TechPowerUp today released the latest version of GPU-Z, our popular video subsystem information and diagnostic utility that provides you with accurate information about the graphics hardware installed, and lets you monitor their clock speeds, fan speeds, voltages, VRAM consumption, etc., in real-time. Version 0.5.8 introduces two new features. The first one is a render test that applies sufficient load (not stress) on the GPU to pull it out of PCI-Express link-state power-management, to ensure the Bus information is accurate. If you find the PCI-Express bus link speed or PCIe version displayed incorrectly, simply click on the "?" button next to the field to launch the load test.

The next new feature is ASIC quality, designed for NVIDIA Fermi (GF10x and GF11x GPUs) and AMD Southern Islands (HD 7800 series and above), aimed at advanced users, hardware manufacturers, and the likes. We've found the ways in which AMD and NVIDIA segregate their freshly-made GPU ASICs based on the electrical leakages the chips produce (to increase yield by allotting them in different SKUs and performance bins), and we've found ways in which ASIC quality can be quantified and displayed. Find this feature in the context menu of GPU-Z. We're working on implementing this feature on older AMD Radeon GPUs.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.8, TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.8 ASUS ROG Themed

The full change-log follows.

ASUS B23E 12.5-inch Business Laptop goes up for Pre-order

The ASUSPRO B Series of business-grade laptops will soon be added a new model, one known as the B23E which weights as low as 1.55 kg and features a durable magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis, a spill-proof keyboard, a 12.5-inch (1366 x 768) display, a Sandy Bridge processor, and a Sonata long life (900-charge cycle) battery.

Now available for pre-order is one B23E SKU (the B23E-XH71) which packs a 2.7 GHz Core i7-2620M CPU, 4 GB of RAM, Intel HD graphics, a 500 GB (7200 RPM) hard drive, a 5-in-1 card reader, a 2 megapixel webcam, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, an ExpressCard slot, and a HDMI output. The B23E-XH71 runs Windows 7 Professional 64-bit and costs $922.43.

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

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, has announced the launch of the XH61, a new 3-litre PC for Intel's Sandy Bridge processors.

Barely 7 cm high, this Slim-PC barebone extends the product range and introduces a modern 32 nm-architecture CPU platform. The Intel H61 Express chipset selected for this new product supports second-generation Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors for the LGA1155 socket with a TDP of max. 65 W. The two memory banks on the pre-installed motherboard can take DDR3 modules up to a total capacity of 16 GB.

ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and a channel manufacturer, today kicks off the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show with a trio of versatile 2nd-Generation ZBOX mini-PCs for all your computing needs. The new ZOTAC ZBOX ID81, ID80 and AD04 series deliver outstanding energy-efficiency and stunning high-definition video playback in a compact form factor.

2nd-Generation ZBOX platform enhancements debuting with the ZBOX ID81, ID80 and AD04 series include an external WiFi antenna for superior wireless reception, integrated Bluetooth 3.0 technology and a bundled Media Remote with USB IR receiver for use with Microsoft Windows Media Center, XBMC and other popular media player applications.

With key enterprise architectures such as Sandy Bridge-EP awaiting launch, Intel has as many as 40 Xeon processor models to release in the first half of 2012, which it will likely launch in two rounds of 20 models, for each of the first two quarters of this year. In Q1, Intel will release six-core Xeon E5-1660 and E5-1650, and a yet to be named quad-core model; the three will be priced at US US$1,080, US$583 and US$294, respectively. In the same quarter, Intel will also launch 7 eight-core Xeon processor models, including the Xeon E5-2690four six-core processors including E5-2640, three quad-core processors including E5-2609 and dual-core processor E5-2637. Intel will also launch some low-power (energy-efficient) Xeon models, including Xeon E5-2450L and six-core E5-2430L priced at US$1,106 and US$662.

