Digital Storm, the predominant name in computer system integration and engineering, proudly announces the flagship system in its award-winning line of ODE gaming computers - ODE Level 4. This new system takes the pre-built and fully customized concept to the next level by integrating Intel's X79 chipset, Core i7 3930K six-core CPU, and overclocking it to 4.6GHz. ODE Level 4 gaming PCs are packed with lightning fast components that have been optimized to deliver unparalleled performance, while not breaking the bank.

Based on Intel's X79 chipset, ODE Level 4 boasts blazing fast speed that creates unrivalled gameplay. Digital Storm engineers have also taken advantage of the quad-channel memory controller on the new X79 chipset by designing a luxurious 16GB configuration of DDR3 memory that delivers an even more responsive user experience. Additionally, a configuration of three NVIDIA GTX 570 1.2GB video cards, in triple SLI, generates fluid smooth graphics, creating an immersive gaming experience.

CyberpowerPC, a leading manufacturer of custom gaming desktop PCs, gaming notebooks, and performance workstations, today announced a new series of enthusiast gaming PCs based on Intel's 2nd Generation Core i7-3000 Series CPUs (code named Sandy Bridge-E) and X79 chipset motherboards.

CyberpowerPC gaming systems receiving the new CPU makeover includes the Gamer Xtreme 3D series, the FANG EVO Black Mamba and Cobra as well as its award winning Gamer Xtreme XE and XI systems. The series will include the flagship Intel Core i7 3960X (3.33Ghz and Turbo Boost up to 3.9Ghz), and the Core i7 3930K CPU (3.2Ghz and Turbo Boost to 3.8Ghz) to deliver unmatched performance, the ability to customize your rig, and features that put you in control of the action.

Just a handful of days ahead of Sandy Bridge-E's launch, a Chinese tech website, www.inpai.com.cn (Google translation) has done what Chinese tech websites do best and that's leak benchmarks and slides, Intel's NDA be damned. They pit the current i7-2600K quad core CPU against the upcoming i7-3960X hexa core CPU and compare them in several ways. The take home message appears to be that gaming performance on BF3 & Crysis 2 is identical, while the i7-3960X uses considerably more power, as one might expect from an extra two cores. The only advantage appears to come from the x264 & Cinebench tests. If these benchmarks prove accurate, then gamers might as well stick with the current generation Sandy Bridge CPUs, especially as they will drop in price, before being end of life'd. While this is all rather disappointing, it's best to take leaked benchmarks like this with a (big) grain of salt and wait for the usual gang of reputable websites to publish their reviews on launch day, November 14th. Softpedia reckons that these results are the real deal, however. There's more benchmarks and pictures after the jump.

Here are the first slides detailing Haswell, Intel's next generation processor architecture that succeeds Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge. Intel follows a "tick-tock" product development model. Every year, Intel's product lineup sees either of the two. A "tock" brings in a new x86 architecture, a "tick" miniaturizes it to a newer silicon fabrication process. For example, Sandy Bridge is Intel's latest architecture, and is based on the 32 nm fab process. Ivy Bridge is a miniaturization of Sandy Bridge to 22 nm. Likewise, Haswell will be a brand new architecture, it will use the 22 nm fab process cemented by Ivy Bridge.

If all goes well with Intel's 22 nm process, Haswell is scheduled for Q2 2013. 2012 (Q2 onwards) will be led by Ivy Bridge. But then here's a "shocker": Haswell's desktop version will use a brand new socket, LGA1150, and will be incompatible with LGA1155. This is because of drastic changes in the pin map of the package. Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge share the LGA1155 socket, and will hence, have kept the socket alive for over 2 years. A major change with the component arrangement in the platform that is affecting Haswell's pin map is that Haswell will have a higher bandwidth chipset bus, rearranged PCIe pins (with FDI pins), rearranged power pins, and miscellaneous pins. It does away with a separate power domain for the integrated graphics controller.

Intel released its latest performance-segment processor, the Core i7-2700K. The i7-2700K is a quad-core chip in the LGA1155 package, based on the 32 nm "Sandy Bridge" silicon. It is clocked at 3.50 GHz, and features an unlocked base clock ratio multiplier, which makes overclocking possible. It features AVX instruction set, AES native acceleration, HyperThreading (which enables 8 logical CPUs), 256 KB L2 cache per core, and 8 MB of shared L3 cache.

