DFI has announced a new mini-ITX form factor motherboard in the LR100-N16M which offers low power consumption, higher-performance, and fanless cooling. This board utilizes the latest two-chip Intel Atom processor N450 and Intel 82801HM I/O Controller (also referred to as "ICH8M") system solution. This smaller integrated two-chip platform uses approximately 40% less board space than previous generation three-chip solutions, and provides higher performance per watt than any previous Intel Atom processor-based platform.

The LR100-N16M mini-ITX motherboard is equipped with a 45nm Hi-K technology Intel Atom processor N450 with 5.5W TDP, 667MHz front side bus (FSB) and 1.67GHz core frequency. In addition, this single core processor features a 512kb 8-way L2 cache, 64bit computing support using Intel 64 architecture, on-die memory and graphics controllers, all in a small Micro-GCBGA8 package. Integrating the memory and graphics controllers on the processor die increases performance, reduces the board footprint, and lowers power consumption over the previous generation three-chip platforms.

SAPPHIRE Technology announces the most exciting development in graphics for several generations - not only the fastest single GPU ever, but also the first video cards to support the advanced graphical features only available in Microsoft DirectX 11 and delivering spectacular video clarity, speed and visual effects, including over multiple monitors.

The SAPPHIRE HD 5870 is based on an advanced new graphics architecture from the ATI division of AMD, the second generation of GPU to be built in its 40nm process. This is the very first series of graphics solutions to support the forthcoming DirectX 11, soon to be introduced with Windows 7 and supported in Windows Vista.

AMD today launched the most powerful processor ever created, found in its next-generation graphics cards, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series graphics cards, and the world's first and only to fully support Microsoft DirectX 11, the new gaming and compute standard shipping shortly with Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. Boasting up to 2.72 TeraFLOPS of compute power, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series effectively doubles the value consumers can expect of their graphics purchases, delivering twice the performance-per-dollar of previous generations of graphics products. AMD will initially release two cards: the ATI Radeon HD 5870 and the ATI Radeon HD 5850, each with 1GB GDDR5 memory. With the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards, PC users can expand their computing experience with ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology, accelerate their computing experience with ATI Stream technology, and dominate the competition with superior gaming performance and full support of Microsoft DirectX 11, making it a "must-have" consumer purchase just in time for Microsoft Windows 7 operating system.

"With the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cars driven by the most powerful processor on the planet, AMD is changing the game, both in terms of performance and the experience," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Products Group, AMD. "As the first to market with full DirectX 11 support, an unmatched experience made possible with ATI Eyefinity technology, and ATI Stream technology harnessing open standards designed to help make Windows 7 that much better, I can say with confidence that AMD is the undisputed leader in graphics once more."

VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms,　today announced the VIA EPIA-P720 Pico-ITX board, which takes advantage of the latest VIA VX855 media system processor to deliver stunningly smooth playback of the latest HD video formats for next-generation digital interactive devices.

"VIA continually strives to offer customers compelling product designs that open up new worlds of possibility," said Daniel Wu, Vice President, VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc.　"The VIA EPIA-P720 enables a new class of extremely compact embedded devices that can comfortably handle the most demanding video playback whilst remaining entirely fanless. No other compact platform currently offers these features in tandem."

More Details Trickle in on Intel's New Atom Platform, the Pine Trail-D Based Nettop

Following the story which we covered just a few days ago, Expreview has got more information on the new Intel Atom platform, codenamed Pine Trail-D. From the new information, we see that the CPU, IGP and MCH will in fact all be integrated into one chip, as opposed to just being moved onto the same die. The CPU has also been listed as at least 1.6Ghz, double that of the current entry level Atom processor. Despite the platform having no need for a northbridge, with it all moved into the CPU, Intel have managed to keep the die size at 484 sq. mm. On that note however, it seems that the IGP is still DirectX 9 based, though further details on the graphical capabilities are still not yet known. We also see, that the new Tigerpoint southbridge, will support 8 USB devices, 4 PCI-E x1 lanes, 2 PCI ports, 2 SATA ports and HD audio.

Microsoft has just released the November update for DirectX 9.0c. At present only the end-user web installer is available, but this is the version which should suit most techPowerUp! readers best anyway. Although it's only a minor update, everyone should update to prevent any potential problems in new games and to ensure full compatibility with future drivers. The download is between 10KB and 212.6MB depending on how up-to-date your current version of DirectX is and it is for all versions of Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista. Download here.

IGN has released some videos for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. They are located in the PC section, but are marked with 360. So it makes it hard to say on which version they are showing. In one of the videos it states that the PC and PS3 version will be identical to each other. The game its self looks very promising, and could bring a lot fun to FPS fans when it is released.

You can check out the videos here.Source/Videos: IGN

Microsoft has released an updated version of DirectX for June, although it isn't clear whether the update is just for DirectX 9.0c or for DirectX 10 on Vista as well. Regardless of this, it is still recommended that Vista users update their systems because Vista will benefit from any DirectX 9.0c fixes when playing DirectX 9 games. The web installer is only for Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (both 32-bit and 64-bit versions), whilst the redistributable version will also work with Vista. The download links are listed below:

• Web installer for Windows 2000, XP and 2003: download [44KB - 41.4MB]
• Redistributable installer for Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista: download [53.6MB]

DirectX 9.0c has now been updated for April to fix minor issues - this isn't a vital update, but it's recommended for those who are keen to keep their Windows install up-to-date or for those experiencing any problems with 3D applications.

Download: DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer [45 KB - 36.6 MB]
Download: DirectX Redist Runtimes [48.9 MB]
Download: DirectX SDK [441 MB]
Download: DirectX SDK: Symbol Files [36.1 MB]

Most users will only need to use the web installer, but any Vista users updating DirectX will need to download the redistributable (it isn't listed as being supported by the web installer) - it's unclear whether any DirectX 10 updates are included.

Although most games work ok with DirectX 10, which comes built into Windows Vista, some games such as Medieval 2: Total War and Company of Heroes may not work correctly and you're likely to see errors about missing DLLs. If you have these problems (and even if you don't you should still consider it) you should install DirectX 9 on Vista by downloading it from here. This seems to be a problem with the backwards compatibility in DirectX 10 but installing DirectX 9 should solve any problems without causing any new conflicts.

While NVIDIA is currently in (figurative) hot water with developers and gamers for an utter lack of WHQL Vista drivers for the G80, they are working on something for the rest of the industry. Mac OS X has for a long time been disadvantaged with a lack of Direct3D games. NVIDIA recently announced that they will work with Trans Gaming to develop very fast (and very supportive)Direct3D emulators for Mac OS X. NVIDIA's CgFX API engine, as well as their shader libraries of known developers, will compliment Trans Gaming's Cider very nicely. This means that as NVIDIA and Trans Gaming really get something out in the public, they will allow Mac users to play modern games.

Download: DirectX SDK [432 MB]
Download: DirectX SDK: Symbol Files [34.4 MB]
Download: DirectX Redist Runtimes [44.2 MB]
Download: DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer [45 KB - 31.7 MB]