One, Two, Seven - get ready for the recovery

Written by Tim Smalley

September 21, 2009 | 15:32

Tags: #directx-11 #enthusiast #windows-7

Companies: #amd #intel #nvidia

Over the past six months or so, it has become increasingly difficult to get excited about the computer hardware industry. Regular bit-tech readers have probably noticed my own output has dropped a little.

I've been focusing on the bigger picture (which included a lot of strategic work and a bit-tech site design refresh), and also turned some of my attention to new projects within Dennis that I'll be working on while I continue my role as Editor of bit-tech.

The lack of excitement is, in many respects, down to the recession - companies have been pulling down the hatches and boarding up windows while they weather the storm. There's been nothing exciting to talk about and it has been difficult to get hugely enthusiastic about the industry's future when nobody has announced a major technology breakthrough.
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Frankly, it has been too risky to launch significantly new products for risk of failure and poor sales. For the PC industry in particular, there's also been the impending release of Windows 7 which has also had an impact on product releases as well.

With Windows 7 on schedule for release in a little over a month's time, the industry is starting to kick itself out of recession mode. A couple of weeks ago, I sat down with AMD to hear about its plans and for now, let's just say they're exciting - I heard some very pleasing news that I'd love to tell you about today. Unfortunately, embargoes prevent me from doing that, but you'll know all about it as soon as AMD allows me to tell you.

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be hearing what Intel and Nvidia have to say for themselves out in California.

Intel is holding its yearly Intel Developer Forum, where it'll talk about all things Intel at what is usually one of the events of the year. Pat Gelsinger will not be presenting his yearly keynote following last week's announcement that he's leaving the company after 30 years of service and instead will be replaced by Sean Maloney,

We're expecting to hear some fairly significant announcements about Intel's 32nm progress, which will pave the way for Gulftown, Intel's 6-core enthusiast processor, and the first processors with integrated graphics. In addition, we're likely to hear the first news on Intel's 22nm process, its next major silicon breakthrough. Finally, we hope to hear a lot more about Larrabee, Intel's first discrete graphics processor since the ill-fated Intel 740 graphics card, and we're hoping to see the first public demonstration during the show.

The following week, Nvidia is holding its Graphics Technology Conference in San Jose. Dubbed Nvision Lite, it promises to be a lot more focused than last year's event and we're hoping to learn about Nvidia's plans for DirectX 11, PhysX, Tegra and much more over the three-day show. It's also a great time to catch up with many old faces in the games industry as well, so we hope to get a different perspective on the PC industry.

Stay tuned for what promises to be an exciting end to an otherwise gloomy year for PC and technology enthusiasts.
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