Stealth.com Inc. (Stealth Computer) a leading ISO 9001 manufacturer of industrial rugged computers and peripherals has released their most powerful and advanced mini pc yet, the LPC-680 LittlePC. The new Stealth LPC-680 small form factor PC offers tremendous power in a tiny package that measures 6.5" x 6" and less than 2" in height. The diminutive machine is about the size of a hard cover novel yet it surpasses the performance of computers many times its physical size.

"The Stealth Model: LPC-680 is the most powerful and advanced small form PC we have offered to date. Our full featured machine utilizes the new second generation Sandy Bridge Intel Core i7/i5/i3 mobile processor family and we believe it competes for the most processing power per square inch of any personal computer available today. It is also our first small PC with USB 3.0 connectivity" stated Ed Boutilier CEO of Stealth.com Inc.

Armed with an Intel Core i7-3770K "Ivy Bridge" processor, a G.Skill-made memory kit, and GIGABYTE Z77X-UD5H, proverclocker Sin0822 managed to run a test bench with all four of the motherboard's DDR3 DIMM slots populated, at a DRAM clock speed of 3003 MHz DDR (1501.5 MHz actual). At this clock speed, the test bench was just about stable for its CPU-Z Validation. Sin0822 took advantage of the 29.33 divider for memory, which is exclusive for Ivy Bridge, that Sandy Bridge lacked. The remainder of the clock speed target was met by a gentle bump in the base clock, to 102.37 MHz (from 100 MHz). To achieve a more stable setting in which stress tests can be run, the memory clock had to fall back to 1416 MHz. What makes this feat impressive is the fact that all four DIMM slots were populated.

Colorful is well-known for its highly innovative graphics card designs, it is one of China's leading graphics card brands. Some of its graphics card designs have captured our imagination. Its latest creation is a DIY mini-ITX barebones system for gaming, called Desert Eagle. The package consists of Colorful's own-design slim-form-factor (SFF) chassis, which bears a swanky combination of red and black, with ample perforations and and top handles; a custom-design, low-profile Colorfire AMD Radeon HD 6750 graphics card (Colorfire is Colorful's Radeon-selling brand); a mini-ITX socket LGA1155 motherboard based on the Intel H67 chipset (model: i-H67HD U3); and a 300W PSU.

SMART Modular Technologies ("SMART Modular"), a leading independent manufacturer of memory modules and embedded flash products announces its 64GB DDR3 load-reduced DIMM (LRDIMM). SMART Modular's 64GB LRDIMM is optimized for high-end servers and will be launching in Q2'12 to serve scientific, engineering, and financial computing applications that require high memory capacity and performance. Specifically, this product targets next-generation Intel Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge server platforms for high-performance computing applications.

The new LRDIMM combines innovative module packaging technology leveraging off-the-shelf commodity DRAMs to provide the industry's highest density LRDIMM at the lowest possible cost. Highlighting SMART Modular's design expertise, the new 64GB LRDIMM utilizes a single JEDEC-compliant memory buffer chip, a dual PCB structure and a leading edge interconnect technology to provide maximum performance and density while achieving server-grade quality and reliability.

NVIDIA today announced that its NVIDIA Tesla GPUs will be featured, for the first time, on two Dell PowerEdge 12th generation rack and tower servers.

Dell designed the new GPU-enabled PowerEdge R720 and PowerEdge T620 servers to accelerate a wide range of computationally intensive, industry standard applications, including Mathworks MATLAB (for computational research) and SIMULIA Abaqus (for computer-aided engineering). In addition, the new servers combine the 512-core NVIDIA Tesla M2090 GPUs with the latest Intel Xeon E5/R CPUs based on the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture to accelerate a range of scientific applications in fields such as life sciences, engineering, weather and climate, and others.

