When we first reported news of ASRock entering the graphics market with a focus on AMD Radeon GPUs, the story included a theory that crypto-currency mining was the primary driver behind the company's move. ASRock in its press-deck announcing its new Phantom Gaming series graphics cards late Wednesday, inadvertently confirmed that theory. While the cards are branded Phantom "Gaming," the press-deck slide detailing the lineup is prominently headlined "Mining" besides "Radeon 500 Series VGA." Our GPU Database curator also mentions that the cards' designs bear striking similarities to coolers from Chaintech, the OEM that supplies to Chinese VGA brands such as Colorful. Strangely enough, ASRock still went with "gaming" branding, and gave the cards proper display connectors, so it's hedging its bets on both gamers and miners.

Chaintech, brought back to life as a motherboard brand, in partnership with Colorful, launched the iGame Z97 socket LGA1150 motherboard. A cross between a gamer-centric and overclocker-centric motherboards, the iGame Z97 combines strong electricals with features gamers expect, such as good onboard audio, and Killer E2200 NIC. The board's most striking feature is its full-coverage water block, which cools the CPU VRM and Z97 PCH.

The LGA1150 socket is powered by a 16-phase VRM. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors. Expansion slots include three PCI-Express 3.0 x16, and four PCI-Express 2.0 x1. Storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s, and an mSATA. Display outputs include DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. 8-channel HD audio, with an OPAMP circuit and electrolytic capacitors, and Killer E2200 NIC. Dual-BIOS, and a feature-rich setup program, make for the rest of it. Chaintech is planning to launch the board in Europe and APAC markets.

Colorful officially launched its flagship socket LGA1150 motherboard, a fruition of its partnership with Chaintech, the iGame Z97 Ymir-X. This motherboard is also being referred to as "Flame Warrior" in some markets. The motherboard was first unveiled at Computex 2014, early this June. Built in the standard ATX form-factor, this board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, and 8-pin EPS power connectors. A highlight here is its 16-phase CPU VRM, which uses driver-MOSFETs, and Poscap capacitors. The CPU is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, and three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (electrical x8/x4/x4 when all three are populated, x8/x8 when two are, and x16 when one is.) Four PCIe 2.0 x1 slots make up the rest of its expansion area. Overclockers are offered on-board base-clock tweaking switches, auto-OC buttons, and PCIe slot power gating, apart from a feature-rich UEFI BIOS, with manually selectable dual-BIOS.

Storage connectivity on the iGame Z97 Ymir-X includes eight SATA 6 Gb/s, and an mSATA 6 Gb/s that doubles up as mPCIe. Display outputs include dual-link DVI, D-Sub, HDMI, and DisplayPort. Bolstering its gaming PC credentials, are its Killer E2200 gaming-grade gigabit Ethernet, and 8-channel "Voice Gamer" HD audio with audio-grade capacitors, a headphones amp, and ground-layer isolation that prevents electrical noise with headsets plugged in. Six USB 3.0 ports (four on the rear panel, two by header), and a number of USB 2.0/1.1 ports. Colorful speaks of a new dense-weave fiber PCB that's resilient to humidity. Colorful plans to market this motherboard in the Asia-Pacific and Europe markets.

After its Chaintech deal, Coloful acquired a great deal of ingredients need to build a motherboard lineup. The company took the battle to the top (high-end), by launching three new high-end socket LGA1150 motherboards, all based on Intel's latest Z97 Express chipset. The lineup begins with the Battle Axe Z97 X5; moves on to the Battle Flag Z97 X5; and is led by the iGame Z97 Ymir.

The Battle Axe Z97 X5 offers a 9-phase CPU VRM, four DDR3 DIMM slots, one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, one PCI-Express 2.0 x4 (physical x16), two legacy PCI, and a PCIe 2.0 x1 making up the expansion area; five SATA 6 Gb/s, and one M.2 making up the storage connectivity; four USB 3.0 ports; DVI + D-Sub + HDMI display connectivity; 8-channel HD audio, and gigabit Ethernet. The Battle Flag Z97 X5 tops that up with a similar CPU VRM, but two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x8/x8 when both are populated), six SATA 6 Gb/s, an M.2 in addition to an mSATA 6 Gb/s; and 8-channel HD audio with ground-layer isolation. Leading the pack is the iGame Z97 Ymir, with a strong 17-phase CPU VRM, three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x8/x4/x4 when all three are populated), eight SATA 6 Gb/s and one mSATA, but a surprising lack of M.2; Killer E2200 NIC, and 8-channel HD audio.

