Patriot Supersonic 32 GB USB 3.0 Review

Review USB Sticks

Patriot has also jumped on the USB 3.0 bandwagon with their Supersonic series of drives. While the Supersonic Magnum is the flagship drive, the normal Supersonic packs quite the punch and breaks the advertised performance barrier - giving you more than you bargained for.

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Xigmatek Displays 80 Plus Platinum 1450W Goliath PSU

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 17:47 Discuss (9 Comments)

An 80 Plus Platinum-compliant 1450W PSU? No, we're sober. Xigmatek is flexing its engineering muscle in the PSU department with a semi-modular PSU that has both high-power and high-efficiency. The Goliath GP-1451 from Xigmatek gives you all the connectors you'll ever need, and with 1450W, enough power for 4-way SLI, 4-way CrossFireX, dual-socket systems. What's to not to like? The Goliath uses an asymmetric double 12V rail design, the first rail can deliver 55A, and the second 75A. Apart from 24-pin ATX and EPS connectors, most connectors are detachable to improve cable management. The beast is cooled by a 130 mm fan.

Be Quiet! Displays Dark Rock Pro 850W Modular PSU

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 17:30 Discuss (9 Comments)

Leading the pack of Be Quiet! PSUs at Computex is the Dark Power Pro 850W, an almost completely modular 80 Plus Platinum-compliant PSU. The Dark Power Pro has a classy product-like feel to it, not coming across as a "component". Internally, the Dark Power Pro 850W uses a quad 12V rail design. The 24-pin ATX is the only fixed connector, leaving eight PCI-E power connectors in four sets, five sets of drive cabled (SATA/Molex), 8-pin EPS and 4-pin ATX, and four 2-pin voltage-controlled fan power outputs. The unit is cooled by a 140 mm fan, covered by a cool-looking grille with just parallel metal rods.

Cougar Shows off 92% Platinum Efficiency Modular PSUs

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 16:12 Discuss (0 Comments)

If 80 Plus Gold was the order of the best PSUs shown at Computex 2010, this year, the trend is with even higher efficiency ratings, such as 80 Plus Platinum. For any PSU to be certified 80 Plus, it has to go though independent testing, a bad thing if you're rushing in new products. At the same time, having buyers discover that your 80 Plus certifications are fake would be a disaster for your brand. To tide over this dilemma, PSU major Cougar came out with an efficiency rating badge of its own for use on new models, 92% Platinum, denoting that the PSU offers efficiency on-par/close to 80 Plus Platinum. It's probable that these PSUs will get the actual 80 Plus Platinum rating later. Up on display at Cougar's booth were beautiful-looking Cougar PTX 500W and Cougar GX 500W two semi-modular high-efficiency boxes.

High Power Tech Teases with its Treasured 80 Plus Platinum Series PSUs

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 15:55 Discuss (0 Comments)

What better way to display power supply units (PSUs) that scream out the terms "80 Plus Platinum" or "80 Plus Gold" than in a treasure chest? PSU brand and OEM High Power Tech (HPT) showed off its top of the line 80 Plus Platinum Series 1200W, 1000W; and performance 80 Plus Platinum Series 600W and 500W semi-modular PSUs. The four make up HPT's 2011 enthusiast product lineup. All four PSUs are 80 Plus Platinum efficiency rating-compliant with over 92% efficiency, and use the same main unit chassis with 130 mm fan. Key connectors such as ATX, EPS, and a pair of PCI-E connectors are fixed, while the rest are detachable (modular).

Thermaltake Level 10 GT Goes ''Green''

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 15:28 Discuss (8 Comments)

Thermaltake's peculiar Level 10 GT case, born out of the Level 10 concept, sticks to the black+red color scheme because black+red is a popular enthusiast color scheme used on several PC parts including certain motherboards and graphics cards by EVGA, ASUS, etc. Enthusiasts also identify red with ATI/AMD Radeon. What happens when you replace red with lime-green? Well, the Level 10 GT goes "green" (NVIDIA-themed). Apart from the dash of green where red once existed, there's nothing green about this case, it uses the same exact materials, and is made for the same class of people that burn anywhere between 500 and 1500 Watts of power to play console-ports at 1080p.

MSI Offers Premium Embedded Solution IM-QM67 with Intel Sandy Bridge Processor

Press Release by

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 15:19 Discuss (5 Comments)

MSI, the global leading brand in motherboards, announced the upgraded version of IM-QM67 which is powered by the 2nd generation Intel Core processor family, Intel Sandy Bridge processor, and Intel QM67 Express chipset. IM-QM67 supports multiple display outputs in a mini-ITX form factor board and utilizes Intel's 32nm process technology products to give the competitive advantage through the performance enhancements and scalability.

MSI debuts the IM-QM67 based on the Intel Core i7, Core i5 and Core i3 processors to offer lower power consumption and enhanced graphic and media performance. The IM-QM67 is equipped with dual-channel DDR3 1067/1333/1600 MHz memory up to a maximum of 16 GB in dual SO-DIMM slots and is ideally suited to applications requiring multi-tasking capabilities, high computing power. This combination of CPU, chipset and memory provides the MSI IM-QM67 with improved power efficiency and high-speed data transfer for performance-driven industrial applications, such as industrial control, automation, digital signage, kiosk, POS, gaming, ATM and medical electronic.

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ASUS ''Innovation Beyond Expectations'' At Computex 2011

Press Release by

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 15:12 Discuss (3 Comments)

ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih has unveiled the highly-anticipated Padfone along with the latest ASUS innovations, which include new UX Series notebooks, redesigned N Series notebooks with SonicMaster audio technology, the revolutionary and versatile Eee Pad Memo 3D, ultra-thin Eee PC X101 netbooks, and unique home entertainment devices such as the motion-sensing WAVI Xtion and the 27" All-in-One high-definition ET2700XVT desktop PC. With "Break the Rules, Innovation Beyond Expectations" as the dominant theme this year, Mr. Shih has reiterated the company's strength in cutting-edge designs and superior engineering skills to help bring users the devices of their dreams. "Breaking the rules and changing the status quo are the keys to our success, and we strive to offer customers an experience that surpasses their expectations," said Mr. Shih.

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OCZ Achieves Performance Record Live At Computex

Press Release by

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 15:01 Discuss (5 Comments)

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, announces the Company has set a new benchmark of 1 million 4K write IOPS with a Z-Drive R4 equipped 3U Colfax International Server based on a Supermicro platform, which features 7.2TB of MLC storage. As the fastest performing single server solution on the market, this Z-Drive R4 equipped platform significantly accelerates demanding transactional workloads and reduces latency across a broad array of enterprise applications.

"The Z-Drive R4 enables our data center clients to maximize performance in the industry standard 4K file size, and this achievement with Colfax International demonstrates the raw performance benefits and latency reductions that OCZ PCIe SSDs can deliver over multi-terabyte device densities in a single 3U server," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology Group. "We are proud to enable our clients to deliver servers and storage arrays which provide the highest performance, maximum capacity, and lowest latency available to data centers today."

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WinChip Displays its Fancy Memory Modules

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 14:47 Discuss (7 Comments)

After Aexea, it's time to move onto another boutique memory module vendor, WinChip. This Taiwan-based PC memory vendor seems to focus on the form and design of the memory module (particularly the heatspreaders or heatsinks), so much so, that some of its modules even bear artistic true-color paintings. The first set of modules we came across used a unique kind of heatsinks. Among these, the first one reminded us of some of Mushkin's early heatspreader designs. The second one looks more unique, with a central portion of the heatsink protruding out. A heat pipe is running along the length of the module, evenly distributing heat. In another part of the exhibit, there's a module with a strange heatspreader design. The heatspreader increases module height by almost double, and has a few horizontal grooves to dissipate heat.

Moving on, there are a couple of normally-sized DDR2-800 and DDR3-1333 modules that bears branding of Avatar: The Game. Next up, are the modules attracting a lot of attention. These ones have heatspreaders with fancy true-color graphics, some are photographs, while the others are 3D art, mostly wild-animal themed, including the African Savannah, a gliding eagle, dolphins, toco toucans in a tropical jungle with banana trees, etc.,etc. The last set has heatspreaders with abstract writings in Asian scripts. Like Aexea, WinChip's modules are sold more on their product design. The modules themselves are mostly JEDEC-specced, with the exception of some heavier ones that run at PC3-12800 speeds.

Aexea Displays A Swarm of Memory Modules

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 13:38 Discuss (3 Comments)

Lesser-known PC memory, flash memory, and phone accessories manufacturer Aexea showed off its goods for the season, including some never before seen memory module heatsink designs. Aexea comes across as a boutique memory module designer, since it displayed many identically/similarly-specced 4 GB and 2 GB DDR3-1333 and DDR3-1600 memory modules with a variety of heatspreader and heatsink designs, in a number of colors, as well. Most of these are sold in single-piece packages, and not so much dual/triple-channel kits. Among these, a certain module called "Vampire" caught our eye, which uses a blood-red colored heatsink, a bat-shadow graphic, and jagged protrusions that put it into the category of semi-heatsink modules, of which G.Skill RipJaws and Corsair Vengeance are popular examples. And oh, they do seem to speak of US market presence.

Get Updates from TPU Computex Coverage LIVE!

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 13:17 Discuss (0 Comments)

TechPowerUp is at the year's biggest expo of computer and technology, Computex Taipei. Our team on the ground is equipped with in-house design devices that upload pictures to TechPowerUp as they're snapped, so you catch things as they happen. We've designed a page dedicated to this system, called TechPowerUp LIVE. On this page, you'll also get to chat with the people on the ground, as well as chat with other TPU Forums members... and we have girls, too.

Visit: TechPowerUp LIVE @ Computex 2011

TSeries TA990FXE Leads AM3+ Charge for Biostar

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 13:04 Discuss (17 Comments)

Biostar is keeping a low profile with high-end motherboards, these days. It's been a long while since the company released its last TPower-branded motherboard, but has been pushing its 'value' TSeries motherboards into every segment. One such offering for the AMD socket AM3+ platform is the Biostar TSeries TA990FXE. Based on the AMD 990FX + SB950 chipset, this board packs a lot of high-end styling with its heatsinks and components load-out. It packs a 4+1 phase VRM to power the AM3+ socket, and dual-channel DDR3 memory. Current generation Phenom II, and future FX Series processors are supported.

Expansion slots include four PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (x16/x4/x16/x4), and two PCI. There are five internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports, with the sixth one being assigned as eSATA. Most other connectivity is fairly standard for this category, you've got 8-channel HD audio, four USB 3.0 ports (two by header), and gigabit Ethernet. The board features standard AMIBIOS, and some overclocker-accessible features such as power/reset switches and diagnostic LED.

MSI Afterburner Goes Mobile

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 12:40 Discuss (31 Comments)

MSI's popular and intuitive VGA overclocking software Afterburner has gone mobile, don't worry, it's not going to let you overclock or fry anything up inside your smartphone, but let you overclock graphics cards in your bench setup wirelessly. Designed for popular smartphone platforms such as Android, the Afterburner mobile application connects to the system using direct IP access via wireless. We assume that the desktop Afterburner process needs to be running in the background. The application takes advantage of touchscreens on smartphones, giving you slider-based control. Apart from controlling clock speeds, voltages, and fan speeds, the application also lets you monitor everything the desktop end of Afterburner is able to monitor.

PowerColor Also Shows Off Dual-Radeon HD 6870 Graphics Card

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 09:11 Discuss (14 Comments)

The PowerColor HD 6970 X2 isn't the only new dual-GPU graphics card on display at PowerColor, there's also the HD 6870 X2. We're not entirely sure why one would come up with such an SKU in an already crowded performance market segment, but perhaps PowerColor is trying to squeeze in between performance levels of HD 6970 and HD 6990. While not a bad idea, it comes with the usual challenges and limitations of a dual-GPU graphics card: application support for CrossFire, and usually high power draw.

Like on the HD 6970 X2, PowerColor used Lucid Hydra technology, with a Hydra Engine chip that provides each of the two AMD Barts GPU with a PCI-E 2.0 x16 link. Users can choose between AMD CrossFire or Lucid Hydra multi-GPU technologies. With Hydra enabled, you will be able to get this card to work in tandem with any other card in the system. Each Barts GPU has 1120 stream processors, 32 ROPs, and 1 GB of GDDR5 memory across 256-bit wide memory interfaces.

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G.Skill showcases its latest SATA 3 SSD, Phoenix II Pro, DDR3 Memory Kits

Press Release by

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 08:34 Discuss (5 Comments)

G.Skill International Co. Ltd., manufacturer of extreme performance memory and high performance solid-state storage, has released its latest SATA 3 6gbps SSD, Phoenix II Pro, based on the latest SandForce SF-2200 controller with the whopping random write speed up to 60K IOPS, and numerous ultra high performance memory series designed for the latest released platforms at Computex 2011.

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PowerColor to Challenge ASUS MARS II with Monstrous Dual-HD 6970 Graphics Card

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 06:53 Discuss (31 Comments)

While between the GeForce GTX 580 and Radeon HD 6970, the former is clearly the faster graphics card, the two share a disputed lead over each other in their dual-GPU avatars, GeForce GTX 590 and Radeon HD 6990, attributed to the HD 6990 sustaining clock speeds closer to those on its single-GPU implementation, and a better electrical design. While NVIDIA is fixing the electricals on a revised PCB design scheduled for release in the weeks to come, companies like ASUS are wasting no time in designing their own PCBs that can let the two NVIDIA GF110 GPUs sustain clock speeds identical to those on the single-GPU GTX 580. This would pose serious competition to the HD 6990. To ward that off, PowerColor is working on a new Radeon HD 6970 X2 graphics card, which has two AMD Cayman GPUs clocked on par with single-GPU HD 6970, and having the same overclocking headroom.

The new card from PowerColor is not just an overclocked HD 6990, but also has the overclocking headroom of the HD 6970. Further, unlike the HD 6990, it uses Lucid Hydra technology. The PLX-made, AMD-branded PCI-Express bridge chip is replaced by a LucidLogix-made bridge chip that gives each GPU PCI-Express 2.0 x16 bandwidth. Users can run the two GPUs in either AMD CrossFire (with Hydra features disabled), or enable Lucid Hydra Engine features, and let the two GPUs work in tandem with any other graphics card installed in the system, that uses GPUs of any make and generation.

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ZOTAC Z68-ITX WiFi a Fun-Sized Treat for Overclockers

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 06:21 Discuss (9 Comments)

Rarely do motherboard vendors dish out mini-ITX form-factor motherboards targeting the overclocking community. There's little space to squeeze in the bare essentials, but nothing is impossible, if there are competent designers at work, a case in point is the new Z68-ITX WiFi from ZOTAC. Based on the Intel Z68 Express chipset, this board supports LGA1155 Core i3/i5/i7 Sandy Bridge, and future Ivy Bridge processors, supports their integrated GPU giving you access to Intel QuickSync technology, as well as a suite of overclocking options.

To begin with the LGA1155 socket is powered by an 8-phase digital-PWM power design that uses high-grade PWM chokes made by Pulse, and in all probability, a Volterra PWM IC giving you precise voltage control as well as vDroop protection (high-precision load-line calibration). It also uses server-grade high-C capacitors. The PWM circuit takes input from an 8-pin EPS connector. The PWM chips are cooled by a large heatsink that sends some of its heat to the heatsink cooling the Z68 PCH, over a heat pipe.

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MSI New Z68A-GD80 Swims in PCI-Express 3.0 Fame

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 05:58 Discuss (11 Comments)

While Sandy Bridge-E LGA2011 processors will come with integrated PCI-Express 3.0 hubs, they're still a couple of quarter financial years away. Meanwhile, MSI jumped the gun on its latest socket LGA1155 Intel Z68-based motherboard with not only support for Intel's upcoming 22 nm Ivy Bridge LGA1155 processors, but also the PCI-Express 3.0 hubs that the new processors come with. While Ivy Bridge has PCI-E 3.0 hub, not just any LGA1155 motherboard can give you PCI-E 3.0 support. It requires slots that are compliant with the new specification, and needs PCI-E 3.0 compliant external switching chips. MSI has both, on its new Z68A-GD80 motherboard, and with it, the bragging rights of being the world's first PCI-E 3.0 compliant motherboard.

PCI-Express 3.0 gives you twice the interface bandwidth as PCI-Express 2.0, which means that PCI-Express 3.0 x8 has the same bandwidth as PCI-Express 2.0 x16. But before you celebrate, let's remind ourselves that you also need a PCI-E 3.0 compliant GPU to make the slots operate at Gen 3.0 speeds. Installing PCI-Express 2.0 GPUs on Gen 3.0 won't run the slots at Gen 3.0 speeds. That aside, the Z68A-GD80 is a sufficiently-equipped enthusiast motherboard featuring 14-phase VRM for the CPU, dual-channel DDR3-2133 support, two PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots (x8/x8 with populated), a third PCI-E x16 wired to the Z68 PCH, running at PCI-E 2.0 x4 speeds, and a couple of PCI-E 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI. There are three internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports; eSATA, USB 3.0, make for the rest of the connectivity. There is full-fledged display connectivity, with Lucid Virtu support. Expect this board to be out any time soon.

MSI X79A-GD80 Looks Monstrous

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 05:38 Discuss (11 Comments)

Meet the X79A-GD80 from MSI, where active component cooling is making a comeback to motherboards. The Sandy Bridge-E LGA2011 socket dwarfs everything around it, in the upper-half of the board. Typical of LGA2011 motherboards,the X79A-GD80 has two DDR3 DIMM slots on either sides of the CPU socket, supporting quad-channel DDR3 memory. The VRM area is above the socket, MSI used a 40 mm fan-heatsink to cool the VRM. Further, a fan-heatsink is used to cool the X79 PCH. With the PCH heatsink the use of fan is more of an effort to keep the heatsink small in size, so active air-flow can compensate for its size. That aside, expansion slots are all-PCIe, including three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/x8/x16), and four PCI-E x1 in middle. All 10 of the SATA 6 Gb/s ports from the PCH are internal ports, with just the one eSATA. Other connectivity includes 8+2 channel HD audio, dual gigabit Ethernet, and USB 3.0.

Sapphire Readies New Value HD 6900 Series Graphics Card Design

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 05:13 Discuss (5 Comments)

Sapphire designed a new AMD Cayman-based graphics card that's intended for sweet-spot SKUs such as Radeon HD 6950 1 GB. Seen here is one such card with the HD 6950 GPU. It uses an in-house blue PCB design with cost-effective components. The card is cooled by a custom-design dual-fan heatsink that uses a heat pipe-fed aluminum fin array. The fan speed is kept very low, making the card silent. The very same fan is used on Sapphire's single-fan cooler used on certain HD 6800 series graphics cards, that earned the reputation of being very quiet. It's unclear if Sapphire's card is factory-overclocked, or a base-model that's cheaper than AMD reference design models. Like many board partners, Sapphire will bundle a copy (paper license) of Dirt 3, with its new HD 6950.

ASRock X79 Extreme4 Pictured

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 05:02 Discuss (14 Comments)

ASRock is ready with what it will be offering the very top tier of consumers of the Sandy Bridge-E platform, the third largest selling motherboard vendor is ready with the X79 Extreme4. This standard-size ATX motherboard uses essentially the same component layout as most socket LGA2011 boards we've seen so far. The LGA2011 socket is powered by an 8-phase VRM. The socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots on its either sides, to support quad-channel DDR3-2133 MHz memory. The processor also holds a massive 40-lane PCI-Express 3.0 hub, giving out two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 links, distributed between three slots (as x16/x16/NC or x16/x8/x8), with two each of PCI-E x1 and PCI in between.

ASRock did not finalize its chipset/VRM heatsinks design, yet. While we can't see the right portion of the board in the picture, we can assume that all 10 SATA 6 Gb/s and 2 SATA 3 Gb/s ports will be internal ports, with the possibility of one or two eSATA. Other connectivity includes 8-channel HD audio, dual gigabit Ethernet, and four USB 3.0 ports (two by header). The board supports 3-way NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX.

Sapphire Pure Platinum A75 Pushes for Value

btarunr

May 31st, 2011 03:35 Discuss (2 Comments)

To make a 'great value' socket FM1 motherboard, there are two approaches, either add dual discrete graphics support by adding a second PCI-Express x16 slot, like on the Gigabyte A75-UD4H, or by adding a boat-load of connectivity while leaving single discrete graphics option, an approach taken by Sapphire on its Pure Platinum A75. This ATX form-factor motherboard comes fully loaded with a 8-phase VRM for the FM1 APU socket, four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR3-1600 MHz, powered by a 2-phase VRM, and overclocker-friendly voltage measurement points.

Expansion slots include a PCI-Express 2.0 x16, an open-ended PCI-Express x4, and two each of PCI-Express x1 and legacy PCI. There is also an mSATA slot to hold SSDs in the mSATA form-factor. Storage connectivity includes four SATA 6 Gb/s internal ports, an mSATA slot, and eSATA. Other connectivity includes four USB 3.0 ports (of which two are by header), 8-channel HD audio, Bluetooth, gigabit Ethernet, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. Display connectivity includes D-Sub, DVI, and HDMI 1.4a.

MSI GeForce GTX 580 Lightning Xtreme Edition 3 GB Review

Review Graphics Cards

MSI has upgraded their GTX 580 Lightning and calls it "Xtreme Edition" now. The biggest change is certainly the inclusion of 3 GB of GDDR5 memory. Other new features are a dust removal system and a fan that indicates overheating by color change.

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Corsair Announces First Corsair Link Kits

Press Release by

btarunr

May 30th, 2011 23:48 Discuss (5 Comments)

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced pricing and specifications for the Corsair Link Cooling Kit and the Corsair Link Cooling and Lighting Kit.

Corsair Link is a modular hardware and software system that provides comprehensive monitoring and control of PC cooling and lighting. The two starter packages announced today are complete solutions that allow customers to immediately enjoy the benefits of Corsair Link technology. Customers can then further expand their control with additional peripherals that offer Corsair Link connectivity.

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Corsair Announces Vengeance Low Profile High-Performance DDR3 Memory Kits

Press Release by

btarunr

May 30th, 2011 23:35 Discuss (23 Comments)

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced Vengeance LP, the latest addition to the award-winning Vengeance Series high-performance DDR3 line.

Vengeance LP memory features heat spreaders with a reduced height of 1.03" (26.25 millimeters), compared to the standard height of 1.87" (47.37 millimeters). These modules are designed for high-performance systems with extra-large CPU coolers, small form factor system builds, or other space-constrained applications that prevent the use of standard Vengeance memory.

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Corsair Expands Professional Series and Professional Series Gold PSU Lines

Press Release by

btarunr

May 30th, 2011 23:29 Discuss (9 Comments)

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced the Professional Series HX1050 and Professional Series Gold AX650 high-performance power supplies.

The Professional Series HX1050 delivers 1,050 watts of continuous power and joins the Professional Series HX1000, HX850, HX750, and HX650. The Professional Series HX1050 is 80 PLUS Silver certified, with a rated 88% efficiency or higher at 50% load.

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Corsair Announces New Hydro Series Liquid CPU Coolers

Press Release by

btarunr

May 30th, 2011 23:24 Discuss (23 Comments)

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced two new models in its award-winning Hydro Series family of high-performance liquid CPU coolers.

The Hydro Series H80 and H100 feature the latest cooling performance technology, simple installation, and maintenance-free operation. Both include a low-profile, light-weight cooling unit with a micro-channel copper cold plate and a split-flow manifold for superior cooling, and digital fan control, allowing the user to select between low-noise, balanced, and maximum cooling modes. The H80 includes a double-thick 120mm radiator for compatibility with virtually all standard ATX PC cases. The top-of-the-line H100 uses a dual 120mm radiator for even better performance, and is compatible with PC cases that provide mounting capability for a standard 240mm radiator.

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Corsair Announces New Carbide Series of PC Cases

Press Release by

btarunr

May 30th, 2011 23:11 Discuss (18 Comments)

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced the Carbide Series mid-tower cases. The Carbide Series 400R and 500R have been designed for PC gamers with the same builder-friendly philosophy as the award-winning Obsidian Series and Graphite Series of PC cases, but at aggressive price points. New system builds and upgrades are fast and simple, thanks to the easy side panel access and tool-free drive installation and removal. Corsair's innovative cable-management system allows for clean-looking builds and improved airflow.

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Sapphire Pure Black 990FX-N is Purely for CrossFire

btarunr

May 30th, 2011 14:28 Discuss (18 Comments)

Backed by one of the biggest OEMs in the industry, PC Partner, Sapphire does have some engineering potential to speak of. The AMD Radeon graphics card manufacturer has, on and off, tried to make inroads into the the motherboard market. With the 990FX-N, Sapphire is continuing its high-end Pure Black series. While NVIDIA SLI support isn't denied anymore for the AMD chipset platform, for political reasons (such as NVIDIA restricting AMD platform SLI licences to only those motherboard vendors who already had them for the Intel platform, cutting out Sapphire), this board doesn't support SLI. It shouldn't bother you if you own AMD Radeon, this board has sufficient PCI-Express connectivity to even allow 4-way CrossFireX.