A prominent retailer started quoting prices for bundles of next-generation "Ivy Bridge" Core processors and motherboards based on Intel 7-series chipset. The table below reveals prices in Singapore Dollars (SGD) of a large number of board+processor combinations. The table includes current-generation "Sandy Bridge" Core processors and 6-series chipset motherboards, too, as the platforms are inter-compatible (you can run Ivy Bridge processors on 6-series chipset motherboards, and Sandy Bridge processors on 7-series chipset motherboards).

Here are the Z77X-UD5H and Z77X-UD3H pictured up-close. The two form Gigabyte's upper-mid range and mid range offerings based on the Intel Z77 chipset, supporting socket LGA1155 "Ivy Bridge" and "Sandy Bridge" Core processors. The Z77X-UD5H is an extremely feature-rich offering, in some aspects a more complete package than even the G1.Sniper 3. It provides a 15-phase CPU and 2-phase memory VRM. Expansion slots on this board include two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/NC or x8/x8), one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4), three PCIe 2.0 x1, and one legacy PCI.

Continuing its push in the SFF (small form factor) segment, Giada is set to release a new Mini PC based around an Intel platform, the Uni-box. Seen below, the Uni-box makes use of a somewhat Apple-inspired aluminum chassis and boasts an Intel HM65 Express motherboard providing support for mobile Sandy Bridge processors, 4 GB of RAM, a 16 GB mSATA solid state drive, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, a multi-in-1 card reader, and both D-Sub and HDMI outputs.

Giada's Mini PC is said to consume as little as 30 W while delivering 1080p playback capabilities. No word on pricing yet but more info should come at CeBIT next week.

Lincredible phenomenon spreads around the world! Miracles did not only happen on the new basketball star Jeremy Lin, but also ASRock, the global top3 motherboard manufacturer! By updating the latest ME8 BIOS & Driver, ASRock today proudly announced their entire Intel H61 motherboard series now support Intel Rapid Start and Smart Connect Technologies! These new technologies are targeted to be supported with Intel next gen motherboard platforms, but ASRock offers an early chance to let users to experience new techniques on current H61 motherboard with 2nd Gen Intel Core Processor (Sandy Bridge).

"High-performance functions are not exclusive for high-end motherboards. ASRock's strength is to apply premium function on budget-level motherboards, making the function available by most of the users." commented James Lee, V.P. of Sales and Marketing at ASRock. "This time, miracles do happen at ASRock! Thanks to the excellent R&D team, ASRock is the first motherboard company to apply these two Intel new functions on H61 series motherboard in the world!"

Citing issues with the 22 nm manufacturing process, Intel postponed the release of its 22 nm "Ivy Bridge" Core processor family by as much as 10 weeks. There still seems to exist some confusion surrounding this launch, which SweClockers sought to clear with its latest article containing important dates related to the launch.

• 8 April, 2012: This was supposed to be the day "everything" (all CPU models slated for April, compatible motherboards) launched. Instead on this day, motherboard vendors will launch their products based on Intel Z77, Z75, H77, and B75 chipsets. System builders (you) will have to use existing "Sandy Bridge" processors, which are very much compatible with those motherboards. You will not be able to buy "Ivy Bridge" processors from anywhere on this day.
• 29 April, 2012: This is when Intel will launch quad-core Core i5, Core i7 "Ivy Bridge". On this day, the media will be able to post reviews of the new processor platform. It's not clear if you'll be able to buy these chips on this day, either. Perhaps you might.

Continued

Intel was reportedly planning to limit mass-shipments of its third-generation Core processors (codenamed: "Ivy Bridge") to notebook ODMs, to help in digestion of swelling inventories of current-generation "Sandy Bridge" Core processors. Only a few models (those targeting Ultrabooks and mainstream notebooks) are expected to face delays till June, performance desktop retail processors will most likely not be affected, their launch is on-course for April.

