Japanese company Mouse Computer introduced the MDV Advance series desktop for graphics professionals. It is characterized by a large 27-inch IPS display with 2560 x 1440 pixels resolution, originally made by Samsung, driven by NVIDIA Quadro graphics. Based on the Sandy Bridge and Sandy Bridge-E platforms, the MDV Advanced is available in two models. The MDV-ASQ8310B-WS-P27LP is driven by Intel Core i7-2700K processor, with 8 GB (2x 4 GB) memory, based on a Z68 chipset motherboard. Graphics is handled by Quadro 600 The storage subsystem consists of a 1 TB hard drive and DVD SuperMulti drive.

The MDV-ASG9300B-WS-P27LP is the more expensive model, driven by Intel Core i7-3930K six-core processor, X79 chipset motherboard, and 16 GB (4x 4 GB) memory. Graphics is driven by Quadro 2000D. The storage subsystem is carried on from the other model. Buyers can opt for better storage at a premium. Both models are driven by Windows 7 Home Premium x64 OS. The pricing of MDV-ASQ8310B-WS-P27LP starts at 169,890 JPY (US $2150), while the MDV-ASG9300B-WS-P27LP starts at 239,820 JPY (US $3032).

Wondering what's going on with EVGA's SR-X motherboard? Well the board still isn't ready for release but EVGA has made progress on it, as is confirmed by a new image provided by the US-based company. This photo showcases the SR-X in a near final stage, equipped with an updated cooling solution made up of four heatsinks (covering VRM areas and chipsets).

As previously reported, the SR-X comes with two LGA 2011 sockets (it supports Sandy Bridge-E CPUs for single-processor setups and Sandy Bridge-EP CPUs for dual-chip configurations), 12 DDR3 memory slots (up to 96 GB of RAM are supported), two (one 8-pin and one 6-pin) power connectors per CPU, six SATA and four SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) ports, seven PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (SLI and CrossFireX support is included), PCIe disable switches, voltage read points, a debug LED, dual Gigabit Ethernet, two eSATA ports, 7.1 channel audio, Bluetooth, EVBot support, and six USB 3.0 connectors (four on the back plate, two via a header).

EVGA is promising more details about the SR-X (a price tag and an availability date maybe) 'soon'. CeBIT anyone?

Intel's most affordable processor in the LGA2011 package, the Core i7-3820, surfaced on Japanese stores in the Akihabara electronics shopping district of Tokyo. It is priced around 25,000 JPY (US $322). The retail box of this chip, carrying the S-Spec code "SR0LD", appears to be as big as those of the Core i7-3930K and Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition, its shape indicates that it lacks a bundled cooling solution, and so users should still rely on compatible third-party coolers, or use Intel's RTS2011LC, purchased separately.

The Core i7-3820 is a quad-core part carved out of the Sandy Bridge-E silicon. It has four cores, and eight logical CPUs enabled with HyperThreading Technology. The chip is clocked at 3.60 GHz. Caches include 256 KB L2 per core, and 10 MB shared L3. The chip retains the quad-channel DDR3 IMC present on the more expensive six-core parts. It is also said to be "limited unlocked", meaning it allows multiplier-assisted overclocking to a certain limit. The Core i7-3820 is not officially launched, though it should be unofficially supported by most socket LGA2011 motherboards based on the X79 chipset.

Eurocom, a developer of long lifespan, fully upgradable Notebooks, high performance Mobile Workstations and Mobile Servers, introduced the EUROCOM Panther 4.0 Mobile Workstation, Mobile Server and Gaming Station powered by Intel's newest line of 6 core, 12 thread, 130W desktop Intel Core i7-3960X Processor Extreme edition based on the Intel X79 Express Chipset Sandy Bridge-E architecture.

EUROCOM PANTHER 4.0 provides workstation-calibre performance, powerful graphics capabilities and high performance storage with four physical storage drives, two being SATA 600, two being SATA 300 and RAID 0/1/5/10. Super powerful Intel Core i7, i7 Extreme and next generation Intel Xeon processors are supported for high-end computing wherever work takes place.

The future is here, and AVADirect is readily expanding its offerings with hardware to prepare for it. For those who need ultimate performance on the go, AVADirect can feed your need for mobile speed with the Clevo P270WM. Based off of the Intel X79 chipset and Sandy Bridge-E processors, end-users can expect performance increases as much as 35-50 percent while keeping current and ahead of the curve for their much needed productivity, efficiency, and entertainment. Promising new features give the Clevo P270WM a name and reputation that is surely to leave a lasting impression for those who have it at their fingertips. The industry rookie, relative to age rather than experience, has no limits to its depth of functionality.