In the second quarter of 2012, Intel will launch the other 20 models. These include Xeon processors based on the Ivy Bridge silicon, and in the socket H2 (LGA1155) package. The Xeon E3-1290v2 is an example of such a chip. These high-grade Ivy Bridge chips will be priced in the range of US$189-884. Then on, 7 more E5 series models will be launched, including Xeon E5-2470, priced between US$192-1,440. Towards the end of the quarter, Intel will launch low-power eight-core and six-core Xeon processor models, including Xeon E5-2650L and E5-2630L, priced at priced at US$1,106 and US$662, respectively.

Taiwanese company MSI has recently announced a new addition to its Wind Top family of all-in-one desktop PCs, the 20-inch AE2071. This shiny, all-white AiO has Sandy Bridge power, makes use of Military Class II components and, according to its maker, is the first of its kind to feature LED backlighting.

The AE2071 has a maximum display resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels, and features optional multi-touch support, a Pentium G620 or Core i3-2100 CPU, up to 8 GB of RAM, Intel HD graphics, a 500 GB (7200 RPM) hard drive, a DVD writer, two 3 W speakers with SRS Premium Sound, a 6-in-1 card reader, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, a 0.3-megapixel webcam, two USB 3.0 ports, and a HDMI output.

MSI's system runs Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and includes the Smart Media Link and Smart Sync technologies which allow for easy file syncing and streaming to DLNA-compatible devices. The AE2071's price tag was not announced.

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.

First shown to the world at the IFA 2011 event in Berlin in September, Samsung's Series 7 CHRONOS premium notebook will be launched in Korea, next month. Apart from its sleek aluminum body, the CHRONOS packs a punch, thanks to quad-core Core i7 "Sandy Bridge" processor, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD, and Samsung's Fast Starter technology (similar to Diskeeper's Express Cache). Its 15.6-inch screen sports a 1600x900 pixels resolution, and packs a proprietary panel technology that provides up to 300 nit brightness. Its pricing will range from 1,790,000 to 2,000,000 Won (US $1,545 to $1,726), depending on its configuration. With it, Samsung wants to tap into the premium market in its home country.

"Visibly Smart" was the tagline with which Intel brought its 2nd Generation Core processor family codenamed "Sandy Bridge" into the market. What every Sandy Bridge chip in the LGA1155 package launched thus far has in common is its integrated graphics controller. Apparently, Intel is planning to launch three new Core i5 quad-core processors, which lack that integrated graphics. The processors very much will work on H61, H67, and Z68 chipset-based motherboards, only you can't use the integrated graphics, making them functionally-identical to first-generation LGA1156 Core i5 quad-core chips.

The Core i5-2550K, which has been talked about for the past few weeks, is one of these three models that will lack iGPU. This chip is geared for overclocking, as it features an unlocked base clock multiplier. The other two models are the Core i5-2450P, and Core i5-2380P. Intel is perhaps counting on the "P" marker to intuitively denote lack of iGPU, like with P67 chipset. Clocked at 3.10 GHz with a Turbo Boost speed of 3.40 GHz, the Core i5-2380P is clocked identically to the Core i5-2400, except of course it lacks the iGPU. The Core i5-2450P, on the other hand is a little unique, with a clock speed of 3.20 GHz and 3.50 GHz Turbo Boost speed. Pricing and availability are not known, though it is expected that some of these chips will be priced lower than existing models with iGPU.

British PC maker and specialist with "small and silent PCs", Tranquil, unveiled its latest MMC-12 media center PC that will give your home video player (DVD/Blu-ray player) a run for its money, for in its 1.5-inch tall form-factor, it packs a throbbing Intel Core i3/i5/i7 "Sandy Bridge" processor (buyer chooses model). Its body is milled out of blocks of metal with a satin-textured matte finish. It has a minimalist front-panel with a slot-in optical drive, DVD or Blu-ray (again, buyer chooses). Tranquil didn't give out much more information about the MMC-12. Its previous media center PCs earned quite some praise for their acoustics.

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.

Intel notified its partners among OEMs and ODMs, price cuts of processors based on the "Sandy Bridge" architecture, by 10 to 15 percent, according to sources in the notebook industry. The company hopes that reduced prices will stimulate market demand, and help quicker digestion of inventories as it gears up to launch its new generation of Core processors based on the 22 nanometer "Ivy Bridge" silicon, in April 2012.

