Behind the Scenes at CES 2012
Intel, AMD, Nvidia & their partners
Intel
ABT’s day started with the 7 AM Intel meeting with the press at their booth before CES officially opened. Intel thoughtfully provided breakfast sandwiches for the media and their representatives were on hand to answer questions.
Directly across from the Intel booth is Microsoft’s booth, emphasizing their close relationship. Microsoft’s CEO announced in his keynote address that 2012 would be their last CES. Microsoft said it will no longer have a booth at future CES nor deliver a keynote. Ballmer did take the opportunity to provide a preview of Windows-powered smartphones as well as Windows 8, plus announcing that Kinect was coming to the PC.
Intel showed its own new smartphone platform with Medfield. It looks to be an ideal chip which is slated first for the Asian market and it will debut in China in H1. Intel showed its Ivy Bridge Ultrabook reference design, which transforms from a traditional notebook into a tablet or picture frame. Thunderbolt was also shown to be working on Intel’s ultrabook reference design.
Intel also showed their AppUp store which is intended for conveniently purchasing PC software, and also M-GO, for movie and TV show sales as part of of AppUp. The idea is to be able to quickly, cheaply and simply purchase a movie on an Intel smartphone and then stream it to the HDTV – everything unified by an Intel platform. Of course, Intel wants to remind everyone that it all starts with a chip.
And of course, that chip has to be cut from a wafer.
Intel is showing off their graphics capability – either the Core CPU integrated HD3000 graphics for mainstream gaming or a Core i7 CPU paired with a discrete GPU for enthusiasts.
Intel also demonstrated their 3D sharing concepts. From creation with a 3D camera to sharing it nearly instantly with friends on Youtube using Intel’s platform is easy. Below you can see the low CPU usage using ArcSoft to create a 3D Video for sharing,
Intel demonstrated the capabilities of its platform with software designed for artists; in this case using “oil” painting or even watercolor using a touch screen and a real “brush” designed for it.
Intel also has Ivy Bridge CPUs coming soon. ABT will be looking forward to finally upgrading our flagship CPU from i7/X58 LGA1336 platform to Ivy Bridge although it has served us very well for more than two years.
AMD
Last year, AMD was all about “Vision” and it is still about Vision. This year, it is also about Fusion and their new APUs which are becoming 28nm and second generation with both improved performance and better TDP and performance per watt making them ideally suited for notebook and ultra-light notebook PCs.
AMD wanted to surprise anyone that was looking at their dual monitor setup running heavy tasks as well as 1080p gaming, was being powered by one of their new mobile 28nm “Trinity” APUs. Normally one would expect a desktop or large desktop replacement notebook to be playing a DX11 game at the same time as playing back a movie and converting video simultaneously – but it is just a lightweight notebook with a Trinity APU! Of course, they are also highlighting the APU’s built-in dual monitor support.
Trinity is supposed to show up in 17W and 35W chip. AMD was talking about the 17W mobile Trinity having the same performance with half the power as the current 40nm mobile APUs or else double the performance with the 35W variety. This should work out to about 25% more CPU performance and 50% more GPU performance over the current A-series. Mobile Trinity APUs are mostly destined for notebooks and ultra-light notebooks. AMD also had some tablets running Android OSes.
AMD also debuted their HD 7000 series, both mobile and desktop GPUs. The announcement was made at CES that these new GPUs were now available in retail. AMD has captured the single-GPU performance crown with their new HD 7970 which is based on 28nm technology and runs DX11.1 and and also includes some new refinements over the HD 6000 series including improved HD3D and Eyefinity over 3 displays in HD3D.
As we noted in the beginning of our CES article, AMD demonstrated 5×1 Eyefinity which can now include 2 displays devoted to video-conferencing with your friends while you play together in an online game over the Internet!
AMD Radeon HD 7000M Notebook Graphics
The AMD Radeon HD 7000M series of mobile GPUs currently uses 40nm technology. This existing technology includes AMD dynamic switchable graphics technology, AMD Vari-Bright™ technology and AMD PowerPlay™ technology. Some variants will feature higher clocks, added support for GDDR5 and new package designs. The AMD Radeon HD 7000M mobile GPUs are currently featured in various notebook PCs from HP and Lenovo.
Of course, AMD is also a software company and they write the drivers that make their processors work. They also partner up with companies like MotionDSP’s vReveal for Steady Video technology. The difference is pretty clear and vReveal is an application that is accelerated by AMD technology.
AMD’s new Vision notebooks are best shown by this chart.
AMD is planning to bring out their high-end 28nm mobile graphics processors in Q2 2012. We can expect new features and capabilities as these new mobile chips will be based on the new GCN architecture.