The Sapphire Pure Black 990FX-N starts with a 10-phase VRM to power the AM3+ socket supporting AMD's new FX series processors, it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slot supporting dual-channel DDR3 memory with speeds of over 1866 MHz. Expansion is an all PCI-Express affair, with five PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (of which one is x4), and two open-ended PCI-E x4. Storage connectivity includes eight SATA 6 Gb/s internal ports, and eSATA. Apart from that, the board features 8-channel HD audio with optical and coaxial SPDIF output, dual gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.0 ports, and Bluetooth.

ASUS F1A75 First Socket FM1 Motherboard Without Display Connectivity?

btarunr

May 30th, 2011 14:11 Discuss (7 Comments)

The F1A75 is perhaps the first socket FM1 motherboard in the ATX form-factor, made by ASUS, to come to light. It appears to be an entry-mid category model, with not too many bells and whistles. The FM1 socket supports AMD A-Series APUs, it is powered by a 6-phase VRM, backed by ASUS EPU. The socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR3 memory. Expansion slots include one PCI-Express 2.0 x16, a PCI-E x16 with x4 bandwidth, two PCI-E x1, and three PCI. It comes as utter surprise to us that this board lacks display connectivity. What were they thinking? All six SATA 6 Gb/s ports from the A75 chipset are internal. There are four USB 3.0 ports, including two via header. Other connectivity includes 8-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, and a number of USB 2.0 ports.

New, Unnamed Company Unveils Large, Colorful, High-Performance CPU Cooler Prototypes

btarunr

May 30th, 2011 13:50 Discuss (47 Comments)

A new company in the PC cooling industry is born. It hasn't been named yet, or at least they haven't disclosed it to us. But, they've already come up with these gorgeous-looking CPU cooler prototypes, that come with color options of cherry red, orange, and teal, apart from basic white/silver. In each color option, the fins of the heatsink and the fans' impellers are colored. The white/silver variant has a special coating that improves heat dissipation. The prototype uses a double fin-tower push-pull design, similar to Noctua NH-D14.

From its polished indirect-contact base, five 8 mm thick heat pipes pass through, linking two large aluminum fin arrays that propagate perpendicular to the plane of the motherboard. There are two 140 mm fans, the first one pushes fresh air onto the first aluminum fin array, while the second one is nested between the two arrays, and conveys air from the first block, on to the second. The fans use a special blade design to improve air flow, so the designers could lower the fan speed further, reducing noise. More details are awaited.

Images Courtesy: Caseking.de

MSI Charms with A75MA-G55 Micro ATX Socket FM1 Motherboard

btarunr

May 30th, 2011 13:13 Discuss (3 Comments)

Here you are, the MSI A75MA-G55, the kind of motherboard that's dressed for both office and living rooms, or even a sweet family desktop. This micro-ATX motherboard runs AMD Fusion A-series APUs in the socket FM1 package. It uses a 4-phase Military Class II VRM that balances solid-state chokes with regular solid capacitors, instead of expensive high-C ones. The VRM area is cooled by a chunky heatsink of a design we're used to seeing on high-end MSI motherboards, lately.

Expansion slots include one each of PCI-Express 2.0 x16, PCI-E x16 running at x4 speed, PCI-E x1, and legacy PCI. All six of its SATA 6 Gb/s ports are internal. The board features four USB 3.0 including two ports provided via internal header. The rear panel is a crowded place with 8-channel HD audio, USB 3.0, display connectivity including DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI, gigabit Ethernet, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. The board features UEFI with ClickBIOS GUI setup program. Expect mid-range pricing.

MSI A75A-G35 Smiles for the Camera

btarunr

May 30th, 2011 12:59 Discuss (1 Comment)

The A75A-G35 caught our attention at the MSI booth, a slim ATX socket FM1 motherboard based on the AMD A75 chipset. Supporting the AMD A-series accelerated processing units, the A75A-G35 uses a simple 3+1 phase VRM to power the APU, the board features just two DDR3 DIMM slots, but supports dual-channel DDR3-1600 MHz memory. Expansion slots include one PCI-Express 2.0 x16, a PCI-Express x16 running at x4 speed, three PCI-E x1, and two legacy PCI.

Display connectivity includes DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. All six SATA 6 Gb/s ports from the A75 FCH are assigned as internal ports. Other connectivity includes 8-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, and USB 3.0. The A75A-G35 uses UEFI and ClickBIOS GUI-driven setup program, and Winki 3 desktop manager.

Maximus IV Gene Gets Z68 Treatment, Too

btarunr

May 30th, 2011 12:17 Discuss (4 Comments)

Recently, ASUS released the Maximus IV Extreme-Z, a variant of the Maximus IV Extreme motherboard, based on Intel Z68 chipset. The original is based on Intel P67. ASUS' premium micro-ATX motherboard, the Maximus IV Gene got the same treatment, with Gene-Z. Back when ASUS was designing its Republic of Gamers lineup for socket LGA1155, P67 was the premium discrete-graphics chipset, which was later dethroned by Z68, which gives you everything P67 does, plus access to the processor's integrated graphics (letting you use Intel QuickSync), and Intel Smart Response SSD caching technology.

The Maximus IV Gene-Z uses a design very similar to its predecessor. The LGA1155 socket is powered by an impressive 12-phase Digi+ Extreme Engine VRM, 2-phase VRM for the dual-channel DDR3 memory, supporting speeds as high as DDR3-2000 MHz. Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (x16/NC or x8/x8), supporting NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFire; and an open-ended PCI-E x4. ASUS managed to pack in two SATA 6 Gb/s ports, four SATA 3 Gb/s ports, and connectivity that includes SupremeFX X-Fi 8-channel audio, eSATA, gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, and HDMI 1.4a (the lone display connector). ASUS nearly all ROG-exclusive features such as consolidated voltage measurement points, iROG, ROG UEFI, etc.

ASUS MARS II Graphics Card Pictured

btarunr

May 30th, 2011 10:36 Discuss (70 Comments)

The Republic of Gamers MARS II, detailed earlier, is a new custom dual-GF110 based graphics card in the works at ASUS. Here are some of its first pictures, revealing a monstrosity that's about as long as a Radeon HD 5970, a couple of inches higher, and three slots thick. Its cooler sticks to the black+red color scheme in use with ASUS ROG products for a while now, and uses an intricate cutout design.

The shroud suspends two 120 mm high-sweep fans that blow air on to two heatsinks with highly dense aluminum fin arrays to which heat is fed by copper heat pipes. The card draws power from three 8-pin PCI-Express power connectors. The card uses two NVIDIA GF110 GPUs with the same core configuration and clock profile as GeForce GTX 580, effectively making MARS II a dual-GTX 580, which also provides the overclocking headroom of a GTX 580, something impossible on a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590.

ASUS C1X79 EVO LGA2011 Motherboard Pictured

btarunr

May 30th, 2011 07:48 Discuss (36 Comments)

With the "entry level" of its socket LGA2011 lineup, ASUS is making a return to its signature gold-colored PCB with the C1X79 EVO. Based on the Intel X79 Express chipset, the board provides a basic feature-set sticking to whatever the chipset provides. The LGA2011 socket is powered by a simple 6+1 phase VRM, the two DDR3 DIMM slots are located on either sides of the socket in groups of two, and are powered by a 4-phase VRM.

Expansion slots include three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (electrical x16/x16/NC or x16/x8/x8, depending on whether the third slot is populated), two PCI-E x1, and an open-ended PCI-E x4. All 10 of the SATA 6 Gb/s ports provided by the X79 chipset are assigned as internal ports, apart from four additional 3 Gb/s ports. That aside, there's little in terms of connectivity, with just the 8+2 channel HD audio, dual gigabit Ethernet, and a couple of USB 3.0 ports. The board uses ASUS' UEFI setup program with EZMode. We're not entirely sure if the production version of this board sticks to the golden PCB color, let's hope it does.

Gigabyte X79 UD3 LGA2011 Motherboard First Shot

btarunr

May 30th, 2011 05:54 Discuss (29 Comments)

Here is the first picture of GA-X79A-UD3, the first Gigabyte-branded socket LGA2011 motherboard. Based on the Intel X79 Express chipset, the board supports upcoming Sandy Bridge-E enthusiast processors in the LGA2011 package. Mind you, this is just the cheapest LGA2011 board from Gigabyte, there is a higher-end line of X79 motherboards, so don't let the unspectacular looks of the UD3 get you.

The GA-X79A-UD3 is a standard ATX sized motherboard. Its main VRM is spread all around the large CPU socket, in what appears to be a 6-phase design, with an unknown number of memory and uncore phases. LGA2011 processors feature a large quad-channel DDR3 memory controller, along with a northbridge uncore component with a 40-lane PCI-Express 3.0 controller. Those amount to the socket's insane pin-count of 2,011 pins. Memory slots are located in pairs of two on either sides of the socket. Each slot is its own 64-bit wide memory channel.

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Scythe Announces Kama Panel 3

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btarunr

May 30th, 2011 05:25 Discuss (9 Comments)

Japanese manufacturer Scythe is hereby announcing the third version of its popular multifunctional Kama Panel, which comes with new features to ease your PC-life. Kama Panel 3 combines 4 major functions to utilize your free 5.25" Bays in most useful way. These 4 major functions are including a card reader, a mobile rack, a 2 channel fan controller and a I/O Panel for advanced connectivity.

Built-in card reader is supporting the most popular memory card formats such as MicroSD/MicroSDHC, Memory Stick Micro, SD, Memory Stick, Multi Media Card. By using a separately purchased adapter users are able to use MiniSD/MiniSDHC, RS-MMC, MMC-micro cards as well. Connection to the PC is achieved by using the USB 2.0 Header-Pin Cable supplied with the Kama Panel 3. Furthermore 2 novel USB 2.0 and Power eSATA combo connectors are located in the front. Hence allows the connection of either USB or eSATA Cable into same port. To further improve connectivity a headphone and a microphone connector are implemented. In case the power and reset switch of the pc case are impractically located, users now have the chance to use the power and reset switch of Kama panel 3.

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TYAN to Showcase High-Density Cloud Computing Solutions

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btarunr

May 30th, 2011 04:35 Discuss (1 Comment)

TYAN, an industry-leading server platform provider, and a subsidiary of MiTAC International Corp. will display a full line-up of cloud computing solutions that meet the increasing demand for higher density and lower power consumption at Computex 2011. TYAN will also provide a live demonstration of the FT77-B7015, a GPU Computing platform that features up to eight NVIDIA Tesla M2050 GPU computing processors in a 4U enclosure, at the TYAN booth (#407).

"Cloud Computing has changed the enterprise server landscape," said Albert Mu, Vice President and General Manager of TYAN Business Unit at Mitac International Corp. "TYAN is now positioned to lead the industry with high-density server solutions that meet the demand for more computing power and lower power consumption - at higher densities."

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Team Group Announces Four Lines of C Series Flash Drives

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btarunr

May 30th, 2011 03:48 Discuss (0 Comments)

Team Group Inc. will be announcing four new C series flash drive disks C111/C112/C113/C114 at 2011 Computex Taipei, covering both the mainstream USB 2.0 and new generation USB 3.0 high speed interface. Team Group Inc. has the most diverse and comprehensive interfaces and designs in its UFD product line, ranging from low, middle to high-end flash drive disks. With eye-catching designs and wide selections, Team Group aims to win consumers' hearts.

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NVIDIA Gives Notebook Gamers New Levels of Power, Portability With GeForce GTX 560M

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btarunr

May 30th, 2011 03:17 Discuss (11 Comments)

NVIDIA today unveiled the first gaming notebook graphics processing unit (GPU) in its award-winning GeForce 500M Series of notebook GPUs. The GeForce GTX 560M graphics processor hits the "sweet spot" for gaming notebooks by delivering a no-compromise gaming experience at full 1080p resolution in the hottest new DirectX 11 titles. For the first time, leading OEMs will also be offering GeForce GTX gaming GPUs with NVIDIA Optimus technology.

"The GeForce GTX 560M and NVIDIA Optimus mean gamers get 50 frames per second in Duke Nukem Forever and five hours of battery life in Microsoft Office," said Rene Haas, general manager of notebook products at NVIDIA. "That's real power and real portability." Available only with NVIDIA GPUs, NVIDIA Optimus technology enables extra-long battery life by automatically switching on and off the GPU so that it runs only when needed. The smart convenience of NVIDIA Optimus technology is designed into over 80 percent of GeForce 500M Series notebooks and is used by every major notebook OEM.

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ASUS ROG Launches Bigfoot Networks Killer E2100 Networking With New AMD Motherboard

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btarunr

May 30th, 2011 03:05 Discuss (13 Comments)

Bigfoot Networks, the technology company behind the Killer line of high-performance networking products, today at Computex announced that ASUS has expanded its line of Killer E2100-based motherboards with their new ROG Crosshair V Formula/ThunderBolt Motherboard.

The new ASUS ROG Crosshair V Formula/ThunderBolt Motherboard supports AMD FX Series CPUs with up to 8-cores, DDR3 Memory with overclocking speeds up to 2133 MHz, multi-GPU technology for CrossFireX and NVIDIA SLI, 8-ch HD, SupremeFX X-Fi 2 audio from Creative Labs and more. Powered by Bigfoot Networks' Killer E2100 networking platform and a host of other gaming-centric features, this AMD FX-based motherboard combines innovative design and technical intelligence to make the PC gaming experience more rewarding and accessible. This is the second motherboard offering from ASUS to incorporate Killer E2100 gaming network capabilities, preceded by the ROG Rampage III Black Edition.

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MSI 990FXA-GD65 Value AM3+ Motherboard Detailed

btarunr

May 30th, 2011 02:54 Discuss (10 Comments)

MSI is approaching the socket AM3+ performance platform with two motherboards based on the AMD 990FX chipset, at the very top is the 990FXA-GD80 detailed earlier. Next to it, is the 990FXA-GD65, which is designed to occupy a sub-$200 price point. The GD65 depends entirely on the chipset for its features, with very little 3rd-party features. It uses a full-fledged 10-phase VRM to power the CPU. To add electrical stability, a 6-pin PCI-E power connector is in place, if discrete graphics cards that rely on slot power, are used. The 990FX northbridge gives out two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 ports, which are wired to two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots that run at full-bandwidth all the time. Other expansion slots include four PCI-E x1 and a legacy PCI.

All six SATA 6 Gb/s ports from the SB950 southbridge are assigned as internal ports, while there are no eSATA ports on the rear panel, MSI might bundle an eSATA bracket that extends two of the six internal ports as eSATA. This way, MSI saved the cost of using an additional third-party SATA controller. Other connectivity includes 8-channel HD audio driven by Realtek ALC892 CODEC that supports optical and coaxial SPDIF output; and two USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel driven by an NEC/Renesas-made controller. There's little more to this board than that, for overclockers. There is a rear-panel CMOS reset button, and "Military-grade" components. Instead of using UEFI firmware with its GUI-driven setup program ClickBIOS, MSI used conventional BIOS with a hack that allows it to boot from volumes greater than 2.2 TB in size. MSI also includes BIOS Code Unlocked Technology, which lets users unlock disabled cores on certain CPUs.

MSI Unveils All-in-One PCs with LED Super Color Displays

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btarunr

May 30th, 2011 02:04 Discuss (0 Comments)

MSI, the global leading brand in All-in-One PC, will be showcasing its new range of All-in-One PCs - which feature vivid color and emphasize environmentally-friendly "green" business capabilities and "smart" digital lifestyle enhancement - at the Computex Taipei 2011 exhibition. Impressed by the energy-saving, lightweight, environmentally-friendly potential of LED panel, MSI is leading the way by incorporating LED-backlit LCD display technology into its All-in-One PCs, together with multi-touch touch-screen function and full-HD resolution, marking the beginning of a new era in PC visual performance and ease of use.

MSI's new LED All-in-One PCs - the Wind Top AE2211G, AE2211 and AP2011 - feature enhanced energy-saving characteristics, rich colors and impressive brightness that are sure to make them a major focus of attention at this year's Computex show. As part of its efforts to facilitate easy synchronization for today's digital lifestyles, MSI is now incorporating personal cloud concept applications - Smart Media Link and Smart Sync - into its products. The cloud computing enabled All-in-One PCs that MSI will be showcasing at Computex 2011 make it possible for consumers to share audiovisual entertainment content conveniently over the Internet using touch-screen control. MSI's Wind Top AE2410 and AE2070 All-in-One PCs (which are equipped with the ultra-powerful second-generation Intel Core i3/i5 processor), as well as the AE2230, which employs AMD's latest Sabine platform, all use MSI's unique Wind Touch 4 touch-screen user interface software, which will also be a big draw at this year's Computex.

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Team Group Inc. Launches TR1151 USB 3.0 Card Reader

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btarunr

May 27th, 2011 09:09 Discuss (13 Comments)

Team Group Inc. had actively deployed strategic products for the year 2011, and will release all new card reader series products for the first time at 2011 Computex. The first that was announced would be the 42-in-1 USB 3.0 high speed card reader - TR1151. It combines three major features of high performance, compatibility and lightweight in one, supporting the new generation SDXC UHS-1 specifications and weighs only 80 grams with an ultra thin volume. It is said at the moment to be the smallest USB 3.0 card reader in the industry.

Team Group's TR1151 card reader has a colorful painting design targeting the younger consumers. Two different types of Pop Art designs add more fun to users' everyday life. With both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 interfaces, TR1151 allows users to enjoy the high transfer speed of USB 3.0 while at the same time thoughtfully equipped with a built-in USB 2.0 connector so that users would not have to worry about preparing extra cables for data transmission. TR1151 is not only convenient but also easy to travel with.

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Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Comes with Intel 311 Series SSD Bundled

btarunr

May 27th, 2011 07:29 Discuss (12 Comments)

Gigabyte has been working on the idea of shipping socket LGA1155 motherboards based on Intel Z68 chipset with mSATA slots, to accommodate Intel 311 Series "Larson Creek" cache SSDs that come in mSATA form-factor. The company did release a number of its latest boards with the slot, including GA-Z68XP-UD3, GA-Z68XP-D3, GA-Z68AP-D3 and GA-Z68P-DS3. Now Gigabyte took the idea to its next logical step, bundling an Intel 311 Series 20 GB SSD with the motherboard (since consumers might find mSATA SSDs at little hard to find in the market). The small SSD serves as a high-speed cache which comes into use when Intel Smart Response acceleration is enabled.

The GA-Z68XP-UD3-iSSD is a variant of the GA-Z68XP-UD3, with the "-iSSD" suffix denoting the bundled SSD. The board comes with the 20 GB mSATA SSD pre-installed into its slot. That aside, the GA-Z68XP-UD3-iSSD is a fairly straightforward Z68 implementation, with 7-phase CPU VRM, dual-channel DDR3-2133 MHz memory support by overclocking, two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (x8/x8 with both populated) supporting SLI and CrossFireX; four SATA 6 Gb/s, four 3 Gb/s ports; HDMI 1.4a display output, Lucid Virtu support, 8-channel HD audio, four USB 3.0 ports, and FireWire.

Buffalo Readies New Line of SATA 6 Gb/s SSDs

btarunr

May 27th, 2011 03:07 Discuss (2 Comments)

Buffalo Technology released a new line of SSDs in the 2.5-inch SATA form-factor, supporting the SATA 6 Gb/s interface. One of its first models is the 250 GB SSD-N256S/MC400. Making use of the bandwidth at its disposal, the drive manages read speeds of 405 MB/s, and write speeds of 223 MB/s. Its controller makes use of 256 MB cache. It supports market-standard features such as the TRIM garbage-collection feature, and NCQ. The Buffalo SSD-N256S/MC400 will reach markets in Japan for 72,200 JPY, about US $880.

Gigabyte Readies 990FXA-UD5 Socket AM3+ Motherboard

btarunr

May 27th, 2011 01:51 Discuss (27 Comments)

Gigabyte's top-tier socket AM3+ motherboard lineup is shaping up in a big way, with a bleeding-edge GA-990FXA-UD7 at the top of the pile. Gigabyte has yet another motherboard to cater to fans of the AM3+ platform, the GA-990FXA-UD5. The UD5 features a more conventional-looking component layout, with the northbridge located where it usually is. You still get the 10-phase VRM from the UD7, the black Ultra Durable 3 PCB, but this board is designed for multi-GPU setups with up to 3 graphics cards: supporting 3-way SLI and CrossFireX.

Expansion slots include five PCI-Express 2.0 x16, of which three (slots 1,3,5) are PCI-Express 2.0 wired to the AMD 990FX northbridge, with electrical configurations of x16/x16/NC or x16/x8/x8. Slots 2 and 4 are electrical x4, wired to the SB950 southbridge. Other slots include a PCI-E x1, and a legacy PCI. Storage connectivity is similar to that of the UD7, with eight SATA 6 Gb/s internal ports, a power-eSATA, and a normal eSATA.

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Foxconn Netbox NT-A3500 Review

Review Media Players

Foxconn has made some waves with their compact but very capable ION based NT-330I Netbox back in 2010. Now, almost a year later the market has evolved and Foxconn is sending their newest version into the race. The NT-A3500 is based on the AMD Fusion platform, aiming to be faster, cooler and quieter.

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Point of View and TGT Announce GTX 580 3 GB Ultra-Charged Graphics Card

Press Release by

btarunr

May 26th, 2011 09:40 Discuss (6 Comments)

Point of View the leading European manufacturer of an exclusive range NVIDIA based 3D processor graphics cards, advanced netbooks as well as Tegra tablet computers and additional enthusiast PC products, announces today that the factory over clocked POV/TGT GeForce GTX 580 3GB Ultra Charged already started shipping into the European e-tail channel.

The hand selected POV/TGT GeForce GTX 3GB 580 Ultra Charged is of highest quality and tuned by TGT in Germany to feature rock solid stability even beyond the documented clock settings of 841 MHz (plus) core clock, 1682 MHz (plus) shader clock and 4104 MHz memory clock.

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Club 3D Announces New Radeon HD 6750 1GB GDDR5

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btarunr

May 26th, 2011 09:29 Discuss (3 Comments)

Club 3D B.V. announces the introduction of the Radeon HD 6750 video card based on the Juniper LE chipset, AMD' second generation DirectX 11 cards. Play the latest games in amazing detail with Club 3D Radeon HD 6750 Graphics. With winning performance, advanced technologies and full second generation DirectX 11 support, you're ready to dominate the competition. Now with AMD APP acceleration you can enable smoother video playback, improve your video image quality and enhance your applications performance.

With the latest UVD hardware on board, it considerably reduces the CPU load delivering and decoding stunning Blu-Ray and H.264 content. HDMI has been upgraded to 1.4a for 3D content making it the perfect choice for a HTPC.

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Corsair Announces World’s Fastest Production 8GB PC Memory Kit

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btarunr

May 26th, 2011 09:22 Discuss (13 Comments)

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced the production of a Dominator GTX 8GB dual-channel DDR3 kit guaranteed to operate at 2400MHz, with latency settings of 9-11-10-30, at a memory voltage of 1.65V.

The 2400MHz kits are the result of a painstaking four-stage component screening process which is passed by fewer than one in 20 memory ICs. Qualification is performed on an Intel P55 motherboard, using the same rigorous test cycle applied to the rest of Corsair's Memory product line.

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Mach Xtreme Technology Unveils low-profile SATA MX-KATANA Series SSD Modules

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btarunr

May 26th, 2011 09:08 Discuss (0 Comments)

Mach Xtreme Technology Inc., a worldwide leader in top performance, high reliability and user friendly designed PC components, today unveiled the SATA MX-KATANA Series SSD modules. Based on an innovative design, the sleek KATANA Series modules deliver an enhanced mobile computing experience with much faster application loading, ultra-fast data access, shorter boot-ups, and longer battery life of today's and future laptops and netbooks with new type low-profile SATA interface.

This series maintains the highest level of read and write performance though the life of the SSD. In addition, highly intelligent wear leveling design optimizes longevity of MX-KATANA series drives. This SSD module is the ideal upgrade option from standard storage of some popular notebooks like MacBook Air Rev.3.X series, making it a must have item for any serious notebook DIY enthusiast. The MX-KATANA drive delivers best-in-class read and write speeds clocking in at up to 275MB/s read and 225MB/s write along with the stunning maximum of 20,000 IOPS, low power consumption and superior durability (1.0 million MTBF) compared to rotating hard disk drives.

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Having Sold 30 Million Units, Renesas To Double Production of USB 3.0 Chips

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btarunr

May 26th, 2011 06:28 Discuss (3 Comments)

Renesas Electronics today announced that the cumulative total shipment of the company's SuperSpeed Universal Serial Bus (USB 3.0) host controllers has reached 30 million units worldwide as of 19 May 2011. This achievement comes a year and a half after starting mass production of the world's first USB host controller (µPD720200) in September 2009. The company also announced that to further address increasing orders from customers, it plans to double production of USB 3.0 host controllers to a monthly production of six million units starting this June.

