NEC Japan updated the system configurations of two its ValueStar desktop and Lavie notebook models, the ValueStar L Series, and the Lavia L Series. The new ValueStar L is a conventional desktop, which is powered by Intel Core i7-3770S quad-core processor clocked at 3.10 GHz, with 8 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory, and GeForce GT 435 graphics. Its storage subsystem includes a 2 TB hard drive. A 23-inch full-HD (1920x1080) monitor comes included.

The Lavie L Series, on the other hand, is a 15.6-incher powered by Intel Core i7-3610QM quad-core processor (2.30 GHz with 3.30 GHz Turbo Boost), 8 GB dual-channel DDR3 memory, and Intel HD Graphics. With storage, in packs a 1 TB hard drive, and a Blu-ray XL writer drive. Its 15.6-inch screen packs a resolution of 1366x768 pixels. A digital TV tuner module comes optional. Prices vary with configuration.

Dell today announced that customers such as Morphlabs and Vibrant Media are using Dell microserver technologies based on Intel Xeon processors to power business-critical web 2.0, cloud, and content delivery networks (CDN), as well as high-performance computing (HPC) applications. Driven by the emergence of a growing hardware and application ecosystem, x86-based microservers are rapidly evolving from a niche solution to one with widespread awareness and value.

"We're constantly inspired by the unique ways our customers are leveraging Dell microserver platforms to drive specialized web 2.0, HPC and cloud computing applications," said Forrest Norrod, vice president and general manager, Dell Server Solutions. "As the microserver market and ecosystem have matured, customers like Vibrant Media have validated that microservers are a cost-effective, scalable platform in web 2.0 environments."

Lenovo today announced a new series of ThinkCentre M and Edge Series desktops and all-in-ones (AIOs) designed to fit the needs of today's demanding business environment via a range of models featuring a blend of essential features, powerful performance and affordable technology. The new desktops and AIOs not only include the latest generation of Intel Core processors for powerful performance, but also feature the latest in Lenovo design and performance innovations including blazing fast 15-second boot up times, intelligent cooling methods and productive multi-screen functionality.

"Business professionals working in highly productive and collaborative environments need PCs designed with their business needs in mind," said Tom Shell, vice president and general manager, Commercial Desktop Business Unit, Lenovo. "These new desktops give users and IT managers a more productive computing experience, whether it's better multi-tasking, powerful performance or space-saving design."

Intel released its first HD Graphics drivers for Windows 8 Consumer Preview. The drivers are Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 1.2 compliant, supports HD 4000 graphics, found in 3rd Generation Core processors, HD 3000 and HD 2000 graphics of 2nd Generation Core processors; complete with stereoscopic 3D, DirectX 11 (on compatible models), and flicker-free display rotation.DOWNLOAD: Intel HD Graphics Driver for Windows 8 Consumer Preview 64-bit, 32-bit

Intel Corporation today announced that its board of directors has approved a 7 percent increase in the quarterly cash dividend to 22.5 cents per share (90 cents per share on an annual basis), beginning with the dividend that will be declared in the third quarter of 2012.

Today's announcement is the third dividend increase in the past 18 months. Intel's dividend has increased every year over the past decade and was recently recognized as Dividend Channel's1 "Top Dividend Stock of the Nasdaq 100."

Intel unveiled its third socket LGA2011 Desktop Board driven by its X79 Express chipset, the DX79SR. This model is positioned a notch above the DX79SI, and a couple of notches above the DX79TO. It was first unsuspectingly revealed to the world not by Intel, but NVIDIA, in its GeForce GTX 690 press-shots. The DX79SR covers up a few design shortfalls of the DX79SI. It adds two additional SATA 6 Gb/s ports, driven by a Marvell SE9128 2-port controller, and two additional USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel. The total of four USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel are driven by an unknown 4-port USB 3.0 controller.

Apart from the two onboard connectivity additions, Intel will also include a USB add-on module which packs 802.11 b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth 3.0 interfaces. The package of the board itself will be beefed up a little, with the inclusion of a stylish mouse pad and a thermal probe. To accommodate these features, Intel made a few subtle changes to the board layout, the first and second PCI-Express x16 slots no longer have switches between them, and some capacitors appear changed. With all these, Intel believes it has a shot at capturing the US $299 price-point, which gives it a nice spread from the $249 DX79SI and the $199 DX79TO.

Intel released Intel Media SDK 2012 R2, now supporting Blu-ray MVC, stereoscopic (two-view) video. The new SDK also includes an Open CL sample, allowing developers to make the most of resources available on Intel platforms by supporting the newly released Intel SDK for OpenCL Applications 2012 on both Intel processors and Intel HD Graphics.