The P270WM's design shapes the ground we stand on by creating new standards for mobile desktop replacements. The revolutionary X79-fueled P270WM, being the successor of the world renowned Clevo X7200, supports all of the functionality provided by its older brother. Three 9.5 inch hard drives, with optional RAID, two USB 3.0 ports, SLI support, HD LED screen, HDMI 1.4a support, and the recently re-designed express card slot for third-party expansion are still key features of the newly offered Clevo P270WM Gaming Notebook.

Zalman released ZM-OC2011, a retention kit upgrade for WB5 and WB5 Plus water-blocks to support Intel's latest LGA2011 socket, on which Intel's "Sandy Bridge-E" Core i7 and Core i7 Extreme Edition processors are based. The kit consists of brackets that let you use the mount-hole spacing of all previous Intel LGA sockets, including LGA775, LGA1366, LGA1155/1156; nuts and bolts. In Japan it is priced at around $19.

Intel's X79 chipset for Sandy Bridge-E platform was originally designed to have four SAS (serial-attached SCSI) channels apart from its usual loadout of SATA ports. Early prototypes of socket LGA2011 motherboards displayed at last year's Computex event (June), carried a large number of chipset-driven ports. However, Intel found the chipset-integrated SAS RAID controller (independent device from the SATA RAID controller) to have "unreliable performance", and hence changed its specification at the last moment. So the production specification of X79 ended up having the same SATA port loadout as P67 (two SATA 6 Gb/s + four SATA 3 Gb/s).

This specifications change did not result in a design change of the X79 PCH package, its die remained the same, so did its package and pin-map, which motherboard vendors had for nearly an year. So ECS decided to implement the SAS ports despite being out of specifications. LegitReviews discovered that its X79R-AX sample very much did have SAS ports wired to the PCH. With firmware of the SAS RAID controller and drivers, it could enable and use those ports. Although the SAS ports are physically present on the board, users have to enable them via the UEFI firmware setup program (BIOS).

TechPowerUp today published the latest version of RealTemp, a comprehensive system processor temperature monitoring, logging, and clock speed monitoring utility. Version 3.70 packs several important updates over the previous version, starting with support for 6-core Intel "Sandy Bridge-E" processors, complete support for "Sandy Bridge" processors, more reliable power-consumption estimation using VID, updated i7 Turbo GT tool that lets you monitor multiplier changes with EIST and Turbo Boost playing tug-of-war, improved log file formatting, and visually-better max-temperature reporting through system-tray.DOWNLOAD: RealTemp 3.70

At this year's CES EVGA probably turned some heads with its upcoming power supply line but the company had more enthusiast eye candy on display, like the SR-X dual-socket motherboard. Teased a little last year, the SR-X seems to have the same HPTX form factor as its predecessor (the SR-2) but it offers support for the newest LGA 2011 Intel processors (Sandy Bridge-E for single-CPU setups, Sandy Bridge-EP for dual-CPU 'awesomesauce').

EVGA's dual-socket motherboard includes 12 DDR3 memory slots allowing for up to 96 GB of RAM, two (one 8-pin and one 6-pin) power connector per CPU, six SATA and four SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) ports, seven PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots for SLI or CrossFireX configurations, PCIe disable switches, voltage read points, a debug LED, dual Gigabit Ethernet, two eSATA ports, 7.1 channel audio, Bluetooth, EVBot support, plus six USB 3.0 connectors (four on the back plate, two via a header). The SR-X still hasn't been priced or dated.

The global leading brand Team Group Inc. takes the lead again by launching the Xtreem LV DDR3 2600 Quad-Channel CL10 for top specification, yet again dropping another bomb in the of OC memory market.

As its previous Xtreem LV DDR3 2400 CL9 has won overwhelming compliments, the company gets the chance again to bring out the upgraded Xtreem LV DDR3 2600 Quad-Channel CL10. This limited edition is by far the fastest and the only manufacturer to meet the extremely high standards of the 1T Command rate in the market. Its efficiency is 10% better than any other Quad-Channel memory. In addition, it supports the latest Intel X79 flagship platform and adopts the new Intel Core i7 premium processor Sandy Bridge-E (LGA-2011). The excellent stability and compatibility have passed strict tests to satisfy overclocking players' needs all at once.