In May 2009, Renesas Electronics (then NEC Electronics) introduced the industry's first USB 3.0 xHCI host controller and, after four months of its release, the company became the world's first to earn the "Certified SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0)" certification from the USB-IF, and also started mass production of the µPD720200 host controller. In the following year, the company released its second USB 3.0 xHCI host controller (µPD720200A) and passed the compliance and certification testing in only two months. These host controllers have become the de facto USB 3.0 host controller standard realising the best interoperability between PCs and PC peripherals that support USB 3.0.

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EVGA Readies Duke's Fully Loaded Package Graphics Card Bundle

btarunr

May 26th, 2011 06:00 Discuss (36 Comments)

Duke Nukem seems to be attracting as much attention from his swarm of male fans as the school uniform-clad strippers from the game. This fandom is building up obscene levels of hype with the various collectors' edition bundles available on the web, on pre-order, that give a variety of Duke Nukem memorabilia along with a copy of Duke Nukem Forever, a game that has been in production for 14 years. Some of the gamers who are going to play the game hadn't even graduated from Fisher Price when the last Duke game came out.

EVGA wants to be one of those to come out with (no pun intended) a bundle of their own, called "Duke's Fully Loaded Package". As a top-tier graphics card vendor, its bundle includes - you guessed it - a graphics card that handles the game well, in this case, a specially-branded GeForce GTX 560 1 GB clocked at 810/1620/4008 MHz (core/CUDA cores/memory), apart from a copy of Duke Nukem Forever (PC), memorabilia that includes "The History, Legacy and Legend of Duke Nukem Forever" artbook, Duke Nukem Forever mousepad, a "radioactive" belt-buckle, and a specially designed package. Those craving for Duke's fully-loaded package (again, no pun intended) from EVGA, can pre-order it from here.

AMD Releases Catalyst 11.5b Hotfix Update

btarunr

May 26th, 2011 05:40 Discuss (15 Comments)

AMD was a little too early in May with its monthly Catalyst driver release, with the Catalyst 11.5 WHQL reaching the web as early as 9th May (typically monthly Catalyst updates are released after the 24th). On the same date, AMD also released its first hotfix update for the Catalyst 11.5, the 11.5a Hotfix Update, which packed a number of game-specific performance improvements. Today, the company released its second such update for the month, with Catalyst 11.5b Hotfix.

The update is rushed in to fix a number of issues found with the recently-released game, Brink. It also fixes a number of non-gaming application issues, particularly related to media decoding. In the process, the driver also brings with it a number of game-specific performance improvements, games including Civilization 5, Dead Rising 2, Fallout 3, Mafia 2, NBA 2010, ShenGuiChuanQi, Starcraft 2, Warcraft III, World of Warcraft, and Dirt 3.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 11.5b Hotfix Update.

A complete list of changes follows:

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ASUS Readies Z68-based ROG Maximus IV Extreme-Z Motherboard

btarunr

May 26th, 2011 05:30 Discuss (10 Comments)

When Intel's Sandy Bridge platform was launched, P67 Express was perceived as the top of the line discrete graphics chipset that gives performance segment users everything they'll ever need. ASUS hence based its prestigious ROG Maximus branded motherboard based on it, and came up with the Maximus IV series. With Intel releasing a higher-end chipset with the Z68 Express, ASUS decided to redo its socket LGA1155 ROG motherboard lineup, with the Maximus IV Extreme-Z. The new motherboard gives users access to the processors' embedded graphics via a HDMI port, and gives them the benefit of Intel Smart Response technology that P67 lacks.

The Maximus IV Extreme-Z looks similar to its P67-based cousin. Based on the Intel Z68 chipset, the motherboard uses an NVIDIA nForce 200 bridge chip to ensure PCI-Express connectivity to up to four graphics cards, supporting NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX. The CPU is powered by ASUS Digi+ Extreme VRM, backed by high-grade components and proadlizers to condition power. There are four DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR3-2000 MHz memory by overclocking. Expansion slots include four PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (x16/NC/x16/NC or x8/x8/x8/x8), there's also a PCI-E x1 and open-ended PCI-E x4.

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Matrox Introduces Avio Series Dual-DVI Fiber Optic KVM Extender Solution

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btarunr

May 26th, 2011 04:41 Discuss (1 Comment)

Matrox Graphics Inc. today unveils Matrox Avio Series, a new line of fiber optic KVM extenders for graphics intensive design and visualization applications within the process control, automotive, oil & gas, and government and military markets. The KVM extender transmitter/receiver pair enables users to secure the host computer in a climate-controlled machine room by capturing the system's I/O functionality and extending it up to 1000 meters over a single fiber optic cable.

The feature-rich Avio Series supports uncompressed dual single-link DVI or one dual-link DVI video-at full resolution and frame rate-keyboard, mouse, stereo analog audio, and multiple USB HID and USB 2.0 peripherals, while making available a secondary user to access the host computer from the transmitter unit. Avio's flexible design is compatible with Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux/Unix operating systems, allowing IT departments to standardize on one solution for enterprise-wide deployments. Matrox will be showcasing the Matrox Avio technology at InfoComm 2011 in Booth 4063, from June 15-17, 2011.

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Enermax Announces MaxRevo 1350W Modular Power Supply

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btarunr

May 26th, 2011 04:36 Discuss (13 Comments)

Enermax enters the heavyweight class with its new MaxRevo, high-performance PSU specially designed for multi-GPU systems, industrial PC, workstations and servers. It complies with the strictest standards for server PSU, and is equipped with six powerful 12V rails for a safe and stable supply of power to today's high-end systems with full modular design for easy customized use for various peripheral GPU settings.

MaxRevo incorporates the Copper-Bridge Array transmission technology to replace traditional wires, which offers four times wider and shorter transmission path, and results in up to 3% improved regulation that ensures system stability and clean DC output quality.

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PowerColor HD 6670 1 GB Review

Review Graphics Cards

PowerColor's HD 6670 uses a full-height dual-slot thermal solution to deliver outstanding idle and load temperatures. The reference clocked card with 1 GB of GDDR5 memory offers decent performance for the budget oriented gamer at resolutions up to 1680x1050.

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Antec HCP-750 High Current Pro 750 W Review

Review Power Supplies

Antec's High Current Pro 750 W is the smallest member of the High Current Pro Series which is Antec's flagship line of PSUs. The mighty HCP-1200 is well known for being one of the best power supplies on the market, so we wonder if the 750 W version can impress too.

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Gigabyte A75M-UD2H Socket FM1 Micro-ATX Motherboard Pictured

btarunr

May 25th, 2011 13:22 Discuss (12 Comments)

AMD's new Fusion A-Series "Llano" accelerated processing unit (APU) is shaping up to be a credible home and entertainment platform, but it is also carrying the responsibility of making it to office spaces. Part of that initiative would rest with the motherboard manufacturers to come up with inexpensive and durable sub-$100 motherboards that can be bought and deployed in bulk. Enter the Gigabyte A75M-UD2H. This micro-ATX form-factor motherboard relies entirely on the platform's feature-set.

The FM1 APU socket is powered by a simple 4+1 phase VRM, it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR3-1600 MHz memory. Of the four expansion slots, there's one PCI-Express 2.0 x16, a PCI-E x16 that's electrical x4, and one each of PCI-E x1 and legacy PCI. To further make for its business PC outlook, there are headers for legacy ports such as LPT and COM (for dot-matrix printers in banks, etc.).

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Club 3D Intros GeForce GTS 450 2 GB DDR3 Graphics Card

btarunr

May 25th, 2011 12:41 Discuss (15 Comments)

Club 3D today announced a new GeForce GTS 450 graphics card that comes with 2 GB of DDR3 memory instead of its standard 1 GB GDDR5. The memory is installed across a 128-bit wide memory interface. Club 3D's card bears a standard-looking design with a green, full-height PCB, and simple fan-heatsink with radially-projecting aluminum fins and a fan to ventilate it. There's an SLI finger to provide 2-way SLI support.

The Club 3D GTS 450 2 GB varries clock speeds of 700 MHz core, 1400 MHz CUDA cores, and 1200 MHz memory. The DirectX 11 compliant GPU packs 192 CUDA cores. Display output connectivity includes one each of DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI 1.4a. NVIDIA 3DVision Surround is supported with two of these cards installed in SLI. Club 3D did not give out pricing information.

ASUS ROG MATRIX GTX 580 Graphics Card Pictured

btarunr

May 25th, 2011 12:21 Discuss (19 Comments)

Here are the first pictures of ASUS' Republic of Gamers (ROG) MATRIX GTX 580 graphics card, this triple-slot single-GPU monstrosity is designed to humble every other air-cooled GTX 580 graphics card in the market. The card packs a NVIDIA GF110 graphics processor with high out of the box clock speeds. It is ready for overclocking and easy voltage modifications. The card features redundant BIOS ROM chips to provide a fallback if flashing the BIOS fails. Apart from one-touch BIOS selection, there are buttons on the card itself that gives you on-the-fly fan control.

The ROG MATRIX GTX 580 comes with out of the box clock speeds of 816/1632/4008 MHz (core/CUDA cores/memory effective), and packs 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory over a 384-bit wide memory interface. The card features a number of ROG-exclusive features such as iROG and fancy illuminated MATRIX logo. The card is powered by a large 19-phase VRM that draws power from two 8-pin PCI-Express power connectors. The beast is cooled by a large triple-slot fan-heatsink that uses two large fans to ventilate a complex heatpipe-fed heatsink. Display connectivity includes two DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort. There's no word on the availability.

ASUS ROG Crosshair V Formula Press Shots Leaked

btarunr

May 25th, 2011 08:17 Discuss (37 Comments)

Here are some of the first proper pictures of ASUS ROG Crosshair V Formula motherboard, a set of press-shots leaked to the Czech press, which has since been retracted. The ROG Crosshair V Formula comes in two packages, with and without ASUS Thunderbolt card (an addon card by ASUS that provides Bigfoot Killer NIC and Sound Blaster X-Fi hardware-accelerated audio). The Crosshair V made its first appearance with a box-shot disclosure by NVIDIA announcing SLI on AMD chipset motherboards; later a table listing out specifications of some of ASUS' fist socket AM3+ motherboard was published.

The Crosshair V Formula is a socket AM3+ motherboard based on AMD 990FX + SB950 chipset, supporting AMD's upcoming FX-series processors based on the Bulldozer architecture. It combines the best features ASUS has to offer, targeting both gamers and overclockers. The AM3+ socket is powered by a strong 10-phase Digi+ Extreme Engine VRM, it supports dual-channel DDR3 memory with speeds of over DDR3-2133 MHz. Expansion slots include four PCI-Express 2.0 x16, which configure as x16/x16/NC or x16/x8/x8, with the fourth slot being electrical x4, wired to the southbridge. NVIDIA 3-way SLI and AMD CrossFireX are supported.

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NZXT Announces Avatar S Gaming Mouse

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btarunr

May 25th, 2011 02:11 Discuss (20 Comments)

NZXT, a company built on realizing the dreams of gamers worldwide, is proud to announce Avatar S, the latest addition to their award-winning line of gaming mice. Avatar S empowers PC Gamers and enthusiasts with simple, precise gaming control, and an array of intuitive, innovative features. Similar to the original Avatar, Avatar S is sleek and stealthy in design boasting an ambidextrous, low profile, light form factor crafted with Teflon feet ideal for making quick powerful movements on any surface.

Avatar S enables complete personalization with a DPI switch that adjusts 1600/800/400DPI in-game without the hassle of downloading different drivers. Gamers can also custom configure in-game macros, 5 media keys, X-Y sensitivity, and LED lighting and then save the personalized settings onto the onboard 16Kb memory making it an ideal solution for on-the-go gaming.

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Team Group Also Announces Lightweight Mac Memory Module

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btarunr

May 25th, 2011 02:04 Discuss (9 Comments)

Team Group Inc. is going to release the new Team Mac SO-DIMM memory module at 2011 Computex Taipei. In order to provide enthusiasts with more diverse products, the Team Module series, which have garnered unbeatable public praise because of its excellent performance, will release for the first time the Team Mac memory module custom-made for Apple Mac notebook computers, developing a more professional and complete product line. Team Group Inc. employed its many years of accumulated technology research and development experience to break the space limits of notebook computers, using an extremely thin heat-sink design on the SO-DIMM modules that perfectly combines beautiful appearance with excellent performance. The feather lightweight Team Mac SO-DIMM memory module is the nova star of 2011 that will attract much attention.

Not only is the Team Mac SO-DIMM completely compatible with the Mac operating system, it has also passed Mac verifications, completely solving the troublesome compatibility problems for Mac users. Team Mac inherited Team Group's standard persistence for quality, and uses memory particles rigorously selected and tested by Team Group to guarantee optimal and excellent operating performances. In addition, Team Group provides both single channel and dual channels for the Team Mac memory modules, with capacities ranging from 2GB~8GB (4G*2 kit) to satisfy users' unlimited demand for upgrading.

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Team Group Inc. Releases X101 USB3.0 High-end Flash Drive

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btarunr

May 25th, 2011 02:01 Discuss (14 Comments)

Team Group Inc. introduces the Team X101 USB 3.0 flash drive disk at 2011 Computex. The X101 is the world's first aluminum ally flash drive disk that uses gradient coating with color rendering to specify the extreme speed of 100MB/sec transfer rate. The subtle and simplified high quality metal appearance perfectly interprets the high speed performance of USB 3.0, adding another new force to Team Group's high-end products.

Combining both high technology and chic design, the Team X101 comes in a reserved color of dark green and dark blue to stress its neat and trim business style with a solid quality that compliments the elegant taste of modern metro-sexual. The high performance helps save every valuable second for busy executives and businessmen so that they can work more efficiently. Adopting the new generation USB 3.0 ultra speed interface with a bandwidth that reaches as high as 5Gbps, which is 10 times faster than the current mainstream USB 2.0's 480Mbps. With USB 3.0, it takes only 70 seconds to transfer a 25GB blu-ray video. In addition to the high-speed transfer rate, the X101 comes in large capacities of 32GB or 64GB, making it the best choice for satisfying the mobile storage needs of elite professionals.

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ASUS Designs MARS II Dual-GTX 580 Graphics Card for GeForce Enthusiasts

btarunr

May 25th, 2011 01:55 Discuss (19 Comments)

When ASUS first set out to build the MARS, a dual-GeForce GTX 285 graphics card, people thought the designers were crazy. NVIDIA could barely get the two 55 nm G200b GPUs on GeForce GTX 295 to run at GTX 285 specifications of 240 shaders and 512-bit GDDR3 each, and instead ran them with 448-bit wide GDDR3 memory interface, and lower clocks. ASUS managed to back two GPUs with insanely strong VRM and cooling, to achieve a dual-GPU graphics card that was more than just a GTX 295 overclocked. ASUS is back on the drawing boards with MARS II, a new dual-GPU graphics card that runs two GF110 GPUs in the same exact config as on GeForce GTX 580, perhaps with clock speeds higher than those of GTX 580.

The GeForce GTX 590 runs two GF110 GPUs with all CUDA cores and the complete width of the memory bus enabled, but the GPUs and memory are clocked significantly lower at 607 MHz core, 1214 MHz CUDA cores, and 3.42 GHz memory; while the single-GPU GTX 580 runs at 772 MHz core, 1544 MHz CUDA cores, and 4.00 GHz memory. MARS II also aims to get over the various design pitfalls of GTX 590 that made voltage-assisted overclocking practically impossible on air-cooling. To do this, MARS II will make use of a massive 19-phase VRM with Super Alloy chokes. To cool the beast, ASUS will put to use the expertise it gathered over time with its DirectCu series video card coolers. The new cooler will provide uniform cooling to both GPUs. More details, particularly about the when the card will be released, are awaited.

SteelSeries Announces 5HV2 Medal of Honor Headset for PC and Xbox 360 Gamers

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btarunr

May 25th, 2011 01:33 Discuss (7 Comments)

SteelSeries, the leading manufacturer of gaming peripherals today announced the availability of licensed headsets for Electronic Arts' first person shooter game, Medal of Honor. The SteelSeries 5Hv2 Headset Medal of Honor Edition for PC and the SteelSeries Spectrum 5xb Medal of Honor Edition for Xbox 360 headsets are the latest addition to the family of SteelSeries branded peripherals co-developed with Electronic Arts for Medal of Honor gamers. The headsets deliver premium quality sound and comfort along with SteelSeries' signature features including a retractable microphone system and the ability to dismantle into 3 pieces for safe travel.

"It was a pleasure to work with the EA team to optimize and create an amazing design for these new PC and Xbox 360 headsets," said Bruce Hawver, SteelSeries CEO. "Medal of Honor players will enjoy comfort and incredible sound reproduction, improving their precision and performance in game."

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QPAD MK-80 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review

Review Keyboards

Peripheral manufacturer QPAD has gone all out with their recently launched MK-80 mechanical keyboard. The keyboard featurea customizable back lighting, USB 2.0 hub and headset pass through. The keyboard uses the well performing Cherry MX Blue key mechanism and comes with a decent wrist wrest.

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New AMD Embedded G-Series APUs Provide 39% Power Reduction for Fanless Designs

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btarunr

May 24th, 2011 10:34 Discuss (4 Comments)

AMD today announced immediate availability of two new AMD Embedded G-Series APUs (Accelerated Processing Units) with thermal design power (TDP) ratings of 5.5 and 6.4 watts, up to a 39 percent power savings compared to earlier versions1. The very low power consumption and small 361mm² package is ideal for compact, fanless embedded systems like digital signage, kiosks, mobile industrial devices and many of the new emerging industry-standard small form factors such as Qseven. This is an unprecedented low-power offering for the embedded market that features one or two low-power x86 "Bobcat" CPU cores and a discreet class DirectX 11-capable GPU on a single die.

"We have seen many of our embedded customers deploy fanless systems even with our 15W TDP processors in the past. Today we take the ground-breaking AMD Fusion APU well below 7W TDP and shatter the accepted traditional threshold for across-the-board fanless enablement," said Buddy Broeker, director, Embedded Solutions, AMD. "System designers can now unleash their creativity without being constrained by heat or size issues."

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SAPPHIRE Launches Ultimate Radeon HD 6670 Silent Graphics Card

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btarunr

May 24th, 2011 10:21 Discuss (9 Comments)

Building on its reputation for special editions and silent cooled graphics cards, SAPPHIRE Technology has just introduced the ULTIMATE Edition of the SAPPHIRE HD 6670, boasting the full performance and features of the fan cooled models, but with a totally silent heatpipe cooler. Helping to demonstrate its best-in-class performance the HD 6670 ULTIMATE bundle will include an access code for the latest hot driving game, Codemasters Dirt3! The SAPPHIRE HD 6670 ULTIMATE has 480 Stream Processors and sports 1GB of the latest DDR5 memory. With clock speeds of 800MHz core and 1000MHz (4GHz effective) for the memory, it delivers the same performance as fan cooled models, but with a totally silent heatpipe cooler, making it one of the fastest and most capable silent-cooled graphics card available today.

The output configuration on the bracket is Dual-Link DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort and a DVI to VGA adapter is included. The SAPPHIRE HD 6670 ULTIMATE will support three monitors in Eyefinity mode with a suitable DisplayPort monitor or active display adapter. In addition, native CrossFire support allows two or more cards to be used together for additional performance on a suitable CrossFireX compatible mainboard.

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BitFenix Unveils New USB 3.0 Case Accessories

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btarunr

May 24th, 2011 10:10 Discuss (14 Comments)

Today, BitFenix is pleased to announce a new lineup of products for users wanting to upgrade their systems to the new USB 3.0 standard. With the new BitFenix USB 3.0 Front Panel and the BitFenix Internal USB 3.0 Adapter, PC enthusiasts now have added flexibility for adding and upgrading their systems to USB 3.0.

"The proliferation of USB 3.0 devices is only going to increase, and after listening to the demands of our users, we've come up with a new line of accessories to help people get their systems up to speed quickly and easily", says BitFenix Product Manager David Jarlestedt.

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OCZ Announces New Indilinx ''Arowana'' Flash Translation Layer for SSD Suppliers

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btarunr

May 24th, 2011 10:01 Discuss (7 Comments)

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today unveiled the Arowana Flash Translation Layer (FTL) from Indilinx. Supporting both existing and upcoming Indilinx controllers, this firmware subset dramatically improves performance and enterprise capabilities and enables SSD suppliers to deploy cost-effective 2xnm NAND flash memory.

"We are always driving to add more value for our clients, and the exciting new Arowana Flash Translation Layer delivers both major performance and feature-set enhancements," commented Daryl Lang, VP of Product Management at OCZ Technology Group. "Arowana not only boosts IOPS performance by up to 500%, but does so with the support of the industry's latest 2xnm flash technology, making Indilinx solutions now more competitive than ever."

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Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H Socket FM1 Motherboard Pictured

btarunr

May 24th, 2011 07:47 Discuss (3 Comments)

Like most others, Gigabyte is ready with some of its first motherboards to launch with AMD's new Fusion Llano A-Series APU platform, based the new FM1 socket and AMD A75 chipset. Gigabyte's top socket FM1 motherboard is called GA-A75-UD4H. It's a return to the company's signature blue Ultra Durable 3 PCB. The FM1 socket is powered by a 10-phase VRM, it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz memory. Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (x8/x8 when both are populated), supporting AMD CrossFireX and NVIDIA 2-way SLI; three PCI-Express x1, and two PCI.

The A75 single-chip chipset handles all the storage connectivity on this board, with five SATA 6 Gb/s internal ports, and one eSATA 6 Gb/s. Display connectivity includes DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. Other connectivity includes eight USB 3.0 ports driven by three controllers, including four ports by header, gigabit Ethernet, 8+2 channel HD audio driven by Realtek ALC889 CODEC, and FireWire. Expect this board to be out in mid-June.

EVGA Intros SuperClock, its First CPU Air Cooler

btarunr

May 24th, 2011 06:27 Discuss (17 Comments)

Here is the first EVGA-branded CPU air cooler, the EVGA SuperClock. Based on the design of Swiftech Polaris 120, the EVGA SuperClock uses nearly the same materials, but uses black-colored fins and heat pipes, apart from an illuminated fan. Like the original, the main heatsink consists of a heat pipe direct contact base, where the five heat pipes make direct contact with the CPU, the pipes in the central portion of the base (which receive most of the heat), propagate from a portion of the aluminum fin array that gets the maximum airflow. The heatsink is ventilated by a 120 mm spinner that lights up red, spins at 750 - 2500 RPM, pushing up to 84 CFM of air. At US $49.99, it's cheaper than the Swiftech Polaris 120, that's priced at $59.99 on the company store.

AMD FirePro Professional Graphics Get Even Better, Outperform Competition by 100%

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btarunr

May 24th, 2011 03:28 Discuss (25 Comments)

AMD today introduced the newest generation of professional graphics cards AMD FirePro V5900 and AMD FirePro V7900 -- more than doubling performance of competitive offerings in key professional market applications. Created for the design, engineering, financial, and medical fields, the new graphics cards offer AMD PowerTune and GeometryBoost technologies in addition to industry-recognized AMD Eyefinity multi-display support to enhance workflow and application performance.

"Today AMD FirePro, the industry's fastest growing line of professional graphics cards, gets even better with the introduction of the AMD FirePro V5900 and AMD FirePro V7900," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, AMD. "From generation to generation of graphics performance, this success stems from our unwavering focus on the needs of the professional with a complete range of professional graphics solutions. AMD provides superior application performance matched with the workflow and productivity advantages of AMD Eyefinity technology -- this ultimately is the measure that matters to professionals today."

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Scythe Announces Kozuti Top-Flow Low-Profile CPU Cooler

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btarunr

May 24th, 2011 03:02 Discuss (15 Comments)

The Japanese manufacturer Scythe Co. Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) officially announces the availability of new low profile Top-Flow CPU Cooler Kozuti. Unlike regular coolers, the fan is positioned below the fins, reducing the total height of the cooler significantly.

The Kozuti CPU Cooler is equipped with a total of three 6mm heat pipes. Applying the newly developed S.F.M.S (Stealth Fan Mounting Structure) the heatpipes are arranged in a low profile oval structure. This enables to provide space for the 80 x 80 x 10mm fanmotor in between the oval structure and below the fins, making it merely 40mm in height. This positions the cooler to be our most compact and slim cooler fit for HTPCs and slim chassis systems. Active cooling is achieved by the 80 x 80 x 10 mm slim fan the speed of 800 rpm (± 30%) - 3.300 rpm (± 10%), generating an air flow of 6.0 CFM ~ 24.82CFM = 10.2 m³ / h ~ 42.2 m³ / h at a noise level of 8.2 ~ 32.5 dBA.

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Kingston Digital Adds 32GB Class 10 microSDHC Card

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btarunr

May 24th, 2011 02:45 Discuss (1 Comment)

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced it is shipping a 32GB Class 10 microSDHC card, adding to its family of 4GB, 8GB and 16GB Class 10 cards. The Kingston 32GB Class 10 microSDHC card is perfect for users with substantial memory and performance needs.