Major notebook vendors such as Lenovo, Acer, and ASUS, have already brought prices of their models based on the popular Core i5-2430 below US $659 (NTD 20,000), and those based on cheaper Core i3 models under NTD 13,000 (US $430). Intel's upcoming Core i5-3450 and Core i7-3370, which will be found in Intel's mid-thru-performance lineup of new-generation Core processors, are expected to be just about $10-$15 costlier than the chips they're about to displace. The two are expected to be priced in the range of US $184-332. It is expected that notebook vendors will convey these fresh price cuts to the end-user, resulting in slightly more affordable notebooks.

Previously showcased at CeBIT (in March) and Computex (in June), Asus' 27-inch ET2700 all-in-one PC has now been launched in the US where it's set to go head-to-head with the Apple iMac.

The ET2700 is equipped with an LED-backlit Full HD (1920 x 1080) MVA panel offering 178/178 degree viewing angles (and, depending on model, 10-point multi-touch) and features a Sandy Bridge processor (Core i3-2120, i5-2400S, i5-2405S or i7-2600S), up to 8 GB of RAM, Intel HD integrated graphics or an NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M 1/2 GB card, up to a 2 TB hard drive, and either a DVD writer, a Blu-ray combo drive, or a Blu-ray burner.

In 2012, Intel will update its processor lineup up to performance 2 tiers with new models based on the spanking new 22 nm "Ivy Bridge" silicon, which will increase performance over the current generation, and bring some new features to the table. In late November, a list of desktop Core i5/i7 models could be compiled, which were later confirmed on roadmap slides. CPU World compiled retail channel pricing of several of those Core i5/i7 "Ivy Bridge" chips. The prices look to be more or less consistent with current "Sandy Bridge" Core processors, which those chips are bound to replace. The Core i7-3770K, for example, which will replace the Core i7-2600K, will be similarly priced to it.

Intel started its "Sandy Bridge" LGA1155 family with two processors geared for overclocking, the Core i7-2600K, at a $320 price-point, and Core i5-2500K at around $210. Both are extremely successful products, among the two the Core i5-2500K struck a price-performance sweet-spot, while the Core i7-2600K became the ideal chip to build high-end gaming PCs with. Around the time when AMD was releasing its AMD FX processor family, Intel released the new Core i7-2700K. This chip didn't necessarily replace the i7-2600K, but took a price point slightly higher than it. According to a CPU World report, Intel is readying a new sweet-spot processor geared for overclocking, the Core i5-2550K.

With a retail channel part number BX80623I52550K and OEM part number CM806230121300, the Core i5-2550K was added to the MDDS database. It will carry the S-spec code SR0QH. The exact clock speed of this chip is not known, but CPU World expects it to be 3.40 GHz. Based on the Sandy Bridge LGA1155 package, the Core i5-2550K will feature four cores, 256 KB L2 cache per core, 6 MB shared L3 cache, integrated dual-channel DDR3 IMC, , integrated PCI-Express 2.0 root complex, and TDP of 95W. We expect this not to necessarily displace the i5-2500K, but occupy a price-point slightly above it. Let's say, $239-$249, just to heat things up for the AMD FX-8150.

Previous preliminary reports have suggested that the forthcoming Ivy Bridge CPUs will have single threaded performance on par with the existing Sandy Bridge CPUs and will mainly deliver improvements to power consumption and integrated graphics - nothing for PC enthusiasts to get excited about. However, in leaked documents sent to partners, Intel have now revealed official performance figures for IB and they look rather good. They've produced a raft of benchmarks, which reveal improvements such as 56% in ArcSoft Media Expresso, 25% in Excel 2010 and a 199% gain in the 3D Mark Vantage GPU benchmark. Unfortunately, they haven't released any benchmarks based on high performance 3D games, but it's probably safe to say that they will be similarly improved. Now, on to the benchmarks, which compare their new 3.4 GHz i7-3770 (4 cores + HT) with the current 3.4 GHz i7-2600, also with 4 cores + HT:

It looks like the Bulldozer disaster might have been too much of a setback for AMD to recover from. After 30 years of competing with Intel in the x86 processor market, AMD is about to give up, even with the 2009 1.25bn antitrust settlement they extracted from them. Mike Silverman, AMD company spokesman said, "We're at an inflection point. We will all need to let go of the old 'AMD versus Intel' mind-set, because it won't be about that anymore." He was vague on the exact strategy that AMD intends to pursue from now on, though. However, the company is widely expected to make a concerted effort to break into the smartphones and tablets market. The big problem with this strategy unfortunately, is that this arena is currently dominated by many other competitors. On top of that, their arch enemy Intel is also trying to muscle in on this space, hence AMD could find themselves back at square one, or likely even further back. AMD's graphics cards are doing well at the moment though and are quite competitive, so it looks like their expensive purchase of ATI back in 2006, might yet save the company from extinction. If they become primarily a graphics card company, they will inevitably end up a lot smaller than they are now though and that's a lot of lost jobs and personal hardship, along with a monopoly x86 market remaining and all of its negative effects on the market.

Russian website Overclockers.ru claims to have a complete picture of what Intel's upcoming 22 nm Core "Ivy Bridge" desktop (2012 Core Processor Family) looks like. The site compiled model names, extensions, clock speeds, Turbo Boost speeds, L3 cache sizes, and TDP ratings of as many as 18 models, most of which are quad-core.

The table reflects that most clock speeds are similar to today's Sandy Bridge LGA1155 processor models, some have Turbo Boost speeds as high as 3.90 GHz. Since Ivy Bridge silicon is an optical shrink of Sandy Bridge LGA1155, from 32 nm to 22 nm, and since Intel is using a more energy-efficient transistor design, there are significant improvements in TDP ratings.

On our front page, we placed a poll in mid-September, ahead of AMD FX Processor family launch (based on the "Bulldozer" architecture). Based on the most plausible specifications and the hype surrounding the products at the time, we had a hunch that neither Bulldozer nor Sandy Bridge-E will meet our readers' expectations. AMD FX Processor family turned out to be a Duke Nukem Forever, clogged in the pipeline for too long (since 2007, as a matter of fact), when it came out, it made a mockery of itself. It's barely faster than its previous generation.

Sandy Bridge-E promised to be a pin-up processor platform that's eons faster than its predecessor, its specs-sheets warranted its hype. As it turns out, although they're the fastest processors, they aren't much faster than previous-generation Westmere six-core chips at multi-threaded applications, and aren't much faster than Sandy Bridge LGA1155 Core i7 processors at gaming and serial loads. We set out to find out which would turn out to be a bigger "fail" (failure, in internet jargon). To stuff the poll up with more options, we experimented with the idea of placing a seemingly-unbeatable poll option "Our Politicians", just to see if either of the two could fail so hard, that politicians end up better. The myth that politicians always win at a failing contest is busted, at least in this case.

Intel's Ivy Bridge line of processors are not due for release until spring 2012, but it looks like Chinese website Coolaler has scored a sneak peak at the performance level of Intel's 22 nm Ivy Bridge platform by testing an engineering sample of a quad core CPU. The screenshot shows CPU-Z & Task Manager (no HyperThreading) readouts, while the AIDA64 Cache & Memory benchmark has been run. The CPU used is a 2 GHz sample as shown by the photo, which CPU-Z reports as running at its 2.4 GHz turbo boost speed (20% overclock) on a Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 motherboard. Rough and ready verdict: about the same speed as the current Sandy Bridge, but with a significantly enhanced northbridge and graphics core. The AIDA64 scores are actually slightly lower than the current SB scores, but this is likely because the CPU is running unsupported and unoptimized due to a mobo BIOS that's not made for it and a benchmark that cannot measure its true performance. Note the memory speeds, which were run fast at 2134 MHz 6-9-6-24 CR2, further indicating lack of optimization, since these timings suggest somewhat better performance than what was measured.