Apart from these, it packs a dual-channel DDR3 integrated memory controller, PCI-Express root complex, and Intel HD 3000 series integrated graphics. The TDP remains consistent with many other Core i5 and Core i7 "Sandy Bridge" chips, at 95W. An interesting development here is that the pricing of Core i7-2700K didn't turn out to be what Amazon and MWave were charging for their pre-orders (around US $380), the retail price of this chip is merely $15 higher than that of the Core i7-2600K, at $332.

The process and anticipation of upgrading to the latest processor has always been some of the most exciting times for every PC enthusiast. But along with the excitement, users are often faced with various decisions such as which motherboard to get, is a memory upgrade needed or will a new CPU cooler have to be purchased? While Thermaltake cannot make most of those decisions for you, if you currently own or are planning to purchase any of the following Thermaltake performance coolers listed below, you will be in good hands. In order to better serve our customers, Thermaltake is proud to announce the Thermaltake FreeUp Program.

The upcoming Intel Sandy Bridge-E processors will be based on socket LGA-2011 as evident from the recent Intel Developer Forum (IDF) conference. Thermaltake is here to ensure that our current and future customers of Thermaltake cooling solutions will have access to the newest technology without the hassle of trying to mock up new mounting or purchasing a new cooler entirely. The LGA-2011 upgrade mounting hardware will be provided free of charge to anyone who has purchased a qualified cooler on or after September 1st 2011. Thermaltake will be incorporating the new LGA-2011 kit into all LGA-2011 compatible coolers in both retail and e-tail space once the Intel Sandy Bridge-E processor launch is confirmed, but this program is to ensure that anyone who supports Thermaltake brands by choosing the qualified cooler as their solution will have the LGA 2011 mounting available to them when they make their purchase or in the case that the cooler may have been in store before the changeover. Thermaltake wants to ensure you can upgrade and use your recently purchased cooler with no worries about future compatibility.

Just as its detractors thought they were done with it, and just as people started to think that attrition among some of its "popular" designers cost EVGA dearly, the company hit back with teaser pictures of the Super Record 3 or SR3, it promised back in June, it would deliver to the enthusiast community. And yes, it matches its description! The SR3 is a dual socket LGA2011 2P enthusiast desktop/workstation motherboard in the E-ATX form factor. Socket 0 is wired to eight DDR3 DIMM slots (two DIMMs/channel), while socket 1 to four slots (1 DIMM/channel).

In LGA2011 2P systems, the processor sitting on socket 0 is wired to the PCH (SR3 looks to have Patsburg-T), while the processor on socket 1 is wired to the one on socket 0 using two QPI links, closing the daisy-chain. Socket 0, apart from its 4 GB/s DMI link, has a PCI-Express 2.0 x4 (another 4 GB/s) link to supplement the DMI link, so the storage controllers don't get bottlenecked with just DMI. Both processors contribute to the PCI-Express lane budget of the motherboard. There are seven PCI-Express x16 slots, among which four are PCI-Express 3.0 x16 capable, every slot is PCI-Express 3.0 x8 capable. NVIDIA 4-way SLI is supported. This board will support Sandy Bridge-EP Xeon processors, though we don't know at this juncture if Core i7 Sandy Bridge-E is 2P capable.

Intel have finally confirmed that they will be including water cooling as an enthusiast solution for their upcoming Core i7-3000 series Sandy Bridge-E processors due for release on November 14 - a first for Intel and something for AMD to match. They have gone with Asetek due to their high quality products and good reputation, which will be branded with the distinctive Intel blue logos. The 12cm radiator fan will actually be illuminated in Intel Blue, giving a classy look to the kit. On top of that, they will actually sell the kit separately, so no one need feel left out. The E-series chips are already significantly faster than the current Sandy Bridge offerings, but water cooling will be able to stretch that lead even further and should make for some exciting overclocking achievements. Perhaps 6GHz or more 24/7 reliable operation is within reach? No prices as yet.

Mozilla are developing a full-on 3D game engine for their Firefox browser. It looks like having a viable high performance game engine built right into the browser could allow first person shooter type games to reach a much wider audience and possibly even raise the bar for integrated graphics - we're already seeing this with the upcoming Sandy Bridge E processors. The project is called Paladin, which is developing the Gladius 3D gaming engine. To help test it, a basic 3D game, RescueFox has been prototyped, although that's not going to be developed further, but forking is welcomed. We'll let the Mozilla development blog take it away from here.