To make up for the delay, Intel will might lower prices of its Ivy Bridge chips by as much as $70 a piece. The lower prices would ease transition between the two generations of processors without causing a price-shock to ODMs, when they then have to transfer to the end-users. Intel already attractive pricing for its Sandy Bridge CPUs to help clear inventories. The result of all this would be Ivy Bridge-powered notebooks being not much more expensive than current-generation Sandy Bridge-powered ones, on launch.

Japanese company Mouse Computer introduced the MDV Advance series desktop for graphics professionals. It is characterized by a large 27-inch IPS display with 2560 x 1440 pixels resolution, originally made by Samsung, driven by NVIDIA Quadro graphics. Based on the Sandy Bridge and Sandy Bridge-E platforms, the MDV Advanced is available in two models. The MDV-ASQ8310B-WS-P27LP is driven by Intel Core i7-2700K processor, with 8 GB (2x 4 GB) memory, based on a Z68 chipset motherboard. Graphics is handled by Quadro 600 The storage subsystem consists of a 1 TB hard drive and DVD SuperMulti drive.

The MDV-ASG9300B-WS-P27LP is the more expensive model, driven by Intel Core i7-3930K six-core processor, X79 chipset motherboard, and 16 GB (4x 4 GB) memory. Graphics is driven by Quadro 2000D. The storage subsystem is carried on from the other model. Buyers can opt for better storage at a premium. Both models are driven by Windows 7 Home Premium x64 OS. The pricing of MDV-ASQ8310B-WS-P27LP starts at 169,890 JPY (US $2150), while the MDV-ASG9300B-WS-P27LP starts at 239,820 JPY (US $3032).

CyberpowerPC Inc., a manufacturer of custom gaming machines, today announced its Zeus series -- a powerful new line of desktop computers that offer the power of thunder with Intel's new i7-3820 CPU; the speed of AMD's lightning fast FX CPUs; the refined design of NZXT's Switch 810 chassis, and legendary Advanced Hydro Liquid Cooling.

The initial Zeus rollout includes six models. The Zeus Thunder 1000, 2000, 300 and MAX will all feature Intel's latest CPUs, including the new 2nd Gen. Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E quad-core CPU operating at 3.6GHz, a 10MB L3 cache and HyperThreading support. The Zeus Lightning series consists of the 1000 and 200 models with the AMD FX series native 8-core desktop processor, which allows you to immerse yourself in the most advanced 3D games and achieve extreme mega-tasking with ease.

Today Samsung Electronics has held a media event in its home country (South Korea) to launch the updated (second generation) Series 9 ultra-thin laptops. Coming in 13.3-inch and 15-inch flavors, these notebooks feature a single-piece aluminum body (just 12.9 mm thick), a SuperBright (400 nits, 1600 x 900) LED-backlit display, a backlit keyboard, and are powered by an Intel Sandy Bridge processor.

A little earlier this month, it was reported that major notebook vendors are planning price-cuts of their current-generation Ultrabooks, to clear inventories and pave the way for next-generation Ivy Bridge-based ones that stick to a more well-defined specification; the price-cuts previously mentioned were in the range of 20-25%. The range is looking more like 20-30% according to the latest DigiTimes report.

Major notebook vendors seem to be in a hurry to make the market digest inventories of current-generation Ultrabooks that are based on anything from ULV "Sandy Bridge" Core processors, to low-power Celeron and Pentium chips, some even AMD Brazos. In addition to Ultrabooks, conventional notebooks based on Sandy Bridge Core processors, and client desktops also stand to face price-cuts.

As Intel's tick-tock CPU development Juggernaut rolls on, things seem very much on track, looking into the near future. Intel will launch its new "Ivy Bridge" 3rd Generation Core processor family in early-April 2012, which is a miniaturization of what is essentially the "Sandy Bridge" to the new 22 nm process, with IPC and instruction-set improvements, along with a faster graphics controller. The new process will also up clock speeds and overclocking headroom for chips that support it. What's more interesting, though, is that the architecture that succeeds Ivy Bridge, codenamed "Haswell", will be less than an year away in April...well almost.

