Gadgets and gizmos

Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, has announced that it is taking another step into the creation of different chips. The computer chip manufacturer has recently undertaken the relatively new and upmarket task of creating chips for servers, in the shape of its Opteron chip set and is now set to move to the creation of smaller chips that are designed very specifically for integration into gadget type products rather than full on computer and server products. The energy efficient chip may only register at 533MHz but it is believed to give Via Technologies 800MHz chips a run for their money in the performance stakes.

The chip may well prove to be good news for pretty much everybody too. It consumes, uses, and requires far less energy than its counterparts and other AMD processors so it doesn’t need any dedicated fans or cooling. It runs using just 0.9 watts of power and is small enough to be used in set top boxes, TVs, and handheld devices. What’s more, it’s still an x86 chip and that means that it can still be used to run desktop software – it could mean huge leaps in the production of Internet TVs and devices that combine many more features than they are currently able to so great news for us tecchies.

Such is the lapse of time between releasing information and releasing actual products nowadays, AMD has stated that the chips are likely to be integrated into devices that will be on our shelves later this year which really isn’t bad going when you consider how long some advances can take before going from drawing board to production.

Source – CNet