We know how chip manufacturers aren't usually very keen on overclocking of their products, but here, Intel explains the actual steps to take in achieving a great overclock! And oddly enough, this includes their locked CPUs as well, which raises the question of why lock them at all? Bit-tech looked into overclocking the new LGA2011 Sandy Bridge E in detail.Intel highlights the key areas for overclocking Sandy Bridge E processors, and gives a practical example of a 4.74 GHz overclock

The bets are off, it looks like Intel is in for a price-performance shock with AMD's Bulldozer, after all. In the press deck of AMD FX Processor series leaked by DonanimHaber ahead of its launch, AMD claims huge performance leads over Intel. To sum it up, AMD claims that its AMD FX 8150 processor is looking Intel's Core i7-980X in the eye in game tests, even edging past it in some DirectX 11 titles.

It is performing on par with the Core i7-2600K in several popular CPU benchmarks such as WinRAR 4, X.264 pass 2, Handbrake, 7Zip, POV Ray 3.7, ABBYY OCR, wPrime 32M, and Bibble 5.0. AMD FX 8150 is claimed to be genuinely benefiting from the FMA4 instruction set that Sandy Bridge lacks, in the OCL Performance Mandelbrot test, the FX 8150 outperforms the i7-2600K by as much as 70%. Lastly, the pricing of the FX 8150 is confirmed to be around the $250 mark. Given this, and the fact that the Core i7-2600K is priced about $70 higher, Intel is in for a price-performance shock.

The new Ivy Bridge processors, due out in about six months, have one apparently overlooked but important feature. No, it's not the greatly increased speed (about double or more of Sandy Bridge) or the advanced feature set. It's actually the super-high resolution capability: specifically 4096 x 4096 pixels. This astonishing capability is far better than any of the top-end discreet graphics cards such as the NVIDIA GTX 590 or AMD HD 6990 via a single monitor port. It's so high in fact, that there's almost no content at that resolution and no monitor that can handle it. This IGP can actually play multiple 4K video streams, too. NVIDIA unsurprisingly, is talking up the gaming possibilites at such a resolution. I'd like to see what kind of monster GPU could handle it. It will be interesting to see what uses this capability gets put to generally - and just how much the whole setup will cost.

A slip-up by Intel revealed its next high-performance socket LGA1155 processor, the Core i7-2700K. The box part product code of the new chip was disclosed in the latest material deceleration datasheet (MDS) document, as BX80623I72700K, carrying the spec code SR0DG. From the given product code, one can deduce the SKU as Core i7-2700K. No other specifications were given out, but given that Core i5 2000 and Core i7 2000 quad-core models are spaced out in steps of 100 MHz, one can only guess that the i7-2700K carries a clock speed of 3.50 GHz, with 3.90 GHz Turbo Boost. In all likelihood, the release of this new chip could be timed to coincide with AMD FX 8150, displacing the Core i7-2600K from its existing price-point, and making the 2600K compete with the FX-8150 at a more competitive price.

LucidLogix demonstrated today for the first time at Intel Developer Forum 2011 (IDF) the injection of HyperFormance technology into its Virtu Universal GPU virtualization software for outstanding gaming responsiveness, visual quality and frame rates.

"Games are all about creating a suspension of disbelief and a more immersive overall lifelike experience," said Offir Remez, president and founder of Lucid. "HyperFormance technology provides a more responsive game interaction together with a clean visual image, making for a more pleasurable experience."

Here are the first pictures of ASUS' latest gaming desktop under its premium Republic of Gamers banner, the ROG CG8565. This black beauty is sculpted with the typical "edgy" design that has been found on recent ROG products. The case has no windows, but its design is enough to be an eyeball-magnet at LAN parties. The case looks well-ventilated with its intricately-designed vents on its top and sides. The front door slides down revealing the front panel, with two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, audio, multi-format card reader, a Blu-ray ROM + DVD-RW combo drive, and a 3.5-inch SATA hard drive hot-swap bay. The ROG logo glows red when the system is powered on.

Under the hood, the ROG CG8565 is a Sandy Bridge-powered system. It is driven by an Intel Core i7-2600K quad-core processor, that's overclocked out of the box at 4.20 GHz. There are two higher OC presets that's selectable using the ROG panel, OC1 runs the CPU at 4.40 GHz, and OC2 runs it at 4.60 GHz. The CPU makes use of liquid cooling. In all likelihood, the motherboard is an ROG Maximus IV-class. There's 16 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1600 MHz memory.