CyberpowerPC Inc., a manufacturer of custom gaming machines, will hit the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at full throttle when it showcases its top-of-the-line Fang III Black Mamba gaming rig; new Xplorer notebooks PCs, and debuts an Intel-powered desktop PCs series based on the new NZXT Switch 810 gaming chassis. CyberpowerPC will also debut new systems that feature AMD's Radeon HD 7970 graphics card, which is PCI express 3.0 ready and is the world's first 28nm GPU.

CyberpowerPC's top-of-the-line Fang III Black Mamba is certain to turn heads at CES. The Black Mamba's performance is maxed with an Intel Sandy Bridge-E i7-3960X CPU and X79 Chipset with quad channel memory support. CyberpowerPC overclocks the CPU an additional 30% with its Venom Boost technology and includes its Advance Hydro Liquid Cooling Kit with all new 480 mm radiator support to keep your Venom Boosted CPU and extreme gaming GPUs cool and running quiet.

Welcome to the first TechPowerUp news post of 2012! Read on for a couple of impressive overclocking feats with the HD 7970 graphics card.

It looks like the new AMD Radeon HD 7970 could be a bit of a dark horse and a lot more potent than its stock specifications would suggest - excellent for creating a competitive graphics card market. The reviews at stock speeds show the flagship HD 7970 to be around 10-15% faster than NVIDIA's flagship GTX 580, which doesn't seem all that impressive since the GTX 580 has been on the market for over a year now. However, what the reviews haven't really shown, is what kind of an overclocking monster the HD 7970 is. It definitely looks like AMD could have easily beaten the GTX 580 by a much bigger margin than they did, had they wanted to and it makes one wonder why they didn't.

VR-Zone have spent the New Year weekend overclocking this beast, having reached a whopping 1.26 GHz core clock speed with their HD 7970 - and decent benchmark improvements to go with it. Also, with the fan at 100%, the card never got above a very comfortable 68 degrees centigrade while running Furmark, which is amazing considering how this test is specifically designed to heat a graphics card to the max - but please see the update at the bottom of the article. The stock cooler may be noisy, but it's certainly very effective: an excellent result which will prolong the working life of the card.

Until now, any site that has reviewed the Radeon HD 7970 has done so, using the sample AMD provided. There are very few CrossFire reviews out there, because it's simply too hard to get more than one AMD sample. 3-way and 4-way CrossFire reviews could be even rare, if such reviews even exist to begin with. This will change on the 9th of January, when AMD's add-in board partners are officially allowed to launch their Radeon HD 7970 graphics cards, when retailers can start selling these cards, and for reviewers to end up with enough cards to do CrossFire reviews.

Apparently British retailer Overclockers.uk got its stock of Radeon HD 7970 from at least two manufacturers, MSI and HIS. The site proudly showed off stacks of HIS and MSI Radeon HD 7970 graphics cards (first picture below). We certainly hope those are not all the cards it has in its inventory. OCUK did get a chance to pull three cards out of those boxes, and set up a 3-way CrossFireX setup using an Intel Core i7 "Sandy Bridge-E" system. At least one of those three cards is an MSI card, which isn't much different from the reference card than the MSI badge on the fan. Since the system is PCI-Express Gen 3.0 compliant, we can expect there to be close to no interface bottlenecks. And the guy who set that system up for a few snaps did what every enthusiast would do - run some benchmarks.

In Japan, Epson does more than selling printing and imaging devices. It sells pre-built PCs. Its latest creation is the Endeavor Pro 750, a gaming PC based on Intel Sandy Bridge-E platform. The Endeavor Pro 750 is housed in an airy aluminum-built case. The case has two permanently-fixed handles on top, and its 3.5/2.5-inch drive bay stack can be access from the front-panel, to give it some hot-plugging capabilities. The front-panel also has two USB 3.0 ports next to audio I/O. It's the insides that are more interesting.

The Endeavor Pro 750 is driven by an Intel Core i7-3930K, though an i7-3960X Extreme Edition processor can be opted for, the CPU is cooled by a custom air-cooler. The processor sits on a custom OEM motherboard labelled Epson, but in all likelihood, it may have been built by any of the major motherboard ODMs, such as Foxconn. There are a variety of memory options, starting from 4 GB, all the way up to 32 GB, with DDR3-1600 MHz being the standard memory type. The base model ships with an AMD Radeon HD 6450 graphics card, but it can be configured all the way up to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580. Storage options, too, are configurable, with various HDD RAID and SSD (Intel 510 series) available.

