AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced new x86 AMD Embedded G-Series system-on-chip (SoC) and central processing unit (CPU) solutions for embedded applications, including early adoption by HP for thin client deployment in healthcare, finance, education and retail, as well as Advantech for industrial applications in rugged environments.

The new product families expand upon the high-performance, low-power capabilities of the award-winning AMD Embedded G-Series platform, bringing high performance and integrated security with enterprise-class error-correction code (ECC) memory support, dual- and quad-core variants, and a discrete-class GPU and I/O controller on the same die. The new G-Series processors are pin-compatible across the AMD G-Series SoC and CPU family for ease of scalability among embedded applications, including communications and networking infrastructure, industrial control and automation (IC&A), thin clients, gaming machines, and digital signage.

AMD (NYSE: AMD) today introduced its new 2014 Performance Mobile APUs designed for ultrathin and high-performance mobile PCs, bringing the features and capabilities of the popular and powerful AMD A-Series APU family (codenamed "Kaveri") to power-efficient notebooks for both personal and professional use. The new mobile APUs mark the debut of Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA) features and Graphics Core Next (GCN) Architecture for mobile devices, establishing them as AMD's most advanced mobile APUs to-date. Notebook and desktop systems powered by AMD's entire 2014 APU lineup, including systems from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Toshiba and others also debuted at COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2014.

"AMD takes a major step forward today on our journey to transform and enhance the computing experience with the launch of the 2014 Performance Mobile APU family," said Bernd Lienhard, corporate vice president and general manager, Client Business Unit, AMD. "With a combination of superior total compute performance, stunning graphics and efficient power use alongside industry-first technologies, these new APUs set a new bar for cutting-edge consumer and commercial PCs."
The announcement of the 2014 Performance Mobile APU family features AMD's first FX-branded enthusiast-class APU for notebooks, and follows the recent introduction of AMD's 2014 Low-Power and Mainstream APUs.

ASUS showed off its first socket FM2+ motherboard in its Republic of Gamers family, the ROG Crossblade Ranger. Based on the AMD A88X FCH chipset, the Crossblade Ranger offers an 8-phase CPU VRM, four DDR3 DIMM slots, two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (gen 3.0 x8/x8 when both are populated), a third PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4) slot, eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports, Intel-made gigabit Ethernet with ASUS LANGuard, and SupremeFX audio. The board supports both SLI and CrossFire. We expect this board to be priced under $150.

MSI unveiled its first socket AM3+ motherboard bearing its coveted Gaming Series badge, the 970 Gaming. Based on AMD 970 chipset with SB950 southbridge, the board offers most modern gaming features for the AM3+ platform. It supports FX "Vishera" eight-core processors. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, and features a strong 8-phase CPU VRM that's cooled by a massive heatsink. The AM3+ socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting up to 64 GB of dual-channel DDR3-2400 MHz memory.

Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (x8/x8 when both are populated), and two each of PCI-Express 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI. Storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. There are four USB 3.0 ports on offer. Things get interesting with its Qualcomm Killer E2200 gaming-optimized wired NIC, the same one featured on its flagship Z97 Gaming 9 AC; and Audio Boost HD audio, which features a 115 dBA SNR CODEC, ground-layer isolation, a 600Ω headphones amp, electrolytic capacitors, and gold-plated jacks. MSI didn't disclose pricing.

AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced that it has agreed to sell $500 million aggregate principal amount of its 7.00% Senior Notes due 2024 in a private offering. AMD intends to close the transaction on or around June 16, 2014. AMD estimates that the net proceeds from the issuance and sale of the senior notes (the "Net Proceeds") will be approximately $490 million after deducting the initial purchasers' discounts and estimated offering expenses. AMD intends to use the Net Proceeds to fund the purchase of all 8.125% Senior Notes due 2017 (the "8.125% Notes") that are early tendered (the "Early Tender") in accordance with the terms of a tender offer that was announced earlier today (the "8.125% Tender Offer"). To the extent AMD still has 8.125% Notes outstanding following settlement of the Early Tender, prior to or following the expiration of the 8.125% Tender Offer, AMD intends to use the remaining Net Proceeds to redeem any and all remaining outstanding 8.125% Notes. AMD will use the remaining Net Proceeds after the completion of the 8.125% Tender Offer and any redemption of 8.125% Notes to redeem, repurchase or otherwise retire other outstanding indebtedness.