What you're looking at below is one of the first "Thin mini-ITX" motherboards sold in the retail channel. The GA-MSH61DI is designed for extremely compact mini-ITX cases, that are thinner than the rear panel of ATX/ITX form-factors, and all-in-one PCs. The board draws power from an external power brick through a 12V DC input jack, the board then gives out SATA and Molex power via cables. It seats socket LGA1155 "Sandy Bridge" Intel Core i3/i5/i7 processors with a maximum TDP of 95W.

The CPU socket is powered by a 3-phase VRM. The processor is backed by Intel H61 Express chipset. It is wired to two angled DDR3 SO-DIMM slots that can hold up to 8 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1333 MHz memory. There are no perpendicular expansion slots, but there's one mSATA slot that can hold an SSD, an mPCIe that can hold a wireless networking card, and an LVDS (low-voltage differential signaling) slot that can be used for devices such as VGA connections to LCD panels. The H61 chipset gives out two SATA 3 Gb/s ports apart from the mSATA slot.

BIOSTAR, a world famous manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, industrial computing systems and computer peripherals, expanded the T Series with the TZ68K+ motherboard based on the latest single-chip Intel Z68 chipset. The new board features the ATX form-factor (305 x 230 mm) and is aimed at system integrators and individual builders of high-performance desktop systems.

The BIOSTAR TZ68K+ motherboard fully supports all functional capabilities embedded into the latest version of the Intel Z68 chipset. They are a support for second-generation multi-core Intel Core i7, Core i5 and Core i3 CPUs (Sandy Bridge) with TDP up to 95W for the LGA 1155 Socket, integrated SATA 3.0 ports (SATA600) and speedy PCI Express 2.0 interfaces for peripherals. One can also arrange RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 arrays with the Matrix RAID function and make use of the Smart Response technology that allows caching storage devices with additional flash memory.

ASRock's frontline mini PC product, Vision 3D, is set to get a hardware specifications update, to the second generation Intel Core processor "Sandy Bridge" family, from its current Core "Westmere" family. The new model will be available with your choice of Core i3, i5, or i7 processor, and will come with an updated connectivity. Aiding the Sandy Bridge processor will be NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M GPU. Using NVIDIA Optimus technology, users will be able to switch between the GeForce discrete GPU and the Intel integrated GPU. The desktop supports NVIDIA's stereo 3D technologies.

In its tiny dimensions of 200mm(W) x 70mm(H) x 200mm(L), the Vision 3D packs 4 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1333 MHz memory, several storage options, a slot-in Blu-ray drive and connectivity that includes four USB 3.0 ports, gigabit Ethernet, eSATA, 8 channel THX-compliant audio with optical SPDIF output, and display outputs that include HDMI 1.4 and DVI. A Windows Media Center Remote comes bundled, completing the package of what will be a great mate for your HDTV.

TechPowerUp today announced the latest version of GPU-Z, the graphics hardware information and diagnostic utility trusted by the PC enthusiast community at large. Version 0.5.5 comes with support for the latest graphics processors, makes the interface a little more accessible to users, and improves stability and reliability.

To begin with, GPU-Z 0.5.5 adds full support for AMD A-Series accelerated processing units (the Radeon GPU component embedded in them), a load of new and lesser-known GPUs from NVIDIA including GeForce GT 560 Ti OEM, GT 545, GT 530, GeForce GTX 580M, GT 555M, GeForce 520MX, GT 520M, 410M, 305M, Quadro 5000, Quadro 4000M, Quadro 400; from AMD including Radeon HD 6290, Radeon E6760 & E4690, FirePro V8800, FirePro V3700, FirePro 2460 (FireMV); and the recently launched ASUS ROG MARS II, which probably got Santa's inbox flooded by now.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.5 | TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.5.5 ASUS ROG Edition

LG announced its first 3D-capable notebook, the XNote A530. Two of its biggest selling points are the 15-inch LED backlit display that's capable of 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution, and stereoscopic 3D webcam, that uses two individual cameras to build a stereo 3D video stream, backed by LG's software. The XNote A530 is powered by "Sandy Bridge" 2nd Generation Intel Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M graphics. A Korean press release also mentions that the notebook will back 3D PT software, that allows users to make stereo 3D presentations that can be displayed using 3D-capable displays and projectors. The company did not announce pricing and availability details.