A roadmap slide sourced by DonanimHaber pins the launch of Haswell to March-June, 2013. Haswell is a brand new CPU architecture that will succeed Ivy Bridge. According to the conventional idea of Intel's tick-tock CPU development strategy, it will be built on the 22 nm fab process, which will have gained some maturity by then. Intel follows a "tick-tock" product development model. Every year, Intel's product lineup sees either of the two. A "tock" brings in a new x86 architecture, a "tick" miniaturizes it to a newer silicon fabrication process. Earlier reports indicated that Haswell Core processors will be based on a newer socket, the LGA1150, and hence it will not be compatible with LGA1155 platforms.

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique that allows graphics processing units (GPUs) and central processing units (CPUs) on a single chip to collaborate - boosting processor performance by an average of more than 20 percent.

"Chip manufacturers are now creating processors that have a 'fused architecture,' meaning that they include CPUs and GPUs on a single chip," says Dr. Huiyang Zhou, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering who co-authored a paper on the research. "This approach decreases manufacturing costs and makes computers more energy efficient. However, the CPU cores and GPU cores still work almost exclusively on separate functions. They rarely collaborate to execute any given program, so they aren't as efficient as they could be. That's the issue we're trying to resolve."

Toshiba launched the Satellite U840 Ultrabook in Singapore. This 14-inch Ultrabook is Toshiba's first. It is 19.9 mm thin, and weighs as low as 1.59 kg. It uses an aluminum body with a silvery brushed-metal finish. The metal body also adds rigidity. It is driven by 2nd generation Core ULV "Sandy Bridge" processor, backed by DDR3 memory, and storage options that include either 128 GB SSD or a HybridHDD that has a 16 GB SSD subunit that caches hot data on the rest of the drive.

Toshiba's proprietary Hi-Speed Start technology works to reduce start-up time. The 14-inch display offers "HD resolution", we're guessing it's 1600 x 900 pixels. Network connectivity includes gigabit Ethernet, WiFi b/g/n, and Bluetooth. The lone display output is a full-size HDMI. Other connectivity includes USB 3.0, and USB 2.0. The SleepCharge technology allows you to charge your smartphone even with the notebook powered down. Slated for later this Q1, 2012, the Satellite U840 is priced at SGD $1,399 (US $1,125).

In a footnote of a slide detailing AMD's Trinity A6 APU for Ultrathin notebooks at the company's Financial Analyst Day event, the new chip's 3DMark performance was revealed. The company was talking about the 17W ULV (ultra-low voltage) variant of the "Trinity" APU in the slide, that's designed for compact notebooks. The 3DMark Vantage performance of the APU was measured to be 2,355 points, in the same test, an Intel Core i5-2537M ULV 17W "Sandy Bridge" processor scored 1,158 points. The AMD chip, hence, emerged with a 103% graphics performance lead.

The slide notes that with an assumed performance increase of 30% by the upcoming "Ivy Bridge" architecture, its 3DMark performance is projected to be 1,505 points. The 17W Trinity chip would still end up with a 56% performance lead. Moving on, AMD even revealed the performance of the high-performance A10 "Trinity" APU with 25W TDP, designed for slightly thicker notebooks. This chip scored 3,600 points in 3DMark, which would effectively make it 136% faster than Ivy Bridge at graphics.

Shuttle Computer Handels GmbH, the European subsidiary of Shuttle Inc., one of the leading developers and manufacturers of compact PC solutions such as the world-renowned XPC Mini-PC barebones, today announces its new top-of-the-range XPC Barebone model SZ68R5.

It is the first time a Shuttle Mini-PC integrates Intel's Z68 high-performance desktop chipset with Smart Response Technology (SSD caching). An SSD is used here to speed up the boot process and to ensure ultra-rapid application startup. Space-saving mSATA-SSDs can be fitted in the corresponding Mini-PCIe slot on the motherboard.