The new senior notes have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or applicable state securities laws, and will be offered only to qualified institutional buyers in reliance on Rule 144A and in offshore transactions pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act. Unless so registered, the new senior notes may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws.
This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) today announced the release of the DockPort standard. Developed by several VESA member companies, DockPort is an optional extension of the DisplayPort standard that will allow USB 3.1 data and DC power for battery charging to be carried over a single DisplayPort connector and cable that also carries high-resolution audio/video (A/V) data. This new extension of the DisplayPort standard is fully backward compatible with all existing DisplayPort devices. When a DockPort-enabled DisplayPort source-such as a computer or tablet-is connected with a DockPort-enabled DisplayPort sink-such as a display monitor or docking station-A/V plus USB data and power will be transferred over a common cable through a single connector. If either the source or sink device is not a DockPort-enabled, then source and sink will recognize only the DisplayPort A/V data stream.

AMD has now let loose a new graphics card driver, a fresh Catalyst build which brings performance enhancements for games like Watch Dogs and Murdered Soul Suspect, plus Eyefinity and Mantle improvements.

The Catalyst 14.6 Beta is available for Windows 7 and 8.1 (8.0 users will have to update to 8.1 if they want to install it) and supports Radeon HD 5000, HD 6000, HD 7000, HD 8000, R5 200, R7 200 and R9 200 Series desktop cards, and Mobility Radeon HD 5000, HD 6000, HD 6000M, HD 7000M and HD 8000M mobile GPUs.

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) today announced the election of new Board of Directors leadership. Alan Kobayashi of MegaChips has been elected Board Chair; Syed Athar Hussain has been re-elected Vice Chair; and Richard Hubbard of Texas Instruments has been elected Secretary/Treasurer. The new leadership slate will serve one-year terms of office.

Alan Kobayashi, VESA's new Board Chair, is Fellow & Executive R&D Management for DisplayPort Group at MegaChips Technology America. Based in San Jose, CA, Mr. Kobayashi has served in a variety of senior corporate technology roles, and he has been an author of VESA's DisplayPort Standard and served as Chair of the DisplayPort Task Group, the Leader of the organization's PHY/Link Layer Compliance Sub-groups, and as a VESA Board member. Mr. Kobayashi holds several dozen patents in the area of A/V transport and display.

"VESA's work developing standards and establishing compliance test protocols is of strategic importance to the entire video display ecosystem," explained Alan Kobayashi. "I hope to help guide the organization as we continue to enhance our existing, widely adopted standards, while also developing solutions for the industry's emerging video challenges."

AMD's third generation Eyefinity multi-display technology, will feature the ability to mix and match resolutions. AMD pioneered multi-display with Eyefinity, which allows you to span a single display head across 3 to 6 physical displays. Up until now, the technology required all participating displays in a setup to run at the same resolution, often limited by that of the lowest-resolution display. Soon, that limitation will be removed, letting you mix displays with different native resolutions, in three new modes. The first one will be called "Fit mode," in which vertical pixel counts will be kept constant among the displays. The next is "Expand mode," in which the display head assumes the vertical pixel count of the larger (central) display for the flanking displays, creating "unavailable" areas. The third one is "Fill mode," in which the head fills out the native resolutions of the displays, with no "unavailable" areas. The resulting display head, thus, won't be a quadrilateral. AMD plans to launch Eyefinity 3.0 with Catalyst 14.6, due for June 2014.

Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, announced estimated graphics add-in-board (AIB) shipments and suppliers' market share for 2014 1Q.

JPR's AIB Report tracks computer add-in graphics boards, which carry discrete graphics chips. AIBs are used in desktop PCs, workstations, servers, and other devices such as scientific instruments. They are sold directly to customers as aftermarket products, or are factory installed. In all cases, AIBs represent the higher end of the graphics industry using discrete chips and private high-speed memory, as compared to the integrated GPUs in CPUs that share slower system memory.

AMD today announced the 2nd generation AMD Embedded R-series accelerated processing unit (APU) and CPU family (previously codenamed "Bald Eagle") for embedded applications. The new solutions are targeted at gaming machines, medical imaging, digital signage, industrial control and automation (IC&A), communications and networking infrastructure that require industry-leading compute and graphics processing technology.

"When it comes to compute performance, graphics performance and performance-per-watt, the 2nd generation AMD Embedded R-series family is unique in the embedded market," said Scott Aylor, corporate vice president and general manager, AMD Embedded Solutions. "The addition of HSA, GCN and power management features enables our customers to create a new world of intelligent, interactive and immersive embedded devices."

During its 45 years history AMD has been focused on bringing technology to market that creates a visually-rich and user-friendly digital experiences. The AMD game heritage is strong and programs like the " AMD Gaming Evolved Client powered by Raptr" are demonstrating this. AMD is pleased to announce that it is reentering the eSports arena with the sponsorship of ROCCAT's professional eSport team. Through this new global sponsorship, AMD will be actively supporting ROCCAT's professional eSports team in the prestigious League of Legends and the StarCraft II league in the whole of EMEA.