Kingston's Class 10 microSDHC cards are compatible with many of the latest smartphones, hi-def cameras and popular tablet PCs. The Class 10 cards have a fast minimum data transfer rate of 10MB/s and when combined with an optional adapter, can be used as a full-size SDHC card. The cards come as a standalone, with an SD adapter or as a Mobility Kit which includes the card, SD adapter and USB card reader.

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Cooler Master Announces Global Launch of Silencio 550 Silent PC Case

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btarunr

May 24th, 2011 01:42 Discuss (18 Comments)

With the introduction of the Silencio 550, Cooler Master ushers in a new era of silent towers by creatively combining smooth styling, strength, and stealth. A true marvel enveloped in a sleek black steel case, it holds the capacity to support the most elaborate computing configurations. The front panel adorns a mirrored high-gloss finish which speaks to the class and elegance only embraced by Cooler Master products.

Paramount to the Silencio 550, as the name suggests, are the barely audible tones at which it runs. Sound silencing foam padding deadens the slight reverberations of the fans and the whirrs and clicks of hard drives. Combine this with a solid-steel frame, rubber feet, two Cooler Master quiet-spinning fans and this chassis nearly sheds all forms of noise. It makes it the perfect tower for those who value a quiet computing environment.

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OCZ ZX Series 850 W Review

Review Power Supplies

OCZ recently introduced the new ZX PSU series, which consists of three Gold efficiency members with 850 W, 1000 W and 1250 W capacities. Today we have the 850 watt model on our testbench to check if it shows the same usability, quality and price/performance we saw on the 1250 W model that we reviewed a while ago.

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ECS P67H2-A2 (B3) Review

Review Motherboards

The ECS P67H2-A2, an ECS Black Series product, seeks to slay the Sandy Bridge dragons, offering an enthusiast package at mainstream pricing. Will the ECS P67H2-A2 prove victorious? Or will it be Sandy Bridge that slays the ECS P67H2-A2?

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AMD Bulldozer, Llano Pricing Surface

btarunr

May 23rd, 2011 14:17 Discuss (80 Comments)

Here are the first figures made public of the market prices of AMD's upcoming two lines of desktop processors. AMD will approach the desktop PC market with two platforms, the A-Series "Llano" accelerated processing units (APUs), and the FX-series "Zambezi" processors (CPUs). APUs are functionally similar to Intel's Sandy Bridge processors, in having processor cores, a graphics processor, memory controller, and PCI-Express switch packed into a single piece of silicon. AMD is apparently relying on its powerful GPU architecture to make Llano a more wholesome product. Zambezi functionally resembles Intel Westmere/Bloomfield, in having a number of processing cores, a high-bandwidth memory controller, and a large cache packed into a single die, making up for a performance part.

By mid-June, AMD will launch the FX-Series with two a 4-core, a 6-core, and two 8-core parts. The series will be led by eight-core AMD FX-8130P priced at US $320, trailed by FX-8130 at US $290. The former probably is a "unlocked" part. Next up is the six-core FX-6110, priced at $240. Lastly there's the quad-core FX-4110, going for $220. You will notice that the price per core isn't as linear as it was in the previous generation.

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SuperTalent Announces the USB 3.0 Express DUO 2-CH Flash Drive

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btarunr

May 23rd, 2011 09:51 Discuss (2 Comments)

Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today announced a new USB 3.0 flash drive, the USB 3.0 Express DUO 2-CH. Featuring a cap-less industrial design, the USB 3.0 Express DUO 2-CH, now features a black "piano finished" plastic housing that twists to reveal and conceal the USB 3.0 port inside.

The 2-channel design of the Express Duo 2-CH can top over 67 MB/s when plugged into a USB 3.0 port, yet remains fully-backward compatible to USB 2.0 and for about the same price. This new flash drive also comes pre-installed with Microsoft Security Essentials, real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. Our USB 3.0 drive makes it easy to install this software on all of your PCs.

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Texas Memory Systems Unleashes the 900 GB Gorilla RamSan PCI-E SSD

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btarunr

May 23rd, 2011 08:44 Discuss (15 Comments)

The RamSan-70 "Gorilla" is a high-performance, half-length PCIe card with 900 GB of usable SLC Flash capacity. Delivering 330K IOPS and 2 GB/s of bandwidth, it offers higher performance and greater capacity than any other half-length SLC Flash PCIe card.

Texas Memory Systems, Inc. (TMS), maker of The World's Fastest Storage, introduces the new high-performance RamSan-70, a 900-GB half-length PCIe card featuring Toshiba's newest 32nm SLC Flash. The RamSan-70 carries on Texas Memory Systems' tradition of delivering a complete integrated RamSan storage solution on a single board.

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XFX Eyefinity-ready Monitor Stand Hits Retail

btarunr

May 23rd, 2011 08:29 Discuss (37 Comments)

AMD Radeon board partner XFX designed its triple-head monitor stand to make life easy for AMD Eyefinity and NVIDIA 3DVision Surround users. The stand holds up to three flat-panel displays in perfect alignment, and gives you control over the viewing angle, tilt, and panning of each display. This is handled by three VESA mount standard-compliant joints along the two arms and a central beam. The arms and trunk of the stand are made of durable steel, and a space-age base holds it all, to sustain balance. The base, along with the hollow trunk and arms facilitate better cable management, the base even acts as a USB 2.0 and audio hub. The XFX Triple Display stand is listed on Amazon for US $367.06.

Toshiba Unveils New STOR.E Edition USB 3.0 Hard Drives, Pack Backup Software

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btarunr

May 23rd, 2011 07:19 Discuss (0 Comments)

Toshiba Computer Systems, a division of Toshiba Europe GmbH, announced the new STOR.E EDITION today. The external hard disk drive features a USB 3.0 port allowing for fast USB 3.0 data transfer. The elegant design of the STOR.E EDITION's casing echoes the sleek, modern design of Toshiba's latest Satellite, Satellite Pro and Tecra R-series laptops. STOR.E EDITION will be available during the second quarter 2011 in Europe.

Toshiba's STOR.E EDITION comes in four different colours - red, blue, silver and black - and a casing with a grooved texture. The storage capacity of up to 1TB is large enough to house huge digital media libraries.

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ECS Black Series A990FXM-A Motherboard Pictured

btarunr

May 23rd, 2011 04:48 Discuss (13 Comments)

A picture of ECS' top of the line socket AM3+ motherboard also made it to the web. Called the ECS Black Series A990FXM-A, the board expands a little on the chipset's features. Its component layout is similar to most AM3+ motherboards we've seen, with the AMD 990FX northbridge being located south of the CPU VRM area, sharing heat with it over a common heatsink. The CPU socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR3-1866 standard, and DDR3-2133 MHz by overclocking.

Expansion slots include three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (x16/NC/x16 or x16/x8/x8), supporting NVIDIA 3-way SLI and AMD CrossFireX. Other expansion slots include two PCI-E x1 and a PCI. Storage connectivity includes six internal SATA 6 Gb/s from the southbridge, and a third-party SATA/IDE controller that gives out an internal IDE connector and two eSATA 3 Gb/s ports. Other connectivity features include 8+2 channel HD audio, dual gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.0 ports (two by header), and Bluetooth. There are some overclocker-friendly features, such as onboard power/reset, rear-panel CMOS clear, onboard PC speaker, diagnostic LED display, and long 8-pin EPS connector for accessibility. Like most other boards, the ECS A990FXM-A is expected to be out in mid-June.

Colorful Intros Raynor Tower G3 Computer Case with Graphics Cards Enhancer

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btarunr

May 23rd, 2011 03:05 Discuss (18 Comments)

Colorful Technology, known as a graphics cards provider, today announces its new case for global market, which is named Raynor Tower G3. It measures 195mm (W) 517mm (H) 535mm (D), most of the body is made of SECC metal. The Raynor Tower G3 equipped with a removable plate at the top of the chassis for creating perfect air duct. One of the sides has a large opening with dust filter which allows installing two 120/90/80mm cooling units.

In the rear, the PSU bay has been placed on the bottom, and above there are 8 expansion slots for PCI/PCIE devices installation. A 120/90/80mm exhaust fan and two openings for water cooling tubes are provided on the top.

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Intel Extends SSD 320 Series Warranty to 5 Years

btarunr

May 23rd, 2011 02:49 Discuss (7 Comments)

After taking some flack from the community on the relatively low maximum rewrite-cycle count capacity on its 25 nanometer MLC NAND flash chips, Intel decided to extend the warranty of its new 320 Series SSDs which use the 25 nm chips to 5 years, to assure buyers that 3,000 rewrite cycles is plenty for its target buyers. Maximum rewrite cycle count is the maximum number of times a cell of the NAND flash chip can be rewritten. 3,000 appears like a small number, but Intel believes that consumers don't have much to worry about that. The company feels that with a consumer's typical usage, the drive should work flawlessly for at least 5 years, and has extended the warranty to back its assertions.

In a Chip-Shot (Intel's micro-PR), the company said: "Confident in the enhanced reliability features of its recently introduced third-generation solid-state drive (SSD), Intel announced it has extended its limited warranty for the Intel SSD 320 Series from three years to five years. The extended warranty term will apply to all Intel SSD 320 Series drives, including those already purchased. Additional limitations apply to enterprise usage levels." Intel's SSD 320 Series is a successor of X25-M G3 series, which uses the same essential controller and specifications, but uses 25 nm MLC NAND flash chips.

HIS Radeon HD 6970 IceQ Turbo & IceQ Standard Launched

Press Release by

btarunr

May 23rd, 2011 02:28 Discuss (24 Comments)

Over the past few months, HIS 6000 IceQ X Series has granted stunning awards and become one of the Most Wanted graphics cards in the market. So what about its award-winning IceQ Series? Today HIS unveils its long awaited IceQ series - HIS 6970 IceQ Turbo & Standard 2GB GDDR5. Endorsed by the worldwide media, HIS award-winning IceQ technology is ready to take another step forward.

Equipped with Black Hole Impeller and 4 heatpipes, HIS 6970 IceQ Series effectively optimizes cooling performance by dissipating the heat from the core area, thus enabling it for high levels of gaming performance. In addition, it cools down the GPU temperature dramatically compared with the Reference Cooler, allowing you to maximize your over-clocking potential. What's more? The professional fan shroud provides a high efficiency and low noise fan operation.

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Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7 Top-Tier Socket AM3+ Motherboard Pictured

btarunr

May 23rd, 2011 01:38 Discuss (33 Comments)

After displays of socket AM3+ motherboards based on AMD 990FX chipset, by ASUS, and MSI were pictured by various tech sites, it's quite expected of Gigabyte's offering to somehow make it to the web. Gigabyte is going full guns with its top AM3+ motherboard, with the GA-990FXA-UD7. Based on the same Black+Graphite+Gold color scheme as the socket LGA1155 "UD7" models based on Intel P67 and Z68, the GA-990FXA-UD7 comes with zesty dimensions that almost make it an EATX form-factor board, although it's not. The AM3+ socket is powered by a 10-phase VRM that is cooled by a long heatsink that appears to be contiguous with the northbridge heatsink, which in turn shares heat with the southbridge over a heat pipe. The socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting DDR3 frequencies in excess of 1866 MHz.

Gigabyte utilized each of the seven expansion slots, packing in six PCI-Express 2.0 x16 neatly spaced out to support NVIDIA 4-way SLI and AMD 4-way CrossFireX; two out of six slots two are electrical x4, wired to the southbridge. A legacy PCI slot is thrown in, just in case you hate to throw away that expensive PCI sound card that still sounds great. Storage connectivity includes eight internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports, six from the SB850 southbridge, and two from a third-party controller. There are two eSATA ports, of which one appears to be power-eSATA.

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Corsair Builder CX430 V2 430 W Review

Review Power Supplies

Corsair has a wide range of products that address enthusiasts. However the company does not forget Average Joe who just wants to power his low end system. For these users Corsair offers the Builder Series which promises great price/performance ratio. The new Corsair Builder CX430 V2 will be the test subject of today's review.

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HIS Radeon HD 6790 IceQ X Turbo 1 GB Review

Review Graphics Cards

HIS has taken the AMD HD 6790 reference design, increased its clock speeds and slapped their new IceQ X thermal solution on it. The result is a solid HD 6790 card that is about 5% faster than the AMD version, which delivers awesome temperatures and good overclocking potential.

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New Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader Dramatically Accelerates Workflow

Press Release by

btarunr

May 20th, 2011 09:30 Discuss (7 Comments)

Lexar Media, a leading global provider of memory products for digital media, today announced the new Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader, a high-performance card reader that enables professional and advanced amateur photographers and videographers to maximize their workflow with blazing-fast transfer speeds. The reader leverages SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) technology to deliver high-speed performance that supports the latest CompactFlash (CF) UDMA, Secure Digital Extended Capacity (SDXC), and SD Ultra High Speed-I (UHS-I) memory cards. The versatile reader is also backwards compatible with standard CF, SD, and Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) memory cards and USB 2.0 host devices.

"USB is the most popular connectivity option for PCs, and it's critical that professional photographers and videographers have convenient and versatile tools to maximize their workflow and fully leverage the performance of their high-speed memory cards," said Manisha Sharma, director of product marketing for cards, Lexar Media. "The Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot Reader combines extremely fast performance with a versatile, innovative design to provide pro and hobbyist shooters with a reader that dramatically reduces image transfer time. The speed offered by the reader enables users to move large volumes of high-resolution images and HD video faster than ever, allowing them to spend less time at the PC and more time on other activities."

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ADATA Adds DDR3L 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit to XPG Plus and Gaming Series

Press Release by

btarunr

May 20th, 2011 09:21 Discuss (5 Comments)

ADATA Technology, a worldwide leading manufacturer in high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash application products, today introduced its latest XPG Series DDR3L 1333MHz 4GB dual-channel kit memory. The modules feature high-density, low timing and low voltage, enhanced system stability, and improved performance to meet market needs and especially those of gamers.

The latest XPG Plus series DDR3L 1333+ is available in 2GB single channel and 4GB dual channel kits, with latency of 8-8-8-24. The utilization of an exclusively designed aluminum heat sink and high quality circuit board ensures high efficiency and stability of the memory modules. The Gaming Series DDRL 1333G 4GB dual channel kit has latency of 9-9-9-24. They employ the same special heat sink design, and can effectively reduce running temperature to extend the life of the module.

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ASRock A75-Extreme6 AMD FM1 Fusion Motherboard Pictured

btarunr

May 20th, 2011 06:35 Discuss (29 Comments)

ASRock just couldn't hold its rocks. The third-largest motherboard company released the first picture of its upcoming socket FM1 motherboard that supports AMD's upcoming performance A-series accelerated processing units. The ASRock A75 Extreme6 as it's called, is based on AMD's Hudson-D3 A75 single-chip chipset. With the northbridge component completely relocated to the APU die, what's left of the chipset is a little more than a southbridge. The 905-pin socket is significantly different from the 940-odd pin sockets from AMD in recent times, though its cooler retention brackets haven't essentially changed. So most AM3-supportive coolers should fit on FM1.

The FM1 socket is powered by a 10-phase VRM, it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz memory support; and to two of the three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots. The first two PCI-E x16 slots switch to electrical x8 when both are populated. The third slot is electrical x4, and wired to the chipset. Expect a big chop in CPU to discrete GPU latencies. Other slots include one PCI-E x1, and three PCI.

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Upcoming Corsair Hydro Series H80, H100 CPU Coolers Listed

btarunr

May 20th, 2011 04:53 Discuss (46 Comments)

A Swedish online store early-listed two of Corsair's unheard of upcoming CPU coolers in the Hydro series, the Hydro H80 and Hydro H100. The Hydro series includes pre-assembled, closed-loop CPU water-cooling kits that are relatively inexpensive compared to full-fledged custom-made loops. Corsair sources these kits from OEMs such as CoolIT and Asetek. Both new models are positioned above the existing single-fan slim H50, single-fan bigger radiator H60, and double-fan (push-pull) bigger radiator H70.

The Hydro H80 uses a thick 120x120 mm area radiator that's roughly as big as that of the H70, but has a bigger block unit, probably amounting to higher water flow. The block unit also appears to have a control knob. The Hydro H100, on the other hand, uses a large 240x120 mm area radiator that can hold two 120 mm fans on either sides, but comes with two fans. It seems like H100 has the same exact block unit as the H80, with its control knob. The Hydro H100 is listed at 1,075 Swedish Krona (US $172.5), while the Hydro H80 is listed at 965 Krona ($154).

PowerColor Officially Intros HD 6850 SCS2 Graphics Card

Press Release by

btarunr

May 20th, 2011 04:35 Discuss (19 Comments)

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, today introduces a passive cooling solution into the HD6800 family: the PowerColor SCS3 HD6850. While running passively, the PowerColor SCS3 HD6850 maintains the high performed specifications with core engine of 775MHz, 1000 MHz memory speed; with up to 1.48 teraFLOPs of computing power, easily accelerates the gaming rig and delivers extreme gaming performance.

The PowerColor SCS3 HD6850 features an effective passive cooling solution; with 62 piece of L shape heat sink which enlarge the heat dissipation surface areas, the excessive heat can easily being dissipated through 5 piece high performance heat pipes; furthermore, it's equipped with cooling plate fully covers memory and PCB, ensures every key components to stay cool in a quite setting.

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MSI 990FXA-GD80 Socket AM3+ Motherboard Detailed

btarunr

May 20th, 2011 02:21 Discuss (22 Comments)

Earlier referred to as "Big Bang Conqueror", MSI's next top-end AMD platform motherboard has emerged under its final name, 990FXA-GD80. The socket AM3+ motherboard that supports AMD's upcoming FX series processors, is based on the AMD 990FX + SB950 chipset. The CPU is powered by a 10-phase VRM that makes use of tantalum-core capacitors, and SFC chokes (that don't whine), driver-MOSFETs (DrMOS). Expansion slots include four PCI-Express 2.0 x16, supporting NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX; two PCI-E x1, and a PCI.

Storage is mostly care of the southbridge, all its six SATA 6 Gb/s ports are assigned as internal ports; a third-party SATA 3 Gb/s controller handles rear-panel eSATA. There are two USB 3.0 controllers, driving two ports on the rear panel, and two via an angled internal header. Other connectivity includes 8+2 channel HD audio with THX TruStudio Pro support, gigabit Ethernet, and FireWire. A number of MSI-exclusives are bundled, including MSI-designed graphical UEFI setup program (click BIOS), and OC Genie II that is overclocking with side-wheels. Expect the MSI 990FXA-GD80 to be out in mid-June, at a US $175~$250 price range.

Verbatim Store'n'Go 1 TB USB 3.0 Review

Review Portable Storage

Verbatim has taken their affordable Store'n'Go hard drive line-up and now offers it with the newest USB 3.0 interface. Even so the drive still aims to be affordable while offering the level of performance one would expect from the new connection method.

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NZXT HALE90 750 W Review

Review Power Supplies

NZXT made a big step into the PSU market with the HALE90 series of PSUs. With capacities ranging from 550W to 1000W these Gold efficiency units address the needs of every gamer that seeks for a strong, efficient and reliable PSU to feed his system. In today’s review we will test a HALE90 750W and see how it performs in our ultra tough tests.

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Kingston Digital Launches its Fastest USB 3.0 Flash Drive

Press Release by

btarunr

May 19th, 2011 13:21 Discuss (3 Comments)

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the launch of the Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 Generation 2 (DTU30G2). The DTU30G2, Kingston's fastest USB Flash drive, uses a native USB 3.0 controller for better performance and power management.

Kingston's DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 G2 features the latest technology for USB 3.0 Flash drives, making it ideal for IT professionals and enthusiasts who want to take advantage of all the performance improvements offered by USB 3.0 technology right away. The new DTU30G2 has a read speed up to 100MB/s, and a write speed up to 70 MB/s. When plugged into a USB 2.0 port, the drive has read and write speeds of around 30MB/s. The DTU30G2 is available in 16-, 32- and 64GB capacities.

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Colorful Intros iGame560 Ymir and Ymir-U Series Graphics Cards

btarunr

May 19th, 2011 09:52 Discuss (20 Comments)

Growing in popularity, Chinese graphics card designer Colorful is ready with yet another graphics card design, this time based on the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 GPU. Called the Coloful iGame560 Ymir, the card is based on a revision of the company's "shark-fin" cooler design, while retaining the GF114 PCB the company used on older GTX 560 Ti graphics cards. The iGame560 Ymir PCB uses high grade components, 6+1 phase VRM, and redundant BIOS switchable from the rear panel. The "normal mode" BIOS runs the card at NVIDIA reference speeds of 810/1002 MHz (core/memory actual), while the "turbo mode" BIOS runs the card at 850/1050 MHz.

The iGame560 Ymir comes with an optional accessory called "Air-kit", which is a detachable heat pipe that draws heat from the main heatsink out of the case through the rear panel, and on to a small heatsink that passively dissipates heat. The Ymir model uses a beefy fan-heatsink that uses a large and elaborate heatsink, which is ventilated by two fans. The card is available in both 1 GB and 2 GB variants. Apart from the Ymir, Colorful also released the iGame Ymir-U 1 GB and Ymir-U 2 GB, which use a slightly more compact cooler that uses a circular heatsink with radially-projecting aluminum fins and a copper base. The Ymir-U cooler makes do with a single fan. On the Ymir-U cards, turbo mode runs the card at 830/1050 MHz.

Corsair Ships Flash Voyager USB 3.0 Family

Press Release by

btarunr

May 19th, 2011 09:10 Discuss (4 Comments)

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced the shipment of the Flash Voyager USB 3.0 family of USB flash drives.

The new Flash Voyager USB 3.0 models deliver SuperSpeed USB 3.0 performance, with read speeds up to four times faster than typical USB 2.0 drives. The Flash Voyager USB 3.0 product family shares the same rugged rubber housing and finger-friendly ergonomics that have made the Flash Voyager family a favorite of consumers looking for durable portable data storage. All Flash Voyager USB 3.0 models are shockproof, water-resistant, backward compatible with USB 2.0/USB 1.1 standards, and provide easy plug-and-play compatibility with most operating systems.

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Corsair Announces Availability of White Graphite Series 600T PC Case

Press Release by

btarunr

May 19th, 2011 09:05 Discuss (29 Comments)

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced the availability of the Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T mid-tower PC case. The special edition features a chassis painted in brilliant white, with the ventilation grilles, drive bay covers, and other accents rendered in the black of the original 600T for a dramatic look.

The enhancements go beyond the cosmetic, with a side panel that features an impact-resistant acrylic plastic clear window for showing off components when the case is closed. The customer has the further option of replacing the window with the included mesh insert that matches the look of the mesh grilles on the front and top of the case. The mesh side panel doesn't just look good - it includes mounting points for adding up to four 120mm fans for improved cooling performance.

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ECS Announces GeForce GTX 560 CoolFast Edition Graphics Card

Press Release by

btarunr

May 19th, 2011 03:54 Discuss (10 Comments)

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS), the world's leading motherboard, graphics card, barebone system, and notebook manufacturer unveils the newest ECS GeForce GTX 560 graphics card with DirectX 11 solution. GeForce GTX 560 graphics card are built with an NVIDIA GeForce 560 graphics processing units (GPU) come with 336 CUDA cores and 256-bit GDDR5 1024MB at 4000 MHz memory clock to present the breathtaking calculating speed for graphics.

ECS GeForce GTX 560 graphics card designed with cutting-edge welding technology-CoolFast to connect the bottom of cooler with heat pipe; in this way, the heat will directly transfer to heat pipe without the intermediary of a piece of copper to achieve higher heat dissipation. The advanced cooler technology would help to improve 20% more cooling ability.

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Point of View and TGT Announce POV/TGT GeForce GTX 560 1 GB Series

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btarunr

May 19th, 2011 03:47 Discuss (0 Comments)

Point of View, the leading European manufacturer of an exclusive range of NVIDIA based 3D processor boards, advanced netbooks as well as fancy 7" and 10" Tegra tablet computers, and additional enthusiast PC products, announces today that it is first to market with a high performance NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 3D processor board family featuring 1 GB of fast GDDR5 memory, the POV/TGT GeForce GTX 560 1 GB series.

The POV/TGT GeForce GTX 560 1 GB series consists of two performance levels, "Charged" and "UltraCharged", and is based on a proprietary high-performance/wide-bandwidth hardware design. Hand-selected and carefully tuned by TGT in Germany, the POV/TGT GeForce GTX 560 1 GB series offers an optimized balance of enhanced core clock settings and supreme stability even beyond shipping specifications.

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HIS Intros Radeon HD 6790 Fan Graphics Card

btarunr

May 19th, 2011 03:41 Discuss (5 Comments)

HIS rolled out a new custom-design Radeon HD 6790 graphics card, the HIS HD 6790 Fan. "Fan" editions are known to bring with them airy fan-heatsinks that rely a fair bit on the fan's airflow and the way it's channeled, rather than adding weight to the heatsink. Apart from being custom-design, the card features reference clock speeds of 840 MHz core and 1050 MHz (4200 MHz effective) memory, and is loaded with 1 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 256-bit wide memory interface. Based on the 40 nm Barts GPU, the HD 6790 has 800 stream processors enabled, along with its full memory bus width. Display outputs on this card include two DVI, and one each of HDMI 1.4a and DisplayPort 1.2 (full-size). Expect standard pricing of US $160.