Welcome to the TechPowerUp 2011 PC technology Christmas special. We hope that you will enjoy reading it while tucking into your turkey, Christmas presents and a little too much wine... In this article, we go through the technology of 2011 that has had the most significance, the most impact and was generally the most talked about. It's not necessarily the best tech of 2011 which is the most significant though, since lemons can be just as significant as the ground-breakers in how they fail to deliver - and the backlash that goes with it.

January: Intel Sandy Bridge i5 & i7

Released on January 9th, the new Intel Core i5 & i7 processors were based on Intel's second generation Core architecture built on a 32 nm production process (HEXUS review). They included an IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) physically on the same piece of silicon along with HyperThreading. These new dual and quad core processors soundly beat all previous generations of Intel processors in terms of processing performance, heat, power use, features and left AMD in the dust. Therefore, Intel badly needed some competition from AMD and unless you have been living under a rock, you will know how that turned out in October with the launch of Bulldozer. Sandy Bridge was a sound win and is generally considered to be the only architecture worth considering at this point. The i5-2500K is currently at the sweet spot of price/performance. It comes at a stock speed of 3.3 GHz, but typically overclocks to an amazing 4.5 - 5 GHz with a decent air cooler and without too much difficulty in getting there. Models in the budget i3 range were released at various times later. See this Wikipedia article for details.

ASRock kicked off its "Sandy Bridge-E" compatible motherboard series with one of the most complete lineups, including a micro-ATX model. It did include some oddities, such as the X79 Extreme7, with its six DIMM slot arrangement. Socket LGA2011 Core i7 processors embed a quad-channel integrated memory controller, and so it's only logical to either have one DIMM slot per channel (four DIMM slots in all), or two DIMM slots per channel (eight in all).

ASRock unveiled its latest addition to its X79 Extreme family, the X79 Extreme6/GB, which sets this oddity straight, while creating another. This model is supposed to be a notch inferior to the X79 Extreme7, yet it provides eight DIMM slots (two per channel). Other features, however, are consistent with those of the cheaper X79 Extreme4. So it's safe to call this ASRock's answer to MSI's recently-launched X79A-GD45 8D, a relatively cheaper X79 motherboard with eight DDR3 DIMM slots. 8 DIMM slots stopped being a thing of the "premium" (again, relatively), the moment Intel launched a $210 X79 motherboard that features it, the DX79TO.

Over the last few months, motherboard manufacturers have been raising a big hoopla over how it's important to pick their products that feature PCI Express 3.0 (Gen 3.0) slots. There was even some drama between competing motherboard manufacturers over who was first to the market with this technology, even when consumers couldn't really make use of the technology. To begin with, you needed a next-generation Ivy Bridge CPU, then you needed a compliant graphics card. Sandy Bridge-E, fortunately, formally introduced the technology, complete with motherboards and processors that support it.

GPU maker AMD wanted to be the first to be out there with a GPU that's compliant with this interface, and so one thing led to another, and VR-Zone got to set up a test-bed using Core i7 "Sandy Bridge-E", ASUS Rampage IV Extreme (which allows users to change PCI-Express standard mode in the BIOS setup program, by forcing Gen 2 or Gen 1 mode), and an HD 7970, to see if running the GPU on PCIe 2.0 and PCIe 3.0 modes made any worthwhile difference. The results are in: zero, nada, zilch, sunna (zero in my language).

Since apparently six X79 motherboards aren't enough, ASRock is now putting the finishing touches on yet another LGA 2011 model, the Fatal1ty X79 Professional. This new, gamer-oriented board supports Intel's Sandy Bridge-E processors, and features a 2oz copper PCB, Premium Gold Caps, four DDR3-2400 memory slots, ten SATA ports (six are likely 6.0 Gbps while the rest are 3.0 Gbps), and four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots enabling CrossFireX or 4-way SLI setups.

Intel Sandy Bridge-E may be a duo this time, having only two processors (the Core i7-3960X and i7-3930K hexa-cores) to choose from, but early next year it will turn into a trio through the release of the Core i7-3820. This new model is the cheapest in the Sandy Bridge-E family and has begun to become available for pre-order around the world.

Built using 32nm process technology, the i7-3820 features four cores clocked at 3.6 GHz (3.9 GHz Turbo), eight threads, 10 MB of L3 cache, a quad-channel memory controller, and a TDP of 130W. The Core i7-3820 can be found listed in the US at $311.54 and in Europe at 276 Euro.

