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Popular online computer parts vendor Newegg this week gave one of its suppliers, IPEX, the boot. The reason, says Newegg, is that IPEX was the one who supplied the vendor with fake Core i7 chips.
"Initial information we received from our supplier, IPEX, stated that they had mistakenly shipped us ‘demo units.’ We have since come to discover that the CPUs were counterfeit and are terminating our relationship with this supplier," Newegg said in a statement.
Initial reports had pegged D&H Distributing as the culprit, but the supplier has since been cleared of any wrongdoing.
"Contrary to any speculation, D&H Distributing is not the vendor that supplied us with the Intel Core i7 920 CPUs in question," Newegg added.
Fake CPUs weren’t terribly difficult to spot. There were several misspelled words on the retail packaging, including a sticker that spelled "socket" as "sochet," eWeek.com reports. In some cases, the user manual inside the box was blank.
As for customers who were affected, Newegg said it is sending out replacement chips.
See here for an unboxing video of one of the counterfeit chips.
Image Credit: ZDNet
Forget that six-core Gulftown Core i7. There’s a new Intel Xeon chip on the way with a whopping eight cores of processing goodness. Surely you can utilize eight cores in your home system, right? Well, maybe not, but the Nehalem-EX chip is likely to spice things up in the server sector when it launches later this month.
The Nehalem-EX will be a Xeon part built on Intel’s 45nm process technology. The chip will have hyperthreading, meaning up to 16 threads per processor. Clock speed is currently unknown. Being a server part, scalability is important and the Nehalem-EX won’t disappoint here. Thanks to the 4QPI links per chip, the new part will be scalable to eight sockets. So that’s 64 physical cores, or 128 threads. We’re pretty sure the benefits for Crysis 2 drop off around 48 cores or so.
Intel is promising big performance gains over the previous generation of Xeons, with nine times the memory bandwidth of the old chips. The part seems aimed at holding back AMD’s Magny-Cours six-core server parts due out soon. One way or another, servers are about to get a lot faster.
According to news and rumor site Fudzilla, Intel plans to beef up its entry-level Celeron notebook processor line with the introduction of its Celeron P4500 processor.
Due out in the second quarter of this year, the P4500 will supplant the T3300. Unlike most other Celerons, however, the P4500 is built around Intel’s 32nm Arrandale platform. It will come clocked at 1.86GHz per core, while the graphics will cruise along at 500MHz. You won’t find any Turbo Overclocking on the P4500, though the graphics can be juiced to 667MHz.
Other features include DDR3-1066 support, 2MB of cache, and a 35W TDP. By comparison, the T3300 comes clocked slightly higher at 2GHz, but has half the amount of cache at 1MB.
Image Credit: Intel
Intel’s Atom platform isn’t just for fun and play, at least not anymore. The No. 1 chip maker on Thursday launched its first Atom processor-based platform designed specifically for home networks and small office/home office (SOHO) storage devices.
"NAS systems have traditionally been found in businesses to manage, store and access data," said Seth Bobroff, general manager, Intel Data Center Group, Storage. "Today, households and small offices have an ever-increasing number of computers, laptops, netbooks and mobile phones that create and consume digital content. This advancement in mobility coupled with the explosive growth of data and media are creating the need for centralized, easy-to-use network storage solutions for the home and small office."
Available in both single core (D410) and dual-core (D510) flavors, Intel says you can expect up to a 50 percent power reduction compared to the company’s previous generation Atom processors.
Other features of the new platform include six PCI Express lanes, 12 USB 2.0 ports, a port multiplier function, and eSATA ports.
Image Credit: Intel
MSI this week beefed up its "Classic Series" notebook line with a trio of new 15.6-inch models built around Intel’s Arrandale platform, and one 16-inch model with Nvidia graphics.
The CR620-030US and CR620-033US — both 15.6 units — sport a Core i3-330M processor and a 320GB hard drive, while the former also comes with a DVD burner and the latter a Blu-ray reader. The last of the 15.6-inch models — CR620-031US — ups the hardware ante with a Core i5 430M CPU and 500GB hard drive, though no Blu-ray option. All three models boast Intel’s Arrandale HD graphics and 4GB of DDR3-1066 memory.