Eurocom Launches Line of the Most Powerful Optimus Notebooks

Press Release by

btarunr

May 19th, 2011 03:20 Discuss (5 Comments)

The Eurocom Optimus line are performance-oriented business and gaming-friendly notebooks based on Intel's Sandy Bridge technology with discrete NVIDIA GT 555M graphics and longer battery life thanks to NVIDIA Optimus Technology. NVIDIA Optimus technology intelligently optimizes your notebook PC, providing the outstanding graphics performance you need, when you need it, all the while extending battery life for longer enjoyment. They are built around the Intel Huron River HM65 platform and support Intel's mobile line of Sandy Bridge Core i7, i5 and i3 processors.

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Fractal Design Arc Midi Tower Review

Review Cases

After the Define and Array cases, the gloves come off and Fractal Design is jumping into the fray with a classic chassis aimed at the higher end mid-range market. We take the Arc for a spin to see if it keeps us and our hardware afloat in the battle or if the existing players in this price segment have the bigger guns.

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ASUS P8P67 PRO Review

Review Motherboards

Bridging the gap from mainstream to enthusiast product lines, the ASUS P8P67 PRO is a natural fighter, built to meet the needs of almost any user. Featuring ASUS' new DIGI+ VRM, and several other uncommon features, and seeking to beat up the competition, the ASUS P8P67 PRO arrives on our testbench, ready for battle.

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ASUS 990FX Sabertooth Motherboard Pictured

btarunr

May 18th, 2011 10:55 Discuss (58 Comments)

With the socket AM3+ platform, ASUS wants to rally around its top motherboard brands, including Republic of Gamers (ROG), with the ASUS Crosshair V Formula, and the The Ultimate Force (TUF) Sabertooth 990FX, for AMD's next top of the line 990FX chipset that is designed to run up to four discrete graphics cards. The 990FX Sabertooth keeps up with the color scheme of the other TUF-series members. It boasts of highly durable components. The AM3+ socket is powered by a 10-phase Digi+ VRM. It is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz memory, and connects to the 990FX chipset over a HyperTransport 3.1 link.

Expansion slots include four PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (configurable as x16/x4/x8/x8, x16/x4/x16/NC, depending on how they're populated); The electrical x4 slot is wired to the SB950 southbridge, and is placed there to hold PCI-Express SSDs. One each of PCI-E x1 and PCI make for the rest of the expansion. Storage connectivity includes six internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports supporting RAID, two internal SATA 3 Gb/s from a third-party controller, one power-eSATA/USB combo, and one normal eSATA on the rear panel.

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Club 3D Announces CoolStream Edition GeForce GTX 560 Graphics Cards

Press Release by

btarunr

May 18th, 2011 07:25 Discuss (5 Comments)

Club 3D B.V. is strengthening its current range of the NVIDIA 500 series graphics cards with the introduction of the new GeForce GTX 560 model, aimed at users who demands the latest features at a reasonable price.

Club 3D at introduction will include two models, the CoolStream Edition, which features a customized cooler design from our award winning CoolStream cooler for quiet and efficient operation and at the top of the range we have the CoolStream Overclocked Edition, which has the features of the standard CoolStream Edition but higher GPU and memory speed than the standard reference design.

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GIGABYTE Presents GeForce GTX 560 Overclock Edition Graphics Cards

Press Release by

btarunr

May 18th, 2011 03:31 Discuss (3 Comments)

GIGABYTE Technology Co. LTD., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, is pleased to present overclock edition of GeForce GTX 560 graphics card (GV-N56GOC-1GI). With NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 GPU and high speed GDDR5 memory, GIGABYTE GTX 560 Overclock Edition delivers outstanding 1080p gaming experience. What's more, it features GIGABYTE's new WINDFORCE 2X thermal solution with king-size 100mm inclined fans and Direct Heat Pipe Touch technology.

With these innovative technologies, new WINDFORCE 2X runs at only 31 dB within full loading. GIGABYTE GTX 560 Overclock Edition also adapts GIGABYTE Ultra Durable VGA materials and guarantees best gaming experience. It also features NVIDIA 3D Vision, 3D Vision Surround, SLI, CUDA, PhysX, and Microsoft DirectX 11 technologies.

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PNY Introduces XLR8 GeForce GTX 560 Graphics Card

Press Release by

btarunr

May 18th, 2011 03:25 Discuss (0 Comments)

PNY Technologies, Inc. ("PNY") announced today the release of the XLR8 GeForce GTX 560 1024MB graphics card from partner NVIDIA. PNY's XLR8 (ac-cel-er-ate) GeForce GTX 560 Enthusiast Edition graphics card lets you game in full HD 1080p resolutions with the latest gaming technologies. With 3D Vision to bring eye-popping visuals, DirectX 11 to bring out visual glory in the latest game titles, and PhysX to bring out elements of realism -- the GTX 560 offers a true GeForce gaming experience at a sub-$200 level. Consumers who purchase a GTX 560 on PNY.com will also receive a bonus PNY 16ft. High Speed HDMI-Mini to HDMI Cable, valued at $49.99, allowing for effortless connectivity to any HDMI enabled computer monitor or television for first-class HD visuals and riveting 3D gaming sound.

"Offering a long list of premium GTX gaming technologies, the PNY GTX 560 offers a huge value to consumers," said Nicholas Mauro, senior marketing manager, PC components for PNY. "And with the HDMI port gamers can also utilize their PNY High Speed HDMI cable for amazing full 1080p experience. Gamers will definitely appreciate this affordable graphics card that still has enormous power."

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Gainward Unveils its GTX 560 Phantom Graphics Card

Press Release by

btarunr

May 18th, 2011 03:20 Discuss (6 Comments)

As the leading brand in enthusiastic graphics cards, Gainward proudly launches its Gainward GeForce GTX 560 series. Gainward introduces 3 different customized models to satisfy all hardcore PC gamers' requirements, Gainward GTX 560 2048MB, Gainward GTX 560 1024MB "Phantom" and Gainward GTX 560 1024MB "Golden Sample". Gainward GTX 560 series inherits mighty DNA in GF114 chipset, Fermi architecture 2.0, same as GTX 560 Ti; nevertheless, with more affordable price tag.

As part of the successful release of "Phantom" cooling series, Gainward GTX 560 1024MB "Phantom" is honored again to demonstrate the best thermal solution, equip with the same revolutionary cooling as GTX 560 Ti "Phantom". "Phantom2 - Power of two", revolutionary cooling technology, is equipped with the best in class material. Phantom2 cooling is reinforced the heat dissipation efficiently by two excellent, extreme silent GR8(Great 8cm) PWM fans; conducting the heat away by remarkable 4 pcs of Gainward Grand-Prix Heat-Pipes Hybrid 6 mm heat-pipes; dispersing overage heat to the air by volumes of delicate shark sink fins.

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MSI Readies GTX 580 Lightning Xtreme Edition and Faster GTX 560

btarunr

May 18th, 2011 03:13 Discuss (7 Comments)

MSI is "pushing the limits" with trying to come up with super-dooper model names for its top-end factory-overclocked graphics cards. Until now, the "Lightning" model name has come to be known as MSI's highest factory-overclocked. MSI has a Lightning edition of its NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 graphics card carrying 832/1664/4200 MHz clock speeds (core/shader/mem effective), but now feels that the Twin Frozr III and the VRM can push it further up. Enter the MSI N580GTX Lightning Xtreme Edition. The new card is said to push the out-of-the-box clock speeds further up. To look at, the Xtreme Edition doesn't look much different, other than the blue fans and black shroud. The company is also working on a highly-overclocked GeForce GTX 560 (non-Ti) graphics card with a dual-fan cooler.

Acer Aspire One Happy 2 Netbook Pictured

btarunr

May 18th, 2011 03:00 Discuss (5 Comments)

Acer unveiled its latest Aspire One netbook, the AAO Happy 2. Priced at the lower-end of the spectrum at 299 Euro, the AAO Happy 2 is an entry-level 10.1-inch netbook with conventional AAO styling, including the water-drop graphic. It is available in a variety of lid colors, including Banana Cream, Blueberry Shake, Papaya Milk, Strawberry Yogurt, as Acer puts them. It is driven by Intel Atom N570 (1 MB L2 cache, 1.66 GHz, DDR3 667 MHz, 8.5 W), or N455/N475 (512 KB L2 cache, 1.66/1.83 GHz, DDR3 667 MHz, 6.5 W) processor, with 1 GB or 2 GB of single-channel DDR3 memory.

The 10.1-inch screen provides resolution of 1024x600 pixels, and is LED-backlit illuminated. Storage is care of a 250 or 320 GB HDD, and a multi-format card reader. Connectivity is care of WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0+, and optional 3.5G HSDPA. A VGA webcam, and 6-cell 48 Wh 4400 mAh battery top up the list. The Acer Aspire One Happy 2 netbook starts at 299 Euro.

ASUS GeForce GTX 560 TOP Direct Cu II 1 GB Review

Review Graphics Cards

ASUS GeForce GTX 560 TOP Direct CU II is a close to perfect implementation of NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 560 non-Ti. The card comes with increased clock speeds out of the box which results in the same performance as the GTX 560 Ti. ASUS' thermal solution manages to impress too. It is whisper quiet, has tons of OC potential and temperatures under load are around 70°C.

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Palit GeForce GTX 560 2 GB Review

Review Graphics Cards

Palit's implementation of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 non-Ti is the only card that features 2 GB of GDDR5 memory instead of 1 GB on the reference design. Will the additional memory be enough to make a difference?

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MSI GeForce GTX 560 Twin Frozr II OC 1 GB Review

Review Graphics Cards

Today NVIDIA releases their new GeForce GTX 560 non-Ti. The GPU comes with a reduced shader count of 336 and is targeted at the $199 segment. MSI's GeForce GTX 560 Twin Frozr II is an overclocked version of the GTX 560 reference design which also features MSI's prominent Twin Frozr II thermal solution.

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KFA2 Launches its New GeForce GTX 560 Graphics Cards with Dual-Fan Coolers

Press Release by

btarunr

May 17th, 2011 11:33 Discuss (5 Comments)

KFA2, the European premium NVIDIA only brand, announced today its launch of the two New Geforce GTX 560 series Graphics cards - The KFA2 GeForce GTX 560 1GB 256bit (standard) and the KFA2 GeForce GTX 560 EX OC 1GB 256bit (Dual flip fan cooler).

The KFA2 GeForce GTX 560 series Graphics Cards are the ideal card for DX11 gaming, are SLI ready and has NVIDIA 3D Vision surround capabilities, PhysX. Produced in a standard model to cater for mass market requirements and a Custom EX (extreme overclocked) OC model to bring the ultimate gaming experience with maximum cooling efficiency using our custom "Dual Flip Fan" design.

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SPARKLE Debuts GeForce GTX 560 Graphics Cards

Press Release by

btarunr

May 17th, 2011 11:24 Discuss (1 Comment)

SPARKLE Computer Co., Ltd., the professional VGA card manufacturer and supplier, today debut the SPARKLE GeForce GTX 560 Graphics Cards, which are designed for mainstream users looking to build the premium PC gaming rig. Thanks to the improved 40nm core manufacturing process at TSMC, now the SPARKLE GeForce GTX 560 Graphics Cards have outstanding performance power consumption ratio than ever. Compared with previous generation products, the SPARKLE GeForce GTX 560 Graphics Cards also feature a special cooling system and a hardware power monitor circuit which deliver higher performance/Watt ratio. Tested in SPARKLE R&D lab, the SPARKLE GeForce GTX 560 Graphics Cards have the same power consumption as GeForce GTX 460 graphics card, but providing 28% more performance in today hottest games.

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ZOTAC Announces GeForce GTX 560 Series

Press Release by

btarunr

May 17th, 2011 09:34 Discuss (0 Comments)

ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and the world's largest channel manufacturer of graphics cards, motherboards and mini-PCs, today unveils the new GeForce GTX 560 series of graphics cards catered towards gamers seeking an extra performance punch at 1080p gaming resolutions. Three models are launching in the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 560 series, including 1GB, 2GB and AMP! Edition models to let gamers select the perfect card for their needs.

The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 560 AMP! Edition pushes the limits of what is capable from the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 graphics processor and extracts every ounce of performance available to achieve a class-leading 950 MHz core clock for a 17-percent boost over stock. The memory receives the same treatment on the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 560 AMP! Edition and receives a boost to 4400 MHz to keep up with the new-found power of the GPU.

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Palit Announces its GeForce GTX 560 Graphics Cards

Press Release by

btarunr

May 17th, 2011 09:27 Discuss (0 Comments)

Palit Microsystems Ltd, the leading graphics card manufacturer, announces the new GeForce GTX 560 Series. Including the factory overclocked Sonic Platinum edition and 2GB version with innovative 9cm Turbofan Blade cooler, Palit GeForce GTX 560 Series delivers best gaming performance that will blow you away.

Equipping extreme factory-overclocked core speed at 900MHz, Palit GeForce GTX 560 Sonic Platinum offers ultimate gaming performance. Being 10% faster than non-OC in both DX10 and DX11, you can enjoy the perfect upgrade for 1080p gaming with Palit GeForce GTX 560 Sonic Platinum. Even more, with 20.5% better performance than competition in DX10 and 33.7% better in DX11, Palit GeForce GTX 560 Sonic Platinum provides best gaming experience for the price.

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NVIDIA Introduces New GeForce GTX 560 GPU and Faster GeForce R275 Drivers

Press Release by

btarunr

May 17th, 2011 09:15 Discuss (4 Comments)

NVIDIA today introduced the GeForce GTX 560 GPU, the latest addition to the company's Fermi architecture-based product family, which brings amazing performance and enhanced features such as NVIDIA PhysX, 3D Vision, SLI and Surround technologies to this summer's hottest PC games.

Starting at $199 USD, the GeForce GTX 560 joins its big brother, the previously launched GTX 560 Ti GPU, in delivering an awesome gaming experience in its price class for games running at 1080p, the world's most popular gaming resolution, according to Valve's Steam Hardware and Software Survey.

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New NVIDIA Tesla GPU Smashes World Record in Scientific Computation

Press Release by

btarunr

May 17th, 2011 09:09 Discuss (25 Comments)

NVIDIA today unveiled the Tesla M2090 GPU, the world's fastest parallel processor for high performance computing. In addition, the Tesla M2090 GPU achieved the fastest-ever performance in a key measure of scientific computation. Equipped with 512 CUDA parallel processing cores, the Tesla M2090 GPU delivers 665 gigaflops of peak double-precision performance, enabling application acceleration by up to 10x compared to using a CPU alone.

In the latest version of AMBER 11, one of the most widely used applications for simulating behaviors of biomolecules, four Tesla M2090 GPUs coupled with four CPUs delivered record performance of 69 nanoseconds of simulation per day. The fastest AMBER performance recorded on a CPU-only supercomputer is 46 ns/day.

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Lian Li Introduces the PC-P80N, the PC-Z70, and the PC-Z60

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btarunr

May 17th, 2011 07:07 Discuss (9 Comments)

Lian Li Industrial Co. Ltd, maker of high-end, all-aluminum computer chassis since 1983, today launches three new computer cases: The mid-tower PC-Z60, the full-tower PC-Z70, and the full-tower PC-P80N inspired by Lian Li's classic Armorsuit PC-P80, released in 2008. All three cases are made with Lian Li's trademark features like tool-less installations for HDDs, ODDs, PSUs, graphics cards etc., washable air-filters over fans, anti-vibration mounts, cable clamps for organization, ventilation for improved air flow, USB 3.0, fan speed controllers, rubber-ringed holes for LCS, and of course all-black anodized aluminum. These high-end, fantastically designed, all-black PC chassis are now available.

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ECS Details its Upcoming Socket FM1 Motherboards, Pics at Computex

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btarunr

May 17th, 2011 04:37 Discuss (16 Comments)

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) introduces the latest AMD based motherboard series - ECS Black Deluxe A75F-A, and ECS mainstream series A75F-M and A75F-M2 motherboards. ECS A75 series motherboards powered by AMD Hudson D3 chipset support the latest AMD A series APU.

As one of the ECS Black Deluxe series, ECS A75F-A has passed 50°C burn test, presenting high quality and unbelievable durability. ECS Black Deluxe A75F-A also equips with complete expansion slots from PCI Express 2nd generation x16, x4 to PCI 1st generation for users to enlarge the power of yours computers with every possibility. To match the amazing graphics power of APU, ECS A75F-A has full video output options: HDMI/DVI/D-Sub with optical audio output for you to enjoy the ultimate entertainment moment.

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In Win Readies Second Generation Commander-series PSUs

btarunr

May 17th, 2011 04:25 Discuss (1 Comment)

In Win announced that it's working on the second-generation Commander-series power supplies (PSUs). The new line includes three high-wattage models: 750W, 850W, and 1200W. With modular cabling design, the Commander 2G PSUs stick to the woodland camo color scheme on the body, a quiet 135 mm fan is employed to cool the unit. The new PSUs are ATX v2.31 compliant, and offer efficiency of up to 88 percent. In Win did not give out any further information.

Lenovo Introduces Slimmest, Most Powerful All-In-One Desktop for Business Pros

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btarunr

May 17th, 2011 02:29 Discuss (37 Comments)

Lenovo announced today the ThinkCentre Edge 91z all-in-one (AIO) desktop - the first PC in the ThinkCentre Edge family - that blends sophisticated image, purposeful function and productivity into a small, subcompact model. Equipped with up to Intel i7 Quad Core processors, the ThinkCentre Edge 91z AIO makes its debut as the industry's most powerful AIO, as well as the thinnest, measuring just 2.5 inches. It makes an ideal office or home tool for small-to- medium businesses, education customers and power professionals looking for style and high performance with the convenience of a small footprint.

"Until recently, all-in-one desktops lacked the powerful performance many desktop users need, but the ThinkCentre Edge 91z all-in-one turns the paradigm on its head with supercharged processing power and robust graphics all in a sporty and stylish design," said Tom Shell, vice president, ThinkCentre Marketing, Lenovo. "It forms a unique combination of style and substance, outpacing the competition in performance, fast boot up, serviceability and price."

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AMD Phenom II X4 980 BE 3.70 GHz Review

Review Processors

AMD launched yet another Deneb SKU, named Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition, and clocked to yet another all time fastest from AMD - 3.70 GHz. After recent price cuts, Phenom II X4 980 will cost around $185, which puts it back to back with Intel's locked SB models Core i5 2400 and 2500. This may be the last time for our friend to shine and battle out with the competition.

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ADATA Nobility N005 16 GB USB 3.0 Review

Review USB Sticks

ADATA aims to combine performance, quality and price with the Nobility N005. Priced to please the mainstream user, it offers a sturdy aluminum enclosure and advertises solid performance numbers. We take the drive for a spin to see if they have managed to combine the best of the three attributes or if it is too good to be true.

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AMD's Fastest Mobile Fusion Processor Detailed

btarunr

May 16th, 2011 15:03 Discuss (32 Comments)

One of AMD's design goals for its Fusion architecture must have been its application in mobile processors, where AMD isn't the brightest in terms of energy efficiency. The company's fastest product for the notebook platform is based on the Llano silicon, will release in 2011, and is a quad-core APU. Enter the AMD A8-3530MX.

Built on the 32 nm process with FS1 package, the A8-3530MX is an accelerated processing unit (APU), it combines a quad-core processor with a powerful GPU and northbridge component. With a default clock speed of 1.90 GHz and TurboCore speed of 2.60 GHz, the A8-3530MX packs 4 MB of L2 cache, and a dual-channel DDR3-1600 MHz memory controller, that also supports DDR3L-1333 MHz.

The GPU component is the DirectX 11 compliant AMD Radeon HD 6620G, with 400 stream processors, and engine clock speed of 444 MHz. To drive it, the northbridge component is entirely integrated into the APU, which packs a PCI-Express 2.0 hub to support discrete graphics. Despite so much machinery, the top-of-the-line chip maintains a TDP of 45W (common for notebook quad-core chips).

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Seagate Debuts First Mobile Wireless Storage For iOS And Other Mobile Devices

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btarunr

May 16th, 2011 09:10 Discuss (3 Comments)

Seagate, today announced GoFlex Satellite mobile wireless storage, the first battery-powered external hard drive to wirelessly extend the storage capacity of any Wi-Fi enabled mobile device. With 500GB and Wi-Fi access over 802.11 b/g/n and a rechargeable battery, this latest member of the GoFlex family provides the ability to carry an entire library of video, music, pictures and documents with you. Devices are wirelessly connected directly to the GoFlex Satellite drive by use of the free GoFlex Media app-available now on iTunes and the Apple App Store-or a web browser. GoFlex Satellite is available immediately for preorder from Seagate.com, Amazon and BestBuy.com for a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $199.99, and is scheduled to arrive in Best Buy stores in July 2011. Global availability is planned for later this summer.

"With the growth of the tablet and iPad markets and the larger volumes of high-quality media now being consumed, there is a clear need for access to content that is not plagued with the challenges of streamed video over the Internet," said Patrick Connolly, vice president and general manager of Seagate's retail group. "The unfortunate fact is that these popular new mobile devices are hampered by their limited storage capacity while one of their primary functions is that of media consumption.

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WD Launches Industry's Largest Capacity 3 TB Hard Drives for AV Platforms

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btarunr

May 16th, 2011 08:42 Discuss (4 Comments)

Western Digital, a leader in the desktop, mobile, high-capacity enterprise and consumer markets for hard drives, today announced the addition of 2.5 TB and 3 TB versions to its family of WD AV-GP SATA hard drives, serving the audio-video (AV) market. Shipping immediately, the 2.5 TB and 3 TB capacity, 3.5-inch, WD AV-GP hard drives offer 24X7 reliability, low power consumption and unrivalled storage capacity for storage-intensive AV applications such as digital video recorders, video surveillance, single-drive media servers and external multimedia storage.

"Designed to go the distance in high-temperature, always-on streaming digital AV environments, WD AV-GP drives store more hi-def audio and video than ever before with our new 2.5 TB and 3 TB versions," said Jim Welsh, executive vice president and general manager of WD's branded products and CE business units. "Combine unsurpassed capacity, power-saving WD GreenPower Technology, and performance capabilities to capture up to 12 simultaneous HD video streams with SilkStream technology and the drive choice is made clear in optimizing AV applications like PVR/DVR, IPTV and video surveillance."

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New SATA 6 Gb/s SSD from ADATA Smashes Performance Bottlenecks

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btarunr

May 16th, 2011 07:40 Discuss (8 Comments)

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash application products, today announced the release the S511 Solid State Drive (SSD), which employs the latest SATA 6Gb/s specification. With this cutting edge implementation of the latest data transfer standard, the performance of this SSD has been dramatically raised over conventional SATA II products.

The S511 utilizes the new generation SandForce SF-2200 series chip, with native support for the SATA 6Gb/s platform. Its read and write speeds are twice that of SSDs using the older SATA II specification, and in real world test simulations reached 550/520MB read and write speeds respectively, with 4K random write speeds as high as 60,000 IOPS. For consumers, this means transferring 5GB media archives can be completed in as few as 15 seconds. In actual testing of Windows 7 boot speed, the S511 cruised to an impressive 25 second system boot time.

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MyDigitalSSD Intros Bullet Proof Series mSATA SSDs

btarunr

May 16th, 2011 06:27 Discuss (6 Comments)

Newcomer into the flash storage industry, MyDigitalSSD, announced its new line of SSDs in the mSATA form-factor, called "Bullet Proof". It is being offered as an upgrade option for a number of netbooks and tablets made by the likes of ASUS, Dell, Lenovo and Google (Chrome netbook). Offering capacities of 32 GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB; Bullet Proof can provide read speeds of up to 270 MB/s, and 200 MB/s write speeds, with 4K random read throughput of 35,000 IOPS. CrystalDiskMark measured both read and write speeds to be around the 200 MB/s mark.

The SSD uses 50 nm MLC NAND flash memory, and supports TRIM, RAID, NCQ with command chain length of 32, power failure recovery, dynamic bad-block management, hardware monitoring, and SMART. With an MTBF of 2 million hours and backed by a 2-year replacement warranty, the 32, 64, and 128 gigabyte variants are priced at US $80, $140, and $280, respectively.

Corsair Announces Force Series 3 Solid State Drives

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btarunr

May 16th, 2011 05:52 Discuss (28 Comments)

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced the Force Series 3 family of solid-state drives. The newly announced Force Series 3 models take advantage of the new SATA 6.0 Gb/s (SATA 3) interface to deliver impressive speed at an attractive price. The Force Series 3 features the highest performance version of the latest-generation SandForce SF-2281 SSD Processor with out-of-box read and write speeds of up to 550 MB/s and 520 MB/s respectively, and an impressive 85000K IOPS for measurably faster system response, boot times and application load times than SATA 2 solid-state drives.

All Force Series 3 models are also backward compatible with SATA 2, and include an easy-to-use 3.5" adapter to allow owners of both desktop and notebook PCs to enjoy the cool, quiet operation and enhanced system performance made possible by replacing their traditional mechanical hard drive with an SSD.

