https://liliputing.com/2018/01/rockchip-introduces-rk3399pro-processor-optimized
-ai.html



Rockchip introduces RK3399Pro processor optimized for AI

Rockchip is the latest chip maker to jump on the artificial intelligence bandwagon. The company is introducing an updated version of its RK3399 processor at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, and the key new feature is a new Neural Network Processing Unit, or NPU.

The company says the new RK3399Pro processor offers up to 2.4 TOPs of performance.   TOPs (tera operations per second) is a new conjoined computation measurement number that is not teraflops but is an equivalent sort of integer calculation throughput number.

The original RK3399 which was first unveiled in early 2016, but it didn’t really become widely available until 2017.

Like that processor, the new RK3399Pro is a hexa-core chip with two ARM Cortex-A72 CPU cores, four ARM Coretex-A53 cores.

It features Mali-T860 graphics, support for 4K displays, support for 8-channel microphone arrays, and support for dual USB Type-C interfaces.

The processor is Rockchip’s first to feature a CPU, GPU, and NPU and it’s designed to offer improved performance at machine learning tasks including computer vision and voice processing.

Along with the new processor, Rockchip is offering hardware reference designs and a software development kit, which could help device makers bring products based on the new chip to market quickly.

Bring new products to the market quickly?    Yes indeed since the RK3399 is already Chromebook certified and in use in three major Chromebooks already and Google has been promising AI augmented Chromebooks for the last six months already.   Plus, mini-PC level TV boxes, min computers and all the rest of the RK3399 crew are already out there, waiting for the new chipset.

Motherboards are already there, pin compatible already with the full unit's assembly lines already rolling,  jest awaiting the new RK3399Pro chipset to cap it all off.

And with a 2.4 TOPS of AI PROCESSING ABILITY added on top of a lithography shrunk (25% stronger/faster) Quad-core ARM high-end Mali-T860 GPU which integrates more bandwidth compression, well I think that Rockchip RK3399Pro's AI punch is gonna be something fairly remarkable for a half generation, off year move.    

Certainly good enough to tide folks over on the low end until the Meltdown and Spectre disaster works itself through to some newly founded processor architectures from Intel (or from others as well).

https://www.bizjournals.com/prnewswire/press_releases/2018/01/07/CN82368

RK3399Pro with super AI computing performance is Rockchip's first AI processor by adopting CPU+GPU+NPU hardware structure. Its integrated NPU (Neural Network Processing Unit) incorporates Rockchip's technology in fields of vision, voice processing and deep learning etc. Compared to traditional solution, the computing performance of typical deep neural network Inception V3, ResNet34 and VGG16 models on RK3399Pro is better and improved nearly hundred times.


Three important features of Rockchip RK3399Pro AI solution:


High performance AI hardware

RK3399Pro adopted exclusive AI hardware design. Its NPU computing performance reaches 2.4TOPs, and indexes of both high performance and low consumption keep ahead: the performance is 150% higher than other same type NPU processor; the power consumption is less than 1%, comparing with other solutions adopting GPU as AI computing unit.
 
Superior platform compatibility

The RK3399Pro NPU supports 8bit and 16bit and is compatible with various AI software frameworks. Existing AI interfaces support OpenVX and TensorFlow Lite/AndroidNN API; AI software tools support the importing, mapping and optimizing of Caffe/TensorFlow model.
 
Easily development of turnkey solution

Rockchip provides one-stop AI solution based on RK3399Pro, including hardware reference design and SDK. The solution can increase the AI products R&D speed of global developers and greatly reduce product launch time. It can significantly improve the speed of AI product development for global developers and greatly shorten time to market.

By strongly augmenting Rockchip, Google has protected Chromebooks from MS's current Qualcomm attack and has teed up Rockchip as a major player suitable to carry forth ARM Holdings purported new 12-16 core deep "Intel replacement" processor when they arrive in 2019.

By doing so, Google has flat put Intel under the gun and has got the attention of both of the old Wintel partners clearly focused on getting on past the problems of the current old processor designs and aging, faltering Windows OS system.



yes, I mean this sort of complete kludgy dinosaur nonsense which is ALL Intel has to show you this CES.   Stuff on the left is older AMD, stuff on the right is Intel.

CES is here .....  I am just going to append stuff to this single CES post instead of fouling up the "last 10 posts" people by hitting the list time and time again.

https://liliputing.com/2018/01/amd-roadmap-2nd-gen-ryzen-chips-ryzen-desktop-cpu
s-integrated-radeon-graphics.html

AMD roadmap: 2nd-gen Ryzen chips and Ryzen desktop CPUs with integrated Radeon graphics

Why is this worth bringing to you?   Intel's got nothing new and AMD and ARM are going to be all the real progress seen this year.