"AMD is gaming, we are powering millions of gamers with our AMD Radeon Graphics and AMD APUs around the globe. Getting involved in e-sport and sponsoring Team Roccat is just a natural step for AMD moving forward. Given that AMD graphic cards like the AMD Radeon R7 240 offer great performance for games like League of Legends, we are excited and are looking forward to supporting the Roccat team and helping them win." - commented Mark Reed, Director of Marketing EMEA at AMD.

Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, announced estimated graphics chip shipments and suppliers' market share for 2014 1Q. For the previous three quarters, the PC graphics market has gone up. This was the first quarter to show a decrease in shipments since last. Shipments were down 11.6% quarter-to-quarter, and down 4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Quick highlights:

• AMD's overall unit shipments decreased 18.2% quarter-to-quarter, Intel's total shipments decreased 7.9% from last quarter, and Nvidia's decreased 10.4%.
• The attach rate of GPUs to PCs for the quarter was 135% and 33% of PCs had discrete GPUs, which means 67% of the PCs are using the embedded graphics in the CPU.
• The overall PC market decreased 9% quarter-to-quarter, and decreased 3.5% year-to-year.

BIOSTAR has released the A88MQ motherboard based on the new AMD FM2+ socket design that supports AMD Multi-Core (x4, x2) socket FM2+/FM2 processors AMD A-series/ E2-series processors all in a micro ATX form factor. Using the AMD A88X Chipset, the A88MQ, gives users the options for small build using the MicroATX form factor. It gives 4 DIMM slots supporting DDR3 RAM up to 64GB. It uses the newest SATA3 6Gb/s bus which is twice the speed of previous SATA2. There is also support for AMD Dual Graphics Technology.

The A88MQ will give users the 6+ Experience. The first, Audio+ includes audio features from BIOSTAR which are extensive with True Blu-Ray Audio and SPDIF out. The Video+ features support for full HDMI 3D 1080p and a Dual-Link DVI port for resolutions up to 2560x1600. The Speed+ features include support for SmartSpeedLAN which is a free software application that monitors and manages your PC's network behavior. There is also Charger Booster, the fastest and most efficient charger solution for Apple devices such as iPads and iPhones.

NVIDIA's energy-efficiency leap achieved on existing 28 nanometer process, using the "Maxwell" based GM107, appears to have rattled AMD. The company is reportedly attempting a super-efficient, 28 nm, mid-range chip of its own, codenamed "Tonga." The chip could power graphics cards that compete with the GeForce GTX 750 Ti and GTX 750. The chip is likely to be based on Graphics CoreNext 2.0 micro-architecture, the same one that drives "Hawaii," which means AMD isn't counting on the micro-architecture for efficiency gains. It could feature an evolution of PowerTune, which works closer to the metal than its existing implementation on "Hawaii." Other features could include Mantle, TrueAudio, and perhaps even XDMA CrossFire (no cables needed). The chip could be wired to up to 2 GB of memory.

Another equally plausible theory doing rounds is that "Tonga" could be a replacement to "Tahiti Pro," designed to compete with the GK104 at much lower power footprint (than "Tahiti"), so AMD could more effectively compete with the GeForce GTX 760. The chip could be similar in feature-set to "Tahiti," with a narrower memory bus (256-bit wide), but higher clock speeds to make up for it. If this theory holds true, then "Tonga" could disrupt both Tahiti Pro and "Curacao XT." Curacao XT (R9 270X) is designed to offer a value-conscious alternative to the $250 GTX 760. The R9 280 is competitive in performance, but takes a beating on the energy-efficiency front, and is also costlier to manufacture, due to the higher transistor count and four additional memory chips. We could hear more at Computex 2014.

Cyberpower Inc., a manufacturer of custom gaming machines, notebook systems, and high performance workstations, today announced its Power Mega Pro series - a redesigned family of AMD and Intel high-performance workstations powered by AMD and Intel processors that offer a minimum of 8 processing threads configurable up to 40 threads with dual Intel Xeon E6-2690 v2 processors.

From video editing to 3D design and rendering, the Power Mega Pro series is crafted with premium components to ensure a seamless, reliable computing experience to tackle the most demanding CPU and GPU-intensive applications. CYBERPOWERPC did extensive research and testing to design the perfect mix of seven base model Power Mega Pro systems - all of which offer workstation level performance for running advanced applications out of the box. Customers have a choice of the OpenGL performance of an NVIDIA Quadro GPU, or the ability to distribute a load across 20 or more Intel Xeon processing threads.