AMD released its first triple-core accelerated processing unit (APU), the A6-3500. Armed with three x86-64 cores, the A6-3500 socket FM1 APU is positioned to offer superior performance and performance per dollar compared to Intel's Sandy Bridge-based Pentium Dual Core processors. The A6-3500 features Radeon HD 6530D graphics, which is DirectX 11 compliant, and makes use of 320 stream processors. The CPU component of the A6-3500 is clocked at 2.10 GHz with 2.40 GHz in TurboCore mode, while the GPU component runs at 443 MHz.

There is 3 MB of L2 cache on the chip (1 MB per core), the dual-channel DDR3 memory controller natively supports DDR3-1866 MHz memory. The TDP of the chip is rated at 65W. AMD's A6-3500 triple-core APU is priced at US $95 in the PIB (processor in box) retail package, which includes the certified heatsink, while in 1000-unit tray quantities, it is priced at $89 a piece.

This fall, Intel plans a series of price-cuts covering its second-generation Core processor family, and Sandy Bridge-based Pentium Dual Core processors. The cuts will see prices lowered by roughly $10 across the board. The cuts cover dual-core Intel Pentium G630 and G850, dual-core Core i3-2120, i7-2390T, and quad-core Core i5-2400S, i5-2405S, i5-2500S, i5-2500T, and i7-2600S. Prime selling enthusiast models such as i5-2500, i5-2500K, i7-2600, i7-2600K don't feature in this list. Most of these cuts will come into effect in September, the price cuts of i3-2120, and the two Pentium Dual Core chips, will come into effect in October.

Intel's upcoming Core i7 processors in the LGA2011 package, codenamed "Sandy Bridge-E," will come in a unique package that's completely different from what's being reported as AMD's, in which self-contained liquid CPU coolers will be bundled with some FX-series processors. Intel's upcoming Core i7-3820, Core i7-3930K and the Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition processor boxes will lack Intel's certified (stock) heatsink-fan (HSF). Instead, Intel plans to sell the certified coolers separately, probably having the same market reach and availability as the processors themselves.

The idea behind this is that the target users of Sandy Bridge-E will most likely use third-party cooling solutions. Hence it makes sense to save them of a chunk of metal they'll probably never use. For those who do use stock cooling, seldom/never overclock, and rely on the Intel certification to go with the cooler, Intel will have the certified cooler available separately for purchase, with its retail partners. Sandy Bridge-E processors have a rated TDP of 130W, though tests by those having access to engineering samples have shown that it can reach as much as 180W on load, even without overclocking. It is expected that PC cooling products manufacturers will have entire lines of LGA2011-ready coolers in time for the launch of Sandy Bridge-E.

Here are some of the first motherboards by Intel's Desktop Board brand of consumer motherboards. Towards the end of 2011, Intel will release its Sandy Bridge-E high-end desktop platform. Like with the launch of any new chipset or desktop platform, Intel will have its Desktop Board products in place, that follow the chipset and branding specifications to the letter. With Sandy Bridge-E, Intel will launch two Extreme Series motherboards, the DX79SI and the DX79TO. In the second half of 2011, Intel will also launch a variety of Intel Atom boards, including one codenamed "Marshaltown".

Then in the first half of 2012, Intel will launch its next-generation 22 nm "Ivy Bridge" desktop processors in the LGA1155 package (compatible with Sandy Bridge). To back its launch, Intel will release a new chipset called Z77 Express. There will be no discrete graphics chipsets. H77 is the client desktop chipset that lacks overclocking features. Z77 has them, and support for Smart Response technology. Q77 adds a few enterprise management features. Intel's Z77 based motherboards include two Extreme series models, and two top-end Media Series models.

Last month, there reports of Intel pushing its Sandy Bridge-E enthusiast desktop platform to 2011. It was originally scheduled for 2011, but was reportedly delayed to 2012 because of issues Intel was facing with its flagship desktop chipset, codenamed Patsburg-D. Intel will be launching Sandy Bridge-E this year, but the first wave of motherboards will feature Patsburg-A/B chipsets, which have fewer SATA 6 Gb/s ports than Patsburg-D.

Intel put its launch plans on paper with its latest desktop platform roadmap, that shows the first three models of socket LGA2011 Sandy Bridge-E processors, the six-core Core i7-3960X, Core i7-3930K, and the quad-core Core i7-3820, featuring in the Q4 2011 column. The roadmap shows that the three processors will hold their market-positions till Q2-2012, when Intel will release faster models to displace them. The roadmap slide also shows that Ivy Bridge, Intel's next-generation socket LGA1155 processors that are built on the 22 nm fab process, will be released in March or April 2012, and not early 2012 as speculated earlier.