Silicon Power's DDR3-1333/1066 dual channel memory module packs not only support the new Intel / AMD platforms but also benefits from Intel's Core i7 Quick Path Interconnect (QPI) technology boosting bandwidths up to 6.4GB/s. It is best suited for gaming, HD multimedia, intense graphic and video editing / processing work.

Silicon Power's DDR3-1333 /1066 memory modules are in compliance with JEDEC DDR3 standards. Using the new Fly-by circuit design for efficient communications between DRAM modules and the controller; its On-DIE Termination (ODT) technology dramatically reduces unwanted reflection signals and maximizes speed. Silicon Power insists on using original memory modules and FBGA packaging for better heat dissipation and accurate data transfer. Tested 100% proof for dual channel operation, Silicon Power's dual channel DDR3 memory pack is stable, durable and highly compatible.

Intel Corporation's largest technical conference returns to San Francisco on Sept. 22-24. Registration is now underway for the Intel Developer Forum, featuring 3 days of vision, learning and collaboration at Moscone Center West. In its 12th year, IDF focuses on Intel's technology and platform roadmap directions for the next year and beyond in the areas of digital enterprise, mobility, digital home, software, manufacturing and research.

Rumor has it that chip giant Intel will be launching new solid-state drives based on the company's 34 nm NAND chips in just a few weeks time. The report claims that these new SSDs will be faster and most importantly cheaper than what we're used to pay for a solid-state drive. Intel will manufacture the 34 nm drives in 320 GB, 160 GB and 80 GB capacities, and most probably in other capacities that are still unknown for one or another reason. The drives are said to be coming out in about two weeks so stay tuned.

While the bulk of Intel's upcoming Nehalem and Westmere derived products include quad-core processors, the company hasn't left out dual-core processors just as yet. The dual-core Core i5 desktop processor will be based on the new Clarkdale core, built on the 32 nm Westmere architecture. Originally slated for a Q1 2010 launch, the new chip seems to have been pulled into the Q4 2009 launch schedule, deep enough to make for a significant amount of projected sales, according to sources in the Taiwanese motherboard industry.

The sales projections for Q4 look particularly interesting. Core i5 "Clarkdale" dual-core is projected to amount for 10% of Intel's sales, while Core i7 "Bloomfield" at 1%, Core i5 "Lynnfield" at 2% (Core i7 "Lynnfield" is slated for Q1 2010), Core 2 Quad at 9%, Core 2 Duo E7000/E8000 at 35%, Pentium E5000/E6000 at 31%, Celeron E3000 and Atom together at 9%, Pentium E2000 and Celeron 400 together at 4%. In the following quarter, Clarkdale's sales share is expected to rise to 20%. The numbers prove just how large the market for dual-core processors is, even four years into the introduction of quad-core chips.

ASUS, the leader in motherboard innovation, has launched a comprehensive range of SMB-ready motherboard solutions to help Small-and-Medium-Sized-Businesses (SMBs) refresh their technology environment, improve customer service provision, and boost operational performance. Developed in partnership with Intel, the solutions are grouped into secure, productive, and smart categories to meet different SMB requirements. The specially-designed motherboards come with all the industry-leading innovations synonymous with ASUS as well as extensive service support, including one year supply of product availability and conditional advance swap support.

Thecus, the leader in digital storage, today announced the availability of its latest 7-bay NAS server, the N7700SAS. Offering massive storage capacity and cutting-edge technology, the N7700SAS is an enterprise class NAS server providing incredible flexibility, reliability, and expandability.

The N7700SAS brings the latest technologies to the table, including seven SATA/SAS hard disk bays that accommodate multiple terabytes of storage. To manipulate all of this data, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2GB of DDR2 memory allow for more concurrent connections and quicker system response. For data protection, the N7700SAS lets you choose from a wide selection of RAID modes, including RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and JBOD. The N7700SAS also supports multiple RAID volumes, enabling system administrators to choose the right combination of RAID volumes for the network. Should changes need to be made, the N7700SAS also features online RAID expansion, online RAID migration, and auto rebuild for maximum flexibility.

The MSI X-Slim X600 notebook computer uses Intel's latest CULV platform to deliver perfect processing performance at just one-sixth of a conventional notebook's power consumption. The built-in discrete graphics card also delivers even better display performance so slim aesthetics and discrete graphics are no longer mutually exclusive options.