Inside this year both will churn over to a new generation of DynamIQ processor type at 7nm and then drop below that, to 6-5nm by year's end 2019.

Currently at 12nm, AMD starts their parade like this ......



....... and does this during the course of the next 2 years.



By bringing out these products.







https://liliputing.com/2018/01/hp-introduces-envy-x2-2-1-intel-core-y-series-pro
cessor-case-dont-want-qualcomm-snapdragon-model.html

AS YOU KNOW ALREADY, MS's plans to take over the world with Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 based small laptops hit a sizeable performance speed bump in the road this past fall, followed by a huge pothole called "Hock Tan's Hostile Takeover Attempts".

Covering their bets on the Snapdragon 845 which is not available in the first half of the year due to prior sales commitments, HP is subbing in a much more expensive and power hungry Intel type "M" processor.    (Also note that MS does not yet have the Snapdragon 845 processor emulation trick all completely worked out just yet, so you are limited to buying Snapdragon Win 10s apps from the MS App Store if you choose to buy the Qualcomm processor (those few that actually exist).

https://youtu.be/cXdzlywYpsM     It is a YouTube, so click on it.

The AI augmented Chromebooks have landed on schedule (both upper end and mid-range) so do go take a good look at Google and the new Chromebooks before committing larger sums of money to MS/Intel machines that have strongly lacking performance and battery life, comparatively speaking.  

Also note (as far as for all the FUD BS being thrown out by MS and Intel) there is NOTHING an Intel type Win 10s can do that a Chromebook cannot do much better and cheaper especially since the Chromebook actually really has software you can get for it, generally low cost to free software instead of MS's own high priced somewhat scarce custom proctologist blends from the MS store).  

Somewhat  better competition may come from the Snapdragons later in the year, but that remains to be seen as until they go on sale, as frankly they are not real yet, just promised.    Being over a year delayed comes from MS's lack of progress finishing out the OS and thus the units, but delay is delay is delay.

By now Qualcomm should recognize they are being taken for a sleigh ride and that they have lost much critical momentum to AMD accordingly.   Qualcomm was on track to put out a real Intel desktop competitor but have been manipulated into not doing so by MS, Intel and Hock Tan's Broadcom take-over attempts and now Qualcomm may not be really in a position to do so.




https://gizmodo.com/amd-is-making-a-really-great-case-for-ditching-intel-ba-1821
850744

In fact the Ryzen 5 2400G, according to AMD, is so fast it can handle top tier games like Battlefield 1 and Witcher 3, at playable frame rates, without a video card. That’s simply not possible with the current generation of Intel CPUs.

APU / NPI conjoined processors from AMD are something else entirely.   They break all the old paradigms, but in a good way.    Watch AMD evolve into the new market leader in power user computers during the next 2 years .....  Why? AMD does not have the same Meltdown issues as Intel, and is more resistant to allowing Spectre exploits as well.  This gifts AMD with a 20+% advantage over Intel processors (true inside each performance range covered).    

Plus, TSMC and Samsung both say at CES they will be running new AMD processors at 4nm lithography by the end of 2020.   This gives a 3-4 generations of lithography advantage to AMD over Intel, plus the fact that all the new AMD chipsets are fully integrated with cell radios, GPS and the world's best graphics performance (with or without a separate APU/NPI or Neural Processing unit) which all of them have available to them, BTW.

ARM DynamIQ based progress is what gives AMD its core advantages -- and we see no signs of that stopping any time soon.   From Meltdown resistance to blazing speed and incredibly strong Neural Processing, massively better graphics performance, the list just goes on and on ......




http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2018/01/intel_reorganizes_...

Intel and Micron part ways --- Micron does not now (and apparently never did) consider Optane to be a really viable project and Micron has now removed itself from the partnership and from any future roles with Intel Optane --- Micron as a memory company is pursuing "another more reasonable course" that is fully supported by memory industry standards, obviously.   Micron choosing to do this now reflects the onus Intel is running under due to Meltdown and Spectre security concerns and Intel's very poor reaction to it.

Intel Corporation is emergency reorganizing now, furiously, four lieutenants (not the 3 count thrown under the bus last time) are named as heads of "security areas of concern".    Stockholders and regulatory agencies being shown "lots of furious activity" to placate them.

