Weekends Bazaar at SMU

Samsung now the Largest Semiconductor Company

The Korean Stock Exchange recently announced that SamsungElectronics is now the largest semiconductor company in the world ahead of IntelCorporation. This morning, Intel Corporation had a market capitalization of$ 112B USD. Samsung Electronics, on the other hand, closed trading on Fridaywith a market cap of $ 120B USD. Though Samsung has clearly made strides to increasethe value of the company, Samsung's recent leg up on Intel has had much to dowith Intel's near free-fall in stock prices over the last year.

TCCD Supply Demystified

The Samsung "TCCD" memory chip is the best overclocking IC for the AMDplatform. Since speculation began about the TCCD reaching End-of-Life (EOL), theenthusiast community has been concerned about its near- and long-termavailability. The purpose of this update is to provide a lead on the currentstatus of this very popular IC. The TCCD specification was tailor-made forCorsair by Samsung. As a part of the agreement, Samsung has agreed to directlysupply Corsair's TCCD requirements until the end of 2005 and beyond. Contrary torumours that indicate universal unavailability of TCCD, Corsair continues toprovide high performance XMS memory modules made with 100% Samsung original TCCDIC's.

There has been suggestions on TCC5 being an equal replacement of TCCD. While theICs share similar names, they do not share identical performancecharacteristics. TCC5 is a down-bin of TCCD and does not deliver the sameperformance promise that TCCD does. Based on our stringent testing requirements,only TCCD can meet the demand. Corsair also uses TCC5 IC's but because they areof lesser capability, TCC5 IC's are used only in the lower grade parts. Below isa list of TCCD based Corsair products that are currently shipping:

XMS 3200XL 400 MHz / PC3200 2-2-2-5
4400C25 550 MHz / PC4400 2.5-4-4-8
XMS PRO 3200XL PRO 400 MHz / PC3200 2-2-2-5
XMS XPERT 3200XL XPERT 400 MHz / PC3200 2-2-2-5

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 available 9 January in Singapore

Singapore – Sony Ericsson XPERIA™ X2, a new Windows® phone that offers best-in-class email and multimedia experience. In the modern world where 24/7 communication is key, users can instantly synchronise their mail and calendar, and open and edit Microsoft® Office Mobile documents quickly and efficiently to stay connected with colleagues wherever they are.

The XPERIA™ X2 also includes the unique SlideView feature, which provides quick access to frequently used phone activities. Providing quick interaction with contacts, messages, media and more, SlideView provides an overview of missed incoming activity, notifying the user of any missed calls, email and text messages so users don’t overlook an important contact.

With ten specially designed preloaded XPERIA™ panels and a lot more to download, users can work with no boundaries with the XPERIA™ X2. From Facebook™, Mytopia and Google™, to games, CNN and Windows Live™, the panels ensure users are up-to-date with what matters most to them. With an improved touch interface and new 3D signature panel, users also benefit from flexible desktop panels designed to categorise business, fun and communication features. Just set favourites to appear during certain times of the day to get the latest news in the morning, YouTube™ at lunchtime and games for the journey home.

Powered by QWERTY messaging, Windows Mobile® users can even show their presentations on the big screen with the TV out cable. The XPERIA™ X2 makes a day at the office a walk in the park.

· Windows Mobile 6.5 – flexibility to work on the go
· Make the most of the day – flexible desktop panels categorised for life:
communication and fun, multimedia, business and internet
· Work without boundaries – instant synchronisation of mail, calendar powered by
QWERTY keyboard messaging and Windows Mobile®
· SlideView – quick access to frequently used phone activities and overview of
missed incoming activity
· Present documents on the big screen – TV out cable
· Never get stranded - XPERIA™ exclusive travel insurance
· Enjoy amazing multimedia – 3.2” high resolution touch screen and DVD quality
· 8.1-megapixel camera with Video light – easily upload images to web albums
· Real 3D panel – 3D effects and zoom, music playback controls

The XPERIA™ X2 supports GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 and UMTS/HSPA
850/900/2100. XPERIA™ X2 will be available in Singapore in Elegant Black and Modern
Silver.

Samsung WLP DDR2 Chips

Samsung Electronics today announced a wafer level packaging (WLP) technology for 512Mbit DDR2 chips that can enhance electrical properties and reduces physical space of the chips. The new package technology has two patterned inter-layer dielectrics (ILD), with insulating characteristics, and a metal layer replaces the conventional package substrate. The package enhances electrical properties though shorter circuit-routing, reduces package size to die level and package process time, and improves productivity – especially for larger wafer sizes – with higher throughput and lower cost.

WD brings the VelociRaptor back from the dead with 1TB version

Ah yes, mechanical drives spinning at 10,000rpm, once the dream of every computer nerd, but since the introduction of the SSD, were not so sure theres much of a demand for Western Digitals VelociRaptor drives. Either which way, WD seems to think that theres enough demand and has revived the VelociRaptor range of drives and in its third iteration were looking at larger capacities, more SKUs and better performance.

The VR333M as the new VelociRaptor is also known as comes in sizes of 250, 500 and 1000GB, or 333GB per platter. WD has boosted the buffer to 64MB, up from 32MB and the buffer to disk transfer rate from 145MB/s to 200MB/s. The new drives are of course using the SATA 6Gbps interface and have also gained support for advanced format with 4K sectors, something the older models lack.

Judging by a review over at Anandtech, the new VelociRaptor manages quite well when it comes to sequential read performance, hitting just over 213MB/s which is SATA 3Gbbps SSD territory. The write performance is actually identical and according to the benchmarks provided, this is in fact faster than the 160GB SKU of Intels 320 series SSD which only managed a smidgen under 168MB/s. The average read speed for the 1TB VelociRaptor ends up at 173MB/s with burst speeds hitting an impressive 332.7MB/s.

WD has also managed to reduce the power consumption compared to the previous generation of VelociRaptor drives by a good 1W and change during write operation, but it still draws over 3W more than Intel SSD. However, despite good performance for a hard drive, the VelociRaptor is most likely the last of a breed, not because its a bad product, but because its priced all wrong.

The 1TB SKU will set you back no less than US$320 (S$400) for which you could pretty much get a 4TB drive if you just wanted a lot of storage, or a 1TB OCZ RevoDrive Hybridwhich has 100GB of dedicated cache and a PCI Express 2.0 x4 interface. The 500GB SKU comes in a bit cheaper at US$210, which is pretty much what you can get the older, slower 600GB VelociRaptor for. Finally the 250GB SKU is $160 and in that case, wed rather cut our losses in terms of available storage space and go for a 128GB SSD.

Source: WesternDigital