On this day 40 years ago, Intel Corporation introduced the world's first commercially available microprocessor - the Intel 4004 - triggering the start of the digital revolution. While most people have never seen a microprocessor, devices that contain them have become so integrated into daily life that they have become virtually indispensible.

Microprocessors are the "brains" inside computers, servers, phones, cars, cameras, refrigerators, radios, TVs and many other everyday devices. The proliferation of microprocessors is due in large part to Intel's relentless pursuit of Moore's Law, a forecast for the pace of silicon technology development that states that roughly every 2 years transistor density of semiconductors will double, while increasing functionality and performance and decreasing costs. It has become the basic business model for the semiconductor industry for more than 40 years.

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS), the world's leading motherboard, graphics card, barebone system, notebook and mobile device manufacturer presented white-box All-In-One (AIO) system-G11 not long ago. To surprise the market, ECS provides two more designs for G11-ID2 (North Star) as photo frame style now, and ID4 as L-stand style in Q4, 2011.

Original ID1 as photo-frame style displays an elegant and classical glossy design. ID2 maintains a glossy surface but with a new North Star speaker bezel. North Star represents the leader of stars in Chinese culture and guides the direction in astronomy; G11 new bezel design ID2 leads your new digital life as a North Star. The new ID4 design transfers the photo-frame style to an L-stand style with a brand new stand for users to easily adjust the height and degree of visibility. The new G11 ID4 stand gives you more options for your space arrangement.

ASUS, maker of the world's best-selling and most innovative motherboards, is excited to release a wide range of new X79 motherboards. All feature the new Intel X79 Express Chipset, with support for 2nd generation Core i7 processors in the new LGA 2011 Socket. The complete lineup includes P9X79 Series motherboards with total performance tuning and control, the enthusiast-centric ROG Rampage IV Extreme, the ultra-reliable TUF SABERTOOTH X79, and the professional P9X79 WorkStation Series supporting NVIDIA 4-way SLI and AMD CrossFireX.

All motherboards feature ASUS Dual Intelligent Processor 3 technology with the latest ASUS DIGI+ Power Control design providing three digital voltage controllers onboard, one for the CPU and two for DRAM. ASUS' class-leading Digital Power designs result in better performance, greater stability, and enhanced overclocking for all users. All of the new motherboards ship with multi-GPU support, PCI Express 3.0 capabilities*, exclusive ASUS UEFI and up to 64GB of quad-channel DDR3 support via 8-DIMM slots.

Leading international mainboard and graphics card manufacturer MSI today announces the official release of its X79A-GD65 (8D), X79A-GD65, X79A-GD45, and X79MA-GD45 mainboards. The new mainboards are based on Intel's latest X79 chipset and uses the LGA 2011 socket supporting the 2nd generation Core i7 processors. The X79A-GD65 (8D) features with 8 memory DIMMs, supports 16GB DDR3 memory modules, bringing maximum capacity up to a staggering 128GB! For superior quality and stability, MSI X79 series mainboards adopts Military Class III components. With DrMOS II - the next generation of DrMOS with improved double thermal protection - the lifetime of components is maximized, even in warmer environments or when the machine is heavily overclocked.

MSI X79 series mainboards also feature the latest PCI Express Gen 3 bus and MSI's proprietary Click BIOS II for maximum performance and user convenience. When taking into account all of the other advanced technologies supported such as 3-Way NVIDIA SLI and 4-way AMD CrossFireX multi-GPU processing technology, THX TruStudio PRO sound, Multi-BIOS II, Control Center II, and Super Charger, MSI X79-series mainboards are simply the best choice for enthusiasts!

