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 .:Latest Topics |
.:Latest News
Jonathan Hung | Source: MSI | Subject: Case and Cooling
MSI has two new portable notebooks available in North America: the Wind U160 and the Wind U230.
Up first is the Wind U160 netbook which sports an Intel Atom N450 and an excellent 15 hour battery life using MSI's ECO mode. MSI has also done away with the traditional clamshell design and is using a more industrialized look. Like the previous U120, the U160 employs a raised chiclet keyboard, a 10" display, 1GB of RAM, and a 6-cell battery. The Wind U160 retails for $379.99. 
Next is the Wind U230 which is a 12".1 sub-notebook that uses AMD processors, ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics (1366x768 resolution), 2GB of RAM, and has HDMI output to complete the experience. The U230 weighs just 3.3 lbs and satisfies the itch for a well-rounded, yet inexpensive portable system. There are two Wind U230 variants: the U230-033 and U230-040. The 033 uses an Athlon Neo MV-40 and a 250GB HDD for $429.99, while the 040 uses an Athlon X2 L335 and a 320GB HDD for $479.99. Both the U160 and the U230 models are available now at NewEgg.For more information on these models, check out MSI's mobile website. 
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: techPowerUp! | Subject: Memory
G.Skill's new DDR-1600 ECO Kit 4 GB might not offer the fastest frequency on the market, what it does offer are low timings of 7-8-7-24 and a voltage of 1.35V to keep the heat down. That isn't even as far as it will go on those stock settings as techPowerUp! hit 1715 MHz without touching the voltage and bumping the voltage up to 1.5V let them hit a healthy speed of 1.8GHz. If you are running a P55 system and are looking for some nice low latency RAM that you can play with, this kit is worth your consideration. "G.Skill is offering a full range of P55 compatible memory kits, with the ECO being one of them. As the name implies, the memory aims to deliver the most performance while only requiring a mere 1.35V to run at 1600 MHz CL7-8-7." Here are some more Memory articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Legion Hardware | Subject: Case and Cooling
With a pair of HD5870's in Crossfire and a wide variety of chips, Legion Hardware takes a look at how CPU power changes the performance of these cards. They tried a Core i7 and i3 as well as a pair of AMD chips, a Phenom II X4 and an X2 and played with their clock speeds to simulate a large number of models available for those respective chip families. Setting the resolution to 1680x1050 takes the graphics card out of the equation and lets the performance of the CPU shine through. Read on to see how these various CPUs scale.
"However what the data recorded in this article suggests is when future games became more demanding on the CPU, the Core i7 is going to provide a higher level of performance. While this is a very likely scenario, the Core i7 has been available for well over a year now and this still has not happened. Therefore in terms of value, the Phenom II X4 still makes more sense for gaming purposes." Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
Jonathan Hung | Source: General | Subject: Mobile
Warpia is announcing Easy Dock, a new wireless docking station that allows any notebook or netbook (including Macs) to wirelessly dock with a separate display, keyboard, mouse, and speakers. A USB transmitter is attached to your system, while a receiver with 2 USB ports, DVI output, and line-out audio attaches to your peripherals. This allows you to put your notebook nearly anywhere, while giving you the creature comforts of a desktop configuration. This could potentially be useful in tight places, clean installations, and multi-user environments. The Warpia Easy Dock sells for $149, which is a bit more than your traditional wired docking station.
"SAN JOSE, California, Mar. 9 – Source R&D announced today the availability of the Warpia Easy Dock, which will allow users to wirelessly connect their notebook/netbook/Macbook to any traditional desktop setting. With the Easy Dock’s straightforward plug-and-play interface, consumers can have both the convenience and portability of a laptop, as well as the comfort of a desktop computer. Easier on the eyes, ears and hands, users will no longer have to squint at a miniature screen, deal with a below average sound quality, or fumble with a tiny keyboard. Based on wireless technology from Wisair, a leading provider of single-chip based Wireless USB solutions, the Easy Dock consists of a USB dongle that connects to your laptop and a receiver that connects to your monitor, mouse, keyboard, and speakers. Your laptop will instantly recognize the dongle and begin submitting a wireless signal to the receiver, transmitting the image with a resolution of up to1400×1050 to your monitor’s screen."