Taiwanese company MSI has today unveiled the eight DIMM version of its X79A-GD45 motherboard released last month. This new, module-enriched board is called X79A-GD45 (8D), it supports LGA2011 (Sandy Bridge-E) processors, and, according to MSI, can handle up to 128 GB of RAM (G.Skill will need to take notice).

The X79A-GD45 (8D) features Military Class III components (DrMOS II, Hi-C CAP, Solid CAP, Super Ferrite Choke), the mentioned eight (DDR3-2400) memory slots, two SATA 6.0 Gbps and four SATA 3.0 Gbps ports, plus three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 and two PCIe 2.0 x16 slots.

MSI's board also comes with one PCIe x1 slot, Gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.0 ports (two on the back plate, two via a header), 7.1-channel audio, Click BIOS II (UEFI), and the OC Genie II overclocking function. The X79A-GD45 (8D) has yet to be priced but since its quad-DIMM sibling costs 195 Euro, we're thinking it will go over the 200 Euro mark.

Intel's Desktop Board division didn't miss out on the Sandy Bridge-E LGA2011 platform launch, after all, it's ceremonial for Intel to launch a new generation of processors with its own branded motherboards that are fully compatible with them. While Intel had two models of LGA2011 motherboards in the pipeline, the DX79SI and DX79TO, only the former was launched in November, which made it to most platform reviewers. The DX79SI was launched at a price point of US $289 - $299 MSRP, though some retailers easily set that price above $300. The new DX79TO is designed to be a down-scaled version of the DX79SI, targeting a price range of $203 - $208, according to ARK. Naturally then, the price that's 30% lower than that of the DX79SI invites some aggressive feature-cutting.

To begin with, the DX79TO could have a slightly slimmer CPU VRM. Thankfully, it doesn't cheap out much on VRM heatsinks, with the same exact ones found on the DX79SI. The heatsink cooling the VRM area south of the socket is not linked to the PCH heatsink with a heat-pipe, like on the DX79SI. The PCH heatsink itself looks slightly slimmer, though it's not a major area of concern. The CPU socket is still wired to as many as eight DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting up to 64 GB of quad-channel DDR3 memory.

Dell's Alienware team has today launched an updated version of the Aurora gaming desktop which is based on Intel's Sandy Bridge-E platform. Known as model R4, the upgraded Aurora makes use of a head-turning ALX mid-tower chassis, and features a liquid-cooled Core i7-3930K or i7-3960X processor, up to 32 GB of RAM, up to a 2 TB hard drive and/or up to a 512 GB solid state drive, and up to an Nvidia GeForce GTX 590 card or two AMD Radeon HD 6950s.

Dell's desktop can also be equipped with one or two optical drives, a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio or Titanium audio card, and runs Windows 7. The Alienware Aurora R4 starts at $2,199 and can be found here.

As if the three kits introduced last month weren't enough, G.Skill has developed yet another quad-channel package for Sandy Bridge-E systems, one that is made up of eight 8 GB modules certified to operate at 2400 MHz. Part of the RipjawsZ series, this new 64 GB kit works at 2400 MHz with 10-12-12-31 latencies, features XMP 1.3 support, and is hand-tested to ensure maximum stability.

G.Skill's new quad-channel kit is backed by a lifetime warranty and can be found on pre-order priced at (hold on to your headset) 3,199 Euro!

As previously reported, Intel's first wave of Sandy Bridge-E processors have VT-d (Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O) disabled due to an errata in the C1 stepping. That issue couldn't be resolved in time for the launch but it's getting fixed with the C2 stepping which is set to start rolling out to customers on January 20th, 2012 (samples have already been delivered).

The CPUs moving to the C2 stepping are the hexa-core Core i7-3960X (3.3 GHz) and Core i7-3930K (3.2 GHz). Beside the fixed VT-d, the C2 chips will feature new S-spec and MM numbers so a BIOS update for current motherboards will likely be required.

Team Group Inc. gives enthusiasts the best present of the year that is Releasing 4 masterpieces of OC memory all in one, including Quad-Channel memory which is compatible with the latest Intel X79 platform, and the highest-level Dual-Channel memory on the market.

Team Group releasing 2 masterpieces of Quad-Channel OC memory at the same time, among OC memory, Team Xtreem LV DDR3 2400 CL9 uses selected chips and passes stringent testing, its low latency of 9-11-11-28 and 1T's Command Rate brings you greatest fun at high speed performance. It is the limited edition and it also the highest specification in Quad-Channel Memory module in the market which is surely the dream product for all the OC gamers.