Intel started shipping the new Pentium 350, a model designed specifically for low-cost servers, micro-servers, and home servers; a segment Intel originally planned to address with some of its Atom dual-core chips. The Pentium 350 is an offshoot from entry-level desktop and notebook platforms the Pentium brand is currently in charge of, it is designed with durability and energy-efficiency required by servers in mind.

Available in the LGA1155 package, Pentium 350 is a dual-core processor based on the 32 nm Sandy Bridge dual-core silicon. It is clocked at 1.20 GHz, and features 3 MB of shared L3 cache apart from 256 KB L2 cache per core. Thanks to its low clock speed, the chip's TDP is rated at just 15W, making it ideal for home and small business servers. It will naturally benefit from the high IPC of Sandy Bridge architecture. The chip features Intel64 instruction set, its integrated memory controller supports up to 32 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1066/DDR3-1333 MHz memory.

The latest Sandy Bridge-E 6 core processors have just been released, to excellent reviews. However, the architecture is designed for 8 cores, so these current i7-3960X & i7-3930K processors actually contain those 8 cores, but with two turned off in order to enable them to fit within a manageable 130 W power envelope. Hence there's quite a bit more potential to be released and soon. Therefore, anyone looking to invest in the premium-priced SB-E platform right now, should note that these processors are at the initial C1 stepping and have the VT-d hardware virtualization issue and PCI-E 3.0 compatibility uncertainty. The VT-d problem will be a real show stopper where hardware acceleration of a virtual machine is a must, so it shouldn't be ignored.

VR-ZONE brings us news that the fully unlocked SB-E 8 core chips will be released as the long awaited Xeon E5 family of processors, which will be built on the C2 stepping, solving the above issues. However, being 8 core, these will be very power hungry indeed, consuming around 150 W at just 3 GHz with all 8 cores active and 20 MB of L3 cache. At 2.5 GHz though, the new processors are expected to fit within the 95 W power envelope.

Earlier this week, Intel launched the fastest desktop processors under its Core i7 "Sandy Bridge-E" platform, with is partners, motherboard, memory and cooler vendors. Less than a week into its shelf life, Sandy Bridge-E already has a successor taking shape at Intel, slated for the fourth quarter of 2012, but that's far from being the most interesting part of this news. According to a new internal slide scored by a source at XFastest, Ivy Bridge-E will be compatible with today's Intel X79 platform, and LGA2011 socket.

Suddenly, Sandy Bridge-E makes for a sweeter deal because its platform longevity (for upgrades) is at least two years. Ivy Bridge-E, like Ivy Bridge LGA1155, will be built on the 22 nanometer silicon fabrication process. We don't expect Ivy Bridge-E to be much more than an optical shrink of today's Sandy Bridge-E silicon, but the shrink could leave scope for enabling some of its components otherwise locked out for the Core processor family. Sandy Bridge-E silicon physically holds 8 cores and 20 MB of L3 cache, but the fastest Core processor based on it has just 6 of those cores, and 15 MB of L3 enabled. The source at XFastest says that while Ivy Bridge-E is slated for Q4 2012, the LGA1155 Ivy Bridge will launch across Q1 and Q2 of 2012 (March~April).

NVIDIA today announced that system builders worldwide are now shipping the fastest PC gaming platforms ever built, thanks in part to NVIDIA SLI technology and the just-released Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition processors and X79 chipset-based motherboards.

The combination of NVIDIA SLI technology -- which allows for multiple GPUs to run on a single PC -- and new X79-based motherboards allow gamers to customize their PC experience with up to four NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPUs, including the GeForce GTX 580 and GTX 570, the world's fastest DX11 GPUs. Licensed by the world's leading motherboard manufacturers -- including Intel, ASUS, ASRock, EVGA, Foxconn, Gigabyte and MSI, SLI technology is crucial for playing this year's hottest graphics-intensive games, such as the recently released Battlefield 3 and upcoming Batman: Arkham City with detail, resolution and immersion settings cranked up.