Intel, ARM and AMD Chip Scare: What You Need to Know

In recent news Google’s team Zero team has come out with a report that shows that hackers could potentially get through to your personal data through a fundamental fault in chips.

Coming at a not so great time for the industry with the consumer electronics trade show only a few days away, this scare about a security flaw has put the world on pins. With 1.5 billion users having laptops and desktop computers, the security flaw is far reaching and could be potentially very damaging.

What is the security Flaw about? 

Researchers have discovered that flaws in CPUs or to be more precise the chips that do most of the processing, seem to have gaps that allow or could allow hackers to gain access to a user’s most private data such as credit card passwords. These chips that are most susceptible to hacking are the Intel, ARM and AMD chips.

The security flaws are mainly of two categories. Meltdown is one of the security flaws that affect desktops, laptops and internet servers running on an Intel chip. The more far reaching of the security flaws is spectre that could affect smartphones, tablets as well as PCs running on any of the three chips that is Intel, ARM and AMD.

Also coming under the purview of the security flaw is any computer or device connected to the cloud, too can be susceptible to an attack.

How serious is this Security Flaw to be taken? 

The security flaw is no doubt far reaching, however, there have not been any reported cases of people taking advantage of this security flaw at present.

This is not to say that with the news being divulged of such a security flaw, there won’t be people out there who are going to look out for loopholes to get to user’s personal data.

The most important thing for users to do at present is to ensure that their systems are up to date with the latest update and any third party security packs should also be updated at the earliest.

Safeguarding against the Security Flaw: 

The news about the security flaw was already known to tech experts at least 6 months prior to when the issue has come out. This has given them ample time to develop patches and fixes for the security flaw.

All users no matter what the device should install the latest update as soon as possible to protect their data from any potential threats.

Effects of downloading the patches: 

Downloading the patches, as researchers have discovered, will likely slow down performance by at least 30%. Intel has rubbished the claims saying that they are exaggerated and any performance slowdown will be mainly work related.

With the CES coming up shortly, researchers are worried about how news of the security flaw is likely to affect sales of products on display.

News of the security flaw has revealed a fundamental flaw in the way that chips are made which will now require a complete rethinking of how chips are to be developed.

AMD wants to add Jaguar in servers!

AMD seems to stake everything on their new Jaguar architecture. They have been planted already in the heart of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One after the other; it will be soon land in our laptops, and tablet PCs via hybrid SoC Kabini and Temash. Today, the company announced a further step ahead, as it is now the servers that are specified with the X1150 and X2150 Opteron. Jaguar continues to make its little way and landed in the servers via the Kyoto generation chips, known as references Opteron X1150 and X2150. Yes, when AMD wants, it is able to make simple and effective name, far from what is imposed on us in the consumer market. Thus, the main difference between these two chips is the presence or absence of a graphical part (X2150 only) and the minimum TDP is 9 watts or 11 watts. Maximum, this value will increase to 17 or 22 watts. This discrepancy is explained by the possibility left to the user to set the frequency in the BIOS to adjust its need heating term that is Flexible TDP.

It is of course the architecture GCN (Graphics Core Next) Radeon HD 7000 is going to be used through 128 processing units, but under the name HD 8000. The functionality of video compression and decompression hardware be also present. If Intel starts pushing his QSV solution and the Media SDK on servers, the Texan also seems to be the big competitor of the pie. Each model will have four cores at its CPU, with a maximum frequency of 1.9 GHz (X2150) or 2 GHz (X1150). At the GPU side it will vary this value from 266 MHz to 600 MHz depending on the case. For the rest, everything is the same: a maximum of 32GB of DDR3 is supported and eight PCIe 2.0 lanes, eight USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports and two GB / s Serial ATA ports 6 are found. Everything is in a BGA type packaging 24.5 x 24.5 mm.

AMD still has some clear advantages to play, as this segment of the general public. But in both cases, the quality of image could actually help to convince the customer. We'll see what it is in practice, the inertia in terms of changing attitudes is even more important in the world of servers.

Ultra thin AMD against Intel Ultra books

AMD does not intend to let Intel FUSION, AMD occupy only the category of ultraportable next-generation, Apple holds with the MacBook Air. To the Intel Ultra book, AMD will respond with "Ultrathin" (ultra-fine). End it already employs for its mobile platforms. In an interview with The Australian, the head of the local subsidiary of AMD, Brian Slattery, said that the first line could be unveiled in January. AMD has discussed with various manufacturers to equip their phones and one of them at least would have made good progress on the issue.

Slattery does not give details on the characteristics to be expected. He even suggests that manufacturers would be free on how to use this platform combining processor and Radeon chip. This means potentially heavier laptops with screens larger than what is expected of an ultraportable. It will be recalled that a rumor in mid-November had discussed a merger between Apple and AMD Fusion around the platform, a competitor of that used by Intel in its Ultra book. Apple has declined; worried AMD capabilities to provide the solution in sufficient volumes.