AMD stabilized end-user pricing of its Radeon R9 series graphics cards, restoring them to their original launch prices in most cases, and even lower in some. Pricing of most AMD Graphics CoreNext architecture-based GPUs inflated over the past 6 months, due to the frenzy created by Cryptocoin currency miners, who leveraged the chips' GPGPU performance to 'mine' currencies such as Litecoin. Sensing that high prices are driving gamers away from Radeon, AMD swung into action by dealing with the problem at two levels. First, VP Global Channel Sales, Roy Taylor micro-managed the supply chain in China, and next, the company dealt with distributors and retailers.

At the time of preparing this article, most Radeon R9 series-based graphics cards, including high-end ones such as the R9 290X, and non-reference cards, are back to their original price-points on US retailer Newegg.com. The R9 290X can now be had for as low as US $519.99 (launch-price $549.99, was inflated to $750), the R9 290 for $379.99 (launched at $399.99, was inflated to $600), the R9 280X as low as $279.99 (launched at $299.99, was inflated to $400); the R9 280 as low as $229.99 (launched at $249.99, was inflated to $280); and the R9 270X at $199.99 (was inflated as high as $250).

AMD today announced that its SeaMicro SM15000 server set a significant industry benchmark record for hyperscale cloud computing with a demonstration that highlights how OpenStack can quickly and reliably provision on-demand computing services at scale. The test provisioned 168,000 virtual machines on 576 physical hosts. The first 75,000 virtual machines were deployed in six hours and thirty minutes. This is the largest known demonstration of OpenStack scalability ever. AMD achieved the record in collaboration with Canonical using the Ubuntu OpenStack (Icehouse) distribution. MaaS (Metal as a Service), part of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and Ubuntu OpenStack, was used to deliver the bare metal servers, storage and networking. The solution is available today and is the most scalable, automated application for deploying OpenStack in hyperscale environments.

"This record validates that the SeaMicro SM15000 is well suited for massive OpenStack deployments," said Dhiraj Mallick, corporate vice president and general manager, AMD Data Center Server Solutions. "The combination of Ubuntu OpenStack and the SeaMicro SM15000 server provides the industry's leading solution to build cloud infrastructure that is highly responsive and ideal for on-demand services."

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) today announced the addition of 'Adaptive-Sync' to its popular DisplayPort 1.2a video interface standard. This technology delivers several important capabilities to computer users: Adaptive-Sync provides smoother, tear-free images for gaming and judder-free video playback. It also significantly reduces power consumption for static desktop content and low frame rate video.

Computer monitors normally refresh their displays at a fixed frame rate. In gaming applications, a computer's CPU or GPU output frame rate will vary according to the rendering complexity of the image. If a display's refresh rate and a computer's render rate are not synchronized, visual artifacts-tearing or stuttering-can be seen by the user. DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync enables the display to dynamically match a GPU's rendering rate, on a frame-by-frame basis, to produce a smoother, low latency, gaming experience. In applications where the display content is static-such as surfing the web, reading email, or viewing a slide presentation-DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync allows the display refresh rate to be reduced seamlessly, lowering system power and extending battery life.

AMD is reportedly working on a new single-GPU graphics card SKU to compete with the likes of GeForce GTX 780 Ti, and perhaps even take a swing at the GTX TITAN Black, since it's not too far ahead of the GTX 780 Ti at single-display gaming. The new SKU will be more than just a clock-speed bump, it will leverage HBM (high-bandwidth memory), a cutting-edge new technology that relies on stacking multiple DRAM dies with dedicated memory paths into a single package, cutting down on power-draw, thermals, and PCB real-estate.

The first kind of HBMs to hit the market are 8 Gbit 4Hi, which will interface with the GPU over a 128-bit wide path, which means there will be just four memory packages on the card (since the "Hawaii" silicon features a 512-bit wide memory bus), with improvements in the area of power-draw and heat output. The memory could be clocked higher, too. Sadly, memory bandwidth is not the prime-mover in VGA performance, and AMD will have to offer higher GPU clocks for the card to stand a chance against NVIDIA's high-end single-GPU offerings. As for the name this card would bear, we get a sense of deja vu about how NVIDIA launched the single-GPU GeForce 7950 GTX alongside the dual-GPU 7950 GX2, replacing the 7900 GTX. And so, it wouldn't surprise us if AMD named it Radeon R9 295X.