The lines of the X600 were inspired by the round shape of a feather. The feather represents lightness and the styling makes the notebook impression of stiffness a thing of the past. What makes the X600 stand out is that it weighs just 2.1kg with the batteries fitted, making it possibly the lightest and thinnest 15.6" notebook in the world.

Last week, Intel sketched out its strategy in dealing with its client processor brand Core, and placing its different kinds of processors in series of markers (such as "i3", "i5", and "i7"), on the merit of performance and features they offer, and not necessarily a segregation based on core type and socket type. This raised a big debate in our forums, on who is really going to benefit from this kind of branding.

Chinese website INPAI.com.cn sourced information which explains what factors go into determining which brand marker a processor gets. The table elaborates on how different kinds of Intel processors (determined by core and socket types) cross different lines, with a few features toggled or enhanced. It is sure to throw up some surprises.

Shuttle Inc., the market leader in the Mini-PC segment and manufacturer of Multi-Form-Factor solutions, is now shipping the All-in-One-PC X 5000TA that was shown at the Computex in Taipei as a barebone. Now users can decide for themselves which components should be installed in their All-in-One-PC.

Now individualists can really get their money's worth. With the Shuttle X50 Barebone the decision for HDD or SSD, 512 MB or 2 GB DDR2-memory is totally left to the purchaser of this little gem that is only 3.6 cm thin.

A sneak peek of tomorrow was provided by Intel Corporation today at the company's annual Research@Intel Day. Nearly 40 futuristic projects and concepts were showcased in such areas as eco-technology, 3-D Internet, enterprise IT and wireless mobility. Intel also has made public a beta website where users can play "point, counterpoint" by submitting a statement found online and learning whether he or she has been duped.

Two researchers on hand included Ajay Bhatt, the co-inventor of USB, the standard to connect devices to computers and Joshua Smith, a pioneer in wireless power and robotics. Both are currently featured in a new commercial called "Rock Star," which is part of the company's current Sponsors of Tomorrow marketing campaign.

In a recent blog post by Intel's Bill Calder, details emerged on how Intel will be treating its product names to make it simple for consumers to choose their client products. The strategy lays to rest a long-standing speculation that markers such as "i7", "i5", and "i3" remain confined to a particular kind (read: core design) of the client processor lineup, and spells out the purpose of these markers, and how they make it easy to figure out which Intel processor to buy.

To begin with, there are three markers it calls "modifiers": i3, i5, and i7, to denote entry-level, mid-level, and high-level respectively. These serve merely as modifiers to the brand "Intel Core". As such, "Intel Core i7" isn't a brand in itself, but a higher class of Intel Core series processors, than Core i5 and Core i3. The actual silicon, socket, or architecture used remains abstract to the marker. For example, some higher variants of the "Lynnfield" quad-core processor will use the name Core i7, while the bulk of its mainstream lineup remains in Core i5. The "Clarksfield" mobile quad-core chip makes it to the Core i7 series, as it denotes the highest performance available for notebooks. In all, we can expect Intel to use its modifiers solely to explain what features each processor carries, to replace the existing strategy of giving model numbers to spread products across value, mainstream, performance, and extreme performance segments.

A lot of controversy and uncertainty is surrounding the future of lower end Core i7 models. Recently surfaced information suggested that the company would phase out lower models of Core i7 to make room for higher Core i5 ones. The recently introduced Core i7 950, is already staring at its successor, which will displace it from its price point, and put in in line for being phased out, as early as in Q4 2009.

The Core i7 960 inherits a part of its specifications from the Core i7 965 Extreme Edition, which is now replaced by the 975 Extreme Edition. The i7 960 comes with a clock speed of 3.20 GHz, with a bus multiplier of 24 (24 x 133 MHz). Unlike the 965 Extreme Edition chip, the multiplier will be capped at 24x, and it will use a 4.8 GT/s QPI interface, unlike 6.4 GT/s for the 965. The rest of its specs remain standard. It comes with a triple-channel DDR3 memory interface, and 8 MB of L3 cache. It is expected to be priced at US $562, displacing the Core i7 950 from its range.