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: OCMODSHOP | Subject: Display
Zalman's new Zm-M220W
LCD is a 22" stereoscopic display, giving you a 3D view with the help of nVIDIA's standard stereoscopic driver, but not their active shutter glasses. This LCD does all the work, allowing you to use passive glasses to enjoy the 3D effects. OCMODSHOP tried it out at several trade shows and they offer you a look at the display as well as a list of all of the games that are currently compatible. The monitor runs about the same price as a non-3D display, so why not check it out.
"While visiting Zalman at a few trade shows, I was introduced to their new stereoscopic 3d monitor: the Zalman Trimon 22-inch monitor. nVidia has been showing off their own solutions that use any regular monitor, so what makes this monitor different, and why would you want to buy one? I spoke with Richard Chung of Zalman, who gave me the lowdown on this explained to me the differences between the Zalman monitor and nVidia's 3d solution. For one, this 22-inch 3D LCD monitor is optimized for gaming purposes, supporting 3D and 2D realizations." Here are some more Display articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: AnandTech | Subject: General Tech
AnandTech has done a little bit of math and pointed out a little problem that will hit us by the end of the year. With the new CPU's coming from both companies and the fact that they will have several dozen cores or threads, that 4Gb/s connection will be split up so many ways that it will no longer be fast enough to feed those CPUs. We will be seeing servers with such incredible density that 100Gb/s services are no longer a dream, they will be a necessity to anyone wanting to take advantage of Magny-Cours or Nehalem EX. Drop by and see what solutions they see as feasible in a world where several dozen virtual machines have to share a connection.
"In the second quarter of this year, we’ll have affordable servers with up to 48 cores (AMD’s Magny -cours) and 64 threads (Intel Nehalem EX). The most obvious way to wield all that power is to consolidate massive amounts of virtual machines on those powerhouses. Typically, we’ll probably see something like 20 to 50 VMs on such machines. Port aggregation with a quad-port gigabit Ethernet card is probably not going to suffice. If we have 40 VMs on a quad-port Ethernet, that is less than 100Mbit/s per VM. We are back in the early Fast Ethernet days. Until virtualization took over, our network intensive applications would get a gigabit pipe; now we will be offering them 10 times less? This is not acceptable." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: ASUS | Subject: Motherboard
If you have picked up a new 890GX based AMD motherboard you might have noticed something missing from the BIOS. Here at PC Perspective we have talked quite a bit about Advanced Clock Calibration, Josh first mentioned ACC in his review of the 790GX in September of 2008. Of course, the reason that ACC is so popular is that it enables a lucky few to enable the disabled core on X3 models of Phenom II or Athlon II processors or turn a Sempron into an Athlon X2. Not every processor has a working disabled core which is how luck comes into the equation, though with a little patience and an accommodating store you might be able to return processors until you get one that works.
Now that ACC is gone there is still a way to unlock those cores on a 890GX board, the trick is that you have to buy a board that comes from ASUS. Thanks to their Core Unlocker Technology, you can still unlock those cores and the process is even easier than it was before! ASUS continues its innovation leadership with the first AMD 890GX based motherboards featuring SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.0**, and exclusive core unlocking technology. Additionally, as part of the Xtreme Design line-up, the M4A89GTD PRO Series delivers exceptional reliability and performance. 
A Simple Way to Boost Performance with Core Unlocker
Users can determine how to implement this innovative technology by sliding a switch on the motherboard, changing a BIOS setting, or simply pressing the “4” key when the machine first starts. Core Unlocker makes it simple thanks to ASUS’ award winning Turbo V EVO hardware and software. The M4A89GTD PRO Series also features enhanced overlocking performance, auto-tuning technology, improved power savings, and class-leading cpu/chassis fan controls with our exclusive Fan Expert software. “ASUS is proud to continuously provide unique performance options such as TurboKey II for easy overclocking, GPU Boost, and Core Unlocker via our award-winning Turbo V EVO solution.” said Timothy Lin, Motherboard Product Manager. With the M4A89GTDPRO /USB3 ASUS has engineered the best experience possible for AMD platform users.” Specifications are subject to change without prior notice. Please visit www.asus.com for more details. *Not all processors are supported. Core Unlocker results may vary.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Think Computers | Subject: Case and Cooling
No, it is not an old soft drink making a comeback, the In Win Fanqua Mid Tower Chassis is a tool-less chassis with good airflow and space for nine external 5.25" drives and up to three 3.5" internal drives. The fans are protected from vibration by rubber feet, a nice touch especially on the oversized 220mm side fan. It is a decent case overall, if perhaps a strange colour mix for anyone who isn't a huge fan of black and green. If you are a devoted fan and have a few XFX products, you could really get a theme going. More at Think Computers.