The 16-inch CR600-234US notebook switches gears to a Pentium dual-core T4500, 3GB of DDR2 memory, 320GB hard drive, DVD writer, and Nvidia’s GeForce 8200M G graphics.
All four models are available now for $$630 (CR620-030US), $700 (CR620-033US), $730 (CR620-031US), and $530 (CR600-234US).
Image Credit: MSI
Some attentive Web surfers yesterday managed to dig up information about Lenovo’s upcoming X-series refresh, details of which were found inside the OEM’s official maintenance manual for the ThinkPad X201. Lenovo probably would have preferred to wait a little bit before letting the cat out of the bag, but given the circumstance, the company has now confirmed it will launch the ThinkPads next Tuesday on February 23.
"While most mobile workstations only go to 10… ours go to 11 – http://twitpic.com/13snrn," Lenovo Press wrote on its Twitter feed.
That’s all the details Lenovo’s willing to cough up at this point, but given what the maintenance manual revealed, it’s believed the refreshed lineup will tap into Intel’s 2010 mobile chips, including the Core i3, i5, and i7. If so, look for more than just an external makeover on the revitalized laptops.
Image Credit: Lenovo
It hasn’t been that long since Intel released their updated Pine Trail Atom chips, but already there are some indications they may be refreshing the Atom platform. The word is that Intel’s new core is called “Oak Trail”. These new chips would replace the ailing ultra low-power Atom Z series. These are the Z5xx chips we’ve seen in the likes of the Sony Vaio P and Asus Eee PC T91MT tablet.
Atom N450 and N470 are the most common versions of the Pine Trail chips, most often found in netbooks. The Atom N series chips are higher power and not in danger of being replaced. The Oak Trail chips are said to consume much less power, but still remain capable of running a Windows device. Still no firm details, but it’s probably still safe to buy products running the N series Atom chips.
Targeting the value segment, MSI this week announced four new additions to its C-series (Classic series) notebook line. The new models consist of the 16-inch CR600 and 15.6-inch CR620-030, CR620-033, and CR620-031.
All three 620-based models are built around Intel’s Arrandale platform and tout either a Core i3 or i5 processor. Each one also comes equipped with 4GB of DDR3 memory, and either a 320GB or 500GB hard drive. Those who opt for the CR620-033 will also get a Blu-ray DVD combo drive.
The CR600 comes with Nvidia’s GeForce 8200M graphics, and like the rest, it also boasts 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, HDMI out, 1.3MP webcam, a raised chiclet keyboard, and Windows 7 Home Premium.
All models are available now at Newegg with pricing starting at $530.
Image Credit: MSI
Intel’s Core i3 family looks a little thin at the moment, but come Q2, the No. 1 chip maker will add a third member, the Core i3 550, news and rumor site Fudzilla reports.
As it currently stands, the Core i3 530 cruises along at 2.93GHz, while the 540 breaks the 3GHz barrier with a 3.06GHz clockspeed. The Core i3 550 will kick things up a notch to 3.2GHz, leaving everything else the same. That means 4MB of cache, DDR3 1333 memory support, a 73W TDP, two cores with four threads, and no Turbo overclocking. In other words, it will be the same chip as the Core i5 650, just without Turbo.
Fudzilla says the Wolfdale-based Core i3 550 might end up pushing the E7600 from the marketplace, though the majority of the Wolfdale Core 2 Duo product line will remain available as lower end options throughout most of 2010.
No word yet on price, though we suspect it will check in somewhere around the $170 mark.
Image Credit: Intel
According to the latest tech chatter, Acer has the MacBook Air in its sights and plans to offer a competitive product in the form of an ultra-thin measuring a scant 1.9 centimeters.
Rumor also has it that Acer plans on cramming one of Intel’s next-gen Calpella ULV processors into its upcoming ultra-thin. We’re talking about one of Intel’s ULV Core i5 or i7 processors here, which would be no small deal. These chips come rated at up to 1.2GHz, but can ramp as high as 1.8GHz and 2.26GHz in Turbo Boost mode, and they also support Hyperthreading.
If this thing comes to fruition, it would offer traditional notebook-like performance in a frame smaller than the company’s existing Timeline series.
No other details are yet available, including price or availability.
Image Credit: Acer (Timline notebook displayed)
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