NVIDIA
Nvidia was mostly about Tegra 3 and automobiles this year. Very little was said about their next generation 28nm Kepler GPU although one got the feeling that the launch isn’t far off; all Nvidia will say officially is “H1”. Tegra 3 was the highlight of Nvidia’s press conference at pre-CES with an address by their CEO, Jen-Hsun Huang (aka “Jensen”).
Jensen mostly talked about tablets featuring Tegra 3, mobile connected gaming, and cars. Each car serves a different need just like each mobile device does, and most importantly, whatever you want, Android will make it possible. Nvidia’s CEO demonstrated tablet apps enhanced by Nvidia graphics technology and highlighted Tegra 3 games found in the Nvidia Tegra Zone. He showed how a Tegra tablet can remotely connect to your PC via Spashtop, “and it just works.”
Perhaps Nvidia’s biggest announcement was that the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet with Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system featuring Tegra 3 is available now. And soon Jensen said there will be a 7″ tablet using a Tegra 3 chip that will sport the entry-level price of $249.
Jensen next touted the upcoming Windows 8 and a new technology called Direct Touch. He also highlighted automobiles with Tegra processors and indeed there were several cars and super-cars on display at the Nvidia booth inside CES and in Silver Lot number 2. Nvidia also announced that Audi AG has selected the Tegra 3 mobile processor to power in-vehicle infotainment systems — as well as new digital instrument clusters that replace traditional dashboard gauges — across its full line of vehicles worldwide, beginning in 2013.
Here is the display.
Nvidia also gave a sneak peak at Window 8 and the more connected world of Tegra 3.
Nvidia also showcased new products and technologies that demonstrate PCs based on their GeForce GPUs along with the Nvidia 3D Vision hardware and software is an excellent platform well-suited for Blu-ray 3D movies, games, photos, and the Web. Of course, the emphasis is still on GeForce gaming and here is an extreme example of one of two simulators on display at the Nvidia booth that costs about 30 thousand dollars. Nvidia’s 3D Vision Surround spans 3D content across three high definition monitors or projectors.
On display in the booth, Nvidia demonstrated 3D Vision technology running on desktop and notebook PCs equipped with 120Hz 3D-capable displays. Here is Alienware’s gaming notebook using a GeForce GTX 580M
Mobile connected gaming with Tegra 3 was also highlighted.
And Jensen was to be seen at Nvidia’s booth but you were unlikely to be able to say more than hello unless you had an appointment with him.
Nvidia’s partners were at CES, but EVGA did not have a booth at CES. Instead they held private meetings with the media, their partners, and buyers at a nearby hotel.
Nvidia’s partners
EVGA
EVGA is Nvidia’s number one partner, especially in the United States. They are all about Community. They proudly displayed their GTX line up as well as new X79 motherboards for Intel’s new flagship i7 CPUs and displayed a new line of fully modular NEX PSUs that will be in retail channels in the first half of this year.
For the flagship 1500W NEX EVGA PSU, they payed extra attention to the cable design, bundled software, and internal design even down to the number of its PCB layers. There are new features like a “dummy mode” which runs the PSU in auxiliary mode so there is no longer a need to jump the 24-pin connectors. There is an overclock mode that will increase the maximum PSU output 10% from 1500W to 1650W, a “customizable” +12V rail design that lets you select the number of +12V rails and a 100% modular cable design.
The above image is courtesy of EVGA. And EVGA was not yet ready to talk freely about Kepler but they were smiling.
AMD’s Partners
Diamond
ABT got to meet with Diamond, one of AMD’s premier video graphics partners. Unlike last year’s CES, Diamond had a booth on the CES main floor.
We see speakers, cables, adapters, streaming devices, HD 6000 series .. and the Diamond HD7970!
Diamond did say that the HD 7970 was in very short supply at the moment. AMD told us that more are on the way. However, talk soon turned to the yet-as-unreleased HD 7950. We will bring you updates as we get them and regularly check our ABT forum first for announcements (and leaks).
ECS
ABT also got to meet with ECS who set up in a hotel on the Strip. They showed off their X79 motherboards, upcoming Ivy Bridge motherboards, as well as their all-in-one thin PCs.
Here is ECS’ new X79 motherboard supporting Intel’s flagship LGA2011
ECS showed us 2 more designs for their All-In-One systems. One of them uses Intel’s H61 chipset and a 21.5” wide LED touchscreen with 10-finger multi-touch and up to 1920 x 1080 resolution. They are also customizable and upgradable.
Now from the side
ECS also demoed its new wireless display solution for HDMI display devices. It is called the ECS Wi-Bridge and it is designed for HDTV. It is compact yet it bridges the PC or to a HDTV via HDMI. The ECS Wi-Bridge also supports various display modes.
After a brief meeting with ECS and a promise to review their Ivy Bridge motherboards at ABT, it is time to head back to CES.
Great post! It was a good read and will deffinately be coming around more often.