Here's the first fruition of the association between Colorful and its newfound distribution partner, Chaintech. The GeForce GTX 780 Ti iGame Kudan takes hybrid cooling to the next level. It features a cooling solution that's similar in principle to that of ASUS GTX 780 Poseidon; but differs in that the liquid cooling covers not just the GPU, but also the memory and VRM. In the absence of liquid cooling, heat drawn from heat pipes passing through the base convey heat to its aluminium fin-stack heatsink, where it's ventilated by three 80 mm spinners. The liquid and air-cooling components draw heat from the GPU through a vacuum chamber plate.

Colorful announced a pair of GeForce GTX 760 graphics cards. Its recent tie-up with Chaintech appears to have sobered the company up a little, which offered two graphics cards that don't quite appear to be over the top, but designed to sell by the bunch. First up, Colorful unveiled a reference-design card of a different kind. While NVIDIA's reference GTX 760 is based on the same PCB as a GTX 670, and the same cooler as a GTX 660; Colorful's take on the reference is taking advantage of the pin-compatibility of GeForce GTX 760 with the GTX 680, and placing it on a GeForce GTX 680 reference PCB, with reference GTX 680 cooling solution. It goes a notch further, by enabling all five NVVDC phases instead of four on NVIDIA's retail GTX 680 cards. This card sticks to reference clock speeds of 980 MHz core, 1033 MHz GPU Boost, and 6.00 GHz memory.

Moving on, Colorful's premium GTX 760 offering is the iGame GTX 760 Ymir-U. It features a high-performance cooling solution that takes advantage of a dense silver-plated aluminum fin-stack, a combination of 8 mm and 6 mm-thick heat pipes, and a pair of 90 mm fans. The underlying PCB features a strong 8 phase VRM, and dual-BIOS that's switchable at the push of a button. The first BIOS runs the card at reference clock speeds; while the second one runs it overclocked, at 1019 MHz core, 1072 MHz GPU Boost, and 6.00 GHz memory. As with most Colorful cards, the company will begin selling the cards in the Greater China region first; and then move on to the rest of the continent, and neighboring Europe.

Check out this graphics card cooler design concept from the design house of Colorful, the people behind some of the most wacky and ingenuous graphics card cooler designs. The card is touted to be the "world's first liquid nitrogen customized."

Its cooler design is pretty straightforward. The GPU, memory, VRM, and other hot ancillaries make contact with a copper vapor-chamber plate, to which are attached a first stage of aluminum fin heatsinks. This stage can be decked up with a second stage of heatsinks that attach to the first stage using numerous heat-pipes, and a fan can be attached at the center, which ventilate the heatsinks. The fan, along with the second stage, can be removed, to reveal the copper plate that makes direct contact with the GPU. To this, a liquid-nitrogen (LN2) evaporator (parallel or perpendicular to the card's plane), can be attached. The LN2 evaporator cools the entire first stage, which cools not only the GPU, but also the memory, VRM, and other hot ancillaries.

As promised, Walton-Chaintech made a comeback to the PC motherboard and graphics card markets, by partnering with Colorful. The duo launched a full-fledged lineup of motherboards across various sockets (including LGA1155, AM3+, FM2), and graphics cards. Leading the lineup on the motherboard front are the Z77 X5 and X990FX X7.

Based on the Intel Z77 chipset, supporting the Core "Ivy Bridge" and "Sandy Bridge" processors, the Z77 X5 makes use of the entire feature-set of the platform. The LGA1155 socket is powered by a 8-phase VRM with special branding "Smart Power Engine 3," which gives user. fine control over the VRM via BIOS. Expansion slots include two each of PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (red, x8/x8, when both are populated), PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and legacy PCI. AMD CrossFireX is the only multi-GPU technology supported. 8-channel HD audio, 802.11 b/g/n, gigabit Ethernet, 2x SATA 6 Gb/s + 4x SATA 3 Gb/s, are among its features.