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Deepcool Announces Assassin Twin-Tower CPU Cooler

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btarunr

May 16th, 2011 02:27 Discuss (12 Comments)

Deepcool, a professional manufacturer of heatsink and cooling devices, unveils a new fancy CPU
cooler today, called Assassin. Performance-and-Silence is the core of this twin-tower designed air cooler. Featuring eight 6mm copper heatpipes and a shining nickel plated heatsink, the Assassin could dissipate heat very effectively. The Assassin will come with two fans, both of which are patented with rubber cover frame.

One fan is 120mm functioning as the pushing force, and the other is 140mm that could be mounted between the two towers to draw hot air through the heatsink. In addition, a third fan can be attached if the motherboard design allows it. And the Assassin is fully equipped to support Intel LGA775/1155/1156/1366 and AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3. The launch date and price is unknown for the moment.

NVIDIA Revising GeForce GTX 590 Design

btarunr

May 16th, 2011 01:43 Discuss (29 Comments)

No doubt the GeForce GTX 590 is a cracker of a graphics card (no pun intended). It shares a disputed lead with the AMD Radeon HD 6990, where the latter has the reputation of being the more electrically stable of the two. Voltage-assisted overclocking of the GTX 590 has proven to be many an overclocker's $700 misadventure, with the weak VRM circuitry burning up with even the slightest bump in voltages. NVIDIA plans to fix this once and for all with a hardware update of the GTX 590.

In June, NVIDIA plans to release a new revision of the GeForce GTX 590 with a stronger VRM circuitry, stronger inductors, FETs, capacitors, etc. The revision could possibly alter the reference PCB design, at least with the VRM areas, and that could mean water-block manufacturers could have to go back to the drawing boards. Who knows, the new revision of GTX 590 with heightened electrical stability could also create some room for new models from AICs with better overclocked speeds out of the box, to step up competitiveness against the HD 6990.

Seasonic X-460FL 460 W Review

Review Power Supplies

Seasonic's X-460FL is one of the few fanless power supplies on the market. This zero-noise approach makes the unit a prime candidate for a quiet media PC, office or light gaming system. With 460 W of high-quality power it can easily handle a typical single graphics card system - without any added noise from the power supply.

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MSI Announces New CR460 Performance Notebook

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btarunr

May 13th, 2011 09:33 Discuss (7 Comments)

Generally speaking, a notebook computer that packs a second generation Intel Core i5 processor, a webcam with 720p resolution, and the latest SRS PC Sound, it's going to cost a small fortune. But that's not true with MSI's CR460 NB. Not only does it come with the aforementioned features, the latest generation Bluetooth 3.0 optional. High-end computers are now available at wallet-friendly prices.

Eric Kuo, associate vice president for global sales, MSI Notebook, observes that the chassis and palm rest areas of the CR460 multimedia notebook computer are protected by MSI's own color film print with a sophisticated checkerboard pattern. The NB also has a profile marked by crisp, beautiful lines set off by an independent chiclet keyboard and nickel-plated touchpad keys. The CR460 is truly a beautiful creation both inside and out.

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Team Group Introduces the New SR1, SR3 Flash Drives

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btarunr

May 13th, 2011 09:18 Discuss (3 Comments)

Since Team Group Inc. released the TP1023 portable hard drive, which adopts a streamline sports car design, it has created a new trend. Following up this success, Team Group schedules to display the first sports car-designed flash drive disks at Computex 2011. The Team SR1 /SR3 carrying with exclusive "Team EZ Go" application software and come in both USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 interfaces, respectively, are made of the same material and streamline sports car design as the TP1023. In addition to data storage, it is perfect for showcasing personal zest for sports and making a statement of masculine vitality and energy.

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Point of View and TGT Release GTX 560 Ti 2GB Series Graphics Card

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btarunr

May 13th, 2011 07:58 Discuss (7 Comments)

Point of View, the leading European manufacturer of an exclusive range of NVIDIA based 3D processor boards, advanced netbooks as well as fancy 7" and 10" Tegra tablet computers, and additional enthu-siast PC products, announces today that it is first to market with a high performance NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 3D processor board family featuring 2 GB of fast GDDR5 memory, the POV/TGT GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2 GB series).

The POV/TGT GeForce GTX 560Ti 2 GB series consists of two performance levels, "Charged" and "UltraCharged", and is based on a proprietary high-performance/wide-bandwidth hardware design.

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GeForce GTX 560 Confirmed for 17th May

btarunr

May 13th, 2011 05:39 Discuss (31 Comments)

NVIDIA confirmed its latest performance GPU, the GeForce GTX 560 (not to be confused with GTX 560 Ti), for launch on May 17, 2011. GeForce.com staff put up a new video on YouTube that displayed the card itself (looks very similar to to GTX 460), and run a few upcoming games on it, including the much anticipated Duke Nukem Forever, Alice: Madness Returns, and Rift.

NVIDIA claims that the new card should be able to handle most DirectX 11 games at 1080p resolution. In the Duke Nukem Forever run, the 3DVision features of the GTX 560 were shown. On Alice: Madness Returns, a variety of NVIDIA PhysX effects were shown, mostly particle and fluid dynamics. Lastly, the anticipated MMO Rift was able to run at 1080p with very high frame-rates and low GPU temperatures. Based on the GF114 GPU, the GTX 560 features 336 CUDA cores, 1 GB of GDDR5 memory over a 256-bit wide memory interface.

Check out the video for some cool in-game footage.

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HP Introduces Industry's First Wi-Fi Mouse

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btarunr

May 13th, 2011 05:19 Discuss (8 Comments)

HP today announced a new lineup of wireless accessories equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity and HP Link-5 technology to promote mobility and ease of use. Products such as the company's exclusive HP Wi-Fi Mobile Mouse allow users to do more without the hassle of wires and with the assurance of extended battery life.

"HP offers its customers a wide variety of accessories that are simple to use with connectivity options to meet their unique needs," said Scott Pappan, director, Accessories, Personal Systems Group, HP. "For consumers who desire PCs that are light and small but offer fewer USB ports, or for those who use their PCs in multiple settings, options like Wi-Fi and Link-5 allow users to keep USB ports free for other devices."

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Thermaltake Unveils New Meka G Unit Mechanical Keyboard Variant

btarunr

May 13th, 2011 03:09 Discuss (16 Comments)

Thermaltake is readying a new variant of its Meka G mechanical gaming keyboard under the Tt eSports banner. Called the Tt eSports Meka G Unit, the new keyboard, according to the company, will be the first mechanical keyboard with onboard memory and individual key illumination and key map-based illumination (only those keys that a game is bound to will be illuminated, which can quickly switch to all-illuminated when text-chatting in-game).

The keyboard switches between "Game Mode", in which accidental keystrokes are minimized, and normal mode. The ISS (Instant Shift System) advanced macro key shifting function allows Gamer to reach all 60 macro keys within one profile. The Meka G Unit uses Cherry Black switches that provide good tactile feedback without the "clickity" noise. As a mechanical keyboard, the Meka has a longer key lifespan than common membrane-type keyboards, with the switches supporting 50 million keystrokes each.

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TRENDnet Launches First to Market 500Mbps Powerline Adapter with Bonus Outlet

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btarunr

May 13th, 2011 02:57 Discuss (18 Comments)

TRENDnet, a best-in-class wired and wireless networking hardware brand, today announces the availability of the first to market 500Mbps Powerline AV Adapter Kit with Bonus Outlet, model TPL-402E2K. The kit comes with two 500 Mbps adapters that feature a built in electrical outlet and embedded power saving technology.

The 500Mbps Powerline AV Adapter Kit with Bonus Outlet creates a secure high speed building-wide network from any electrical outlet. Consumers won't lose the use of an outlet when the adapter is plugged in -as an additional electrical socket is built into the front of the adapter. Connect one adapter to your network, and plug the second adapter into any outlet on your electrical system for instant high speed network access. Connect adapters quickly using the convenient one-touch connect button. Install up to sixteen Powerline adapters in different rooms for building-wide networking.

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Crucial m4 128 GB (RealSSD C400) Review

Review SSD

Crucial's m4 128 GB SSD uses Micron's latest and greatest 25 nm flash chips and supports the modern SATA 6 Gbps interface. As controller a Marvell 9174 is used, in the new BKK2 revision. It also seems that Crucial has optimized their firmware's performance profile slightly differently than on the previous generation C300.

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NZXT Debuts Sentry Mesh Fan Controller

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btarunr

May 12th, 2011 13:38 Discuss (37 Comments)

NZXT, a company built on realizing the dreams of gamers worldwide, is proud to announce Sentry Mesh, the latest in NZXT's award-winning lineup of high-performance fan controllers. The newest Sentry's black, mesh façade stealthily blends into the case's exterior and empowers enthusiasts to maximize and customize airflow with five 30W easy-to-use fan control sliders.

"Sentry Mesh is a perfect minimalist solution for gamers who want to customize their airflow, but don't need a ton of extra features" said Johnny Hou, Founder and Chief Designer at NZXT. The Sentry Mesh is available for $24.99. For more information visit the product page.

OCZ Announces Talos 3.5'' SAS 6 Gb/s SSD with VCA Technology, up to 960 GB Capacity

Press Release by

btarunr

May 12th, 2011 13:32 Discuss (4 Comments)

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, announces the Talos series, a line of Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) SSDs designed for enterprise applications that require ultra-fast, high capacity solutions equipped with multi-level cell (MLC) NAND. Talos brings new strength to the Company's storage lineup by expanding the availability of OCZ's proprietary Virtualized Controller Architecture (VCA) technology to storage OEMs.

"We have experienced considerable demand for our high-capacity VCA-enabled SAS products, both with and without enhanced power fail protection," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology Group. "The new OCZ Talos SSD series delivers the ultimate combination of performance, scalability, and reliability. Talos series drives are tailored to meet the needs of most enterprises in a non-customer specific format, including balanced compressed and incompressible data performance and balanced read/write IOPS, all in the highest capacity SAS 6Gbps drive available today."

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I-O Data Intros New External Blu-ray 3D Writer

btarunr

May 12th, 2011 09:17 Discuss (2 Comments)

Japanese peripherals company I-O Data unveiled its new BRD-U8S external optical disc writer that supports Blu-ray 3D. Making use of the USB 2.0 interface and backed by a 4 MB write cache, the drive can write single and double layer BD-R at 8x speeds, BD-RE at 2x, DVD±R at 16x, DVD±R double layer at 8x, DVD+RW at 6x, DVD-RAM at 12x, CD-R at 48x, and CD-RW at 24x. Measuring 158 (W) x 220 (D) x 50 (H) mm, the BRD-U8S weighs 1.2 kg. Slated for release in Japan next month, and backed by a 1 year warranty, the I-O Data BRD-U8S is expected to be priced at $233.

PQI Re-Releases USB 3.0 Traveling Disk U281V

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btarunr

May 12th, 2011 08:50 Discuss (1 Comment)

PQI, the world's first major manufacturer to release a full USB 3.0 personal storage device product, recently unveiled the Traveling Disk U281V, featuring a USB 3.0 interface. With sharply defined, three-dimensional sections, the exterior's smart, simple lines carve out a profoundly refined sense of quality with special use of ultrasonic construction to create a meticulously particular cover and a bright, polished surface with a smooth and level tactile feeling.

The end conceals a pendant loop design that can be used with the free customized hanging accessory featuring an ingenious transparent square shape that uses a soft, flexible rubber material. In addition to being a mobile phone accessory, it also adds distinctive creativity when hung from the end of the USB frame. While using the Traveling Disk U281V, the transparent rubber accessory can be inserted into the removed cap, giving it a handy secure-cap design along with its understated yet fully abundant characteristics.

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PCMark 7 Released, Offers Complete PC Testing for Windows 7

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btarunr

May 12th, 2011 07:22 Discuss (16 Comments)

PCMark 7, a new Futuremark benchmark that offers complete PC performance testing for Windows 7, was released today and is now available to download and purchase from here. PCMark 7 is available in 3 editions: the free Basic Edition that offers unlimited runs of the PCMark test suite without registration or expiry, the Advanced Edition which includes all 7 benchmark tests and the Professional Edition which unlocks all features and is licensed for commercial use. PCMark 7 is the latest benchmark from developer Futuremark and joins existing Windows PC tests PCMark05 for Windows XP and PCMark Vantage for Windows Vista.

PCMark 7 provides a set of 7 PC tests for measuring different aspects of PC performance with a high degree of accuracy. Overall system performance is measured by the PCMark test. The Lightweight test measures the capabilities of entry level systems and mobility platforms unable to run the full PCMark test. Common use performance is measured by the Entertainment, Creativity and Productivity tests. Component performance is measured by the Computation and Storage hardware tests. The Storage test is ideal for testing solid state drives (SSDs) and external hard drives in addition to the system drive.

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Gigabyte Readies mSATA-Equipped Z68 Motherboards, Bait mSATA Larson Creek SSD Modules

btarunr

May 12th, 2011 05:48 Discuss (4 Comments)

As Intel's Smart Response technology and 311 Series "Larson Creek" SSD gain market traction along with the Intel Z68 chipset platform jointly released on 10th May, Gigabyte is designing four new motherboards that come with a mSATA slot. Smart Response is a technology that uses SSD to cache large hard drives, improving storage performance and system responsiveness. To propagate it, Intel released an inexpensive low-capacity SSD line, the 311 series, which uses SLC NAND flash that features higher erase cycles.

Intel's Larson Creek SSDs are available both in conventional 2.5-inch SATA form factor, and mSATA module form-factor that makes it easier to deploy in notebooks, alongside bulkier 2.5-inch hard drives. mSATA also gives the "cache SSD" a more compact component feel than a product feel, that helps builders organize their desktop builds better, and stop looking at Larson Creek as a "badly performing, and tiny primary storage," which isn't its purpose to begin with. The GA-Z68XP-UD3, GA-Z68XP-D3, GA-Z68AP-D3 and GA-Z68P-DS3 are four new entry-mainstream segment motherboards featuring an mSATA slot with adequate clearance and retention mechanism to hold the Larson Creek mSATA module.

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Samsung Offers World's First 64 Gb MLC NAND Flash Using Toggle DDR2 Interface

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btarunr

May 12th, 2011 05:21 Discuss (3 Comments)

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has started the industry's first production of a high-performance toggle DDR 2.0 multi-level-cell (MLC) memory chip. The new NAND flash chip features a 64 gigabit (Gb) density, made possible by using an advanced 20 nanometer (nm) class* process technology. The chip is designed to support the high-performance requirements of mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and solid state drives (SSDs).

Equipped with a toggle DDR (Double Data Rate) 2.0 interface, the new 64Gb MLC chip can transmit data at a bandwidth of up to 400 megabit per second (Mbps). This provides a 10-fold increase over the 40Mbps Single Data Rate (SDR) NAND flash memory in widespread use today, and a three-fold boost over 133Mbps toggle DDR 1.0, 32Gb NAND flash memory, which Samsung was first to produce in 2009.

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PowerColor Introduces HD 6770 PCS+ Vortex II Graphics Card

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btarunr

May 12th, 2011 05:14 Discuss (9 Comments)

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, introduces the 2nd generation of the Vortex Edition: the PCS+ HD6770 Vortex II Edition. The advanced edition offers not only the flexibility of users to manually adjust the fan and its physical attributes; optimizing the air flow and balancing the ambient temperature; it features perforated fans that increase air flow up to 13%. These features result in cooling the temperature up to 25% when compared to reference designs.

The PCS+ HD6770 Vortex II Edition also features factory overclocking with core and memory clocks at 900 MHz and 1225 MHz respectively. With the cooling ability seen in the Vortex Edition, it allows more headroom for overclocking that maximizes performance releasing more potential for gaming power.

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VIA QuadCore Processor Revealed

btarunr

May 12th, 2011 04:13 Discuss (28 Comments)

VIA Technologies revealed its upcoming 4-core processor, simply called "QuadCore". The chip comes in BGA packages, and is simply a multi-chip module (MCM) of two Nano X2 dies built on the 40 nm process. One of the first models is the QuadCore L4700, which is clocked at 1.20 GHz with a BClk of 266 MHz. Using the Adaptive Overclocking feature, the processor can bump clock speeds up to 1.46 GHz provided the thermal solution by the manufacturer can keep up, while keeping the chip within its thermal constraint of 27.5W TDP. Each of the two dies can independently up speeds based on their individual loads and temperatures.

The VIA QuadCore L4700 features four x86-64 cores split between two dual-core dies that share a V4 front-side bus clocked at 1333 MHz. The processor has a total L2 cache of 4 MB, also split between the two dies. On the feature-set front, SIMD extensions up to SSE3 are available, so is VIA Virtualization Technology, and Padlock Security Engine, which is a fast hardware random number generator that speeds up AES encryption. The processor itself doesn't feature on-die memory controller or integrated graphics, and continues to rely on the chipset for memory and graphics. VIA's QuadCore L4700 is expected to be released in Q3, 2011, at least one can expect VIA-made demo platforms to be shown at Computex.

Head-Direct HiFiMAN HE-6 Headphones Review

Review Headphones

Head-Direct's newest flagship headphones are put to the test. The headphones are dubbed the HE-6s and feature a gold plated driver, and a very special cable. They are priced at $1199, are they worth it ?

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New Sandy Bridge Based Celeron Processors Detailed

btarunr

May 11th, 2011 14:37 Discuss (33 Comments)

Amidst the rather high-profile launch of Intel's Z68 chipset platform, Intel Smart Response technology, and Larson Creek SSDs, Intel is also readying its cheapest processors for the LGA1155 platform, this time carrying the Celeron brand. Based on the new Sandy Bridge processor architecture, the single-core Celeron G440, and dual-core Celeron G530, Celeron G540 processors stick to the very basics in terms of feature set.

The chips lack Intel HyperThreading or CPU Turbo Boost, run at low clock speeds, and have just 2 MB of L3 cache enabled. The G440 is a single-core/single-thread chip clocked at 1.60 GHz, with 650 MHz graphics (1.00 GHz Turbo), and 35W TDP. The G530 puts on a second core, is clocked at 2.40 GHz, with 850 MHz (1.00 GHz Turbo) graphics, and 65W TDP. The series is topped off with G540 dual-core, which is clocked at 2.5 GHz. Expect these chips to take up sub-$100 price points.

BIOSTAR Announces New T-Series TZ68A+ Motherboard

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btarunr

May 11th, 2011 11:26 Discuss (12 Comments)

BIOSTAR MICROTECH INT'L CORP., A professional manufacturer of motherboards, introduces Intel Z68 chipset based motherboard that supports Intel 2nd generation Sandy Bridge processor family, it is special designed for advanced gamers and overclocking fans. BIOSTAR "TZ68A+", the only solution supports both built-in graphics and external overclocking among Intel Sandy Bridge processors; it is also equipped with Lucid Virtu GPU Virtualization - a dynamic switching between built-in processor graphics and high-end 3D performance discrete graphics cards. Moreover, it also fully supports Intel Smart Response Technology - enabling SSD like performance with HDD capacity.

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AMD A-Series APUs Tested Against Sandy Bridge CPUs at Gaming on IGP

btarunr

May 11th, 2011 11:10 Discuss (50 Comments)

What happens when you pit Intel's "Visually Smart" Sandy Bridge processors against Radeon-enriched AMD Fusion A-Series accelerated processing units? They do terribly at gaming on integrated graphics. Surprise! That is notwithstanding the fact that AMD is pitching its A-Series Fusion APUs to be a lot more than CPUs with embedded GPUs, they're pitched to be processors that make lower-mainstream graphics pointless, and to alter the software ecosystem to be more GPGPU intensive, so applications could benefit from the over 500 GFLOPs of computation power the 400 stream processor DirectX 11 GPU brings to the table.

A leaked presentation slide shows AMD's performance projections for the A-Series GPU, tests included GPU-heavy DirectX 10 titles such as Crysis Warhead and Borderlands; as well as DirectX 11 ready titles such as Dirt 2. AMD's quad-core A8-3850, A8-3650 and A8-3450 were included alongside Intel's dual-core Sandy Bridge Core i3-2100, and quad-core Core i5-2300, Core i5-2500K. The Atom-competitive E350 Zacate dual-core was also in the comparision, perhaps to show that it is nearly as good as Intel's much higher segment Core series processors at graphics.

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MSI Announces its Z68 B3 Series Motherboards

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btarunr

May 11th, 2011 05:14 Discuss (4 Comments)

Internationally renowned mainboard and graphic card manufacturer MSI has officially launched the latest Intel-Z68 platforms for power users with uncompromising demands for both materials and performance. All Inte-Z68 mainboards from MSI are equipped with MSI-exclusive features: OC Genie II technology and Military Class II materials. The OC Genie II delivers a much more powerful OC performance than its previous generation: In simply one second, users can boost up to 145% system performance for 3D games and even up to 457% hard drive performance.

The industry-leading Military Class II electronics components, which meets the United States Department of Defense purchasing requirements to significantly enhance mainboard durability and lifespan, ensure optimal system stability in system OC. Integrating both features, the MSI Z68 mainboards enhance both system performance and system stability to fulfill the uncompromising demands of power users. Furthermore, they redefine the industry standards for high performance and premium quality.

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Team Group Announces Industrial-Class SSDs

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btarunr

May 11th, 2011 03:04 Discuss (2 Comments)

Facing global changes in the memory storage products industry, despite the technical threshold of industrial class and military class memory products are higher; they have the advantages of steadier market demand and supply when compared with their consumer class counterparts. As a result, products of industrial and military applications have become a very competitive field for major module manufacturers. Team Group Inc. has been actively cultivating industrial class products, taking advantage of its strong research and development abilities and its keen grasp of market trends.

Using IFM (Industrial Flash Module) SATA SSD as a pioneer, Team Group Inc. is committed to increasing the performance of integrated system products, and will further move towards to the more stringent industrial specifications in the future. Team Group Inc. aims to provide integrated solutions of more competitive embedded platforms and storage devices for telecommunication, transportation, automation and tablet system developers.

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HighPoint Announces High Port-Count SAS 6Gb/s HBA's: High-Value, High-Density Storage

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btarunr

May 11th, 2011 02:58 Discuss (1 Comment)

HighPoint Technologies, Inc., a leading HBA and storage solutions manufacturer, announces the arrival of new high port-count PCI-Express x16 SAS 6Gb/s HBA's. Available with up to 32 dedicated ports, RocketRAID high port count SAS HBA's provide maximum port count for minimal investment while delivering a connectivity bandwidth up to 19200 MB/s; ideal for a wide-range of high-performance and high-density storage applications.

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ASUS Announces P8Z68 Series and Maximus IV Gene-Z LGA1155 Motherboards

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btarunr

May 11th, 2011 02:18 Discuss (8 Comments)

Continuing its legacy of leadership, ASUS offers consumers a range of new motherboards based on the Intel Z68 Express chipset. The ASUS P8Z68 Series and ROG Maximus IV GENE-Z motherboards all have numerous powerful features that fully exploit the performance benefits of Sandy Bridge technology without compromise, packing more features and new innovations onto the Z68 platform while maintaining unmitigated performance and reliability.

ASUS is the only motherboard manufacturer able to integrate diverse new technologies in tandem on its Z68-based motherboards on launch. These include the universal implementation of LucidLogix Virtu switchable graphics to harness the capabilities of Intel Quick Sync Video for faster video transcoding and the extreme performance of the latest NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards, along with Intel Smart Response Technology to accelerate hard drive performance and reduce energy consumption.

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Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4-B3 Review

Review Motherboards

Supporting Intel Core Generation 2 processors, the Gigabyte P67A-UD4-B3 not only sports a new color scheme, it also attempts to match the sleek new look with serious performance. Built for some serious overclocking, the P67A-UD4-B3 comes ready to reach the finish line first; will it win the race?

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Mach Xtreme GX 16 GB USB 3.0 Review

Review USB Sticks

After the FX high-speed USB 3.0 flash drive, Mach Xtreme aims to take the mainstream crowd with the GX USB 3.0 unit. The drive is slimmer, not quite as fast, but brings the price down to the competitive market segment. We take the Mach Xtreme GX 16 GB flash drive for a spin to see if it can hold its own against the established brands in the market.

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Club 3D Announces New 1200W 80 Plus Silver Compliant Modular Power Supply

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btarunr

May 10th, 2011 14:16 Discuss (2 Comments)

Club 3D B.V. announces the introduction of the 1200 Watt Switching Power Supply CSP-X1200CS as the new top of the line of its award winning Switching Power Supply Series. The new Club 3D 1200 Watt Switching Power Supply CSP-X1200CS is a real powerhouse and allows you to combine all lately introduced hardware in your high end system and play the most powerful games without risking any lack of power.

The new CSP-X1200CS gives you the power you need with the efficiency that is required on today's PC thanks to its 80-Plus Silver Certification and an ultra-quiet-135 mm fan.