Razer, maker of high performance gaming gear, has reported that two of their prototype gaming laptops were stolen on the weekend of 4th November from their Bay Area R&D lab. Looking at the basic specs of the laptop, one can see why they were so attractive to thieves: Intel Core i7 2640M Processor (2.80 GHz), 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 Memory, 17.3" LED Backlit Display (1920 x 1080 pixels) & NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M with NVIDIA Optimus Technology and 2 GB Dedicated GDDR5 Video Memory and of course the styling. The outfit is understandably miffed about this and have announced the theft on their Facebook page:

Intel today released its Core i7-3000 series processor family, codenamed "Sandy Bridge-E". These new processors, along with the new Intel X79 chipset, make up for an entirely new platform. The processors are an upscale of the Sandy Bridge architecture found on chips in the LGA1155 package. The Sandy Bridge-E silicon measures 20.8 x 20.9 mm, with a humungous transistor count of 2.27 billion. In its Core i7-3000 configuration, the silicon has up to 6 cores, up to 15 MB of L3 cache, four DDR3 memory channels, and 40 PCI-Express 3.0 lanes ("some" devices "may" support Gen 3.0, Intel's words).

Sandy Bridge-E has the same instruction set as Sandy Bridge, which includes SSE up to version 4.2, AVX, AES, and features Turbo Boost 2.0, HyperThreading. It's the memory controller that's complete upscale. It features four independent 64-bit paths to DDR3 DIMMs, making it a quad-channel DDR3 IMC. DDR3-1600 MHz is natively supported. There are three models, the Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition leads the pack with a clock speed of 3.30 GHz, 3.90 GHz top Turbo Boost speed, and 15 MB of L3 cache. It has 6 cores and 12 threads with HTT enabled. This chip has all its multipliers unlocked and is geared for overclocking. It is priced at US $990 in 1000 unit tray quantities, though retailers might draw a decent margin for the boxed parts.

G.Skill has announced the development of its brand new RipjawsZ series quad-channel memory modules, designed specifically for Intel LGA2011 Sandy Bridge-E processors and X79 systems.

A World First in Super-Sized & Super-Speed, the new RipjawsZ builds on a history of Ripjaws world first performance boundaries and award-winning quality, by including extreme performance kits such as, DDR3 2,500MHz 16GB (4GBx4) 1.65V kit, and super size kits including DDR3 64GB (8GBx8) 2133MHz at only 1.5V, and the fastest ever 8GB DIMMs in the DDR3 2,400MHz 32GB(8GBx4) kit. The following screens show two RipjawsZ 2,400MHz 32GB(8GBx4) kits running together at 2400MHz 64GB and booting at breath-taking 2600MHz 64GB with ASUS Rampage IV Extreme motherboard.

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.

Chinese company JEHE is launching its latest compact mini-ITX motherboard in Europe under the Giada brand, the MI-Z68. As the name suggests, it is based on Intel Z68 chipset, and supports Core i3/i5/i7 processors in the LGA1155 package. There is no TDP restriction, as the board features a full-fledged CPU VRM that draws power from a 4-pin 12V connector apart from a 20-pin ATX connector (any of today's PSUs with 24-pin connector will support it). The board uses a 4+1 phase CPU VRM, with single phase memory. There are two DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting dual-channel memory. The lone expansion slot is a PCI-Express 2.0 x16.

There's impressive storage connectivity, this includes two mSATA 3 Gb/s (on on either side of the slot), two SATA 6 Gb/s (blue), and two SATA 3 Gb/s (black). There are just two USB 3.0 ports, both on the rear panel, and driven by a Renesas-made controller. 8-channel HD audio with optical SPDIF output, one gigabit Ethernet connection (driven by Realtek-made PHY), display outputs that include DVI and HDMI, a number of USB 2.0 ports and PS/2 keyboard, make for the rest of the rear panel. The Giada MI-Z68 will be priced at €88.

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.

Motherboard vendors aren't the only ones getting ready for the big launch of Intel's new high-end desktop (HEDT) platform - Sandy Bridge-E, the ecosystem also consists of memory and cooling products vendors - more importantly, memory. Intel Sandy Bridge-E processors pack an integrated memory controller with a massive 256-bit bus width. To put it into perspective, if a motherboard is populated with four DDR3-1333 MHz modules, the system memory bandwidth would be a staggering 42,600 MB/s. Like everyone, G.Skill is expected to have memory kits with four DDR3 memory modules. It is likely that these kits consisting of four matched modules will be referred to as "quad-channel". Around this time, the company will have a new lineup, RipjawsZ.