Walton-Chaintech announced a partnership with Colorful that will see it make a comeback to the motherboard and graphics card businesses. The company quit both businesses in 2006. Company chairman Lu Li-Cheng commented that Chaintech has years of experience in the business, including R&D and marketing, has received OEM orders from Colorful, and is looking to bring back the Chaintech brand to the consumer market in 2013, with unveiling in 2012. Walton-Chaintech will market its products outside China, with the assistance of Colorful. Colorful has a solid market presence in mainland China, where its graphics cards account for 24-27% of the branded graphics card market.

Walton Chaintech Corporation, manufacturer of memory modules and computer components and accessories, today announces three brand-new APOGΣΣ SSD series to demonstrate its capability in fulfilling consumers' requirement in high-speed and large storage equipments. The APOGΣΣ A-series, C-series and L-series all incorporate the mainstream SATA II interface, and yet, each offers unique features and targets at different segment of gamers, price-sensitive and entry-level consumers, respectively.

The APOGΣΣ A-series SSD offers unsurpassed solid performance without sacrificing its cool, quiet and energy efficient operation conditions. Built with SATA II interface, it can be easily integrated into today's mobile and desktop platforms.

Walton Chaintech, manufacturer of memory module and computer components and accessories, today announces its APOGEE Neo Squeeze Plus & APOGEE S Series USB flash drives. Differently from the previous launch of N Series specifically adapted with the luxury image, the APGOΣΣNeo Squeeze Plus and APOGΣΣS101 and S102 mainly target on the business executives and users who value the best.

Designed to meet the needs of business professionals, both the APOGΣΣ Neo Squeeze Plus and APOGΣΣS Series are light and slim. At only 57.5 x 19 x 8.8 mm (L.W.H.) and 55.5 x 21.8 x 10.2 mm (L.W.H.) for the Neo Squeeze Plus and S101, respectively, both flash drives are as light as 20g with the Surface Mount Technology (SMT) PCB Assembly. Taking in a very compact housing design, the S102 even weights only 12g with the Chip On Board (COB) System in Packaging (SIP). These technologies also secure the flash drives' duration and performance.

Walton Chaintech, one of the world's most well-known memory and storage device manufacturers, announces the availability of its latest memory clock that can reach a memory speed of 2400MHz. To address consumers' diversifying high-speed computing platform needs, this new clock is the industry's fastest computing clock with a transmission bandwidth of 19,200MB/sec per transmission. No more will users be restricted by memory bandwidth when faced with system overclocking, they will be able to maximize their computing systems' performance and potential.

The all-new APOGEE GT DDR3-2400 memory utilizes a 1.6V voltage and 9-11-10-27 timing operation process. Not only is this more powerful than many products currently in the market, different users' requests can be met as Walton Chaintech provides two-in-one KIT packs that are compatible with the widely-used dual-channel motherboards. Users do not have to worry about modular selection; system compatibility is enhanced because the KIT provides two types of capacities, 1GB x2 and 2GB x2, giving users more flexibility.

The proliferation of large-capacity external devices means they are being utilized in increasingly frequent manners for the backup of large files and high quality videos. However, users often have a long wait when they transfer large files of several Gigabytes. The primary cause for this is that the USB 2.0 interface is limited by its transmission speed of 480 Mbps. Thus, USB 3.0 devices were developed that possess ten times the transmission speed of the previous interface, winning consumer admiration. In order to fulfill consumer demands, Walton Chaintech, a world-renowned memory and storage device manufacturer, has officially launched a product that supports USB 3.0 standards today; the Astro Drive Series A101. Not only is it fully compliant with all USB 3.0 specifications, it is also the smallest USB 3.0 product available currently. A combination of all of these factors, in addition to its dual color design in red and silver, makes this a highly functional product that fulfills a great deal of anticipation.