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Lian Li Introduces Special Edition PC-U6 Cowry Mid-Tower Chassis

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btarunr

May 10th, 2011 12:00 Discuss (42 Comments)

Lian Li Industrial Co. Ltd, maker of high-end, all-aluminum computer chassis since 1983, today launches the all-new and extremely stylish special edition PC-U6 Cowry: an all-black, PC case with design characteristics of a seashell. This unique PC chassis provides users with a computer case that exhibits personality and craftsmanship while breaking free of simply being a box to house components.

Inspired by nature, the Cowry appeals to a very specific niche. It is not meant to be hidden under a desk but instead incorporated into its surroundings as a part of decoration and reflection of taste. Until now, PC chassis with unique designs have been marketed towards gamers. With the Cowry an entirely new demographic will begin looking at how their computer case can act as an artistic expression.

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OCZ Technology Announces the Agility 3 and Solid 3 SATA III Solid State Drives

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btarunr

May 10th, 2011 09:58 Discuss (12 Comments)

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today unveiled the Agility 3 and Solid 3 SATA III SSD product lines. The Agility 3 and Solid 3 are designed to cater to speed-seeking enthusiasts in search of the best value for performance. Using the latest technology, these new series deliver nearly double the performance of the previous generation and offer a more cost-effective alternative to current SATA 6Gbps SSDs on the market.

"With increased availability of SATA III platforms, the demand for the latest generation SSDs has grown rapidly," said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ technology Group. "We are addressing this demand with new products that offer both the best performance and value for consumers. The new Agility 3 and Solid 3 SSDs make it easier than ever for consumers take advantage of the new SATA III interface. When coupled with the speed and reliability benefits that our SSDs offer over traditional hard drives, it makes the two new series the ideal choices for mobile and desktop applications."

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Microsoft to Acquire Skype for Over $8 billion

btarunr

May 10th, 2011 05:27 Discuss (39 Comments)

In what is turning out to be the mother of all tech acquisitions, Microsoft is working towards acquiring IP telephony giant Skype Technologies for nearly US $8 billion, the deal could be announced later today, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Skype acquisition will give Microsoft increased traction in the consumer market, as part of the company's efforts to provide more web-based convergence services. The deal could be the most significant development after Bing, a polished successor of MSN Search.

Skype is the company that propagated web-based telephony, which threatened to make conventional telephony obsolete. Founded in 2003, the company has 663 million registered users, including 8.8 million with paid accounts. In 2005, it was sold to Ebay for $2.6 billion, after which Ebay sold 70% of its shares to private investors by 2009. Microsoft is in the foray to acquire the company and its debt in a deal that can see up to $8.5 billion changing hands.

Iiyama Intros New Cheap and Fast 20-inch ProLite Monitor

btarunr

May 10th, 2011 05:12 Discuss (2 Comments)

Japanese display manufacturer Iiyama announced a new 20-inch 16:9 monitor model, the ProLite E2008HDD(-B). Its panel features a native resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels, response time of 2 ms (GTG), contrast ratio of 1,000:1, 30,000:1 DCR; and maximum brightness of 250 cd/m². The inbuilt ECO mode function brings about power savings of up to 30%. Display inputs include DVI and D-Sub. Backed by a 3-year warranty, the Iiyama ProLite E2008HDD-B is priced at $208 in Japan.

ASUS Announces Radeon HD 6770 DirectCu and HD 6750 Formula Graphics Cards

Press Release by

btarunr

May 10th, 2011 03:44 Discuss (9 Comments)

ASUS announced the launch of the new self-designed HD 6770 DirectCU and HD 6750 Formula graphics cards. Both are equipped with the ASUS-exclusive Super Alloy Power technology that delivers a 15% performance boost along with a lifespan that is 2.5 times longer than conventional graphics cards.

The HD 6770 DirectCU features copper pipes that are in direct contact with the GPU to offer a 20% cooler performance than reference graphics cards, while the HD 6750 Formula's integrated aerodynamic cover and micro surface treatment technology achieves a cooling performance 13% better than references. With this combination of ultimate cooling and durability, the HD 6770 DirectCU and HD 6750 Formula graphics cards allow users to enjoy unprecedented levels of realistic PC gaming and multimedia entertainment.

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EVGA Rolls Out 3 GB GTX 580 HydroCopper 2 Graphics Card

btarunr

May 10th, 2011 03:36 Discuss (9 Comments)

EVGA released a 3 GB (3072 MB) variant of its top of the line single-GPU graphics card, the EVGA GTX 580 FTW HydroCopper 2. It significantly lower clock speeds than the original 1.5 GB variant, of 772 MHz GPU, 1544 MHz CUDA cores, and 1002 MHz (4008 MHz effective) memory, against the 1.5 GB variant's 850/1700/4196 MHz (core/CUDA cores/memory effective). The card comes with a Swiftech-made EVGA HydroCopper 2 full-coverage water block pre-fitted, along with an EVGA GTX 580 backplate. The water block makes the card truly single slot, with the company replacing the double-slot bracket with a single slot one. The 3 GB EVGA GTX 580 FTW HydroCopper 2 is priced at US $739.99, a $40 premium over the 1.5 GB variant.

Gigabyte GA-Z68-UD3H-B3 Motherboard Pictured

btarunr

May 10th, 2011 03:02 Discuss (7 Comments)

It is becoming increasingly clear now, that Gigabyte will have two parallel lines of socket LGA1155 motherboards based on the same Intel Z68 B3 chipset, one that does away with display connectivity to make room for other ports and is geared for discrete graphics, while the other has display connectivity at the expense of additional ports on the rear panel, and also gives you everything you'd expect from Z68, including overclocking. In mid-April, pictures of GA-Z68-UD3P-B3 surfaced, which is a motherboard of the first kind explained above. Now, there's deck of pictures of the GA-Z68-UD3H-B3, its counterpart of the second kind.

The GA-Z68-UD3H-B3 features a much lighter CPU VRM, consisting of 7 phases, against 14 on the UD3P. It gives you the same expansion slot layout consisting of two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (x8/x8 when both are populated), supporting ATI CrossFire and NVIDIA SLI, three PCI-E x1, and two PCI. Gigabyte made full use of the display connectivity options that come with Sandy Bridge, there is one each of DVI, D-Sub, HDMI, and DisplayPort. Audio is at the helm of Realtek ALC889 8+2 channel HD audio CODEC, with optical SPDIF output.

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Corsair AX850 850 W Review

Review Power Supplies

Corsair's AX850 is an 80Plus Gold certified 850 watt power supply that aims to be the highest-quality model in its segment. It is fully modular and shows excellent performance characteristics in our demanding test suite. With a price of $180 it is not cheap but quality has its price.

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Cubitek HPTX-Tank Review

Review Cases

Cubitek joins the ranks of Lian Li and Xigmatek with their HPTX-Tank chassis, which is one of three cases on the market capable of holding huge motherboards like the EVGA SR-2. With an unbelievable price tag for an Aluminum chassis, we take a close look to see if it manages to redefine the price / performance segment for such enclosures.

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AMD Catalyst 11.5 WHQL, 11.5a Hotfix Driver Suite Released

btarunr

May 9th, 2011 22:03 Discuss (21 Comments)

It's not even 15th of the month, and AMD already released its monthly update of the Catalyst driver suite, which is normally reserved for the last week of the month. Catalyst 11.5 WHQL doesn't come with any performance enhancements as such, but apparently AMD found that a certain feature-enhancement in HydraVision was important enough to warrant a WHQL release. HydraGrid feature found in HydraVision is now aware of custom (user-created) Bezels. There's now also a "Automatic Grid" option that aligns to the user defined Eyefinity display layout.

The rather dull WHQL release is backed by a Hotfix release that comes with a lot more outstanding issues. Catalyst 11.5a Hotfix update includes fixes concerning quality of videos GPU-transcoded from H.264 clips to MPEG2 Blu-ray video, intermittent cursor lag, performance and quality enhancements for the upcoming game Brink, and flickering noted by Radeon HD 6600 series graphics cards with DDR3 memory running in DX9.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 11.5 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 11.5a Hotfix Update

NVIDIA to Acquire Baseband and RF Technology Leader Icera

Press Release by

btarunr

May 9th, 2011 11:42 Discuss (22 Comments)

NVIDIA announced today that it has agreed to acquire Icera, a leading innovator of top-performing baseband processors for 3G and 4G cellular phones and tablets. Icera has more than 550 patents granted or pending worldwide, and its high speed wireless-modem products have been approved by more than 50 carriers across the globe. By combining the companies' products and technologies, including NVIDIA's Tegra processor, NVIDIA will enhance its position as a leading player in the growing mobile market.

The acquisition, for $367 million in cash, has been approved by both companies' boards of directors and is expected to be completed, subject to customary closing conditions, in approximately 30 days. The transaction is expected to be slightly dilutive on an operating basis through the first half of calendar 2012, and accretive on an operating basis in the second half of calendar 2012. This expectation does not take into account significant revenue synergies that the companies anticipate.

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Intel 311 Series Larson Creek SSD Pictured, Tested

btarunr

May 9th, 2011 09:13 Discuss (11 Comments)

Intel's much talked about "Larson Creek" 311 Series entry-level SATA solid state drive (SSD), which forms the foundation of Intel Smart Response technology was pictured and tested. The SSD comes in a standard-looking 2.5-inch shell resembling many other Intel SSD models. Unlike the more popular X25-M series, the 311 Series SSDs use 34 nm single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash memory, and comes in low capacities such as 20 GB. That's not even enough capacity to install the OS and important applications (which is barely possible on 40 GB SSDs), but that's not the purpose of the SSD. It assists hard drives, acting as a fast "cache", storing only the most important system and program files. Upon opening, one can see Intel-made controller and NAND flash chips. The 311 Series "Larson Creek" 20 GB SSD was put through a run of CrystalDiskMark, where it clocked transfer rates of nearly 199 MB/s sequential read, and 114 MB/s sequential write.

Fractal Design Announces Core 1000 Case

Press Release by

btarunr

May 9th, 2011 08:40 Discuss (28 Comments)

The Core 1000 brings many features usually only seen in more expensive and larger cases. It supports long graphics cards up to 350mm due to the innovative, vertical and removable HDD mounting bracket. The front panel's easily removable and pre-fitted with fan filters to ensure a dust free interior.

The sleek black interior is matched and contrasted with white expansion slots. Similar to the Define Series, all the HDD trays are fitted with anti-vibration silicon grommets for optimal silence. The MSRP of the chassis is to be 34.90 Euro.

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Gigabyte Readies Feature-Packed Z68 Micro-ATX Motherboard

btarunr

May 9th, 2011 05:09 Discuss (6 Comments)

Among a large selection of new Intel Z68-based socket LGA1155 motherboards taking shape at Gigabyte, is a cracker of a micro-ATX motherboard called GA-Z68MX-UD2H. Based on the Cougar Point B3 Z68 chipset that combines the overclocking capabilities of P67 and integrated display features of H67, the GA-Z68MX-UD2H squeezes in as many features as one can onto the 240x240 mm PCB. The LGA1155 socket is powered by a 7-phase VRM, and is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel DDR3 memory.

Expansion slots include three PCI-Express 2.0 x16. The first and third are wired to the LGA1155 socket, with electrical configurations of x16/NC or x8/x8, depending on if the third slot is populated. A PCI-E x1 and another x16 slot separates the two, creating room for graphics cards with dual-slot coolers on the first slot. The second x16 slot is electrical x4, and is wired to the Z68 PCH along with the x1 slot. Both NVIDIA SLI and ATI CrossFire are supported.

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HP Brings Style, Performance and Portability to Notebook PCs

Press Release by

btarunr

May 9th, 2011 03:46 Discuss (1 Comment)

HP today expanded its notebook PC line with products and services that provide an optimal combination of sleek style, ultra-portability and high performance to deliver an outstanding mobile experience.The company also launched HP DataPass, a pre-paid 3G mobile broadband service available in the U.S. across HP's business notebook lineup and expanded HP Beats Audio technology to a business notebook and consumer Mini PC. HP furthered its FORGE business notebook design framework with the HP ProBook m-series and EliteBook p-series models and built upon its MUSE consumer notebook design philosophy with the HP Mini 210, Pavilion dv4 and ENVY 14.

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PowerColor Officially Introduces LCS HD 6990 Graphics Card

Press Release by

btarunr

May 9th, 2011 02:58 Discuss (7 Comments)

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, announces the world's first liquid cooling solution for the HD6990 series: The PowerColor Liquid Cooling Solution (LCS) HD6990 4GB GDDR5. PowerColor is working with fabulous cooling manufacturer EKwaterblocks once again to bring the liquid cooling solution to the HD6990, aims to deliver the exceptional thermal performance to increase the headroom of overclocking potential while allowing optimum system stability.

The PowerColor LCS HD6990 has a full water block mounted on the card, fully covering the key components which can be dissipated the heat from the copper base design. It efficiently cools down the GPU temperatures up to 30% than reference board even under full load. PowerColor packages a high-flow 3/8" and 1/2" fittings (barbs) to maximize water flow with captured o-rings to prevent leakage. Gamers can customize their own liquid cooling system with these comprehensive accessories.

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PowerColor Readies Dual-HD 6870 Graphics Card

btarunr

May 9th, 2011 02:30 Discuss (43 Comments)

With no new GPUs in the works by either of the two main manufacturers, AMD and NVIDIA, this year's Computex event isn't going to be a very big exhibition of graphics cards. Instead, Intel's LGA2011 and AMD's AM3+ platforms are going to steal the show. It does leave graphics card manufacturers some attention, if they come up with something really out of the ordinary. PowerColor wants to be one of them. Flexing its in-house engineering muscle, the company is readying a dual-GPU graphics card that makes use of two 40 nm "Barts" GPUs for a CrossFire on-a-stick solution.

The two Barts chips will feature the BartsXT (Radeon HD 6870) configuration, with the card being designed to offer performance on par with HD 6870 CrossFire, with 3-GPU and 4-GPU CrossFireX support, and lower power draw than two single-GPU HD 6870 cards. The PCB design is the same as every dual-GPU AMD card ever made, there are two GPUs sitting on either sides of a PLX-made PCI-Express bridge chip, and each GPU system having its own VRM. There's 1 GB of GDDR5 memory over a 256-bit wide memory interface per GPU. Power is drawn from two 8-pin PCI-Express power connectors. The cooling solution is not pictured, but expect a multi-fan heatsink that spits hot air into the case.

Silverstone Strider Plus ST50F-P 500 W Review

Review Power Supplies

The Strider Plus ST50F-P is a compact size, single rail and highly versatile PSU thanks to the fully modular design that it utilizes. On top of that is equipped with a quiet 120 mm fan and is 80PLUS Bronze certified. Without any doubt it will be an interesting product for users that want a PSU to power a single graphics card in a not so demanding system.

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OWC Introduces Mercury Aura Pro Express SSD Upgrades for Macbook Air

Press Release by

btarunr

May 6th, 2011 02:15 Discuss (7 Comments)

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, today announced its OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express Solid State Drive is now shipping in an industry largest 480GB capacity for all 2010 Apple MacBook Air models. First announced at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show this past January, the OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express line now offers up to 4X greater capacity and up to 68% faster real-world performance than factory available options. This new 480GB model introduction continues OWC's position as the only aftermarket SSD manufacturer for the 2010 MacBook Air and the most comprehensive U.S. manufacturer of industry leading SandForce processor based SSDs available today with OWC Mercury Pro brand SSD models available for nearly every Mac and PC produced over the past decade.

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EVGA Silently Intros Dual Fan-Cooled GTX 580 and GTX 560 Ti Graphics Cards

btarunr

May 6th, 2011 02:07 Discuss (18 Comments)

Without making too much noise, EVGA released a new custom-design graphics cards based on the GeForce GTX 580 and GeForce GTX 560 Ti GPUs; the EVGA GTX 580 DS SuperClocked and GTX 560 Ti DS SuperClocked. Both cards use a dual-fan ventilated cooler that makes use of a large, dense aluminum fin heatsink to which heat is fed by heat pipes. The GTX 580 DS SuperClocked comes with clock speeds of 797/1594/4050 MHz (core/CUDA cores/memory effective), while the GTX 560 Ti DS SC comes with 900/1800/4212 MHz speeds. Both cards also use custom design PCBs, the GTX 580 model uses a high-flow backplate. The GTX 560 Ti DS SC is priced at US $219, and the GTX 580 model at $519.

GIGABYTE Enters Long Term Partnership with LUCIDLOGIX

Press Release by

btarunr

May 6th, 2011 01:55 Discuss (2 Comments)

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co., Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards and other computing hardware solutions today announced a new partnership with Lucidlogix, the makers of Virtu GPU virtualization technology. The partnership ushers in broad adoption of Virtu on future GIGABYTE 6 series motherboards, and sets the stage for long term cooperation between the two companies.

"We are excited about our new partnership with Lucid because of the huge potential for switchable graphics in the PC DIY market where GIGABYTE motherboards enjoy considerable market share," said Henry Kao, VP of R&D, at GIGABYTE. "We believe that Virtu will add considerable value to GIGABYTE motherboards using Intel's Sandy Bridge graphics and will provide our customers with the flexibility and choice they want from their system."

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ASUS M5A Series Socket AM3+ Motherboard Lineup Detailed

btarunr

May 6th, 2011 01:50 Discuss (19 Comments)

Here is the complete socket AM3+ motherboard first-wave of ASUS, the M5A series, short and sweet. Based entirely on AMD 9-series chipset, including 9-series southbridge chips, the first-wave caters to gamer, performance, and enthusiast market segments, and only includes those chipset models that rely on discrete graphics (leaving out AMD 980G, 990GX). The lineup even includes models from ASUS' gamer/enthusiast-oriented Republic of Gamers (ROG) family, and The Ultimate Force (TUF) family.

The lineup starts with three models based on AMD 970 + SB950 chipset, which is a single discrete graphics card platform. The M5A97 is the entry-point, it bases itself entirely on what the chipset offers, plus two USB 3.0 ports. Moving up is M5A97 Pro, which has everything its little sibling has, plus a stronger 6+2 phase Digi+ VRM, and two eSATA ports. The M5A97 EVO, which was pictured a little while ago. This has everything the Pro variant has, plus two front-panel USB 3.0 ports, and FireWire.

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AMD Cuts Down Processor Prices Paving Way for Bulldozer

btarunr

May 6th, 2011 01:49 Discuss (37 Comments)

With the obvious intention to clear out higher-end Phenom II series processors from the market, and to make room for the new upcoming FX-series "Bulldozer" CPUs, AMD introduced a chain of price-cuts affecting all price-points. This comes after the introduction of the new Phenom II X4 980 BE part, earlier this week. The X4 980 BE pushes down prices of nearly all Phenom II X4 and X2 parts, while pulling down six-core models with it.

The six-core X6 1090T Black Edition with unlocked multiplier is priced on par with it, while the 1075T, 1065T, and 1055T are below it. The Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition continues to be the fastest AMD has to offer, and it's just a little over $200, at $205, making it a heck of a deal against Intel Core i5-2500K. All the prices are tabled below.

PowerColor HD 6950 Vortex II 2 GB Review

Review Graphics Cards

PowerColor's new HD 6950 Vortex II comes with a seriously improved thermal solution compared to the AMD reference design. It also offers two adjustable fans that can be configured to make maximum use of available space. Clock speeds have been increased too, and the card was able to be modded to a HD 6970 in our testing.

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Jon Peddie Research Discloses Surprising Q1 Results in GPU Industry

Press Release by

btarunr

May 5th, 2011 10:44 Discuss (23 Comments)

Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, announced estimated graphics chip shipments and suppliers' market share for Q1'11. We found that shipments during the first quarter of 2011 behaved according to past years with regard to seasonality, and was nominal on a year-to-year comparison for the quarter. The situation changed over the course of the year and Q4'10 did not conform to the normal seasonal cycle, but was down a bit compared to previous years, so the growth in Q1 was a welcomed change. Our forecast for the coming years has been modified since the last report, and is less aggressive on both desktops and notebooks.

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Shuttle's Core i7-980X Ready MiniPC Gets USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s

Press Release by

btarunr

May 5th, 2011 09:36 Discuss (20 Comments)

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 launches its 2011 model with Intel X58 Express chipset and support for all Intel Core i7 processors (LGA1366).

The Shuttle XPC Barebone SX58H7 Pro cuts an elegant figure with a black aluminium chassis, case and front panel. It also boasts two heatpipe cooling systems - ideal for ensuring optimal heat dissipation and high stability.

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ADATA Launches New BN Series Energy Efficient Power Supply

Press Release by

btarunr

May 5th, 2011 08:27 Discuss (0 Comments)

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high-performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash application products, today announced the launch of its latest series of power supply for personal computers. The BN Series is targeted towards consumer and professional users who are looking for economical solutions in energy efficient power.

With 80 Plus Bronze certification, the BN series offer up to 85% efficiency, while the 95% Active Power Factor Correction (PFC) minimizes power loss. The series comes in four wattage models to meet a wide range of individual user needs, and all models meet both the European Energy Using Products Directive (EuP) and The American Energy Star 5.0 standard. The units run quietly and emit extremely low levels of interference.

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ICY DOCK MB881U3-1SA EZ-DOCK 2.5'' & 3.5'' SATA & IDE USB 3.0 HDD Adapter with Stand

Press Release by

btarunr

May 5th, 2011 08:24 Discuss (0 Comments)

Introducing Icy Dock's new MB881U3-1SA USB 3.0 2.5" & 3.5" SATA and IDE hard drive adapter with docking station functionality. Icy Dock has taken another one of its tried and true products and taught it some new tricks. It features the new USB 3.0 interface for up to a 5 Gb/sec transfer rate. The MB881U3-1SA is perfect for any DIY user or IT Professional in need of a quality hard drive adapter. The hard drive adapter will work with both 3.5" & 2.5" SATA drives and IDE drives and use them on a USB 3.0 interface.

The 2.5" SATA/IDE drives can be powered with the USB cable alone. A small power adapter is included for faster or bigger 2.5" hard drives or 3.5" hard drives. Using the USB 3.0 interface will maximize not only the SATA drives but also the IDE drives read/write speeds not found on other USB 2.0 products. The MB881U3-1SA will accept almost any size of 2.5" / 3.5" IDE and SATA hard drives.

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Team Group Inc. releases SDHC / SDXC UHS-I Top Class Memory Cards

Press Release by

btarunr

May 5th, 2011 07:15 Discuss (1 Comment)

Striving to satisfy consumers' desire and need for high speed storage, Team Group Inc. launches two new generation top class memory cards, the SDHC UHS-I and SDXC UHS-I which are compliant to the latest digital recording storage specifications. Both cards are tiny in the size of a stamp, yet come in hard-disk level large capacities. Their transfer speeds break traditional limits With excellent performances fully satisfy the rigorous demands of professional photography, allowing photography enthusiasts and professional photographers to fully enjoy unlimited fun.

Team Group Inc.'s SDHC UHS-I and SDXC UHS-I memory cards comply with SDA's Ultra High Speed 1 (UHS-I) specifications, with a theoretical transfer speed reaching as high as 104MB/s. Even under normal usage their reading speed can still reach as high as 40MB/s while continual writing speed can reach up to 15MB/s, therefore making them the new generation speed class that surpasses the previous SDHC Class 10. The best performance of the SDHC UHS-I and SDXC UHS-I can be fully demonstrated when they are used in the latest model of high-end single lens digital cameras and digital recorders that support UHS technology In which case, Team Group Inc.

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LGA2011 Sandy Bridge-EP Xeon Processor on Ebay

btarunr

May 5th, 2011 02:22 Discuss (33 Comments)

Intel may be a little over 6 months away from unveiling its new Sandy Bridge-EP platform, but it's understandable that the company is circulating engineering samples among closely tied industry partners. One such sample fell into the right (wrong, for Intel) hands, and is being pawned away on ebay for a handsome price. The current bid stands at US $1,359.99.

The chip itself is Q19D ES, an 8-core Sandy Bridge-EP in the LGA2011 package. The chip is said to have 8 cores, and 16 threads with HyperThreading enabled. It is being sold as Core i7, though some sources say the chip could be from Xeon E5-4600 or E5-2600 series (4600 is four-socket capable, 2600 is dual-socket capable). The chip is clocked at 1.60 GHz, and holds 20 MB shared cache according to the seller, though even the highest-end LGA2011 Core i7 is said to hold no more than 15 MB L3 (shared) cache. L3 is the only shared cache.

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FinalWire Releases AIDA64 v1.70

btarunr

May 5th, 2011 01:54 Discuss (0 Comments)

FinalWire today released the latest version of AIDA64, the industry's popular system diagnostic tool for IT administrators, engineers, and PC enthusiasts. Version 1.70 of AIDA64 includes mainly updated device support database. To begin with, AIDA64 features the ability to tell LGA1155 motherboards with B3 stepping Cougar Point chipsets from the older stepping; it features preliminary support for AMD's upcoming FX-Series CPUs, and A-Series APUs.

A host of new SATA SSDs are supported, including Intel 320 series, OCZ Vertex 3 series, and Samsung PM810. Support is added for AMD Mobility Radeon HD 6770M and Radeon HD 6790 GPUs. Support is also added for a scores of NVIDIA GeForce 500 series GPUs, including GT 520, GT 520M, GT 550M, GT 555M, GTX 550 Ti, GTX 590.