Water-cooling specialist Swiftech expanded its lineup with the Apogee GTZ Ci7 CPU water block. From its name, one can infer that it specifically supports the Intel LGA-1366 socket (Core i7 and Xeon 5500 series). The frame that holds the block has the appropriate mount holes for LGA-1366. A bolt-through retention mechanism is bundled. The block itself is near-identical in specifications to the original Apogee GTZ. The CPU copper contact base is lapped, and has a matrix of 225 micron copper pins to boost surface area of heat dissipation. The housing is Delrin-made. Options for 1/2" and 3/8" hose barbs are provided. A tube of Arctic Silver Ceramique is bundled. It is priced at US $69.99.

MAINGEAR Computers, award-winning builders of high performance custom computers, is proud to announce the Pulse, a powerful, energy efficient small form factor PC based on NVIDIA ION graphics. The Pulse is the world's first ION PC that can be upgraded with a GeForce GPU, offering consumers the flexibility to choose an economical, low power ION solution or an energy efficient, high performance configuration with GeForce.

The ION configuration is available with Intel Core 2 45nm processors and a 80+ Certified 300 watt power supply that is 80%+ efficient. This configuration is the smallest, most energy efficient gaming PC on the market today.

ASUS, a leading producer of innovative server and workstation solutions, today announced three cutting-edge solutions designed to address the specific needs of SOHO and Business Enterprises. First in the line-up is the ASUS P6T7 WS SuperComputer motherboard, which provides users with sublime graphics capabilities and flexible high speed data input/output. Next is the ASUS RS700D-E6 Duo Nodes 1U Server, which features independent power supplies for superb reliability-giving business owners complete peace of mind-while offering exceptional space savings in the form of 4 + 4 hot-swappable 2.5-inch SATA/SAS hard disk drives. Finally, the ASUS Z8NA-D6 is the world's first slim dual processor server and workstation motherboard, making it the best workstation foundation for all forms of businesses.

Most motherboard vendors chose Computex as the ideal platform to showcase their upcoming products for the upcoming Intel LGA-1156 processors. The Intel booth was decked up wall-to-wall with Intel 5-series motherboards, some of which, made it to cameras for their unusual designs. Take for instance, the Shuttle SP55H7. This board uses a custom form-factor to fit into the company's bare-bones systems. The socket is slanted, and surrounded with an unusual mount-hole arrangement for the cooler, which again, could be of Shuttle's own design. This is, perhaps to make the most out of the available PCB area.

A more popular motherboard vendor, MSI showcased the first M-ATX motherboard for the platform we have seen so far, the H57-ED65. Based on the Intel H57 chipset. The socket is powered by an 8-phase DrMOS power circuit. MSI takes care of the basics for this platform, providing a PCI-E 2.0 x16, one PCI, and two PCI-E x1 slots. The dual-channel DDR3 memory slots neighbour one NVRAM slot. Apart from the six SATA II ports the H57 provides, a second controller drives the IDE connector, and perhaps, one or more eSATA ports. The rest of the 'wall' can be viewed here. By the looks of it, Intel made sure a full-fledged lineup of motherboards are available to the consumers when it kicks off the series of LGA-1156 processors, and there is every indication that the new platform won't have much trouble replacing the current LGA-775 series.

Intel Capital, Intel Corporation's global investment organization, invested $43 million (JP ¥4.15 billion) in Japan-based UQ Communications, a provider of WiMAX mobile services. UQ Communications will utilize the funding to continue the nationwide expansion of UQ WiMAX service in Japan, with the commitment to provide WiMAX coverage to 90 percent of the country by 2012.
"Intel Capital's investment in UQ Communications is one of our most significant commitments in developing the WiMAX ecosystem around the globe," said Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital and Intel executive vice president. "UQ's WiMAX deployment in Japan is a spectacular example of technology innovation being put to work."

Intel Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wind River Systems Inc, under which Intel will acquire all outstanding Wind River common stock for $11.50 per share in cash, or approximately $884 million in the aggregate. Wind River is a leading software vendor in embedded devices, and will become part of Intel's strategy to grow its processor and software presence outside the traditional PC and server market segments into embedded systems and mobile handheld devices. Wind River will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel and continue with its current business model of supplying leading-edge products and services to its customers worldwide.

