Intel Corporation today took the wraps off its brand new, low-power, high-performance microarchitecture named Silvermont. The technology is aimed squarely at low-power requirements in market segments from smartphones to the data center. Silvermont will be the foundation for a range of innovative products beginning to come to market later this year, and will also be manufactured using the company's leading-edge, 22nm Tri-Gate SoC manufacturing process, which brings significant performance increases and improved energy efficiency.

"Silvermont is a leap forward and an entirely new technology foundation for the future that will address a broad range of products and market segments," said Dadi Perlmutter, Intel executive vice president and chief product officer. "Early sampling of our 22nm SoCs, including "Bay Trail" and "Avoton" is already garnering positive feedback from our customers. Going forward, we will accelerate future generations of this low-power microarchitecture on a yearly cadence."

Computex is Asia's largest high-tech event and will run from June 4th to to 8th, 2013 in Taipei, Taiwan and BIOSTAR will be showcasing their embedded/IPC solutions and graphics cards products as well as their line of Intel and AMD based motherboards in the Nangang Exhibition Hall at Booth M0402. The theme of their exhibition this year is their Hi-Fi Puro integrated products, including Intel's next generation Haswell based boards and their FM2 motherboards that support AMD's new Fusion "Richland" CPU. Continuing the tradition of their own in-house audio technology called "Puro Hi-Fi Technology"; Biostar is going to present the 2nd generation of this technology, called "Hi-Fi 3D".

Targeting audiophiles, HTPC enthusiasts and high-end gamers alike, Puro Hi-Fi features an integrated independent audio power design with a built-in amplifier. The technology utilizes audio components with an independent power delivery design for a significant reduction in electronic noise producing superb sound quality. The unique noise-blocking multi-layer PCB layout is conducive for an exceptionally clean signal. That design feature, together with a sampling rate of 192 kHz/24-bit, delivers high quality audio through an analog connection to your home theater system, multi-channel speakers or high-end headphones, allowing you to enjoy true high-definition 7.1-channel surround sound.

Launch of Intel's Core i7-4770K "Haswell" processor may be a month away, but the chip has been in circulation for some time now. An overclocker going by the handle "rtiueuiurei" managed to get an engineering sample of the chip past the 7 GHz mark, 7012.65 MHz to be precise. A base clock of 91.07 MHz, multiplier of 77.0x, and a staggering 2.56V core voltage, unless CPU-Z read it wrong. A single 2 GB memory module was used; no other details were revealed. Core i7-4770K and a fleet of compatible socket LGA1150 motherboards launch around the first week of June.

With its 4th generation Core "Haswell" processors, Intel is putting in a serious effort to improve integrated graphics (IGP) performance to catch up with AMD's Radeon HD 8600 series on its latest APUs. There are three classes of Intel IGPs for Haswell, the GT1, which features 10 execution units (EUs), and will feature on entry-thru-mainstream Pentium, Core i3, and Core i5 chips; GT2, which features 20 EUs, featuring on mainstream-thru-performance Core i5 and Core i7 chips; and GT3, a large 40-EU IGP, which uses an L4 eDRAM cache. Chips with GT3 graphics are multi-chip modules (MCMs) of the CPU die and this eDRAM due, as detailed earlier. It was earlier believed that Haswell chips with GT3 graphics cores will be confined to notebook and Ultrabook-specific CPU models, but it turns out that it will make an appearance on the desktop platform as well.

At a media event held in its Taipei headquarters, GIGABYTE demonstrated its AMP-UP integrated audio solution that will feature on some of its upcoming motherboards. On that pretense, it even got to show of two of its top socket LGA1150 motherboards, built for Core "Haswell" processors, the G1.Sniper 5, and the G1.Sniper M5. Positioned in gamer-overclocker targeted G1.Killer series, the two boards are based on Intel Z87 Express chipset. The G1.Sniper 5 is the larger standard ATX motherboard; while the M5 is a compact micro-ATX offering. The pictures also confirm that socket LGA1150 retention module and bolt-spacing is identical to sockets LGA1155 and LGA1156.