DOWNLOAD: AIDA64 v1.70 EXE Installer, ZIP Portable Package

Antec MicroFusion Remote 350 Review

Review Cases

Antec has taken the Fusion Remote Max, shrunk it down to the Fusion Remote and has made things even more compact with the MicroFusion Remote. This case can still take a mATX board and allows for low profile expansion cards to be installed, while still featuring the timeless Aluminum front. We take the case for a spin to see if it still offers everything we are looking for in a HTPC chassis, or if Antec slimmed away all the good stuff.

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Intel Reinvents Transistors Using New 3-D Structure

Press Release by

btarunr

May 4th, 2011 14:48 Discuss (106 Comments)

Intel Corporation today announced a significant breakthrough in the evolution of the transistor, the microscopic building block of modern electronics. For the first time since the invention of silicon transistors over 50 years ago, transistors using a three-dimensional structure will be put into high-volume manufacturing. Intel will introduce a revolutionary 3-D transistor design called Tri-Gate, first disclosed by Intel in 2002, into high-volume manufacturing at the 22-nanometer (nm) node in an Intel chip codenamed "Ivy Bridge." A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter.

The three-dimensional Tri-Gate transistors represent a fundamental departure from the two-dimensional planar transistor structure that has powered not only all computers, mobile phones and consumer electronics to-date, but also the electronic controls within cars, spacecraft, household appliances, medical devices and virtually thousands of other everyday devices for decades.

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ASUS M5A99X EVO Motherboard Pictured

btarunr

May 4th, 2011 12:18 Discuss (56 Comments)

Here is the first picture of the M5A99X EVO, an upcoming socket AM3+ motherboard by ASUS based on the AMD 990X + SB950 chipset designed AMD's FX-Series "Zambezi" 8-core, 6-core, and 4-core procesors. The AMD 990X is designed for discrete graphics with up to two graphics cards in CrossFireX. It is likely that the final iteration has NVIDIA SLI support out of the box. The AM3+ Black socket is powered by 8-phase Digi+ VRM, cooled by a large heatsink that sits next to the northbridge heatsink. ASUS came up with a new heatsink design theme. While the P8P67 series uses heatsinks with curvy/wavy fins, the M5A series uses sharp edges.

The AMD 990X northbridge gives out 16 PCI-Express 2.1 lanes split between two x16 slots. When both slots are populated, the graphics cards run on x8 bandwidth. The third black x16 slot is wired to the SB950 southbridge, and is likely x4. Other slots include two PCI-Express x1 and a PCI. Storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s ports from the SB950 southbridge that support RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5, 10 modes; a third-party controller drives two additional SATA 6 Gb/s internal ports. We don't know if there's another such controller handling eSATA.

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Corsair Updates its Builder Series Power Supplies

Press Release by

btarunr

May 4th, 2011 08:39 Discuss (10 Comments)

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced it has updated the Builder Series with new CX V2 models. The Builder Series CX V2 is the successor to the current CX family of PSUs, offering 80 PLUS certification and European Commission Energy-Related Product (ErP) directive compliance for guaranteed efficiency and low standby power consumption. The warranty on the CX V2 PSUs has been increased to three year s, one year longer than the original Builder Series models.

Builder Series CX V2 power supplies are designed for entry-level to midrange home system builds and desktop PC upgrades, providing a great value along with low noise and dependable, continuous power delivery.

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PQI Releases the Smallest USB 3.0 Flash Drive

Press Release by

btarunr

May 4th, 2011 06:51 Discuss (6 Comments)

PQI leads the industry with its exclusive release of the world's smallest USB 3.0 traveling disk. The Intelligent Drive U819V is the solution to bulky traveling disks and thick USB 3.0 transfer interfaces. PQI applied COB encasement technology to USB 3.0 interface and overcame the transmission overheating problem after continuous research and improvements. At the same time, PQI solved the data reading problem caused by high-frequency noise while creating the lightest, thinnest, shortest, and smallest USB 3.0 traveling disk. The 3 centimeter disk delivers high performance and allows users to experience high speed transmission like never before.

PQI's Intelligent Drive U819V traveling disk has a sleek and simple look featuring clean lines and smoothly curving trim, creating a seamless, unitary exterior. The disk's glossy exterior coating in ivory white and midnight black gives off a beautiful, glittering silvery radiance. Additionally, there is a special LED display at the tip that flickers when data is being read. Furthermore, with user experience in mind, PQI has come up with a cap retention design. The complimentary, square shaped, transparent soft rubber not only serves as a cell phone ornament but also attaches to the end of the disk. When the cap is removed from the Intelligent Drive U819V, it can be inserted into the transparent rubber. This exclusive cap retention design is unusual, funny, and charming.

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Fold for TechPowerUp at Chimp Challenge 2011

btarunr

May 4th, 2011 04:36 Discuss (1 Comment)

I want you, yes YOU, to fold for TechPowerUp at the 2011 Chimp Challenge. The annual Folding@Home (F@H) competition sees top F@H teams from the world compete for F@H glory and the prestigious Lucky Jaded Monkey award. Our team, ChimPowerUp, led by its captain BUCK NASTY, will be participating. All are welcome to join our efforts. The competition revolves around earning the most points for folding over a set period of time, starting from Thursday, May 5th at 12pm, Pacific Daylight Time (UTC -7); to Sunday, May 15th at 12pm, Pacific Daylight Time (UTC -7). TechPowerUp is among the top-30 Folding@Home teams in the world. It relies on generous participation from its members and readers.

DETAILS: Team ChimPowerUp at 2011 Chimp Challenge

AMD FX Series and A Series First Performance Projections Surface

btarunr

May 4th, 2011 03:53 Discuss (133 Comments)

Here are the first performance projections of the AMD FX-series processors. FX-series is the market name of the latest line of 8-core, 6-core, and 4-core processors by AMD, based on its new Bulldozer architecture. The performance projections come from AMD's internal presentations to its industry partners, which was leaked to sections of the media.

In the performance projection, a compound bar graph, an AMD platform comprising of an 8-core FX series processor (unknown model, clock speed) with AMD Radeon HD 6670 discrete graphics, was pitted against its main competitor, Intel Core i7-2600K with its integrated Intel HD graphics. Perhaps AMD is suggesting that FX 8-core model used here along with a HD 6690 graphics card costs the same as a Core i7-2600K.

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Cooler Master Announces NotePal Infinite Evo Notebook Cooler

Press Release by

btarunr

May 4th, 2011 03:37 Discuss (5 Comments)

Cooler Master introduces an exciting new mobile work of art. It will send reverberations throughout the industry with its striking tech-chic design, comfort and performance. This new masterpiece is the Cooler Master Notepal Infinite EVO Laptop Cooler.

Much like the CM Storm SF-19 Strike Force, its gaming oriented cousin; the Notepal Infinite EVO redefines its genre. It provides an exciting new outlook on laptop cooling design and performance. A unique implementation of a beautiful sand-blast finish across its aluminum cooling pad and bold curves lend to this new avant-garde design aesthetic. This form is obtained while still providing a comfortable and ergonomic workspace.

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Chieftec Nitro SPS-750C 750 W Review

Review Power Supplies

Chieftec recently made a new addition to their product series with the inclusion of the Nitro 88+ line. The new PSUs are 80PLUS Silver certified and promise efficiency that surpasses 88%. They also utilize a semi-modular design and their OEM is Channel Well (CWT), a respectable manufacturer.

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Razer Introduces New Anti-Fray Stitching for Razer Goliathus Mouse Mat Product Line

Press Release by

btarunr

May 3rd, 2011 12:46 Discuss (13 Comments)

Razer, the world's leading high-end precision gaming brand, is proud to announce that the Razer Goliathus has been redesigned and reinforced to ensure your soft mouse mat swiping experience is more hardcore than ever before.

Maintaining the same well-loved, speed-enhancing and control-precise features, the redesigned Razer Goliathus mouse mat delivers maximum performance to propel you to gaming stardom. Now imbued with a dense, anti-fraying and long-lasting stitched frame, your mouse mat stays sharp for consistent tournament ownage.

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Apple Announces New iMac with Next-Gen Quad-Core Processors, Graphics, Thunderbolt

Press Release by

btarunr

May 3rd, 2011 09:43 Discuss (50 Comments)

Apple today updated its signature all-in-one iMac with next generation quad-core processors, powerful new graphics, groundbreaking high-speed Thunderbolt I/O technology and a new FaceTime HD camera. Starting at $1,199, the new iMac is up to 70 percent faster and new graphics deliver up to three times the performance of the previous generation.

"Our customers love the iMac's aluminum enclosure, gorgeous display and all-in-one design," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "With next generation quad-core processors, powerful new graphics, Thunderbolt technology and a FaceTime HD camera, we've made the world's best desktop even better."

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Seagate Breaks Areal Density Barrier, Unveils First HDD with 1 TB per Platter

Press Release by

btarunr

May 3rd, 2011 09:31 Discuss (53 Comments)

Seagate, the leader in hard drives and storage solutions, today unveiled the world's first 3.5-inch hard drive featuring 1TB of storage capacity per disk platter, breaking the 1TB areal density barrier to help meet explosive worldwide demand for digital content storage in both the home and the office.

Seagate's GoFlex Desk products are the first to feature the new hard drive, delivering storage capacities of up to 3TB and an areal density of 625 Gigabits per square inch, the industry's highest. Seagate is on track to ship its flagship 3.5-inch Barracuda desktop hard drive with 3TBs of storage on 3 disk platters - enough capacity to store up to 120 high-definition movies, 1,500 video games, thousands of photos or virtually countless hours of digital music - to the distribution channel in mid-2011. The drive will also be available in capacities of 2TB, 1.5TB and 1TB.

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Thermaltake Launches New eSports Chaser MKI Chassis

Press Release by

btarunr

May 3rd, 2011 07:47 Discuss (24 Comments)

2011 is a whole new year for Thermaltake Group to step forward from a leading DIY brand name to a cultural brand for the enjoyment of entertainment, e-Sports, technology and life style. To present a brand new Thermaltake Group to all gamers and users, Thermaltake launches brand new e-sports chassis , Chaser MKΙ,with adorable breathing light, strong streamline body and all black coating, including the exterior and interior and in combination with blue elements which lends it a very dynamic and powerful look. Chaser MKΙ,besides the excellent e-sports -concept-design appearance , also has enormous space inside.

Being the industry-leading brand in PC thermal management, Thermaltake has built a perfect cooling system into this brand new series of chassis. With the popularity of performance water-cooling solution for PCs, a true gaming chassis of course has to over this upgrade bath as well. Water-cooling ready design allows users to integrate 240mm liquid cooling system and the top fan can be easily removed and the water-cooling radiator can be quickly installed. Liquid cooling hose holes in the back also warrant for the installation of external liquid cooling systems. Furthermore, its large space is suitable for up to 18cm CPU cooler and two colorshift 200mm fans and an additional 140mm TurboFan is also embedded; along with the 35mm heightened footstands enhance excellent intake airflow.

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Gigabyte Intros Pure Classic Series Portable Hard Drives

btarunr

May 3rd, 2011 04:38 Discuss (2 Comments)

Gigabyte rolled out its Pure Classic series of portable hard drives. The series includes USB 2.0-only, and USB 3.0 (compatible with USB 2.0) variants. The USB 3.0 variant is called Pure Classic 3.0. Measuring 120 x 81 x 14 mm, and weighing about 150 g, the Pure Classic drives sport a matte black body with a dash of piano black giving it a formal (classic) touch. A white (matte+gloss) variant is also in the works. It comes with a leathery pouch to add to its styling. It is available in 320, 500, 640, and 750 gigabyte capacities, though transfer rates are not known. Gigabyte didn't give out pricing information, either.

AMD A-Series APU and FX-Series CPU Launch Schedule Detailed

btarunr

May 3rd, 2011 04:15 Discuss (18 Comments)

AMD charted out the launch itinerary of its two upcoming client product lines, the A-Series "Llano" accelerated processing unit (APU), and the FX-Series "Zambezi" processor, in a presentation slide to its launch partners. The series of product launches starts at the upcoming Computex 2011 event, on June 1, where AMD will launch its new 9-series chipset. This could include two branches: first being the 2-chip chipset that drives Zambezi FX-series processors; and a second single-chip chipset for APUs. The action then shifts to E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) a week after Computex. On June 7, AMD will unveil the AM3+ platform, and motherboard vendors across the board are expected to show off their AM3+ motherboards

On 12th June AMD's Llano APU and Sabine platform will be launched for the Asian markets. Around the same time, at the AMD Fusion Developer Summit, AMD will interact with developers to develop software that's tailor made for the Fusion architecture (x86 with increased use of serial computational loads over GPGPU). June 14 2011 is the most important date. Called the AMD 2011 Client Launch Event, this event will be the launchpad for AMD's FX-series processors and A-Series APUs. Sabine platform will launched to the rest of the world's markets.

TechPowerUp Releases GPU-Z ROG Edition v0.5.3

btarunr

May 3rd, 2011 02:58 Discuss (16 Comments)

TechPowerUp in association with ASUSTek, today unveiled a special Republic of Gamers (ROG) edition of GPU-Z, our popular graphics hardware information, diagnostic, and monitoring utility. GPU-Z gives you a quick glance on the graphics hardware installed in your machine, and lets you monitor its vital stats such as clock-speeds, fan-speeds, voltages, and even fine details such as graphics memory usage on supported GPUs. The new GPU-Z ROG Edition is based on GPU-Z version 0.5.3, and includes a vast database of discrete GPUs.

GPU-Z is backed by our expansive video card BIOS database, and Overclock Validation system, making up for a nifty, portable application that is every GPU overclocker's companion. TechPowerUp is happy to be associated with one of the most renowned brands in the PC enthusiast industry, ASUS Republic of Gamers. ASUS Republic of Gamers is a fine selection of enthusiast motherboards and graphics cards from one of the biggest names in the hardware industry.

DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z ROG Edition v0.5.3

AMD Intros Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Quad-Core Processor

btarunr

May 3rd, 2011 01:53 Discuss (26 Comments)

Today AMD released to market its latest quad-core processor, the Pheonom II X4 980 Black Edition. The new, faster SKU was first reported to be taking shape back in March. Based on the 45 nm "Deneb" silicon and K10.5 architecture, the X4 980 BE is yet another speed-bump, clocked at 3.70 GHz (18.5 x 200 MHz), with room for some overclocking thanks to its unlocked BClk multiplier.

The Deneb die packs four x86-64 cores with 512 KB caches each, and a shared 6 MB L3 cache. Despite its high clock speed, the processor maintains TDP of 125W. Its IMC supports dual-channel DDR3/DDR2 memory, and is backwards compatible with AM2+ socket apart from its native AM3 socket. HyperTransport 4 GT/s is its chipset interconnect. The new processor is priced at US $195.

AMD Delivers First Embedded GPU Supporting OpenCL and Six Displays

Press Release by

btarunr

May 3rd, 2011 01:42 Discuss (3 Comments)

Today at Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley 2011, AMD introduced the AMD Radeon E6760 embedded discrete graphics processor. Available now, the AMD Radeon E6760 GPU is the first of its kind to offer embedded system designers the combination of OpenCL support along with support for six independent displays.

"The AMD Radeon E6760 GPU provides customers with superior business economics through long lifecycle management and product stability," said Richard Jaenicke, director of Embedded Client Business for AMD. "Embedded system designers faced with power and density constraints now have a solution that delivers the advanced 3D graphics and multimedia features they require in this performance-driven market."

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TRENDnet Launches First to Market 450 Mbps Dual Band Wireless N USB Adapter

Press Release by

btarunr

May 3rd, 2011 01:14 Discuss (8 Comments)

TRENDnet, a best-in-class wired and wireless networking hardware brand, today announces the launch of the 450 Mbps Dual Band Wireless N USB Adapter, model TEW-684UB-the world's first ultra-high performance 450 Mbps wireless USB adapter.

The 450 Mbps Dual Band Wireless N USB Adapter upgrades laptop and desktop connectivity to the highest wireless performance available today. Computers purchased with integrated wireless are most often outfitted with either 150 Mbps Wireless N or even slower 54 Mbps Wireless G technology-which bottlenecks performance to 150 Mbps or 54 Mbps respectively when connecting to a 450 Mbps router. TRENDnet's TEW-684UB is the first wireless USB adapter that has the capability of connecting to a router at 450 Mbps speeds.

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SilverStone Fortress FT03 Review

Review Cases

SilverStone forges ahead with their latest small form factor design, the Fortress FT03. This unique example of form versus function challenges classical case design. Taking the Fortress series upwards with a stacked layout we'll see if the FT03 rises above the SFF competition.

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LucidLogix Virtu to Bridge Discrete and Integrated Graphics on ASUS Z68 Motherboards

Press Release by

btarunr

May 2nd, 2011 13:57 Discuss (6 Comments)

Expanding their relationship beyond hardware, LucidLogix today announced that its' Virtu GPU virtualization software will be integrated into various SKUs of ASUS motherboards based on the Intel Z68 chipsets. Virtu allows the systems to simultaneously take full advantage of both the low-power best-in-class media processing features of the 2nd generation Intel Core processor graphics and the 3D gaming performance of add-in cards with graphics processing units (GPUs) from AMD and NVIDIA.

"Since ASUS supplies a third of the world's motherboards, their knowledge and expertise in the market magnifies the importance of a seamless media experience only provided by Lucid," said Offir Remez, president and founder of Lucid. "The Virtu solution is rapidly becoming a standard, must-have feature and its expanding market acceptance creates a runway for further innovation in both desktop and notebook PC graphics."

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GIGABYTE introduces the GB-AEBN All-In-One PC

Press Release by

btarunr

May 2nd, 2011 11:41 Discuss (1 Comment)

GIGABYTE introduces a fully modulated AIO PC model to answer any requirements in the most time and cost efficient way. Whether you want a turnkey, a highly customized or only a barebone product, the GB-AEBN solution can answer your needs, as the entire system is broken down into integrated and standardized modules that can be easily and quickly upgraded or replaced. With this modulated concept, the specifications of the GB-AEBN can be calibrated towards the needs of any kind of end user, and therefore it can be suitable for your targets.

Thanks to its modulated concept, we are able to adapt most of the GB-AEBN parts to deliver any kind of end-user advantage, and you can easily modify them afterwards. The GB-AEBN solution supports components from any supplier complying to our product's form factors (Intel's AIO Mini-ITX standard, slim ODD bay, 3.5'' SATA bay, etc.).

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Intel Readies 32 nm Cedar View Atom Processors for Late 2011

btarunr

May 2nd, 2011 11:25 Discuss (16 Comments)

Intel will give its category-defining Atom processor its next big update in Q4, 2011. Codenamed "Cedar Trail", Intel's next Atom processor will use the latest manufacturing process technologies, and up the feature-set a bit. The Cedar Trail platform combines the Atom "Cedar View" processor with a chipset similar to Intel NM10 from the current "Pine Trail". The platform is laid out in a similar 2-chip package. The first chip embeds a dual-core x86-64 processor, an integrated memory controller that supports single-channel DDR3 memory, and a new DirectX 10.1 compliant integrated GPU that supports 1080p video playback, it connects to the chipset over DMI.

Cedar View Atom processor will be built on Intel's 32 nm process. The new process chops TDP by 30%, while allowing higher clock speeds. Some of the first Cedar View processors are dual-core. Designed for low-power desktops and nettops, the Atom D2500 runs at 1.86 GHz, has no HyperThreading Technology (HTT), has 1 MB of shared cache, and 10W TDP. In contrast, the 45 nm "Pine View" Atom D525 processor achieves 1.83 GHz at 13W TDP. Intel will have a higher-performing part, the Atom D2700. The D2700 is clocked at 2.13 GHz, features HTT, and the TDP remains at 10W.

Elpida Develops Industry's First 25nm Process DRAM

Press Release by

btarunr

May 2nd, 2011 10:28 Discuss (0 Comments)

Elpida Memory, Inc., Japan's leading global supplier of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), today announced it had developed a 2-gigabit DDR3 SDRAM using an industry-leading 25nm process for memory manufacturing. Using the most advanced process technology available Elpida has achieved the industry's smallest chip size for a 2-gigabit SDRAM.

The newly developed 25nm DRAM process technology requires 30% less cell area per bit compared with Elpida's 30nm process. The chip output for a 2-gigabit DDR3 SDRAM wafer using the new process is about 30% higher versus 30nm.

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Gigabyte Intros Faster HD 6970 OC2 WindForce3X Graphics Card

btarunr

May 2nd, 2011 07:04 Discuss (5 Comments)

Gigabyte rolled out its second factory-overclocked custom-design Radeon HD 6970 graphics card model, the GV-R697OC2-2GD, or the Gigabyte HD 6970 WindForce-3X OC2. The card makes use of the same exact Ultra Durable VGA+ PCB used on the GV-R697OC-2GD, as well as the WindForce-3X cooler, but comes with higher clock speeds of 920 MHz core and 1375 MHz (5.50 GHz GDDR5 effective) memory; compared to 900/1375 (5500) MHz on the GV-R697OC-2GD, and 880/1375 (5500). In all three cases, Gigabyte didn't tinker with memory clock speeds.

The PCB makes use of 2 oz copper layer, and high grade components such as ferrite-core chokes and Japanese capacitors. Its cooler uses a large heat pipe-fed aluminum fin array ventilated by three 80 mm fans. Based on the 40 nm "Cayman" silicon, the Radeon HD 6790 packs 1536 VLIW4 stream processors, and a 256-bit wide high-speed GDDR5 memory interface. Gigabyte did not give out pricing/availability information.

AMD Llano Fusion APU to Feature Radeon HD 6550 Graphics

btarunr

May 2nd, 2011 05:28 Discuss (34 Comments)

AMD's upcoming Llano line of accelerated processing units (APUs), to compete with Intel's Sandy Bridge LGA1155 processors, is said to embed what AMD will refer to as the Radeon HD 6550 graphics core. Unlike Sandy Bridge where a processor die is simply fused with a integrated graphics northbridge onto a single die, Llano will see the GPU part of the silicon integrated with the rest of the APU in many other levels, including assisting the x86 cores with serial processing loads.

Llano's embedded GPU carries the AMD Radeon SKU of HD 6550. It will feature on AMD's Fusion A8-3550 and A8-3550P APUs, is DirectX 11 compliant, has 400 stream processors, and a core clock speed of 594 MHz. It uses memory shared from the main memory, but in all likelihood, AMD might work on SidePort-based memory support. Further, the Radeon HD 6550 can work in tandem with discrete AMD Radeon HD 6570 and HD 6670 "Turks" based graphics cards in the same way as AMD's IGPs have been known to work with entry-level Radeon GPUs using Hybrid CrossFireX. When the HD 6550 iGPU is working in tandem with HD 6670 or HD 6570, the graphics hardware will be recognized as "Radeon HD 6690".

Computex 2011 Launchpad for Intel X79 Motherboards

btarunr

May 2nd, 2011 01:47 Discuss (25 Comments)

At Computex 2010, motherboard vendors across the board displayed socket LGA1155 motherboards that support Intel "Sandy Bridge" processors, based on P67, H67 chipsets, months in advance of the platform actually making it to the market. This year, the motherboard industry will do something similar and show off socket LGA2011 motherboards based on the Intel X79 "Patsburg" chipset.

Detailed to much length in older articles, the platform schematic of Sandy Bridge-E surfaced, confirming X79's feature-set, including a PCI-Express 3.0 based supplementary interconnect between the processor and chipset to bolster enough bandwidth for the massive 10-port SATA 6 Gb/s controller, and a 8-port PCI-Express 2.0 hub. Sandy Bridge-E processor itself comes in three main variants, an all-enabled 6-core Extreme Edition, a 6-core unlocked variant, and a limited-OC 4-core variant. The platform is slated for late 2011.

HighPoint Delivers SSD Caching HBAs to Desktop PCs

Press Release by

btarunr

May 2nd, 2011 01:33 Discuss (4 Comments)

SSD Caching has become the "Hot" Storage topic of the PC industry. In the near future, motherboards based on the Intel SandyBridge (Z68) will bring SSD Caching to the desktop PC. SSD Caching boots system performance by using high-speed solid state disks to offset slower, but high-capacity hard disk drives. Once limited to enterprise server applications, SSD Caching is now within the reach of PC users. The mainstream consumer market has embraced SSD's sub $100 models are now commonplace; ideal for caching applications.

Recently, HighPoint Technologies has launched a pair of 6Gb/s PCI-Express 2.0 HBA's that deliver SSD Caching solutions to any PCI-Express Platform, sharing the high-performance benefits of this technology with PC users worldwide. HighPoint SSD Caching HBA's combine any SSD and HDD of any capacity into a single storage drive. SSD Caching Drives can be used to boot the system, host applications or simply serve as libraries for file storage and Home Media Networks. HighPoint SSD Caching HBA's provide two distinct modes of operation: Safe-Mode stores all permanent data safely on the HDD for security, while Capacity Mode uses the space provided by each device to optimize storage and performance.

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