RipjawsZ will make use of a new, slightly taller than standard heatspreader design, and will be available in at least two color options - black and red. Some of the kits will consist of just modules, while some will also pack Turbulence II air-coolers that use two fans. In all there are two basic types of modules: ZL, ZH; among these ZH provides the best timings for the frequencies it offers. These modules will be available in a variety of speeds: DDR3-1333, DDR3-1600, DDR3-1866, DDR3-2133, and DDR3-2400. Modules with speeds of up to DDR3-1866 make do with 1.5V DRAM voltage, DDR3-2133 needs 1.60V, while some higher speed modules need up to 1.65V. These kits are available in a variety of capacities - 8 GB (4 x 2 GB), 16 GB (4 x 4 GB), 32 GB (4 x 8 GB), and 64 GB (probably 8 x 8 GB). These modules will be Intel eXtreme Memory Profile (XMP) revision 1.3 compliant.

MSI has announced the launch of a new all-in-one PC model designed specifically for business users: the Wind Top AP2011. The industry-leading adoption of LED panel, integration of the display into the main body of the PC, and brand-new industrial design make for a neat, uncluttered desktop. The Wind Top AP2011 also features unique energy-saving technology, providing power consumption that is approximately 30% lower than conventional CCFL panel. Combined with MSI's other energy-saving technologies, this can help business enterprises to make substantial savings on their electricity bill, making this a truly "green" PC.

As far as performance is concerned, the Wind Top AP2011 uses the second-generation Intel Core processor, whose revolutionary computing capabilities permit more efficient multi-tasking. Besides its energy-saving characteristics and enhanced support for multi-tasking, MSI has also given the Wind Top AP2011 a range of additional features specially designed to meet the needs of business users, including the provision of multiple COM ports, the ability to link the AP2011 up to a barcode reader, credit card reader or credit card terminal. With its energy-saving design and its unique combination of advanced technology and efficient functionality, the Wind Top AP2011 is ideal for both individual users and business enterprises.

The latest data from Jon Peddie Research, which is known for closely tracking the PC graphics hardware industry, claims that the PC graphics industry has stabilized and returned to a more predictable path in Q3 2011. Shipments have increased 16.7% sequentially, and 18.4% compared to Q3 2010 (year over year). Much of this is attributed to the market success of Intel "Sandy Bridge" Core processors, which has also worked to increase Intel's market share. Intel is the market leader in PC graphics, with AMD in the second place, and NVIDIA third.

Intel holds 60.4% of the market, a significant increase from the 54.8% it held in Q2 2011. It grew at the expense of both AMD and NVIDIA. AMD's share slipped a little, despite the introduction of new A-Series "Llano" accelerated processing units. AMD holds 23% of the market, down from the 24.4% it held in Q2. NVIDIA is in a bit of trouble. The green team holds 16.1% of the market, down from 20.1% it held in Q2. This is attributed to its exit from integrated graphics. Its discrete GPU business still sees growth.

Thermaltake, being the industry pioneer brand in thermal solutions with the mission of "delivering the perfect user experience," carrying the corporate vision of "building Thermaltake Technology into a cultural brand for the enjoyment of entertainment, e-Sports, technology, and lifestyle," featured the Contac CPU air cooling Series that aids in fulfilling various needs in the market as well as the corporate mission of "delivering the perfect user experience." This fall adding the shimmering Thermaltake Contac 39 and Contac 30 CPU air cooling to the series, providing a wider range of solution for bargain hunter who desire value and performance equally.