The G1.Sniper 5 appears to feature a 16-phase VRM, which uses ferrite-core chokes, and the same International Rectifier PowIRstage components as Ultra Durable 5 motherboards from the previous generation. This time around, the CPU plays a greater role in voltage regulation. The driver-MOSFETs on the board are cooled by an active fan-heatsink, which also has a liquid channel running through it, so you could make it part of your CPU loop. Thankfully GIGABYTE didn't let its imagination run away with designs of the other heatsinks on the board, one of which cools the Z87 Express chipset, and the other we imagine, a PLX PEX8747 48-lane PCI-Express 3.0 bridge chip. This chip gets you 4-way SLI/CrossFireX support.

Intel has just released more details about the new Haswell processors. It sets new benchmarks in terms of energy efficiency. The new C6 and C7 states are able to reduce the CPU power consumption to just 0.05A while previous Ivy Bridge processors draw up to ten times more minimum power.

But the positive progress of the CPU technology is subject to certain restrictions, because only few power supplies will be able to deliver stable voltages at such low loads. End users are therefore groping in the dark with no clues if their own power supply will be compatible with the new energy functions of Intel Haswell CPUs. PSU manufacturers usually do not state the possible minimum load of their products.

Is this what Intel's 4th generation Core i7 "Haswell" retail box looks like? That is the question. For the first time in a decade, Intel could use a collage of pictures in its box-art. The running theme appears to be "creativity," with the box asking "what will you make?" You'll also notice that the box-art doesn't feature a small case-badge art. The top half of the front side could be what the badge ends up looking like. A little while ago, Intel made a cryptic Facebook post confirming a series launch along the sidelines of Computex 2013, held between 3rd and 7th June.

Intel is expected to unveil its 4th generation Core "Haswell" processor family by early-June, along the sidelines of the 2013 Computex event. In addition to being available in 1000-unit tray quantities to OEMs, the desktop variants of these processors will be available in their familiar retail box packages. Multiple sources confirm that pricing of these chips will be largely identical to that of the current Core "Ivy Bridge" series, with succeeding next-generation part for each current generation one. The table below describes their US MSRP (excl. taxes).

With Computex 2013 a little over a month away, alongside which Intel plans to launch its 4th generation Core "Haswell" family, motherboard manufacturers are gearing up for another summer of product launches, with compatible socket LGA1150 motherboards. Among these is MSI, which teased its flagship motherboard that targets overclockers and PC enthusiasts interested in taking the Core i7-4770K and Core i5-4670K for a spin. This motherboard falls inside the company's Big Bang series, bearing the name Z87 XPower. As the name suggests, it's based on Intel's Z87 Express chipset.

Not much is known about the Big Bang Z87 XPower, except what the teaser video (after the break) and a couple of corner-shots reveal. Expect a fancy new color scheme (probably a combination of gold and black), a new design scheme for the VRM and chipset heatsinks with a glowy "X" sign, the usual plethora of overclocking options MSI packs with its high-end motherboards, and what appears to be an mSATA or mPCIe slot, in one of the pictures.

Intel may be a couple of months away from launching its Core "Haswell" processor family, and the 8-series "Lynx Point" family of chipset to back it, but is already talking to partners about the platform's successor, slated for the second quarter of 2014. Core "Haswell" introduces the industry to socket LGA1150 motherboards, and Core "Broadwell" could, in all likelihood, provide continuity to it, much in the same way "Ivy Bridge" did to "Sandy Bridge." Intel could introduce a new chipset to tag along with "Broadwell."

According to a roadmap slide seen by VR-Zone, Intel's 9-series chipset will include at least two models, the Z97 targeting enthusiasts, and the H97 targeting mainstream consumers. These chipset could drive socket LGA1150 motherboards going into the second half of 2014, and could support both "Haswell" and "Broadwell," in the same way today's 7-series chipset support "Sandy Bridge" and "Ivy Bridge." Intel could introduce a major feature with 9-series, SATA Express.

