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.

McAfee today announced the execution of a definitive agreement to initiate a conditional tender offer for the acquisition of Stonesoft Oyj, a leading innovator in next-generation network firewall products, for an aggregate equity value of approximately $389 million in cash.

Stonesoft delivers software-based, dynamic, customer-driven, cyber security solutions to secure information flow and simplify security management. Stonesoft's product portfolio of next-generation firewalls, evasion prevention systems, and SSL VPN solutions addresses businesses of all sizes. Through the pending acquisition of Stonesoft, McAfee expects to extend its leadership position in network security.

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.

Intel Corporation announced today that the board of directors has unanimously elected Brian Krzanich as its next chief executive officer (CEO), succeeding Paul Otellini. Krzanich will assume his new role at the company's annual stockholders' meeting on May 16.

Krzanich, Intel's chief operating officer since January 2012, will become the sixth CEO in Intel's history. As previously announced, Otellini will step down as CEO and from the board of directors on May 16.

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.

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 expanded its performance-segment SSD 335 series with a new entry-level 80 GB variant (model: SSDSC2CT080AK5). It joins the 180 GB and 240 GB variants, and occupies a price-point around the 110€ mark (excl VAT), which makes it particularly pricey in comparison to 120 GB drives. SSD 335 combines an LSI-SandForce SF-2281 series controller with Intel-made 20 nm MLC NAND flash.

Intel didn't update the product sheet with details of the new 80 GB model, but its bigger siblings offer sequential speeds as high as 500 MB/s reads, with up to 450 MB/s writes. Built in the 9.5 mm-thick 2.5-inch form-factor, SSD 335 features SATA 6 Gb/s interface, and supports most standard consumer SSD features, including TRIM and NCQ. The drive should begin showing up on online stores worldwide, in both OEM (drive-only) and retail (includes bay-adapters and data migration software) trims.

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).

ADATA Technology Co., Ltd. a world leader in DRAM modules and NAND Flash storage application products, today announced the start of shipments of its latest advanced in gaming technology, the XPG Gaming v2.0 Series DDR3-2600 MHz DRAM 8GB modules. These dual channel kits are designed and engineered to bring optimum performance to third generation Intel Core processors and the Z77 platform.

XPG DRAM modules signify Xtreme Performance Gear, providing the extreme speed and performance required by advanced users. The XPG Gaming series v2.0 is targeted specifically at the distinct performance and cooling needs of the worldwide gaming community. These latest DDR3 2600G 8GB modules offer new levels of data transfer speed, along with the many features that are hallmarks of the XPG series.

Intel Corporation today reported first-quarter revenue of $12.6 billion, operating income of $2.5 billion, net income of $2.0 billion and EPS of $0.40. The company generated approximately $4.3 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $1.1 billion, and used $533 million to repurchase 25 million shares of stock.

"Amidst market softness, Intel performed well in the first quarter and I'm excited about what lies ahead for the company," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. "We shipped our next generation PC microprocessors, introduced a new family of products for micro-servers and will ship our new tablet and smartphone microprocessors this quarter. We are working with our customers to introduce innovative new products across multiple operating systems. The transition to 14nm technology this year will significantly increase the value provided by Intel architecture and process technology for our customers and in the marketplace."

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.

At the ongoing Intel Developer Forum (IDF) 2013 event in Beijing, Intel announced second-generation Thunderbolt specification. Pin and plug-compatible with existing Thunderbolt devices, the second-generation Thunderbolt doubles bandwidth over its predecessor, offering devices an enormous 20 Gb/s of bandwidth, four times that of USB 3.0 SuperSpeed. The bandwidth enables users the ability to transfer uncompressed 4K Ultra-HD video without causing display to lag.

To back the specification, Intel announced the "Falcon Ridge" line of Thunderbolt host controllers, mass production of which will commence by late-2013, going into 2014. In addition, the company launched two "Redwood Ridge" host controllers, DSL4510 and DSL4410. The two add DisplayPort 1.2 capability when connecting to native DP displays, improve power management, and reduce platform BOM cost.

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.

Intel Corporation today announced several tools and initiatives targeted at software developers, creating some of the most performance-hungry gaming and media titles on the market. Intel Core processor performance, power efficiency and strong momentum for Intel HD Graphics are freeing developers to take applications in new directions.

Debuting at GDC 2013 were new graphics capabilities for forthcoming Intel HD Graphics platforms that are accessible through DirectX extensions. The first of these extensions, called PixelSync, provides access to underlying hardware that allows programmers to properly composite partially transparent pixels without the need for an expensive sorting operation. Game developers have long awaited this capability in order to more realistically render smoke, hair, windows, foliage, fences and other complex geometry and natural phenomena.

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.

HABEY USA, a leading manufacturer of embedded computer and an Associate member of the Intel Intelligent Systems Alliance, introduces the BIS-6621. It is the latest and greatest offering of our ultra compact fanless PCs. This tiny box measures 5"x5.25"x2", just slightly larger than the incredibly tiny Intel NUC. Besides the small footprint, the features available on this tiny system will simply amaze you.

Equipped with a 2.5" drive bay, this fanless PC will accept just about any 2.5" form factor storage device. The full size mini PCI-e slot can also be an mSATA compatible expansion slot as an option. The mini PCI-e card can also be used to run a WIFI card for wireless network access. Additionally, the BIS-6621 offers an externally accessible SIM card slot allowing for wireless data from a mobile carrier. It also includes 3 USB 2.0 ports for all your needed peripherals and also a COM port for any serial peripherals.

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.

Axiomtek rolls out a fanless embedded system in palm size featuring Intel Atom Cedarview processor N2600 1.6 GHz dual core with Intel NM10 Express chipset. The eBOX530-830-FL has an IP40-rated and rugged aluminum & cold-rolled steel enclosure to endure severe environment. It supports one VGA or one DisplayPort interface to fit more video resources. To resist extreme working temperatures and severe environments, its fanless operation design has unique thermal solution that allows it to perform noiseless at operating temperatures of -10°C to +50°C. The eBOX530-830-FL compact system is an application-ready platform that targets for nearly any field of space-limited and mobile applications like in-vehicle PCs, in-flight infotainment systems, digital signage, entry-level gaming, medical healthcare, and other automation & embedded applications.

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.

Streacom gave us a sneak-peek into its upcoming case for Intel's next unit of computing (NUC) form-factor. Made of aluminum and ABS, the case doubles up as heatsink for the NUC's hot components (such as CPU and PCH). It features a universal CPU block, so the case can adapt to future NUC boards with CPUs at different spots.

The sides of the case are not made of aluminum, this is where the NUC's WLAN/Bluetooth antennae attach, and so an ABS panel boosts signal strength. The case is designed specifically for Intel's D33217GKE motherboard, with ports mapped for its two HDMI connectors, three USB ports, power, and Ethernet. It will be available in two color options, silver (pictured below) and carbon-black. Availability is expected sometime in Q2 2013.