Krzanich reassigned four top executives to the new organizations. These management changes, effective immediately, came just ahead of Krzanich's keynote address Monday night to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

"It is critical that we continue to work with the industry, to excel at customer satisfaction, to act with uncompromising integrity, and to achieve the highest standards of excellences," Krzanich told employees in a memo Monday, obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive. "Simply put, I want to ensure we continue to respond appropriately, diligently, and with a customer-first attitude."



Krzanich also promised from the stage at CES that all recent Intel chips would be patched by the end of the month.   This very brown, vaporous promise is extremely unlikely as MS has no plans to accomplish this and Intel can't wipe their butt without MS holding the paper for them.



Also, Absolutely Nothing is said about the preceding 15 YEARS worth of Intel chipsets still needing patching ..... does Krzanich think these are going away because they are "outside an Intel extended warranty period"?

So far, all Intel has done is watch others do their dead level best to stop the severe bloodbath from coming ...... does Krzanich count all their efforts as "our efforts" ????





https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/09/microsoft-halts-meltdown-spectre-amd-patc...

https://www.thestreet.com/story/14442274/1/microsoft-halts-spectre-and-meltdo...

Just read the articles ---- MS was pushed by Intel to "do something fast" and they did --- bricking thousands of AMD equipped PCs in the process by releasing fixes using the nightly push system in a COMPLETELY UNCONTROLLED fashion.

Congratulations, MS --- you can join Intel now in the ranks of the "Class Action lawsuits for the dumb and stupid".

AMD PCs that were trashed were older models.   Microsoft has to now take responsibility for rushing too too fast based on Intel's super urgent need for action and instead trashing up a bunch of innocent user's machines that technically didn't even need the fix in the first place.

MS was apparently running off of documentation, rather than doing actual testing (industry standard method) and that will be the legal basis that is used in the Class Action Suit -- the damage was done by MS's irresponsible carelessness and lack of testing, further aggravated by irresponsible use of the nightly push system to force the upgrades out to in-appropriate machines.

HOT Pepper sauce splashed on top just to make it burn worse --
The erroneous documentation used may have possibly been Intel instead of AMD in origin .......            Wintel is not covering itself with positive PR at the moment.
More will come out shortly, we are sure.

https://liliputing.com/2018/01/microsoft-pauses-meltdown-spectre-security-update
s-amd-computers-bricking-pcs.html

Microsoft says the problem is that “some AMD chipsets do not conform to the documentation previously provided to Microsoft.”

The good news is that while this means users of computers with AMD chips won’t receive the updates as soon as those with Intel processors, AMD says its processors aren’t vulnerable to Meltdown-based attacks anyway, due to architectural differences between its chips and those from rival Intel.

What WAS NOT SAID was how long ago this information was received nor who it was that provided the information.   Since AMD flat says its processors aren't vulnerable to Meltdown, why would AMD be asking Microsoft to "rush out a fix" for machines that couldn't get Meltdown in the first place?  

Intel is the one asking for a rush fix before the end of the week, right ????

Intel is currently losing stock worth and some market share to AMD right now, so a little bit of an AMD disaster right about now benefits whom, exactly ????





Update 4 days later .......         https://liliputing.com/2018/01/microsoft-says-meltdown-spectre-patches-slow-olde
r-pcs-newer-ones-2016-later.html

Microsoft says its Meltdown and Spectre patches slow down older PCs more than newer ones (2016 and later)




The impact on performance varies from not much to quite a bit depending on the hardware and software you’re using and the type of tasks you’re trying to complete.

Now Microsoft has provided some more details about the performance impact of its Windows security updates. For the most part if you’ve got a computer released in 2016 or later, Microsoft says you probably won’t see much difference in performance after applying the update. But if you have an older machine, then you probably will see a noticeable slowdown.

The company says Windows 10 PCs with Intel Skylake, Kaby Lake, or newer processors do show performance slow-downs in the single digits… but since we’re talking about milliseconds, most people won’t actually notice a perceptible change.

But if you’ve got Window 7, 8, or 10 running on a computer with an Intel Haswell or older processor, Microsoft says you’ll probably notice that your computer feels slower sometimes.


Microsoft hasn't yet said what they plan to do about all the AMD processor based machines they pushed the INTEL patches out to as an uncontrolled nightly update.

Users should sign up for one of the Class Action lawsuits as soon as possible, since MS is fully capable of stringing you along.

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/262031-researchers-found-another-major-...

Remember, the default password for this shite is "admin" again.

Folks line up to class action sue Intel again over a corporate server version of Meltdown, but this time it is just PURE STUPIDITY on Intel's part.   Or a lost track of, somewhat misguided feature perhaps ????

