Thermaltake Technology is pleased to announce its high performance line of power supply, Toughpower series, has been added an 80PLUS Silver power supply - Toughpower 700W (W0295). With Thermaltake's commitment to offer users quality products, the 800W / 1200W (all 80PLUS Silver ready) will also be ready in Q2.

80 PLUS is a cutting-edge, electric utility-funded program whose mission is to integrate energy-efficient power supplies into desktop computers and servers. The 80PLUS Silver standard certifies PSU that has 85%, 88%, and 85% or higher energy efficiency rate at 20%, 50%, and 100% of loading, respectively. This requirement makes an 80 PLUS Silver certified power supply considerably more efficient than any other traditional 80 PLUS power supplies.

Corsair, a worldwide leader in high-performance computer and flash memory products, today announced the launch of the new Dominator GT line of ultra high-performance DDR3 memory modules for Intel Core i7-based systems.

Sporting a new racing red color scheme and the next-generation of Corsair's patent-pending Dual-path Heat eXchange (DHX) technology, the new Dominator GT comes in 3-up 6GB kit, running at 2000MHz with latencies of 7-8-7.

G.Skill International Co. Ltd., a world leader in extreme performance memory with solid quality, today announces Triple Channel DDR3 2000HMz performance memory at enhanced CL 7-8-7 timings and is designed for the latest Intel Core i7 processors / Intel X58 Express Chipset. This combination affords unparalleled performance margins allowing for the very best Overclocking and memory bandwidth.

AMD has released an ATI Catalyst driver hotfix, Catalyst 8.11 with Intel X58 i7 Driver, that aims to improve performance on Intel X58 platfoms with ATI graphics accelerator installed. The X58-specific optimizations would also be part of next month's Catalyst 8.12 release. The hotfix applies to all discrete graphics cards, ATI Radeon X1000 series and later. The game-specific improvements are universal (helps everyone). A concise list of improvements this hotfix brings about as listed by AMD is as follows:

• Improves performance in various Direct3D and OpenGL applications on the X58 platform. AMD's next official ATI Catalyst release (ATI Catalyst 8.12) will include these optimizations
• Improves performance for the DirectX 9 version of Far Cry 2 on CrossFire compatible systems
• Improves performance for the DirectX 10 version of Far Cry 2 on both single and CrossFire compatible systems
• Improves performance for the DirectX 10 and DirectX 10.1 version of Stalker Clear Sky on both single and CrossFireX configurations at higher resolutions
• Brothers in Arms - Hells Highway no longer displays corruption on the 'Black Friday' level.

DOWNLOAD: for Windows XP (32/64-bit) | for Windows Vista (32/64-bit). More information can be found here.

Patriot Memory, a global provider of premium quality memory module and flash memory solutions, today announced the release of their Viper series Tri-Channel memory kits designed for the forthcoming Intel Core i7/Intel X58 Express Chipset. Available in both 3GB and 6GB kits, these newly engineered memory kits come with the award winning Viper series heat shields and are the perfect balance of speed and latency while achieving lower voltage requirements.

"Intel's Nehalem architecture shows significant improvements over previous platforms," says Les Henry, Technical Director for Patriot Memory.

"High performance DDR3 DIMMs from Patriot Memory, combined with the phenomenal memory bandwidth & processing capability of Intel's upcoming Core i7 microprocessors, will deliver exciting levels of performance to PC enthusiasts worldwide," said, Steve R. Peterson, Intel's Director of Chipset & Graphics Marketing.

Corsair, a worldwide leader in high performance computer and flash memory products, announced today that it is launching a full line of DDR3 performance memory products designed for Intel Core i7 processor.

Designed to take advantage of the Core i7 processor's triple-channel memory controller, Corsair will offer memory solutions supporting three different DDR3 memory speeds in triple memory packs: 1333MHz, 1600MHz and 1866MHz. The 1866MHz Corsair DDR3 modules will be the world's fastest Intel Core i7 solution. Each memory speed will feature kits of three 1 Gigabyte or 2 Gigabyte modules for a total of 3 Gigabyte or 6 Gigabyte kits. The 1600MHz and 1866MHz DDR3 memory kits will also feature the industry's highest performance memory technology, Corsair's patented Dual-Path Heat Exchange (DHX), for maximum performance and reliability. With six total products available, Corsair is launching the most comprehensive product line available for the Intel Core i7 processor.

Expreview has got its hands on the NVIDIA Forceware Beta Driver 180.32 and used it to setup and enable SLI with two Galaxy GTX260-216, on an Asus P6T Deluxe motherboard. The cards scored a 3DMark Vantage score of P21623, compared against a single card score of P10920 gives an approximate 98% increase. Currently it is only possible to enable SLI officially on NVIDIA based chipsets, only AMD's equivalent Crossfire system works on Intel chipsets. It is evident that the 180 series of Forceware drivers from NVIDIA (dubbed Big Bang II) not only brings multi-monitor SLI support, but also paves the way to enabling SLI on the Intel X58 Chipset. In another article, Expreview have also mentioned that the beta driver 180.42, will be officially released from NVIDIA later on today, with the final version set for November 17th this year, coinciding with the launch of Intel's Core i7 and X58.

Intel Clarksfield, the company's Nehalem based mobile platform, was reported on Monday to begin production in the second half of 2009. Although mass production of the first Core i7 processors is scheduled for next month, on the mobile front Intel users will have to wait until late next year. Clarksfield will be produced using the same 45-nanometer production process that's used to make Intel's current chip lineup. The upcoming chip will be the heart of a new Intel Centrino platform, codenamed Calpella. As its desktop variant, Clarksfield CPUs will have all the enhancements Nehalem offers, as well as the brand new integrated memory controller all in one package. Clarksfield is also expected to include more advanced power-management features than Intel's current mobile chips.

OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today unveiled the industry's first triple channel memory kit designed specifically for the impending Intel Core i7 processor / Intel X58 Express Chipset. Optimized for the Core i7's triple channel mode, these new 3GB and 6GB kits ensure optimal performance via an ideal combination of low voltage requirements, speed, and latency.

In the weeks to come Intel and its partners, would be buzzing with activity, in the form of product launches. Three models of the Core i7 series processors, accompanied by supportive motherboards, and possibly tri-channel DDR3 memory kits, would hit shelves. The LGA-1366 socket would serve as an extreme and performance segment offering, on the whole. The mainstream segment would continue in the form of the newer LGA-1160 socket, and the Ibex Peak platform. Processors would essentially use the same architecture as the upcoming i7 processors, but feature dual-channel memory interfaces, and continue using the DMI front-side bus as the system interface.

As for its supportive chipset, Intel plans to label them under the P5x series. Chipsets without IGPs, would have so little machinery, with the memory controller shifted to the CPU, that even high-performance chipsets could be monolithic. A single chip would handle the system's peripherals, storage, and connect it to the CPU. There are indications that the CPU could house PCI-Express switches on-die. This would provide direct connections between PCI-E devices such as graphics cards, and the CPU. The P5x series chipsets could include a confirmed P55 chipset that rules its roost, with P53 and P51 chipsets that fabricate the lineup.

Remember the A-DATA DDR3 triple channel memory and the ASUS P6T Deluxe motherboard? They are both detailed on our page, but this story aims to show how both parts perform when working coupled with a quad-core Core i7 engineering sample CPU. The results you're about to see below are achieved by three 1600MHz A-DATAs overclocked to over 2000MHz. The result is system memory read/write speeds of up to the incredible 20515/16946 MB/s. The latency time is also worth mentioning - 22.9ns.

Intel would be rolling out an elite fleet of desktop processors based on the new Nehalem architecture soon. The first derivative, the Bloomfield core, is supposed to be the architecture's flagship for the desktop PC market. And for it, Core i7 Extreme 965 is supposed to be the leading processor. Priced at US $999, the processor is clocked at 3.20 GHz and features four cores and eight logical processors thanks to HyperThreading Technology (encore). Details of it are covered here.

Mobile01, unboxed the i7 965 before launch. The contents show a massive stock cooler and the processor itself. The stock cooler is composed of the same fins projecting radially, just that they are much thinner, and more in number (to boost surface area of dissipation). The cooler uses 50% of fins made of copper and the rest 50% made of aluminum. The large CPU contact base is made of copper and pre-applied TIM. The box pictured is the "white-box" part, expect the retail box to be of that exact size.

Thanks to some inside information that was published today by various hardware portals, now we know that Intel has decided to enhance the overclocking capabilities of two of its still to be released non-Extreme Core i7 processors. Intel's LGA 1366 Core i7-940 and Core i7-920, which are clocked at 2.93GHz and 2.66GHz respectively will now boast unlocked memory controlers, meaning that users will be able to change the memory multiplier and thus the memory frequency beyond the stock DDR3 800/1066MHz speed. The unlocked memory multiplier will also allow the QPI speed to be changed. The Quick Path Interconnect (QPI) bus resembles AMD's Hypertransport bus. A slide change in the memory frequency will result in higher QPI bus speed, just like in the current AMD processor family. Previously, we knew that only the Core i7 Extreme processors like the 3.2GHz Core i7-965 Extreme Edition will have these overclocking features. I sincerely hope that with this last minute change Intel will make us overclockers really happy.

Later this year, Intel will launch three models of processors based on a newer socket, a newer architecture. The processors are based on the Nehalem-derived Bloomfield core, and require a compatible motherboard with the 1366-pin land grid array (LGA) socket. There are three models lined up, one in each category of extreme, performance and mainstream. They carry the Core i7 brand name and here are its model numbers:

• Core i7 Extreme 965 (PIB model: BX80601965)
• Core i7 940 (PIB model: BX80601940)
• Core i7 920 (PIB model: BX80601920)

The 965 is a Extreme series product that sits on the top of the pile, it should be the fastest desktop processor ever made. The 940 falls into the performance category, given its price. It is trailed by the 920 which seems to have the best price to clock speed, it falls into the mainstream category. A table explaining parameters in detail and model prices is provided.

Intentional or not, a huge set of company-confidential diagrams from Intel have surfaced from Japanese website PC Watch. The diagrams show Intel's roadmap until the beginning of 2010. While the authenticity of these diagrams are questionable, and there are bound to be inaccuracies, they provide a broad view of Intel's consumer PC processor plans. The first time shows a gradual transition between the current Core and upcoming Nehalem architectures. What's more, it shows how Intel may have segregated the desktop PC market, with six main product divisions from bottom to top being integrated board, value, essential, mainstream, performance and extreme. The value, mainstream and performance segments are further classified on price-bands.The contents of the diagram are pretty self explanatory in terms of what kind of products are slated for when and a little peak into what they are made of. Highlights of the diagram include:

Intel's upcoming Core i7 processors (codenamed Nehalem) will use the new X58 chipset and the ICH10-R Soutbhridge. DRR3 memory can be installed in six slots running DDR3-800, 1066 and 1333.

The board we took photos of is a protoype that's why you can see manual soldering and cabling on it.