US chip giant Intel has now added seven new processors to its portfolio, the Core i5-2550K, i5-2450P and i5-2380P targeting desktops, and the Celeron B815, B720, 867 and 797 for mobile PCs.

The Core i5-2550K costs $225 ($9 more than the i5-2500K) and features four cores @ 3.4 GHz (the 2500K has a base clock of 3.3 GHz), four threads, 6 MB of L3 cache and a TDP of 95W. The i5-2450P ($195) and i5-2380P ($177) have similar specs, expect their base clock is 3.2 GHz and 3.1 GHz, respectively.

While its processor-integrated graphics solutions may not be a match for those from NVIDIA and AMD in terms of client applications such as gaming, Intel thinks it has a shot at the entry-level workstation graphics segment, dominated by the likes of NVIDIA Quadro FX 580 and AMD FirePro V3800 series. Workstation GPUs differ from consumer ones as they are accompanied by more API features, are certified by professional 3D modelling software, and are designed to minimize rendering errors since these renders go on to take shape as millions of dollars worth skyscrapers, for example.

Intel thinks that after the performance success of SNA, it has achieved an acceptable level of performance with its integrated graphics design to take it professional. It is doing so by creating workstation-variants of the "Sandy Bridge" and future "Ivy Bridge" silicons in the Xeon E3-1200 series, and giving their integrated graphics increased functionality. The result is a variant of Intel's HD graphics 3000 series, called Intel HD Graphics P3000 series (P denoting professional). Intel is applying for certification by 3D modeling software developers (it's important, because engineers look for these certifications before picking their hardware). The status of its certification with various vendors is detailed in the first slide below.

Catering to needs of all shapes and sizes, Taiwanese company Gigabyte has developed a little, mini-ITX motherboard which offers support for Intel's Sandy Bridge processors.

Called MSH61DK, the board in question is 17 by 17 cm, it makes use of the Intel H61 Express chipset and features two DDR3-1333 SO-DIMM slots (for up to 8 GB of RAM), two SATA 3.0 Gbps ports, two Mini PCIe slots, two USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, a Realtek ALC 887 audio chip, and a HDMI output. The MSH61DK complies with the Thin Mini-ITX standard so it can be used within Gigabyte's All-in-One barebone PCs.

Sony kicked off this week by announcing updates for four of its VAIO laptops, the Z, S, E and C Series models. Starting at $1949.99, the 13.1-inch Z Series machine is getting multiple new options including fresh Core i5 and Core i7 CPU options, RAID 0 SSD setups, LTE mobile broadband, and a Carbon Fiber Silver coating.

The 13-inch and 15-inch S Series laptops also get the latest 2nd-gen Core i5 and i7 processor options, but they can offer Hybrid Graphics with either an AMD Radeon HD 6470M (512 MB VRAM) or Radeon HD 6630M (1 GB VRAM) discrete graphics card. The 13-inch model starts at $799.99, while its 15-inch sibling (which boasts a Full HD IPS display) starts at $979.99. Both upgraded S Series laptops will become available in early February.

Making silicon chips is not easy, requiring hugely expensive fabs, with massive clean-room environments and at every process shrink, the complexity and difficulty of making the things goes up significantly. It looks like TSMC and GlobalFoundries are both having serious yield problems with their 28 nm process nodes, according to Mike Bryant, technology analyst at Future Horizons and this is causing a rash of non-working wafers - to the point of having nothing working with some chip designs submitted for production. It seems that the root cause of these problems are to do with the pressures of bringing products to market, rather than an inherent problem with the technology; it just takes time that they haven't got to iron out the kinks and they're getting stuck: "Foundries have come under pressure to release cell libraries too early - which end up with designs that don't work," Bryant said. In an effort to try and be seen to treat every customer equally, TSMC is attempting to launch ten 28 nm designs from seven companies, but it's not working out too well: "At 45-nm, only NVIDIA was affected. At 28-nm any problems for TSMC will be problems for many customers" said Bryant.