"In Win isn’t a widely known company, but it is slowly starting to get to there. Their unique cases are a different from the norm and the In Win Fanqua Mid Tower Chassis that we have to review today is no exception. Supporting up to nine drives the Fanqua houses four fans: three 120mm and one 220mm blue LED fan which lights up the entire case. In Win has also developed many tool-free devices to help ensure a fast and easy installation. Read on further to find out more about this case." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: General Tech
If you were born after the death of printed magazines then you can be forgiven for the confusion you might feel about what PopSci is. For those who have been geeks for a long while, you probably have fond memories of the magazine Popular Science. Now you can revisit that feeling as Google and PopSci have teamed up together to put the entire 137 years of PopSci online, searchable and readable for free. Keep up with the newer publications or delve back into the past years to see what they thought the future we are currently living in would look like.
We've partnered with Google to offer our entire 137-year archive for free browsing. Each issue appears just as it did at its original time of publication, complete with period advertisements. It's an amazing resource that beautifully encapsulates our ongoing fascination with the future, and science and technology's incredible potential to improve our lives. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. In the future, we'll be adding more advanced features for searching and browsing, but for now, enter any keyword into the box below and dive in.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: techPowerUp! | Subject: System
Almost all TV Tuner cards come with a remote control to add to the pile that likely lives on your coffee table, though some abandon that in favour of a wireless mouse and keyboard. techPowerUp! wants you to know about another option, the
Soundgraph FingerVU 706. While it may look like a digital picture frame, it is in fact a 7" touch screen monitor that lets you control your PC or HTPC as long as you don't mind the cord. It can also function as a secondary display and input device for those without an HTPC. Of course, even this accessory comes with a remote, allowing you to remotely control something that is remotely controlling your PC.
"Soundgraph is well known for their LCD and VFD products in the majority of HTPC enclosures from virtually all major brand names out there. The new FingerVU series takes the control of the PC to the next level with a 4" or 7" inch, high-res, USB powered LCD touch screen at your finger tips." Here are some more Systems articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Techware Labs | Subject: General Tech
For some bizarre reason there are people who do not like having large amounts of room being taken up by large speakers in a 7.1 configuration. Perhaps they have limited space or just do not appreciate the wonder that is a proper wall of sound. For those who choose to go that way, Techware Labs has reviewed a kit that offers wireless 2.1 sound. The EOS system consists of a receiver/broadcaster, wireless signal receivers and speakers, so drop by if that is your cup of tea.
"More and more great music is being transmitted to you via the web, break out of your browser and together with the EOS loudspeaker system you can fill your house with sound." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: InsideHW | Subject: Mobile
It is not quite available yet but when the ASUS G73J hits the shelves it will be among the best gaming notebooks on the planet. Inside will be a Intel Core i7-720QM @ 1.6 GHz on an Intel HM55 board, with 8GB of DDR3 and a mobile HD5870 with 1GB of RAM. Add in a 17.3" monitor @ 1920x1080 and you have a notebook that outclasses most desktop systems. Of course the MSRP is going to top $2000, so it will also be more expensive than most desktops. Drop by InsideHW for a look at this beast.
"Let’s say it straight out - Asus G73J is a notebook with the fastest graphics card in the world, full stop. If you want to play games on your notebook, and don’t have financial issues, look no further. Truth be told, there are notebooks with two graphics cards, which are faster, but don’t have DirectX 11 support, which leaves Asus G73J with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 graphics card as your weapon of choice…" Here are some more Mobile articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Digitimes | Subject: General Tech
Acer is planning on a new ultra thin line of notebooks with no frame and a keyless touch keyboard, according to DigiTimes. Combining those two features does offer a way to make the MacBook Air look like it has a beer gut, but that is not the most interesting fact about these notebooks. If reinforced glass is strong enough to be the back shell of a notebook, obviously it could also be used in a standard desktop monitor. An all glass monitor would have absolutely no bezel on the sides; can anyone say EyeFinity? Even if you have to strip the monitors out of a notebook, it might still be cheaper than picking up one of the thin bezelled monitors that should be hitting the market. Notebook displays are a little on the small side, you might want to pick up six of them.