The Intel Active Management Technology system (AMT) is designed to allow administrators to access and update PCs, even if those PCs are turned off. All they need is an internet connection and a wall socket and they can be updated. That’s a useful tool for large multinational firms with far-flung employees, but it’s also a potential security risk. F-Secure has published information highlighting how easily an attacker with even brief local access can gain full access to an entire machine. Here’s how they describe the problem:

A BIOS password normally prevents an unauthorized user from making low-level changes to a device. However, the essence of this issue is that even when a BIOS password has been set, an attacker does not need it to configure AMT. Not only that, due to insecure defaults in the BIOS and AMT’s BIOS extension (MEBx) configuration, an attacker with physical access can effectively backdoor a machine by provisioning AMT using the default password. The attacker can then access the device remotely, by connecting to the same wireless or wired network as the user. In certain cases, the assailant can also program AMT to connect to their own server, which negates the necessity of being in the same network segment as the victim.


Intel is really in a bad way right now.   Their pushed fixes to their very own built in "on purpose" security issues are breaking various machines right and left.

Their buddy MS is running scared because they are liable for these messes too as their nightly update system is pushing these "fixes" out to computers everywhere in an uncontrolled fashion.   Computers are actually really running slower and slower as all the layered fixes all go into place.

One questions if Intel even remembers all the unprotected back doors they wrote into various levels of things for various "good reasons" over the decades .....


=================================================


The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Intel has sent out confidential memos to their largest company accounts NOT TO INSTALL ANY PATCHES AND NOT TO ALLOW MS TO PUSH ANY PATCHES TO REMOTE INDIVIDUAL MACHINES OUT IN THE FIELD.

This is Intel privately saying something vaguely akin to  "Oooops, some information we gave out to MS and others is not current & incorrect and the patches that were built off of this data have a large chance of going awry".

This memo is prima facie evidence in the Class Action Suits against Intel and it will likely be used by MS in attempts to defend themselves for having used the erroneous data.

MS sends out direct communication to stop using the AMD patch they pushed out over the air -- once again saying the information they were given was  not correct.   There is a $$$$ cost to be paid out with this issue as the AMD machines affected are bricked dead and MS hasn't figured out how to fix them as they will not boot.    

Once again, MS isn't saying where they got the erroneous data from (may not remember, actually) but considering Intel's communication one suspects Intel's little boo-boo may have resulted in MS's bad OTA patch on the AMD machines.

No one knows the REAL total net slow down effects yet because the patches are all suspect and will all be replaced eventually.   Next, not all the layers of the total fix are in place yet, but more layers generally means greater slowdown.   Lastly, they keep on finding brand new backdoors and loopholes that have to be patched.

Turn off automatic updates until such time that the furor slows down and stops.    Here's what's bad for you though, MS always chains patches and they want to install each patch in serial order so they have a known condition for the next one to implement against.   This is flat dangerous at this time since some of the links in this chain of updates are KNOWN to be bad.

Hopefully, MS will recognize this and come out with a summary upgrade later on that only deals with the good stuff, and has enough detection built into it so MS applies the right stuff for your machine.

Right now, this is not the case.   Yeah, turn it off for a bit, safer that way.

Thanks, I took your advice.

Thanks OF, 2008, purchased 2010 my WIN 7  Intel  Pentium thingy seems to go ok, following your advice I turned off Windoewz updates probably a year ago. Still haven't enough guts to put the Linux thing in yet. I'll talk to some computer people.

https://gizmodo.com/amd-is-making-a-really-great-case-for-ditching-intel-ba-1821
850744

AMD then got a lot more appealing over the last week, when a security vulnerability was found in a wide range of computer processors (including AMD’s). Intel is grossly affected by the vulnerability and has already been hit with a number of class action complaints regarding the vulnerability and the necessary hampering of CPUs in order to resolve it, but AMD has repeatedly claimed that it is significantly less affected. It is, according to AMD and computer luminaries like Linux creator Linus Torvald, simply more secure.

In our conversation, Anderson seemed positively giddy over AMD’s plans for the coming year. Besides the Ryzen Pro line and two Ryzen 3 APUs, there’s also the Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 APU currently available, and today AMD also announced two desktop APUs available February 12: The $170 Ryzen 5 2400G and the $100 Ryzen 3 2200G. These processors, according to AMD, are faster (and way cheaper) than the comparable desktop processors from Intel: the $200 Intel i5-8500 and the $130 Intel i3-8100 respectively.