To cater to consumer demand for data transfer efficiency, renowned RAM and memory card manufacturer Walton Chaintech is officially launching its new CF card convertor - the Apogee SSD Convertor. Consumers may use the high speed, high capacity CF cards as SSD hard disks, using the Apogee SSD Convertor, to expand the capacity of hard disk while achieving blazing fast data transfer speed of conventional SSD. The Apogee SSD Convertor offers both performance and upgrade versatility. When paired with Walton Chaintech's latest CF 606X high speed memory card, users will achieve a perfect match in terms of product compatibility and performance and enjoy velvety-smooth storage and processing experience on their PCs.

The all-new Walton Chaintech Apogee SSD Convertor is built to a standard 2.5" hard disk form factor. It features the high speed SATA II transfer interface and can simultaneously support up to two CF cards on top of Raid 0 and Raid 1 disk array functions. Users can choose to combine the capacity of two CF cards or use them as mirror disks to achieve higher data security based on their own needs. The Apogee SSD Convertor is superior in function to the traditional SSD. The Apogee SSD Convertor is capable of reaching 55MB/sec in actual data read test, which is significantly faster than the 46MB/sec performance of current mainstream 5400-rpm hard disks in terms of transfer efficiency. By choosing high capacity CF cards, users will substantially increase storage capacity without having to replace the convertor, and this greatly boosts the product's scalability.

In light of consumers' needs for high speed data transfer, renowned memory manufacturer Walton Chaintech is launching its latest Astro Drive 266X, which delivers an incredible reading speed of 40.9 MB/s and a maximum writing speed of 25.2 MB/s. The specifications of Astro Drive 266X far exceed the performance of all existing USB2.0 flash drives currently available in the market. Featuring innovative technologies to lower the costs of production, Walton Chaintech has successfully enhanced the economic benefit for the product by a large margin. The Astro Drive 266X provide a variety of memory capacities: From the mainstream specification of 16GB to the ultra-large 64GB to cater to the needs of different user demographics while offering exceptional C/P value for the product.

With the Astro Drive 266X, consumers will notice significantly reduced waiting time for data transfer between PCs and the USB disk, especially for large audio/video/multimedia files, demonstrating the product's blazing fast performance.

Reacting to users' demands for portable, high speed storage, Walton Chaintech has announced its new APOGEE Pronto eSATA drive. Modeled after APOGEE's award-winning SSD design, the Pronto uses the eSATA port instead of the USB 2.0 port for its file transfers. This product specifically targets users who require better performance and capacities than conventional flash pen drives but do not require speeds to run software and operating systems like SSDs.

The APOGEE Pronto eSATA has dualistic connectors, supporting both the eSATA and USB ports. This flexibility allows users to use the Pronto as a simple high capacity storage device, while also supporting read/write speeds of 90/50MB/s respectively, about three times faster than conventional flash pen drives. Available in 32G and 64G capacities, the Pronto supports users to store a multitude of different file types, from multimedia to office documents or any combination of both.

Walton Chaintech, the critically acclaimed computer parts manufacturer, has announced the release of DDR2 SO-DIMM module. Under the APOGEE brand, this new DRAM module is specifically designed for the Netbook, featuring next-generation 65nm processing, FBGA packaging, operational effectiveness, and energy efficiency; all the while maintaining high performance levels. APOGEE's DDR2 SO-DIMM is especially tailored for the Netbook, promoting its "think-green" concepts through its design and functionality.

Operating with low power consumption, the DDR2 SO-DIMM is manufactured with selected, original factory components and JEDEC approved RAWCARD F PCB designs. Regardless if CPU speeds are at 667 or 800, the DRAM still provides outstanding performance with cycle times of 5-5-5-15. Available in 1GB or 2GB capacities, APOGEE provides the flexibility for any user.

Walton Chaintech, the well-known innovative memory product provider, today announced the newest product APOGEE Magic Capsule and APOGEE Sharemate in 2009 International CES, with innovative product design of patented Flash memory technology. Besides, a complete memory products and solutions will also be showcased in International CES from Overclocking memory modules, FB-DIMM memory modules, Flash SSD, Flash USB and industrial standard storage products.