"Acer plans to launch a new ultra-thin notebook that will feature a touch keyboard and use the back of the panel's glass substrate as the cover in the second half of 2010, according to sources from notebook players. Acer is expected to adopt Corning's reinforced glass substrate and simply print color on its back to allow the substrate to function like a notebook cover for a frameless design. The design will help reduce the thickness of the ultra-thin notebook and can also reduce material costs. Acer will also adopt a touch keyboard to allow the notebook to be even thinner, the sources noted." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jonathan Hung | Source: General | Subject: General Tech
It's the weekend and time to kick back with some good old PC gaming. There are some worthy PC gaming news this week so let's get down to it.
Metro 2033 Goes Gold and launches a new trailer. What could be a surprise hit this season, Metro 2033 has gone gold and celebrates with a new trailer. I'm really interested in this game and the early previews made it sound promising. Public beta of RUSE, the multi-touch interactive RTS, is coming to Steam. Are you ready for a multi-touch RTS? Seems like a thing notebook users can take advantage of if they can even run this game. Desktop systems, not so much unless they have a device like the Wacom Bamboo (read the review here). Just Cause 2 for the PC features unique graphics - NVIDIA only. It's nice to see developers putting some effort into making their PC ports a bit better than the original console release. Ubisoft's new DRM for PC games gets examined by PC Gamer and it sounds like the benefits Ubisoft is touting with the DRM is pretty flat. Also, it is rumoured the DRM has already been cracked, and Ubisoft has already updated it to v1.1 even though no game has been released with it yet. If this is Ubi's exit strategy for PC gaming, then I think it's working out pretty well don't you think? (That's sarcasm in case you didn't feel it. :). Other PC gaming headlines:
Ryan Shrout | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Graphics Card
You have likely seen other hardware and news sites posting pictures and video of some preliminary testing with a 6-panel Eyefinity gaming configuration, but I thought I would share this picture taken by our own A/V editor Ken A.
We have the 2GB Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity Edition graphics card in our test system and 6 Dell 22-in panels configured in a 3x2 group and as you can see here in Aliens vs Predator, it is working. It has not been without issues and bugs though...AMD is getting us some additional hardware and is promising another major driver update before public availability to address some of the problems.
There is going to be a heated debate about this technology and we are looking forward to providing a forum for the discussion! Check back here on pcper.com or follow me on twitter to see more posts and updates as we go.
Ryan Shrout | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Graphics Card
A little more news from NVIDIA today, but unlike the news post below, this isn't negative. NVIDIA is still waiting to release a next-generation card to compete with AMD's 5000-series that has been available since late September and while we know that something is coming on March 26th, they are teasing consumers once again with some early performance numbers.
Before you get too excited, the benchmark that NVIDIA chose to show of is the Heaven demo; an impressive piece of software but one that is a benchmark only and will likely have no real overlap with game performance - much like 3DMark. In the video below NVIDIA's Tom Petersen walks us through some details on what tessellation is and how it can improve the user experience for PC gamers and then shows some comparative performance between the GTX 480 and AMD's Radeon HD 5870. This is all good news for NVIDIA, no doubt about that. But is anyone else tired of these types of marketing gimmicks to attempt to keep gamers interested while we wait and wait for something tangible to be released? First we had the Fermi architecture unveiling at GTC, then the reveal of NVIDIA Surround and 3D Surround at CES, followed by the GF100 features discussed just after CES, we got a countdown timer that revealed a date of when the cards are going to be announced and now this video that shows us basically the same things on display at CES but with the tag line of "coming very very soon."
We keep posting it (and maybe this is our fault) because I think there are still some readers interested enough to keep paying attention. Personally though, it's time for NVIDIA to deliver.
Tom Petersen Director of Technical Mkt at NVIDIA describes how the performance of GeForce GTX 480 compares to existing solution. We highlight the different aspects of the benchmark and how the new GeForce excels in tessellation. Tom also offers a quick peak at how 3DVision Surround is pushing PC gaming forward.