Providing developers with a simple API to create media applications using Intel Quick Sync Video, the SDK can enable hardware acceleration to significantly speed up media conversion on 3rd generation Intel Core processors. Developers can download a free copy of Intel Media SDK 2012 R2 here.

Foxconn's Channel brand introduced a new line of fanless compact PCs under the Nano PC brand. The two newly launched models include the AT-5300, which is driven by Intel Atom D2700, and the AT-5600, which is driven by by AMD E-450 "Brazos" APU. The two are barebones, and require at least one DDR3 SO-DIMM module (up to 4 GB) and a 2.5-inch HDD or SSD. Both models measure just 190 x 135 x 38 mm, and weigh about 600 g. Connectivity includes two USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, an SD/SDHC/MS/MS Pro/MMC card reader, 802.11 b/g/n, gigabit Ethernet, and display outputs that include D-Sub and HDMI. Available soon, the two Nano PC models will be priced under US $200.

TechPowerUp today announced GPU-Z 0.6.1, and with it, a new graphics card giveaway in partnership with PowerColor, in which you could win some of the fastest and coolest Radeon HD 7000 series graphics cards in the industry. Version 0.6.1 of GPU-Z adds support for some new GPUs on the horizon, such as NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690, GeForce GTX 670, GeForce GT 640 (desktop), GeForce GT 630, GeForce 605, GeForce GTX 675M (mobile), and GeForce GTX 670M; AMD Radeon HD 7970M (mobile), and Radeon HD 7450 (desktop); Intel HD 4000 and HD 2500 "Ivy Bridge". GPU-Z 0.6.1 improves NVIDIA GPU Boost clock speed detection. A host of other stability and reliability changes were made (refer to the change-log below).

With GPU-Z 0.6.1, TechPowerUp is teaming up with PowerColor to present to you this year's first GPU-Z Giveaway, in which you could win some great graphics hardware. Up for grabs are PowerColor HD 7970 PCS+ Vortex II, PowerColor HD 7870 PCS+ Vortex II, and the yet-unannounced PowerColor HD 7770 PCS+ Vortex II. To participate in the Giveaway, simply run GPU-Z 0.6.1 (main version), click on the "PowerColor Giveaway" tab, and follow the instructions. Entries are open till June 01, 2012; multiple entries may lead to elimination. Good Luck!DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.6.1 | TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.6.1 ASUS ROG Edition

The complete change-log follows.

The highly anticipated 3rd generation CPU from Intel has arrived at OVERCLOCKERS UK who is offering a wide range of Ivy Bridge CPUs as well as an extensive range of Z77 systems and Z77 overclocked bundles, constructed to allow you to get the very best performance from the latest Intel Core processors.

The new generation builds and improves on many Sandy Bridge features such as Intel Turbo Boost, Quick Sync and Rapid Response, whilst providing numerous performance gains and new features including increased speed and responsiveness and amazing graphics, with new 3D and display technology. Thanks to the ground-breaking, three-dimensional structure of the new Intel transistors, as opposed to the usual two-dimensional planar, dramatic improvements in the overall visual experience have been made meaning better than ever on-board graphics.

Although at a much "smaller" scale, Raspberry Pi did to mini computers what iPad did to tablets (wake up a nearly dead product segment), and now a section of the market likes computers to be as small and potent as the ARM-driven Raspberry Pi. Although at a different end of the price and performance spectrum from the Raspberry Pi, Intel has reason to believe its NUC mini computer could achieve market success. NUC (Next Unit of Computing) is a mini box computer for the retail channel, which is roughly the size of a modern wireless router, but as powerful as a mainstream laptop.

The NUC owes its computing power to Intel Core i3/i5 "Sandy Bridge" dual-core processors (probably in the BGA-1023 package), with Intel HD 3000 graphics, and dual-channel DDR3 memory (SO-DIMMs). The logic board measures 100 x 100 mm, and has all the essential connectivity crammed into it, including umm...10 Gb/s Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, 802.11 b/g/n, and HDMI with multi-channel HD audio. This board is smaller than VIA's NANO-ITX (120 x 120 mm) form-factor. The rest of the ABS plastic enclosure's volume is spent housing the cooling assembly. Informed sources predict that while the NUC won't be priced in the hundereds or thousands of Dollars, it most certainly won't be priced at $25. A starting price of $100 seems realistic.

Ricoh Japan introduced a FB19M, an Intel HM76 Express chipset based mobile-on-desktop motherboard in the micro-ATX form-factor. The motherboard can seat mobile Core "Ivy Bridge" and "Sandy Bridge" processors in the PGA988 package, and includes a fan-heatsink that can handle these chips (up to 55W). The platform is then wired out to desktop interfaces. 24-pin ATX and 4-pin ATX connectors are used to draw power, the CPU is wired out to full-sized DIMM slots, expansion slots include one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, two PCI-Express 2.0 x8 (electrical configuration not known), and a PCI-Express 2.0 x1.