In fact the Ryzen 5 2400G, according to AMD, is so fast it can handle top tier games like Battlefield 1 and Witcher 3, at playable frame rates, without a video card. That’s simply not possible with the current generation of Intel CPUs.  The graphics aren’t insane—AMD compares the Ryzen 5 2400G’s GPU performance to the $75 Nvidia 1030—but the graphics, at that price, certainly seems crazy good if AMD’s benchmarks are to be believed. And it’s difficult not to be delighted at AMD also continuing to use the nearly 18-month old AM4 socket for these processors to connect to the motherboard. That’s the same socket used with chips from AMD’s last microarchitecture, Excavator, as well as all currently available Ryzen processors, and the many Ryzen processors expected over the next handful of years.

According to Anderson, AMD is devoted to the AM4 socket and doesn’t want to force people to upgrade their motherboard every few years, as is currently necessary with Intel’s processors. “We’re going to stick with AM4 for a long time,” he told Gizmodo.

And that means that the second generation of Ryzen CPUs, which Anderson also mentioned today, will work with the AM4 socket as well. These processors, which are expected in the second quarter of 2018, are part of AMD’s super aggressive attempt to chip away at Intel’s hold on the CPU market. AMD didn’t go into too much detail, but did say the 2nd-Gen Ryzen processors would operate on a new Zen+ microarchitecture and that it would shrink from the 14nm that Zen is on, to 12nm.

That’s a 2nm difference in just one year! Intel, for comparison, introduced its first 14nm processor in 2014, and it has repeatedly delayed moving to something smaller. Moreover, AMD has even claimed it will have a 7nm processor, the Zen 2, ready for market in 2020. That’s a crazy rapid pace of development for a company that’s spent the better part of the last five years completely stagnant.

And it’s crazy exciting for consumers, because, as Jim Anderson repeatedly noted in his conversation with Gizmodo, AMD is finally able to compete with Intel. It’s not the slow and cheap alternative. It’s, potentially, the faster and cheaper alternative. Which means, if Intel, who is already hurting from this security snafu, doesn’t want to find itself playing second fiddle, it will need to step up its game, because if the performance of these new Ryzen processors are as good as AMD claims than I know I’ll be seriously considering a switch.

Gizmodo nails all the real reasons your next machine should be AMD instead of Intel.

As long as AMD will only sell Intel a GPU from two years ago, Intel is gonna be permanently second fiddle to AMD from now on.

Next, thanks to slow and stupid fixes Intel had to put in place for for Meltdown and Spectre, the relatively less affected AMD currently has a real speed and security advantage over Intel that will only get stronger when AMD drops their lithography size in a couple of months time.

Lastly, with AMD you can just upgrade your SoC, the AM4 CPU socket and the BIOS on the motherboard is good to go after a standard BIOS update .....

https://liliputing.com/2018/01/intel-recommends-not-installing-spectre-meltdown-
updates-just-yet-following-reboot-issues.html

INTEL -- recall these patches and FIX the issues reliably before reissuing the patches.

Reuters and the EU had sent this message to Intel last week because the Intel patches were slowing servers down over 25% AND were causing a slow repetitious rebooting of the servers, something which rendered them partially useless and completely unable to reliably carry the work loads they were designed to carry (and did carry up until Intel's patches were installed.

So in a classic Intel move, Intel now sends out a suggestion to NOT install the patches that they sent out last month, nor should you install the set of patches sent out early this month but instead .....   you should wait for the next set of patches.

But it looks like that’s not the only problem: the updates Intel rolled out earlier this month also caused some computers to reboot unexpectedly and repeatedly. Now Intel says it’s identified the root cause of the rebooting ….  but the company isn’t quite ready to roll out the updated patch to everyone to fix that issue either.

So Intel is suggesting that you not install the earlier fix, and instead "wait for the next one".

Intel says it’s already begun testing the updated security patch with “industry partners” and that a final release will be available after those tests are finished.

Fun fact, in the same announcement, Intel says “we continue to urge all customers to vigilantly maintain security best practice and for consumers to keep systems up-to-date.” Of course, if you followed that advice, you may have already installed an update which caused your have “higher than expected reboots and other unpredictable system behavior.”

Although I suppose there is a case to be made that the best way to secure a computer right now is to turn it off.

The EU regulators sent back word to Intel that they are recommending all businesses keep track of their downtime costs, lost business costs, upgrade costs and lost personnel effectivity losses that were suffered by EU businesses due to the defective Intel patches fiasco as EU regulators consider Intel to be completely liable for these same losses.

New peaks in activity in Linux operating systems and in the new main OS replacements such as Fuchsia OS have been noted over in the FOSS world.

When the last layers of required Intel fixes go into all machines, then anticipated productivity declines of a total of 20% to 30% may be seen ongoing.