. In addition, users can pick up and dial out through computer systems equipped with microphones and speakers.

Besides, with the WL-BTD201, online access is always available. It enables notebooks to go online through connection with handsets that are Internet capable.

The latest Bluetooth specification enables wireless transmission of stereo quality audio signal. With the WL-BTD201 connected to a Bluetooth stereo headphone, users are free to roam while enjoying their favorite tunes stored in their PCs or notebooks.

The WL-BTD201 also allows handheld users to sync up with their PC Outlook accounts.

Specification summary:

• Standard: Bluetooth v2.0 + EDR
• Interface: USB 2.0 (type A)
• Data Rate: Up to 3Mbps
• RF Power Class: Class 1
• Range: Up to 100 meters in free space
• Bluetooth Profile for Windows: 19 Profiles for Windows (A2DP, AVRCP, BIP, BPP, DUN, FAX, FTP, GAP, GAVDP, GEOP, HCRP, HFP, HID, HSP, OPP, PAN, SDAP, SPP, SYNC)
• Bluetooth Profile for Mac OS: DUN, FTP, HCRP, HID, HSP, OPP, SPP, SYNC
• Frequency Band: 2.400~2.4835 GHz unlicensed ISM band
• Spectrum: FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum)
• Input Power: DC 5V (via USB Port)
• OS Support: Windows 2000 / XP; Mac OS X.3 or above
• Physical Dimensions: 52.4 x 18.5 x 9.4 mm

The WL-BTD201 is now available.

Source: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

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