One of AMD's lead testers, Jason Megit tweeted these pictures of a gaming PC build running Lichdom: Battlemage at "super high resolution." How high? 11520 x 2160 pixels, or a 3-display Eyefinity setup using Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels) monitors. You might think the system must be running three or four top of the line cards, given that Lichdom: Battlemage is driven by CryEngine 3, the same one that powers Crysis 3, from the makers of some of the most GPU-intensive games; but it isn't. The game was running on a single Radeon R9 295X2 dual-GPU graphics card. Lichdom: Battlemage is currently available as a pre-alpha, if you pre-order the game for $19.99 on Steam. From the looks of it, Lichdom: Battlemage is shaping up to be a modern-day Hexen.

Over the weekend enthusiasts couldn't find AMD's Catalyst software suite 14.4 WHQL on the company's Game portal. The company reposted it a little later, with a cautionary note about why they had to pull the download. Apparently, the AMD motherboard chipset drivers included in the suite were later found to be unstable on some systems, particularly the southbridge AHCI driver. The issue seems to affect only certain southbridges, the SB700, SB710, and SB750. There's no word on newer generations of southbridges with SATA 6 Gb/s controllers and FIS switches, such as SB850, SB950, and A-series FCH chipsets, being affected. Our SB950-based motherboard isn't showing any signs of instability. AMD rebuilt the suite without the affected driver when it re-posted the suite later on Monday.

MSI's all new R9 270X GAMING 2G ITX is the latest addition to the MSI GAMING line-up and a perfect companion to the latest Intel and AMD Mini-ITX motherboards. At just 17 centimeters the card is fully featured and surprisingly cool and silent given its size and performance. This is thanks to the MSI RADAX fan solution, a true Hybrid Radial/Axial fan that combines the best of both worlds and reduces temperatures up to 30%. This is one of the consistent elements of MSI's GAMING Graphics Cards which all give you more performance while reducing temperatures and noise.

The new MSI GAMING App allows you to instantly overclock your MSI GAMING Graphics Card and MSI GAMING Motherboards, while you can video capture and stream in high quality with XSplit Gamecaster and MSI Predator. Military Class 4 components provide excellent stability and lifetime and the RADAX fan keeps your card running at low noise and full speed all day. The MSI R9 270X GAMING 2G ITX, combined with a variety of MSI GAMING motherboards in Mini-ITX provide a unique, rich gaming experience optimized for today's online and socialized gaming world while offering amazing thermal and acoustic performance in the mini-ITX form factor.

AMD today announced a roadmap of near- and mid-term computing solutions that harness the best characteristics of both the x86 and ARM ecosystems, called "ambidextrous computing." The cornerstone of this roadmap is the announcement of AMD's 64-bit ARM architecture license for the development of custom high-performance cores for high-growth markets. Today's announcement also provides a forward-looking glimpse into AMD's development plans to deliver truly unmatched ambidextrous computing and graphics performance using a shared, flexible infrastructure to enable its customers to blaze new paths of innovation for the embedded, server and client markets as well as semi-custom solutions.

"Before today, AMD was the only company in the world to deliver high performance and low-power x86 with leadership graphics. AMD now takes a bold step forward and has become the only company that can provide high-performance 64-bit ARM and x86 CPU cores paired with world-class graphics," said Rory Read, AMD president and CEO. "Our innovative ambidextrous design capability, combined with our portfolio of IP and expertise with high-performance SoCs, means that AMD is set to deliver ambidextrous solutions that enable our customers to change the world in more efficient and powerful ways."

While AMD may have scored one up over NVIDIA by making its 500-Watt dual-GPU graphics card, the Radeon R9 295X2, a 2-slot thick product that draws power from just two 8-pin PCIe power connectors, AMD's implementation also lugs along a radiator and coolant tubing that not everyone may find room in their cases for. Some enthusiasts may simply not trust factory-fitted water cooling solutions. For such people and more, who'd like to keep their builds "dry," PowerColor is coming up with the first truly non-reference design R9 295X2, the Devil13.

Pictured below, the R9 295X2 Devil13 from PowerColor features a completely custom-design PCB that is said to feature a meatier VRM than the one you get on reference design boards; which draws power from 4 (that's right, four) 8-pin PCIe power connectors. The PCB appears taller but just as long as the reference one, and features a back-plate that doubles up as structural reinforcement. The cooler is an interesting piece of engineering. It appears to feature two independent aluminium fin heatsinks, each over one of the two GPUs, and a base-plate heatsink to cool the memory, VRM, and bridge chip. The contraption is then ventilated by three 100 mm fans that appear to feature lateral+axial hybrid air-flow blades, on their impellers. PowerColor could launch the R9 295X2 Devil13 at Computex 2014, if not sooner.