Ryan Shrout | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Graphics Card
Were you thinking of stopping by NVIDIA.com to get the latest 196.75 drivers released this week? Well don't. Did you already download those drivers and have them running on your system right now? Uninstall them and revert back to an older version! Why all the commotion? There are confirmed reports now of the 196.75 driver killing perfectly good NVIDIA-based graphics cards by turning off the fan at the wrong time. Which is pretty much ANY time I think.
Here is NVIDIA's official response as of 9pm tonight: NVIDIA 196.75 Driver Alert
We are aware that some customers have reported fan speed issues with the latest 196.75 WHQL drivers on NVIDIA.com. Until we can verify and root cause this issue, we recommend that customers do not download this driver. Instead, please stay with, or return to 196.21 WHQL drivers. Release 196.75 drivers have been temporarily removed from our website and we also are asking our partners and others to remove temporarily this 196.75 WHQL driver as well. Here’s a link for instructions on how to roll back your driver. http://www.nvidia.com/object/driver_rollback.html 
These could be next!!! It seems that no matter how hard NVIDIA might be trying to push the positive news out there, they just have had a string of bad luck going start with Fermi issues and ending with...well more Fermi issues.
Oh well, either way, if you these drivers installed get rid of them and stay away! Or maybe you can use it as an excuse to your significant other that you just HAVE to buy a new graphics card this month...
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: 3DCenter | Subject: Case and Cooling
If you are looking at all the new hardware that has come out over the past few months and are trying to figure out just how long you will need to live on Ramen noodles in order to afford an upgrade, there is an easier way. Why not overclock your machine
as far as it will go? Our Overclocking Forum is the perfect place to find out just how to do that as well as comparing your overclock to similar systems. Whether you are fairly experience and looking for a way to squeeze a little bit more out of your memory or if you are brand new to the whole process you can find what you need right there. We must admit that some things are harder to support an overclock on though.
If you do have the money to do an upgrade, there is one very popular and effective component that many people are considering. If the SSD is a little steep for you, perhaps you can settle for something that is new to you. The Trading Post is doing a lot of business lately with both requests for kit that might net you money as well as list of components for sale or for trade so you can buy and try something you never have before. You can also catch our latest Podcast where we examine the new chipset from AMD and Allyn discusses several new drives he has tested and then rips Patriot a new one as he demonstrates that his own personal machine can beat the IOPs Artemis, while it is running other tasks.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: [H]ard|OCP | Subject: Case and Cooling
The Enermax MODU87+ 700W sits in a sweet spot for PSUs, strong enough to handle any single GPU system as well as many dual GPU systems, but not in the 1kW or higher overkill class. The look on the outside is rather interesting, a rather clean casing is marred with multicoloured cooling, the heatsinks are blue and the fan is gold. Inside, the totally redesigned PSU is stellar, [H]ard|OCP saw no movement on the 12V rail and the others were also incredibly stable. Unfortunately there are other choices with performance at least as good and with a lower price. "Enermax has been one of the "de facto standard" names in computer power supplies for years now. Enermax continually comes to the enthusiast with solidly built power supplies that deliver top notch power and stability for years and years. Today we are looking at the MODU87+ 700 watt PSU and its Dynamic Hybrid Transformer Topology technology, AKA DHT." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Benchmark Reviews | Subject: Storage
The Marvell 88SS9174-BJP2 controller brings SATA 6Gb/s to the Crucial RealSSD-C300. Benchmark Reviews has paired that SSD with an Intel ICH10R to see just how well the SSD can do. With peaks of 330 MBps on read and 225 MBps for writes, it would seem that one SSD still isn't able to saturate the new standard. It is still a lot of fun to see just how fast this drive goes. "Just over two years ago there were only five companies involved in Solid State Drive technology, and as of January 2010 there are nearly 140 names in the business. Without doubt, the SSD market has enjoyed a powerful growth period with relatively painless consumer acceptance. Benchmark Reviews has been on top of the SSD scene since retail products were first introduced at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show. Based on the Marvell 88SS9174-BJP2 SSD processor, the Crucial RealSSD-C300 becomes the industry's first SATA-6G consumer Solid State Drive. Likewise, the C300 is also the first SSD to use ONFI 2.1 synchronous NAND flash. In this article, Benchmark Reviews inspects the Marvell 88SS9174-BJP2 SSD processor rated for 355/215 MBps read and write speeds. " Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
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