To tackle upcoming generations of Ultrabooks and NUC that lack space for discrete graphics, yet having to keep up with the demands of higher display resolutions (i.e. proliferation of 3840 x 2160), Intel is designing special variants of its Core "Haswell" processors that feature large integrated graphics cores bolstered by fourth-level eDRAM caches on-package. Pictured below, is one such contraption.

The graphics-enhanced Core "Haswell" processor is an MCM (multi-chip module) of two dies, the larger one is the actual "Haswell" processor complex with cores, uncore, and the larger GT3 integrated graphics core. While the standard Haswell silicon with GT1 and GT2 integrated GPU options, physically features up to 20 execution units (EUs), the large GT3 silicon features double that, at 40 EUs.

At the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) 2013 event held in Beijing last week, the company ran two separate seminars related to "Haswell," one related to the micro-architecture itself, and the other overclocking it. The company detailed improvements to the ways in which you can overclock these chips, without necessarily having to shell out dough for the base clock multiplier unlocked "-K" parts.

To begin with, tweaking Core "Haswell" processors will be similar to tweaking Core "Sandy Bridge-E" high-end desktop (HEDT) platform. Naturally then, overclocking "non-K" parts will be similar to overclocking the Core i7-3820. The chips ship with a base clock speed of 100 MHz. As with "Ivy Bridge," not just CPU cores, but also certain uncore components rely on this frequency. Also, as with "Ivy Bridge," overclockers will be given 5 to 7 percent headroom for tweaking this frequency, but it doesn't end there.

Scythe rolled out the fourth generation Mugen CPU cooler, in its home market of Japan. Mugen 4 (model: SCMG-4000), builds on the design of its predecessor with a feature it calls TMAPS (three-dimensional multiple airflow pass-through structure), a fin stack arrangement that works to improve air-flow and heat-dissipation to the flowing air. Another abbreviation Scythe is throwing at you is HPMS (hyper-precision mounting system), a new retention module that takes fewer steps to install, and supports all modern CPU socket types, including the upcoming Intel socket LGA1150, on which desktop Core "Haswell" processors will be based.

Scythe Mugen 4 retains the unique jagged aluminum fins of its predecessor, it is an aluminum fin tower type CPU cooler, which uses six 6 mm-thick copper heat pipes to convey heat to the stack. Heat is drawn from a nickel-plated copper base. A Falcon 120 mm PWM fan guides air through the heatsink, which spins at speeds ranging from 400 to 1,400 RPM, pushing 20.7 to 79 CFM of air. Measuring 130 x 88 x 160 mm, the cooler weighs about 625 g. Slated for April 24, it is priced at 4,980¥ (US $50).

During her keynote at the Intel Developer Forum today in Beijing, Diane Bryant, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Datacenter and Connected Systems Group, discussed how her company is helping users harness powerful new capabilities that will improve the lives of people by building smarter cities, healthier communities and thriving businesses.

Bryant unveiled details of upcoming technologies and products that show how Intel aims to transform the server, networking and storage capabilities of the datacenter. By addressing the full spectrum of workload demands and providing new levels of application optimized solutions for enterprise IT, technical computing and cloud service providers, unprecedented experiences can be delivered.

Intel reportedly began shipping its 4th generation Core processors, codenamed "Haswell," to its OEM partners (companies that sell pre-built PCs). These shipments could go into building the first batches of PCs running the chips, which will be launched alongside retail trims of the chips, in June 2013. In June, on the sidelines of Computex 2013, one of the biggest annual PC technology tradeshows, Intel is expected to launch its Core "Haswell" processors, various motherboard vendors are expected to launch compatible socket LGA1150 motherboards.

Among the Core "Haswell" chips Intel is expected to launch for the desktop platform, are the Core i7-4770K flagship quad-core part, and the Core i5-4670K, both of which feature unlocked base-clock multipliers, appealing to overclockers and PC enthusiasts. There are twelve other models on offer, with locked base-clock multipliers, a majority of which come in energy-efficient brand extensions such as -T and -S.