Intel started the trend of improving integrated graphics with their second generation LGA1155 socket Core i3, i5 & i7 line of processors. Depending on the model, these processors sport integrated HD2000 or HD3000 graphics right on the processor die, which nowadays give acceptable performance for low-end gaming and can play Full HD 1080p video perfectly. This trend is increasing with the upcoming Ivy Bridge processors, which will be able to support a massive 4096 x 4096 pixel display, as we reported here. AMD now also have equivalent products with their Llano-based A-series processors. So, where does this leave discrete graphics cards? Well, the low end market is certainly seeing reduced sales, as there really isn't enough of a performance difference nowadays to always warrant an upgrade from an IGP. As integrated graphics improve further, one can see how this will hurt sales of higher end graphics cards too. The problem is that the bulk of the profit comes not from the top-end powerhouse graphics cards, but from the low to mid-end cards which allow these companies to remain in business, so cannibalizing sales of these products to integrated graphics could make high-end graphics cards a much more niche product and crucially, much more expensive with to boot.

Intel released the Solid-State Drive Toolbox 3.0 system software, which it recommends for use with its SSDs. SSDs have a limited number of times they can rewrite data onto their NAND flash cells. The most common 20-nanometer class MLC NAND flash offers around 5,000 rewrite cycles. This software monitors your Intel SSD for performance degradation, and provides a measure of how many rewrite cycles are left, so you can plan beforehand about backing up your data and replacing it. The software also provides a suite of diagnostics for your Intel SSD. Lastly, the software can update your drive's firmware without the need for a DOS bootable disk.DOWNLOAD: Intel SSD Toolbox 3.0

MAINGEAR, an award-winning PC system builder offering custom desktops, notebooks, workstations and media centers, embraces the latest update to the Intel Sandybridge platform with the addition of Intel's Core i7 2700k to their SHIFT and F131 desktops.

The Intel Core i7 2700k is a quad-core processor that clocks at 3.5GHz with 3.9GHz Turbo Boost and integrates CPU, graphics, memory controller, PCI Express all on a single chip. This allows pc fanatics to have extreme gaming, amazing multimedia, ultimate flexibility and extreme overclocking. PC enthusiast and PC gamers looking for pure performance will be looking to the unlocked Intel Core i7-2700K to maximize their gaming experience. Combine this with MAINGEAR's EPIC liquid cooling solutions; gamers will have a silent and stable system no matter what game their waiting for such as EA's Battlefield 3 pc game.

The high-end CPU-Cooler from the newcomer PHANTEKS is available immediately at Caseking.de. This cooler with the name "TC14PE" already managed to receive numerous awards for its excellent performance. PHANTEKS employs multiple features to achieve such extraordinary results: a patented surface at the nano-level, twin tower design and two high-performance 140 mm fans. For the perfect looks to go with the installed hardware, the cooler is available in blue, orange red or silver.

The young company PHANTEKS has invested more than two years into the development of the TC14PE CPU coolers, as their goal was not simply to produce a good CPU cooler, but to lead the performance charts. Instead of focusing on the best heat dissipation of an open test bench, PHANTEKS has made sure that the TC14PE performs best in its intended setting - a closed system.

As Intel's Core i7 "Sandy Bridge-E" processors in the LGA2011 package inch closer to their mid-November launch, there is already hectic activity among manufacturers of related components such as motherboards, memory, and coolers. By now, a large section of the industry has engineering samples to help design and test their components. OCWorkbench was witness to one such pre-release setup on which a Core i7 "Sandy Bridge-E" (unknown model, could even be quad-core for all we know), overclocked to 4.92 GHz with a "regular" air-cooler. The chip was idling at 45°C.

Sandy Bridge-E, as we know, can be effectively overclocked by increasing its base clock (BClk). On this particular setup, the BClk was set at 120 MHz, with a multiplier value of 41X, and core voltage of 1.51V. The memory used was DDR3-2400 MHz with CAS latency of 10T. This is particularly encouraging, not just to enthusiasts on a tight budget, but also the cooling products industry in general. Core i7 "Sandy Bridge-E" retail boxes don't contain a cooling solution, and Intel has been showing off its branded closed-loop water-cooling solution (to be purchased separately) as something that's "recommended" for Core i7 "Sandy Bridge-E". This gave many an impression that you need at least closed-loop water coolers for any hope of achieving decent overclocked speeds with these chips, and that perhaps these chips are bad overclockers in general. The likes of Xigmatek, Thermalright, Noctua, and Scythe can breathe a huge sigh of relief.