All six SATA ports from the HM76 PCH are wired out as internal ports, including six SATA 6 Gb/s, and four SATA 3 Gb/s. Display outputs include DVI, D-Sub, and LVDS. Other modern connectivity includes 2-channel HD audio, dual gigabit Ethernet interfaces, four USB 3.0 ports, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. There is quite some legacy connectivity, including two serial RS-232 ports, and headers for other serial and parallel interfaces. The board is fit for industrial PCs and other embedded systems.

While SSDs with single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash are relegated to enterprise segment owing to their high-cost and write endurance (unless they are low-capacity cache SSDs), one company made efforts to bring them to the PC enthusiast market. SupperSSpeed took advantage of the fact that SandForce SF-2281 supports SLC NAND flash, backed it up with Intel-made 25 nm SLC NAND flash memory, and made it available in capacities common in the PC segment: 60 GB and 120 GB. The 120 GB variant packs cutting-edge 128 Gbit SLC NAND flash chips, while the 60 GB variant packs more mature 64 Gbit ones. Thanks to SandForce and its overprovisioning mojo, the drives lack external DRAM caches. Expreview put the two drives through its battery of tests, and concluded that these are the best SSDs in terms of transfer speed yield, and random-access performance, not to mention that by design, these drives have higher write endurance.More numbers follow.

With the obvious intention of clearing out inventories of previous-generation Core i7-2600K and Core i7-2700K "Sandy Bridge" processors, Intel decided to cut prices of these chips. The cuts aren't exactly significant, but just enough to restore the two models' price-performance ratios post-Ivy Bridge. The Core i7-2600K gets a price cut of around 10€, sending it down to 255-260€. The Core i7-2700K, on the other hand, got a price cut of 15€, sending its price down to around 275€.

Worldwide semiconductor revenues increased more than 3.7% year over year to $301 billion in 2011, according to the latest version of the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Semiconductor Applications Forecaster (SAF). The industry weathered the macroeconomic uncertainties in the U.S and Europe, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, China's slow down in the second half of the year, and floods in Thailand. Meanwhile, device applications, such as smartphones, media tablets and e-readers, automotive infotainment, notebook PCs, datacenter servers, and wireless and wired communication infrastructure drove robust consumption of semiconductors.

IDC's SAF tracks more than 100 semiconductor companies. Over 40 of these companies experienced year-over-year revenue growth greater than 5%, while about the same number of companies saw their revenue decline by more than 5%.

After last Monday's launch, Intel's new Core "Ivy Bridge" processors started selling in the retail channel, today. At least six quad-core models under Core i5 and Core i7 brand extensions were listed on US retailer Newegg.com, which included the Core i7-3770K (3.50 GHz, Unlocked) at US $349.99, Core i7-3770S (3.10 GHz) at $319.99, Core i7-3770 (3.40 GHz, locked) also at $319.99, Core i5-3570K (3.40 GHz, Unlocked) at $249.99, Core i5-3550 (3.40 GHz) at $219.99, Core i5-3450 (3.10 GHz) at $199.99, and Core i5-3450S (2.80 GHz) also at $199.99.

ORIGIN PC announces the availability of their smallest laptop yet, the powerful, lightweight, new EON11-S and Intel's new 3rd Generation "Ivy Bridge" Core Processors. The new compact high performance laptop debuts with ORIGIN PC's exclusive new laptop design, Intel's 3rd generation mobile processors, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics, and NVIDIA Optimus Technology. Origin PC is also offering Intel's 3rd generation "Ivy Bridge" processors to their full line of award winning desktops and laptops for gamers, artists, enthusiasts and professionals.

Acer revealed that a few Intel Ivy Bridge Core-powered models among its V3 series notebooks will start shipping first in Japan, starting this weekend (ahead of other markets). The Aspire V3-571-H78F is part of the launch. This 15.6-incher will be driven by Intel Core i7-3612QM quad-core processor clocked at 2.10 GHz (3.10 GHz Turbo Boost), 8 GB of DDR3 memory, and a sad resolution of 1366x768 pixels. This model will be priced a little over the equivalent of US $1100. The V3-571-H78F, and other Aspire V3 series notebooks will start shipping this Sunday onward.

AMD gained CPU market share at Intel's expense in the first-quarter of 2012, according to the latest data by Mercury Research. Intel's CPU market share dropped from 81 percent last quarter, to 80.2 percent, while AMD's rose from 18.2 percent to 19.1 percent. Principal analyst at Mercury Research, Dean McCarron said that AMD benefited from improvements in hard drive supplies. AMD is strong in desktop processors, with 43 percent of the market, the same as last year. Customers also opted for lower-priced laptops, many of which had AMD's chips. Supplies of AMD's A-series chips code-named Llano were restored after manufacturing issues were resolved, McCarron said.