Intel today introduces four new mobile processors, and a new mobile chipset. The new CPUs include three Core 2 Duo models - T9900 (TDP 35W, 6 MB of L2 cache, $530 price), P9700 (TDP 25W, $348 price), P8800 (3 MB of L2 cache, $241) clocked at 3.06 GHz, 2.80 GHz and 2.66 GHz respectively, and the ultra-thin laptop orientated SU2700 that works at 1.3 GHz. As for the Core 2 Duo models, they all feature a 1066 MHz FSB. In addition, Intel today unveils the Mobile Intel GS40 Express chipset for future ULV-based laptops. This value chipset enables ULV-based laptops to support features consumers have come to expect from laptops including HD playback, Windows Vista Premium support and native support for integrated HDMI. All new Intel stuff is shipping now to retail and OEM channels, so you should expect availability very soon.

Intel is reportedly planning on building another chip manufacturing plant in southern Israel by 2012 at a cost of $2.5 billion. The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that Intel executives had been holding meetings with Israeli government officials to determine whether the company would be eligible to receive grants for the plant. Intel spokepersons declined to comment on the publication, and also refused to give more information on the future plant. That's all we know for now.

We didn't have much time but we got you a couple of shots of the latest and greatest desktop motherboards featured at Intel's booth. The linked pictures are about 2.5 MB each and not resized, straight from the camera for all your zooming pleasure. Please use the comments section of this news post to tell us about the highlights you spotted.

Taiwan motherboard manufacturers have surpassed an important technology milestone, shipping more than 1 billion Intel processor-based desktop PC motherboards.
"Intel congratulates the Taiwan tech industry on reaching this historic milestone," said Sean Maloney, Intel Corporation executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer. "This milestone is another signal that the desktop PC is not dead and that computer users continue to crave the processing power, graphics and storage capabilities that desktop PCs provide."

Patriot Memory, a global pioneer in high performance memory, NAND flash and computer technology, today announced their XMP certified SODIMMS.

Patriot's DDR3 SODIMM is the latest in the family of memory which includes Intel's Extreme Memory Profiles (XMP). XMP is a performance specification for DDR3 memory SPD settings that act as an integrated "plug and play" overclocking tool. The new Extreme Memory Profile options allow the end user to select extreme or ultimate performance through a framework of predefined and validated optimizations of individual settings without the hassle of manually adjusting each parameter, so the timings, voltage, and speed boot automatically for maximum performance. This enables a robust, profile based, high performance DDR3 over-clocking solution for Intel platforms targeted for enthusiasts, gamers and overclockers.

Prepare to bid farewell to the $400 Core i7 upgrade dream. Chip major Intel is reportedly planning to discontinue some of the relatively affordable Core i7 processors, including the most commercially successful model, the 920. Cannibalizing the Core i7 920 and 940, will create market headroom for the company's upcoming Core i5 "Lynnfield" processors. Internal analysis reportedly show that the high-end Lynnfield processors perform too close to the lower models of Core i7, and that could potentially affect sales of those high-end Core i5 chips. Perhaps Intel is trying to oil the segment to make the most profits. Sources at motherboard manufacturers tell that the companies are already working on adjusting their X58 product lines to cater to the future lines of Core i7 processors, which, may start with the $649 Core i7 950 and beyond. What's more, 950 is expected to get the axe later down the line. It may have certainly been a good couple of quarters for you, saving for triple channel memory, true dual PCI-E x16 motherboards, and the elusive Core i7 920. You may want to execute your plans now, or change them.

Two yet unseen CPUs, the Core i7 950 and 975 Extreme, that will replace existing Core i7 940 and 965 Extreme models, were detailed today by etailers PCs For Everyone and PROVANTAGE. The Core i7 950 model is now up for preorder at PCs For Everyone, priced at $649. It is set at 3.06 GHz, with 8 MB shared L3 cache, 4 cores with HT, and 130 W TDP (full specs below). Availability date according to the etailer is May 31st. The second and more powerfull CPU, the Core i7 975 Extreme is yet to receive release date, for now you can only wish list it. If right, the CPU will be clocked at 3.33 GHz, have 8 MB shared L3 cache, and cost well over $1,100.