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.

Cooler Master, an industry leading chassis, thermal solution, power supply, peripheral, and accessory manufacturer, today adds a new sibling to the Silencio 550, the Silencio 450.

The Silencio Series represents the best solution for sound absorption with system builds of all levels. Sound silencing foam padding seeks to severely reduce system noises produced by hard drives, numerous cooling fans, and other devices. Combine this with a solid-steel frame, vibration inhibiting rubber feet, two Cooler Master quiet-spinning fans and the Silencio 450 nearly becomes completely silent. Those that value a quiet computing space will immensely appreciate the Silencio Series.

Intel Corporation today reported third-quarter results, setting new records for microprocessor units shipped, EPS, earnings and revenue, which was up 28 percent year-over-year.

"Intel delivered record-setting results again in Q3, surpassing $14 billion in revenue for the first time, driven largely by double-digit unit growth in notebook PCs," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. "We also saw continued strength in the data center fueled by the ongoing growth of mobile and cloud computing."

Intel's next generation "Ivy Bridge" Core processors slated for 2012 will mark the beginning of Intel's transition to the brand new 22 nanometer fab process. It looks like Ivy Bridge will significantly benefit from this transition, since Intel will raise the bar in terms of energy-efficiency. Even the fastest P1 (performance 1) tier quad-core chips will have TDP rated as low as 77W, down from the 95W Core i7 2600K, for example, has.

The punters at Intel marketing have sliced the market down to finer segments, to better address it. The market is sliced in terms of price-segments (vertical), and in terms of target users (horizontal). The two markers are independent of each other, yet they complement each other in pin-pointing areas of the market Intel can address. Ivy Bridge LGA1155 is restricted to P1 (performance tier 1) segment on the top, with higher tiers, along with HEDT (high-end desktop) being reserved for Sandy Bridge-E LGA2011, and future "Ivy Bridge-E". Horizontally, Intel will have "K" quad-core parts for Enthusiast, standard (locked) quad-core vPro for the Standard, "T" quad-core for Performance-optimized lifestyle, and "S" for Power-optimized lifestyle. Chaotic as it looks, the table below lays out the lineup perfectly.

Yes, that's right the maker of notoriously vulnerable software is now blaming you, the user, should you get a virus, trojan or other malware infection on your Windows computer. However, it does look like they have some justification for saying this. For those with long attention spans, Microsoft have just released their 168 page Microsoft Security Intelligence Report 6MB PDF, with the stated aim of providing:

An in-depth perspective on software vulnerabilities and exploits, malicious code threats, and potentially unwanted software in the first half of 2011

The first thing to note about the report is that it is limited to its Malicious Software Removal Tool and Microsoft's other anti-malware products. Zero-day attacks that it can't detect are not included in the findings. So, surely it can't all be the user's fault then? It also means that the security angles from third party security vendors such as Kaspersky, Norton and McAfee aren't represented here.

The reviews are now out for AMD's brand new Bulldozer architecture, in the form of the Zambezi FX 8120 & FX 8150 processors and they don't paint a pretty picture of these flagship products. The chips use lots of power, run hot and significantly underperform compared to their Intel competition. On top of that, they are being marketed as 8 core processors, when they are actually 4 core with an advanced form of multi-threading, due to the siamesed nature of each dual processor module. Perhaps to counter this negative publicity and try to restore some faith in the AMD brand, they have released a roadmap for the planned improvements to the architecture, all the way to 2014 - an ambitious timeline, given how much and how unexpectedly things can change at the cutting edge of the technology world.