Exclusively designed by the adoption of the patented High Density Flash memory technology, APOGEE Magic Capsule works exactly like magic and is much more than a Flash USB drive. The innovative design and embedded software functions making it a perfect Flash memory companion to consumer's daily life. With its stylish appearance in classic black diamond shape and a chic, black necklace, each Magic Capsule is consists of 3 pieces of USB drives, the capacity of each USB can be chosen from 2GB to 8GB, users can easily use Magic Capsule to sort out business and personal images files and documents. Each USB can be connected to save space, so that users no longer need to carry different types of Flash USB along just for not enough of storage space or for file organization.

Walton Chaintech, the world's renowned graphics card and memory module manufacturer, announces today the GeForce 9 series GSE9500GT DDR3 512MB graphics card, the officially appointed gaming graphics card for the famous game C.S. On-Line in Taiwan. CHAINTECH GSE9500GT is the mainstream graphics card not only geared by the latest NVIDIA GeForce series core G96 technology but with an easier price tag, providing consumers a two-times more exciting visual experience than its prior version.

The overclocking memory module specialist, Walton Chaintech Corporation, today debuts the APOGEE GT Blazer DDR3 1800 4GB Low Voltage Memory Module. Supporting EPP 2.0 as well, APOGEE GT Blazer DDR3 1800 4GB kit attains the lowest voltage of 1.8V compared with other memory modules of similar speed in current market place for more power saving operation, and longer product life.

Walton Chaintech, the world's renowned memory module and graphics card manufacturer, will proudly display its latest products at 2008 Taipei Computex. Walton Chaintech is about to showcase excellent product portfolio including APOGEE overclocking memory modules and CHAINTECH gaming graphics cards embraced by the theme of Gaming with Passion at TWTC Nangang Hall Stand J306 in the first floor. During the show, overclocking live demonstration, magic show, jazz dances and limited cocktails will be available at Walton Chaintech's stand.

The overclocking memory module specialist, Walton Chaintech, today showed an individual approach of cooling their own APOGEE GT overclocking DDR3 memory modules. Called "Cool It Smart" the heatsink system is claimed to add almost 50 percent of cooling efficiency without using any heat pipe technology. Cool It Smart ships with the deluxe package of APOGEE GT DDR3 1800MHz (CL8-8-8-24) and represents a well-balanced and positioned with 4 screws light-weight aluminum heatsink mounted on top of the memories, and optionally cooled by two fans. In test environment the temperature of APOGEE GT DDR3 1800 memory modules before using the Cool It Smart heatsink was 73°C. After using the heatsink system, the module temperature had dropped to 52°C, which shows an apparent 21 degrees decrease. Additionally, when the optional dual fans were added on top of the heatsink block, the running memory modules' temperature had reduced to as low as 38°C, very close to the room temperature of 23°C.

Walton Chaintech has now enriched its memory line-up by introducing some new APOGEE GT overclocking kits. Balanced between bandwidth and latencies, APOGEE GT DDR3 1800MHz (PC3-14400) memory modules are rated to run CL8-8-8-24 and optimized for the latest Intel P35 and X38 chipset. The modules use eight Micron D9G 128M chips, which are well known for their exceptional overclocking performance. Each chip is handpicked for meeting strict performance and quality requirements. The APOGEE GT DDR3 1800MHz (PC3-14400) memories are available in 2GB kits (2x1GB).

Walton Chaintech has come to the rescue of notebook owners looking to expand their system memory to make the most of Windows Vista or 64-bit software. The company has just announced the availability of is APOGEE SO-DIMM memory now in 2GB capacities. The APOGEE DDR2 667/800MHz 2GB SO-DIMM modules are based on the JEDEC standard offering low power consumption, excellent heat elimination and memory speed of 667/800MHz DDR2 which should be enough to match up with even the latest Intel Santa Rosa platforms.

Taipei, Taiwan, April 11, 2007 - Walton Chaintech, the world's renowned memory module and graphic cards maker, introduces its new APOGEE GT DDRII 1066 memory module. Designed to fulfill the speed and performance requirements of extreme gamers and computer enthusiasts, APOGEE GT DDRII 1066 module is believed as an innovative addition to the GT line up. Featuring high performance, lower latency, and lower power consumption, the DDRII 1066 is the best choice for high-end platforms based on the Intel Core 2 Duo/Extreme/Quad series or AMD Athlon 64 series processors.