Lenovo today launched its latest effort to eliminate slow boot up times with Lenovo Enhanced Experience 3 (EE3) for Windows 7. As the third version of an exclusive certification only available on Lenovo Think and Idea-branded PCs, EE3 certified products feature supreme Windows start-up performance and other optimization features. Lenovo EE3 will come standard on a wide range of Think and Idea-branded PCs shipping beginning in April.

Customers using traditional spinning disk hard drive (HDD) Lenovo PCs can start their PC on average 40 percent faster than typical Windows 7 PC1 users, thanks to Lenovo's RapidBoot technology, featured on all EE3 certified Lenovo PCs. RapidBoot uses optimized processes and hardware settings to allow Lenovo PCs to boot up faster.

With its 22 nm "Ivy Bridge" CPU and 7-series "Panther Point" platform turning into a reality, Intel is moving on to development of the new 22 nm "Haswell" architecture. Entry-thru-performance segment Core "Haswell" processors will be built on the new LGA1150 package, and will be driven by a new series of platform controller hubs, codenamed "Lynx Point". We already know a tiny bit about the way Haswell+Lynx Point platform is structured, and the features that could come standard with it. A new VR-Zone report lists out all the chipset models Intel will carve out using the silicon.

The lineup is quite predictable. At the top of the pile is the feature-rich Z87, which has all the features of the platform, plus overclocking features. This is followed by Z85, which apart from features such as Rapid Storage Technology, could lack RAID for its SATA ports (could only feature AHCI and IDE modes). Then there's H87, which has all the features of Z87, except platform overclocking features. Q87 and Q85 are for large business desktops, and feature various client management features. Then there's B85, for small businesses. Lynx Point could feature as many as six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Rapid Storage Technology will be updated to present users with a level of customization. Then there's Fast Boot, which speeds up system startup, provided an Intel SSD is used for caching.

PC enthusiasts with Ivy Bridge engineering samples, and reviewers at large have come to the consensus that Ivy Bridge is a slightly warmer chip than it should be. An investigation by Overclockers.com revealed a possible contributing factor to that. Upon carefully removing the integrated heatspreader (IHS) of an Ivy Bridge Core processor (that nickel-plated copper plate on top of the processor which makes contact with the cooler), the investigator found common thermal paste between the CPU die and the IHS, and along the sides of the die.

In comparison, Intel used flux-less solder to bind the IHS to the die on previous-generation Sandy Bridge Core processors in the LGA1155 package. Attempting to remove IHS off a chip with flux-less solder won't end well, as it could rip the die off the package. On the other hand, the idea behind use of flux-less solder in CPU packages is to improve heat transfer between the die and the IHS. Using thermal paste to do the job results in slightly inferior heat transfer, but removing IHS is safer. One can be sure that making it safe for IHS removal couldn't have been the issue behind switching back to conventional thermal paste, as everything under the IHS isn't user-serviceable anyway, and off limits for them. Perhaps Intel kept extreme overclockers in mind.

HP's China online store listed out the company's new Envy 4 series that spans across six models occupying key price points starting at 5,499 RMB (US $872), and going up to 6,299 RMB (US $1000). The six models include relatively entry-level 1005tx and 1019tx, followed by 1004tx and 1021tx in the middle, ending with somewhat high-end 1006tx and 1021tx Ultrabooks. The slower models among these are driven by Intel Core i3-2367M, while the faster ones by Core i5-2467M. All six models are slim-category 14-inch notebooks.

DisplayLink, the leading provider of technology for virtual graphics and USB-connected computing, today announced its support for 3rd generation Intel Core processors and supporting mobile Intel HM76 and Intel B75 express chipsets with SuperSpeed USB 3.0.

DisplayLink's DL-3000 chip platform with USB 3.0 is shipping today in adapters, monitors and docking stations from leading vendors. The broad availability of onboard USB 3.0 in systems using 3rd generation Intel Core processors means that a huge new segment of the market now has access to easy-to-use docking, and multi-display possibilities.

MSI announces that its Intel-based H61 (G3) series now offers the latest ME8 BIOS and Driver with support for 3rd generation Intel 22nm processors. Its Intel H61 motherboards are also the fastest in the world, with DDR3 memory support up to 2400MHz. With its solid R&D ability, MSI has created H61 motherboards with superior efficiency that is the best choice for users wishing to upgrade to next-generation 22nm processors from Intel.

As a commitment to long-time MSI users, MSI releases the ME8 upgrade package and related upgrade guide for the most robust update solution, allowing consumers of MSI H61 (G3) / Z68 (G3) motherboards to easily adopt the latest Intel 22nm processor. This solution offers amazing DDR3 memory speeds of up to 2400MHz, efficiency never seen before.