Intel issued a product-change notification (PCN) to partners in the motherboard industry, informing them of a new C2 stepping of the 8-series "Lynx Point" chipset. The stepping introduces a metal layers change that fixes the USB 3.0 remuneration erratum, which causes devices plugged in to USB 3.0 ports to fail to reinitialize after waking up from sleep states such as S3, requiring uses to unplug and replug them, which could get particularly irritating for people with external RAID devices that rely on USB 3.0 for host connectivity.

According to the PCN, the first socket LGA1150 motherboards in the market may not feature C2-stepping chipset. It predicts samples to be available to motherboard manufacturers by April 19, 2013; availability of qualification data (when Intel has finalized design after taking feedback from partners), by July 1 2013; customers should be ready to receive C2-stepping chips by July 31. These dates indicate that the very first batches of socket LGA1150 motherboards will still feature C1-stepping chipset that are affected by the erratum, and if you can't live with it, you should ideally wait until late-August or mid-September for the first motherboards with C2-stepping chipset to make it to the markets. Intel expects to launch its 4th generation Core "Haswell" processors and compatible LGA1150 motherboards by mid-June.

Prices of graphics cards with DDR3 memory are set to rise by 10-15 percent. The roughly 10 percent hike in prices of DDR3 memory chips, due to inventory-digestion, aided by reduced production from DRAM makers, is responsible for the hike. The June 2013 launch of Intel's Core "Haswell" platform could see a flurry of system upgrades, which could strain on DDR3 chip supply even further. Luckily for most DIY buyers, DDR3 memory is only used in sub-$100 graphics cards, with proliferation of GDDR5 to current-generation graphics cards around the $100 mark.

FinalWire announced AIDA64 v2.85, the popular system diagnostic and benchmarking suite is updated with 64-bit benchmarks optimized for AMD's "Richland" APUs, improved support for "Kaveri," "Kabini," and "Temash" APUs; and Intel "Haswell" and "Valleyview" CPUs; early support for AMD "Beema" APU, Intel "Avoton" SoC, "Crystalwell," "Ivy Bridge-E," and "Haswell-E" CPU, "Haswell-ULT" SoC; preliminary support for DDR4 and GDDR5 system memory types; and GPU support for AMD Radeon HD 8000 series and NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan.DOWNLOAD: FinalWire AIDA64 v2.85 Installer (EXE), Archive (ZIP)

In an effort to clear inventories of its current-generation A-series "Trinity" desktop APUs, creating room for next-generation "Richland," AMD is preparing a string of price-cuts for April. APUs including (but probably not limited to) A8-5600K, and A4-4000 series could be part of these price cuts.

In addition to its APUs, AMD is also planning early price-cuts of some of its socket AM3+ CPUs, such as the FX-8320, FX-6300, and FX-4300, which is probably preemptive to Intel's June launch of Core "Haswell" desktop processors. AMD recently launched the mobile variants of its A-series "Richland" APUs, its desktop variants could be launched some time in Q2 2013, beginning with high-performance parts such as the A10-6800K and A8-6600K.

Intel's Core "Haswell" desktop processor family launch may be three months away, but retailers in Europe aren't wasting any time to hog attention or score pre-orders. The company's flagship socket LGA1150 processor, the Core i7-4770K, was listed by Dutch stores MAXICT.nl and takeITnow, for €331.13 (incl. VAT) and €352.00 (incl. VAT), respectively. Both stores are offering the chip in its tray (chip-only) packaging. The listings confirm the chip's clock speed to be 3.50 GHz, and L3 cache size 8 MB. The MaxICT listing can be found here, and TakeITnow here. Ships all over EU.

Noctua today announced that it will continue its tradition of supplying customers with its premium-class SecuFirm2 mounting kits for novel platforms free of charge. While newer Noctua heatsinks support Haswell's LGA1150 socket out of the box, older models can now be upgraded with the new NM-i115x kit at no additional cost.

"We're determined to provide the best possible support to our customers and over the years, we've sent many thousands of mounting kits free of charge to users who wanted to upgrade to new platforms", says Mag. Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "With Haswell just around the corner, we're pleased to announce that we'll extend this offer for LGA1150. Owners of older Noctua retail heatsinks that don't support LGA 115x out of the box will be able to upgrade to the new socket free of charge!"

Intel's upcoming performance desktop processor Core i7-4770K, based on its next-generation "Haswell" micro-architecture, got its first formal performance preview by Tom's Hardware, which compared it to its two predecessors, the Core i7-3770K "Ivy Bridge" and Core i7-2700K "Sandy Bridge." The three were put through a battery of synthetic and real-world tests, including SiSoft SANDRA, real-world media transcoders, MSVS code compilation, and 3DSMax 2012.

In some tests, the i7-4770K offers as much of a performance upgrade over the i7-3770K, as it does over the i7-2700K, in others, it's less than linear. In its conclusion, Tom's Hardware notes that it found the i7-4770K on average, 7 to 13 percent faster than the i7-3770K in today's multi-threaded workloads, which is roughly consistent with what the i7-3770K offered over its predecessor, the i7-2700K. Find the entire preview in the source link below. Intel's Core "Haswell" line of desktop processors are expected to launch in June, 2013.

In addition to its 2.5-inch SATA 6 Gb/s TLC NAND flash SSD, Plextor showed off its upcoming SSD in the NGFF form-factor, designed for next-generation Ultrabooks. Based on the same Marvell 88SS9189 processor and triple-level cell (TLC) NAND flash memory as its 2.5-inch cousin, the drive differs in being a 42 x 22 mm (LxW) NGFF module, with PCI-Express 2.0 x2 interface. The drives will be sold in 128 GB and 256 GB capacities, featuring 256 MB and 512 MB DDR3 DRAM caches, respectively. On offer are read speeds of up to 700 MB/s, writes of up to 550 MB/s, and maximum 4K random write performance of 100,000 IOPS. The NGFF drives should arrive around the same time as Ultrabooks based on 4th generation Core "Haswell" processors.

The issue with USB 3.0 controllers integrated into Intel's upcoming "Lynx Point" 8-series core logic can be addressed only with new hardware (modifying the silicon), according to a new Hardware.info report. Intel decided against delaying launch of the 4th generation Core "Haswell" family to address the issue, and instead opted to address it in a future revision of the chipset.

A design flaw causes devices connected to Lynx Point's integrated USB 3.0 controller to be disconnected when the system wakes up from S3 (suspend-to-RAM), forcing users to reconnect them. This could mean you'd have to mount your USB 3.0 hard-drives/flash-drives again, although no data is lost. If you're editing files stores on such a storage device, you might have to save your work before the system is put to S3 sleep.

Apart from motherboards, the only big product segment ASRock made a name for itself is with pre-built mini-PCs. The company wants to put its experience to good use by cashing in for the market's newfound love for compact (mini-ITX) gaming PCs, the ones that save precious real-estate on congested living room TV racks and dorm rooms. Pictured below is the company's first such effort, timed with the launch of Intel's next-generation Core "Haswell" processor, and supporting socket LGA1150 platform based on Z87 Express chipset.

There are three components to ASRock's creation: a unique SFF case, co-designed by BMW Design; the ASRock Z87E-ITX motherboard, and a GeForce GTX 680 graphics card. The case looks pretty slick, coming from BMW. It stays slim by using a PCI-Express riser, allowing you to install graphics cards along the plane of the motherboard. The Z87-E ITX, like most efforts by ASRock in the past, is extremely feature-rich for its size. It uses a 6-phase VRM to power the LGA1150 CPU, features two DDR3 DIMM slots, PCI-Express 3.0 x16 and mini-PCIe 2.0, for the WLAN+Bluetooth card.